Dishonorable Mention: March 13, 1911: L. Ron Hubbard. Things he was bad at included writing. Things he was good at included scamming people, through his invention of the religion Scientology.
Dishonorable Mention: March 13, 1913: William J. Casey. Director of the CIA from 1981 until his death in 1987, he was heavily involved in the Iran-Contra scandal, but refused to talk, putting his loyalty to the Republican Party ahead of his oath to the Constitution of the United States.
10. March 13, 1798: Abigail Fillmore. She became First Lady of the United States in 1850, when Zachary Taylor died, elevating her husband Millard Fillmore to the Presidency. A teacher before that, she built the 1st library in the White House, and was one of the earliest First Ladies to be a legitimate policy advisor to the President. She died of pneumonia only 26 days after leaving the White House, the shortest post-White House life of any First Lady.
9. March 13, 1916: Lindy Boggs.While her husband, Hale Boggs, was a Democratic Congressman from Louisiana, Marie Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs was one of the leading hostesses in Washington. Her husband was House Majority Leader in 1972, when his plane disappeared. It has never been found. When his seat in Congress was declared vacant, she ran for his seat, and won it, serving until 1991.
She was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Vatican City by President Bill Clinton, serving from 1997 to 2001. One daughter, Corrine "Cokie" Roberts, became an award-winning journalist for ABC News. Another, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, was elected Mayor of Princeton, New Jersey.
8. March 13, 1956: Dana Delany. She's starred on China Beach, Desperate Housewives and Body of Proof. She's also voiced Lois Lane in the DC Animated Universe.
7. March 13, 1908: Walter Annenberg. His company, Triangle Publications, owned The Philadelphia Inquirer, TV Guide, The Daily Racing Form, and Seventeen magazine. He was also a large donor to the Republican Party, and President Richard Nixon appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Britain.
He later founded the Annenberg Foundation, and gave over $2 billion to universities. Both the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California renamed their journalism schools for him.
6. March 13, 1914: Edward O'Hare. In 1942, Lieutenant "Butch" O'Hare became the U.S. Navy's 1st "flying ace" of World War II. The distinction is given to a pilot who shoots down 5 enemy aircraft. He did it in 1 single attack. He was killed in action a year and a half later. In 1949, Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport was renamed for him, and grew into the modern O'Hare International Airport, though it still maintains its old code, ORD.
5. March 13, 1855: Percival Lowell. One of the greatest astronomers in American history, he discovered what he called "channels" on the planet Mars. This was misinterpreted as "canals," and fed the idea that there was, or had once been, intelligent life on that planet. He also predicted the discovery of a 9th planet in the solar system, but didn't live to see it. That planet would be named Pluto, and its 1st 2 letters being "PL" was a tribute to him.
4. March 13, 1950: William H. Macy. No relation to Maude actor Bill Macy, he's been a credited actor in movies since 1980, but it took until the 1996 film Fargo for him to really get noticed. He won 2 Emmy Awards for playing Frank Gallagher on Shameless. He is married to actress Felicity Huffman.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1951: Charo.There is some dispute as to the year of her birth, but her birthday is nearly always listed as March 13. Her real name is not in dispute: María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza. Despite her "Cuchi-chuchi" image, she is a serious performer, one of the greatest living Spanish classical guitarists. And while it became a trope to think of her appearing on the ABC series The Love Boat, she only appeared on it 10 times.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1954: Robin Duke. She was on Saturday Night Live from 1981 to 1984. She and Doug Piscopo played Doug and Wendy Whiner! And, wearing a fake Mohawk, she and Mr. T. did a fake commercial for the real-life product Mr. & Mrs. T's Bloody Mary Mix.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1955: Glenne Headly. She played the female leads in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy and Mr. Holland's Opus, and briefly played a surgeon on ER.
3. March 13, 1939: Neil Sedaka. He had several hit songs in the early 1960s, including "Calendar Girl" and "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen." He made a comeback in the mid-1970s, with "Laughter in the Rain." In 1962, he hit Number 1 with "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do." In 1976, he slowed it down, and had a Top 10 hit with it again.
I once won a radio contest for knowing that Neil had a hit with a song titled "Stairway to Heaven," 11 years before Led Zeppelin released theirs. He also had a Number 1 hit with a song title "Bad Blood," a duet with Elton John, 39 years before Taylor Swift did.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1910: Sammy Kaye. His 1st hit song, in 1937, was titled "Swing and Sway." For the rest of the Big Band Era, "Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye" was one of the genre's catchphrases. His biggest hit was "Harbor Lights," a Number 1 hit in 1950.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1960: Adam Clayton. The bass guitarist for U2.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1972: Common. Born Lonnie Lynn, the rapper and actor was cast as the John Stewart version of Green Lantern in a Justice League movie that fell apart.
2. March 13, 1886: Frank Baker. The 3rd baseman helped the Philadelphia Athletics win American League Pennants in 1910, 1911, 1913 and 1914, as part of their "$100,000 Infield"; and the New York Yankees in 1921 and 1922. In the 1911 World Series, he hit home runs off New York Giant pitchers Rube Marquard in Game 2 and Christy Mathewson in Game 3, earning him the nickname "Home Run Baker." But this was the Dead Ball Era, and he only hit 96 home runs in his career, though he did have a .307 lifetime batting average. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Baker was from the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which was segregated at the time, and still bears some Southern influence. In 1924, as a director of a local bank, he saved a black man from being lynched.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1955: Bruno Conti. He helped AS Roma win the 1983 Serie A (Italian league) title, and the Coppa Italia (Italy's version of the FA Cup) 5 times. He was the starting right wing on the Italy team that won the 1982 World Cup. He is a member of the Italian Football Hall of Fame.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1964: Will Clark. A 1st baseman, "Will the Thrill" was a 6-time All-Star, led the National League in RBIs in 1988, and won a Gold Glove in 1991. He helped the San Francisco Giants win the 1989 NL Pennant. Injuries cut short what looked like it would be a Hall of Fame career, but he still batted .303 lifetime with 284 home runs.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1967: Andrés Escobar. A centreback, he helped Medellín team Atlético Nacional win the Copa Libertadores (South America's version of the UEFA Champions League) in 1989, and Primera A (Colombia's national league) in 1991.
In the 1994 World Cup, his own goal helped the U.S. team beat Colombia and knock them out of the tournament. Just 10 days later, back home in Medellín, he was shot and killed. He was only 27.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1973: Edgar Davids. A midfielder, he helped Ajax Amsterdam win the Eredivisie (the Netherlands' national league) 3 times, and the UEFA Champions League in 1995. He then helped Juventus win Serie A 3 times.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1979: Johan Santana. A 4-time All-Star, the Venezuelan lefthander won the AL Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006, and helped the Minnesota Twins reach the postseason twice. When the New York Mets traded for him for the 2008 season, he was thought to be the final piece of the puzzle.
He wasn't. While he was (rather dubiously) credited with the franchise's 1st no-hitter in 2012, he never reached the postseason with them, missed the entire 2011 season due to injury, and made only 10 more major league appearances after his "no-hitter," throwing his last professional pitch at age 33, finishing with a record of 139-78.
Honorable Mention: March 13, 1995: Mikaela Shiffrin. The American skier won the Gold Medal in the women's slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia; and in the women's giant slalom in 2018 in Pyeongchang, Korea.
1. March 13, 1764: Charles Grey. Prime Minister of Britain from 1830 to 1834, the 2nd Early Grey led the passage of the banning of slavery throughout the British Empire, 32 years before it was done in America. Earl Grey tea is named for him. His grandson, Albert, the 4th Earl Grey, served as Governor-General of Canada, and donated the Grey Cup, the trophy for the Championship of Canadian football.
Still alive as of this writing: Delany, Macy, Charo, Duke, Sedaka, Clayton, Common, Conti, Clark, Davids, Santana, Shiffrin.