In addition to Frank Sinatra (1915) and Edvard Munch (1863), today is the birthday
… of Bob Barker. C’mon down, he’s 88.
… of Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Bob Pettit. He is 79. He was NBA MVP four times.
… of Connie Francis. Do you suppose she’s still trying to get to where the boys are at 73?
… of Dionne Warwick. Perhaps she’d just as soon walk on by her 71st birthday.
… of Dickey Betts. The member of the Allman Brothers band is 68.
… of two-time Indy winner, Formula One and CART champion Emerson Fittipaldi. The Brazilian driver now spends most of his time in the fast lane with his right blinker on at age 65.
… of Cathy Rigby. The Olympic gymnast (1968, 1972) is 59.
… of Tracy Austin. The one-time tennis prodigy at 16 is now 49.
… of Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly. She’s 41.
… of Edward G. Robinson, born on this date in 1893. The actor, born Emanuel Goldenberg in Bucharest, Romania, was known primarily for portraying gangsters such as Rico in Little Caesar and Rocco in Key Largo. AFI considered him one of the greatest male stars of the 20th century. I saw him playing baccarat in Las Vegas in the mid-60s. His stack was $500 bills. (Bills larger than $100 were last printed in 1945 and withdrawn from circulation beginning in 1969.)
William Lloyd Garrison was born on this date in 1805. Garrison was the editor of The Liberator, the most prominent abolitionist newspaper, and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.
John Jay was born on this date in 1745. Jay, a delegate from New York, served in the First and Second Continental Congresses. During the War for Independence Jay served as president of the Continental Congress, minister plenipotentiary to Spain, and peace commissioner (in which he negotiated vital treaties with Spain and France). He was Secretary of Foreign Affairs under the Articles of Confederation. During the ratification of the Constitution, Jay was author of the Federalist Papers, along with Madison and Hamilton. He was the first Chief Justice of the United States. While Chief Justice, Jay negotiated a vital, though flawed treaty with Great Britain in 1794, the Jay Treaty. I guess he qualifies as a Founding Father.