Dishonorable Mention: January 30, 1941: Dick Cheney. I'd call him America's greatest living war criminal, but you have to go back to 1865 to find a bigger one that's dead.
Dishonorable Mention: January 30, 1951: Phil Collins."I can feel it coming in the air tonight." So can I: It's nausea.
10. January 30, 1980: Wilmer Valderrama. Lots of actors have played 2 (or even more) well-remembered characters on television. Few have played 2 characters as different as Wilmer has. He was high school exchange student Fez (the joke being that his home country was never mentioned) on That '70s Show, and now he's Special Agent Nick Torres on NCIS.
9. January 30, 1943: Davey Johnson. He was there for both of the New York Mets' World Series clinchings. On October 16, 1969, he made the last out for the Baltimore Orioles. On October 27, 1986, he was the Mets' manager. He is the only living human being to manage the Mets to a World Championship.
Usually known as "Dave" as a player, he was the starting 2nd baseman on the Orioles' World Series wins of 1966 and 1970. He was a 4-time All-Star and a 3-time Gold Glove. In 1973, he hit 43 home runs, but never hit more than 18 in any other season.
As a manager, he reached the postseason 6 times, with 4 different teams. However, he went just 5-5 in postseason series. Had the Houston Astros gotten 1 more run in Game 6 of the 1986 National League Championship Series, Davey Johnson might never have won a Pennant as a manager.
8. January 30, 1922: Dick Martin. From 1952 onward, he was half of a comedy team with Dan Rowan. In 1968, they began hosting Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In on NBC, perhaps the funniest TV show of all time. He was also a regular panelist on the 1970s version of Match Game.
He wasn't a dummy, he just played one on TV. In fact, he was very bright, a gourmet cook, and, in contrast to his swinging bachelor image on Laugh-In, married British actress Dolly Read, who was known as Dolly Martin thereafter.
7. January 30, 1974: Olivia Colman. She's played Queen Anne, Queen Elizabeth (wife of King George VI), and that Queen's daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
But she's not an actual monarch. Read on:
6. January 30, 1937: Vanessa Redgrave. From one of Britain's most distinguished acting families, she has played Queen Guinevere; Queen Anne Boleyn, her daughter Queen Elizabeth I, and Elizabeth's great rival, Mary, Queen of Scots; the Evil Queen in a version of Snow White, Empress Elizabeth of Russia, Cosima Wagner (Mrs. Richard), Isadora Duncan, Sylvia Pankhurst, Agatha Christie, Clementine Churchill (Mrs. Winston), and Dr. Renee Richards.
But she's not an actual monarch. This person is:
5. January 30, 1962: King Abdullah II of Jordan. He has followed the work of his father, King Hussein I, in being an advocate for peace in the Middle East. He's also a pilot, a science fiction fan, and a Trekkie: As Crown Prince in 1995, the producers of Star Trek: Voyager found out, and invited him to film a scene for an episode. He was cast in a non-speaking part as a Lieutenant in the Sciences Division, briefly appearing at the start of the episode "Investigations." (He was not listed in the credits. The Star Trek information website Memory Alpha lists him as "Abdullah bin al-Hussein," or "Abdullah, son of Hussein.")
Honorable Mention: January 30, 1968: King Felipe VI of Spain. He has reigned since 2014, when his father, King Juan Carlos I, abdicated. (The former King is, at this writing, still alive.) He is married to Queen Letizia, and has 2 daughters: Leonor (Princess of Asturias and heir to the throne) and Sofia.
4. January 30, 1974: Christian Bale. The Welsh actor has had many roles, but he will be forever remembered as Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
3. January 30, 1930: Gene Hackman. He's played good guys, like Coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers, and FBI Special Agent Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning. He's played bad guys, like Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde, Lex Luthor in the Chris Reeve Superman movies, Sheriff "Little Bill" Daggett in Unforgiven, John Herod in Unforgiven, and President Allen Richmond in Absolute Power. And he's played guys who were a little of both, like Detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in the French Connection movies.
2. January 30, 1927: Olof Palme. He served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976, and was returned to office in 1982. In between his terms, he worked as a mediator for the United Nations in trying to settle the Iran-Iraq War, to no avail. He was a vocal critic of tyrannical regimes both left (the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev) and right (South Africa under P.W. Botha). He was assassinated in 1986.
1. January 30, 1736: James Watt. He didn't invent the steam engine, but his development of it in 1776 helped launch the Industrial Revolution. He has no connection besides name to the James Watt who served as President Ronald Reagan's 1st Secretary of the Interior, and spouted evangelical and bigoted views before being forced to resign.
Still alive as of this writing: Cheney (somehow), Collins, Valderrama, Johnson, Colman, Redgrave, King Abdullah, King Felipe, Bale, Hackman.