… of Sandra Day O’Connor. She’s 77.
… of Leonard Nimoy. Mr. Spock is 76.
… of Oscar-winner Alan Arkin. He’s 73. Arkin was twice nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role — for The Russians are Coming, the Russians Are Coming and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. He recently won the supporting actor Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine.
… of James Caan and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. They’re 67 today.
… of Erica Jong, 65.
… of former journalist Bob Woodward, 64.
… of Diana Ross, once Supreme. She’s 63.
… of Johnny Crawford. He was the kid on The Rifleman and he’s now 61.
… of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, 59.
Aerosmith were America’s feisty retort to hard-rocking British groups like the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Who, Cream, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. Almost alone among American bands, Aerosmith matched those British legends in power, intensity, and notoriety. Moreover, they’ve long since surpassed many of their influences in terms of longevity and popularity. In the words of vocalist Steven Tyler, “We weren’t too ambitious when we started out. We just wanted to be the biggest thing that ever walked the planet, the greatest rock band that ever was.”
… of Marcus Allen and the person who used to look like Jennifer Grey. They’re 47.
… of Michael Imperioli. Christopher is 41.
… of best actress Oscar-nominee Keira Knightley, 22.
Condé Montrose Nast was born on this date in 1873. His earliest magazines were Vogue, Vanity Fair and House and Garden. Nast died in 1942, but the company that bears his name now publishes more than two dozen magazines.
Robert Frost, long thought of as the New England poet, was born in San Francisco on this date in 1874.
Tennessee Williams was born on this date in 1911.
He was brilliant and prolific, breathing life and passion into such memorable characters as Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski in his critically acclaimed A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. And like them, he was troubled and self-destructive, an abuser of alcohol and drugs. He was awarded four Drama Critic Circle Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was derided by critics and blacklisted by Roman Catholic Cardinal Spellman, who condemned one of his scripts as “revolting, deplorable, morally repellent, offensive to Christian standards of decency.” He was Tennessee Williams, one of the greatest playwrights in American history.