September 15

Birthdays:

1984~ Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.

1977~ Tom Hardy (né Edward Thomas Hardy), British actor.

1958~ Wendie Jo Sperber (d. Nov. 29, 2005), American actress.  She died of breast cancer at age 47.

1946~ Tommy Lee Jones, American actor.

1946~ Oliver Stone (né William Oliver Stone), American film director.

1938~ Sylvia Moy (née Sylvia Rose Moy; d. Apr. 15, 2017), African-American songwriter who saved Stevie Wonder’s career.  She died of complications from pneumonia at age 78.

1938~ Gaylord Perry (né Gaylord Jackson Perry), American baseball player.

1937~ Fernando de la Rúa (d. July 9, 2019), President of Argentina.  He served as President from December 1999 until December 2001.  He died at age 81.

1937~ Robert Lucas, Jr., (néRobert Emerson Lucas, Jr.) American economist and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

1929~ Murray Gell-Mann (d. May 24, 2019), American physicist and recipient of the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He is known for coining the term Quark.  He died at age 89.

1926~ Ed Derwinski (né Edward Joseph Derwinksi; d. Jan. 15, 2012), 1^stUnited States Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  He served from 1989 to 1992 under President George H.W. Bush.  He died at age 85.

1926~ Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1954.

1924~ Bobby Short (né Robert Waltrip Short; d. Mar. 21, 2005), American musician.  He died at age 80.

1924~ György Lázár (d. Oct. 2, 2014), Hungarian politician who served as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Hungary.  He served in this Office from May 1975 until June 1987.  He died just 2 weeks after his 90^thbirthday.

1918~ Nipsey Russell (né Julius Russell, d. Oct. 2, 2005), American comedian.  He died just over 2 weeks following his 87^thbirthday.

1913~ John N. Mitchell (né John Newton Mitchell, d. Nov. 9, 1988), 67^thUnited States Attorney General.  He served under President Richard Nixon.  He died of a heart attack at age 75.

1911~ Luther Terry (né Luther Leonidas Terry, d. Mar. 29, 1985), 9^thSurgeon General of the United States.  He served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.  He is best known for his warnings against the dangers of tobacco usage.  He died of heart failure at 73 years old.

1907~ Fay Wray (née Vina Fay Wray, d. Aug. 8, 2004), American actress best known for her role as the lead female character in King Kong.  She died at age 96.

1895~ Magda Lupescu (née Elena Lupescu, d. June 29, 1977), Romanian mistress of King Carol II of Romania.  After his abduction, she became his wife.  She died at age 81.

1894~ Jean Renoir (d. Feb. 12, 1979), French movie director and son of artist Pierre-August Renoir.  He died at age 84.

1890~ Dame Agatha Christie, Lady Mallowan (née Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller; d. Jan. 12, 1976), British mystery writer. She died at age 85.

1889~ Robert Benchley (né Robert Charles Benchley; d. Nov. 21, 1945); American humorist and actor. He died at age 56.

1888~ Hanna Rovina (d. Feb. 3, 1980), Israeli actress.  She died at age 91.

1887~ Carlos Dávila (d. Oct. 19, 1955), Chilean journalist and President of Chile.  He died at age 68.

1886~ Paul Lévy (né Paul Pierre Lévy, d. Dec. 15, 1971), French mathematician.  He died at age 85.

1883~ Esteban Terradas i Illa (d. May 9, 1950), Catalan mathematician.  He died at age 66.

1872~ Max Factor, Sr. (néMaksymilian Faktorowicz, d. Aug. 30, 1838), Polish-born American make-up artist and founder of the Max Factor Company, a cosmetics manufacturer.  He died of an illness following a fright just 16 days before his 66^thbirthday.

1857~ Anna Winlock (d. Jan. 4, 1904), American astronomer.  She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  She is best remembered for her calculations and studies of asteroids. She died suddenly at age 47.

1857~ William Howard Taft (d. Mar. 8, 1930), 27^thPresident of the United States and 10^thChief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He served as President from March 1909 until March 1913. He had previously served as the 42^ndUnited States Secretary of War, from February 1904 until June 1908. Following his term as President, he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Warren Harding.  He served on the Court from July 1921 until Feb. 1930. He replaced Edward Douglass White on the Court.  He died about a month after his retirement from the High Court.  He was 72 at the time of his death.

1835~ Richard Olney (d. Apr. 8, 1917), 40^thUnited States Attorney General.  He served under President Grover Cleveland from March 1893 until June 1895.  He also served as the 34^thUnited States Secretary of State from June 1895 until March 1897 during the administrations of Grover Cleveland and William McKinley.  He died in Boston, Massachusetts at age 81.

1830~ José de la Cruz Porfiro Díaz Mori (b. July 2, 1915), President of Mexico.  He was President from December 1884 until May 1911. He died at age 84.

1789~ James Fenimore Cooper (b. Sept. 14, 1851), American novelist best known for The Leatherstocking Tales, a series of five novels about Natty Bumppo, a frontiersman. He died 1 day before his 62^ndbirthday.

1788~ Gerard Brandon (néGerard Chittocque Brandon, d. Mar. 28, 1850), Governor of Mississippi.  He served two terms as Governor.  He died at age 61.

1736~ Jean Sylvain Bailly (d. Nov. 12, 1793), French mathematician and 1^stMayor of Paris.  He was an early leader in the French revolution, but he refused to testify against Marie Antoinette, thus he was arrested and ultimately guillotined.  He was age 57 at the time of his execution.

1613~ François de La Rochefoucauld (d. Mar. 17, 1680), French author best known for his maxims and memoirs. He died at age 66.

1505~ Mary of Hungary (d. Oct. 18, 1558), Queen Consort of Hungary and Bohemia.  She was the wife of King Louis II of Hungary. She died just over a month after her 53^rdbirthday.

1254~ Marco Polo (d. Jan. 8, 1324), Italian explorer and merchant.  The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown, but he is believed to have been about 69 or 70 at the time of his death.

Events that Changed the World:

2008~ Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  It was the largest bankruptcy filed in the United States.

2000~ The 2000 Summer Olympics, also known as the Games of the CCVII Olympiad, opened in Sydney, Australia.

1981~ Sandra Day O’Connor (b. 1930) was unanimously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee to become the first female Supreme Court Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

1967~ In response to a sniper attack at the University of Texas in Austin, President Lyndon Johnson wrote to congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.

1963~ The bombing at the 16^thStreet Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama killed four young African-American girls.

1959~ Nikita Khrushchev (1894 ~ 1971) visited the United States, the first Soviet Leader to do so.

1935~ The Nuremberg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship.  Nazi Germany also adopted a new national flag bearing the swastika.

1923~ Miguel Primo de Rivera (1870 ~ 1930), became dictator of Spain, although his official title was Prime Minister.

1916~ The British Army became the first to use military tanks in battle.  A British Mark I Male Tank was used during the Battle of Flers-Courcelette as part of the wider Somme Offensive.

1862~ During the American Civil War, Confederate forces captured Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Good-Byes:

2017~ Albert Speer, Jr. (b. July 29, 1934), German architect who worked to escape his Nazi father’s legacy.  He was born in Berlin a year after Hitler took power.  He became one of Germany’s most successful architects. He died at age 83.

2017~ Harry Dean Stanton (b. July 14, 1926), American actor.  He died at age 91.

2006~ Orina Fallaci (b. June 29, 1929), Italian journalist and writer.  She died of lung cancer at age 77.

2004~ Johnny Ramone (né John Williams Cummings, b. Oct. 8, 1948), American guitarist and member of the Ramones. He died of prostate cancer three weeks before his 56^thbirthday.

2003~ Garner Ted Armstrong (b. Feb. 9, 1930), American televangelist.  He died of complications due to pneumonia at age 73.

1989~ Robert Penn Warren (b. Apr. 24, 1905), Southern American novelist, best known for All the King’s Men, which is a fictional account of Louisiana’s Huey P. Long.  He died at age 84 in Stratton, Vermont.

1978~ Willie Messerschmitt (né Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt, b. June 26, 1898), German aircraft designer and manufacturer.  He died at age 80.

1973~ King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (b. Nov. 11, 1882).  He reigned as King from October 1950 until his death in September 1973.  He died at age 90.

1945~ André Tardieu (b. Sept. 22, 1867), Prime Minister of France.  He served 3 terms as Prime Minister.  He died a week before his 69^thbirthday.

1940~ William B. Bankhead (né William Brockman Bankhead, b. Apr. 12, 1874), American politician from Alabama.  He served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from June 1936 until his death on September 15, 1940.  He died of an abdominal hemorrhage at age 66.

1938~ Thomas Wolfe (néThomas Clayton Wolfe, b. Oct. 3, 1900). American author best known for his novel, Look Homeward, Angel.  He died 18 days before his 38^thbirthday of complications of “military” tuberculosis of the brain.

1933~ Yisrael Meir Kagan (b. Feb. 6, 1838), Lithuanian rabbi.  He died at age 94.

1926~ Rudolf Christoph Eucken (b. Jan. 5, 1846), German writer and philosopher and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize for Literature.  He died at age 80.

1902~ Horace Gray (b. Mar. 24, 1828), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Chester Arthur.  He served from December 1881 until his death in September 1902.  He replaced Nathan Clifford on the Court.  He sided with the majority in the Plessy v. Ferguson case, which upheld segregation.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died at age 74.

1874~ Benjamin Robbins Curtis (b. Nov. 4, 1809), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Millard Fillmore. He served on the Court from September 1851 until September 1857.  He was the first Supreme Court Justice to hold a law degree.  He is best known for being one of the two dissenters in the Dred Scottdecision.  The acrimony over the Dred Scottdecision ultimately lead to his resigning from the Court after serving for only 6 years.  He was born in Watertown, Massachusetts and died in Newport, Rhode Island.  He died at age 64.

1835~ Sarah Davis (née Sarah Knox Taylor; b. Mar. 6, 1814), first wife of Jefferson Davis.  She was also the daughter of United States President Zachary Taylor.  She died in St. Francisville, Louisiana, at age 21 of malaria, just three (3) months after her marriage to Jefferson Davis.

1559~ Isabella Jagiellon (b. Jan. 18, 1519), Queen consort of Hungary and wife of John Zápolya. She died at age 40 following a long illness.