Dishonorable Mention: January 31, 1923: Norman Mailer. He tried to be Ernest Hemingway for a new generation. Too hard: While he was able to match "Papa" for writing talent, and sometimes for writing style, he treated women like crap.
Including Norris Church Mailer, the last of his 6 wives, born on January 31, 1948. Come to think of it, he even tried to kill Adele Morales, his 2nd wife, while his 6th survived him. Maybe his role model was actually King Henry VIII.
Dishonorable Mention: January 31, 1938: James G. Watt. President Ronald Reagan's 1st Secretary of the Interior, he was an evangelical who thought that letting energy companies wreck the environment was God's will. And he was a terrible bigot.
After being caught in his bigotry forced him to resign, he was charged with several felonies. He pleaded guilty to one, and only got probation, a fine, and community service. I hope that service was on back-to-back days in women's centers in Harlem and Borough Park.
Dishonorable Mention: January 31, 1981: Justin Timberlake. Not because I'm not a fan of his music, but because of how he's treated women, including Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. If he's "bringing sexy back," that's a good endorsement for looking plain. When he dies, his coffin will truly be a dick in a box.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 31, 1951: Harry Wayne Casey. The leader of KC & The Sunshine Band seems like a decent guy, but that music. Oy.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 31, 1956: John Lydon. The man known as Johnny Rotten, lead singer of The Sex Pistols, and later using his real name as the lead singer of Public Image Ltd., is a musical icon, and an Arsenal fan.
But Rotten can also be a rotten guy. While he opposes war, supported President Obama, and initially dismissed Donald Trump as a political lightweight, he has since expressed appreciation for Trump for "shaking up the jaded world of politicians" and denied, in the face of all evidence, that Trump was a racist. And he's pro-Brexit and anti-gay marriage.
10. January 31, 1872: Zane Grey. Not as good a writer as Mailer, but more popular, and defined the Western genre in print. The favorite author of both the real-life President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the fictional M*A*S*H commanding officer, Colonel Sherman T. Potter (played by Harry Morgan).
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1905: John O'Hara. He wrote BUtterfield-8 and Pal Joey. John Updike, who considered him a tremendous influence, said he "outproduced our capacity for appreciation."
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1915: Thomas Merton. The monk's memoir, The Seven Storey Mountain, launched millions of spiritual journeys.
9. January 31, 1920: Stewart Udall. A Congressman, brother of another, father of one U.S. Senator and uncle of another, he served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior through the entirety of the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson Administrations.
Since the District of Columbia Stadium (later renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) was built in 1961 on federal land, he enforced the law, and told the NFL's Washington Redskins that they could not play there unless they desegregated their roster. They did.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1925: Benjamin Hooks. A practicing minister and a practicing lawyer, he was Executive Director of the NAACP from 1977 to 1992.
8. January 31, 1914: Jersey Joe Walcott. He won the Heavyweight Championship of the World at the age of 37, a record that stood for 43 years. And he's only the 5th-biggest athlete with a birthday on this day.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1933: Camille Henry. The center was a 3-time NHL All-Star for the New York Rangers.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1957: Shirley Babashoff. She won 4 Medals, 2 Gold and 2 Silver, in swimming at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, despite being only 15 years old. She won another Gold and 4 more Silvers in 1976 at Montreal.
7. January 31, 1929: Jean Simmons. Before there was Hayley Atwell, Keira Knightley, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Marina Sirtis and Jane Seymour, there was a British brunette actress who made men wish they lived in the time periods in which her movies were set. Definitely not to be confused with Gene Simmons, the lead singer of Kiss.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: January 31, 1902: Tallulah Bankhead. Her acting has been almost forgotten, as she is now known mainly for her sleeping around, with men and women alike: "I'm ambisextrous."
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1937: Suzanne Pleshette. At this point, she might be better known for playing Emily Hartley on the last minute of Newhart than for playing the same role for 6 years on The Bob Newhart Show.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1942: Daniela Bianchi. She was 19 when she played Tatiana Romanova in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia With Love. She remains the youngest Bond Girl ever.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1970: Minnie Driver. I like her acting, not just them apples.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1973: Portia de Rossi. To not mention her would be both a Scandal and a sign of Arrested Development.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1977: Kerry Washington. It would be a Scandal to not mention her, either.
6. January 31, 1797: Franz Schubert. The Viennese composer only lived to be 31 (the cause of death is still disputed), but left behind over 300 works, including 7 symphonies, and his Symphony No. 8, the "Unfinished Symphony."
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1892: Eddie Cantor. One of the stars of vaudeville, he's best known for the definitive version of the 1928 song "Makin' Whoopee."
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1915: Alan Lomax. He wasn't a great singer or songwriter, but his efforts to collect and record folk songs, black and white alike, during the Great Depression saved a lot of music that might otherwise have been lost.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1921: Carol Channing. One of the biggest stars Broadway has ever had.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1921: Mario Lanza. The only opera singer who could have played Enrico Caruso in a film, and did.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1922: Joanne Dru. A pretty good actress, and perhaps no actress was ever a better singer.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1926: Chuck Willis. The rhythm & blues star was just experiencing his first wave of success when he was killed in a car accident in 1958. Making ironic his hit record at the time: "(I Don't Want to) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes."
5. January 31, 1931: Ernie Banks."Mr. Cub" hit 512 home runs and won 2 National League Most Valuable Player awards. And he's only the 3rd-biggest member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team with a birthday on this day.
4. January 31, 1913: Don Hutson. Pro football's 1st great receiver, he led the Green Bay Packers to 3 NFL Championships, and was a charter inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And he's only the 3rd-biggest athlete with a birthday on this day.
3. January 31, 1947: Nolan Ryan. He holds the records for strikeouts in a season and in a career, and most no-hitters in a career, and won over 300 games. And he's only the 2nd-biggest member of the Major League Baseball All-Century Team with a birthday on this day.
2. January 31, 1752: Gouverneur Morris. A member of a prominent New York family (his brother Lewis Morris signed the Declaration of Independence), he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and wrote the Preamble: "We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union... " and so on.
He served as U.S. Minister to France at the height of the French Revolution, and later as a U.S. Senator from New York. And, even more so than Ben Franklin, he was probably the most prodigious ladies' man among the Founding Fathers.
1. January 31, 1919: Jackie Robinson. Based on his time at UCLA, baseball may have been only his 4th-best sport. But his role in baseball means there has never been a more important athlete.
Honorable Mention: January 31, 1926: Tom Alston. He didn't have nearly as good a baseball career as Jackie, playing only 4 years in the major leagues, all as a 1st baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals. But he was the 1st black player for that team, which is a big deal, given that they were the team most opposed to Jackie's arrival. (The Philadelphia Phillies may have had a manager call him every racist stereotype in the book, but the Cardinals threatened to go on strike if he were allowed to play.)
Still alive as of this writing: Watt, Timberlake, Casey, Lydon, Babashoff, Bianchi, Driver, de Rossi, Washington and Ryan.