Category: Birthdays

… of Betty White. The character actress, who first appeared on television in 1949, and most famous now for The Golden Girls, is 85. Miss White has been nominated for 15 Emmy Awards, winning four times.

… of Eartha Kitt. Santa’s Baby is 80.

… of James Earl Jones. The voice of Darth Vader is 76. Jones has been in more than 130 films and appeared on more than 50 television programs. He was nominated for the 1971 best actor Oscar for The Great White Hope.

… of long-time baseball coach Don Zimmer, now 76.

… of Muhammad Ali. The Champ is 65.

… of Bangle Susanna Hoffs, now 48.

… of Jim Carrey. The actor is 45.

… of Kid Rock. He’s 36.

And it’s the birthday of Al Capone, born in Naples, Italy, in 1899. Here’s some of the background from his obituary in The New York Times when he died in 1947 at the age of 48.

Alphonse (Scarface) Capone, the fat boy from Brooklyn, was a Horatio Alger hero–underworld version. More than any other one man he represented, at the height of his power from 1925 through 1931, the debauchery of the “dry” era. He seized and held in thrall during that period the great city of Chicago and its suburbs.

Head of the cruelest cutthroats in American history, he inspired gang wars in which more than 300 men died by the knife, the shotgun, the tommy gun and the pineapple, the gangster adaptation of the World War I hand grenade.

His infamy made international legend. In France, for example, he was “The One Who Is Scarred.” He was the symbol of the ultimate in American lawlessness.

Capone won great wealth; how much, no one will ever know, except that the figure was fantastic. He remained immune from prosecution for his multitudinous murders (including the St. Valentine Day Massacre in 1929 when his gunners, dressed as policemen, trapped and killed eight of the Bugs Moran bootleg outfit in a Chicago garage), but was brought to book, finally, on the comparatively sissy charge of evasion of income taxes amounting to around $215,000.

For this, he was sentenced to eleven years in Federal prison–serving first at Atlanta, then on The Rock, at Alcatraz–and was fined $50,000, with $20,000 additional for costs. With time out for good conduct, he finished this sentence in mid-January of 1939; but by then he was a slack- jawed paretic overcome by social disease, and paralytic to boot.

… this year for double numbers.

Andy Rooney, 88.
Faye Dunaway, 66.
Maureen Dowd, 55.
Steven Soderbergh, 44.

… of two hotties and one semi-hottie.

Orlando Bloom is 30, Patrick Dempsey is 41 and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is 46.

… of Ray Price. Still for the good times at 81.

When Ray Noble Price was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, many noted that the honor was long overdue. Such feelings weren’t based so much on the longevity of his career or on the number of major hits he has recorded, for in those regards Price was no different from many other deserving artists awaiting induction. More importantly, Price has been one of country’s great innovators. He changed the sound of country music from the late 1950s forward by developing a rhythmic brand of honky-tonk that has been hugely influential ever since. As steel guitarist Don Helms, a veteran of Hank Williams’s Drifting Cowboys once put it, “Ray Price created an era.” (Country Music Hall of Fame)

… of William Lee Golden. The bearded member, but not the bass voice, of the Oak Ridge Boys is 68.

… of Smokin’ Joe Frazier. The champ is 63.

… of Cynthia Robinson. She’s dancing to the music at 61.

You might like to hear the horns blowin’,
Cynthia on the throne, yeah!
Cynthia & Jerry got a message they’re sayin’:
[Cynthia:] All the squares, go home!

… of Kirstie Alley. She’s 56.

… of the most dangerous man in America, Rush Limbaugh. The audio-terrorist is 56.

… of Howard Stern. He’s 53.

… of broadcast journalist Christiane Amanpour. She’s 49.

… of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. The billionaire is 43.

… of Willie McCovey. “Stretch,” a baseball hall-of-famer, is 69.

… of Scott McKenzie. Going to San Francisco with some flowers in his hair at 68.

… of Rod Stewart. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 62.

… of William Sanderson. The character actor (E.B. Farnum in “Deadwood,” Larry on “Newhart”) is 59.

… of George Foreman. The boxing hall-of-famer and cook is 58. Foreman has five daughters and five sons and has named all of the sons George: George Jr., George III, George IV, George V, and George VI.

… of Patricia Mae Andrzejewski. Pat Benatar is 54. She won four consecutive Grammy awards in the 1980s for “Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female.”

… of Shawn Colvin. The singer is 51.

… of Bart Starr. The hall-of-fame quarterback is 73.

… of Dick Enberg. The sportscaster is 72 (oh, my!).

… of Joan Baez. The singer is 66.

… of Jimmy Page. The Led Zeppelin rocker is 63.

Combining the visceral power and intensity of hard rock with the finesse and delicacy of British folk music, Led Zeppelin redefined rock in the Seventies and for all time. They were as influential in that decade as the Beatles were in the prior one. Their impact extends to classic and alternative rockers alike. Then and now, Led Zeppelin looms larger than life on the rock landscape as a band for the ages with an almost mystical power to evoke primal passions. The combination of Jimmy Page’s powerful, layered guitar work, Robert Plant’s keening, upper-timbre vocals, John Paul Jones’ melodic bass playing and keyboard work, and John Bonham’s thunderous drumming made for a band whose alchemy proved enchanting and irresistible. “The motto of the group is definitely, ‘Ever onward,’” Page said in 1977, perfectly summing up Led Zeppelin’s forward-thinking philosophy. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of Brenda Gayle Webb. Loretta Lynn’s little sister Crystal Gayle is 56.

… of Dave Matthews. He’s 40.

Tia Carrere, 40.

Cuba Gooding Jr., 39.

Christy Turlington, 38.

Taye Diggs, 36.

Paz Vega, 31.

Oh, and anti-hottie Dennis Hastert is 65.

… of J.D. Salinger. The reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye is 88.

… of Frank Langella. The actor is 67.

… of Country Joe McDonald. Give me an “F”… He’s 65.

… of Grandmaster Flash. The rapper is 49.

Also born on New Year’s Day:

Betsy Ross in 1752.

William Fox (of Fox Pictures) in 1879.

“Wild Bill” Donovan in 1883. Donovan directed the American Office of Strategic Service during World War II, precursor to the CIA.

J. Edgar Hoover, in 1895.

Barry Goldwater in 1909.

… of Odetta. The folk and blues singer is 76.

… of Anthony Hopkins. The Oscar winner is 69. Hopkins has been nominated for Best Actor three times, winning for The Silence of the Lambs. He was also nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Amistad.

… of Tim Considine. Spin of “Spin and Marty” is 66. Considine was also the oldest of “My Three Sons” and played the soldier slapped by General Patton in the film Patton.

… of Sarah Miles. The Oscar nominee (best actress for Ryan’s Daughter) is 65.

… of Ben Kingsley. The Oscar winner is 63. He won Best Actor for his portrayal of Gandhi. He was also nominated for Best Actor for House of Sand and Fog and twice for Best Supporting Actor.

… of Diane Von Furstenberg. The fashion designer is 60.

… of Tim Matheson. Animal House’s “Otter,” better known recently as Vice President John Hoynes on “West Wing,” is 59.

… of Donna Summer. The Bad Girl is 58.

… of Bebe Neuwirth. Lilith is 48. Ms. Neuwirth won the Emmy twice for this role on Cheers.

… of Val Kilmer. “Iceman” is 47.

… of Gong Li. The actress is 41.

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on this date in 1943. His grandmother gave him a guitar while he lived in Tucson and eventually he became John Denver. Denver died in 1997 when his experimental plane crashed into Monterey Bay.

George C. Marshall was born on this date in 1880.

Few Americans in the twentieth century have left a greater legacy to world peace than George C. Marshall (1880-1959). As chief of staff of the United States Army during World War II, it fell to Marshall to raise, train, and equip an army of several million men. It was Marshall who selected the officer corps and it was Marshall who played a leading role in planning military operations on a global scale. In the end, it was Marshall whom British Prime Minister Winston Churchill hailed as “the true organizer of victory.”

Yet history will associate Marshall foremost as the author of the Marshall Plan. The idea of extending billions of American dollars for European economic recovery was not his alone. He was only one of many Western leaders who realized the tragic consequences of doing nothing for those war-shattered countries in which basic living conditions were deplorable and still deteriorating two years after the end of the fighting. But Marshall, more than anyone else, led the way. In an address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, Marshall, in his capacity as secretary of state, articulated the general principles of the Marshall Plan. (National Portrait Gallery)

Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953.

Henri Matisse was born on this date in 1869. With Picasso, Matisse is considered the pinnacle of 20th century painting.

The WebMuseum has details of the life and works of Matisse including several examples.

Matisse died in 1954.

… of Bo Diddley. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 78.

Music historian Robert Palmer has described Bo Diddley as “one of the most original and fertile rhythmic intelligences of our time.” He will forever be known as the creator of the “Bo Diddley beat,” one of the cornerstone rhythms of rock and roll. He employed it in his namesake song, “Bo Diddley,” as well as other primal rockers like “Mona.” This distinctive African-based rhythm pattern (which goes bomp bomp bomp bomp-bomp) was picked up from Diddley by other artists and has been a distinctive and recurring element in rock and roll through the decades. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of Russ Tamblyn. Riff, “a Jet to his dying day,” is 72.

… of Sandy Koufax. The most dominant pitcher in the game in the early 1960s, the man who threw four no-hitters including a perfect game is 71.

… of Paul (Noel actually) Stookey. Paul of Peter, Paul & Mary is 69.

… of James Burrows. The director of “Taxi,” “Cheers” and “Will and Grace” is 66.

… of Fred Ward. The actor (Gus Grissom in “The Right Stuff”) is 64.

… of Monkees Michael Nesmith (64) and Davy Jones (61).

… of Patti Smith. Punk rock’s poet laureate is 60.

… of Meredith Viera and of Matt Lauer. The Today show hosts are 53 and 49.

… of Tracey Ullman. She’s 47.

… of Eldrick Woods. Tiger is 31.

… of LeBron James. He’s 22 today.

… of Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk. He’s 84.

… of Denzel Washington. The five-time Oscar nominee (two wins) is 52.

… of Scotty Moore. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 75.

Scotty Moore served as Elvis Presley’s guitarist from 1954 to 1958, widely regarded as Presley’s golden years. Moore was a participant in the historic early sessions at Sun Recording Studio that mark the birth of rock and roll. It was on Monday, July 5th, 1954, that Presley, Moore and bassist Bill Black broke into bluesman Arthur Cruddup’s “That’s All Right” in a freewheeling style that brought together country and blues. They took a similarly approach to bluegrass legend Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” With these spontaneous breakthroughs, conceived in the most innocent and intuitive way, both sides of Elvis Presley’s legendary first single—and the first new strains of rock and roll—were in the can. Notably, the single (Sun 209) was credited to “Elvis Presley, Scotty and Bill.” (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of John Amos. Adm. Percy Fitzwallace (West Wing), Toby (Kunta Kinte as adult) and J.J.’s father (Good Times) is 67.

… of Cokie Roberts. The daughter of Hale and Lindy Boggs is 63.

… of Gerard Depardieu. The actor who has played more famous characters than even Charlton Heston (Cyrano De Bergerac, Jean de Florette, Christopher Columbus, Honoré de Balzac, Le Comte de Monte Cristo, Porthos, Auguste Rodin, Franco, Danton) is 58.

… of David Knopfler. The other Knopfler is 54, not old enough to be in dire straits yet.

Marlene Dietrich was born on this date in 1901. Miss Dietrich was nominated for an Oscar for best actress for the 1930 film Morocco.

… of Joe Paterno. The football coach at Penn State is 80.

… of Phil Donahue. The talk show host is 71.

… of Jane Fonda. The two-time Oscar-winning actress is 69. Miss Fonda has been nominated for the best actress Oscar six times, winning for Klute and Coming Home. She was also nominated for best supporting actress for On Golden Pond.

… of Frank Zappa. He’s 66.

… of Carla Thomas. Gee Whiz, she’s 64.

… of Michael Tilson Thomas. The director of the San Francisco Symphony is 62.

… of Samuel L. Jackson. Mace Windu is 58. Jackson was nominated for the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction.

… of Chris Evert. The tennis hall-of-famer is 52.

… of Jane Kaczmarek. Malcolm’s mom is 51.

… of Ray Romano. Raymond is 49.

… of Kiefer Sutherland. He’s 40.

… of Julie Delpy. The actress, who was nominated for a writing Oscar for Before Sunset, is 37.

… of Oscar-nominee Cicely Tyson. She’s 73. Tyson was nominated for the 1973 best actress award for her performance in Sounder.

… of Al Kaline. The hall of fame right fielder is 72.

… of Kevin McHale. The basketball hall of fame member is 49.

… of Mike Lookinland. Bobby Brady is 46.

… of Flashdance’s Jennifer Beals. She’s 43. Flashdance was her second film. She played Clifford’s girlfriend in My Bodyguard. Adam Baldwin (no relation to “the” Baldwins) was the bodyguard, Matt Dillon the bully, and Joan Cusack another girlfriend.

… of Jake Gyllenhaal. The Oscar nominated actor is 26.

Edith Piaf was born on this date in 1915. Petite Piaf (4-10, 90 pounds) was known as the “sparrow of the streets.” She was the leading chanteuse of her day, most well-known for “La vie en rose.” (Here’s a video from 1954.) According to some reports she used her fame to ingratiate herself to Nazi officers during the occupation of France, then in turn used that to gain access to French prisoners with whom she had her photo taken. The prisoners used the photo to create false identity cards to assist in an escape. Ms. Piaf died in 1963.

… of Keith Richards. The Rolling Stone is 63.

… of Steven Spielberg. The director is 60. The Writer’s Almanac has an interesting little biographical essay about Spielberg.

… of Ray Liotta. The actor, a good fella, is 51.

… of Brad Pitt. Still pretty at 43.

… of Christina Aguilera. She’s 26.

Ty Cobb was born on this date in 1886.

Ty Cobb may have been baseball’s greatest player, if not the game’s fiercest competitor. His batting accomplishments are legendary – a lifetime average of .367, 297 triples, 4,191 hits, 12 batting titles (including nine in a row), 23 straight seasons in which he hit over .300, three .400 seasons (topped by a .420 mark in 1911), and 2,245 runs. Intimidating the opposition, “The Georgia Peach” stole 892 bases during a 24-year career, primarily with the Detroit Tigers. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

… of Jane Austen (1775-1817). Best known for her novels about young women yearning to get married, she was never married.

… George Santayana (1863-1952). “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

… of Margaret Mead (1901-1978). “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

… and of Arthur C. Clarke, he’s 89. Clarke’s laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

… of Tim Conway. He’s 73. Still never better than he was as Ensign Parker in McHale’s Navy.

… of Don Johnson. He’s 57. In my mind, Johnson is the arrogant ass pro-golfer he played in Tin Cup.

… of Adam Brody. He’s 27. Who is Adam Brody?

NewMexiKen forgot to mention Edvard Munch’s birthday yesterday (he was born December 12, 1863), but Google remembered.