Category: Birthdays

… of Kim Novak. Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton (Vertigo) and Madge Owens (Picnic) is 73.

… of George Segal. Jack Gallo (Just Shoot Me) and Nick (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) is 72.

… of Carol Lynley. Nonnie Parry (The Poseidon Adventure) and Janet Willard (Blue Denim) is 64.

… of Peter Tork of the Monkees. He’s 64.

… of Jerry Springer. He’s 62.

… of Stockard Channing. Abbey Bartlet (West Wing) and Louisa (‘Ouisa’) Kittredge (Six Degrees of Separation) is 62.

… of Mike Krzyzewski. The Duke coach is 59 today.

… of Peter Gabriel. He’s 56.

… of actor Neal McDonough. He’s 40.

The first person to break the sound barrier is 83 today.

Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, reportedly with two ribs broken two nights before in a drunken horseback ride. The plane, Glamorous Glennis, is hanging from the Air & Space Museum ceiling. Glennis was Mrs. Yeager.

Yeager is the basis for the character played by Sam Shepard in The Right Stuff. Glennis was played by Barbara Hershey.

In his wonderful book The Right Stuff Tom Wolfe explains that West Virginian Yeager is the reason why all airline pilots talk with a drawl — to be like Yeager, “the most righteous of all the posessors of the right stuff.”

… of Bill Russell. He’s 72 today. Back-to-back NCAA championships at the University of San Francisco, 1955-1956 — 55 consecutive wins. Eleven NBA championships with the Celtics in 13 years, 1957-1969 — Russell was the only player there for all 11. Simply the greatest winner in basketball history. (And the best laugh.)

… of author Judy Blume. She’s 68.

… of Ray Manzarek. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is 67.

The Doors formed in the summer of 1965 around Morrison and Manzarek, who’d met at UCLA’s film school. A year later the group signed with Elektra Records, recording six landmark studio LPs and a live album for the label. They achieved popular success and critical acclaim for their 1967 debut, The Doors (which included their eleven-minute epic “The End” and “Light My Fire,” a Number One hit at the height of the Summer of Love), and all the other albums that followed.
(Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of actress Maud Adams. Octopussy is 61.

… of actress Christina Ricci. Wednesday Addams is 26.

Lorne Greene (aka Ben Cartwright) was born on this date in 1915.

Omar Bradley, the G.I General, was born on this date in 1893.

And it’s the birthday of artist Thomas Moran, born on this date in 1837. The National Gallery of Art has an outstanding online exhibit on Moran. Click to see a replica of his classic painting Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

… were born on this date in 1809.

February 12, 1809, was a particularly promising day in the evolution of the human species.

… of actor Leslie Nielsen. Lt. Frank Drebin is 80.

… of Conrad Janis. Mindy’s father on Mork and Mindy is 78.

… of Tina Louise. Ginger, the movie star from Gilligan’s Island, is 72.

… of Burt Reynolds. Bandit is 70. Burt — his real name is Burton Reynolds — was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for Boogie Nights.

… of Gerry Goffin. Married to Carole King while they were still teenagers, Goffin is 67.

Songwriting partners Gerry Goffin and Carole King composed a string of classic hits and cherished album tracks for a variety of artists during the Sixties. A brief sampling: “Up On the Roof” (the Drifters), “One Fine Day” (the Chiffons), “I’m Into Something Good” (Herman’s Hermits), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” (the Shirelles), “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee), “Chains” (the Cookies), “Don’t Bring Me Down” (the Animals), “Take a Giant Step” (the Monkees) and “Goin’ Back” (the Byrds). The prolific duo, who remained married for much of the Sixties, even tapped their babysitter to sing one of the songs they’d written, and the result was a Number One hit and a new dance craze: “The Loco-Motion,” by Little Eva. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of Bobby “Boris” Pickett. Still doing the “Monster Mash” at 66.

… of Sheryl Crow. She’s 44.

I wanna rock and roll this party
I still wanna have some fun
I wanna leave you feeling breathless
Show you how the west was won
But I gotta fly
I gotta fly o

Like Steve McQueen
All I need’s a fast machine
I’m gonna make it all right
Like Steve McQueen
Underneath your radar screen
You’ll never catch me tonite

… of Jennifer Aniston. She’s 37. Had her photo taken enough to be 137.

… of Q’orianka. Pocahontas (The New World) is 16.

… of Carole King. Tonight You’re Mine Completely, You Give Your Love So Sweetly — at 64.

… of Joe Pesci. Tommy DeVito is no longer a “yute,” he’s 63.

… of Barbara Lewis. Baby I’m Yours and I’ll be Yours Until the Stars Fall from the Sky — or until she’s 63.

… of Alice Walker. One assumes her birthday cake is The Color Purple as she turns 62 today.

… of Mia Farrow. The former Mrs. André Previn, Mrs. Frank Sinatra and significant other of Woody Allen is 61.

… of Travis Tritt. He’s 43. Here’s A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares).

… of Julie Warner. Vialula is 41 today. Seems like an occasion to watch Doc Hollywood.

… of Ted Koppel. Alfred E. Newman’s handsome brother is 66.

… of Nick Nolte. Twice nominated for the best acting Oscar (The Prince of Tides, Affliction), he’s 65.

… of Mary Steenburgen. The Oscar-winning actress (Melvin and Howard) is 53.

… of John Grisham. The attorney turned best-selling author is 51.

… of Gary Coleman. Arnold is 38.

… of Mary McCormack. West Wing’s national security advisor is 37. Beats playing Howard Stern’s wife (Private Parts).

Famed “Sweater Girl” Lana Turner — Julia Jean Mildred Frances Turner — was born on this date in 1921.

Unfortunately, her private life – seven marriages, affairs almost too numerous to mention, a long bout with alcoholism and the famous incident where her gangster lover, Johnny Stompanato, was killed by her daughter, Cheryl Crane – came to overshadow her professional accomplishments. (IMDB Mini biography)

Well, I guess.

… of James Spader. He’s 46.

… of Yukon, Oklahoma’s Garth Brooks. He’s 44. (The paint with his name is fading on the town water tower.)

… of Eddie Izzard. He’s 44.

… of Chris Rock. He’s 41.

… of Ashton Kutcher. He’s 28.

… of actor-comedian Red Buttons. He’s 87.

… of priest-professor-author Andrew M. Greeley. He’s 78.

… of baseball hall-of-famer Hank Aaron. Henry is 72.

… of singer-songwriter Barrett Strong. He’s 65. “Money (That’s What I Want)” was Strong’s only hit as a singer. The record provided Berry Gordon the capital to expand into Motown. With Norman Whitfield, Strong authored “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby,” “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” “Ball of Confusion,” and “War.”

… of football hall-of-famer Roger Staubach. Jolly Roger is 64.

… of rock musician Al Kooper. If for nothing else, Kooper is known for playing the organ on Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” He’s 62.

… of actress Barbara Hershey. She’s 58.

… of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh. She’s 44.

… of Tom Smothers. He’s 69.

… of Graham Nash. The Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash (or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) is 64.

… of Farrah Fawcett. Charlie’s Angel is 59.

… of Christie Brinkley. She’s 52.

James Joyce was born in Rathgar, a suburb of Dublin, on this date in 1882. Joyce only wrote four books of fiction in his life, but they’re all considered masterpieces — Dubliners (1914), A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939).

But, of course, it is on June 16th that we should celebrate Joyce.

… of Gene Hackman. The Oscar-winning actor is 76. He won Best Actor for The French Connection and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Unforgiven. He has received three other nominations.

… of Dick Cheney. The Vice President is 65. Retirement age.

… of Phil Collins. The singer is 55.

… of actress Jeanne Moreau. She’s 78. Moreau is best known for French New Wave films Jules and Jim (1962) and The Bride Wore Black (1968). Roger Ebert:

This is ridiculous, I told myself. You’ve interviewed Ingmar Bergman. Robert Mitchum. John Wayne. You got through those okay. Why should you be scared of Jeanne Moreau? Simply because she’s the greatest movie actress of the last 20 years? Simply because she’s made more good films for great directors than anybody else? Simply because something in her face and manner has fascinated you since you sat through “Jules and Jim” twice in a row? She’s only human; it’s not like she’s a goddess.

But I suspected that she was.

… of Mariska Hargitay. Jayne Mansfield’s daughter is 42. (She was in the car when her mother was killed in 1967.) Ms. Hargitay plays Detective Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

It’s the birthday of Humphrey Bogart, born on this day in 1899. Bogart was nominated for the best actor Oscar for Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny and The African Queen; he won for The African Queen. According to The Writer’s Almanac:

[Bogart] was expelled from Massachusetts’ Phillips Academy and immediately joined the Navy to fight in World War I, serving as a ship’s gunner. One day, while roughhousing on the ship’s wooden stairway, he tripped and fell, and a splinter became lodged in his upper lip; the result was a scar, as well as partial paralysis of the lip, resulting in the tight-set mouth and lisp that became one of his most distinctive onscreen qualities.

And, born on this date in 1910, was Django Reinhardt. the first significant jazz figure in Europe — and the most influential European in jazz to this day. Play Jazz Guitar.com has some interesting background:

A violinist first and a guitarist later, Jean Baptiste “Django” Reinhardt grew up in a gypsy camp near Paris where he absorbed the gypsy strain into his music. A disastrous caravan fire in 1928 badly burned his left hand, depriving him of the use of the fourth and fifth fingers, but the resourceful Reinhardt figured out a novel fingering system to get around the problem that probably accounts for some of the originality of his style. According to one story, during his recovery period, Reinhardt was introduced to American jazz when he found a 78 RPM disc of Louis Armstrong’s “Dallas Blues” at an Orleans flea market. He then resumed his career playing in Parisian cafes until one day in 1934 when Hot Club chief Pierre Nourry proposed the idea of an all-string band to Reinhardt and Grappelli. Thus was born the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, which quickly became an international draw thanks to a long, splendid series of Ultraphone, Decca and HMV recordings.

The Red Hot Jazz Archive has some on-line recordings of the Quintette of the Hot Club of France.

… of Paul Scofield. The Oscar-winner (A Man for All Seasons) is 84.

… of Jack Nicklaus. He’s 66.

… of Placido Domingo. He’s 65.

… of Geena Davis. She’s 50.

… of Jean Stapleton. Edith Bunker is 83. She won three Emmys and two Golden Globes in that role.

… of Tippi Hedren. The actress in Hitchcock’s The Birds is 76.

… of Phil Everly. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with older brother Don) is 67.

Phil and Don transformed the Appalachian folk, bluegrass and country sounds of their Kentucky boyhood into a richly harmonized form of rock and roll. The sons of entertainers Margaret and Ike Everly, a traveling country and western team, the Everly Brothers performed as part of the family act on radio and in concert. On their own, they sang beguilingly of adolescent romance in crisp, shimmering voices. With Don taking the melody and Phil harmonizing above him, the Everlys released a steady string of hit records between 1957-1962 that crossed over from country to pop and even R&B charts. (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

… of Shelley Fabares. Donna Reed’s television daughter is 62.

… of Dolly Parton. She’s 60.

With their strong feminine stances in the 1960s and 1970s, Dolly Rebecca Parton, along with fellow female pioneers Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, revolutionized the world of country music for women performers. Then Parton took her crusade a step farther by crossing over to the pop world—landing on the cover of Rolling Stone, achieving pop hits, and starring in a series of Hollywood movies. Along the way, however, she ultimately lost much of her core country audience, to the point that in 1997 she dissolved her fan club, which had been one of the staunchest in country music. But Parton’s career—and her appeal to fans of hard country—was far from over. Beginning in 1999 she returned to the music of her youth and began rebuilding a tradition-minded fan base with a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums. (Country Music Hall of Fame)

… of Desi Arnaz Jr. Little Ricky is 53.

… of Katey Sagal. The Married…With Children mom is 49.

… of Drea de Matteo. The actress who was whacked on The Sopranos is 34.

Paul Cezanne was born on this date in 1839. Click Cezanne painting of Chrysanthemums to enlarge.

… of Kevin Costner. Costner won the Oscars for director and best picture for Dances With Wolves and was nominated for the best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Lt. John Dunbar. He’s 51 today.

… of Jesse L. Martin. The Law & Order star is 37.

It’s also the birthday of Cary Grant (Archibald Alexander Leach, 1904-1986) and Danny Kaye (David Daniel Kaminski, 1913-1987).