Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

George Richard Chamberlain
(born March 31, 1934)

is an American actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television
show Dr. Kildare (1961–1966). He subsequently appeared in several miniseries, such as
Shōgun (1980) and The Thorn Birds (1983) and was the first to play Jason Bourne in the
1988 television film The Bourne Identity. Chamberlain has also performed classical stage
roles and worked in musical theatre.







Shirley Mae Jones
(born March 31, 1934)

is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as
wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956),
and The Music Man (1962). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for
playing a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry (1960). She played the lead role of Shirley Partridge,
the widowed mother of five children, in the musical situation-comedy television series
The Partridge Family (1970–1974), which co-starred her real-life stepson,
David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy.








Christopher Walken
(born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943)

is an American actor. Prolific in film, television, and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous
accolades. He has earned an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, as
well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. His films have grossed
more than $1.6 billion in the United States alone.








Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress. She played head-waitress Carla Tortelli
in the sitcom Cheers (1982–1993). Over the course of 11 seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten
Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress — winning four times — and was nominated for a
record seven Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series. She has also
appeared in films, including Canadian Bacon (1995), Matilda (1996), The Sessions (2012),
and Poms (2019).









John Arthur Johnson
(March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946),

nicknamed the "Galveston Giant", was an American boxer who, at the height of the Jim Crow era,
became the first black world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915). His 1910 fight against
James J. Jeffries was dubbed the "fight of the century". Johnson defeated Jeffries, who was white,
triggering dozens of race riots across the U.S. According to filmmaker Ken Burns, "for more than
thirteen years, Jack Johnson was the most famous and the most notorious black boxer on Earth".
He is widely regarded as one of the most influential boxers in history. Transcending boxing, he
became part of the culture and history of racism in the United States.

Johnson continued taking paying fights for many years, and operated several other businesses,
including lucrative endorsement deals. He died in a car crash in 1946 at the age of 68. He is
buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. In 2018 Johnson, with some instigation from actor
Sylvester Stallone, was formally pardoned by U.S. president Donald Trump.








Herb Alpert
(born March 31, 1935)

is an American trumpeter who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass in the 1960s.
During the same decade, he co-founded A&M Records with Jerry Moss. Alpert has recorded
28 albums that have landed on the Billboard 200 chart, five of which became No. 1 albums;
he has had 14 platinum albums and 15 gold albums. Alpert is the only musician to hit
No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as both a vocalist ("This Guy's in Love with You", 1968)
and an instrumentalist ("Rise", 1979).









Angus McKinnon Young
(born 31 March 1955)

is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and only
remaining original member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic
performances, schoolboy-uniform stage outfits and his own version of Chuck Berry's duckwalk.
Young was ranked 24th in Rolling Stone's 100 greatest guitarists of all-time list. In 2003,
Young and the other members of AC/DC were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.








Erik Turner
(born March 31, 1964)

is best known as the rhythm guitarist in American glam metal band Warrant. Turner co-founded
Warrant in Los Angeles, California in July 1984 with bassist Jerry Dixon. Turner was influenced
by bands Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith and guitarists Jimmy Page and Joe Perry.