September 12

Birthdays:

1986~ Emmy Rossum (née Emmanuelle Grey Rossum), American actress.  She is best known for playing Christina in The Phantom of the Opera.

1982~ Isabelle Caro (d. Nov. 17, 2010), French fashion model who warned that women can be too thin.  She died of anorexia at age 28.

1981~ Jennifer Hudson (née Jennifer Kate Hudson), American singer and actress.

1980~ Yao Ming, Chinese professional basketball player.

1967~ Louis C.K. (né Louis Székely), American comedian and actor.  In 2017 he admitted to sexual misconduct after having been accused by many women.

1966~ Ben Folds (né Benjamin Scott Folds), American musician.

1944~ Barry White (né Barry Eugene Carter; d. July 4, 2003), American singer and songwriter.  He was born in Galveston, Texas.  He died of kidney disease at age 58.

1944~ Frederick Fay (d. Aug. 20, 2011), American quadriplegic who fought for the disabled.  A freak backyard trapeze accident left him a quadriplegic at age 16. He spent the rest of his life advocating for disabled Americans.  He died 3 weeks before his 67^thbirthday in Concord, Massachusetts.

1943~ Maria Muldaur (née Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato), American singer.  She is best known for her song Midnight at the Oasis.

1943~ Michael Ondaatje (né Philip Michael Ondaatje), Sri Lankan-born Canadian author, best known for his novel, The English Patient.

1940~ Linda Gray (néeLinda Ann Gray), American actress, best known for her role as Sue Ellen Ewing on Dallas.

1931~ George Jones (né George Glenn Jones; d. Apr. 26, 2013), American country singer who became the voice of heartbreak.  He had such hits as He Stopped Loving Her Today.  He died of respiratory failure at age 81.

1928~ Muriel Siebert (née Muriel Faye Seibert; d. Aug. 24, 2013), financier who became the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, thus shattering the glass ceiling.  She died at age 84, just 3 weeks before her 85^thbirthday.

1928~ Ernie Vandeweghe (né Ernest Maurice Vandeweghe, Jr.; d. Nov. 8, 2014), American physician who played professional basketball for the New York Knicks.  He died at age 86.

1925~ Dickie Moore (né John Richard Moore, Jr.; d. Sept. 7, 2015), American child superstar who survived the Hollywood limelight.  He was one of the last surviving actors to have appeared in silent films.  He appeared in such films as Our Gangand Sergeant York.  He died 5 days before his 90^thbirthday.

1913~ Jesse Owens (né James Cleveland Owens; d. Mar. 31, 1980), American athlete. He is best known for competing in track in the 1936 Olympics that were held in Berlin, Germany.  He died of lung cancer at age 66.

1913~ Eiji Toyoda (d. Sept. 17, 2013), Japanese industrialist and founder of the Toyota Motor Company.  He died 5 days following his 100^thbirthday.

1901~ Shmuel Horowitz (d. 1999), Russian-born Israeli agronomist.

1900~ Haskell Curry (né Haskell Brooks Curry; d. Sept. 1, 1982), American mathematician.  He died 11 days before his 82^ndbirthday.

1897~ Irène Joliot-Curie (d. Mar. 17, 1956), French physicist and recipient of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  She was the daughter of Pierre and Marie Curie.  She died at age 58 of leukemia.

1894~ Dorothy Maud Wrinch (d. Feb. 11, 1976), English mathematician and biochemical theorist.  She died in Falmouth, Massachusetts at age 81.

1892~ Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. (né Alfred Abraham Knopf, d. Aug. 11, 1984), American publisher and founder of the Alfred A Knopf, Inc., publishing house.  He died a month before his 92^ndbirthday.

1888~ Maurice Chevalier (né Maurice Auguste Chevalier; d. Jan. 1, 1972), French actor and singer.  He is best known for his signature song, Thank Heaven for Little Girls.  He died at age 83.

1880~ H.L. Mencken (né Henry Louis Mencken; d. Jan. 29, 1956), American journalist.  He died at age 75.

1852~ H.H. Asquith, 1^stEarle of Oxford and Asquith (né Herbert Henry Asquith; d. Feb. 15, 1928), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister from April 1908 through December 1916, during the reigns of King Edward VII and King George V.  He died at age 75.

1830~ William Sprague IV (d. Sept. 11, 1915), 27^thGovernor of Rhode Island.  He served in this office from May 1860 until March 1963.  He participated in the Battle of Bull Run while he was a sitting governor.  He subsequently became a United States Senator from Rhode Island.  He died 1 day before his 85^thbirthday.

1818~ Richard Jordan Gatling (d. Feb. 26, 1903), American inventor who invented the Gatling gun, the first successful machine gun.  He died at age 84.

1494~ King Francis I of France (d. Mar. 31, 1547).  He died at age 52.

1492~ Lorenzo de’Medici, Duke of Urbino (d. May 4, 1519).  He died of syphilis at age 26.

Events that Changed the World:

2014~ South African runner Oscar Pistorius (b. 1986) was found guilty of culpable homicide of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp (1983 ~ 2013).

2011~ The National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York City opened to the public.

1992~ The leader of the Shining Path was captured by Peruvian special forces.  The leadership of this terrorist organization soon crumbled.

1988~ Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica.

1980~ Military coup took place in Turkey.

1974~ Emperor Haile Selassie I (1892 ~ 1975) of Ethiopia was overthrown by a military coup.  He had ruled for 58 years.

1970~ Palestinian terrorist blew up three hijacked planes in Amman, Jordan.  The passenger hostages were held in various undisclosed locations in Jordan.  Five planes had been hijacked beginning on September 6, 1970.

1964~ Canyonlands National Park in southeast Utah was designated as a National Park.

1959~ Bonanzapremiered on television.  It was the first regularly scheduled TV program that was presented in color.  The show ran until January 16, 1973.

1953~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917 ~ 1963) and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (1929 ~ 1994) were married.

1940~ The pre-historic cave paintings in Lascaux, France were discovered.

1857~ The SS Central Americasank just 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  The ship had been carrying about 15 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush.  Four hundred twenty-six passengers and crew drown when the ship sank.

1846~ Poets Elizabeth Barrett (1806 ~ 1861) and Robert Browning (1812 ~ 1889) eloped.

490 BCE~ This is the date generally ascribed for the Battle of Marathon, when the Athenians defeated the first Persian invasion force of Greece.

Good-byes:

2018~ Walter Mischel (b. Feb. 22, 1930), Austrian psychologist who tested our willpower.  He specialized in personality theory and social psychology.  He died at age 88.

2014~ Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Paisley (b. Apr. 6, 1926), Irish Protestant firebrand who made peace.  He was the 2^ndFirst Minister of Northern Ireland.  He died at age 88.

2013~ Ray Dolby (néRay Milton Dolby; b. Jan. 18, 1933), American audio engineer who refined recordings and an innovator.  He died of leukemia at age 80.

2010~ Claude Chabrol (né Claude Henri Jean Chabrol; b. June 24, 1930), French film director who mocked France’s bourgeoisie.  His 1958 film, Le Beau Serge, inaugurated the New Wave of French cinema.  He died at age 80.

2009~ Norman Borlaug (né Norman Ernest Borlaug; b. Mar. 25, 1914), American agriculturalist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions of increasing the world’s food supplies as a pathway to peace.  He died at age 95.

2008~ David Foster Wallace (b. Feb. 21, 1962), American author.  He was born in Ithaca, New York.  He died by suicide at age 46.

2005~ Serge Lang (b. May 19, 1927), French-born American mathematician.  At the time of his death he was a professor emeritus at Yale University.  He died at age 78.

2003~ Johnny Cash (né John Ray Cash; b. Feb. 26, 1932), American singer.  He died at age 71.

1993~ Raymond Burr (né Raymond William Stacy Burr; b. May 21, 1917), American actor best known for his portrayal of Perry Mason and Ironsides.  He died of cancer at age 76.

1992~ Anthony Perkins (b. Apr. 4, 1932), American actor best known for his portrayal of Norman Bates in Psycho.  He died at age 60.

1981~ Eugenio Montale (b. Oct. 12, 1896), Italian poet and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died a month before his 85^thbirthday.

1977~ Robert Lowell (né Robert Traill Spence Lowell, IV; b. Mar. 1, 1917), American poet.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died of a heart attack at age 60.

1973~ Marjorie Merriweather Post (b. Mar. 15, 1887), American socialite and owner of General Foods, Inc.  She built the mansion, Mar-a-Lago, which was subsequently purchased by Donald Trump. She died following a long illness at age 86.

1927~ Sarah Frances Whiting (b. Aug. 23, 1847), American physicist and astronomer. She died 20 days after her 80^thbirthday.

1906~ Ernesto Cesàro (b. Mar. 12, 1859), Italian mathematician who specialized in the field of differential geometry.  He died at age 47 while trying to save his son from drowning.

1869~ Peter Mark Roget (b. Jan. 18, 1779). British physician and lexicographer.  He is best known for publishing the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, generally known as Roget’s Thesaurus.  He died at age 90.

1861~ George N. Briggs (né George Nixon Briggs; b. Apr. 12, 1796), 19^thGovernor of Massachusetts.  He was governor from January 1844 until January 1851.  He died at age 65 of an accidental self-inflicted gun injury.

1813~ Edmund Randolph (né Edmund Jennings Randolph, b. Aug. 10, 1753), 1^stUnited States Attorney General.  He served under President George Washington from September 1780 until January 1794.  He subsequently went on to serve as the 2^ndUnited States Secretary of State in the Washington Administration from January 1794 until August 1795.  He had previously served as the Governor of Virginia from December 1786 until December 1788.  He died just over a month after his 60^thbirthday.

1695~ Jacob Abendana (b. 1630), Spanish-born English rabbi and scholar.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

1612~ Tsar Vasili IV of Russia (b. Sept. 22, 1552).  He was Tsar from May 1606 until July 1610.  He died 10 days before his 60^thbirthday.

1368~ Blanche of Lancaster (b. Mar. 25, 1345), member of the House of Plantagenet.  She was the first wife of John of Gaunt and mother of King Henry IV of England.  The exact date of her birth is not known, but she is believed to have been born in either 1345 or 1347.  She is believed to have died of the Black Death between the age of 21 or 23.

1362~ Pope Innocent VI (né Étienne Aubert; b. 1295). He was Pope from December 1352 until September 1362.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.