Category: Birthdays

… of Dick Van Dyke. Rob Petrie is 81. Nine emmy nominations, four wins.

… of Christopher Plummer. Captain Georg von Trapp is 79. More recently Plummer has been in A Beautiful Mind, Syriana and The Lake House. Five films in 2005, a couple more in 2006, and a handful in production.

… of Ferguson Jenkins. The baseball hall-of-famer is 63.

Canada’s first Hall of Fame member, Fergie Jenkins used pinpoint control and effectively changed speeds to win 284 games. Cast in the same mold as finesse artists like Catfish Hunter and Robin Roberts, Jenkins forged an impressive 3.34 ERA despite playing 12 of his 19 seasons in hitters’ ballparks – Wrigley Field and Fenway Park. A diligent workhorse, Jenkins used an easy, uncomplicated motion to reach the 20-win mark seven times and capture the National League Cy Young Award in 1971. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)

… of actress Wendie Malick. She’s 56. Just shoot her.

… of Ben Bernanke. The chairman of the Federal Reserve is 53. If he lasts as long as Greenspan he’ll still be chairman in 2032.

… of Steve Buscemi. The actor who portrayed the creepy Tony Blundetto (Tony Soprano’s cousin) and the even creepier Carl Showalter in Fargo is 49.

… of Johnny Whitaker. That would be Buffy’s brother Jody on Family Affair. He’s 47.

… of Jamie Foxx. The Oscar-winner is 39.

… of Mack. The oldest of The Sweeties® is 6. That’s Mack as Luke Skywalker for Halloween.

… of my friend and sometime reader of this blog, David. Happy Birthday, David. [Correction: His birthday is actual December 3rd.]

… of Bob Barker. C’mon down, he’s 83. NewMexiKen actually remembers seeing Ralph Edwards introduce Barker as the host of the daytime version of Truth Or Consequences 50 years ago. Barker hosted that show for 18 years.

… of Connie Francis. Do you suppose she’s still trying to get to where the boys are at 68.

… Dionne Warwick. Perhaps she’d just as soon walk on by her 66th birthday.

… of Dickey Betts. The member of the Allman Brothers band is 63.

… of Cathy Rigby. The Olympic gymnast is 54.

… of Tracy Austin. The one-time tennis prodigy is 44.

… of Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly. She’s 36.

Francis Albert Sinatra was born on this date 91 years ago. This from Sinatra’s New York Times obituary in 1998:

Widely held to be the greatest singer in American pop history and one of the most successful entertainers of the 20th century, Sinatra was also the first modern pop superstar. He defined that role in the early 1940’s when his first solo appearances provoked the kind of mass pandemonium that later greeted Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

During a show business career that spanned more than 50 years and comprised recordings, film and television as well as countless performances in nightclubs, concert halls and sports arenas, Sinatra stood as a singular mirror of the American psyche.

His evolution from the idealistic crooner of the early 1940’s to the sophisticated swinger of the 50’s and 60’s seemed to personify the country’s loss of innocence.

Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution on this date in 1787, thereby becoming the second state.

… of Kirk Douglas. The three-time Oscar nominee is 90. NewMexiKen’s favorite Douglas performance is in Lonely Are the Brave. “Filmed on location in New Mexico, Lonely are the Brave was adapted by Dalton Trumbo from Edward Abbey’s novel Brave Cowboy.”

… of Judi Dench. The five-time Oscar nominee, one-time winner, is 72.

… of Beau Bridges. Jeff’s big brother is 65. No Oscars for Beau, but he has three wins from 10 Emmy nominations.

… of Tom Kite. He’s 57.

… of John Malkovich. The two-time Oscar nominee is 53.

… of Felicity Huffman. Last year’s Oscar nominee is 44.

… of Eli Wallach. Tuco is 91. “Hey Blondie, do you know what you are? You’re a stinking son of a….” [Theme starts.]

… of Ellen Burstyn. Alice is 74. Ms. Burstyn has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress five times, winning for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1975. She was also nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for The Last Picture Show.

… of Johnny Bench. The Hall of Fame catcher is 59.

… of Larry Bird. The Basketball Hall of Famer is 50.

… of T.O., Terrell Owens. He’s 33, but no more mature than he was at 9.

… of Dave Brubeck. Dave’s taken five for 86 years.

… of Tom Hulce. The actor who played Mozart in Amadeus is 53. (The film came out in 1984.) Hulce got an Oscar nomination for that performance. He shows up from time-to-time, but the only other role that comes to mind is Larry Kroger in Animal House.

… of Steven Wright. He’s 51.

• All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.
• If at first you don’t succeed, then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.
• How do you tell when you’re out of invisible ink?
• Boycott shampoo! Demand the REAL poo!
• Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.
• A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths.
• A friend of mine once sent me a post card with a picture of the entire planet Earth taken from space. On the back it said, “Wish you were here.”
• I bought some batteries, but they weren’t included.
• If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?
• What’s another word for Thesaurus?
• If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?

One of America’s great lyricists, Ira Gershwin was born on this date in 1896.

Summertime
And the livin’ is easy,
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high.
Oh yo’ daddy’s rich
An’ yo’ ma is good lookin’
So hush, little baby,
Don’t you cry.

[with Dubose Heyward]

*****

You’ve made my life so glamorous
You can’t blame me for feeling amorous.
Oh! ‘S wonderful! ‘S marvelous!
That you should care for me!

‘S wonderful! ‘S marvelous!
That you should care for me!
‘S awful nice! ‘S paradise!
‘S what I love to see!

*****

The way you wear your hat,
The way you sip your tea,
The mem’ry of all that —
No, no! They can’t take that away from me!

The way your smile just beams,
The way you sing off key,
The way you haunt my dreams —
No, no! They can’t take that away from me!

… of Joan Didion and Calvin Trillin, two of America’s finest writers, both of whom have written movingly about the loss of their spouse. Didion is 72 and Trillin is 71.

Another writer born on this date is becoming a septuagenarian today. That’s James Lee Burke, author of the “Dave Robicheaux” detective novels.

The Writer’s Almanac has brief essays today about Burke, Trillin and Didion.

Richard Penniman was born 72 years ago today.

He claims to be “the architect of rock and roll,” and history would seem to bear out Little Richard’s boast. More than any other performer – save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as “Tutti Frutti,” “Long Tall Sally” and “Good Golly, Miss Molly” defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll. Onstage, he’d deliver wild, piano-pounding epistles while costumed in sequined vests, mascara, lipstick, and a pompadour that shook with every thundering beat. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum)

J.J. Cale is 68. The author of “Cocaine” and “After Midnight” has a great new album with Eric Claption.

Frankie Muniz is 21 today. Party On Malcolm.

… of Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Inspector Lewis Erskine and Stuart Bailey is 88.

… of Dick Clark. America’s oldest teenager is 77.

… of movie director Ridley Scott. He’s 69. Three nominations for the best director Oscar. Can you name the films?

… of David Mamet. The playwright is 59. Two Oscar nomintations for writing, Wag the Dog and The Verdict.

… of Mandy Patinkin. Inigo Montoya is 54.

… of Ben Stiller. He’s 41.

… of Sandra Oh. The actress (Sideways, Arli$$, Grey’s Anatomy) is 36.

Oliver Winchester was born on this date in 1810. A clothing manufacturer, Winchester bought a small failing division of Smith & Wesson in 1850, the division that made a rudimentary repeating rifle. In 1860, an engineer working for Winchester, Benjamin Tyler Henry, developed the first successful repeating rifle. It was improved upon and became known as the Winchester in 1866.

It was on this date in 1835 that Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born.

He’s best known to us today for his novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but in his own lifetime his best-selling books were his travel books such as Roughing It (1872), A Tramp Abroad (1880), and Life on the Mississippi (1883).

The Writer’s Almanac has much more.

And Winston Churchill was born on this date in 1874.

Churchillian quotes:

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”

“He has all of the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.”

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

“Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.”

… of Vin Scully. He’s 79. Scully started doing Dodger’s broadcasts in Brooklyn in 1950. His current contract runs through the 2008 season.

… of Diane Ladd. She’s 74. Ladd has appeared in more than 100 films and television programs and has been nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar three times including her portrayal of Flo in “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.”

… of Don Cheadle. He’s 42. Cheadle was, of course, nominated for the best actor Oscar for his performance in “Hotel Rwanda.”

Louisa May Alcott was born on this date in 1832. Garrison Keillor has this interesting background on The Writer’s Almanac back in 2003.

It’s the birthday of Louisa May Alcott, born in Germantown, Pennsylvania (1832), but brought up in Concord, Massachusetts, among the Transcendentalists, of which her father was one. She’s remembered now for Little Women (1869), which she found tedious to write. In her journal she wrote, “I plod away, though I don’t enjoy this sort of thing.” She much preferred writing lurid, Gothic stories, about women who sold their souls to the devil, and governesses who looked sweet and innocent by day but who ruined the souls of little children by night. She published these stories under several different pen names. Her publishers offered her more money if she would agree to publish under her own name, but she could not bring herself to embarrass her father and his colleague, Ralph Waldo Emerson. She wrote to a friend, “To have had Mr. Emerson for an intellectual god all one’s life is to be invested with a chain armor of propriety.”

The Library of Congress’ Today in History has a lot about Alcott.

… of Barry Gordy. The founder of Motown is 77.

… of Randy Newman. The 16-time Oscar nominee (one win) is 63. The win was for “If I Didn’t Have You” from “Monsters, Inc.”

… of Paul Shaffer. “The Letterman Show” band-leader is 57.

… of Ed Harris. The four-time Oscar nominee is 56. Harris has been nominated for three best supporting actor Oscars and once as best actor (for “Pollock”).

… of S. Epatha Merkerson. Lt. Van Buren is 54.

… of Judd Nelson. John Bender of “The Breakfast Club” is 47.

… of Jon Stewart. “The Daily Show” star is 44.

… of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg. She’s 49 today.

… of Mike Scioscia. He’s 48.

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born in Seattle on this date in 1942. His name was changed to James Marshall Hendrix at age four. He acquired his first guitar at age 16. We know him as Jimi.

… Percy Sledge, 65.

Percy Sledge will forever be associated with “When a Man Loves a Woman,” a pleading, soulful ballad he sang with wrenching, convincing anguish and passion.

Sledge sang all of his songs that way, delivering them in a powerful rush where he quickly changed from soulful belting to quavering, tearful pleas. It was a voice that made him one of the key figures of deep Southern soul during the late ’60s. (VH1.com)

The song was number one for two weeks in 1966.

… Ben Stein, the writer/actor/game show host, is 62.

… Jill Hennessy, 38. The Canadian has a twin sister, also 38 today, named Jacqueline. They once had an act, Jack and Jill. In her first role, Hennessy was billed as Jillian Hennessy.

… Christina Applegate, 35. Ms. Applegate was nominated twice for the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for appearances on “Friends.” She won in 2003. She first appeared on television in a commercial at age five months.

… Donovan McNabb, just 30.

… Barbara and Jenna Bush, 25.

Andrew Carnegie was born on this date in 1835. He died in 1919.

Until he was a septuagenarian, Andrew Carnegie believed that he was born in 1837. Then on a return visit to his native town in Scotland he learned that the date 1837 in the church records merely meant that the records were commenced in that year, and he was listed as a living child in the first census. He announced his correction of the date of his birth by clicking the news to his brother telegraphers on a miniature telegraph instrument at his plate at the dinner they were giving in his honor, supposing it to be his seventy-first when it was really his seventy-third birthday. (The New York Times)

“The day is not far distant when the man who dies leaving behind him millions of available wealth, which were free for him to administer during life, will pass away ‘unwept, unhonored, and unsung,’ no matter to what use he leaves the dross which he cannot take with him. Of such as these the public verdict will be, ‘The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.'” Andrew Carnegie (1898)

Karl Benz, the inventor of the gasoline-powered automobile (1885), was born on this date in 1844.

Between 1885 and 1887, three versions of the three-wheeler were designed: the Model 1 which Benz donated to the Deutsches Museum in 1906, the Model 2 which was probably altered and rebuilt several times, and lastly the Model 3 with wood-spoked wheels which Bertha Benz took on the first long-distance journey in 1888.

By 1886 the existing production facilities could no longer cope with the insatiable demand for stationary engines and “Benz & Co. Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik” moved to a larger factory building in Waldhofstrasse in which motor vehicle engines were manufactured until 1908. The appearance in 1890 of new partners, Friedrich von Fischer and Julius Ganß, marked the growth of “Rheinische Gasmotoren-Fabrik” into Germany’s second-largest engine factory. In 1893 Karl Benz introduced the axle-pivot steering system into automobile construction and in 1896 he developed the “contra” engine which was to become the precursor to today’s horizontally opposed piston engine.

Between 1894 and 1901 the Benz “Velo” was built at Benz & Co. It was a reasonably priced, light automobile for two people which signaled the breakthrough to higher sales and, with total production of some 1200 units, can be legitimately described as the first series production car. As the turn of the century approached, Benz & Co. had grown into the world’s leading automotive manufacturer. In 1899 the firm was converted into a joint-stock company. (Mercedes-Benz USA)

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born on this date in 1881. He became Pope John XXIII in 1958 (and died in 1963).

Joe DiMaggio was born on this date in 1914. He died in 1999.

Joe DiMaggio is remembered as one of the game’s most graceful athletes – a “picture player” both at bat and in center field. Many rate his 56-consecutive-game hitting streak in 1941 as the top baseball feat of all time. “The Yankee Clipper” used an unusually wide stance in winning two batting championships and three MVP awards. In 13 seasons he amassed 361 homers, averaged 118 RBI annually and compiled a .325 lifetime batting mark. At baseball’s 1969 Centennial Celebration, he was named the game’s greatest living player.

“Joe DiMaggio was the greatest all-around player I ever saw. His career cannot be summed up in numbers and awards. It might sound corny, but he had a profound and lasting impact on the country.”
— Ted Williams

(Baseball Hall of Fame)

John F. Kennedy Jr. was born on this date in 1960. He died in 1999. The photo was taken on his third birthday.

Junipero Serra (1713-1784)

“A priest in the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church, Junipero Serra was a driving force in the Spanish conquest and colonization of what is now the state of California.” (PBS – THE WEST)

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850)

Northerners and Southerners disputed sharply whether the territories wrested from Mexico should be opened to slavery, and some Southerners even threatened secession. Standing firm, Zachary Taylor was prepared to hold the Union together by armed force rather than by compromise.

Born in Virginia in 1784, he was taken as an infant to Kentucky and raised on a plantation. He was a career officer in the Army, but his talk was most often of cotton raising. His home was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and he owned a plantation in Mississippi.

But Taylor did not defend slavery or southern sectionalism; 40 years in the Army made him a strong nationalist.
(The White House)

Taylor’s early death probably delayed New Mexico’s entry into the Union by 62 years. It’s also interesting to compare this Virginian career Army officer’s thinking about the Union to another’s, that is, Robert E. Lee.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

Rosa La Rouge – À Montrouge (1886-87). Click to view larger version.

Scott Joplin (1868-1917)

The great Ragtime composer left no sound recordings, but he did make several piano rolls. It’s interesting to hear his tempo.

Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)

“Many people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don’t put off being happy until some future date.”

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

… of Billie Jean King. She’s 63.

… of Steve Van Zandt. The musician/actor is 56.

… of Jamie Lee Curtis. She’s 48.

… of Mariel Hemingway. She’s 45.

… of Boris Becker. He’s 39.

… of Scarlett Johansson. She’s 22.

Abigail Adams, America’s second first lady and the mother of the sixth president, was born on this date in 1744.

Songwriter Hoagy Carmichael was born on this date in 1899: “Stardust,” “Georgia on My Mind,” “Up The Lazy River,” “Heart and Soul.”

… of baseball hall-of-famer Stan Musial. He’s 86. Stan “The Man” graced the first cover ever of “Sports Illustrated” (1954).

… of “That Girl” Marlo Thomas, now 69.

… of actress Juliet Mills. Hayley’s older sister is 65. Juliet Mills first appeared in a movie in 1942, when she played an infant.

… basketball hall-of-famer Earl Monroe. The Pearl is 62.

… of writer-director-actor Harold Ramis. He’s 62. Ramis co-wrote the screenplay and directed “Groundhog Day,” enough to make me a fan. He was the doctor in the film.

… of Goldie Hawn. Kate Hudson’s mom is 61.

… of the other Judy Garland daughter, Lorna Luft. She’s 54.

… of the not so desperate Nicollette Sheridan. She’s 43.

… of Björk. She’s 41.

… of football hall-of-famer Troy Aikman. He’s 40.

… of probably future baseball hall-of-famer Ken Griffey Jr. Junior is 37.