Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

Spencer Bonaventure Tracy
(April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967)

was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility.
One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two
consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor from nine nominations. During his career,
he appeared in 75 films and developed a reputation among his peers as one of the
screen's greatest actors. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Tracy as the
9th greatest male star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.








Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis
(April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989)

was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits.
She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her
performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to
historical films, suspense horror, and occasional comedies, although her greater
successes were in romantic dramas. A recipient of two Academy Awards, she was the
first thespian to accrue ten nominations.











Eldred Gregory Peck
(April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003)

was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s.
In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic
Hollywood Cinema. After studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Sanford Meisner,
Peck began appearing in stage productions, acting in over 50 plays and three Broadway
productions. He first gained critical success in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944),
a John M. Stahl–directed drama which earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
He starred in a series of successful films, including romantic-drama The Valley of Decision (1944),
Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), and family film The Yearling (1946). He encountered
lukewarm commercial reviews at the end of the 1940s, his performances including
The Paradine Case (1947) and The Great Sinner (1948). Peck reached global recognition
in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing back-to-back in the book-to-film adaptation of
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) and biblical drama David and Bathsheba (1951).
He starred alongside Ava Gardner in The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and Audrey Hepburn
in Roman Holiday (1953).









Christopher George Hewett
(5 April 1921 – 3 August 2001)

was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere
on the ABC sitcom Mr. Belvedere. Hewett was born in Worthing, Sussex to
Christopher Fitzsimon Hewett (an army officer and a descendant of Daniel O'Connell),
and his wife Eleanor Joyce Watts (an actress whose professional name was Rhoda Cleighton).
He was educated at Beaumont College and at Wimbledon College, and at aged 7, made his
acting debut in a Dublin stage production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.








Frank John Gorshin Jr.
(April 5, 1933 – May 17, 2005)

was an American actor, comedian and impressionist. He made many guest appearances on
television variety and talk shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, Tonight Starring Steve Allen,
The Dean Martin Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. As an actor, he played the Riddler
on the live-action television series Batman and was nominated for an Emmy Award for
the performance.








Booker Taliaferro Washington
(April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915)

was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States.
Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American community
and of the contemporary black elite. Washington was from the last generation of black American
leaders born into slavery and became the leading voice of the former slaves and their descendants.
They were newly oppressed in the South by disenfranchisement and the Jim Crow discriminatory
laws enacted in the post-Reconstruction Southern states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.









Colin Luther Powell
(April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021)

was an American politician, statesman,[2] diplomat, and United States Army officer who served
as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American
Secretary of State. He served as the 15th United States National Security Advisor from 1987 to 1989
and as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.








Pharrell Lanscilo Williams
(April 5, 1973)

is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo,
he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has
produced songs for various recording artists. In 1999, he became lead vocalist of the band N.E.R.D.,
which he formed with Hugo and drummer Shay Haley. Williams has been widely referred to as one
of the most influential and successful music producers of the 21st century, having had a significant
impact on the sound of modern popular music.