Honorable Mention: March 24, 1947: Alan Sugar. Baron Sugar of Clapton rose from poverty to form Amstrad, Britain's leading computer company. He was considerably less successful as owner of North London soccer team Tottenham Hotspur: In 10 years of ownership, they won just 1 trophy, the 1999 League Cup.
He was also the host of the British, original version of The Apprentice. Unlike the American version, he had been a staunch liberal, but he split with the Labour Party over perceived anti-Semitism, and endorsed Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party. So his record is mixed.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1956: Steve Ballmer. The former CEO of Microsoft is now the owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1962: Star Jones. She became a prosecutor in Brooklyn, successful enough at it that she was hired by TV networks to commentate on trials. She was an original co-host on ABC's The View from 1997 to 2006. She is now the judge on the TV show Divorce Court.
Dishonorable Mention: March 24, 1909: Clyde Barrow. Don't let the coolness of Warren Beatty's portrayal in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde fool you: He was no hero. He was an unrepentant killer. And most of his robberies were not of the big banks that had already robbed the common people during the Great Depression, but of small banks, and even smaller operations like general stores and gas stations.
10. March 24, 1919: Lawrence Ferlinghetti. One of the leading supporters of the First Amendment in the 20th Century, his City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco helped launch the Beat Generation literary movement. He was just short of 102 years old when he died.
9. March 24, 1939: Bob Mackie. The fashion designer is best known for his work at CBS, where he designed costumes for The Carol Burnett Show and The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1951: Tommy Hilfiger. One of the top living menswear designers.
8. March 24, 1911: Joseph Barbera. With William Hanna, he launched a cartoon empire in the late 1950s, and it continues to grow, having survived both men.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1933: Lee Mendelson. He produced the specials based on Charles Schulz comic strip Peanuts from 1965 until his death in 2019. His production company has won 12 Emmy Awards. His daughter Lynda Mendelson provided the voice of Frieda, the redhead "with naturally curly hair" in many of those specials.
7. March 24, 1887: Fatty Arbuckle. Not only was Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle one of the funniest men of his generation, but he helped Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Bob Hope get their starts in show business.
But in 1921, a hotel party led to the death of an actress, and he was charged with her murder. Two trials resulted in hung juries, and after Keaton testified in his defense, the 3rd jury not only acquitted him, but wrote him a formal apology for all he had gone through. But his reputation never recovered. He deserved better.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1910: Richard Conte. In spite of a long career of fine performances, he will forever be remembered for playing Emilio Barzini, the villain of The Godfather.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1924: Norman Fell. In 1954, he played the jury foreman in a version of the play Twelve Angry Men, broadcast as part of CBS' anthology series Studio One. The role was played by Martin Balsam in the 1957 film version.
But most people who know Fell's name have never seen that. They only know him as Stanley Roper, the cheap, wife-hating, homophobic, fourth-wall-breaking landlord on Three's Company.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1944: R. Lee Ermey. Yes, he actually did serve as a U.S. Marine in the Vietnam War. Yes, he really was a drill instructor. No, he never made the rank of Gunnery Sergeant, until receiving an honorary promotion in 2002: He left the Corps with the rank of Staff Sergeant. But once he starred as a drill instructor in the film Full Metal Jacket, he was forever typecast as high-decibel authority figures, usually military ones.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1953: Louie Anderson. One of the funniest comedians of his generation, he hosted the game show Family Feud from 1999 to 2002.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1960: Kelly LeBrock. Is she known best for her foxy appearances in The Woman in Red and Weird Science? Is she known for surviving marriage to Steven Seagal? No, she will forever be best known for her Pantene shampoo commercial: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful."
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1960: Annabella Sciorra. She should have been a big star, especially after Jungle Fever and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle in the early 1990s. But Harvey Weinstein put a stop to that. A quarter of a century later, on the witness stand, she put a stop to him.
Somewhat Honorable Mention: March 24, 1973: Jim Parsons. He played Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory. I once saw him at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York, but I didn't talk to him. Not because I respected his privacy, but because I didn't like him. How could a show about really smart people be so stupid?
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1974: Alyson Hannigan. She played Willow Rosenberg on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Michelle Flaherty in the American Pie films. She may now be best known for playing Lily Aldrin on How I Met Your Mother, which was slightly more realistic than the former, and slightly less sex-crazed and annoying than the latter.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1977: Jessica Chastain. She's played Salome, Molly Bloom, Tammy Faye Bakker, and is about to add Tammy Wynette to that list, in the Paramount+ miniseries George & Tammy, with Michael Shannon as George Jones.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1990: Keisha Castle-Hughes. In 2006, the Maori actress from New Zealand played Mary in The Nativity Story. Life came pretty close to imitating art, as she became a pregnant teenager in real life. She now plays Hana Gibson on FBI: Most Wanted.
6. March 24, 1820: Fanny Crosby. Though blind, she wrote over 8,000 hymns, including "Blessed Assurance." Along with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, she may be the most published hymnist of all time. She also wrote patriotic songs during the American Civil War. The 20th Century singer Bing Crosby was not a relative. (Definitely not: She was one of America's best-known Protestants in her time; he, in his, one of America's best-known Catholics.)
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1937: Billy Stewart. The pianist and singer resembled Fats Domino facially and physically, but his voice was much higher, and fit the soul movement of the 1960s, including the best rock version of George Gershwin's "Summertime." (Yes, better than Janis Joplin's.) But his weight led to diabetes, and they may have led to impaired driving: He had a motorcycle accident in 1969, and a car accident in 1970, the latter killing him and 3 passengers.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1960: Nena. As with Sade and Alice Cooper, "Nena" isn't just the stage name of the lead singer, it's also the name of the band. Gabriele Susanne Kerner came out of West Germany's industrial Ruhr to have a huge international hit with "99 Luftballons" -- which she re-recorded in English as "99 Red Balloons."
5. March 24, 1893: George Sisler. He lived until 1973, making him the last survivor of the living members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who attended its 1st induction ceremony in 1939. But it was too soon to sit for an interview with Major League Baseball Productions, so you've probably never seen his face in color or heard his voice. He played most of his career for the St. Louis Browns, a team that, technically, no longer exists. And he finished just short of 3,000 career hits. Put that together, and he might be the greatest baseball player you've never heard of.
He batted .340 for his career, collected 257 hits in 1922 to set a record that stood for 82 years, and was considered the greatest-fielding 1st baseman of his era. He was even a decent pitcher, and considered outpitching Walter Johnson as a rookie in 1915 to be the highlight of his career.
Although he never played for the St. Louis Cardinals, a statue of him stands outside Busch Stadium in St. Louis. His son Dick Sisler hit the home run that won the 1950 National League Pennant for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1947: Dennis Erickson. He coached the University of Miami to the 1989 and 1991 National Championships, and won Pacific-10 Conference Championships at Oregon State in 2000 and Arizona State in 2007.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1949: Ruud Krol. The left back helped Ajax Amsterdam win 6 Dutch league titles, and the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) in 1971, 1972 and 1973. He helped the Netherlands national team reach the Final of the 1974 and 1978 World Cups. As a manager, he's won league titles in South Africa, Tunisia and Kuwait.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1955: Doug Jarvis. The center was a member of the Montreal Canadiens team that won 4 straight Stanley Cups from 1976 to 1979. He won the 1984 Frank Selke Trophy as best defensive forward. In 1987, in recognition of his record 964 consecutive games played -- a record that was just broken a few days ago by Keith Yandle, and Phil Kessel could also pass him -- he was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for perseverance. He's also won Stanley Cups as an assistant coach with the 1999 Dallas Stars and the 2011 Boston Bruins.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1959: Renaldo Nehemiah. The native of Scotch Plains, Union County, New Jersey was probably the best hurdler in the world in 1980, but lost his chance to compete in the Olympics due to the American boycott. But while he doesn't have an Olympic Gold Medal, he does have a Super Bowl ring, with the 1984 San Francisco 49ers.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1984: Chris Bosh. An 11-time All-Star, the center helped the Miami Heat win the NBA Championship in 2012 and 2013. He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
4. March 24, 1976: Peyton Manning. He is one of America's most popular commercial pitchmen and TV show hosts. I understand he played a little football, too.
At the University of Tennessee, he finished 2nd in the 1997 Heisman Trophy balloting. He made 14 Pro Bowls, and was named NFL Most Valuable Player 5 times. He holds the NFL single-season records for most passing yards, 5,477; and touchdown passes, 55; and the career record for game-winning drives, 54.
He is 1 of only 3 quarterbacks ever to lead 2 different teams to win the NFL Championship: The Indianapolis Colts in the 2006 season (he was named MVP of Super Bowl XLI), and the Denver Broncos in the 2015 season. The other 2 are Norm Van Brocklin and Tom Brady, and the mention of Brady's name begs the question: What more could Peyton have won if the New England Patriots had played honestly? (Maybe not that much more: In Playoff matchups, Peyton was 3-2 vs. Brady.) Peyton was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2013.
3. March 24, 1912: Dorothy Height. President of the National Council of Negro Women from 1958 to 1990, she was, along with Coretta Scott King, the foremost woman in the Civil Rights Movement. She forced it to reckon with the fact that women of all races needed help, and also led the Movement to bring Native Americans into it.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1755: Rufus King. A U.S. Senator from New York, and twice U.S. Minister to Britain, he was the last Presidential nominee of the Federalist Party, in 1816.
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1829: Ignacio Zaragoza. The Mexican General defeated the French at the Battle of Pueblo on May 5, 1862, an event now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. Just over 3 months later, he was dead, not from battle, but from typhoid fever. Without him, the French invasion couldn't be stopped, and Mexico took until 1867 to liberate itself. Had he lived, he might have driven them out sooner, and he would be more than an Honorable Mention on this list.
Dishonorable Mention: March 24, 1855: Andrew W. Mellon. The banking titan was only the 3rd American, after John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ford, to become a billionaire. He was the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, guiding the American economy under Presidents Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. For 8 years, he got away with it.
Then came the Crash of 1929. He cost the country a lot more, in both money and lives, than Clyde Barrow and his gang did. As a poem of the time put it, "Hoover blew the whistle, Mellon rang the bell, Wall Street gave the signal, and the country went to hell."
Honorable Mention: March 24, 1902: Thomas E. Dewey. As District Attorney of New York County (Manhattan), he fought harder against organized crime than any American ever has. He was elected to 3 terms as Governor of New York, and twice nominated for President by the Republican Party. He couldn't beat Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. He could have beaten Harry Truman in 1948, and, at first, the Chicago Tribune thought he had. Instead, he became a political joke: As someone put it, he snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
2. March 24, 1930: Steve McQueen. He was known as the King of Cool, and here are some of the reasons why: The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Love With the Proper Stranger, The Cincinnati Kid, Nevada Smith, The Sand Pebbles, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, Le Mans, The Getaway, Papillon, and The Towering Inferno. Some of these films have been remade, but none nearly as successfully, because there was only one Steve McQueen.
1. March 24, 1874: Harry Houdini. One of the biggest stars in the world in the early 20th Century, his name is still a byword for magic and great escapes. Many is the man who, when asked to do something that seems like it would require magic, has said, "What am I, Houdini?"
Still alive as of this writing: Sugar, Ballmer, Jones, Mackie, Hilfiger, LeBrock, Sciorra, Parsons, Hannigan, Chastain, Castle-Hughes, Nena, Erickson, Krol, Jarvis, Nehemiah, Bosh, Manning.