September 26 Dateline

Birthdays

1888 - T.S. Eliot (Thomas Stearns Eliot) OM, American-born British writer and Nobel Laureate, one of the twentieth century's major poets", was also a highly distinguished essayist, publisher, playwright, editor and literary and social critic. He was a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as "The Waste Land" and "Four Quartets". T.S. Eliot is considered one of the 20th century's major poets, who attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including "The Waste Land", "The Hollow Men", "Ash Wednesday", and "Four Quartets". He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry". (T.S. Eliot reads: The Waste Land. Uploaded by tim24frames. Accessed September 26, 2018.)

1898 - George Gershwin, (born Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz), American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned both popular and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, the songs Swanee and Fascinating Rhythm, the jazz standard I Got Rhythm, and the opera Porgy and Bess which spawned the hit Summertime. Gershwin began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and with Buddy DeSylva. The original Broadway production of the musical Of Thee I Sing (music by George Gershwin and lyrics by brother Ira Gershwin), directed by Kaufman, opened in 1931 and ran for 441 performances, gaining critical and box office success. It has been revived twice on Broadway and in concert stagings in the U.S. and in London. In 1932, Of Thee I Sing was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In Paris, he composed An American in Paris, returned to New York City and wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. Initially a commercial failure, it came to be considered one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century and an American cultural classic. Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores. His compositions have been adapted for use in film and television, with several becoming jazz standards recorded.

1930 - Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich, German Lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and various lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35. (Fritz Wunderlich Sings "Un' aura amorosa," ("Der Odem der Liebe") From Wolfgang A. Mozart's Così Fan Tutte. Uploaded by Edmund StAustell. Accessed September 26, 2018.)
 
1948 - Dame Olivia Newton-John, British-Australian singer, songwriter, actress, dancer, entrepreneur and activist. She is a four-time Grammy Award winner who has amassed five number-one and ten other top-ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, and two number-one Billboard 200 albums. She has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. She starred in the 1978 musical film Grease, whose soundtrack remains one of the most successful in history and features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want" – which ranks as one of the best-selling singles of all time – and "Summer Nights". Her signature solo recordings include "I Honestly Love You" and "Physical", plus "Let Me Be There", "Have You Never Been Mellow", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" (also from Grease), "A Little More Love" and, from the 1980 film Xanadu, "Magic" and "Xanadu" (with Electric Light Orchestra).

1968 - James Patrick Caviezel, American actor. He portrayed Jesus Christ in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004) and starred as John Reese on the CBS science-fiction crime drama series Person of Interest (2011-2016). Caviezel's other notable roles include Private Witt in The Thin Red Line, Detective John Sullivan in Frequency, and Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo.

1981 - Serena Jameka Williams, Tennis champion. American professional tennis player and former world No. 1 in women's single tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time behind Margaret Court. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. In total, she has been No. 1 for 319 weeks, which ranks third in the Open Era among female players behind Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Lefties:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, September 26 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1580 - Sir Frances Drake circumnavigates the globe in the Golden Hind, commissioned by Queen Elizabeth. He is the first captain to do so, given that Magellan didn't complete his voyage 60 years earlier.

1847 - Shakespeare's birthplace on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon is purchased by a body of trustees to be preserved for UK.

September 25 Dateline

Birthdays

1683 - Jean Philippe Rameau, French composer and organist, one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the 18th century. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François Couperin. Enjoy some of his orchestral suites - here.

 

1889 -  C.K. Scott Moncrieff, MC (born Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff), Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his English translation of most of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu, which he published under the Shakespearean title Remembrance of Things Past. His family name is the double-barrelled name "Scott Moncrieff". (Lost in Translation: Proust and Scott Moncrieff by William C. Carter. The Public Domain Review. Accessed September 29, 2020)

1906 - Dmitry Shostakovich, (traditional English: Dmitri) Russian composer and pianist, regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is characterised by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality. He achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Despite it, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death). A polystylist, he developed a hybrid voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his works. He was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky; and in symphonies, by the late Romanticism of Gustav Mahler.

1929 - Ronnie Barker, OBE, (born Ronald William George Barker), English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as Porridge, The Two Ronnies, and Open All Hours. Barker began acting in repertory theatre and decided he was best suited to comic roles.

1931 - Barbara Jill Walters, American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. Respected for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as the host of numerous television programs, including Today, The View, 20/20, and the ABC Evening News. Since retiring as a full-time host and contributor, she continued to occasionally report for ABC News through 2015. In 1996, Walters was ranked #34 on the TV Guide "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time" list, and in 2000 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

1944 - Michael Kirk Douglas, American actor and producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AFI Life Achievement Award. Apart from his acting career, Douglas has received notice for his humanitarian and political activism, as well as media attention for his marriage to Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. He's the eldest son of Kirk Douglas, a leading box-office star in his time.

 
1946 - Felicity Kendall,  CBE, English actress in television and theatre over more than 50-year career, but the role that brought attention to her career was that of Barbara Good in the 1975 television series The Good Life, and later in 2003, as Rosemary Boxer in Rosemary & Thyme.

1951 - Mark Richard Hamill, American actor, voice actor, and writer. He is best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series. His other notable film appearances include Corvette Summer and The Big Red One. He also appeared on stage in several theater productions, primarily during the 1980s. Hamill is a prolific voice actor who has portrayed characters in many animated television series, films, and video games.

1952 - Christopher D'Olier Reeve, American actor, writer, and director, best known for playing the DC Comics character Superman, beginning with the acclaimed Superman (1978), for which he won a BAFTA Award. He appeared in other critically acclaimed films such as The Bostonians, Street Smart, and The Remains of the Day. He received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance in the television remake of Rear Window. On May 27, 1995, Reeve was left quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries and for human embryonic stem cell research, founding the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

 
1952 - Colin Friels, Scottish-born Australian actor. He believes that social and political awareness comes with acting, and is known for his engagement in policy debates, including industrial issues such as workplace relations and free trade. His engagement with social issues has been evident in his acting work, with two prominent examples being his lead role in Ground Zero, in which he played a cameraman investigating British nuclear testing in South Australia, and his appearance in the ABC television drama Bastard Boys, in which he played union official John Coombs.

1961 - Heather Deen Locklear, American actress, best known for her role as Amanda Woodward on Melrose Place (1993–99), for which she received four consecutive Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. She is also known for her role as Sammy Jo Carrington on Dynasty from 1981 to 1989, her first major television role, which began a longtime collaboration with producer Aaron Spelling. Other notable television roles include Officer Stacy Sheridan on T. J. Hooker, and Caitlin Moore on Spin City, for which she earned two more Golden Globe nominations, this time for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy.

1969 - Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, Welsh actress. She went on to greater success in the British television series The Darling Buds of May, before establishing herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal. She was acclaimed for her performances as a vengeful pregnant woman in Traffic and a murderous singer in the musical Chicago; for the latter she won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Supporting Actress. For much of the decade, she starred in high-profile films, then parts in smaller-scale features were followed by a decrease in workload, during which she returned to the stage and played an aging actress in A Little Night Music, winning a Tony Award. Zeta-Jones continued to work intermittently in the 2010s, as well as the television miniseries Feud, in which she portrayed Olivia de Havilland.  Zeta-Jones' other accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her film and humanitarian endeavours. 

 

 Leftie:
Actor Mark Hamill

Death:

British actor & musician David McCallum, Jr. He gained wide recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. In recent years, McCallum has gained renewed international recognition and popularity for his role as medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, in the American television series NCIS.
 

 

More birthdays and historical events, September 25 - On This Day

 

Historical Events

1066 - The Battle of Stamford Bridge in York marks the end of the Viking era when  the Saxons, fighting under English King Harold, win a decisive victory over the invading Norwegians, under King Harald Hardraka of Norway.      

1857 - The relief of the first Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny by Sir Henry Havelock takes place. Havelock and his men also relieved the more famous siege of Cawnpore. His statue stands at the southeast corner of Trafalgar Square, London, one of the surrounding Nelson's Column.