• 1400 - Luca della Robbia, Italy, sculptor (Madonna of Rose Garden)
• 1428 - Richard Neville Warwick, 2nd earl of Salisbury
• 1452 - Jakob Obrecht, Brabant, composer
• 1459 - Djem Sultan, son of Turks sultan Mehmed II
• 1515 - Mary of Lorraine, France, pro-French Regent of Scotland
• 1523 - Charles "Cardinal" of Bourbon, archbishop Rouen
• 1573 - Ernst Casimir, count of Nassau-Dietz/mayor of Frisia/Groningen
• 1624 - Tomas Micieres, composer
• 1643 - Rene-Robert Cavelier La Salle, France, French explorer (Louisiana)
• 1684 - Johann J Dillenius, [Dillen], German botanist (Historia Muscorum)
• 1696 - James Oglethorpe, England, General/author/colonizer (Georgia)
• 1700 - Egbert de Vrij Temminck, Amsterdam regent
• 1702 - Jean E Liotard, [Turk], Swiss painter (Madame d'Epinay)
• 1710 - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, composer, son of J.S. Bach
• 1723 - Carl Friedrich Abel, German/British viola-da-gamba-player/composer
• 1727 - William Ellery, US attorney/signer (Declar of Independence)
• 1728 - Charles Frederick, Baden, liberal ruler of Baden
• 1735 - Ulrich Br„ker, writer
• 1744 - Abigail Adams, Weymouth Mass, 2nd first lady (1797-1801)
• 1753 - Dugald Stewart, Edinburgh Scot, philosopher (Scottish common sense)
• 1761 - Dorothea Jordan, Ireland, French comedic actress
• 1764 - Barbara Juliane Krudener, Latvia, mystic visionary renounced nobility
• 1767 - Andreas Hofer, South Tirol, milt leader (fought Napoleon's France)
• 1768 - John Crome, [Old Crome], English landscape painter/etcher
• 1787 - Rasmus Rask, Denmark, language scholar
• 1795 - Thomas Ainsworth, English/Neth industrialist (Twentse textile)
• 1803 - Joseph King Fenno Mansfield, Mjr Gen (Union volunteers), died in 1862
• 1808 - Thomas Cook, England, tour director (Thomas Cook & Son)
• 1809 - Benedict Augustin Morel, Vienna, Fren psychologist (dementia praecox)
• 1812 - Johanne Luise Heiberg, Copenhagen Denmark, actress (Romeo & Juliet)
• 1815 - Johann J Bachofen, Swiss judicial historian
• 1815 - Lucien Petipa, French dancer/choreographer/ballet leader
• 1819 - Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer/choir conductor
• 1819 - George Eliot, England, Victorian novelist (Adam Bede)
• 1821 - Giovanni Bottesini, composer
• 1826 - James Scott Negley, (Union volunteers Major General, died in 1901)
• 1830 - Justin M'Carthy, Ireland, Irish politician/novelist (Miss Misanthrope)
• 1831 - Mark Rutherford, writer
• 1831 - Robert Ogden Tyler, Bvt Major General (Union Army), died in 1874
• 1832 - Edward Hatch, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1889
• 1842 - Jose Maria de Heredia, Cuba, French sonnet poet
• 1842 - Nicola d' Arienzo, composer
• 1844 - Izydor Lotto, composer
• 1846 - Andreas Hallen, composer
• 1846 - Oscar Carr‚, Dutch circus director
• 1847 - Heihatjir“ T“j“, Japan, admiral (Russian-Japanese war)
• 1849 - Fritz Mauthner, Bohemia, German author/philosopher (skepticism)
• 1853 - Maria Teresa Carreno, composer
• 1856 - Frank Kellogg, Sec of State (1925-29), try to outlaw war (Nobel 1929)
• 1857 - George [Robert] Gissing, England, novelist
• 1858 - Giacomo Puccini, Lucca Italy, opera composer (La BohŠme, La Tosca)
• 1859 - Cecil [James] Sharp, London England, folk musician
• 1861 - Erich Schaeder, German theologist (Theocentric Theology)
• 1862 - Connie Mack, HOF baseball executive/manager (Phila A's 1900-1950)
• 1863 - Ch'i Pai-shih, China, traditional Chinese painter
• 1863 - Jean-Baptiste Marchand, Thoissey France, soldier/explorer (Sudan)
• 1866 - Mieczyslaw Surzynski, composer
• 1867 - Frantisek X Salda, Czech writer/critic
• 1867 - Joseph [Maria] Olbrich, Silesia, German architect (Wiener Sezession)
• 1867 - [Karl Eduard] Wilhelm Groener, Germany, general
• 1868 - John Nance Garner, Texas, (VP-D-1933-41)
• 1869 - Andre[-Paul-Guillaume] Gide, Paris France, writer (Nobel 1947)
• 1869 - Edwin Arlington Robinson, US, poet (Richard Corey)
• 1873 - L[eopold] S[tennett] Amery, British politician
• 1873 - Matteo Giulio Bartoli, Austria-Hungary, linguist
• 1874 - Franz Schmidt, composer
• 1874 - Herman Harrell Horne, Clayton NC, philosopher (idealism)
• 1875 - Antoine Mariotte, composer
• 1875 - John P "Jan" Musch, Dutch actor (Dead Water)
• 1876 - Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Ital writer (Futurism e Futurista)
• 1877 - Endre Ady, Hungary, lyric poet
• 1879 - Ralph Hawtrey, Buckinghamshire England, economist (multiplier)
• 1879 - Stanislas Bizot, French world checker champion (1925)
• 1881 - Enver Pasa, Istanbul Turkey, Turkish politician
• 1882 - Charles Vildrac, Paris France, poet/playwright
• 1883 - Arthur James Cook, England, union leader (coal miners)
• 1883 - Edgard Victor Achille C VarŠse, Paris France, composer (Innisation)
• 1885 - Joseph Deems Taylor, NYC, composer (Peter Ibbetson)
• 1887 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indies mathematician (ã/Notebooks)
• 1888 - Joseph Arthur Rank, English film magnate/baron
• 1889 - Mikha`il Na'imah, Lebanon, playwright
• 1889 - Minor Watson, Marianna AR, actor (Woman of the Year, Viva Cisco Kid)
• 1890 - Charles de Gaulle, Lille France, premier of France
• 1890 - Mark Tobey, US abstract painter (Broadway Norm)
• 1891 - Edward L Bernays, Vienna Austria, 1st public relations agent
• 1896 - Nikolay Semyonovich Tikhonov, St Petersburg Russia, poet
• 1898 - Lionel Charles Robbins, Middlesex England, economist
• 1899 - Gustaf Gruendgens, Duesseldorf Germany, actor/director (M)
• 1899 - Hoagy Carmichael, Bloomington Ind, pianist/composer
• 1899 - Wiley Post, Texas, aviation pioneer
• 1900 - Alan Dudley Bush, composer pianist/teacher
• 1901 - Andr‚ Kostelanetz, St Petersburg Russia, conductor (Lincoln Portrari)
• 1901 - Joaquin Rodrigo, Spain, composer
• 1902 - Jacques-Philippe Leclerc, France, WW II hero (liberator of Paris)
• 1902 - Joe Adonis, Italy, American crime-syndicate boss in NY & NJ
• 1903 - Barbara Moore, doctor, walked across US in 86 days in 1960
• 1903 - H Keffer Hartline, US, biophysicist (Nobel 1967)
• 1903 - Marc Lavry, composer
• 1904 - Louis-Eugene-Felix Neel, Lyon France, physicist (Nobel 1970)
• 1905 - Kenneth Rexroth, US, poet/critic/translator (Birds in the Bush)
• 1905 - Pierre Brasseur, [Espinasse], French actor (Enfants du Paradis)
• 1907 - Peggy Ashcroft, Croydon England, actress (Dear Brutus, Happy Days)
• 1907 - Yoshio Hasegawa, composer
• 1908 - Giacomo Manz£, Italy, sculptor (St Peter, Laurenskerk, Lenin Prize)
• 1908 - Marius F Duintjer, Dutch architect
• 1908 - Max Bill, Swiss painter/sculptor/politician (Ruban Sans Fin)
• 1909 - Alan Carney, [David Boughal], Brooklyn NY, actor (Zombies on Broadway)
• 1910 - Richard Ainley, Middlesex England, actor (I Dood It, Above Suspicion)
• 1911 - Grote Reber, US, astronomer (1st parabolic radio telescope)
• 1912 - Claudia A "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson, 1st lady (1963-1969)
• 1912 - Doris Duke, NYC, heiress (American Tobacco Co)
• 1912 - Henry Armstrong, held feather/light/welterweight boxing titles (1938)
• 1913 - Anthony Barber Doncaster, bookseller
• 1913 - Benjamin Britten, Suffolk England, opera composer
• 1917 - Andrew Fielding Huxley, London England, physiologist (Nobel 1963)
• 1917 - Gene Rayburn, Christopher Ill, TV game show host (Match Game)
• 1917 - Piet De Somer, Belgian rector (U of Leuven)
• 1918 - Frankie Darro, Chicago IL, actor (Radio Ranch, Valley of Wanted Men)
• 1918 - William Kennedy, baseball player
• 1921 - Hawkshaw Hawkins, Huntington WV, country singer (Ozark Jubilee)
• 1921 - Robert Frank Kurka, composer
• 1922 - Barbara Billingsley, LA Calif, actress (June-Leave it to Beaver)
• 1922 - Calder Willingham, novelist/scriptwriter
• 1922 - James C Wright Jr, (Rep-D-Texas), Speaker of House (1987-89)
• 1923 - Heinz Bernard Lowenstein, actor/director
• 1924 - Frank Corsaro, NY harbor, opera director
• 1924 - Geraldine Page, Kirksville Mo, actress (Interiors, Beguiled)
• 1925 - Gunther Schuller, NYC, jazz composer
• 1925 - Thomas Christian David, composer
• 1926 - Peggy Castle, Appalachia Va, actress (Lily Merrill-Lawman)
• 1928 - Piero Angelo, Italian writer (Control)
• 1929 - Jan Wiegel, director/producer (Classroom of Anne Frank, Myrada)
• 1929 - Wazir Mohammad, cricketer (eldest of Pakistan's 4 Mohammed brothers)
• 1930 - Peter Hall, Suffolk England, director (Royal Shakespeare Company)
• 1932 - Joe Clark, LA Ca, WLAF off coordinator coach (Amsterdam Admirals)
• 1935 - John L Finley, USAF/astronaut
• 1935 - Oleg Alekseyevich Protopopov, Russia, pairs skater (Oly-gold-1964, 68)
• 1936 - Hector Elizondo, NYC, actor (American Gigolo, Young Doctors in Love)
• 1937 - Marco J de Castro, Dutch Antillian politician
• 1943 - Billie Jean King, Long Beach Cal, tennis pro
• 1944 - Barry Jenkins, rocker (Animals-House of the Rising Sun)
• 1944 - Steve Carlton, Phillies' pitcher (Cy Young '72, '77, '80, '82)
• 1945 - Diane Sawyer, Glasgow Ky, newscaster (60 Minutes, ABC Prime Time)
• 1945 - Joris J C Voorhoeve, Dutch Defense minister (1994-, VVD)
• 1945 - Marianne van Wijnkoop, [Bosscher], Dutch actress (Les Mis‚rables)
• 1946 - Rick Nielsen, Rockford Il, rock vocalist/guitarist (Cheap Trick)
• 1946 - Roberta Speer, LPGA golfer
• 1947 - Brian C Daley, US, sci-fi author (Exploits of Han Solo, Tron)
• 1947 - Dilip Doshi, cricketer (India's main slow lefty post-Bedi)
• 1948 - Chris Old, cricketer (England medium-pacer of 70's)
• 1948 - Noel Edmonds, British TV personality (Foul-ups, Bleeps & Blunders)
• 1948 - Steve Garvey, 1st baseman (LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres)
• 1949 - Manfred Burgsmller, WLAF kicker (Rhein Fire)
• 1949 - Maurice Gibb, Manchester Eng, rocker (Bee Gees-Saturday Night Fever)
• 1949 - Michael Osborne, rock guitarist/vocalist (Axe)
• 1949 - Robin Gibb, Manchester England, rocker (Bee Gees-Saturday Night Fever)
• 1951 - Charles de Lint, Neth, sci-fi author (Moonhear, Mulengro, Yarrow)
• 1951 - Gerald Grosvenor, English 6th duke of Westminster/billionaire
• 1951 - Jan Stephenson, Sydney Australia, golfer (LPGA Rookie of Year-1974)
• 1953 - Bernnadette Stanis, Bkln NY, actress (Thelma-Good Times)
• 1953 - David Leisner, composer
• 1954 - Derick Parry, cricketer (WI off-spinner early 80's)
• 1954 - Jayaseelan Naidoo, South African worker's union leader
• 1955 - Lynne Thigpen, actress (Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?)
• 1956 - ?, Columbus Ohio, 1st gorilla born in captivity
• 1956 - Marcy Hanson, Galveston TX, playmate (Oct, 1978)
• 1957 - Lynne Thigpen, Joliet Ill, actress (Nancy-Love Sidney)
• 1957 - Ricky Ross, British rock vocalist (Deacon Blue-Raintown)
• 1957 - Susan Powter, diet guru/author/talk show host (Susan Powter Show)
• 1958 - Lenny Von Dohlen, Augusta GA, actor (Love Kills, Electric Dreams)
• 1960 - Jean-Michel Basquiat, Haiti/US graffiti artist/painter (Gray, SAMO)
• 1960 - Tyrell Biggs, Phila, super HW boxer (Olympic-gold-1984)
• 1961 - Yuri Ivanovich Malinchenko, Russian lt-col/cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-19)
• 1962 - Ralph Nathaniel Fiennes, Suffolk England, actor (English Patient)
• 1963 - Bryan McMillan, cricketer (brilliant S African all-rounder since 1992)
• 1964 - Mike Jackson, Houston TX, pitcher (Seattle Mariners)
• 1967 - Mike Sullivan, NFL center (Tampa Bay Bucs)
• 1967 - Roland Holder, cricketer (West Indian batsman in ODI's 1993-)
• 1967 - Sean Foster, WLAF wide reciever (Rhein Fire)
• 1968 - Lauralee "Bug" Bell, Chicago Ill, actress (Cricket-Young & Restless)
• 1969 - Andrew Scott, Australian baseball infielder (Olympics-1996)
• 1969 - Marcie Aguilar, Tucson AZ, female infielder (Colo Silver Bullets)
• 1970 - Brooks Findlay, CFL linebacker (BC Lions)
• 1972 - Andrew Moore, WLAF tackle (Frankfurt Galaxy)
• 1972 - Anthony Edwards, Australian rower (Olympics-96)
• 1972 - Kirk Maltby, Guelph, NHL right wing (Edmonton Oilers)
• 1972 - Mike Thompson, NFL defensive tackle (Jacksonville Jaguars)
• 1972 - Vanessa Paradis, France, model (Channel)/actress (White Wedding)
• 1973 - Annie Pelletier, Montreal Quebec, 3m diver (Olympics-bronze-96)
• 1973 - Jamel Williams, safety (Washington Redskins)
• 1975 - Stanislav Neckar, Pisek CZ, NHL defenseman (Ottawa Senators, Oly-G-98)
• 1977 - Joanna Hughes, Victoria Australia, gymnast (Olympics-96)
• 1986 - Jeffery Wood, actor (Austin Warren-In The House)

Famous deaths for this day ..

• 1337 - Daito Kokushi, leader of O-To-Kan Rinzai school in Japan, dies at 54
• 1419 - John XXIII, [Baldassare Cossa], Italian Pope (1410-15), dies
• 1440 - Bluebeard, pirate, executed
• 1603 - Mehmed III, sultan of Turkey (1595-1603), dies at 37
• 1641 - Maximilien de B‚thune duke of Sully, PM of France, dies at 81
• 1668 - Stephen Day, 1st British colonial printer, dies
• 1721 - Nathaniel Hawes, tortured & executed in England for robbery
• 1723 - Jacques Basnage, French/Dutch historian/vicar, dies at 70
• 1738 - Jean-Joseph Mouret, composer, dies at 56
• 1745 - Jan Dismas Zelenka, composer, dies at 66
• 1767 - John Newberry, English publisher, dies
• 1797 - Giovanni Marco Rutini, composer, dies at 74
• 1815 - Jos‚ Maria Morelos, M‚xican revolutionary priest executed by Spaniards
• 1828 - Rachel Jackson, wife of 7th US pres Andrew Jackson, dies
• 1832 - Ishmail Spicer, composer, dies at 72
• 1863 - Michael Corcoran, Union brig-general, dies at 36
• 1867 - Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician (kinematics), dies at 79
• 1870 - Constantine D Uschinsky, Russian educator, dies at 46 [NS=Jan 3 1871]
• 1874 - Johann Peter Pixis, composer, dies at 86
• 1875 - Nikolay Alexeyevich Titov, composer, dies at 75
• 1880 - George Eliot, Victorian novelist (Adam Bede), dies on 61st birthday
• 1890 - Harry Pollitt, chairman Brit communist (1956-60), dies
• 1893 - Benedikt Randhartinger, composer, dies at 91
• 1893 - Johann Czerski, German chaplain, dies at 80
• 1899 - Dwight L Moody, US evangelist (Student Volunteer Movement), dies
• 1902 - Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, psychiatrist, dies at 62
• 1908 - Marie Jungius, Dutch teacher/fairy tale writer, dies at 44
• 1913 - Menelik II, King of Ethiopia (1896-1913), dies at 69
• 1917 - Francesca Saveria Cabrini, US saint/patron of immigrant, dies at 67
• 1918 - Albijn van de Abeele, Flemish author/mayor/painter, dies at 83
• 1923 - Arthur H Bird, composer, dies at 67
• 1937 - Daito Kokushi, Zen founder of Daitokuji, dies in Kyoto at 55
• 1939 - Ma Rainey, "Mother of the Blues", US blues singer/composer, dies at 53
• 1940 - Nathanael West, [Weinstein], US writer (Cool Million), dies at 37
• 1941 - Leopoldo Mugnone, composer, dies at 83
• 1944 - Antoine Mariotte, composer, dies on 69th birthday
• 1944 - Harry Langdon, US comic/director (Heart Trouble), dies at 60
• 1945 - Otto Neurath, Austrian/British philosopher, dies at 63
• 1950 - Julius Weismann, composer, dies at 70
• 1950 - Walter Johannes Damrosch, composer, dies at 88
• 1951 - Powell Weaver, composer, dies at 61
• 1955 - Len Braund, cricketer (23 Tests for England 987 runs 47 wkts), dies
• 1958 - Fjodor W Gladkow, Russian author (Cement), dies at 75
• 1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, Germ/US philosopher (Jdische Krieg), dies at 74
• 1959 - Gilda Gray, actress (Piccadilly), dies of heart attack at 60
• 1964 - Bonifacio Gil Garcia, composer, dies at 66
• 1965 - Al Ritz, actor (Gorilla, Hi Ya Chum), dies at 62
• 1967 - Lee Krieger, actor (Clambake, One Way Wahini), dies at 48
• 1968 - Louise Granville, entertainer, dies of influenza at 73
• 1969 - Donald Foster, actor (Herbert Johnson-Hazel), dies at 80
• 1969 - Ilse Steppat, actress (Invisible Terror), dies at 52
• 1969 - Josef von Sternberg, Austrian director (Shanghai Express), dies at 75
• 1971 - Godfried Jan Arnold Bomans, Dutch writer (Eric), dies at 58
• 1971 - Renee Evans, entertainer, dies of heart attack at 63
• 1973 - Domingo Julio Gomez Garcia, composer, dies at 87
• 1973 - Irna Phillips, creator of 5 TV soap operas, dies at 72
• 1974 - Fosco Giachetti, entertainer, dies at 70
• 1974 - Lorraine Gauguin, entertainer, dies at 50
• 1974 - Richard Long, actor (Prof-Nanny & Professor), dies at 47
• 1977 - Johann Nepomuk David, composer, dies at 82
• 1979 - Darryl F Zanuck, film producer (20th Century Fox), dies at 77
• 1980 - Dick Kallman, actor (Hank Dearborn-Hank), murdered at 47
• 1986 - Celius Dougherty, composer, dies at 84
• 1987 - Alice Terry, [Taaffe], actress (4 Horsemen of Apocalypse), dies
• 1987 - Leonidas Zoras, composer, dies at 82
• 1988 - Tucker Smith, singer/dancer (Cool-West Side Story), dies
• 1989 - Samuel Beckett, Irish/French writer (Molloy, Nobel 1969), dies at 83
• 1990 - Cecil Effinger, composer, dies at 76
• 1990 - Helene Stanley, actress (Carnival Story, Roar of the Crowd), dies
• 1991 - Ernst Krenek, Austrian/US composer (Orpheus & Eurydike), dies at 91
• 1992 - Frederick W Franz, CEO (Watch Tower), dies at 99
• 1993 - Alexander Mackendrick, director (Whiskey Galore!), dies at 81
• 1993 - Don DeFore, actor (George Baxter-Hazel), dies of cardiac arrest at 76
• 1995 - Butterfly McQueen, actress (Gone With the Wind), dies in a fire at 84
• 1996 - Hetta Empson, artist, dies at 81
• 1997 - Dawn Steel, producer/pres (Col TriStar), dies of brain tumor at 51
• 1997 - Douglas Ranger, surgeon, dies at 81
• 1997 - Hugh Edward Conway Seymour, marquis of Hertford, dies at 67
• 1997 - John Pinkerton, compuer scientist, dies at 78
• 1997 - Johnny Coles, trumpeter, dies at 71
• 1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese director, commits suicide at 64