Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx
(March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961)

was an American comedian, actor and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the
Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Adolph ("Harpo"), Julius ("Groucho"),
Milton ("Gummo") and Herbert ("Zeppo"). His persona in the act was that of a charming,
uneducated but crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes
and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. On screen, Chico is often in alliance
with Harpo, usually as partners in crime, and is also frequently seen trying to con or outfox
Groucho. Leonard was the oldest of the Marx Brothers to live past early childhood,
the first-born being Manfred Marx who had died in infancy. In addition to his work as a
performer, he played an important role in the management and development of the act
in its early years.










Karl Malden
(born Mladen George Sekulovich; March 22, 1912 – July 1, 2009)

was an American actor. He was primarily a character actor, who according to Robert Berkvist,
"for more than 60 years brought an intelligent intensity and a homespun authenticity to roles
in theater, film, and television", especially in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire (1951),
for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront (1954),
Pollyanna (1960), and One-Eyed Jacks (1961). Malden also played in high-profile Hollywood
films such as Baby Doll (1956), The Hanging Tree (1959), How the West Was Won (1962),
Gypsy (1962), and Patton (1970).

From 1972 to 1977, he portrayed Lt. Mike Stone in the primetime television crime drama
The Streets of San Francisco. He was later the spokesman for American Express.









James Edward Brown
(March 22, 1920 – April 11, 1992)

was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing
Lt. Ripley Masters in the American western television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.

Brown was born in Desdemona, Texas. He attended Baylor University, representing the
university at Tennis. Brown began his acting career in 1941 with an uncredited role as a
medic in the film Ride, Kelly, Ride. His first credited role was in the 1942 film The Forest Rangers.
Brown starred, co-starred and appeared on films including The Good Fellows, Objective, Burma!,
Gun Street, The Big Fix, When the Clock Strikes, Air Force, Irma la Douce, The Fabulous Texan,
Young and Willing, The Gallant Legion, The Younger Brothers, Corvette K-225, Sands of Iwo Jima,
Yes Sir, That's My Baby, Our Hearts Were Young Gay (and its sequel Our Hearts Were Growing Up),
Chain Lightning, Missing Women, Inside the Mafia, The Groom Wore Spurs and Going My Way.










Ross Martin
(born Martin Rosenblatt, March 22, 1920 – July 3, 1981)

was an American radio, voice, stage, film and television actor. Martin was best known for
portraying Artemus Gordon on the CBS Western series The Wild Wild West, which aired
from 1965 to 1969. He was the voice of Doctor Paul Williams in 1972's Sealab 2020,
additional characters in 1973's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, and additional
character voices in 1978's Jana of the Jungle.









Werner Klemperer
(March 22, 1920 – December 6, 2000)

was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS
television sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for which he twice won the award for Outstanding
Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968 and 1969.

After serving in the United States Army during World War II, he began performing on
the Broadway stage in 1947. Klemperer then appeared in several films during his early
acting career such as The Wrong Man (1956), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961),
and Houseboat (1958), and numerous roles on television shows such as Alfred
Hitchcock Presents (1956), Perry Mason (1957), Maverick (1957), Gunsmoke (1958),
The Untouchables (1960), and Have Gun Will Travel (1961), prior to his Hogan's Heroes role.










Marcel Marceau
(born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007)

was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown".
He referred to mime as the "art of silence", performing professionally worldwide for more
than 60 years.

As a Jewish youth, he lived in hiding and worked with the French Resistance during most
of World War II, giving his first major performance to 3,000 troops after the liberation of
Paris in August. Following the war, he studied dramatic art and mime in Paris.









William Shatner OC
(born March 22, 1931)

is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of
James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship Enterprise
in the second pilot of the first Star Trek television series to his final appearance as Captain Kirk
in the seventh Star Trek feature film, Star Trek Generations (1994).

Shatner began his screen acting career in Canadian films and television productions before moving
into guest-starring roles in various U.S. television shows. He appeared as James Kirk in all the episodes
of Star Trek: The Original Series, 21 of the 22 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the
first seven Star Trek movies. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences before,
during and after his time in a Starfleet uniform. He has also co-written several novels set in the
Star Trek universe and a series of science fiction novels, the TekWar sequence, that were adapted
for television. Outside Star Trek, Shatner played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in
T. J. Hooker (1982–1986) and hosted the reality-based television series Rescue 911 (1989–1996),
which won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Dramatic Series. His appearances as a guest
star in two episodes of the television detective series Columbo, almost two decades apart, were
among his many such contributions to television shows from the 1970s to the 2010s.










Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon
(born March 22, 1976)

is an American actress. The recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award,
a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards,
she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses. Time magazine named
her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed
her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, Forbes named
her the world's highest earning actress with an estimated net worth of $400 million.









William I or Wilhelm I
(German: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888)

was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until
his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of
a united Germany. He was de facto head of state of Prussia from 1858, when he became
regent for his brother Frederick William IV, whose death three years later would make him king.










Wolf Isaac Blitzer
(born March 22, 1948)

is an American journalist, television news anchor, and author who has been a CNN reporter
since 1990, and who currently serves as one of the principal anchors at the network.
He is the host of The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and until 2021, served as the network's
lead political anchor.

Blitzer was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany near Munich in 1948, during post-World War II
Allied occupation the son of Cesia Blitzer (née Zylberfuden), a homemaker, and David Blitzer,
a home builder. His parents were Polish Jewish refugees from German-occupied Poland who
survived the Auschwitz concentration camp; his grandparents, two uncles, and two aunts on
his father's side were all murdered there.