Category Archives: Birthdays

Fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt is 88.

Olympic pole-vaulter Bob Richards – the only man to win 2 gold medals in this event (1952, 1956) and the first athlete to appear on the front of a Wheaties cereal box – is 86.

Actor Sidney Poitier (Lilies of the Field, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) is 85.

Race car driver Bobby Unser (Indianapolis 500 winner 1968, 1975, 1981) is 78.

Jazz singer Nancy Wilson (Face It Girl, It’s Over, What Are You Doing New Years?) is 75.

Actor Richard Beymer (The Diary of Anne Frank, West Side Story, Twin Peaks) is 74.

Actress Sandy Duncan (Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Roots) is 66.

Guitarist J. (Jerome) Geils (The J. Geils Band) is 66.

Actor Peter Strauss (Peter Gunn, Rich Man Poor Man) is 65.

Actress Jennifer O’Neill (The Summer of ’42, Cover-Up) is 64.

Guitarist Walter Becker (Steely Dan) is 62.

Newspaper heiress Patty Hearst Shaw is 58.

Actor James Wilby (Howard’s End, A Tale of Two Cities) is 54.

Former professional basketball player Charles Barkley is 49.

Supermodel and actress Cindy Crawford is 46.

Actor Andrew Shue (Melrose Place) is 45.

Singer Brian Littrell (Backstreet Boys) is 37.

Singer Smokey Robinson (The Miracles) is 72.

Guitarist Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) is 64.

Guitarist Francis Buchholz (Scorpions) is 58.

Actor Jeff Daniels (Ragtime, Terms of Endearment, Dumb and Dumber) is 57.

Britain’s Prince Andrew (Duke of York) is 52.

Actress Justine Bateman (Family Ties) is 46.

Helen Gurley Brown, former editor of Cosmopolitan and author (Sex and the Single Girl), is 90.

Actor George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke, The Dirty Dozen, Airplane, Earthquake!) is 87.

Award-winning author Toni Morrison (Pulitzer Prize, 1988; Nobel Prize, 1993) is 81.

Academy Award-winning director Milos Forman (One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus) is 80.

Actress Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show, The Long Hot Summer) is 62.

Singer Juice Newton (Angel of the Morning, Queen of Hearts) is 60.

Drummer Robbie Bachman (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) is 59.

Actor John Travolta (Welcome Back Kotter, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Urban Cowboy, Pulp Fiction) is 58.

Model Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune) is 55.

Actor Matt Dillon (My Bodyguard, The Outsiders, Crash) is 48.

Actress Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink) is 44.

Academy Award-winning actress Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) is 67.

Singer Dodie Stevens is 66.

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Stand and Deliver, Courage Under Fire) is 50.

Former professional basketball player Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls 1984 – 1995; Washington Wizards 2001 – 2003) is 49.

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) is 40.

Actor – director – writer Barry Primus (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Absence of Malice, Cagney and Lacey) is 74.

Actor William Katt (Carrie, The Greatest American Hero) is 61.

Actor LeVar Burton (Alex Haley’s Roots; Star Trek: The Next Generation series) is 55.

Singer James Ingram (Baby Come to Me, How Do You Keep the Music Playing, Just Once) is 55.

Rap singer and actor Ice-T (Tracy Marrow) is 54.

Tennis champion John McEnroe (Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion: 1981, 1983, 1984; U.S. Open Men’s Singles Champion: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984) is 53.

Guitarist Andy Taylor (Duran Duran) is 51.

James Schlesinger, former U.S. Secretary of Defense (1973 –1976) and former Secretary of Energy (1977) is 83.

Actress Claire Bloom (The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Brideshead Revisited ) is 81.

Songwriter Brian Holland (Baby Love, Stop! In the Name of Love) is 71.

Drummer Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 78.

Actress and model Marisa Berenson (Cabaret, Barry Lyndon) is 65.

Singer Melissa Manchester (Don’t Cry Out Loud, Midnight Blue, You Should Hear How She Talks About You) is 61.

Actress Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) is 61.

Cartoonist Matt Groening (The Simpsons) is 58.

Musician, guitarist Ali Campbell (UB40) is 53.

Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club) is 52.

TV host Hugh Downs (Today, 20/20) is 91.

Emmy Award-winning composer, conductor, arranger, musical director Elliot Lawrence (Kennedy Center Honors) is 87.

Singer Phyllis McGuire (The McGuire Sisters) is 81.

Actress Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) is 78.

Golf champion Mickey (Mary) Wright (U.S. Open 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964) is 77.

Journalist Carl Bernstein is 68.

Guitarist Roger Fisher (Heart) is 62.

Actress Meg Tilly (Agnes of God, The Big Chill) is 52.

Chuck Yeager, Air Force pilot who broke the sound barrier, is 89.

Actress Kim Novak (Vertigo, The Man with the Golden Arm) is 79.

Actor George Segal (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) is 78.

Actor, producer, director Bo Svenson (Delta Force, Heartbreak Ridge) is 71.

Actress Carol Lynley (The Poseidon Adventure, Return to Peyton Place) is 70.

Singer Peter Tork (The Monkees, real name: Peter Halsten Thorkelson) is 70.

Actress Stockard Channing (To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh, Grease, Six Degrees of Separation) is 68.

TV host Jerry Springer is 68.

Singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel (Genesis) is 62.

Movie director Franco Zeffirelli (“Romeo and Juliet”) is 89.

Former professional baseball player and sports announcer Joe Garagiola is 86.

Music producer and keyboardist for The Doors Ray Manzarek is 73.

Steve Hackett, bassist for Genesis, is 62.

Singer and songwriter Michael McDonald (Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan) is 60.

Comedian, actor and former talk show host Arsenio Hall is 57.

Actress Christina Ricci (“The Addams Family”) is 32.

Actress Tina Louise is 78.

Actor Burt Reynolds is 76.

Brazilian songwriter and musician Sérgio Mendes is 71.

Singer Sheryl Crow is 49.

Half-term Alaska governor and 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is 48.

Actress Jennifer Aniston is 43.

Singer-songwriter Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park) is 35.

Actress and singer Brandy (Norwood) is 33.

Actor, model and martial arts aficionado Taylor Lautner (“Twilight” movies) is 20.