Monday, December 4, 2023

December 4

Birthdays:

 

1966 ~ Fred Armisen (né Fereydun Robert Armisen), American actor.  He is best known for being a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002 until 2013.  He was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

 

1964 ~ Marisa Tomei, American actress.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1951 ~ Patricia Wettig (née Patricia Anne Wettig), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Nancy Weston on the television drama Thirtysomething.  She was born in Milford, Ohio.

 

1949 ~ Jeff Bridges (né Jeffrey Leon Bridges), American actor.  He is the son of Lloyd Brides and brother of Beau Bridges.  He was born in Los Angeles, California.

 

1945 ~ Roberta Bondar (née Roberta Lynn Bondar), Canadian neurologist who became the first Canadian woman to travel into space when she joined the astronauts on the Space Shuttle Discovery in January 1992.  She was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.

 

1940 ~ Gary Gilmore (né Faye Robert Coffman; d. Jan. 17, 1977), American murderer who is known for being the first person to be executed after the United States Supreme Court deemed that the states’ death-penalty statutes were constitutional.  Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Draper, Utah.  Norman Mailer wrote an account of Gilmore’s story in the novel, Executioner’s Song.  He was born in McCamey, Texas.  He was 36 years old at the time of his execution.

 

1937 ~ Max Baer, Jr. (né Maximilian Adalbert Baer, Jr.), American actor best known for his role as Jethro Bodine on The Beverly Hillbillies.  He is the son of boxer Max Baer.  He was born in Oakland, California.

 

1935 ~ Paul O’Neill (né Paul Henry O’Neill; d. Apr. 18, 2020), 72nd United States Secretary of the Treasury.  He served under President George W. Bush from January 2001 through December 2002.  He was proceeded by Lawrence Summers and was succeeded by John W. Snow.  He was born in St. Louis, Missouri.  He died at age 84 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

1933 ~ Wink Martindale (né Winston Conrad Martindale), American game show host.  He was born in Jackson, Tennessee.

 

1923 ~ Charles Keating (né Charles Humphrey Keating, Jr.; d. Mar. 31, 2014), American attorney and businessman.  He is best known for his role in the Savings and Loan scandal of the late 1980s.  In 1991, he was charged with 17 counts of fraud, racketeering and conspiracy.  He was given a 10-year prison sentence for his crimes.  He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He died at age 90 in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

1921 ~ Deanna Durbin (née Edna Mae Durbin; d. Apr. 17, 2013), Canadian Hollywood child star who turned her back on fame.  She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  She died at age 91 in Neauphle-le-Château, France.

 

1918 ~ Robert Ettinger (né Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger; d. July 23, 2011), American cryonics pioneer who fought death with deep freezers.  He is known as the Father of Cryogenics.  He was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  He died at age 92 in Detroit, Michigan.

 

1914 ~ Claude Renoir (d. Sept. 5, 1993), French cinematographer and son of impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  He was born in Paris, France.  He died at age 79.

 

1908 ~ Alfred Hershey (né Alfred Day Hershey; d. May 22, 1997), American biochemist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He did extensive research on bacteriophages.  He is best known for showing that DNA is the genetic material of life.  He was born in Owosso, Michigan.  He died at age 88 in Syosset, New York.

 

1892 ~ Francisco Franco (né Francisco Franco Bahamond; d. Nov. 20, 1975), Spanish dictator.  He died 14 days before his 83rd birthday in Madrid, Spain.

 

1878 ~ Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia (d. June 13, 1918), member of the Russian royal family.  He was younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II.  In 1912, he married Natalia Brasova.  He was her third husband.  He was of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.  He was the son of Alexander III, Tsar of Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark.  He was the first Romanov to be murdered by the Bolsheviks.  He was 39 years old at the time of his death.

 

1875 ~ Rainer Maria Rilke (né René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Marie Rilke; d. Dec. 29, 1926), Austrian author.  He was born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary.  He died of leukemia 25 days after his 51st birthday in Switzerland.

 

1875 ~ Joe Corbett (né Joseph Aloysius Corbett; d. May 2, 1945), American professional baseball player.  He was the younger brother of boxer James Corbett.  He was born and died in San Francisco, California.  He died at age 69.

 

1875 ~ Agnes Forbes Blackadder (d. May 12, 1964), Scottish medical doctor.  She was the first female graduate of the University of St. Andrews.  She was also the first consultant dermatologist appointed at St. John’s Hospital.  She died in London, England at ag 86.

 

1865 ~ Edith Cavell (née Edith Louisa Cavell; d. Oct. 12, 1915), English nurse.  She served as a nurse in World War I and is known for caring for Allied soldiers who had escaped from German-occupied Belgium during the War.  She was arrested for treason and found guilty by court-marshal for aiding Allied soldiers escape.  She was executed by a German firing squad.  She was 49 years old.

 

1860 ~ Lillian Russell (née Helen Louise Leonard; d. June 6, 1922), American actress.  She was married several times but is best known for her long relationship with Diamond Jim Brady, who supported her extravagant lifestyle for years.  The year of her birth is sometimes listed as 1861.  She was born in Clinton, Iowa.  She died at age 60 or 61 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

 

1835 ~ Samuel Butler (d. June 18, 1902), English author and poet.  He died at age 66 in London, United Kingdom.

 

1798 ~ Jules Armand Dufaure (d. June 28, 1881), French politician.  He served several terms as French Prime Minister.  He died at age 82.

 

1795 ~ Thomas Carlyle (d. Feb. 5, 1881), Scottish writer, historian, and mathematician.  He died at age 85 in London, England.

 

1784 ~ Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. July 13, 1840), Hereditary Princess consort of Denmark.  She was the first wife of Christian Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark.  They married in 1806 before he became King of Denmark.  It was not a happy marriage and they divorced in 1810.  She was of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  She was the daughter of Frederick Francis I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.  She was born Lutheran but converted to Catholicism.  She died at age 55.

 

1777 ~ Juliette Récamier (née Jeanne Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard; d. May 11, 1849), French businesswoman.  The chaise lounge, or réclamier, is named after her.  She was born in Lyon, France.  She died at age 71 in Paris, France.

 

1711 ~ Infanta Barbara of Portugal (d. Aug. 27, 1758), Queen consort of Portugal.  In 1729, she married Ferdinand VI, King of Spain (1713 ~ 1759).  There were no children of this marriage.  She was of the House of Braganza.  She was the daughter of John V, King of Portugal and Maria Anna of Austria.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 46.

 

1585 ~ John Cotton (d. Dec. 23, 1652), English-American minister who served in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  He was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England.  He died 19 days after his 67th birthday in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2021 ~ The Semeru volcano erupted in Java.  Nearly 60people were killed and numerous others injured by the eruption.

 

2017 ~ The Thomas Fire ignited in California.  It became the largest wildfire in California and burned over 440 square miles in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

 

2012 ~ Typhoon Pablo killed over 1,000 people in the Philippines.

 

2006 ~ Six black teens assaulted a white teenager in Jena, Louisiana.  They were subsequently arrested and convicted of assault.

 

1992 ~ United States President George H.W. Bush (1924 ~ 2018) sent over 28,000 American soldiers to Somalia to assist in the Somali Civil War.

 

1991 ~ American Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson (b. 1947) was released after being held captive as a hostage in Beirut for 6 years and 8 months.  He was the longest-held American hostage in Lebanon.  Prior to his kidnapping on March 16, 1985, he had been the chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press

 

1991 ~ Pan American World Airways ceased operations following its bankruptcy, ending 64 years of operation.

 

1978 ~ Dianne Feinstein (b. 1933) became San Francisco, California’s first female mayor.  She became mayor following the murder of Mayor George Moscone (1929 ~ 1978) the previous day.  She served as Mayor for just over 9 years.  She later went on to become a United States Senator from California.

 

1971 ~ The Montreux Casino in Switzerland was set ablaze during a Frank Zappa concert when someone shot a flare gun.  The band Deep Purple would memorialize the event in the song, Smoke on the Water.

 

1964 ~ Police arrested over 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley following their takeover and sit-in at the administration building.  The students were protesting the University Board of Regents’ decision to forbid protest on university property.  The student protest was part of the Free Speech Movement.

 

1956 ~ Jerry Lee Lewis (b. 1935), Carl Perkins (1932 ~ 1998), Johnny Cash (1932 ~ 2003) and Elvis Presley (1935 ~ 1977) got together for the first and only time at Sun Studios.  This event was later memorialized in the musical, Million Dollar Quartet.

 

1954 ~ The first Burger King restaurant opened.  It was in Miami, Florida.

 

1945 ~ The United States Senate approved the United States’ participation in the United Nations, which had been established on October 24, 1945.

 

1943 ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) shut down the Works Progress Administration (WPA), because of high levels of employment resulting because of World War II.

 

1918 ~ President Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) became the first American president to travel to Europe while still in office when he set sail for Versailles, France to discuss peace talks at the conclusion of World War I.

 

1917 ~ Shell shock, experienced by soldiers serving in World War I, was first noted as a medical condition.

 

1909 ~ The Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club was founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association.  The club is the oldest professional hockey franchise in the world.

 

1881 ~ The Los Angeles Times began publication.

 

1875 ~ Boss Tweed (né William M. Tweed; 1823 ~ 1878), the New York politician, and political boss of Tammany Hall, escaped from prison and fled first to Cuba, then to Spain, where he was ultimately captured and returned to prison where he died.

 

1872 ~ The crewless American ship the Mary Celeste was discovered drifting in the Atlantic Ocean by the Canadian ship Dei Gratia.  The ship was mysteriously abandoned and crew was never found.

 

1865 ~ North Carolina ratified the 13th Amendment to the United States.

 

1861 ~ Jefferson Davis (1808 ~ 1889) and Alexander H. Stephens (1812 ~ 1883) were elected President and Vice President, respectively of the Confederate States of America.

 

1829 ~ In India, the British governor Lord William Bentinck (1774 ~ 1839) issued an order declaring that all who abet in the practice of suttee would be guilty of culpable homicide.

 

1674 ~ Father Jacques Marquette (1637 ~ 1675) founded a mission on the shores of Lake Michigan.  This mission would later become the city of Chicago, Illinois.

 

1563 ~ The final session of the Council of Trent, an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church took place.  The Council had opened on December 13, 1545 as a result of the Protestant Reformation.  The Council established many significant practices of Church liturgy.

 

1110 ~ The Kingdom of Jerusalem, a kingdom that was established in 1099 after the First Crusade, sacked the coastal city of Sidon, in what is now present-day Lebanon.  The Kingdom lasted nearly 200 years, from 1099 until 1291, when Acre, its last remaining possession, was destroyed by the Mamluks.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2022 ~ Bob McGrath (né Robert Emmett McGrath; b. June 13, 1932), American actor, musician, and children’s author.  He was the Sesame Street icon who sang of neighbors.  He was born in Ottawa, Illinois.  He died at age 90 in Norwood, New Jersey.

 

2017 ~ Christine Keeler (née Christine Margaret Keeler; b. Feb. 22, 1942), British model and topless showgirl.  She is best known for being in a sex scandal with British governmental official John Profomo and a Soviet diplomat during the Cold War.  She died of pulmonary disease at age 75 in London, England.

 

2015 ~ Robert Loggia (né Salvatore Loggia; b. Jan. 3, 1930), American actor.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of Alzheimer’s disease a month before his 86th birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

2008 ~ Forrest Ackerman (né Forrest James Ackerman; b. Nov. 24, 1916), American collector of science fiction books and fantasy buff who coined the term “Sci-Fi.”  He was born and died in Los Angeles, California.  He died about 2 weeks after his 92nd birthday.

 

1993 ~ Frank Zappa (né Frank Vincent Zappa; b. Dec. 21, 1940), American musician and composer.  He was born in Baltimore, Maryland.  He died of prostate cancer 17 days before his 53rd birthday in Los Angeles, California.

 

1975 ~ Hannah Arendt (née Johanna Cohn Arendt; b. Oct. 14, 1906), German political theorist and writer.  She died of a heart attack at age 69 in New York, New York.

 

1973 ~ Alfred Fuller (né Alfred Carl Fuller; b. Jan. 13, 1885), Canadian-American businessman and founder of the Fuller Brush Company.  He was born in Welsford, Nova Scotia, Canada.  He died in Hartford, Connecticut.  He died at age 88.

 

1971 ~ Shunryu Suzuki (b. May 18, 1904), Japanese Sōtō Zen monk and teacher who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States.  He is known for founding the first Zen Buddhist monastery outside Asia.  He was born in Kanagawa, Japan.  He died at age 67 in San Francisco, California.

 

1967 ~ Bert Lahr (né Irving Lahrheim, b. Aug. 13, 1895), American actor best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz.  He was born and died in New York, New York.  He died at age 72.

 

1945 ~ Thomas Hunt Morgan (b. Sept. 25, 1866), American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and embryologist.  He was the 1933 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the role chromosomes played in heredity.  He was born in Lexington, Kentucky.  He died at age 79 in Pasadena, California.

 

1935 ~ Charles Richet (né Charles Robert Richet; b. Aug. 25, 1850), French physiologist and recipient of the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on anaphylaxis.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died at age 85.

 

1909 ~ Princess Marie of Orléans (b. Jan. 13, 1865), member of a French noble family.  In 1885 she married Prince Valdemar of Denmark (1858 ~ 1939), son of Christian IX, King of Denmark.  She was of the House of Orléans.  She was the daughter of Robert, Duke of Chartres and Princess Françoise of Orléans.  She was Roman Catholic.  She died at age 44.

 

1902 ~ Charles Dow (né Charles Henry Dow; b. Nov. 6, 1851), American journalist who, along with Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser, founded the Dow Jones & Company.  He was also the founder of the Wall Street Journal.  He was born in Sterling, Connecticut.  He died less than a month after his 51st birthday in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1850 ~ William Sturgeon (b. May 22, 1783), English physicist and inventor of the electric motor.  He died at age 67.

 

1828 ~ Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (né Robert Banks Jenkinson, b. June 7, 1770), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served in that office from June 1812 through April 1827.  This was during the reigns of George III and George IV, Kings of the United Kingdom.  He was born in London, England.  He died at age 58 of a stroke.

 

1680 ~ Thomas Bartholin (b. Oct. 20, 1616), Danish physician and mathematician.  He is best known for his work on the lymphatic system.  He was born in Malmø, Denmark.  He died at age 64 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

1679 ~ Thomas Hobbes (b. Apr. 5, 1588), English philosopher.  He is considered the Father of Modern Political Science.  He died at age 91.

 

1642 ~ Cardinal Richelieu (né Armand Jean du Plessis, b. Sept. 9, 1585), French clergyman and statesman.  He was the first Chief Minister to the French King.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died at age 57.

 

1609 ~ Alexander Hume (b. 1560), Scottish poet.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

 

1576 ~ Rheticus (né Georg Joachim de Porris; b. Feb. 16, 1514), Austrian mathematician and astronomer.  He died at age 60.

 

1334 ~ Pope John XXII (né Jacques Duèze; b. 1249).  He was Pope from August 1316 until his death 13 years later.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

 

1270 ~ Theobald II, King of Navarre (b. 1238).  He ruled Navarre from 1253 until his death in 1270.  He was married to Isabella of France.  There were no children of this marriage.  He was of the House of Blois.  He was the son of Theobald I, King of Navarre and Margaret of Bourbon.  He was Catholic.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 31 or 32 at the time of his death.  After his death, the throne passed to his younger brother, Henry I, King of Navarre.

 

1214 ~ William the Lion, King of Scotland (b. 1143).  He is sometimes referred to as William I, King of Scotland.  He was king from December 1165 until his death 49 years later.  He was married to Ermengarde de Beaumont.  He was of the House of Dunkeld.  He was the son of Prince Henry of Scotland and Ada de Warenne.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been about 71 or 72 at the time of his death.

 

1131 ~ Omar Khayyám (b. May 18, 1048), Persian mathematician and poet.  He died at age 83.

 

771 ~ Carloman I, King of the Franks (b. June 28, 751).  He ruled from October 768 until his death 3 years later.  He was married to Gerberga.  He was of the Carolingian dynasty.  He was the son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon.  He died at age 20.

 

530 BCE ~ The date ascribed to the death of Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian Empire.  He was known for his compassion towards the Jews who had been exiled to Babylon.


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