If they were still alive...

...today would be the birthday of the following notables:


"The Great Profile,"John Barrymore would be 129.  A classical tragedian on Broadway, he moved to Hollywood in the 1920's and gained even greater fame in movies (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Grand Hotel).  For younger readers who may not know who he is, Drew Barrymore is his granddaughter.


19th Century women's rights activist Susan B. Anthony would be 191.  She was pivotal in introducing the movement toward women's suffrage (voting) in America.




Harvey Korman (L) with Tim Conway on "The Carol Burnett Show"



Carol Burnett's sidekick, Harvey Korman, would be 84.

Saturday Night Live alumnus, Chris Farley, would be 47.  He was the second prominent SNL alumnus to die of a drug overdose at the age of 33 (John Belushi preceded him).












Perennial 1940's 20th Century-Fox musical "best friend," Cesar Romero would be 104.  He revived his career on television in the 1960's playing "The Joker" on Batman.









The first recipient of the "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar in 1937 (for Anthony Adverse), Gale Sondergaard would be 112.  She would have been more well-known today, had the makers of The Wizard of Oz not changed their concept in the initial stages of making the film.  "The Wicked Witch of the West" was originally conceived as "beautiful and glamourous," and Sondergaard was cast in the role.  Margaret Hamilton replaced her before shooting started.  Her career never quite took hold, and was completely destroyed when she was falsely accused of being a Communist during the McCarthy witch hunts.
Here's an interesting excerpt from an Oz documentary about the casting of the Wicked Witch:


Harold Arlen, (with his dog, Shmutts) would be 106 today.  To me, he is the greatest American songwriter of all time.  A few of his accomplishments:  The entire score of The Wizard of Oz, (including "Over the Rainbow," which is perpetually voted the "#1 Song of the 20th Century") "Stormy Weather," "Get Happy," "That Old Black Magic," "One For My Baby (And One For the Road)," and on and on.  He died in 1986 at the age of 81.  He's one of my favorite singers as well...one of the few composers who could actually sing better than a lot of the singers who sang his songs: