June 26th

Today is the birthday

… of three-time Oscar nominee for best actress Eleanor Parker. She’s 89. Ms. Parker was nominated for Caged in 1950, Detective Story in 1951 and Interrupted Melody in 1955.

… of Gilberto Gil. The Brazilian singer is 69.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3e1S2UGHA0

… of Chris Isaak, 55.

… of Derek Jeter, 37.

… of Michael Vick, 31.

Author Walter Farley was born on June 26, 1916.

He grew up loving horses and went on to write the novel The Black Stallion (1941). It’s the story of a boy and a wild stallion who survive a shipwreck and become friends on a deserted island. The book was so popular that Farley went on to write twenty novels about the horse, including The Black Stallion Returns (1945), The Black Stallion Revolts (1953), and The Black Stallion’s Ghost (1969).

The Writer’s Almanac from American Public Media (2007)

NewMexiKen’s favorite was always The Island Stallion.

Mildred (Babe) Didrikson Zaharias was born 100 years ago today. Ms. Zaharias was named the top female athlete of the first half of the 20th century. She excelled in track and field, then took up golf at age 21, often hitting more than 1,000 golf balls a day as she learned the game. Eventually she won every important championship. Babe Zaharias died of colon cancer at age 42.

Pearl S. Buck was born on June 26, 1892. Ms. Buck won the Noble Prize for literature in 1938 “for her rich and truly epic descriptions of peasant life in China and for her biographical masterpieces.”