today.nukz.net: Almanac June 4

Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907 – November 28, 1976) was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame. She won all 5 Golden Globes for which she was nominated, and was tied with Meryl Streep for wins until 2007 when Streep was awarded a sixth. Russell won a Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Ruth in the Broadway show Wonderful Town (a musical based on the film My Sister Eileen, in which she also starred).

Events

1039 – Henry III becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
1411 – King Charles VI granted a monopoly for the ripening of Roquefort cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon as they had been doing for centuries.
1615 – Siege of Osaka: Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan.
1760 – Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians.
1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).
1792 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1794 – British troops capture Port-au-Prince in Haiti.
1802 – Grieving over the death of his wife, Marie Clotilde of France, King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
1812 – Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.
1825 – French American Revolutionary War General Lafayette speaks at what would become Lafayette Square, Buffalo, during his visit to the United States.
1859 – Italian Independence wars: In the Battle of Magenta, the French army, under Louis-Napoleon, defeat the Austrian army.
1862 – American Civil War: Confederate troops evacuate Fort Pillow on the Mississippi River, leaving the way clear for Union troops to take Memphis, Tennessee.
1876 – An express train called the Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco, California, via the First Transcontinental Railroad only 83 hours and 39 minutes after leaving New York City.
1878 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
1896 – Henry Ford completes the Ford Quadricycle, his first gasoline-powered automobile, and gives it a successful test run.
1912 – Massachusetts becomes the first state of the United States to set a minimum wage.
1913 – Emily Davison, a suffragette, runs out in front of King George V's horse, Anmer, at the Epsom Derby. She is trampled, never regains consciousness and dies a few days later.
1916 – World War I: Russia opens the Brusilov Offensive with an artillery barrage of Austro-Hungarian lines in Galicia.
1917 – The first Pulitzer Prizes are awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott, and Florence Hall receive the first Pulitzer for biography (for Julia Ward Howe). Jean Jules Jusserand receives the first Pulitzer for history for his work With Americans of Past and Present Days. Herbert B. Swope receives the first Pulitzer for journalism for his work for the New York World.
1919 – Women's rights: The U.S. Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
1920 – Hungary loses 71% of its territory and 63% of its population when the Treaty of Trianon is signed in Paris.
1928 – President of the Republic of China Zhang Zuolin is assassinated by Japanese agents.
1932 – Marmaduke Grove and other Chilean military officers lead a coup d'etat establishing the short-lived Socialist Republic of Chile.
1939 – Holocaust: The MS St. Louis, a ship carrying 963 Jewish refugees, is denied permission to land in Florida, United States, after already being turned away from Cuba. Forced to return to Europe, more than 200 of its passengers later die in Nazi concentration camps.
1940 – World War II: The Dunkirk evacuation ends – British forces complete evacuation of 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France. To rally the morale of the country, Winston Churchill delivers his famous "We shall fight on the beaches" speech.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway begins. Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo orders a strike on Midway Island by much of the Imperial Japanese navy.
1943 – A military coup in Argentina ousts Ramón Castillo.
1944 – World War II: A hunter-killer group of the United States Navy captures the German submarine U-505 – the first time a U.S. Navy vessel had captured an enemy vessel at sea since the 19th century.
1944 – World War II: Rome falls to the Allies, the first Axis capital to fall.
1957 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous Power of Nonviolence speech at the University of California, Berkeley.
1961 – In the Vienna summit, Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev sparks the Berlin Crisis by threatening to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and ending American, British and French access to East Berlin.
1965 – Duane Earl Pope robbed the Farmers' State Bank of Big Springs, Nebraska, killing three people execution style and severely wounding a fourth. The crime landed Pope on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list.
1967 – Stockport Air Disaster: British Midland flight G-ALHG crashes in Hopes Carr, Stockport, killing 72 passengers and crew.
1970 – Tonga gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1974 – During Ten Cent Beer Night, inebriated Cleveland Indians fans start a riot, causing the game to be forfeited to the Texas Rangers.
1975 – Governor of California Jerry Brown signs the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act into law, the first law in the U.S. giving farmworkers collective bargaining rights.
1979 – Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
1986 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
1988 – Three cars on a train carrying hexogen to Kazakhstan explode in Arzamas, Gorky Oblast, USSR, killing 91 and injuring about 1,500.
1989 – Ali Khamenei is elected the new Supreme Leader of Islamic republic of Iran by the Assembly of Experts after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
1989 – The Tiananmen Square protests are violently ended in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army.
1989 – Solidarity's victory in the first (somewhat) free parliamentary elections in post-war Poland sparks off a succession of peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe, leads to the creation of the so-called Contract Sejm and begins the Autumn of Nations.
1989 – Ufa train disaster: A natural gas explosion near Ufa, Russia, kills 575 as two trains passing each other throw sparks near a leaky pipeline.
1996 – The first flight of Ariane 5 explodes after roughly 37 seconds. It was a Cluster mission.
1998 – Terry Nichols is sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2001 – Gyanendra, the last King of Nepal, ascends to the throne after the massacre in the Royal Palace.
2004 – Marvin Heemeyer's (eventually suicidal) protest rampage with an improvised bulletproofed bulldozer destroys 13 Granby, Colorado buildings including the town hall.
2010 – Falcon 9 Flight 1 was the maiden flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40.

Births

1394 – Philippa of England, queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (d. 1430)
1489 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1544)
1604 – Claudia de' Medici, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (d. 1648)
1665 – Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian soldier (d. 1733)
1694 – François Quesnay, French economist (d. 1774)
1704 – Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (d. 1776)
1738 – King George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1820)
1744 – Patrick Ferguson, Scottish officer in the British Army and rifle designer (d. 1780)
1754 – Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, Austrian editor and astronomer (d. 1832)
1787 – Constant Prévost, French geologist (d. 1856)
1801 – James Pennethorne, English architect (d. 1871)
1821 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet (d. 1897)
1829 – Jinmaku Kyugoro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 12th Yokozuna (d. 1903)
1866 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (d. 1952)
1867 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Marshal, Supreme Commander and later President of Finland (d. 1951)
1877 – Heinrich Wieland, German biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
1879 – Mabel Lucie Attwell, English children's author and illustrator (d. 1964)
1880 – Clara Blandick, American actress (d. 1962)
1881 – Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter (d. 1962)
1887 – Tom Longboat, Native Canadian marathon runner (d. 1949)
1894 – Madame Bolduc, French Canadian singer (d. 1941)
1899 – Hassan Fathy, Egyptian architect (d. 1989)
1904 – Bhagat Puran Singh, Punjabi social activist (d. 1992)
1907 – Jacques Roumain, Haitian writer (d. 1944)
1907 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (d. 1976)
1907 – Patience Strong, English poet and journalist (d. 1990)
1910 – Christopher Sydney Cockerell, British engineer and inventor (d. 1999)
1912 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish artist (d. 1993)
1915 – Modibo Keita, first President of Mali (d. 1977)
1916 – Robert F. Furchgott, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2009)
1916 – Fernand Leduc, Canadian painter (The Automatistes)
1917 – Robert Merrill, American baritone (d. 2004)
1921 – Emilio Komar, Slovenian-born Argentine philosopher (d. 2006)
1921 – Bobby Wanzer, American professional basketball player and coach
1921 – Don Diamond, American actor (d. 2011)
1923 – Elizabeth Jolley, Australian writer (d. 2007)
1924 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, Prime Minister of Samoa (d. 1999)
1924 – Dennis Weaver, American actor (d. 2006)
1926 – Robert Earl Hughes, American man who became the heaviest known human (d. 1958)
1927 – Henning Carlsen, Danish film director
1927 – Geoffrey Palmer, English actor
1928 – Ruth Westheimer, German-born American sex therapist and author
1929 – Karolos Papoulias, Greek politician
1930 – Morgana King, American singer and actress
1930 – Viktor Tikhonov, Russian hockey player and coach
1931 – Gustav Nossal, Australian research biologist
1932 – John Drew Barrymore, American actor (d. 2004)
1932 – Oliver Nelson, American jazz composer and arranger (d. 1975)
1932 – Maurice Shadbolt, New Zealand writer
1934 – Dame Monica Dacon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines schoolteacher, educator and politician
1934 – Seamus Elliott, Irish cyclist (d. 1971)
1934 – Dame Daphne Sheldrick, Kenyan conservationist and author
1935 – Colette Boky, Quebec operatic soprano
1936 – Nutan Behl, Indian actress (d. 1991)
1936 – Bruce Dern, American actor
1937 – Freddy Fender, American musician (d. 2006)
1937 – Robert Fulghum, American author
1937 – Gorilla Monsoon, American professional wrestler (d. 1999)
1937 – Mortimer Zuckerman, American publisher
1938 – Art Mahaffey, American baseball player
1940 – Ludwig Schwarz, Austrian bishop
1941 – Kenneth G. Ross, Australian playwright and screenwriter
1942 – Louis Reichardt, American mountaineer
1942 – Bill Rowe, Canadian radio personality and politician
1943 – Sandra Haynie, American golfer
1943 – Joyce Meyer, American religious leader
1944 – Michelle Phillips, American singer (The Mamas & the Papas) and actress
1945 – Anthony Braxton, American composer and instrumentalist
1945 – Gordon Waller, Scottish musician (Peter and Gordon) (d. 2009)
1946 – S._P._Balasubrahmanyam, Indian Singer
1947 – Viktor Klima, Chancellor of Austria
1948 – Bob Champion, English jockey
1948 – Jurgen Sparwasser, German footballer
1949 – Gabriel Arcand, French Canadian actor
1949 – Lou Macari, Scottish footballer
1950 – Dagmar Krause, German singer (Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, Art Bears)
1950 – George Noory, American radio personality
1950 – Kevin Woodford, English celebrity chef
1951 – Wendy Pini, American comic book writer and artist
1952 – Bronislaw Komorowski, Marshal of the Polish Sejm and acting President of Poland
1952 – Parker Stevenson, American actor and director
1953 – Linda Lingle, 6th Governor of Hawaii
1953 – Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish musician (d. 1979)
1953 – Susumu Ojima, Japanese entrepreneur (Huser)
1953 – Paul Samson, British guitarist (Samson) (d. 2002)
1955 – Val McDermid, Scottish writer
1955 – Paul Stewart, English writer
1955 – Mary Testa, American stage actress
1956 – Martin Adams, English darts player
1956 – Keith David, American actor
1956 – John Hockenberry, American journalist
1956 – Terry Kennedy, American baseball player and manager
1956 – Gerry Ryan, Irish radio talkshow host (d. 2010)
1957 – Yoon Suk-ho, South Korean director
1957 – John Treacy, Irish athlete
1958 – Eddie Velez, American Actor
1959 – Juan Camacho, Bolivian long-distance runner
1960 – Bradley Walsh, British actor
1960 – Miloš Ðelmaš, Serbian footballer
1961 – El DeBarge, American singer (DeBarge)
1961 – Ferenc Gyurcsány, 6th Prime Minister of Hungary
1962 – Zenon Jaskula, Polish cyclist
1962 – Krzysztof Holowczyc, Polish rally driver
1962 – John P. Kee, American gospel singer
1963 – Xavier McDaniel, American basketball player
1964 – Koji Yamamura, Japanese animator
1964 – Sean Pertwee, English actor
1964 – Simon Cheshire, English children's writer
1965 – Mick Doohan, Australian motorcycle racer
1965 – Andrea Jaeger, American tennis player
1966 – Cecilia Bartoli, Italian mezzo-soprano
1966 – Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian mathematician
1967 – Robert Shane Kimbrough, American astronaut
1968 – Al B. Sure, American R&B singer
1968 – Scott Wolf, American actor
1968 – Roger Lim, American Asian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1969 – Willem de Rooij, Dutch visual artist
1969 – Horatio Sanz, Chilean-born comedian
1970 – Richie Hawtin, Canadian musician
1970 – David Pybus, British musician
1970 – Izabella Scorupco, Polish actress
1971 – James Callis, British actor
1971 – Joseph Kabila, Congolese politician
1971 – Mike Lee, American politician, junior senator from Utah
1971 – Shoji Meguro, Japanese composer
1971 – Noah Wyle, American actor
1972 – Nikka Costa, American singer
1972 – Derian Hatcher, American ice hockey player
1972 – Joe Hill, American writer
1972 – Rob Huebel, American comedian
1973 – Mikey Whipwreck, American professional wrestler
1974 – Darin Erstad, American baseball player
1974 – Andrew Gwynne, British politician
1974 – Stefan Lessard, American musician
1974 – Buddy Wakefield, American poet
1975 – Russell Brand, British comedian, actor and television personality
1975 – Henry Burris, American football player
1975 – Angelina Jolie, American actress
1976 – Kasey Chambers, Australian alternative country singer-songwriter
1976 – Nenad Zimonjic, Serbian tennis player
1977 – Dionisis Chiotis, Greek footballer
1977 – Quinten Hann, Australian snooker player
1977 – Berglind Icey, Icelandic actor
1977 – Alex Manninger, Austrian footballer
1977 – Roman Miroshnichenko, Ukrainian guitarist
1979 – Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer
1979 – Daniel Vickerman, Australian rugby union player
1980 – François Beauchemin, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – T. J. Miller, American actor and comedian
1981 – Giourkas Seitaridis, Greek footballer
1982 – Jamie Dornan, Irish model and actor
1982 – Jin Au-Yeung, American rapper
1982 – Ronnie Prude, American football player
1983 – Emmanuel Eboué, Ivorian footballer
1983 – Romaric, Ivorian footballer
1984 – Kento Handa, Japanese actor
1984 – Jenaveve Jolie, American pornographic actress
1984 – Enrico Rossi Chauvenet, Italian footballer
1984 – Ian White, Canadian hockey player
1984 – Rainie Yang, Taiwanese singer and actress
1984 – Ana Carolina Reston, Brazilian fashion model (d. 2006)
1985 – Anna-Lena Grönefeld, German tennis player
1985 – Alicja Janosz, Polish singer
1985 – Evan Lysacek, American figure skater
1985 – Lukas Podolski, German footballer
1985 – Bar Refaeli, Israeli model
1985 – Oddvar Reiakvam, Norwegian politician
1986 – Shane Kippel, Canadian actor
1986 – Micky, South Korean singer (TVXQ)
1986 – Tori Praver, American model
1986 – Shelly Woods, British paralympic athelete
1987 – Mollie King, British singer (The Saturdays)
1989 – Federico Erba, Italian footballer
1989 – Eldar Gasimov, Azerbaijani singer
1990 – Jetsun Pema, Queen of Bhutan
1991 – Kathryn Prescott, British actress
1991 – Megan Prescott, British actress
1992 – Dino Jelušic, Croatian singer
1992 – Brooke Vincent, British actress

Deaths

1039 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
1135 – Emperor Huizong of China (b. 1082)
1206 – Adèle of Champagne, wife of Louis VII of France
1257 – Duke Przemysl I of Poland
1394 – Mary de Bohun, wife of Henry IV of England (b. c 1369)
1463 – Flavio Biondo, Italian humanist (b. 1392)
1585 – Muretus, French humanist (b. 1526)
1663 – William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1582)
1798 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian womanizer and writer (b. 1725)
1801 – Frederick Muhlenberg, American statesman (b. 1750)
1830 – Antonio José de Sucre, Great Marshall of Ayacucho (b. 1795)
1872 – Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, Dutch politician (b. 1798)
1875 – Eduard Mörike, German poet (b. 1804)
1922 – William Halse Rivers Rivers, English doctor (b. 1864)
1926 – Fred Spofforth, Australian cricketer (b. 1853)
1928 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (b. 1873)
1929 – Harry Frazee, Boston Red Sox owner from 1916-1923 (b. 1881)
1939 – Tommy Ladnier, American musician (b. 1900)
1941 – Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (b. 1859)
1942 – Reinhard Heydrich, German SS senior officer and Nazi official (b. 1904)
1951 – Serge Koussevitsky, Russian conductor (b. 1874)
1956 – Katherine MacDonald, American actress (b. 1881)
1962 – Clem McCarthy, American sportscaster (b. 1882)
1964 – Samuil Marshak, Russian poet (b. 1887)
1968 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898)
1970 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (b. 1911)
1971 – Georg Lukács, Hungarian philosopher (b. 1885)
1973 – Maurice René Fréchet, French mathematician (b. 1878)
1973 – Murry Wilson, father of Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson (b. 1917)
1989 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
1992 – Carl Stotz, American Little League founder (b. 1910)
1994 – Derek Leckenby, British guitarist (Herman's Hermits) (b. 1943)
1994 – Massimo Troisi, Italian actor (b. 1953)
1997 – Ronnie Lane, British bass player (b. 1946)
2001 – Dipendra of Nepal (b. 1971)
2001 – John Hartford, American musician (b. 1937)
2002 – Fernando Belaúnde Terry, Peruvian politician (b. 1912)
2004 – Steve Lacy, American saxophonist (b. 1934)
2004 – Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (b. 1921)
2004 – Marvin Heemeyer, American muffler owner (b. 1952)
2007 – Clete Boyer, American baseball player (b. 1937)
2007 – Jim Clark, American sheriff and segregationist (b. 1922)
2007 – Bill France Jr., NASCAR pioneer (b. 1933)
2007 – Sotiris Moustakas, Greek actor (b. 1940)
2007 – Freddie Scott, American singer and songwriter (b. 1933)
2007 – Craig L. Thomas, United States Senator (b. 1933)
2008 – Nikos Sergianopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1952)
2010 – John Wooden, American basketball player and coach (b. 1910)
2011 – Juan Francisco Luis, U.S. Virgin Islander governor (b. 1940)
2011 – Andreas P. Nielsen, Danish author and composer (b. 1953)
2012 – Eduard Khil, Russian singer (b. 1934)