"Find us a dream that won't ask no questions."
Honorable Mention: January 24, AD 76: Emperor Hadrian of Rome. He was better at building walls than Donald Trump or East Germany.
Honorable Mention: January 24, 1943: Sharon Tate. We only got to see her scratch the surface of what she could do before the Manson Family took her from us.
Dishonorable Mention: January 24, 1918: Oral Roberts. In 1987, the "prosperity gospel" televangelist told his audience that unless he reached $8 million over the next few weeks, "God will call me home." He got the money in time, and lived another 22 years.
10. January 24, 1961: Nastassja Kinski. The daughter of the German-Polish actor-director Klaus Kinski, she was one of the hottest actresses on the planet in the 1980s.
9. January 24, 1705: Farinelli. This was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi, the premier opera singer of his time. He was considered so good, people in heavily Catholic Italy said, "One God, and one Farinelli." The reason he was able to hit such high notes is that he was part of a tradition of training boys for it -- by castrating them before they hit puberty, so their voices remained high. Talk about "suffering for your art."
8. January 24, 1947: Giorgio Chinaglia. Italian on one side, Welsh on the other, so, unlike most Italian soccer players, he spoke great English. So, after starring for the Rome-based Lazio team that won the 1974 Serie A (Italian league) title, he was ready to take America by storm.
He did, going to the New York Cosmos. He didn't like playing second fiddle to Pelé, but once the great man retired after the 1977 season, the team was all Giorgio's. He led the Cosmos to the North American Soccer League title in 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1982. He wasn't quite as popular in New York as Reggie Jackson, but he was at least as popular as Phil Esposito and Mike Bossy.
Unfortunately, he let it go to his head. With the team's ownership group falling apart, he bought a share. And demanded final say in all personnel matters. While still playing. He ran the team into the ground. It folded after the 1984 season. And, without a New York franchise, the League folded as well. For all he did to excite American soccer, he probably set it back a generation.
Dishonorable Mention: January 24, 1987: Luis Suárez. One of the most successful soccer players of his generation, winning league titles in his native Uruguay, the Netherlands, and 5 in Spain, and a Champions League title with Barcelona. But also one of the most despicable. Beyond being a serial diver, which made him fit in perfectly at ultra-corrupt Barcelona. Beyond that, he has been caught biting an opponent. On three separate occasions. Once in the World Cup.
7. January 24, 1930: John Romita. In 1965, with DC Comics buying his work less, he got poached by Marvel Comics. They put him to work on Spider-Man, and did as much to make the character beloved as creator Stan Lee. "Jazzy John" also created the 2 most kick-ass characters in Marvel history, Wolverine and the Punisher.
His son, John Romita Jr., also wrote for those characters, and was inspired to write his own kick-ass character, whom he named "Kick-Ass."
Honorable Mention: January 24, 1944: David Gerrold. He created the Tribbles for Star Trek. There are 3 episodes in the canon involving them, and he wrote all of them, starting with "The Trouble with Tribbles," often considered the most popular episode of the Original Series. He's also written for several other science fiction shows.
6. January 24, 1862: Edith Wharton. In 1921, she became the 1st woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature, for The Age of Innocence.
5. January 24, 1968: Mary Lou Retton. She was the 1st American to win the Olympic Gold Medal in women's all-around gymnastics, in Los Angeles in 1984.
4. January 24, 1917: Ernest Borgnine. He didn't just star in McHale's Navy, he was in the U.S. Navy in World War II. He came home, got a factory job, and hated it. He was already almost 30. Finally, his mother said, "You always like getting in front of people and making a fool of yourself, why don't you give it a try?" In other words, for money. Years later, he said, "It sounds crazy. And 10 years later, I had Grace Kelly handing me an Academy Award."
It was for Marty, winning Best Actor in the film that was Best Picture for 1955. His military experience led him to military roles like in China Corsair, From Here to Eternity, Vera Cruz, and the sitcom McHale's Navy. He took on a father figure role in the 1980s adventure series Airwolf. For his role in the 2009 series finale of the NBC medical drama ER, he earned an Emmy nomination. He was 92 years old.
3. January 24, 1949: John Belushi. Don't tell me marijuana isn't a gateway drug. It was for him. We should still be laughing our asses off at things he's doing today. Instead, we're laughing at things he did from 1975 to 1980, and that's it. But what he did in those 5 years.
2. January 24, 1941: Neil Diamond. He's had 3 separate careers. From 1965 to 1970, he was one of the top singers, songwriters and guitarists around. He wrote "I'm a Believer," which The Monkees turned into a Number 1 hit, before topping the charts himself with "Cracklin' Rosie," and having other hits like "Solitary Man,""Cherry, Cherry" and "Sweet Caroline."
But in 1971, his style switched from Swinging Sixties to Silly Seventies, with "I Am, I Said." He hadn't so much switched from Brooklyn to L.A. as he had from L.A. to Las Vegas. After "America" in 1981, he became essentially an oldies performer. Eventually, he became so glitzy a parody of his former self, they began calling him the Jewish Elvis.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 24, 1939: Ray Stevens. Some of his novelty songs, like "Ahab the Arab," are now considered more cringey than silly. But some retain their likeability, like "Guitarzan": "He ordered a guitar course, C.O.D. He's got A and E, and he's workin' on B. He likes C&W, and R&B."
He proved he could do serious work in 1970, when he got his own TV show based on his play-it-straight Number 1 hit "Everything Is Beautiful." Unfortunately, he's gotten cranky in his old age, supporting Tea Partiers and now Trump.
Honorable Mention: January 24, 1941: Aaron Neville. If I "Tell It Like It Is," then I have to say that he's the best singer born on the day Neil Diamond was born.
Honorable Mention: January 24, 1947: Warren Zevon. If you only know him for singing "Werewolves of London," well, that's kind of like only knowing Robert De Niro for his role in "Meet the Parents." Sure, it's great. But there's more.
1. January 24, 1712: King Friedrich II of Prussia.Reigning from 1740 until his death in 1786, he was that rare combination of both warrior king and philosopher king, beloved by his people as Der Alte Fritz (The Old Fritz) and Friedrich der Große (Frederick the Great).
I have 2 problems with putting him at Number 1: His attacks on my heritage. On my father's side, he took territory from Poland, leading to its Partitions in the late 18th Century and eventually its disappearance from the map until 1918. On my mother's side, he had an anti-Semitic streak.
Still alive as of this writing: Kinski, Suárez, Romita, Gerrold, Retton, Diamond, Stevens, Neville.