Born on the Fourth of July

It’s the birthday of America, but this year, instead of celebrating Revolutionary heroes and the like, I thought we’d salute some of the notable people born on the Fourth of July—and of course those with the more interesting names.  (By the way, George M. Cohan, the ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ who famously claimed he was ‘born on the fourth of July’ was actually born on July 3^rd.  Similarly, PR people put the story out that Louis Armstrong was born on Independence Day: his real date of birth was August 4^th.)

Here they are, with the years of their births.

Abigail Van Buren (born Pauline), 1918, “Dear Abby,” along with competing advice-giving twin sister Ann Landers (born Esther)

Eva Marie Saint, 1924, actress, On the Waterfront

Gertrude Lawrence, 1898, British singer and actress

Gina Lollobrigida, 1927, Italian movie star

Gloria Stuart, 1910, whose long movie career climaxed with Titanic

Henrietta Swan Levitt, 1868, American astronomer and inventor

Isabelli Fontana, 1983, Brazilian model (an interesting take on Isabella)

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, 1951, American politician, eldest child of Robert Kennedy

Katia Zygouli, 1977, Greek supermodel

Madeleine Barot, 1909, World War II heroine

Malia Obama, 1998, First Daughter

Pam (Pamela) Shriver, 1968, tennis star

Pilar Barbosa de Rosario, 1898, noted Puerto Rican historian

Viviane Romance, 1912, French actress

BOYS

Adrian Caldwell, 1966, retired Texas NBA forward

Alec Templeton, 1909, blind Welsh-born pianist, composer and satirist

Andrei Cherkasov, 1970, Russian tennis star

Calvin Coolidge, 1872, 30^th US President

Cle Koolman , 1964 (born Christopher Clemence), US Soccer player

Emerson Boozer, 1943, former Jets running back

Flor Peeters, 1903, renowned Belgian composer and organist

George Murphy, 1902, actor-dancer-politician

George Steinbrenner, 1930, NY Yankees owner

Geraldo (born Gerald) Rivera, 1943, TV journalist and host

Giuseppe Garibaldi, 1807—Italian freedom fighter

Green Clay Smith, 1826, Civil War general and Congressman

Henri Leconte, 1963, French tennis player

Hiram Walker, 1816, grocer and distiller

Jeremy Spencer, rock guitarist, Fleetwood Mac

Jonas Kjellgren, 1977, Swedish musician (Scar Symmetry)

Lionel Trilling, 1905, American writer and literary critic

Louis B. Mayer, 1882, one of the ‘M’s in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Manolete, 1917, great Spanish bullfighter

Marco Santucci, 1762, composer

Massimo Campigli, 1895, (born Max), Italian painter/illustrator

Meyer Lansky, 1902, mobster—maybe not the most inspiring namesake

Mitch (Mitchell) Miller,  1911, musician, conductor,  record producer

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804, author, The Scarlet Letter et al

Neil Simon, 1927, playwright, The Odd Couple et al

Patrick Tilley, 1975, British sci-fi author—The Amtrak Wars

Phineas T. Barnum, 1810 circus magnate

Ron (Ronald) Kovic, 1946, disabled anti-war activist, author of Born on the Fourth of July.

Rube Goldberg, (born Reuben Garrett Lucius), 1883, eccentric cartoonist and inventor

Stephen Foster, 1826, composer—“O Susannah,” “My Old Kentucky Home” et al

And then last, and possibly least, there is Jersey Shore’s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, born July 4, 1982

*** HAPPY FOURTH EVERYBERRY !! ***