July 22

Birthdays:

1964 ~ Dan Brown (né Daniel Gerhard Brown), American author best known for his thriller The Da Vinci Code.  He was born in Exeter, New Hampshire.

1960 ~ Erin Brockovich (née Erin Pattee), American lawyer and environmentalist.  She was born in Lawrence, Kansas.

1960 ~ Tracy Pollan (née Tracy Jo Pollan), American actress and wife of Michael J. Fox.  She was born in Long Island, New York.

1958 ~ Jennifer Finney Boylan (née James Boylan), American author and trans woman.

1954 ~ Freddie Prinze (né Frederick Karl Pruetzel; d. Jan. 29, 1977), American actor and comedian.  He died by suicide at age 22.

1953 ~ Mauro Francaviglia (d. June 24, 2013), Italian mathematician.  He was born in Turin, Italy.  He died in Rende, Italy 2 days after his 60^th birthday.

1953 ~ Cyndi Lauper (née Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper), American singer.  She was born in New York, New York.

1952 ~ Graham Green, First Nation/Canadian actor.

1949 ~ Meryl Streep (née Mary Louise Streep), American actress.  She was born in Summit, New Jersey.

1949 ~ Lindsay Wagner (née Lindsay Jean Wagner), American actress.  She was born in Los Angeles, California.

1949 ~ Elizabeth Warren (née Elizabeth Ann Herring), United States Senator from Massachusetts.  She assumed the Office of Senator in 2013.  She was one of the many Democratic candidates for President in 2020.  She was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

1948 ~ Todd Rundgren (né Todd Harry Rundgren), American musician and guitarist.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1947 ~ Pete Maravich (né Peter Press Maravich; d. Jan. 5, 1988), American basketball player, who in college played for Louisiana State University.  He was known as Pistol Pete.  He died at age 40 of heart failure during a pick-up game of basketball.  He is buried in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The basketball arena at LSU is named in his honor.

1947 ~ Octavia Butler (née Octavia Estelle Butler; d. Feb. 24, 2006), African-American science fiction writer.  She was the first science fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship.  She was born in Pasadena, California.  She died at age 58 in Lake Forest Park, Washington.

1941 ~ Ed Bradley (né Edward Rudolph Bradley, Jr.; d. Nov. 9, 2006), African-American journalist.  He died at age 65 from leukemia.

1936 ~ Kris Kristofferson (né Kristoffer Kristofferson), American singer-songwriter and actor.  He was born in Brownsville, Texas.

1933 ~ Dianne Feinstein (née Dianne Emiel Goldman), 38^th Mayor of San Francisco and United States Senator from California.  She served as Mayor from December 1978 until 1988.  In November 1992, she won a special election to fill a vacant United States Senate seat in California.  She has been a Senator ever since.  She was born in San Francisco.

1930 ~ Walter Bonatti (d. Sept. 13, 2011), Italian mountain climber plagued by an untruth.  In a 1954 expedition to climb K2, two other older climbers alleged that Bonatti had emptied their oxygen tanks to prevent them from reaching the top.  It was not until 2004 that the other climbers came clean and acknowledged that Bonatti had done nothing wrong on the climb.  He died at age 81.

1928 ~ Ralph Waite (d. Feb. 13, 2014), American actor who was father to America with his role as the father on The Waltons.  He died at age 85.

1922 ~ Bill Blass (né William Ralph Blass; d. June 12, 2002), American fashion designer.  He died of throat cancer 10 days before his 80^th birthday.

1921 ~ Joseph Papp (d. Oct. 31, 1991), American stage director and producer.  He died of prostate cancer at age 70.

1909 ~ Mike Todd (né Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen; d. Mar. 22, 1958), American film producer and third husband of Elizabeth Taylor.  He was the only husband that Taylor did not divorce, however, he was killed in a plane crash a year after their marriage.  He was 48 at the time of his death.

1909 ~ Katherine Dunham (née Katherine Mary Dunham; d. May 21, 2006), African-American dancer and choreographer.  She died a month before her 97^th birthday.

1906 ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh (née Anne Spencer Morrow; d. Feb. 7, 2001), American writer and wife of Charles Lindbergh.  She died at age 94 in Passumpsic, Vermont.

1906 ~ Billy Wilder (né Samuel Wilder; d. Mar. 27, 2002), Hungarian-born American film director.  He died at age 95.

1903 ~ John Dillinger (né John Herbert Dillinger; d. July 22, 1934), American bank robber.  J. Edgar Hoover labeled him as “Public Enemy No. 1.”  He was killed in a shoot-out by Federal Agents at the Biography Theater in Chicago, Illinois.  He was killed a month after his 31^st birthday.

1899 ~ Richard Gurley Drew (d. Dec. 14, 1980), American engineer and inventor of Masking tape.  He died at age 81.

1898 ~ Erich Maria Remarque (né Erich Paul Remark; d. Sept. 25, 1970), German writer, best known for his World War I novel, All Quiet on the Western Front.  He died at age 72.

1894 ~ Harold Burton (né Harold Hitz Burton; d. Oct. 28, 1964), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Harry S Truman.  He replaced Owen Roberts on the Court.  He was succeeded by Potter Stewart.  He served on the Court from September 1945 until October 1958.  He had previously served as the 45^th Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.  He was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  He died at age 76 in Washington, D.C.

1887 ~ Sir Julian Huxley (né Julian Sorell Huxley; d. Feb. 14, 1975), British biologist.  He died at age 87.

1864 ~ Hermann Minkowski (d. Jan. 12, 1909), German mathematician.  He died suddenly of appendicitis at age 44.

1848 ~ Sir William Macewen (d. Mar. 22, 1924), Scottish surgeon and neuroscientist.  He is best known for his pioneering work in brain surgery and bone grafts.  He died at age 75.

1757 ~ George Vancouver (d. May 10, 1798), British navy officer and explorer.  The province of Vancouver, Canada was named after him.  He died at age 40.

662 ~ Rui Zong (d. July 16, 716), 5^th and 9^th Chinese Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.  He ruled first February 684 until October 690, then again from July 710 to September 712.  He died at age 54.

Events that Changed the World:

2012 ~ Jerry Sandusky (b. 1944), a former assistant football coach at Penn State University, was found guilty on 45 charges of child molestation.  In October 2012, he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

2009 ~ Eastman Kodak announced that it was discontinuing the sale of Kodachrome Color Film.

2002 ~ A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Iran, killing over 260 people and injuring over 1,300 others.

1990 ~ Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point between East and West Berlin, Germany during the Cold War was dismantled.

1969 ~ The Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, Ohio.  This sparked a national interest in water pollution and the passage of the Clean Water Act as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

1954 ~ In Christchurch, New Zealand, Pauline Parker (b. 1938) and Juliet Hulme (b. 1938) murdered Honorah Rieper (1909 ~ 1954), Pauline’s mother because they believed she stood in the way of their friendship.  The story of the murder was depicted in the 1994 movie Heavenly Creatures.  Following a prison term for the murder, Juliet Hulme changed her name to Anne Perry, and became a well-known crime fiction writer.  Pauline Parker became known as Hilary Nathan.

1944 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill of Rights into law.  The formal name of the legislation is the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944.

1942 ~ The Pledge of Allegiance was formally adopted by the United States Congress.

1911 ~ George V (1865 ~ 1936) and Mary of Teck (1867 ~ 1953) were crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.  They were the grandparents of Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926).

1898 ~ United States Marines landed in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

1870 ~ The United States Congress created the United States Department of Justice.

1825 ~ The British Parliament abolished feudalism and the seigneurial system in countries under its control in British North America.

1633 ~ The Catholic Church forced Galileo (1564 ~ 1642) to recant his view that the Sun was the center of the universe.  He was tried by the Inquisition and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

Good-byes:

2019 ~ Judith Krantz (née Judith Bluma-Gittel Tarcher; b. Jan. 9, 1928), American author of romantic fiction.  Her novels mixed sex and shopping.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died at age 91 in Los Angeles.

2018 ~ Dick Leitsch (né Richard Joseph Leitsch; b. May 11, 1935), American gay rights activist who led “sip-in” protests in bars.  He was born in Louisville, Kentucky.  He died at age 83 in Manhattan, New York.

2018 ~ Grigory Barenblatt (b. July 10, 1927), Russian mathematician.  He was born and died in Moscow, Russia.  He died 13 days before his 91^st birthday.

2017 ~ Sheila Michaels (née Sheila Babs Michaels; b. May 8, 1939), American feminist who brought “Ms.” to the masses.  She was born in St. Louis, Missouri.  She died of leukemia at age 78 in Manhattan, New York.

2017 ~ Frank Kush (né Frank Joseph Kush; b. Jan. 20, 1929), American tough coach who made Arizona State a football powerhouse.  He was born in Windber, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 88 in Phoenix, Arizona.

2015 ~ James Horner (né James Roy Horner; b. Aug. 14, 1953), American composer who scored blockbuster soundtracks.  He died at age 61 when the turboprop aircraft he was flying crashed.

2015 ~ Donald Featherstone (b. Jan. 25, 1936), American kitsch artist who, in 1957, crafted the lawn flamingo when he was just 21 years old.  He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts.  He died at age 79 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

2014 ~ Felix Dennis (b. May 27, 1947), British maverick publisher who built a magazine empire.  His company pioneered hobby and computer magazines, as well as The Week.  He died of throat cancer 27 days after his 67^thbirthday.

2008 ~ George Carlin (né George Denis Patrick Carlin; d. May 12, 1937), American subversive comedian who honored no sacred cows.  He died of heart failure at age 71.

2002 ~ Ann Landers (née Esther “Eppie” Pauline Friedman Lederer; b. July 4, 1918), American advice columnist.  Her identical twin sister, Abigail Van Buren (née Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips; July 4, 1918 ~ Jan. 16, 2013), was also an advice columnists.  The twins were born in Sioux City, Iowa.  Esther Friedman (Ann Landers) died 12 days before her 84^th birthday in Chicago, Illinois.  Pauline Esther Friedman (Dear Abby) died on January 16, 2013 at age 94 died in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1996 ~ Terrel Bell (né Terrel Howard Bell; b. Nov. 11, 1921), 2^nd United States Secretary of Education.  He served under President Ronald Reagan from January 1981 until January 1985.  He was born in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho.  He died at age 74 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

1993 ~ Pat Nixon, (née Thelma Catherine Ryan; b. Mar. 16, 1912), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Richard Nixon.  She died at age 81.

1992 ~ M.F.K. Fisher (née Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher, b. July 3, 1908), American food writer.  She 11 days before her 84^th birthday.

1990 ~ Ilya Frank (b. Oct. 23, 1908), Russian physicist and recipient of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 81.

1987 ~ Fred Astaire (né Frederick Austerlitz; b. May 10, 1899), American actor and dancer.  He died at age 88.

1977 ~ Marston Morse (né Harold Calvin Marston Morse; b. Mar. 24, 1892), American mathematician.  He was born in Waterville, Maine.  He died at age 85 in Princeton, New Jersey.

1969 ~ Judy Garland (née Frances Ethel Gumm; b. June 10, 1922), American actress and singer, best known for her role as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.  She died by suicide in 1969, just 10 days after her 47^th birthday.

1965 ~ David O. Selznick (b. May 10, 1902), American movie producer.  He died of a heart attack at age 63.

1956 ~ Walter de la Mare (né Walter John de la Mare; b. Apr. 25, 1873), English poet.  He died at age 83.

1936 ~ Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel (née Mary Haviland Stilwell; b. Apr. 30, 1866), American pioneer dentist.  She was the founder of the Women’s Dental Association of the United States.  She died of coronary thrombosis at age 70.

1925 ~ Felix Klein (né Christian Felix Klein; b. Apr. 25, 1849), German mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1905 ~ Francis Lubbock (né Francis Richard Lubbock; b. Oct. 16, 1815), 9^th Governor of Texas.  He served as Governor from November 1861 until November 1863.  He died at age 89.

1892 ~ Pierre Ossian Bonnet (b. Dec. 22, 1819), French mathematician.  He died at age 72.

1429 ~ Jamshīd al-Kāshī (b. 1380), Persian astronomer and mathematician.  The date of his birth is unknown.

1276 ~ Pope Innocent V (né Pierre de Tarentaise; b. 1225).  He was Pope for less than 6 months, from January 1276 until his death on this date.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.