Who was born on December 9?
December 9 is packed with notable birthdays. Explore 131 famous birthdays, sorted by recent English Wikipedia pageviews. Top ranked names include André Randall, Antoine Étienne de Tousard, Aron Baynes, Ashleigh Brewer, Ashleigh Brilliant. Filter by actor, musician, athlete, and more — or open any other calendar day.
December 9
131 people
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André Randall
André Randall (9 December 1892 – 4 July 1974) was a French screen actor. He was born André Ayaïs in Bordeaux and died at Sainte-Foy-la-Grande.
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Antoine Étienne de Tousard
Antoine Étienne de Tousard (9 December 1752 – 15 September 1813) was a French general and military engineer during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was also the last military engineer of the Order of Saint John. He is the brother of Louis de Tousard.
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Aron Baynes
Aron John Baynes (born 9 December 1986) is an Australian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Washington State University before starting his professional career in Europe. In 2013, he joined the San Antonio Spurs, and a year later, won an NBA championship with the Spurs. He has also played with the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors. In the National Basketball League (NBL), he played for the Brisbane Bullets between 2022 and 2024. Baynes also played for the Australian national team.
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Ashleigh Brewer
Ashleigh May Brewer (born 9 December 1990) is an Australian actress. She had a recurring role in The Sleepover Club, before she joined the cast of H2O: Just Add Water. Brewer played the role of Kate Ramsay in the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours from 2009 until 2014. She portrayed Ivy Forrester on the CBS Daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful from 2014 until 2018. She returned in a recurring capacity from 2024. She joined the cast of Home and Away as Chelsea Campbell for six months in 2018.
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Ashleigh Brilliant
Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant (December 9, 1933 – September 24, 2025) was a British epigrammatist and cartoonist. He was best known for his Pot-Shots, single-panel illustrations with one-line humorous remarks, which began syndication in the United States in 1975.
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Augustus Quirinus Rivinus
Augustus Quirinus Rivinus (9 December 1652 – 20 December 1723) is the professional name of August Bachmann or A. Q. Bachmann (Rivinus from rīvus latinizing the German Bach) who was a German physician and botanist who helped to develop better ways of classifying plants.
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Baldassare Ferri
Baldassare Ferri (9 December 1610 – 10 September 1680) was an Italian castrato singer. He is said to have possessed "extraordinary endurance of breath, flexibility of voice and depth of emotion".
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Berton Churchill
Berton Churchill (December 9, 1876 – October 10, 1940) was a Canadian stage and film actor.
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Billy Bremner
William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stamina. He played for Leeds United from 1959 to 1976, serving as captain from 1965, in the most successful period in the club's history. At Leeds, Bremner won the First Division (1968–69 and 1973–74), Second Division (1963–64), Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1968 and 1971), FA Cup (1972), League Cup (1968) and FA Charity Shield (1969). The club also finished second in numerous competitions, being runners-up five times in the English league and seven times in cup finals, including the 1975 European Cup. He was also named as the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1970 and was listed on the PFA Team of the Year in 1973–74. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the south-east corner of their Elland Road stadium. He has also been included in the Football League 100 Legends and is a member of both the English Football Hall of Fame and Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Bremner played for Hull City from 1976 to 1978, before being appointed player-manager at Doncaster Rovers in November 1978. He spent seven years as Doncaster manager, guiding the club to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1980–81 and 1983–84, before he took on the manager's job at Leeds United in October 1985. He failed to gain promotion to the top flight and left the club in September 1988. He returned to Doncaster in July 1989, ending his second spell in charge in November 1991. Bremner is on the Scotland national football team roll of honour for having won more than 50 caps for Scotland. He captained his country at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Scotland failed to advance from the group stage despite being unbeaten in the competition.
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Broderick Crawford
William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American actor. Known for his "bulldog face and barking voice", he was initially a character actor often cast tough-guy or slob roles, but gained widespread acclaim for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the 1949 film adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men. His performance earned him both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Actor. He was later known for his starring role as Dan Mathews on the television series Highway Patrol (1955–59).
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Buck Henry
Buck Henry (born Henry Zuckerman; December 9, 1930 – January 8, 2020) was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Henry's contributions to film included his work as a co-writer for Mike Nichols's The Graduate (1967) for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He appeared in acting roles in Nichols's Catch-22 (1970)—also co-written with Nichols—Herbert Ross's and The Owl and the Pussycat (1970). He was a co-writer on Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up, Doc? (1972). In 1978, he co-directed Heaven Can Wait (1978) with Warren Beatty, receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director. He later appeared in Albert Brooks's Defending Your Life (1991), and the Robert Altman films The Player (1992) and Short Cuts (1993). His long career began on television with work on shows with Steve Allen in The New Steve Allen Show (1961). He co-created Get Smart (1965–1970) with Mel Brooks for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. He also served as a 10-time host of Saturday Night Live (SNL) and was the inaugural member of the show's Five Timer's Club, a humorous designation used to denote people who have hosted at least five episodes of SNL. He later guest-starred in such popular shows as Murphy Brown, Hot in Cleveland, Will & Grace, and 30 Rock.
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Carl Wilhelm Scheele
Carl Wilhelm Scheele (German: [ˈʃeːlə], Swedish: [ˈɧêːlɛ]; 9 December 1742 – 21 May 1786) was a German-Swedish pharmaceutical chemist. Scheele discovered oxygen (although Joseph Priestley published his findings first), and identified the elements molybdenum, tungsten, barium, nitrogen, and chlorine, among others. Scheele discovered organic acids tartaric, oxalic, uric, lactic, and citric, as well as hydrofluoric, hydrocyanic, and arsenic acids. He preferred speaking German to Swedish his whole life, as German was commonly spoken among Swedish pharmacists. Doctors said that he died of mercury poisoning, having spent his life working as a chemist.
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Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (Italian: [ˈkarlo adˈdzeʎʎo ˈtʃampi] ; 9 December 1920 – 16 September 2016) was an Italian politician, statesman and banker who was the president of Italy from 1999 to 2006 and prime minister of Italy from 1993 to 1994. A World War II veteran, Ciampi had fought for the Italian resistance movement after he evaded capture from the Wehrmacht in 1943. Afterwards, he became a prominent banker in the First Italian Republic, gradually rising in the ranks of the Bank of Italy before becoming its governor in 1979. In his tenure as governor, the Italian lira was devalued amid conflict with Prime Minister Bettino Craxi in the mid-1980s, and Italy withdrew from the European Monetary System in 1992. Besides his political career, he held numerous intergovernmental positions, including as Chairman of the Interim Committee of the International Monetary Fund from 1998 to 1999. Following the Tangentopoli scandal that precipitated the collapse of the First Republic, Ciampi, who was politically independent, was asked to become Prime Minister by President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in April 1993, which he accepted. His short tenure was mainly characterised by addressing political corruption uncovered by Tangentopoli, before Silvio Berlusconi's win in the 1994 election ushered in the Second Republic. He would then serve as Minister of the Treasury from 1996 to 1999 in the First Prodi and First D'Alema governments during the country's transition into the eurozone, for which he chose Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man for the design of the one euro coin. He succeeded Scalfaro as President of Italy in the 1999 Italian presidential election, and held the office for seven years until his resignation in May 2006. His broad, unifying rhetoric and non–interventionist role as head of state meant he retained the role's largely ceremonial powers. However, his relationship with Berlusconi in the latter's second and third governments was often strained, publicly opposing Italian military involvement in the Iraq War in 2003 and opposing Berlusconi regarding the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Renato Ruggiero in 2002. He enjoyed high approval ratings by the Italian public throughout his presidency and was well regarded in Italian politics, but chose not to run for re–election in 2006, and was succeeded by Giorgio Napolitano, whose interventionist approach shifted the role of the Presidency. Following his resignation, he served as Senator until his death in 2016 at the age of 95, being the only living former Italian President and the oldest head of state from Europe and the second oldest in the world.
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Cem Ince
Cem Hamit Ince (born 9 December 1993) is a German politician and member of the Bundestag. A member of The Left, he has represented Lower Saxony since 2025. Ince was born on 9 December 1993 in Salzgitter and is of Kurdish origin. His grandfather moved from Eastern Anatolia to Salzgitter in the late 1960s as a guest worker and worked in the blast furnaces of Salzgitter AG. Ince's father also did his apprenticeship and worked at Salzgitter AG before moving to the Volkswagen factory in Salzgitter. His grandfather and father were also trade unionists. Ince graduated from Kranich-Gymnasium Salzgitter in 2012 and then trained to be electronics technician at VW Salzgitter from 2012 to 2015. He also studied business administration and software development at VW Salzgitter. He is an IG Metall member and has been a shop steward at VW Salzgitter since 2012. He was the youth and trainee representative at VW Salzgitter from 2014 to 2016 and the chair youth and trainee representative from 2016 to 2020. He has been a member of the IG Metall shop steward council at VW Salzgitter since 2022. Ince has been chairman of The Left's branch in Salzgitter since 2021. He was The Left's candidate in Salzgitter – Wolfenbüttel (constituency 49) at the 2025 federal election but was not elected. He was however elected to the Bundestag on The Left's state list in Lower Saxony.
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Clancy Eccles
Clancy Eccles (9 December 1940 in Dean Pen, St. Mary, Jamaica – 30 June 2005 in Spanish Town, Jamaica) was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, songwriter, arranger, promoter, record producer and talent scout. Known mostly for his early reggae works, he brought a political dimension to this music. His house band was known as The Dynamites.
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Clarence Birdseye
Clarence Birdseye (December 9, 1886 – October 7, 1956) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and naturalist, who is widely considered the founder of the modern frozen food industry. He developed methods for quick-freezing food products that led to the commercial success of frozen foods in the United States. He founded several companies that later became associated with the '''Birds Eye''' brand. Born in New York City, Birdseye developed an early interest in natural science and taxidermy. After studying at Amherst College, he worked for the United States Department of Agriculture as a field naturalist and conducted wildlife surveys in the American West and Labrador. While in Labrador between 1912 and 1915, he observed Inuit methods of rapidly freezing freshly caught fish in Arctic conditions, leading him to study how rapid freezing preserved food texture and flavor better than conventional slow freezing. In the 1920s, Birdseye began experimenting with commercial food preservation and developed several freezing technologies, including the double belt freezer and multiplate freezing machine. In 1924 he founded General Seafood Corporation, which marketed frozen fish products using his quick-freezing methods. In 1929, the company and its patents were acquired by Goldman Sachs and the Postum Cereal Company, later General Foods, for $22 million. In 1949, Birdseye won the Institute of Food Technologists' Babcock-Hart Award. and in 2005 Birdseye was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
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Claude Louis Berthollet
Claude Louis Berthollet (French pronunciation: [klod lwi bɛʁtɔlɛ], 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to the theory of chemical equilibria via the mechanism of reverse chemical reactions, and for his contribution to modern chemical nomenclature. On a practical basis, Berthollet was the first to demonstrate the bleaching action of chlorine gas, and was first to develop a solution of sodium hypochlorite as a modern bleaching agent.
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Cliff Hagan
Clifford Oldham Hagan (born December 9, 1931) is an American former professional basketball player. A 6′ 4″ Small forward who excelled with the hook shot, Hagan, nicknamed "Li’l Abner", played his entire 10-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career (1956–1966) with the St. Louis Hawks. He was also a player-coach for the Dallas Chaparrals in the first two-plus years of the American Basketball Association's existence (1967–1970). Hagan is a five-time NBA All-Star and an ABA All-Star. He won an NCAA basketball championship in 1951 as a member of the Kentucky Wildcats, and he won an NBA championship with the Hawks in 1958.
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Cornelis de Bondt
Cornelis de Bondt (born 9 December 1953) is a Dutch composer. Born in The Hague, de Bondt attended the Royal Conservatory there and currently teaches composition and music theory at the same institution. In 2011 all of de Bondt's scores were withdrawn by the composer as a protest against arts funding cuts in the Netherlands. He has stated that he now sees the orchestral "score", the music in fixed notated form, as a symbol of neo-liberalism, and is therefore exploring non-fixed notational methods.
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Dalton Trumbo
James Dalton Trumbo (December 9, 1905 – September 10, 1976) was an American screenwriter who scripted many award-winning films, including Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Roman Holiday (1953), Spartacus (1960), and Exodus (1960). One of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee's investigation of Communist influences in the motion picture industry. Trumbo, the other members of the Hollywood Ten, and hundreds of other professionals in the industry were blacklisted by Hollywood. He continued working clandestinely on major films, writing under pseudonyms or other authors' names. His uncredited work won two Academy Awards for Best Story: for Roman Holiday (1953), which was presented to a front writer, and for The Brave One (1956), which was awarded to a pseudonym used by Trumbo. When he was given public screen credit for both Exodus and Spartacus in 1960, it marked the beginning of the end of the Hollywood Blacklist for Trumbo and other affected screenwriters. He finally was given full credit by the Writers' Guild for Roman Holiday in 2011, nearly 60 years after the fact, and 35 years after his death.
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Dave Hilton Jr.
Dave "Davey" Hilton Jr. (born December 9, 1963) is a Canadian former boxing world champion. He is also known for being convicted of sexually assaulting two of his daughters. He is the older brother of former light middleweight world champion of boxing, Matthew Hilton.
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David Akers
David Roy Akers ( AY-kərz; born December 9, 1974) is an American former professional football player who was a kicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. He began his career in 1998 with the Washington Redskins. The following year, Akers signed with the Eagles, where he spent 12 seasons. Akers also played for the San Francisco 49ers and Detroit Lions before retiring in 2013. During his career, Akers received six Pro Bowl and two first-team All-Pro selections. He also tied the then-NFL record for the longest successful field goal when he converted a 63-yard field goal, which at the time was tied for longest in league history. His 44 field goals in 2011 is tied for the single-season record. Akers is an inductee of the Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Fame and a member of the Philadelphia Eagles 75th Anniversary Team, along with being named to the second-team of the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team.
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David Anthony Higgins
David Anthony Higgins (born December 9, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Craig Feldspar on Malcolm in the Middle, Joe on Ellen, and Reginald Bitters on Big Time Rush. He also had a recurring role as Harry on the television series Mike & Molly.
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David Currie, Baron Currie of Marylebone
David Anthony Currie, Baron Currie of Marylebone (born 9 December 1946) is a British economist specialising in regulation, and a cross-bench member of the House of Lords. Currie was the inaugural Chairman of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
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David Houston
Charles David Houston (December 9, 1935 – November 30, 1993) was an American country music singer. His peak in popularity came between the mid-1960s and the early 1970s. His biggest success came in 1966, when his recording of "Almost Persuaded", topped the Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart for nine weeks, and garnered Houston a pair of Grammy Awards.
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Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones (December 9, 1938 – June 3, 2013) was an American professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980. Jones specialized in sacks. Nicknamed "the Secretary of Defense", Jones is considered one of the greatest defensive players ever. The Los Angeles Times called Jones the "most valuable Ram of all time", and former Rams head coach George Allen called him the "greatest defensive end of modern football".
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Diāna Ņikitina
Diāna Ņikitina (born 9 December 2000) is a Latvian former figure skater. She is the 2017 Golden Bear of Zagreb champion, the 2018 Cup of Tyrol silver medalist, and the 2018 Latvian national champion. She competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, placing 26th. Earlier in her career, Ņikitina placed within the top ten at two World Junior Championships and won silver in the team event at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.
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Dolores Ibárruri
Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (Spanish: [isiˈðoɾa ðoˈloɾes iˈβaruɾi ˈɣomeθ]; 9 December 1895 – 12 November 1989), also known as Pasionaria ("the passionate one" or Passion flower"), was a Spanish Republican politician during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and a communist. She is renowned for her slogan ¡No Pasarán! ("They shall not pass!"), which she issued during the Battle for Madrid in November 1936. Ibárruri joined the Spanish Communist Party (Spanish: Partido Comunista Español) when it was founded in 1920. In the 1930s, she became a writer for the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) publication Mundo Obrero, and in February 1936, she was elected to the Cortes Generales as a PCE deputy for Asturias. After going into exile from Spain towards the end of the Civil War in 1939, she became General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain, a position she held from 1942 to 1960. The Party then named her honorary president of the PCE, a post she held for the rest of her life. Upon her return to Spain in 1977, she was re-elected as a deputy to the Cortes for the same region she had represented from 1936 to 1939 under the Spanish Second Republic, holding office until 1979. She lived another ten years in retirement until her death in 1989.
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Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II (December 9, 1932 – February 4, 2013) was an American jazz and rhythm & blues trumpeter, composer and vocalist. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd was one of the few hard bop musicians who successfully explored funk and soul while remaining a jazz artist. As a bandleader, Byrd was an influence on the early career of Herbie Hancock and many others.
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Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr. (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer, and United States Navy officer. He was a leading man during the Golden Age of Hollywood, notably in adventure and swashbuckling roles like in The Prisoner of Zenda (1937), Gunga Din (1939), and The Corsican Brothers (1941). He was the son of Douglas Fairbanks and the stepson of Mary Pickford. Fairbanks, Jr. "picked up his father's swashbuckling style and later cut a dash in high society and royal circles." His first marriage was to actress Joan Crawford. Fairbanks was a decorated Naval officer during the Second World War, overseeing the Beach Jumpers special warfare unit. For his war service, he received several military accolades including the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the French Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre, and the British Distinguished Service Cross.
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Edwin Sandys
Sir Edwin Sandys ( SANDZ; 9 December 1561 – October 1629) was an English politician who was a member of the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1626. He was also one of the founders of the proprietary Virginia Company of London, which in 1607 established the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States in the colony of Virginia, based at Jamestown. The parish of Sandys, in Bermuda (the Virginia Company's second colony) is named after him.
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Elmer Booth
William Elmer Booth (December 9, 1882 – June 16, 1915) was an American stage and film actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was the elder brother of Margaret Booth, a renowned film editor for Hollywood productions for nearly 70 years.
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Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Eloise Jarvis McGraw (née Hamilton; December 9, 1915 – November 30, 2000) was an American author of children's books and young adult novels.
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Emma Abbott
Emma Abbott (December 9, 1850 – January 5, 1891) was an American operatic soprano and impresario known for her pure, clear voice of great flexibility and volume.
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Eric Bledsoe
Eric Bledsoe (born December 9, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He plays the point guard position. After a season of college basketball with the Kentucky Wildcats, he was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 18th overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft and subsequently traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. Bledsoe had a four-year tenure with the Phoenix Suns between 2013 and 2017, before being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
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Felicity Huffman
Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives and her role as Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne, a transgender woman, in the film Transamerica (2005). She has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as well as a nomination for an Academy Award. Huffman began her career in theatre, and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television. She starred as Dana Whitaker in the ABC comedy-drama Sports Night from 1998 to 2000, which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination. Her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives (2004–2012) earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards. Huffman drew critical praise for her performance in Transamerica, which earned her a Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, National Board of Review, Satellite Award, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Huffman has starred in films including Reversal of Fortune (1990), The Spanish Prisoner (1997), Magnolia (1999), Path to War (2002), Georgia Rule (2007), Phoebe in Wonderland (2008), Rudderless (2014), and Cake (2014). From 2015 to 2017, she starred in a third ABC series, the anthology crime drama American Crime, for which she received nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. Huffman was arrested for her involvement with a 2019 nationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal. Convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, a $30,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service.
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Fritz Haber
Fritz Jakob Haber (German: [ˈfʁɪt͡s ˈhaːbɐ] ; 9 December 1868 – 29 January 1934) was a German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his invention of the Haber process, a method used in industry to synthesize ammonia from nitrogen gas and hydrogen gas. This invention is important for the large-scale synthesis of fertilizers and explosives. It is estimated that a third of annual global food production uses ammonia from the Haber–Bosch process, and that this food supports nearly half the world's population. For this work, Haber has been called one of the most important scientists and industrial chemists in human history. Haber also, along with Max Born, proposed the Born–Haber cycle as a method for evaluating the lattice energy of an ionic solid. Haber, a known German nationalist, is also considered the "father of chemical warfare" for his years of pioneering work developing and weaponizing chlorine and other poisonous gases during World War I. He first proposed the use of the heavier-than-air chlorine gas as a weapon to break the trench deadlock during the Second Battle of Ypres. His work was later used, without his direct involvement, to develop the Zyklon B pesticide used for the killing of more than 1 million Jews in gas chambers in the greater context of the Holocaust. Following the Nazis' rise to power in 1933, Haber resigned from his position. Already in poor health, he spent time in various countries before Chaim Weizmann invited him to become the director of the Sieff Research Institute (now the Weizmann Institute) in Rehovot, Mandatory Palestine. He accepted the offer but died of heart failure mid-journey in a hotel in Basel, Switzerland on 29 January 1934, aged 65.
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Gastón Gaudio
Gastón Norberto Gaudio (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡasˈtoŋ ˈɡawðjo]; born 9 December 1978) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, achieved in April 2005. Gaudio won eight ATP Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 2004 French Open, coming from two sets down in the final to defeat compatriot Guillermo Coria.
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Gemma Frisius
Gemma Frisius (; born Jemme Reinerszoon; December 9, 1508 – May 25, 1555) was a Dutch physician, mathematician, cartographer, philosopher, and instrument maker. He created important globes, improved the mathematical instruments of his day and applied mathematics in new ways to surveying and navigation. Gemma's rings, an astronomical instrument, are named after him. Along with Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius, Frisius is often considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography, and significantly helped lay the foundations for the school's golden age (approximately 1570s–1670s).
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Geoff Barrow
Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak, and Quakers, and he has scored several films. Portishead was formed in 1991. He named the band after the small coastal town near Bristol where Barrow grew up. On his intentions in forming Portishead, he has stated, "I just wanted to make interesting music, proper songs with a proper life span and a decent place in people's record collections." Barrow and Portishead became major figures in the Bristol underground scene, which gave rise to many artists with whom Barrow came to work in different capacities.
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George Blewett
George John Blewett (9 December 1873 – 9 August 1912) was a Canadian philosopher and theologian. He was English Canada's first native-born philosopher.
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Grace Hopper
Grace Brewster Hopper (née Murray; December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. She was a pioneer of computer programming. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and used this theory to develop the FLOW-MATIC programming language and COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today. She was also one of the first programmers on the Harvard Mark I computer. She is credited with writing the first computer manual, "A Manual of Operation for the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator." Before joining the Navy, Hopper earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University and was a professor of mathematics at Vassar College. She left her position at Vassar to join the United States Navy Reserve during World War II. Hopper began her computing career in 1944 as a member of the Harvard Mark I team, led by Howard H. Aiken. In 1949, she joined the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation and was part of the team that developed the UNIVAC I computer. At Eckert–Mauchly she managed the development of one of the first COBOL compilers. She believed that programming should be simplified with an English-based computer programming language. Her compiler converted English terms into machine code understood by computers. By 1952, Hopper had finished her program linker (originally called a compiler), which was written for the A-0 System. In 1954, Eckert–Mauchly chose Hopper to lead their department for automatic programming, and she led the release of some of the first compiled languages like FLOW-MATIC. In 1959, she participated in the CODASYL consortium, helping to create a machine-independent programming language called COBOL, which was based on English words. Hopper promoted the use of the language throughout the 1960s. The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper was named for her, as was the Cray XE6 "Hopper" supercomputer at NERSC, and the Nvidia GPU architecture "Hopper". During her lifetime, Hopper was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world. A college at Yale University was renamed in her honor. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Technology. On November 22, 2016, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. In 2024, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) dedicated a plaque at the University of Pennsylvania in honor of invention the A-0 compiler, that functioned as a linker/loader, by Grace Hopper during her time as a lecturer in the School of Engineering.
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Gregorios Xenopoulos
Gregorios Xenopoulos (Greek: Γρηγόριος Ξενόπουλος [kseˈnopulos]; 9 December 1867 – 14 January 1951) was a novelist, journalist and playwright from Zakynthos. He was lead editor in the magazine The Education of Children (Η Διάπλασις των Παίδων) during the period from 1896 to 1948, during which time he was also the magazine's main author. His was the trademark signature "Σας ασπάζομαι, Φαίδων" ("Yours sincerely, Phaedon)", which he used in letters ostensibly addressed to the magazine. He was also the founder and editor of the Nea Estia magazine, which is still published. He became a member of the Academy of Athens in 1931, and founded the Society of Greek Writers (Εταιρεία Ελλήνων Λογοτεχνών) together with Kostis Palamas, Angelos Sikelianos and Nikos Kazantzakis.
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Hannes Kolehmainen
Juho Pietari "Hannes" Kolehmainen (Finnish: [ˈhɑnːes ˈkolehmɑi̯nen] ; 9 December 1889 – 11 January 1966) was a Finnish four-time Olympic gold medalist and a world record holder in middle- and long-distance running. He was the first in a generation of great Finnish long-distance runners, often named the "Flying Finns". Kolehmainen competed for a number of years in the United States, wearing the Winged Fist of the Irish American Athletic Club. He also enlisted in the 14th Regiment of the National Guard of New York, and became a U.S. citizen in 1921.
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Harry Miller
Harold Arminius Miller (December 9, 1875 – May 3, 1943), commonly called Harry, was an American race car designer and builder who was most active in the 1920s and 1930s. Griffith Borgeson called him "the greatest creative figure in the history of the American racing car". Cars built by Miller won the Indianapolis 500 nine times, and other cars using his engines won three more. Millers accounted for 83% of the Indy 500 fields between 1923 and 1928.
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Harvey Barnes
Harvey Lewis Barnes (born 9 December 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Newcastle United and the English national team. Barnes joined Leicester City at the age of nine years old before signing his first professional contract as well as making his first appearance for the club in 2016. He had loan spells with Milton Keynes Dons, Barnsley and West Bromwich Albion. He won the FA Cup and FA Community Shield with Leicester in 2021 before departing for Newcastle United in 2023. At international level, Barnes has represented England at youth level, including winning the 2017 Toulon Tournament. He made his debut for the England senior team in 2020.
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Henry Way Kendall
Henry Way Kendall (December 9, 1926 – February 15, 1999) was an American particle physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990 jointly with Jerome Isaac Friedman and Richard E. Taylor "for their pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics."
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Hermione Gingold
Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 1897 – 24 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and early 1930s. After success as a child actress, she established a stage career spanning comedy, drama, experimental theatre, and radio broadcasting. Finding her milieu in revue, she played from the 1930s to the 1950s, co-starring several times with the English actress Hermione Baddeley. Later she played formidable elders in the film and stage musicals Gigi (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), The Music Man (1962), and A Little Night Music (1977). From the early 1950s, Gingold lived and made her career mostly in the U.S. Her American stage work ranged from John Murray Anderson's Almanac (1953) to Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1963), the latter of which she played in London. She became a well-known guest on television talk shows. She made appearances in revues and toured in plays and musicals until an accident ended her performing career in 1977.
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Hélène Smith
Catherine-Elise Müller (December 9, 1861, Martigny – June 10, 1929, Geneva), known professionally as Hélène Smith, was a famous late-19th-century French medium. She was known as "the Muse of Automatic Writing" by the Surrealists, who viewed Smith as evidence of the power of the surreal, and a symbol of surrealist knowledge. Late in life, Smith claimed to communicate with Martians, and to be a reincarnation of a Hindu princess and Marie Antoinette.
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Ida S. Scudder
Ida Sophia Scudder (December 9, 1870 – May 24, 1960) was a third-generation American medical missionary in India. She sought to improve the plight of Indian women by fighting against bubonic plague, cholera and leprosy. In 1918, she started a teaching hospital, the Christian Medical College & Hospital, in Vellore, India.
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Irene Greenwood
Irene Greenwood (9 December 1898 — 14 April 1992) was an Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist.
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Jakob Dylan
Jakob Luke Dylan (born December 9, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter. He rose to fame as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and principal songwriter of the rock band the Wallflowers, which he formed in 1989. Born in New York City to musician Bob Dylan and model Sara Lownds, Dylan began his musical career in various indie bands before creating the Wallflowers. As its frontman and lead vocalist, he wrote and performed the band's hit songs including "One Headlight", "6th Avenue Heartache", "The Difference" and "Three Marlenas"—the former of which was included on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs", and won two Grammy Awards. With the Wallflowers, Dylan has released seven studio albums. As a solo act, Dylan signed with Columbia Records to release two studio albums—Seeing Things (2008) and Women + Country (2010)—the latter of which peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200.
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James Jesus Angleton
James Jesus Angleton (December 9, 1917 – May 11, 1987) was an American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who served as chief of the counterintelligence department of the CIA from 1954 to 1975. According to the director of central intelligence, Richard Helms, Angleton was "recognized as the dominant counterintelligence figure in the non-communist world". Angleton, who had an academic background in literary criticism, served in the Office of Strategic Services at London and Rome between 1943 and 1946, where he rapidly rose through the ranks. In 1947, he returned to Washington, D.C. to become one of the founding officers of the CIA. He was initially responsible for the collection of foreign intelligence and liaison with counterpart organizations in allied countries. In 1954, Allen Dulles promoted Angleton to chief of the Counterintelligence Staff. As chief, Angleton was significantly involved in the defection of Soviet KGB agents Anatoliy Golitsyn and Yuri Nosenko. Through Golitsyn, Angleton became convinced the CIA harbored a high-ranking Soviet mole and engaged in an intensive search. Whether this was a highly destructive witch hunt or appropriate caution remains a subject of intense historical debate. Investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein agrees with the high regard in which Angleton was held by his colleagues in the intelligence business, and adds that Angleton earned the "trust of six CIA directors—including Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, Allen W. Dulles and Richard Helms. They kept Angleton in key positions and valued his work."
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Jean Mermoz
Jean Mermoz (9 December 1901 – 7 December 1936) was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by other pilots such as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and in his native France, where many schools bear his name. In Brazil, he also is recognized as a pioneer aviator.
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Jean de Brunhoff
Jean de Brunhoff (French: [ʒɑ̃ də bʁynɔf]; 9 December 1899 – 16 October 1937) was a French writer and illustrator remembered best for creating the Babar series of children's books concerning a fictional elephant, the first of which was published in 1931.
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Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker (born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who was prime minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and president of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He was also Luxembourg's Finance Minister from 1989 to 2009 and President of the Eurogroup from 2005 to 2013. By the time Juncker left office as prime minister in 2013, he was the longest-serving head of any national government in the EU and one of the longest-serving democratically elected leaders in the world, with his tenure encompassing the height of the European financial and sovereign debt crisis. In 2005, he became the first permanent President of the Eurogroup. In 2014, the European People's Party (EPP) had Juncker as its lead candidate, or Spitzenkandidat, for the presidency of the Commission in the 2014 elections. This marked the first time that the Spitzenkandidat process was employed. Juncker is the first president to have campaigned as a candidate for the position prior to the election, a process introduced with the Treaty of Lisbon. The EPP won 220 out of 751 seats in the Parliament. On 27 June 2014, the European Council officially nominated Juncker for the position, and the European Parliament elected him on 15 July 2014 with 422 votes out of the 729 cast. He took office on 1 November 2014 and served until 30 November 2019, when he was succeeded by Ursula von der Leyen. Juncker has stated that his priorities would be the creation of a digital single market, the development of an EU Energy Union, the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade Agreement, the continued reform of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union—with the social dimension in mind, a "targeted fiscal capacity" for the Eurozone, and the 2015–2016 British EU membership renegotiations.
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Jean-Olivier Chénier
Jean-Olivier Chénier (December 9, 1806 – December 14, 1837) was a medical doctor and revolutionary in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec). Born in Lachine (or maybe Montreal). During the Lower Canada Rebellion, he commanded the Patriote forces in the Battle of Saint-Eustache. Trapped with his men in a church by the government troops who set fire to the building, he was shot to death while attempting to escape through a window. He died to shouts of "Remember Weir!", a reference to George Weir, a government spy executed by the Patriotes. The government forces mutilated Chénier's corpse to intimidate the remaining Patriote supporters: Chénier was found about six o'clock and taken to Addison's Inn where his body suffered indignities which those present called an autopsy. During the three days the body was left exposed, a witness swore he had seen it stretched out on the tavern bar: "The chest was opened and the heart hung outside it. To a passing Patriote they cried: 'Come see your Chénier's rotten heart!' ...I noticed that rifle blows had left his head covered with clots of blood." A correspondent for Le Canadien, also an eyewitness, wrote in his diary: "We were in Saint-Eustache last Sunday. The dead had been left lying about. Chénier was on the counter, so badly mutilated that he was almost cut into four pieces, his heart on the outside. A sickening spectacle to witness." Chénier was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic religion until 1945. The name was condemned because Jean-Olivier Chénier fought on holy ground inside a church. The Chénier park in the Bas-St-Laurent was renamed after the excommunication of the family. The excommunicated family moved to Hawkesbury, Ontario. There is a statue of Jean-Olivier Chénier in St-Eustache in remembrance of those who died in the fire of 1837. Another used to be situated on St. Denis Street in downtown Montréal. However, this statue was removed at about the same time when the new Université de Montréal Health Centre was inaugurated, in 2016, in 2021. Chénier Street in Montreal is named for him, as is the Jean-Olivier-Chénier Section of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society of Montreal. The Chénier Cell of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), held responsible for the killing of Pierre Laporte, was also named for him. CLSC Jean Olivier Chénier on Oka Road in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, was also named after Chénier. A daycare centre situated in Saint-Eustache is named "Les petits Patriotes" ("The Little Patriots").
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Jermaine Beckford
Jermaine Paul Alexander Beckford (born 9 December 1983) is a football pundit and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career as a trainee at Chelsea, and played for Wealdstone, Uxbridge, Leeds United, Carlisle United, Scunthorpe United, Everton, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and Bury. He also represented Jamaica at international level.
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Jerome Beatty Jr.
Jerome M. Beatty Jr. (December 9, 1916 – July 31, 2002) was a twentieth-century American author of children's literature. He was also an accomplished feature writer for magazines. Beatty served in the United States Army, achieving the rank of corporal, and is buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery.
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Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading (, born 9 December 1950) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her first major commercial success came with her third and fourth albums, Joan Armatrading (1976) and Show Some Emotion (1977), and she continues to play live and record studio albums. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.
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Joan Blos
Joan Winsor Blos (1928 – 2017) was an American writer, teacher and advocate for children's literacy. For her 1979 historical novel, A Gathering of Days, Blos won the U.S. National Book Award in category Children's Books and the Newbery Medal.
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Joe Ausanio
Joseph John Ausanio (born December 9, 1965) is an American former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who appeared in 41 games for the New York Yankees in 1994 and 1995. He is the current Director of Baseball Operations for the New York Yankees High A affiliate Hudson Valley Renegades in the New York Penn League. He is also the current head coach of the Marist Red Foxes softball team.
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Joe Kelley
Joseph James Kelley (December 9, 1871 – August 14, 1943) was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who starred in the outfield of the Baltimore Orioles teams of the 1890s. Making up the nucleus of the Orioles along with John McGraw, Willie Keeler, and Hughie Jennings, Kelley received the nickname "Kingpin of the Orioles". In his MLB career, Kelley played in the National League (NL) for the Boston Beaneaters (1891), Pittsburgh Pirates (1892), Baltimore Orioles (1892–1898), and Brooklyn Superbas (1899–1901), before he jumped to the upstart American League to play for the Baltimore Orioles (1902). He returned to the NL with Cincinnati Reds (1902–1906) and Boston Doves (1908). Kelley served as player-manager of the Reds (1902–1905) and Doves (1908). After extending his career in the minor leagues, he coached the Brooklyn Robins (1926), and scouted for the New York Yankees (1915–1916). Kelley was regarded as an excellent batter, a good base runner, and a great leader. Over his seventeen-season MLB career, Kelley had a .317 batting average, and batted over .300 in eleven consecutive seasons. Kelley stole a career-high 87 bases in the 1896 season, which led MLB. He finished in the league's top ten in categories such as batting average, home runs, runs batted in (RBI), and stolen bases numerous times. He served as team captain of the Orioles and the Superbas. In recognition of his career achievements, Kelley was elected a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1971.
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Joel Chandler Harris
Joel Chandler Harris (December 9, 1848 – July 3, 1908) was an American journalist and folklorist best known for his collection of Uncle Remus stories. Born in Eatonton, Georgia, where he served as an apprentice on a plantation during his teenage years, Harris spent most of his adult life in Atlanta working as an associate editor at The Atlanta Constitution. Harris led two professional lives: as the editor and journalist known as Joe Harris, he supported a vision of the New South with the editor Henry W. Grady (1850–1889), which stressed regional and racial reconciliation after the Reconstruction era; as Joel Chandler Harris, fiction writer and folklorist, he wrote many 'Brer Rabbit' stories from the African-American oral tradition.
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Johann Joachim Winckelmann
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (US: VINK-əl-mahn; German: [ˈjoːhan ˈjoːaxɪm ˈvɪŋkl̩man]; 9 December 1717 – 8 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. "The prophet and founding hero of modern archaeology", Winckelmann was one of the founders of scientific archaeology and first applied the categories of style on a large, systematic basis to the history of art. Many consider him the father of the discipline of art history. He was one of the first to separate Greek art into periods and time classifications. He had a decisive influence on the rise of the Neoclassical movement during the late 18th century. His writings influenced not only a new science of archaeology and art history but Western painting, sculpture, literature and even philosophy. Winckelmann's History of Ancient Art (1764) was one of the first books written in German to become a classic of European literature. His subsequent influence on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Hölderlin, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stefan George and Oswald Spengler has been provocatively called "the Tyranny of Greece over Germany". Winckelmann was homosexual, and open homoeroticism informed his writings on aesthetics. In 1752, he mentioned the "lust" which could be experienced with the "divine monarch" (i.e. Frederick the Great) in Potsdam in a similar way as in "Athens and Sparta", and which he could enjoy so immensely that he would never again be allowed to. His homosexuality was recognized by his contemporaries, such as Goethe. In 1768, at the age of 50, he was murdered by a fellow guest at his hotel for reasons that remain unclear.
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John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes (December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American filmmaker and actor. He began as an actor in film and television before helping to pioneer modern American independent cinema as a writer and director, often self-financing, producing, and distributing his own films. He received nominations for three Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award. After studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Cassavetes started his career in television acting in numerous network dramas. From 1959 to 1960 he played the title role in the NBC detective series Johnny Staccato. He acted in notable films, such as Martin Ritt's film noir Edge of the City (1957), Robert Aldrich's war film The Dirty Dozen (1967), Roman Polanski's horror film Rosemary's Baby (1968) and Elaine May's crime drama Mikey and Nicky (1976). For The Dirty Dozen, he earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. As a director, Cassavetes became known for a string of critically acclaimed independent dramas including Shadows (1959), Faces (1968), Husbands (1970), A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Opening Night (1977), and Love Streams (1984). His films employed an actor-centered approach which prioritized raw character relationships, "small feelings", and "messy anguish [that] sanctifies," while rejecting traditional Hollywood plotting, method acting, and stylization. His films became associated with an improvisational aesthetic and a cinéma vérité feel. He received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay (Faces) and Best Director (A Woman Under the Influence). Shadows, Faces, and A Woman Under the Influence have been inducted into the National Film Registry. He frequently collaborated with American actress Gena Rowlands (to whom he was married from 1954 until his death in 1989) and friends Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara, and Seymour Cassel. Many of his films were shot and edited in his and Rowlands' own Los Angeles home. He and Rowlands had a son named Nick and two daughters, named Alexandra and Zoe, all of whom followed them into acting and filmmaking.
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John Dobson
John Dobson (9 December 1787 – 8 January 1865) was a 19th-century English neoclassical architect. During his life, he was the most noted architect in Northern England. He designed more than 50 churches and 100 private houses, but he is best known for designing Newcastle railway station and his work with Richard Grainger developing the neoclassical centre of Newcastle. Other notable structures include Nunnykirk Hall, Meldon Park, Mitford Hall, Lilburn Tower, St John the Baptist Church in Otterburn, Northumberland, and Beaufront Castle.
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John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan, and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost elevated Milton's reputation as one of history's greatest poets. He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell. Milton achieved fame and recognition during his lifetime. His celebrated Areopagitica (1644), condemning pre-publication censorship, is among history's most influential and impassioned defences of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. His desire for freedom extended beyond his philosophy and was reflected in his style, which included his introduction of new words to the English language, coined from Latin and Ancient Greek. He was the first modern writer to employ unrhymed verse outside the theatre or translations. Milton is described as the "greatest English author" by his biographer William Hayley, and he remains generally regarded "as one of the preeminent writers in the English language", though critical reception has oscillated in the centuries since his death, often on account of his republicanism. Samuel Johnson praised Paradise Lost as "a poem which ... with respect to design may claim the first place, and with respect to performance, the second, among the productions of the human mind", though he (a Tory) described Milton's politics as those of an "acrimonious and surly republican". Milton was revered by poets such as William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Thomas Hardy. Phases of Milton's life parallel the major historical and political divisions in Stuart England at the time. In his early years, Milton studied at Christ's College at the University of Cambridge, and then travelled, wrote poetry mostly for private circulation, and launched a career as pamphleteer and publicist under Charles I's increasingly autocratic rule and Britain's breakdown into constitutional confusion and ultimately civil war. He was once considered dangerously radical and heretical, but he contributed to a seismic shift in accepted public opinions during his life that ultimately elevated him to public office in England. The Restoration of 1660 and his loss of vision later deprived Milton of much of his public platform, but he used the period to develop many of his major works. Milton's views developed from extensive reading, travel, and experience that began with his days as a student at the University of Cambridge in the 1620s and continued through the English Civil War, which started in 1642 and continued until 1651. By the time of his death in 1674, Milton was impoverished and on the margins of English intellectual life but famous throughout Europe and unrepentant for political choices that placed him at odds with governing authorities. Milton is widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in English literature, though his oeuvre has drawn criticism from notable figures, including T. S. Eliot. According to some scholars, Milton was second in influence to none but William Shakespeare. In one of his books, Johnson praised him for having the power of "displaying the vast, illuminating the splendid, enforcing the awful, darkening the gloomy and aggravating the dreadful".
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Joseph Desha
Joseph Desha (December 9, 1768 – October 11, 1842) was an American politician who was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky from 1807 to 1819 and the ninth governor of Kentucky from 1824 to 1828. First known as an Indian fighter from Middle Tennessee, Desha settled in Mason County, Kentucky, where he parlayed his military record into several terms in the state legislature. In 1807, Desha was elected to the first of six consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. A Democratic-Republican, he was considered a war hawk, supporting the War of 1812. In 1813, he volunteered to serve in the war and commanded a division at the Battle of the Thames. Returning to Congress after the war, he was the only member of the Kentucky congressional delegation to oppose the unpopular Compensation Act of 1816. Nearly every other member of the delegation was defeated for reelection after the vote, but Desha's opposition to the act helped him retain his seat. He did not seek reelection in 1818, and made an unsuccessful run for governor in 1820, losing to John Adair. By 1824, the Panic of 1819 had ruined Kentucky's economy, and Desha made a second campaign for the governorship almost exclusively on promises of relief for the state's large debtor class. He was elected by a large majority, and debt relief partisans captured both houses of the General Assembly. After the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned debt relief laws favored by Desha and the majority of the legislature, the legislators abolished the court and created a replacement court, to which Desha appointed several debt relief partisans. The existing court refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the move, and during a period known as the Old Court – New Court controversy, two courts of last resort existed in the state. Although popular when elected, Desha's reputation was damaged by two controversies during his term. The first was his role in the ouster of Horace Holley as president of Transylvania University. While the religious conservatives on the university's board opposed Holley because they considered him too liberal, Desha's opposition was primarily based on Holley's friendship with Henry Clay, one of Desha's political enemies. After Desha bitterly denounced Holley in an address to the legislature in late 1825, Holley resigned. Desha's reputation took a further hit after his son, Isaac B. Desha, was charged with murder. Partially because of Desha's influence as governor, two guilty verdicts were overturned. After the younger Desha unsuccessfully attempted suicide while awaiting a third trial, Governor Desha issued a pardon for his son. These controversies, along with an improving economy, propelled Desha's political foes to victory in the legislative elections of 1825 and 1826. They abolished the so-called "Desha court" over Desha's veto, ending the court controversy. In a final act of defiance, Desha threatened to refuse to vacate the governor's mansion, although he ultimately acquiesced without incident, ceding the governorship to his successor, National Republican Thomas Metcalfe. At the expiration of his term, he retired from public life and ultimately died at his son's home in Georgetown, Kentucky, on October 11, 1842.
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Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell (born December 9, 1967) is an American violinist and conductor. He is the music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
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Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actresses, she is noted for her versatile roles on stage and screen. Dench has garnered various accolades throughout a career that spans seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards, four British Academy Television Awards, six British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), and seven Olivier Awards. Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. During the following few years, she performed in several of Shakespeare's plays, in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. Although most of Dench's work during this period was in theatre, she also branched out into film work and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer. In 1968, she drew excellent reviews for her leading role of Sally Bowles in the musical Cabaret. Over the next two decades, Dench established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Dench received critical acclaim for her work on television during this period, including her starring roles in the two romantic comedy series A Fine Romance (1981–1984, ITV) and As Time Goes By (1992–2005, BBC1). Her film appearances were infrequent – though included supporting roles in major films, such as James Ivory's A Room with a View (1985) – before she rose to international fame as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she went on to play in eight James Bond films until her final cameo appearance in Spectre (2015). An eight-time Academy Award nominee, Dench won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998). Her other Oscar-nominated roles are for Mrs Brown (1997), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Philomena (2013), and Belfast (2021). She is also the recipient of several honorary awards, including the BAFTA Fellowship Award, the Society of London Theatre Special Award, and the British Film Institute Fellowship Award.
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Kara DioGuardi
Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi ( KARR-ə DEE-oh-GWAR-dee; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She primarily writes music in the pop rock genre. She has worked with many popular artists; sales of albums on which her songs appear exceed 160 million worldwide. DioGuardi is a 2011 NAMM Music for Life Award winner, 2009 NMPA Songwriter Icon Award winner, 2007 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year, and has received 20 BMI Awards for co-writing songs. DioGuardi was a judge on American Idol for its eighth and ninth seasons. In 2008, she was appointed to the position of executive vice president of talent development at Warner Bros. Records; she has signed acts such as Jason Derulo and Iyaz. In 2011, she was a head judge on the Bravo singer-songwriter competition series Platinum Hit.
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Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Elizabeth Gillibrand (née Rutnik; KEER-stən JIL-ib-rand; born December 9, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from New York since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009. Born and raised in upstate New York, Gillibrand graduated from Dartmouth College and from the UCLA School of Law. After holding positions in government and private practice and working on Hillary Clinton's 2000 U.S. Senate campaign, Gillibrand was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2006. She represented New York's 20th congressional district and was reelected in 2008. During her House tenure, Gillibrand was a Blue Dog Democrat noted for voting against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. After Clinton was appointed U.S. Secretary of State in 2009, Governor David Paterson selected Gillibrand to fill the Senate seat Clinton had vacated, making her New York's second female senator. She won a special election in 2010 to keep the seat, and was reelected to full terms in 2012, 2018, and 2024. During her Senate tenure, Gillibrand has promoted legislation relating to sexual assault in the military, gun trafficking, 9/11 health care, toxic burn pit exposure, stock trading by members of Congress, and the repeal of Don't ask, don't tell. She also supports paid family leave. Gillibrand serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence, and is the ranking member on the Special Committee on Aging. Gillibrand ran for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2020, officially announcing her candidacy on March 17, 2019. After failing to qualify for the third debate, she withdrew from the race on August 28, 2019.
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Kostas Giannoulis
Kostas Giannoulis (Greek: Κώστας Γιαννούλης; born 9 December 1987) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defender.
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Kurt Angle
Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. He is a sports analyst for Real American Freestyle. He first earned recognition for winning a gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics despite competing with a broken neck, and achieved wider fame and recognition for his tenures in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) from 1998 to 2006, and 2017 to 2019, and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2006 to 2016. Angle won numerous accolades while at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, including being a two-time NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion in the Heavyweight division. After graduating, he won gold medals in freestyle wrestling at the 1995 World Wrestling Championships and 1996 Summer Olympics. He is one of four people to win the Junior Nationals, NCAA, World Championships, and the Olympics. In 2006, he was named by USA Wrestling as the greatest shoot wrestler of all time and as one of USA Wrestling's top 15 college wrestlers of all time. In 2016, he was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame. Angle made his first appearance at a professional wrestling event in 1996, and signed with the WWF (now WWE) in 1998. Although he was never a fan of professional wrestling and previously had a negative opinion of it due to its scripted nature, he was noted for his natural aptitude for it; after training for only a few days, he had his debut match within the WWF's developmental system in August 1998 and had his first official WWF match in March 1999. After months of dark matches, Angle made his televised in-ring debut in November 1999. Within two months, he was holding the European and Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. Four months later, he won the 2000 King of the Ring tournament and began pursuing the WWF Championship, which he won in October and would go on to win a total of four times. He also became a one-time WCW Champion and one-time World Heavyweight Champion. He is the tenth professional wrestler to achieve the WWE Triple Crown and the fifth to achieve the WWE Grand Slam. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame's class of 2017. After leaving WWE in 2006, Angle joined TNA, where he became a record six-time TNA World Heavyweight Champion (and the inaugural) and the second TNA Triple Crown winner, holding all three TNA championships simultaneously. He is also a two-time King of the Mountain. During his tenure with TNA, he also competed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship once. In 2013, he was inducted into the TNA Hall of Fame. He is the second wrestler, after Sting, to be inducted into both the WWE and TNA Halls of Fame. Angle has won over 21 professional wrestling championships and is an overall 13-time world champion. He is the only wrestler to have won the WWE Championship, World Heavyweight Championship, WCW Championship, TNA World Heavyweight Championship, IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and an NCAA Wrestling Championship. He is also the first person to hold both the WWE and TNA Triple Crowns. He has headlined numerous pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania XIX and Bound for Glory on three occasions (in 2007, 2010, and 2011), the flagship events of WWE and TNA, respectively. In 2004, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter inducted Angle into its Hall of Fame and later named him "Wrestler of the Decade" for the 2000s. Fellow professional wrestler John Cena called Angle "without question the most gifted all-around performer we have ever had step into a ring" and said "there will never be another like him".
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Kwadwo Asamoah
Kwadwo Asamoah (, kwə-JOH ass-ə-MOH-ah; born 9 December 1988) is a Ghanaian former professional footballer. Mainly a left midfielder or left-back, he was also occasionally deployed as a central midfielder. Asamoah began his professional career with Italian club Udinese in 2008. His consistent performances earned him a transfer to Juventus in 2012, where, with his energy, versatility, and technical skills, he played a key role in helping the club to six consecutive Serie A titles between 2013 and 2018, among other titles, although his appearances at the club were limited by injuries during his later seasons. He joined Inter Milan in 2018, and Cagliari in 2021. At international level, Asamoah represented Ghana in four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, and two FIFA World Cups. Asamoah was awarded CAF Most Promising African Player in 2010 and named Ghana Player of the Year twice consecutively for 2012 and 2013. In 2013, Asamoah was ranked as the 27th best footballer in the world by Bloomberg.
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Langston Galloway
Langston Arnold Galloway (born December 9, 1991) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Esenler Erokspor of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He played college basketball for the Saint Joseph's Hawks.
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Laura Salverson
Laura Goodman Salverson (December 9, 1890 – July 13, 1970) was a Canadian author. Her work reflected her Icelandic heritage. Two of her books won Governor General's awards for literature.
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Liaqat Baloch
Liaqat Baloch (Urdu: لیاقت بلوچ; born 9 December 1952) is a Pakistani political leader, who is currently serving as the Naib Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, a Pakistani Islamic religio-political party. He was also the secretary-general of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and the deputy leader of the opposition in the National Assembly. A member of the Pakistani parliament in 1985, 1990 and 2002, Baloch had also served as the Secretary General of Jamaat-e-Islami until 2019.
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Mackenzie Blackwood
Mackenzie Blackwood (born December 9, 1996) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a goaltender for the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL). Blackwood was the top-rated North American goaltender ranked in the NHL Central Scouting Bureau's final rankings for the 2015 NHL entry draft. He was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the second round, 42nd overall, in the 2015 NHL entry draft.
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Maddalena Laura Sirmen
Maddalena Laura Sirmen (née Lombardini; 9 December 1745 – 18 May 1818), commonly known as Madame Sirmen, was an Italian composer, violinist, and opera singer of the musical Classical period.
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Maksim Bahdanovič
Maksim Adamavich Bahdanovich (Belarusian: Максім Адамавіч Багдановіч, IPA: [makˈsʲim aˈdamavʲid͡ʐ baɣdaˈnɔvʲit͡ɕ]; Russian: Максим Адамович Богданович, romanized: Maksim Adamovich Bogdanovich; 9 December 1891 – 25 May 1917) was a Belarusian poet, journalist, translator, literary critic and historian of literature. He is considered one of the founders of the modern Belarusian literature.
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Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s. Fish won six tournaments on the main ATP Tour and reached the final of four Masters Series events: Cincinnati in 2003 and 2010, Indian Wells in 2008, and Montreal in 2011. His best results at Grand Slam tournaments are reaching the quarterfinals of the 2007 Australian Open, the 2008 US Open, and the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, Fish won the silver medal in men's singles, losing the final to Nicolás Massú. In April 2011, Fish overtook compatriot and friend Andy Roddick to become the American No. 1 in the ATP rankings, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2011. He then played in the year-end tournament for the only time in his career. He retired after the 2015 US Open. In January 2019, Fish replaced Jim Courier as captain of the United States Davis Cup team.
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Margaret Brundage
Margaret Brundage (born Margaret Hedda Johnson; December 9, 1900 – April 9, 1976), was an American illustrator and painter who is remembered chiefly for having illustrated the pulp magazine Weird Tales. Working in pastels on illustration board, she created most of the covers for Weird Tales between 1933 and 1938.
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Margaret Hamilton
Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 – May 16, 1985) was an American character actress, vaudevillian and educator, whose fifty-year career in entertainment spanned theater, film, radio and television. She often played villains and is best known to modern audiences for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West and her Kansas counterpart Almira Gulch in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz. A former kindergarten teacher, she worked as a character actress in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. In later years, Hamilton appeared in films and made frequent cameo appearances on television sitcoms and commercials. She also gained recognition for her work as an animal rights activist and her lifelong commitment to public education. Her role as the Wicked Witch of the West is ranked by the American Film Institute as Hollywood's fourth-greatest villain of all time and the all-time greatest female villain.
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Marleen Gorris
Marleen Gorris (born 9 December 1948) is a Dutch former writer and director. Gorris is known as an outspoken feminist and supporter of gay and lesbian issues which is reflected in much of her work. Her film, Antonia's Line, won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995 making her first woman to win in this category. She has won 2 Golden Calf awards and received numerous other nominations, including one nomination for BAFTA Awards.
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Martin de Porres
Martín de Porras Velázquez (9 December 1579 – 3 November 1639) was a Peruvian lay brother of the Dominican Order who was beatified in 1837 by Pope Gregory XVI and canonized in 1962 by Pope John XXIII. He is the patron saint of Black people, mixed-race people, barbers, innkeepers, public health workers, all those seeking racial harmony, and animals. He was noted for his work on behalf of the poor, establishing an orphanage and a children's hospital. He maintained an austere lifestyle, which included fasting and abstaining from meat. Among the many miracles attributed to him were those of levitation, bilocation, miraculous knowledge, instantaneous cures, and an ability to communicate with animals.
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Max Manus
Maximo Guillermo Manus DSO, MC & Bar (9 December 1914 – 20 September 1996) was a Norwegian resistance fighter during World War II, specialising in sabotage in occupied Norway. After the war he wrote several books about his adventures and started the successful office supply company Max Manus AS.
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Mehmet Ali Birand
Mehmet Ali Birand (9 December 1941 – 17 January 2013) was a Turkish journalist, political commentator and writer.
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Metius
Adriaan Adriaanszoon, called Metius (9 December 1571 – 6 September 1635), was a Dutch geometer and astronomer born in Alkmaar. The name "Metius" comes from the Dutch word meten ("measuring"), and therefore means something like "measurer" or "surveyor".
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Michael Foster
Michael Foster (born December 9, 1964) is an American musician best known as the drummer and founding member of rock band FireHouse. Foster and guitarist/founding member Bill Leverty are the only original members still active in the band, following the death of vocalist CJ Snare.
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Michael Nouri
Michael Nouri (born December 9, 1945) is an American screen and stage actor. He is best known for his television roles, including Dr. Neil Roberts on The O.C. (2004-2007), Phil Grey on Damages (2007-2011), Eli David in NCIS (2008-2013), Caleb Cortlandt on All My Children (2010-2011), and Bob Schwartz on Yellowstone (2018-2020). He is also known for his starring roles in the films Flashdance (1983) and The Hidden (1987), and has appeared in several Broadway and off-Broadway plays, including the original production of Victor/Victoria. He is a Saturn Award and Daytime Emmy Award nominee.
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Mona Hanna-Attisha
Mona Hanna (born 9 December 1976), formerly known as Mona Hanna-Attisha, is a pediatrician, professor, and public health advocate whose research exposed the Flint water crisis. In January 2024, she launched the first-in-the-nation community-wide universal prenatal and infant cash prescription program, Rx Kids. She is the author of the 2018 book What the Eyes Don't See, which The New York Times named as one of the 100 most notable books of the year.
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Neil Innes
Neil James Innes (; 9 December 1944 – 29 December 2019) was an English songwriter, writer, comedian and musician. He first came to prominence in the comedy rock group the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later became a frequent collaborator with the Monty Python troupe on their BBC television series and films, and is often called the "seventh Python" along with performer Carol Cleveland. Along with Eric Idle of Monty Python, he co-created the Rutles, a Beatles parody/pastiche project; Innes wrote the band's songs. He also wrote and voiced the 1980s ITV children's cartoon adventures of The Raggy Dolls.
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Ni-Ki
Nishimura Riki (Japanese: 西村 力; born 9 December 2005), known professionally as Ni-Ki (Korean: 니키, Japanese: ニキ), is a Japanese singer and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the boy band Enhypen under Belift Lab, formed through the reality survival show I-Land in 2020.
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Nikolai Luzin
Nikolai Nikolayevich Luzin (also spelled Lusin; Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Лу́зин, IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ ˈluzʲɪn] ; 9 December 1883 – 28 February 1950) was a Soviet and Russian mathematician known for his work in descriptive set theory and aspects of mathematical analysis with strong connections to point-set topology. He was the eponym of Luzitania, a loose group of young Moscow mathematicians of the first half of the 1920s. They adopted his set-theoretic orientation, and went on to apply it in other areas of mathematics.
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Olivia Lufkin
Olivia Lufkin (born December 9, 1979), known professionally as Olivia, is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Lufkin began her solo career after singing in the Japanese girl group D&D. She gained mainstream success in 2006 after creating songs for the fictional band Trapnest under the alias "Olivia Inspi' Reira (Trapnest)." The songs were used for the popular anime adaptation of Nana.
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Otis Birdsong
Otis Lee Birdsong (born December 9, 1955) is an American former professional basketball player. He spent twelve seasons (1977–1989) in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and appeared in four NBA All-Star Games. A 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) guard who attended Winter Haven High School and the University of Houston, Birdsong was selected by the Kansas City Kings with the second pick of the 1977 NBA draft. He would spend four seasons with the Kings, averaging a career high 24.6 points per game during the 1980–81 season. He also played seven seasons with the New Jersey Nets and one with the Boston Celtics, and then ended his career at the end of the 1988–89 season.
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Peter Kropotkin
Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December [O.S. 27 November] 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist political philosopher and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later served as an officer in Siberia, where he participated in several geological expeditions. He was imprisoned for his activism in 1874 and managed to escape two years later. He spent the next 41 years in exile in Switzerland, France (where he was imprisoned for almost four years), and England. While in exile, he gave lectures and published widely on anarchism and geography. Kropotkin returned to Russia after the Russian Revolution in 1917, but he was disappointed by the Bolshevik state. Kropotkin was a proponent of the idea of decentralized communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations of self-governing communities and worker-run enterprises. He wrote many books, pamphlets and articles, the most prominent being The Conquest of Bread (1892) and Fields, Factories, and Workshops (1899), with Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902) being his principal scientific offering. He contributed the article on anarchism to the eleventh edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica and left an unfinished work on anarchist ethical philosophy.
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Peter O'Mara
Peter John O'Mara (born 9 December 1957) is an Australian-born jazz guitarist, composer, arranger, teacher and author. He has been based in Germany since late 1981.
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Peter Pelham
Peter Pelham (9 December 1721 – 28 April 1805) was an English-born American organist, harpsichordist, teacher and composer. Pelham was born in London. His father, also named Peter Pelham, was an engraver and an artist. Around 1730 the Pelhams immigrated to Boston, where the father apprenticed his son to Charles Theodore Pachelbel son of Johann . Pachelbel. The latter left for Charleston, South Carolina in 1736 and Pelham followed him. He remained in Charleston for some time, studying with Pachelbel and later becoming a harpsichord teacher himself. In 1744 Pelham became first organist of Trinity Church in Boston. Around 1750 he moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where in 1755 he became organist of Bruton Parish Church. He held that post for almost 50 years, until 1802. Pelham actively participated in the city's musical life, giving concerts and conducting. He also supported himself and his family by running a small music store, as well as engaging in some non-musical activities: he was supervisor for the printing of currency from 1758 to 1775 and superintended the Public Gaol from 1770 to 1780. In 1802 Pelham became blind. His daughter Elizabeth succeeded him for a brief period as organist of Bruton Church. Pelham died in Richmond, Virginia. Although several collections he compiled of music by other composers are extant, almost none of his own music survives, save for a short harpsichord minuet. He helped popularize the music of Vivaldi, Handel and Haydn in Boston.
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Pierre Henry
Pierre Georges Albert François Henry (French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ ɑ̃ʁi]; 9 December 1927 – 5 July 2017) was a French composer known for his significant contributions to musique concrète.
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Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi
Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi (9 December 1728 – 19 November 1804) was an Italian opera composer of the classical period.
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Pit Martin
Hubert Jacques "Pit" Martin (December 9, 1943 – November 30, 2008) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who served as captain for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1975 to 1977. He was an NHL All-Star and Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner. Martin played seventeen seasons in the NHL for the Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, and Vancouver Canucks.
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Redd Foxx
John Elroy Sanford (December 9, 1922 – October 11, 1991), better known by his stage name Redd Foxx, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Foxx gained success with his raunchy nightclub act before and during the civil rights movement. Known as the "King of the Party Records", he performed on more than 50 records in his lifetime. He portrayed Fred G. Sanford on the television show Sanford and Son and starred in The Redd Foxx Show and The Royal Family. His film projects included All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), Norman... Is That You? (1976), and Harlem Nights (1989). In 2004, Foxx ranked 24th in Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. Foxx not only influenced many comedians but was often portrayed in popular culture as well, mainly as a result of his catchphrases, body language and facial expressions exhibited on Sanford and Son. During the show's six-year run, Foxx won a Golden Globe Award and received an additional three nominations, along with three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Foxx was posthumously given a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1992.
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Reiko Aylesworth
Reiko M. Aylesworth (born December 9, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for playing Michelle Dessler in the action television series 24.
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Richard Lovelace
Richard Lovelace (, homophone of "loveless"; 9 December 1617 – 1657) was an English poet in the seventeenth century. He was a cavalier poet who fought on behalf of Charles I during the English Civil War. His best known works are "To Althea, from Prison", and "To Lucasta, Going to the Warres".
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Robert Livingston
Robert Edward Randall (December 9, 1904 – March 7, 1988) was an American film actor known under his stage name, Robert Livingston. He appeared in 136 films between 1921 and 1975. He was one of the original Three Mesquiteers. He also played The Lone Ranger and Zorro.
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Roy Rubin
Roy Rubin (December 9, 1925 – August 5, 2013) was a former college and professional basketball coach.
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Ryan Lomberg
Ryan Lomberg (born December 9, 1994) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a left winger for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Lomberg won the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers in 2024.
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Shayne Graham
Michael Shayne Graham (born December 9, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker for 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies. He made his professional debut in May 2000 with the Richmond Speed of the Arena Football League's developmental league, af2. His first NFL contract was with the New Orleans Saints where he signed as an undrafted free agent in 2000. A journeyman most of his career, he was a member of 15 different NFL franchises and played for an NFL-record 10 teams (tied with Tillie Voss). He spent seven seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, and made the Pro Bowl in 2005. In the latter part of his career, he was signed as an injury replacement or to provide competition during training camps for a number of teams. In 2018, Graham was hired as a special teams intern at Michigan State University.
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Simon Helberg
Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. From 2007 to 2019, he played Howard Wolowitz on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory and won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. His performance as Cosmé McMoon in the film Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Helberg has also appeared on the sketch comedy series MADtv as a cast member in season 8 (2002–2003), and his other film roles including Old School (2003), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), A Serious Man (2009), and Annette (2021).
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Simone Fontecchio
Simone Fontecchio (born 9 December 1995) is an Italian professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays at the small forward position.
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Stacey Abrams
Stacey Yvonne Abrams (; born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights activist, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, serving as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Abrams founded Fair Fight Action, an organization to address voter suppression, in 2018. Her efforts have been widely credited with boosting voter turnout in Georgia, including in the 2020 presidential election, when Joe Biden narrowly won the state, and in Georgia's 2020–21 regularly scheduled and special U.S. Senate elections, which gave Democrats control of the Senate. Abrams was the Democratic nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, becoming the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. She lost the election to Republican candidate Brian Kemp by a narrow margin of 1.4%. In February 2019, Abrams became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address. She was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election, and lost again to Kemp, this time by a much larger margin of 7.5%. Abrams is an author of both fiction and nonfiction. Her nonfiction books, Our Time Is Now and Lead from the Outside, were New York Times best sellers. Abrams wrote eight fiction books under the pen name Selena Montgomery before 2021. While Justice Sleeps was released on May 11, 2021, under her real name. Abrams also wrote a children's book, Stacey's Extraordinary Words, released in December 2021.
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Stefen Fangmeier
Stefen Markus Fangmeier (born December 9, 1960, in El Paso, Texas, United States) is an American visual effects supervisor and film director. He worked on numerous major feature films, including Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Saving Private Ryan, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Twister, The Perfect Storm and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. He also has been a second unit director for two films, Dreamcatcher (2003) and Galaxy Quest (1999). After more than 15 years of visual effects work, Fangmeier moved into feature film directing with his debut on Eragon, which was released in 2006 to negative critic reviews but was a box office success. Since Eragon, Fangmeier has largely focused on supervising and directing visual effects, including for the eighth season of Game of Thrones and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Fangmeier speaks German as well as English, and lives in Los Angeles.
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Susan Bullock
Susan Margaret Bullock (born 9 December 1958 in Cheshire) is a British soprano. She has performed dramatic soprano parts at major opera houses, and also sung in concert and recital. Bullock was educated at Cheadle Hulme School, and further at Royal Holloway College, University of London, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio. She received the 1984 Kathleen Ferrier Award, followed by roles at the English National Opera. Bullock has a Welsh background and has recorded music in Welsh. She developed an international career in the mid-1990s as she moved increasingly into late-Romantic and 20th Century German opera repertoire, with engagements at the Frankfurt Opera and Garsington Opera, where she sang Helen in the first British performance of Richard Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena in 1998. Her assumption of Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in productions at Opera North, Leeds and the English National Opera confirmed her command of the dramatic soprano repertoire. She sang Brunnhilde in Der Ring des Nibelungen first in Tokyo, and in 2006 performed the role in the first complete Ring cycle by the Canadian Opera Company in their new Toronto opera house. She made her debut at both La Scala, Milan and the Metropolitan Opera, New York in the title role of Richard Strauss' Elektra. In 2009, she received the Royal Philharmonic Society's award for best singer for her assumption of Elektra in a production at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She had made her Covent Garden debut previously as Marie in Berg's Wozzeck. She sang Brunnhilde in all performances of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Covent Garden in the London Olympic Year, Autumn 2012. Appearing as Britannia, she sang Always Look on the Bright Side of Life with Eric Idle during the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. Recordings notably include Richard Strauss' Salome in the Chandos "Opera in English" series conducted Sir Charles Mackerras, and live performances of the Frankfurt Ring cycle, conducted by Sebastian Weigle. Other houses she has sung in include Dresden, Berlin Staatsoper, Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Sydney Opera House, La Monnaie (Brussels), Prinzregententheater (Munich), Lisbon and Toulouse. She sings in several languages—her performances include Janáček in Czech, and she has sung contemporary as well as the classical repertoire. She was the solo soprano at the 2011 Last Night of the Proms on 10 September 2011, performing Brunnhilde's Immolation Scene from Act 3 of Götterdämmerung in Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, as well as the traditional "Rule, Britannia" and "Land of Hope and Glory". She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to opera.
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Sylvia
Sylvia Jane Kirby (born December 9, 1956), known professionally as Sylvia, is an American singer, songwriter and life coach. In the 1980s decade, she had 11 US top ten country chart songs, including "Nobody" (1982), which crossed over onto the pop charts around the world. She was signed to RCA Records in 1979 and began working with producer Tom Collins, who produced her 1981 debut album, Drifter. The LP spawned four top ten country songs, including the title track and "The Matador". Her second album, Just Sylvia (1982), sold nearly a million records in both the US and Canada, along with featuring "Nobody" and the top ten song, "Like Nothing Ever Happened". Although she did not have further crossover success, Snapshot (1983), spawned three more successful singles, including the title song, which was also Sylvia's second music video. Following the less-successful, Surprise (1984), Sylvia was produced by Brent Maher on 1985's One Step Closer. The album featured three top ten singles including a cover of "Cry Just a Little Bit". After years of touring, Sylvia took a professional hiatus and explored songwriting with musician, John Mock. He would help craft her 1996 album, The Real Story, which was released on her own label titled Red Pony Records. She also became a life coach during this period and worked with clients to help them make personal and professional decisions. Sylvia then released two albums in 2002 on Red Pony: Where in the World (a collection of covers) and A Cradle in Bethlehem (a Christmas project). She returned in 2016 with an album inspired by her upbringing titled It's All in the Family, followed by two more studio albums since 2022. Sylvia also continues to tour and perform across North America.
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Tabitha Babbitt
Sarah "Tabitha" Babbitt (December 9, 1779 - December 10, 1853) was a Shaker credited as a tool maker and inventor. Inventions attributed to her by the Shakers include the circular saw in lumber milling, an improved spinning wheel head, and a process for manufacturing false teeth. She became a member of the Harvard Shaker community in 1793.
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Tamilla Abassova
Tamilla Rashidovna Abassova (Azerbaijani: Tamilla Rəşid qızı Abbasova, Russian: Тамилла Рашидовна Абасова; born 9 December 1982, in Moscow) is a Russian racing cyclist who won the silver medal in the women's sprint event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and the silver medal at the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in the same event. She is of mixed Azerbaijani-Russian descent, and a practicing Baptist.
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Thomas Andrews
Thomas Andrews FRS FRSE (19 December 1813 – 26 November 1885) was an Irish chemist and physicist who did important work on phase transitions between gases and liquids. He was a longtime professor of chemistry at Queen's University of Belfast.
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Tim Moore
Tim Moore (December 9, 1887 – December 13, 1958) was an American vaudevillian and comic actor of the first half of the 20th century. He gained his greatest recognition in the starring role of George "Kingfish" Stevens in the CBS TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show. He proudly stated, "I've made it a point never to tell a joke on the stage that I couldn't tell in front of my mother."
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Tip O'Neill
Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, the third-longest tenure in history and the longest uninterrupted tenure. He represented northern Boston in the House from 1953 to 1987. Born in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, O'Neill began campaigning at a young age by volunteering for Al Smith's campaign in the 1928 presidential election. After graduating from Boston College, he won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he became a strong advocate of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies. He became Speaker of the Massachusetts House in 1949 and won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1952 to succeed John F. Kennedy. In the U.S. House, O'Neill became a protégé of fellow Boston Representative John William McCormack. O'Neill broke with President Lyndon B. Johnson on the Vietnam War in 1967 and called for Richard Nixon's resignation in light of the Watergate scandal. He quickly moved up the leadership ranks in the 1970s, becoming House Majority Whip in 1971, House Majority Leader in 1973, and Speaker of the House in 1977. With the election of President Jimmy Carter, O'Neill hoped to establish a universal health care system and a guaranteed jobs program. However, relations between Carter and Congress deteriorated, and Carter lost re-election in the 1980 presidential election to Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican. O'Neill became a leading opponent of President Reagan's conservative domestic policies, but O'Neill and Reagan found common ground in foreign policy, fostering the Anglo-Irish Agreement and implementing the Reagan Doctrine (despite considerable opposition to Reagan's support for the Contras in Nicaragua) during the Cold War. O'Neill retired from Congress in 1987 but remained active in public life. He published a best-selling autobiography and appeared in several commercials and other media. He died of cardiac arrest in 1994.
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Tom Daschle
Thomas Andrew Daschle ( DASH-əl; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who represented South Dakota in the United States Senate from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he led the Senate Democratic Caucus during the final ten years of his tenure, during which time he served as Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader. After leaving the United States Air Force, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1978 and served four terms. In 1986, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming Minority Leader in 1995 and Majority Leader in 2001, becoming the highest-ranking elected official in South Dakota history, a position tied by John Thune in 2025. In 2004, he was defeated for reelection in a close race by Thune, who would go on to become Majority Leader himself. Later, he took a position as a policy advisor with a lobbying firm, became a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and co-authored a book advocating universal health care. Daschle was an early supporter of Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, and was nominated by President-elect Obama for the position of Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services after the 2008 election. However, Daschle withdrew his name on February 3, 2009, amid a growing controversy over his failure to properly report and pay income taxes. He works for The Daschle Group, a Public Policy Advisory of Baker Donelson, a large law firm and lobbying group.
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Tom Kite
Thomas Oliver Kite Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He won the U.S. Open in 1992 and spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1989 and 1994.
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V. Dakshinamoorthy
Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy (9 December 1919 – 2 August 2013) was a veteran carnatic musician and composer and music director of Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films. His work was predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 films, and composed as many as 1400 songs over a period of 63 years. Fondly known as Swami, he was instrumental in pioneering classical music-based film songs. Revered as one of the forefathers of the Malayalam music industry, he has mentored many of the renowned contemporary singers and composers including P. Leela and K. J. Yesudas. In 1998, he was honoured with the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for his contributions to Malayalam cinema.
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Vere Bird
Sir Vere Cornwall Bird (9 December 1909 – 28 June 1999) was an Antiguan politician who was the first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. His son, Lester Bryant Bird, succeeded him as prime minister. In 1994, he was declared a "National Hero". Bird was an officer in the Salvation Army for two years. In 1943, he became the president of the Antigua Trades and Labour Union. He achieved national acclaim politically for the first time when he was elected to the colonial legislature in 1945. He formed the Antigua Labour Party and led it to victory in the territory's first elections, in 1954. He served as head of government for all but one term from 1960 to 1981 (titled as chief minister from 1960 to 1967, and as premier from 1967 to 1971 and from 1976 to 1981. When Antigua and Barabuda gained independence in 1981, he became its first prime minister from 1981 to 1994. His resignation was due to failing health and internal issues within the government.
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Wil Besseling
Wil Besseling (born 9 December 1985) is a Dutch professional golfer.
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William Whiston
William Whiston (9 December 1667 – 22 August 1752) was an English theologian, historian, natural philosopher, and mathematician, a leading figure in the popularisation of the ideas of Isaac Newton. He is now probably best known for helping to instigate the Longitude Act in 1714 (and his attempts to win the rewards that it promised) and his important translations of the Antiquities of the Jews and other works by Josephus (which are still in print). He was a prominent exponent of Arianism and wrote A New Theory of the Earth. Whiston succeeded his mentor Newton as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. In 1710 he lost the professorship and was expelled from the university as a result of his unorthodox religious views. Whiston rejected the notion of eternal torment in hellfire, which he viewed as absurd, cruel, and an insult to God. What especially pitted him against church authorities was his denial of the doctrine of the Trinity, which he believed had pagan origins.
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Yuna
Shin Yu-na (Korean: 신유나; born December 9, 2003), known mononymously as Yuna, is a South Korean singer, dancer, rapper, and actress. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Itzy, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2019. She made her acting debut in 2026 in Undercover Miss Hong and is set to appear in My Bias, My Boss. Yuna released her solo debut extended play (EP), Ice Cream, in March 2026.
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Ángel Guirado
Ángel Aldeguer Guirado (born 9 December 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented the Philippines at senior level. His professional career in Spain consisted of ten Segunda División matches for Córdoba and Vecindario. He went on to appear for teams in the Philippines, India, Thailand, Iceland, Gibraltar, Italy and Malaysia.
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Émile Waldteufel
Charles Émile Waldteufel (né Lévy; French pronunciation: [valtøfɛl]; German: [ˈvalt.tɔɪ̯fl̩]; 9 December 1837 – 12 February 1915) was a French composer, pianist, and conductor known for his numerous popular salon pieces. Among his best known works is "Les Patineurs" (1882), known as "The Skater's Waltz".
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