Top 10 April 21 Birthdays

Dishonorable Mention: April 18, 1882: Getúlio Vargas. After losing an election for President of Brazil in 1930, he led a coup that installed him in power, ruling the Estado Novo (New State) until 1945. He regained power in 1951, but a counter-coup led him to commit suicide rather than be taken alive.

10. April 19, 1981: Hayden Christensen. He played Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episodes II and III.

9. April 19, 1954: Trevor Francis. In 1979, the forward was sold by Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest, becoming Britain's 1st £1 million player. Result? He led Forest to the European Cup in 1979 and 1980. He also won a Coppa Italia with Genoa team Sampdoria in 1985, and a League Cup with Sheffield Wednesday in 1991. He also played in America, helping the Detroit Express win a North American Soccer League Division title in 1978. He played for England in the 1982 World Cup.

8. Honorable Mention: April 19, 1925: Hugh O'Brian. He starred on the Western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1937: Elinor Donahue. She played Betty Anderson on Father Knows Best, a Federation Ambassador on the Star Trekepisode "Metamorphosis," and Felix Unger's girlfriend Miriam Welby on The Odd Couple.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: April 19, 1978: James Franco. He played Harry Osborn in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films, and has also played Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner, writers Hart Crane and Allen Ginsberg, and actor James Dean. He has come under criticism for mistreating women.

7. April 19, 1946: Tim Curry. He played Dr. Frank-N-Further in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was the 1st to play Mozart onstage in Amadeus, played Rooster Hannegan in the film version of Annie, and the original Pennywise in It.

6. April 19, 1903: Eliot Ness. The real thing wasn't quite as heroic as his posthumous portrayal by Robert Stack on the TV version of his memoir, The Untouchables. And he actually had nothing to do with bringing Chicago crime boss Al Capone to justice. But he did bring a lot of bad guys down.

5. April 19, 1941: Bobby Russell. He wrote "Little Green Apples" for O.C. Smith, and "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" for his then-wife Vicki Lawrence.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1928: Alexis Korner. A founding father of British rock and blues.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1934: Dickie Goodman. The king of "cut-in" records, pretending to do a news broadcast, while something weird happens, and his questions are answered by snippets of hit records. He parodied 1950s science-fiction films with "The Flying Saucer," and was still doing parodies as late as the 1970s energy crisis.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1942: Alan Price. The keyboard player for The Animals, it was his idea for the band to record an electric version of the old American folk song "The House of the Rising Sun," and it was their biggest hit.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1944: Bernie Worrell. Keyboard player for George Clinton's "P-Funk Empire."

4. April 19, 1987: Maria Sharapova. She has the "Career Grand Slam": She won Wimbledon in 2004, when she was just 17; the U.S. Open in 2006; the Australian Open in 2008; and the French Open in 2012 and 2014.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1936: Jack Pardee. The linebacker was one of Bear Bryant's "Junction Boys" at Texas A&M in the 1950s, and one of George Allen's "Over the Hill Gang" that won the 1972 NFC Championship for the Washington Redskins.

He led the Orlando-based Florida Blazers into the World Bowl, the World Football League title game, in 1974; the Chicago Bears to the Playoffs in 1977; the Houston Gamblers to the USFL Playoffs twice; and the Houston Oilers into the NFL Playoffs 4 times. He is the only man to be head coach of teams in the NFL, the CFL, the WFL and the USFL.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1960: Frank Viola. In 1987, he helped the Minnesota Twins win the World Series, and was named the Series' Most Valuable Player. In 1988, he won the American League Cy Young Award. In 1990, with his hometown team, the New York Mets, he won 20 games. Jacob deGrom is jealous of the run support. His career record was 176-150.

Honorable Mention: April 19, 1970: Kelly Holmes. She won Gold Medals in the 800 and 1,500 meters in the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

3. April 19, 1935: Dudley Moore. Not just an accomplished songwriter and pianist, he starred in Arthur and 10.

2. April 19, 1912: Glenn Seaborg. He discovered 10 chemical elements. The 1st was plutonium. The last was named for him while he was still alive: seaborgium. He operated out of the University of California, which led to 2 others being named californium and berkelium.

1. April 19, 1721: Roger Sherman. He was the only one of the Founding Fathers to have signed the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States. He served Connecticut in both houses of Congress.

Still alive as of this writing: Christensen, Francis, Donahue, Franco, Curry, Price, Sharapova, Viola, Holmes.

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