February 18 Dateline

Famous Birthdays

1745 - Alessandro Volta,  Italian physicist, chemist, and pioneer of electricity and power credited as the Inventor of the electric battery and the Discoverer of methane. He invented the Voltaic pile, and reported the results of his experiments in 1800 in a two-part letter to the President of the Royal Society. With this invention Volta proved that electricity could be generated chemically and debunked the prevalent theory that electricity was generated solely by living beings. Volta's invention sparked a great amount of scientific excitement and led others to conduct similar experiments which eventually led to the development of the field of electrochemistry. The International System of Units (SI), unit of electric potential is named in his honour as the volt.

1896 - André Robert Breton, French writer and poet, co-founder, leader, principal theorist and chief apologist of surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto (Manifeste du surréalisme) of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism". He is the author of celebrated books such as Nadja and L'Amour fou. His activities combined with his critical and theoretical work for writing and the plastic arts, made André Breton a major figure in twentieth-century French art and literature.

1925 - George Harris Kennedy Jr., American actor. He played "Dragline" opposite Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role and being nominated for the corresponding Golden Globe. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in Airport.  Among the notable films he had a significant role in are Charade, McHale's Navy, Shenandoah, The Dirty Dozen, The Boston Strangler, Guns of the Magnificent Seven, among others. Kennedy was the only actor to appear in all four films in the Airport series, having reprised the role of Joe Patroni three times. He also played Police Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun series of comedy films, and corrupt oil tycoon Carter McKay on the original Dallas television series.

1931 - Toni Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford), American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987). She gained worldwide recognition when she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. 

1932 - Jan Tomáš (Miloš) Milos Forman, Czech and American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before emigrating to the U.S. in 1968. In 1975, he directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson as a patient in a mental institution. The film received acclaim and was the second in history to win all five major Academy Awards: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor in Leading Role, and Actress in Leading Role. His featured period biographical film, Amadeus (1984), based on the life of famed composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart starring Tom Hulce, and F. Murray Abraham was both a critical & financial success earning eleven nominations with eight wins including for Best Picture, and another win for Forman as Best Director. In 1996, Forman received another Academy Award nomination for Best Director for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). Throughout Forman's career he won two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, a British Academy Film Award, a César Award, David di Donatello Award, and the Czech Lion.
 

1950 - Cybill Lynne Shepherd, American actress and former model. Shepherd's better-known roles include Jacy in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, Kelly in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid, Betsy in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, and Nancy in Woody Allen's Alice. She was also known for her roles in television, such as Maddie Hayes on Moonlighting (1985–1989), Cybill Sheridan on Cybill, Phyllis Kroll on The L Word (2007–2009), Madeleine Spencer on Psych, Cassie in the television film The Client List, and Linette Montgomery on The Client List.

1954 - John Travolta, American actor and singer. He rose to fame appearing on the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Carrie, Saturday Night Fever, and Grease. Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for performances in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty and has received a total of six nominations. In 2014, he received the IIFA Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema. From 2016, other distinguished awards followed. Travolta is also a private pilot and owns four aircraft.

1960 - Greta Scacchi, OMRI, Italian–Australian actress. She holds dual Italian and Australian citizenship. She is best known for her roles in the films White Mischief, Presumed Innocent, The Player, Emma and Looking for Alibrandi. Her first leading role in Heat and Dust earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer to Film. For her portrayal of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna of Russia in the television film, Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny, she won a Primetime Emmy Award and earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2006, Scacchi received a second Emmy nomination for her role in the television film Broken Trail, and earned her first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

1964 - Matt Raymond Dillon, American actor and film director. He established himself as a teen idol by starring in the films My Bodyguard, Little Darlings, the three S. E. Hinton book adaptations and The Flamingo Kid. From the late 1980s onward, Dillon achieved further success. In the 2000s, he made his directing debut with City of Ghosts and went on to star in other films. For Crash, he won an Independent Spirit Award and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He had earlier been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for narrating Jack Kerouac's On the Road. In 2015, he starred in the first season of the FOX television series Wayward Pines, for which he was nominated for a Saturn Award.

1968 - Molly Kathleen Ringwald, American actress and author. She was cast in her first major role as Molly in the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life (1979–80) after a casting director saw her playing an orphan in a stage production of the musical Annie. She subsequently made her motion-picture debut as Miranda in the independent film Tempest, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. She is known for her collaborations with filmmaker John Hughes. She established herself as a teen icon after appearing in the successful Hughes films Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink. She later starred in other films. Ringwald is part of the "Brat Pack" and she was ranked number one on VH1's 100 Greatest Teen Stars. Since 2017, Ringwald has portrayed Mary Andrews on The CW television series Riverdale.

Lefties:
Actor Matt Dillon
Actor George Kennedy

More birthdays and historical events, February 18 - On This Day.

Historical Events

1743 - G.F. Handel's oratorio Samson is first performed at London's Covent Garden Theatre.

1885 - Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is published. (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Updated by Bjgtjme. Accessed February 18, 2019.)

February 17 Dateline

Birthdays

1653 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era, and Creator of the concerto grosso. His music was key in the development of the modern genres of sonata and concerto, in establishing the pre-eminence of the violin, and as the first coalescing of modern tonality and functional harmony. (Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto in D Major Op. 6 No. 4, complete. Voices of Music; original instruments. YouTube, uploaded by Voices of Music. Accessed Februray 17, 2018.)

1862 - Ogai Mori, Japanese writer and physician, Lieutenant-General Mori Rintarō, known by his pen name Mori Ōgai, was an Army Surgeon general officer, translator, novelist, poet and father of famed author Mari Mori. He obtained his medical license at a very young age and introduced translated German literary works to the Japanese public.

1864 - Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, CBE, Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around the historical village of Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. Banjo Paterson is most famous for writing 'Waltzing Matilda' and 'The Man From Snowy River'. It could be said that his writing, based on his own experiences of the Australian bush life, has shaped Australia's identity. (Slim Dusty - Waltzing Matilda. YouTube, uploaded by orthodoxquaker. Note: "Waltzing" does not mean dancing but refers to walking across Australia, walking with all belongings wrapped up in a blanket attached to a long stick this Aussie carries across his shoulder - this is his "swag," hence the term "swag-man." His swag he affectionately calls "Matilda", his only companion. A "billabong" is a lake, a "billy" is a tin can for boiling water, a "jumbuck" is a sheep, and a "tucker" bag whatever else he's carrying. Accessed February 17, 2009. A.B. (Banjo) Paterson "The Man from Snowy River" Poem animation. YouTube, uploaded by poetryreincarnations. Accessed February 17, 2012.)

1888 - Otto Stern, German-American physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. He was the second most nominated person for a Nobel Prize with 82 nominations in the years 1925–1945, ultimately winning in 1943. As an experimental physicist Stern contributed to the discovery of spn quantization in the Stern-Gerlach experiment with Walter Gerlach in February 1922 at the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt am Main; demonstration of the wave nature of atoms and molecules; measurement of atomic magnetic moments; discovery of the proton's magnetic moment; and development of the molecular beam method which is utilized for the technique of molecular beam epitaxy.

1929 - Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge, DBE, British actress, comedian and singer. She is best known for her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1992 and 1993. Her film appearances include To Sir, with Love and Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River. Routledge made her professional stage debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1952 and her Broadway debut in How's the World Treating You in 1966. She won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Darling of the Day, and the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Candide. (Dame Patricia Routledge. Studio 10. Accessed February 17, 2018. A beautiful uplifting speech from a lovely lady, Dame Patricia Routledge! University of Chester. Accessed February 17, 2020.)

1930 - Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann), English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell's best-known creation, Chief Inspector Wexford, was the main character of many popular police stories, some of them successfully adapted for TV. A second string of works was a series of unrelated crime novels, that deeply explored the psychological background of criminals and their victims, many of them mentally afflicted or otherwise socially isolated. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, published under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.

1934 - Sir Alan Arthur Bates, CBE, English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story Whistle Down the Wind (with Hayley Mills) to the "kitchen sink" drama A Kind of Loving. He performed with Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek, as well as in King of Hearts, Georgy Girl, Far From the Madding Crowd and The Fixer, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1969, he starred in the film Women in Love with Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson. He then starred in The Go-Between, An Unmarried Woman, Nijinsky and in The Rose with Bette Midler, also in TV dramas, including The Mayor of Casterbridge, Harold Pinter's The Collection, among others. He also appeared on the stage. (Whistle Down the Wind in Bryan Forbes 1961 Film, Part 1/2, Part 2/2, starring Hayley Mills and Alan Bates. Accessed February 17, 2019.)

1941 - Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie, CBE, English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She's one of the few British performers to merit the title of "Triple Threat", she has premièred leading roles by both Sir Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she has BAFTA Award nomination for her role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields and its sequel French Fields, and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple. McKenzie has also starred in musicals, receiving a 1977 Tony Award nomination for her work in the Broadway revue, Side by Side by Sondheim. A six-time Olivier Award nominee, she has twice won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; for the 1982 revival of Guys and Dolls and the 1993 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. [Wiki] (Falling in Love with Love - Julia McKenzie. Uploaded by You'reGonnaLoveTomorrow. Accessed February 17, 2018.) 

1944 - Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins,  CBE, FRAM, HonFLSW, Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song "Adiemus" and the Adiemus album series; Palladio; The Armed Man; and his Requiem.  Jenkins was educated in music at Cardiff University and the Royal Academy of Music (he's a fellow and an Associate). He joined the jazz-rock band Soft Machine in 1972 and became the group's lead songwriter in 1974. Jenkins continued to work with Soft Machine up to 1984, but has not been involved with any incarnation of the group since. Jenkins has composed music for advertisement campaigns and has won the industry prize twice. (Sir Karl Jenkins was expecting to conduct his 'Palladio' on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, but Scotland’s national orchestra had other ideas... pranks him with a birthday surprise. Uploaded by Classic FM. YouTube. Accessed June 18, 2024.)

 

1954 - Rene Marie Russo,  American actress, producer, and model. She made her film debut in the comedy Major League, and rose to international prominence in a number of thrillers and action films then took a five-year break from acting. She returned to the screen as Frigga, the mother of the titular hero, in the superhero film Thor, a role she reprised in Thor: The Dark World and Avengers: Endgame. In 2014, Russo starred in the acclaimed crime thriller Nightcrawler, for which she won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She has also appeared in The Intern, Just Getting Started, and Velvet Buzzsaw.

1957 - Loreena McKennitt, CM OM CD - Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (harpist, accordionist, and pianist), and composer who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern influences. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear soprano vocals. She has sold more than 14 million records worldwide. McKennitt is known for her refined and clear dramatic soprano vocals. (Lady of Shalott sung by Loreena McKennitt, with Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem, same name. Uploaded by Midieval Fantasy. Accessed February 17, 2015. L McKennitt Dante's Prayer with lyrics. It is a reference to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. YouTube, uploaded by HaveFaithNH. Accessed February 17, 2019.)

1981 - Paris Hilton, American socialite, actress, businesswoman, media personality, model, singer, and DJ. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels. Hilton began her modeling career as a teenager when she signed with New York-based modeling development agency Trump Model Management. She was proclaimed "New York's leading It Girl" in 2001. In 2003, a leaked 2001 sex tape with her then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, later released as 1 Night in Paris, catapulted her into global fame, and the reality television series The Simple Life, in which she starred with her socialite counterpart Nicole Richie, started its five-year run with 13 million viewers, on FOX.

Leftie:
None known

 

More birthdays and historical events, February 17 - On This Day.

Historical Events

1904 - Giacomo Puccini's masterpiece, Madama Butterfly premiered at Teatro alla Scala, sung in Italian. 

 

1909 - The Apache leader Geronimo dies, aged 80. The name 'Geronimo' was a nickname given by Mexican soldiers. It is synonymous with wild bravery. His real name was Goyaałé, sometimes spelled 'Goyathlay' meaning "yawner." He led the last major force of Native American Indians in resistance against the white settlers. He finally surrendered in 1886.

1930 - The Comedie Francaise performs Jean Cocteau's one-act monologue, La Voix Humaine / The Human Voice.