Top 10 January 23 Birthdays

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1957: Caroline Grimaldi. Oldest child of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Princess Grace Kelly, and sister of the current monarch, Prince Albert II, she is one of the biggest charity fundraisers who has ever lived.

She is also a Princess twice over: Not only is she Princess Caroline of Monaco, she is also the Princess of Hanover, as she is married to Prince Ernst August of Hanover. He is a great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and thus a great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1951: Chesley Sullenberger. In 2009, "Captain Sully" landed the damaged US Airways Airbus A320 he was flying in the middle of the Hudson River, saving all 155 people onboard. President Joe Biden appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization. In a gesture we almost never see anymore, the Senate confirmed this appointment unanimously.

Dishonorable Mention: January 23, 1984: Arjen Robben. The good: The winger helped PSV Eindhoven with the Eredivisie (the Dutch national soccer league) in 2003; West London team Chelsea win the Premier League in 2005 and 2006, and the FA Cup in 2007; Real Madrid win Spain's La Liga in 2008; and Bayern Munich win the Bundesliga (the German national league) 8 times in 10 years from 2010 to 2019, and the UEFA Champions League in 2013. And he helped the Netherlands national team reach the Final of the 2010 World Cup.

The bad: He dives. He is a blatant cheat, so he fit in perfectly at Chelsea, Real Madrid and Bayern, all of who have a reputation for tolerating the cheating of their players.

The ugly: His big bald head. He reminds me of both hockey villain Mark Messier and comic book villain Lex Luthor.

10. January 23, 1969: Brendan Shanahan. The left wing helped the New Jersey Devils reach their 1st Playoff berth in 1988, and he could have been the team's 1st member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. But the best thing he ever did for the Devils was leave: By signing a free-agent contract with the St. Louis Blues, he kicked in a clause in the NHL's collective bargaining agreement that awarded the Devils compensation, and the player they got from the Blues was Scott Stevens, who led them to 3 Stanley Cups.

"Shanny" did go on to win 3 Cups of his own, but with the Detroit Red Wings, in 1997, 1998 and 2002. He scored 656 goals, was named to 8 All-Star Games and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Internationally, he helped Canada win the 1991 Canada Cup (hockey's version of the World Cup) and the 2002 Winter Olympic Gold Medal in Salt Lake City.

9. January 23, 1936: Jerry Kramer. A member of all 5 of Vince Lombardi's NFL Championships with the Green Bay Packers, his book Instant Replay was a Ball Four before Jim Bouton wrote his book, giving people an inside look at a football team. But since it didn't reveal intimate secrets and make his teammates look silly, he never faced a backlash for it.

He might be the greatest guard in football history, and the greatest athlete ever to come from the State of Idaho. But, for reasons not publicly known, it took until he was 82 years old to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1929: Myron Cope. Longtime broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers, he popularized the "Terrible Towel," and became as popular as any of the players. The Pro Football Hall of Fame gave him its Pete Rozelle Award for media figures. "Yoi!" and "Double Yoi!"

8. January 23, 1930: Derek Walcott. From the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia, his poetry and plays earned him the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature.

7. January 23, 1783: Stendhal. Born Marie-Henri Beyle, he served in Napoleon's Grande Armée in its 1812 invasion of Russia, and his heroic actions during the 1813 retreat made him one of the few men to return home with his reputation enhanced. He went on to become one of France's greatest novelists.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1832: Édouard Manet. Not to be confused with the later Claude Monet, he was also one of France's greatest painters.

6. January 23, 1910: Django Reinhardt. Despite terrible burns that damaged a leg and 2 fingers, the Belgian-Romani guitarist became one of the earliest European stars of jazz. He could also be called the inventor of a European version of what Americans call "the blues."  A brain hemorrhage at age 43 prevented him from living to hear rock and roll. We can only guess what he would have done thereafter.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1948: Anita Pointer. The middle sister of the singing Pointer Sisters. (Ruth was the oldest, Bonnie the youngest.)

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1953: Robin Zander. Lead singer of the rock band Cheap Trick.

5. January 23, 1919: Bob Paisley. A longtime assistant to Liverpool FC's manager Bill Shankly, succeeding him could have been daunting. Instead, he surpassed the founder of the Mersey Reds' dynasty: From 1976 to 1983, 7 seasons, he won 6 Football League titles, and became the 1st manager of an English team to win 3 European Cups (the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League): 1977, 1978 and 1981. He had also played for Liverpool's League Champions of 1947.

4. January 23, 1919: Ernie Kovacs. One of the geniuses of early television, whose life was cut short by a 1962 car crash. Without him, there probably wouldn't have been That Was the Week That Was, or Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, or Saturday Night Live, or any show that has ever imitated any of those.

3. January 23, 1964: Mariska Hargitay. The daughter of blonde bombshell actress Jayne Mansfield and Hungarian bodybuilder-actor Mickey Hargitay, she now holds the record for longest run playing a single character in the history of American prime-time television: She has played Olivia Benson, now with the rank of Captain in the New York Police Department, on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, with guest appearances on the other shows in the Law & Order franchise, for 22 seasons, over 500 episodes. Through this role, she has been called one of the most inspiring actresses ever.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1898: Randolph Scott. One of the best-known actors connected with Western movies. In Blazing Saddles, when Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little) asks the people of Rock Ridge to stand with him in a grand plan to save their town, they refuse. He says, "You'd do it for Randolph Scott!" That convinces them.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1928: Jeanne Moreau. Perhaps the greatest French actress of the 20th Century. Her best-known role may be as Catherine in Jules et Jim (1962). But she also starred in 2 films about a different Catherine, Russian Empress Catherine the Great: In the title role in Great Catherine (1968), and as the aging Empress Elizabeth to Catherine Zeta-Jones' title role in Catherine the Great (1995).

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1933: Chita Rivera. One of the icons of Broadway, she was the 1st actress to play Anita in West Side Story and Velma Kelly in Chicago. Her daughter, Lisa Mordente, is also a dancer, a choreographer, and a Tony Award-nominated actress.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1950: Richard Dean Anderson. The star of the original MacGyver, he also starred in the Stargate franchise.

Honorable Mention: January 23, 1974: Tiffani Thiessen. Billed as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen when she was starring on the original run of Saved by the Bell, she has also starred on Beverly Hills, 90210, White Collar, and some shorter-running series. She now hosts the comedy clip show Deliciousness, and has a recurring role on the new version of Saved by the Bell.

2. January 23, 1780: Georgios Karaiskakis. Commander of Revolutionary forces in the Greek War of Independence until he fell in the Battle of Phaleron in 1827. The modern city of Piraeus, just outside Athens, stands on the site, and a stadium there bears his name, home of Greece's most successful sports team, soccer team Olympiacos.

1. January 23, 1737: John Hancock. At the start of the American Revolution, he was already the richest man in Massachusetts, through a mercantile business that included the importation and transportation of whiskey. In other words, his involvement in the Boston Tea Party wasn't just good patriotism, it was also good business: Damaging the competition.

He was President of the Continental Congress in 1776, when independence was ratified. The actual signing ceremony was on August 2, and Hancock wrote the most famous signature in American history, to the point where any signature is known as a "John Hancock." According to legend, he said, "There! George III can read that without his spectacles, and double the price on my head!"

That price was never paid. He later served 2 consecutive, and later 2 more consecutive, terms as Governor of Massachusetts. An insurance company, and skyscrapers they once owned in Boston and Chicago, bear his name.

Still alive as of this writing: Princess Caroline, Captain Sully, Robben, Shanahan, Kramer, Anita Pointer, Zander, Hargitay, Rivera, Anderson, Thiessen.