It’s the birthday of
… Jayne Meadows, Steve Allen’s widow. She’s 90. It was her sister Audrey Meadows that played Ralph Kramden’s wife Alice on The Jackie Gleason Show. Their real surname was Cotter and the sisters were born in Wu-ch’ang, Heilongjiang, China, to missionary parents. Jayne was in a few films and television programs, perhaps best remembered as a panelist on I’ve Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth. That’s her on the left in the photo.
… Arthur Penn, 88. The director was nominated for three best direction Oscars, but never won. The three were The Miracle Worker, Bonnie and Clyde, and Alice’s Restaurant.
… Wilford Brimley. He’s 76 today. Brimley was 53-54 when he played the old guy in Cocoon.
… Baseball Hall-of-Famer Mike Schmidt. He’s 61.
An unprecedented combination of power and defense molded Mike Schmidt into one of the game’s greatest third basemen. The powerful right-handed hitter slugged 548 career home runs, belted 40 or more long balls in three separate seasons and hit 30 or more home runs 10 other times. He established a Major League record for third basemen by clouting 48 homers in 1980 and once hit four consecutive round-trippers in a single game in 1976. A three-time National League MVP, he was a 12-time All-Star, won 10 Gold Gloves and was named The Sporting News Player of the Decade for the 1980s.
… Gwyneth Paltrow. She’s 38.
… Avril Lavigne, 26.
William Conrad, one of the great voices of radio, was born on this date in 1920.
Conrad estimated that he appeared in over 7,500 roles on radio. He was regularly heard inviting listeners to “get away from it all” on CBS’ Escape. Conrad’s other radio credits include appearances on The Damon Runyon Theater, The Lux Radio Theater, Nightbeat, Fibber McGee and Molly and Suspense. For “The Wax Works,” a 1956 episode of Suspense, Conrad demonstrated his versatility by performing all the roles.
Conrad’s longest-running role was that of U.S. marshal Matt Dillon on the groundbreaking radio western Gunsmoke, which aired on CBS radio from 1952 to 1961.
When the golden age of radio was over, Conrad could be heard delivering the urgent narration for Jay Ward’s classic Bullwinkle Show. He later starred on the television series Cannon and Jake and the Fatman.
Samuel Adams Beers are named for Sam Adams the brewer of beer and revolution, who was born on this date in 1722.
[Adams] was a failed businessman and a not-very-effective tax collector when the British passed the Sugar Act of 1764, and Adams finally found his purpose in life. He was one of the first members of the colonies to speak out against taxation without representation and one of the first people to argue for the colonies’ independence from Great Britain. He had a genius for agitating people. He organized riots and wrote propaganda, describing the British as murderers and slave drivers. He went on to become one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and participated in the Continental Congress. It was Samuel Adams, who said, “It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
The Writer’s Almanac (2007)