Birthdays
1850 - Edward Bellamy, American author, journalist, and political activist most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward. Bellamy's vision of a harmonious future world inspired the formation of numerous "Nationalist Clubs" dedicated to the propagation of Bellamy's political ideas. Looking Backward was one of the most commercially successful books published in the
United States in the 19th century, and it especially appealed to a generation of intellectuals alienated from the dark side of Gilded Age. In the early 1890s, Bellamy established a newspaper known as The New Nation and began to promote united action between the various Nationalist Clubs and the emerging Populist Party. He published Equality, a sequel to Looking Backward.
1859 - A.E. Housman (Alfred Edward Housman), English Classical scholar and poet, best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. Their beauty, simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers both before and after the First World War. Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at the University of Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are considered authoritative.
1874 - Robert Lee Frost, American poet laureate. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime and is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic institution." He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont. (Robert Frost - American Poet & Four-time Pulitzer Prize Winner | Mini Bio. YouTube, uploaded by Biography.
1859 - A.E. Housman (Alfred Edward Housman), English Classical scholar and poet, best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems wistfully evoke the dooms and disappointments of youth in the English countryside. Their beauty, simplicity and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to Edwardian taste, and to many early 20th-century English composers both before and after the First World War. Housman was one of the foremost classicists of his age and has been ranked as one of the greatest scholars who ever lived. He established his reputation publishing as a private scholar and, on the strength and quality of his work, was appointed Professor of Latin at University College London and then at the University of Cambridge. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius and Lucan are considered authoritative.
1874 - Robert Lee Frost, American poet laureate. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime and is the only poet to receive four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic institution." He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont. (Robert Frost - American Poet & Four-time Pulitzer Prize Winner | Mini Bio. YouTube, uploaded by Biography.
1911 - Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three foremost playwrights of 20th-century American drama. He became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, and The Night of the Iguana. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.
1925 - Pierre Boulez, CBE, French conductor, composer, writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of the post-war classical music world. Boulez was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music.He also co-founded the Cité de la musique, a concert hall, museum and library dedicated to music in the Parc de la Villette in Paris and, in Switzerland, the Lucerne Festival Academy, an international orchestra of young musicians, with which he gave first performances of many new works.
1940 - James Edmund Caan, American actor. After early role in The Glory Guys (1965), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination. He came to prominence in the 1970s with significant roles in films such as Brian's Song, Cinderella Liberty, The Gambler, Funny Lady and A Bridge Too Far. For his signature role in The Godfather (1972), that of hot-tempered Sonny Corleone, Caan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the corresponding Golden Globe. Caan's subsequent notable performances include roles in Thief, Misery, For the Boys, Bottle Rocket and Elf, as well as the role of "Big Ed" Deline in the television series Las Vegas. He prominently lent his voice to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Caan was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1978 with a motion pictures star located at 6648 Hollywood Boulevard.
1944 - Diana Ross, American singer, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes, who during the 1960s became Motown's most successful act, and are the best-charting female group in US history. Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross released her eponymous debut solo album that same year, featuring the No. 1 Pop hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". She later released the album Touch Me in the Morning in 1973; its title track was her second solo No. 1 hit. She continued a successful solo career through the 1970s, which included hit albums like Mahogany and Diana Ross and their No. 1 hit singles, "Theme from Mahogany" and "Love Hangover", respectively. Her final single with Motown during her initial run with the company achieved her sixth and final US number one Pop hit, the duet "Endless Love" featuring Lionel Richie, whose solo career was launched with its success.(Diana Ross sings "Theme from Mahogany", uploaded by Shooofly. Accessed March 26, 2016.)
1947 - John Edward Rowles, KNZM OBE (born 26 March 1947) is a New Zealand singer. He was most popular in the late 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, and he was best known in New Zealand for his song from 1970, "Cheryl Moana Marie", which he had written about his younger sister.(John Rowles' "If I Only Had Only Time". Uploaded by C. R. Waetford. Accessed December 1, 2016.)
1985 - Keira Knightly, English actress. She is the recipient of an Empire Award and has been nominated for two BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards. Her breakthrough came with the film Bend It Like Beckham. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for starring as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice; subsequently became known for starring in period dramas, including Atonement, The Duchess, A Dangerous Method, Anna Karenina, and Colette. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress portraying Joan Clarke in the historical drama The Imitation Game. On stage, Knightly has appeared on the West End in production of The Misanthrope, which earned her a nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award. She starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Thérèse Raquin. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2018 Birthday Honours for services to drama and charity.
Leftie:
Actor James Caan
Death:
1827 - Composer Ludwig van Beethoven
More birthdays and historical events, March 26 - On This Day
Historical Events
1723 - Johann Sebastian Bach's St John Passion is first performed on Good Friday services at St. Thomas-Kirche, in Leipzig.
1827 - Ludwig van Beethoven dies in Vienna, aged 56.
