March 31: Today's Notable Birthdays

Is March 31st your birthday? Was someone special to you born on March 31st? 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.)

March 31st was the birth date of several notable (or even notorious) individuals. Here they are:

March 31st Birthdays: Famous Artists

Russian ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev (Ballets Russes) was born on March 31, 1872.

Franz Joseph Haydn, Austrian classical music composer (The Clock Symphony, The Creation, The Farewell Symphony, The Military Symphony, The Seasons and The Surprise Symphony), was born on March 31, 1732.

John La Farge, American painter (Agathon to Erosanthe,Girls Carrying a Canoe, Paradise Valley, Portrait of the Novelist Henry James and View in Ceylon) and stained glass artist (Angel of Help,Angel at the Tomb and Figure of Wisdom), was born on March 31, 1835.

Bulgarian-French painter Jules Pascin (Mother and Child, Scene de Rue Cuba, Socrates and His Disciples Mocked by Courtesans, Reclining Model, The Turkish Family and Young Girl in a Hat) was born on March 31, 1885.

March 31st Birthdays: Famous Athletes

American professional golfer Miller Barber was born on March 31, 1931.

Donald Angelo (Don) Barksdale, American professional basketball player and Olympic gold medalist (1948), was born on March 31, 1923. Don Barksdale played for the Baltimore Bullets and Boston Celtics.

American professional golfer Thomas Henry (Tommy) Bolt was born on March 31, 1918. Tommy Bolt was known as Terrible Tommy and Thunder Bolt.

Ron Brown, American runner and Olympic gold medalist (1984), was born on March 31, 1961.

Canadian professional hockey player Bill Hicke (Baltimore Clippers, California Golden Seals, Minnesota Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Oakland Seals and Pittsburgh Penguins) was born on March 31, 1938.

Gordie Howe, Canadian hockey player, was born on March 31, 1928. Known as Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe played for the Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers, Houston Aeros and New England Whalers.

American heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson was born on March 31, 1878.

March 31st Birthdays: Famous Authors and Journalists

Leo Buscaglia, American psychologist and author (Bus 9 to Paradise, The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Living Loving and Learning, Love and My Father), was born on March 31, 1925.

American diarist and author Mary Chestnut (A Diary from Dixie and Mary Chestnut's Civil War) was born on March 31, 1823.

Rene Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher, was born on March 31, 1596. Rene Descartes most famous statement was, "I think, therefore I am."

American attorney and author Dwight David Eisenhower, II (Eisenhower at War) was born on March 31, 1948. Grandson of 34^th U.S. President Dwight David Eisenhower (Ike), Dwight David Eisenhower, II, married Julie Nixon (daughter of 37^th U.S. President Richard M. Nixon).

Edward Fitzgerald, British author and translator (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam), was born on March 31, 1809.

Russian dramatist and author Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (Dead Souls, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Mirgorod and The Inspector-General) was born on March 31, 1809.

John Jakes, American author (California Gold, Great Women Reporters, In the Big Country and Sir Scoundrel), was born on March 31, 1932.

British Cavalier poet Andrew Marvell was born on March 31, 1621. Andrew Marvell's most famous poems were "To His Coy Mistress" and "The Definition of Love."

Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, author (Alternating Current, The Bow and the Lyre, Collected Poems, Configurations, Early Poems, La Estacion Violenta, The Labyrinth of Solitude, The Other Mexico, Piedra de Sol, Salamandra and Topoemas) and Nobel Prize winner (1990), was born on March 31, 1914.

March 31st Birthdays: Famous Business Leaders

American human rights activist and labor leader Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927. Cesar Chavez organized migrant farm workers, founding the National Farm Workers Association.

Anne Elisabeth Jane (Liz) Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer (Liz Claiborne Inc.), was born on March 31, 1929.

March 31st Birthdays: Famous Performers

Herb Alpert, American bandleader (Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass) and music industry executive (A & M Records), was born on March 31, 1935.

Rodney (Rod Allen) Bainbridge, British beat rock bassist and singer (The Fortunes), was born on March 31, 1944.

American rap artist Marvin (Tony Yayo) Bernard (G-Unit) was born on March 31, 1979.

Australian country music singer Merelyn Carter (Carter & Carter) was born on March 31, 19--. Merelyn Carter married singer David Carter.

Richard Chamberlain, American actor (The Bourne Identity, Centennial, Dr. Kildare, Julius Caesar, King Solomon's Mines, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Shogun, The Thorn Birds and The Towering Inferno), was born on March 31, 1935.

American actor (1776, The Graduate, Oh God, Reds and St. Elsewhere) and voice-over artist (Knight Rider) William Daniels was born on March 31, 1927.

Terri Franklin, American Gospel singer (Gaither Vocal Band), was born on March 31, 19--.

American honky tonk and country music singer William Orville (Lefty) Frizzell was born on March 31, 1928. Lefty Frizzell's most popular songs included "Always Late," "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time," "Long Black Veil" and "Saginaw Michigan."

Sean Hopper, American rock keyboardist and singer (Clover and Huey Lewis and the News), was born on March 31, 1953.

American singer and actress (Carousel, Elmer Gantry, The Music Man, Oklahoma and The Partridge Family) Shirley Jones was born on March 31, 1934.

Gabriel (Gabe) Kaplan, American comedian and actor (The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, Nobody's Perfekt and Welcome Back Kotter), was born on March 31, 1945.

American actor Richard Kiley (The Bad Seed, The Blackboard Jungle, Endless Love, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, The Man of La Mancha and The Thorn Birds) was born on March 31, 1922.

John D. Loudermilk, American rock drummer, singer and songwriter ("Language of Love" and "Sittin' in the Balcony",), was born on March 31, 1934. John D. Loudermilk, who was also known as Johnny Dee and Ebe Sneezer, wrote songs for Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, The Everly Brothers, Marianne Faithfull, Stonewall Jackson, The Nashville Teens, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Sue Thompson, Johnny Tillotson and many other artists.

American professional football player (Minnesota Vikings) and actor (Dancing with Danger, Hill Street Blues, Laverne and Shirley and Sisters) Ed Marinaro was born on March 31, 1950.

Marc McClure, American actor (Apollo 13, Back to the Future, California Fever, Freaky Friday, Superman and That Thing You Do), was born on March 31, 1957.

Scottish actor (Amelia, Angels & Demons, Black Hawk Down, Eye of the Beholder, A Life Less Ordinary, Little Voice, Long Way Down, Long Way Round, Moulin Rouge, The Serpent's Kiss, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Tales from the Crypt and Trainspotting) and voice-over artist (Robots) Ewan McGregor was born on March 31, 1971.

William McNamara, American actor (Beat, Stealing Home and Texasville), was born on March 31, 1965.

American rock guitarist and keyboardist Al Nichol (The Turtles) was born on March 31, 1946.

Rhea Perlman, American actress (Carwash, Cheers, Class Act, Intimate Strangers, Pearl, Ratings Game, Taxi and Ted & Venus), was born on March 31, 1948. Rhea Perlman married actor Danny DeVito.

American rock drummer Jon-Jon Poulos (The Buckinghams) was born on March 31, 1947.

Mick Ralphs, British rock guitarist (Bad Company and Mott the Hoople), was born on March 31, 1944.

American actress Peggy Rea (The Dukes of Hazzard, Grace Under Fire, Step by Step and The Waltons) was born on March 31, 1921.

Christian Scott, American jazz trumpeter (The Christian Scott Quintet), was born on March 31, 1974. Christian Scott's uncle is jazz musician Donald Harrison, Jr.

American comedian and television personality Henry Lerner (Henry Morgan) Von Ost was born on March 31, 1951. Henry Morgan appeared on I've Got a Secret.

Victor Varconi, Hungarian actor (Big City, Divine Lady and King of Kings) was born on March 31, 1891.

American actor Ronald Christopher Walken (At Close Range, Batman Returns, Brainstorm, Catch Me If You Can, Click, The Dead Zone, The Deerhunter, King of New York, The Prophecy, Pulp Fiction, A View to a Kill and Wayne's World 2) was born on March 31, 1943.

Scottish rock guitarist Angus Young (AC/DC) was born on March 31, 1955.

March 31st Birthdays: Famous Scientists

Sir William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-British geneticist, physicist and Nobel Prize winner (1915), was born on March 31, 1890. Sir Lawrence Bragg shared the 1915 Nobel Prize with his father, scientist Sir William Henry Bragg.

Scottish chemist Archibald Scott Couper was born on March 31, 1831.

Robert Wilhelm Eberhard von Bunsen, German chemist and author (Chemische Analyse durch Spektralbeobachtungen and Gasometrische Methoden), was born on March 31, 1811. Robert von Bunsen invented the Bunsen burner, as well as the Bunsen cell and the Bunsen photometer.

March 31st Birthdays: Famous World (and Other) Leaders

Frederik V, King of Denmark and Norway, was born on March 31, 1723.

Albert Arnold (Al) Gore, Jr., American politician, U.S. Senator (D-TN), 45^th U.S. President (under 42^nd U.S. President Bill Clinton), author (Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth) and Nobel Prize winner (2007), was born on March 31, 1948.

Henry II, King of France and Germany, was born on March 31, 1518.

Colombian President Cesar Gaviria Trujillowas born on March 31, 1947.

Do you know any others who are celebrating birthdays on March 31st?

If you know additional notable people (including yourself) who may be celebrating a birthday on March 31st, please indicate so in a comment below. Thank you!

Happy Birthday, March 31st.

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