Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

Paul Hartman
(March 1, 1904 – October 2, 1973)

was an American dancer, stage performer and television actor. He continued to play bit parts
in movies and television throughout the rest of his life, most famously as handyman
Emmett Clark on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. In a nod to his earlier life,
he is seen doing a dance routine at Howard Sprague's party in the Andy Griffith episode
"The Wedding", and in the Mayberry, RFD episode "All for Charity", he can be seen doing
a soft shoe routine with costar Ken Berry. In addition, he had small parts on Petticoat Junction;
Love, American Style; The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Hazel; Ben Casey;
The Twilight Zone; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; Our Man Higgins; and Family Affair.











Lieutenant Colonel James David Graham Niven
(1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983)

was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor
for his performance as Major Pollock in Separate Tables (1958). Niven's other roles included
Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death (1946), Phileas Fogg in Around
the World in 80 Days (1956), Sir Charles Lytton ("the Phantom") in The Pink Panther (1963),
James Bond in Casino Royale (1967), and Colonel Race in Death on the Nile (1978).










Dinah Shore
(born Frances ‘Fanny’ Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994)

was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist
of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era. She achieved
even greater success a decade later, in television, mainly as the host of a series of variety
programs for the Chevrolet automobile company.











Harry Belafonte
(born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927)

is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American
pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience
in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.

Belafonte is best known for his recordings of "The Banana Boat Song", with its signature "Day-O" lyric,
"Jump in the Line", and "Jamaica Farewell". He has recorded and performed in many genres, including
blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He has also starred in several films, including
Carmen Jones (1954), Island in the Sun (1957), and Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)











Robert Conrad
(born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020)

was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the
1965–1969 television series The Wild Wild West, playing the sophisticated Secret Service agent
James T. West. He portrayed World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series
Baa Baa Black Sheep (later syndicated as Black Sheep Squadron). In addition to acting, he was
a singer and recorded several pop/rock songs in the late 1950s and early 1960s as Bob Conrad.
He hosted a weekly two-hour national radio show (The PM Show with Robert Conrad) on
CRN Digital Talk Radio beginning in 2008.











Dirk Benedict
(born Dirk Niewoehner; March 1, 1945)

is an American film, television and stage actor, and author. He is best known for playing the
characters Lieutenant Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica film and television series
and Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck in The A-Team television series. He is the author
of Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy and And Then We Went Fishing.









Alan Thicke
(born Alan Willis Jeffrey; March 1, 1947 – December 13, 2016)

was a Canadian actor, songwriter, and game and talk show host. He is the father of singer
Robin Thicke. In 2013, Thicke was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Thicke was best
known for playing Dr. Jason Seaver on the 1980s sitcom Growing Pains on ABC.











Catherine Bach
(born Catherine Bachman; March 1, 1954)

is an American actress. She is known for playing Daisy Duke in the television series
The Dukes of Hazzard and Margo Dutton in African Skies. In 2012, she joined the cast of
the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless as Anita Lawson.











Ronald William Howard
(born March 1, 1954)

is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a
child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of The Twilight Zone.
He gained national attention for playing young Opie Taylor, the son of Sheriff Andy Taylor
(played by Andy Griffith) in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show from 1960 through 1968.
During this time, he also appeared in the musical film The Music Man (1962), a critical and
commercial success. He was credited as Ronny Howard in his film and television appearances
from 1959 to 1973. Howard was cast in one of the lead roles in the coming-of-age film
American Graffiti (1973), and became a household name for playing Richie Cunningham in
the sitcom Happy Days, a role he would play from 1974 to 1980.












Booker T. Huffman Jr. (born March 1, 1965),

better known by his ring name Booker T, is an American color commentator and retired
professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE where he serves as a commentator
on the NXT brand, and is also the owner and founder of the independent promotion
Reality of Wrestling (ROW) in Texas City, Texas. Booker has been frequently named by
peers and industry commentators as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time;
he was voted WWE's greatest World Heavyweight Champion in a 2013 viewer poll.











Frédéric François Chopin
( 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849)

was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for
solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose
"poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation"