Top 10 April 6 Birthdays

10. April 6, 1931: Ram Dass. Born Richard Alpert, he helped bring Eastern spirituality, including yoga, to popularity in the West.

9. April 6, 1892: Donald Wills Douglas Sr. He founded the Douglas Aircraft Company, which created the 1st great American passenger plane, the DC-3; and its military equivalent, the C-47 transport plane. His son, Donald Jr., led the merger with McDonnell Aircraft to form McDonnell-Douglas, to meet the increasing demand for new planes.

Somewhat Honorable Mention: April 6, 1890: Anthony Fokker. (Pronounced "FOH-ker.") A pioneer of aviation, the Dutch designer made planes for Imperial Germany in World War I, including the Fokker Triplane made famous by Manfred von Richtofen, a.k.a. the Red Baron. After the war, with Germany forbidden by treaty from building planes, he moved aircraft design forward from his homeland.

8. April 6, 1823: Joseph Medill. He built the Chicago Tribune from a footnote in newspapers into one of the world's best, and was also the Mayor of Chicago when the Great Fire struck in 1871, and had to lead the rebuilding effort.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1892: Lowell Thomas. One of the leading American journalists of the 1st half of the 20th Century, he helped make the British adventurer T.E. Lawrence world-famous as "Lawrence of Arabia."

7. April 6, 1926: Gil Kane. For DC Comics, he created the Silver Age versions of Green Lantern, Hal Jordan; and the Atom, Ray Palmer. For Marvel Comics, he created Iron Fist and Adam Warlock, and wrote the groundbreaking 1971 anti-drug storyline in The Amazing Spider-Man #s 96, 97 and 98.

6. April 6, 1904: Kurt Georg Kiesinger. During World War II, he worked in Germany's Foreign Office, but turned against the Nazi government. As President of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, he founded the University of Konstanz and the University of Ulm.

He served as Chancellor of West Germany from 1966 to 1969, and was seen as a conciliator, not just between Germany's difficult past and its modernizing present, but between generations, as the country avoided some of the difficult student demonstrations that hit America, Britain and France.

Dishonorable Mention: April 6, 1926: Ian Paisley. From 1971 to 2008, this Protestant minister was the Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, and strongly supported remaining in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, he did so with some unacceptable anti-Catholic bigotry, and often seemed to support Protestant paramilitary groups and their acts of terrorism against the region's Catholic majority.

Dishonorable Mention: April 6, 1956: Michele Bachmann. From 2007 to 2015, the Republican served as a Congresswoman from Minnesota, and seemed to enjoy making liberals think she was crazy. She ran for President in 2012, but didn't get far.

5. April 6, 1937: Billy Dee Williams. He played Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Gale Sayers in Brian's Song, Gotham City District Attorney Harvey Dent (but not his later form, Two-Face) in the 1989 Batman film, and, of course, Lando Calrissian in 3 Star Wars films. Casting Billy Dee in your movie is like serving a product he used to endorse, Colt 45 malt liquor: It works every time.

 

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1947: John Ratzenberger. He played Cliff Clavin, the supposedly know-it-all mailman, on Cheers. He's also lent his voice to Pixar's cartoons: Hamm the piggy bank in the Toy Story films, The Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. films, Mack the truck in the Cars films, and The Underminer in the Incredibles films.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1952: Marilu Henner. She played Elaine Nardo on Taxi, and Ava Newton on Evening Shade.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1969: Paul Rudd. He's played Paris in Romeo & Juliet, Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby, John Lennon in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Phoebe's eventual husband Mike Hannigan on Friends, and Scott Lang, a.k.a. the 2nd Ant-Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1975: Zach Braff. He played Dr. John Dorian, a.k.a. JD, on Scrubs.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1976: Candace Cameron Bure. She played Donna Jo "D.J." Tanner on Full House, and veterinarian Dr. D.J. Fuller on its sequel series, Fuller House. She has far exceeded her real-life brother, Kirk Cameron of Growing Pains. (Possibly because she is far less pushy about their shared evangelical beliefs.) She is married to former NHL player Valeri Bure, brother of more successful player Pavel Bure.

4. April 6, 1942: Barry Levinson. He directed Diner, The Natural, Good Morning, Vietnam, Bugsy and Wag the Dog, and won an Oscar for directing Rain Man.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1962: Steven Levitan. He created the sitcoms Just Shoot Me! and Modern Family.

3. April 6, 1937: Merle Haggard. Johnny Cash sang at San Quentin Prison; Merle Haggard actually did time there. (Not at the same time.) Haggard went on to lead country music's "outlaw movement," but, unlike many who sold out to The Man, remained a lifelong Democrat.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1900: Leo Robin. With Richard Whiting, he wrote "Beyond the Blue Horizon." With Russ Colombo and Clarence Gaskill, he wrote "Prisoner of Love." With Ralph Rainger, he wrote "Thanks for the Memory," which became Bob Hope's theme song. With Jule Styne, he wrote "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1927: Gerry Mulligan. The saxophonist was a leader of what became known as the "cool jazz" movement.

2. April 6, 1903: Mickey Cochrane. One of the greatest catchers of all time, he helped the Philadelphia Athletics win the 1929, 1930 and 1931 American League Pennants, and the 1929 and 1930 World Series.

When A's owner Connie Mack was forced by the Great Depression to sell off his stars, Cochrane was hired as catcher and manager by the Detroit Tigers. He managed them to the Pennant in 1934, winning the AL Most Valuable Player award, despite the New York Yankees' Lou Gehrig winning the Triple Crown. And he managed the Tigers to win the 1935 World Series.

A beaning ended his career in 1937, with a lifetime batting average of .320. In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him 65th on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1951: Bert Blyleven. Known for having the best curveball of his generation, the pitcher reached the postseason for the 1st time with the 1970 Minnesota Twins. He reached it for the last time with the 1987 Twins, winning the World Series. In between, he won the 1979 World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Despite pitching mostly for struggling teams, he went 287-250 for his career, and his 3,701 strikeouts were 3rd-most all-time at the time of his retirement.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1955: Sterling Sharpe. The receiver made 5 Pro Bowls before a neck injury ended his career before his 30th birthday. He caught 595 passes for 8,134 yards and 65 touchdowns. There are those who believe he should join his brother, tight end Shannon Sharpe, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1988: Fabrice Muamba. Born in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and raised in East London, the midfielder briefly played for North London soccer team Arsenal, before starring for Manchester-area team Bolton Wanderers. He nearly died on the pitch from a heart attack in a game against the other North London team, Tottenham Hotspur. He recovered, and became a media analyst and a coach in the sport.

Honorable Mention: April 6, 1992: Julie Ertz. The midfielder helped the U.S. team win the 2015 and 2019 Women's World Cups. Her husband, Zach Ertz, is a tight end who helped the Philadelphia Eagles win a Super Bowl. As stunning an achievement as that was, it might be the equal of one World Cup win, but not two.

1. April 6, 1928: James D. Watson. In 1953, the American molecular biologist and his British partner Francis Crick wrote the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, a huge step forward in the history of science.

Still alive as of this writing: Bachmann, Williams, Ratzenberger, Henner, Rudd, Braff, Cameron Bure, Levinson, Levitan, Blyleven, Sharpe, Muamba, Ertz, Watson.