February 8: Today's Notable Birthdays

Is February 8th your birthday? Was someone special to you born on February 8th? With whom will you choose to celebrate this excellent occasion?

If today is your birthday, then you are in excellent company.

(If someone you love is celebrating another year today, why not forward this list to the birthday boy or girl? Click SHARE at the bottom of this page to email the entire article with your "Happy Birthday" message.)

February 8th was the birth date of several notable (or even notorious) individuals. Here they are:

February 8th Birthdays: Famous Artists

German Symbolic painter Franz Marc (Blue Horses and Gazelle) was born on February 8, 1880.

American film director King Wallis Vidor (The Big Parade, The Citadel, The Crowd, Duel in the Sun, The Fountainhead, Hallelujah, Hurricane in Galveston, Our Daily Bread, Peg o' My Heart, Show People, Stella Dallas, The Turn in the Road and War and Peace) was born on February 8, 1894. In 1979, King Vidor received an honorary Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

John Towner Williams, American conductor (Boston Pops), film score composer (Amistad, Born on the Fourth of July, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, Empire of the Sun, Fiddler on the Roof, Hook, JFK, Jurassic Park, Memoirs of a Geisha, Nixon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Star Wars and Superman) and Academy Award winner (1971, 1975, 1977, 1982 and 1993), was born on February 8, 1932. John Williams has composed music for many major global events, including four Olympic Games opening ceremonies and the 2009 inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

February 8th Birthdays: Famous Athletes

American professional football player William Abb (Billy) Cannon (Houston Oilers, Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders) was born on February 8, 1937.

Raimondo d'Inzeo, Italian equestrian show jumper and Olympic gold medalist (1960), was born on February 8, 1925.

American professional football player and coach James William (Jim) Dooley (Chicago Bears) was born on February 8, 1930.

Catherine Hardy, American runner and Olympic gold medalist (1952), was born on February 8, 1930.

American professional golfer George (Bunky) Henry was born on February 8, 1944.

Irina Kalinina, Russian springboard diver and Olympic gold medalist (1980), was born on February 8, 1959.

Alonzo Harding Mourning, Jr., American professional basketball player (Charlotte Hornets, Miami Heat and New Jersey Nets), was born on February 8, 1970.

American professional baseball player Robert Lee (Bob) Oliver (Baltimore Orioles, California Angels, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates) was born on February 8, 1943.

Lawrence James (Larry) Walton, American professional football player (Detroit Lions), was born on February 8, 1947.

Christa Williams, American softball player and Olympic gold medalist (1996), was born on February 8, 1978.

February 8th Birthdays: Famous Authors and Journalists

Elizabeth Bishop, American poet, author (Brazil, The Collected Prose, Complete Poems, Edgar Allan Poe & the Juke-Box: Uncollected Poems, Drafts and Fragments, Geography III, North and South, North and South - A Cold Spring and Questions of Travel) and Pulitzer Prize winner (1955), was born on February 8, 1911.

Martin Buber, the German philosopher, Judaism scholar and author (I and Thou, Jewish Mysticism and the Legends of Baalshem, Mamre, Moses and The Origin and Meaning of Hasidism), was born on February 8, 1878.

American author Kate O'Flaherty Chopin (A Night in Acadie, The Awakening and Bayou Folk) was born on February 8, 1851.

John Grisham, American author (The Brethren, The Chamber, The Client, The Client, The Firm, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Summons and A Time to Kill) was born on February 8, 1955.

American television newscaster Edward James (Ted) Koppel (Nightline) was born on February 8, 1940.

French science fiction novelist Jules Verne (Around the World in Eighty Days, Five Weeks in a Balloon, From the Earth to the Moon, A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Michael Strogoff, The Mysterious Island, Paris in the 20th Century and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) was born on February 8, 1828.

February 8th Birthdays: Famous Performers

American actress Brooke Adams (At Last, Cuba, Days of Heaven, The Dead Zone, Gas Food Lodging, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Key Exchange, The Legend of Lucy Keys, Made-Up and Monk) was born on February 8, 1949. Brooke Adams married actor Tony Shalhoub. Brooke Adams' sister is actress Lynne Adams.

Gary Coleman, American actor (Church Ball, Diff'rent Strokes, Fox Hunt, Jimmy the Kid, On the Right Track and Shafted), was born on February 8, 1968.

Audrey Meadows Cotter, American actress (The Honeymooners, The Jackie Gleason Show and That Touch of Mink), was born on February 8, 1926. Audrey Meadows was sister to actress Jayne Meadows.

Canadian actor Henry Czerny (The Boys of St. Vincent, Clear and Present Danger, Conversations with God, The Ice Storm, Mission: Impossible, The Pink Panther, Prayers for Bobby and The Tudors) was born on February 8, 1959.

Jeremy Davis, American rock bass guitarist (Paramore), was born on February 8, 1985.

American actor James Dean (East of Eden, Fixed Bayonets, Giant, Has Anybody Seen My Gal, Rebel Without a Cause and Sailor Beware) was born on February 8, 1931.

British actress Dame Edith Evans (David Copperfield, A Doll's House, The Importance of Being Earnest, Look Back in Anger, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Scrooge, Tom Jones and The Whisperers) was born on February 8, 1888.

American rock guitarist and singer David (Phoenix) Farrell (Linkin Park) was born on February 8, 1977.

American comedian, voice-over artist (Family Guy) and actor (Austin Powers in Goldmember, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Can't Hardly Wait, The Italian Job, Rat Race and That '70s Show) Seth Benjamin Gesshel Green was born on February 8, 1974.

Robert Klein, American comedian, television personality (Comedy Tonight and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes), author (The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue: A Child of the Fifties Looks Back) and actor (The Owl and the Pussycat, Primary Colors, Radioland Murders, Reign over Me, The Safety of Objects and Sisters), was born on February 8, 1942.

American actor (Airport '77, The Apartment, The China Syndrome, Days of Wine and Roses, The Fortune Cookie, Glengarry Glen Ross, Grumpy Old Men, Irma La Douce, JFK, Long Day's Journey into Night, Missing, Mister Roberts, My Fellow Americans, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger, Some Like It Hot, Tribute and Tuesdays with Morrie) and Academy Award winner (1955 and 1973) John Uhler (Jack) Lemmon was born on February 8, 1925.

Sam Llanas, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter (Absinthe and The BoDeans), was born on February 8, 1961.

American actress Mary Catherine McCormack (1408, Deep Impact, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, Full Frontal, High Heels and Low Lifes, In Plain Sight, K-PAX, Murder One, Mystery Alaska, Private Parts, Traffic and The West Wing) was born on February 8, 1969.

Joshua (Josh) Morrow, American actor (The Young and the Restless), was born on February 8, 1874.

Nick Nolte, American actor (48 Hours, Affliction, Another 48 Hours, Blue Chips, Cape Fear, The Deep, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Extreme Prejudice, The Hulk, The Prince of Tides, Rich Man Poor Man and The Thin Red Line) and voice-over artist (Over the Hedge and

The Spiderwick Chronicles), was born on February 8, 1941.

American model, television personality (Punk'd and Star Search) and actor Ryan James Pinkston (Bad Santa, College, Full of It, Hannah Montana, Quintuplets and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over) was born on February 8, 1988.

William Charles (Creed Bratton) Schneider, American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter (The Grass Roots) and actor (The Office), was born on February 8, 1943.

American rock singer and songwriter Dan Wayland Seals (England Dan and John Ford Coley) was born on February 8, 1948. Dan Seals is brother to musician Jim Seals, of Seals and Crofts.

American R&B and country music guitarist, singer and songwriter Ray Sharpe ("Linda Lu," "That's the Way I Feel," "Monkey's Uncle" and "Oh My Baby's Gone") was born on February 8, 1938.

Mary Nell Steenburgen, American actress (Back to the Future - Part III, The Butcher's Wife, Cross Creek, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Elf, Four Christmases, Goin' South, Gulliver's Travels, Ink, Melvin and Howard, Nixon, Parenthood, Step Brothers, Time After Time and What's Eating Gilbert Grape) and Academy Award winner (1980), was born on February 8, 1953. Mary Steenburgen has been married to actors Malcolm McDowell and Ted Danson.

Julia Jean Mildred Frances (Lana) Turner, American actress (The Adventures of Marco Polo, Falcon Crest, Love Finds Andy Hardy, Madame X, Peyton Place, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Ziegfeld Girl) and author (Lana: The Lady - the Legend - the Truth), was born on February 8, 1921. A popular World War II pin-up girl, Lana Turner became known as "The Sweater Girl." Lana Turner's seven husbands included bandleader Artie Shaw.

American pop singer Larry Verne ("Mister Livingston" and "Please Mr. Custer") was born on February 8, 1936.

Karle Warren, American actress (Judging Amy), was born on February 8, 1992.

Vincent (Vince Neil) Wharton, American heavy metal rock singer (Motley Crue), was born on February 8, 1961.

Muni (Moe or Buddy Morrow) Zudekoff, American trombonist and bandleader (The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and The Tonight Show Orchestra), was born on February 8, 1919.

February 8th Birthdays: Famous Scientists

Daniel Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician, was born on February 8, 1700.

Chester Floyd Carlson, American physicist and xerographic copying pioneer, was born on February 8, 1906.

French-Italian astronomer and author (Elements d'Astronomie) Jacques Cassini was born on February 8, 1677. His father was astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini.

February 8th Birthdays: Famous World (and Other) Leaders

Malaysian Premier Abdulrahman was born on February 8, 1903.

Alfonso IV, King of Portugal, was born on February 8, 1291.

Antonio Canovas del Castillo, Premier of Spain, was born on February 8, 1828.

Mary I, Queen of England, was born on February 8, 1516.

American General and Civil War leader William Tecumseh Sherman was born on February 8, 1820. Sherman has been credited with the often quoted statement, "War is hell."

Do you know any others who are celebrating birthdays on February 8th?

If you know additional notable people (including yourself) who may be celebrating a birthday on February 8th, please indicate so in a comment below. Thank you!

Happy Birthday, February 8th.

Other Notable Birthdates:

Click here to check other calendar dates for notable birthdates.

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