03-09 Happy birthday to the late cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Born: March 9, 1934 and passed away on March 27, 1968.
Gagarin was the first human to ever travel to space, an accomplishment he achieved in 1961 in the soviet spacecraft Vostok 1.
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01-31 Happy birthday to the late Norm Prescott, Born: January 31, 1927 and passed away on July 2, 2005.
Norm Prescott was an associate of Filmation, and as such was a producer for Star Trek: The Animated Series. For his work on this show, Prescott, along with his production partner Lou Scheimer, won a Daytime Emmy Award in the field of “Outstanding Entertainment Children’s Series.” Prescott also voiced an Orion lieutenant in the animated episode “The Pirates of Orion” and the Romulan commander in the animated episode “The Practical Joker”.
Prescott and Scheimer have produced many popular animated TV programs under the Filmation banner, including The New Adventures of Superman (1966-1970), Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972-1984) and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985). The latter program was turned into a motion picture featuring Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Duncan McNeill and DS9 guest star Frank Langella.
Under the pseudonym of “Jeff Michael” (actually the names of Prescott’s two sons Jeff and Michael), Prescott also co-composed the music for most of Filmation’s programs, including Star Trek: The Animated Series.
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01-31 Happy birthday to the late James Fransicus, Born: January 31, 1934 and passed away on July 8, 1991.
James Grover Franciscus was an American actor, known for his roles in feature films and in four television series, Mr. Novak, The Naked City, The Investigators, and Longstreet.
Franciscus was born in Clayton, Missouri, to Lorraine (née Grover) and John Allen Franciscus, who was killed in action during World War II. In 1957, Franciscus received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and theatre arts from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, from which he graduated magna cum laude. He was a classmate of Dick Cavett and Bill Hinnant.
His first major role was as Detective Jim Halloran in the half-hour version of ABC’s The Naked City television series. Franciscus guest starred on the CBS military sitcom/drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper, and on the NBC drama about family conflicts in the American Civil War entitled The Americans. CBS soon cast him in the lead in the 13-week series The Investigators, which aired from October 5 to December 28, 1961. He played the insurance investigator Russ Andrews, with James Philbrook as a co-star. Franciscus was also cast in the role of Tom Grover in the 1961 episode “The Empty Heart” of the CBS anthology series, The DuPont Show with June Allyson. He performed in many feature films and television programs throughout the 1960s and 1970s, preceded by a minor role in an episode of The Twilight Zone titled Judgment Night in 1959, and a major role in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Summer Shade in 1961.
He starred in I Passed for White, in 1960, and in 1963, he appeared as Mike Norris in the episode “Hang By One Hand” on the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, Combat! and Miracle of the White Stallions. Franciscus may be best-remembered for his title roles in NBC’s Mr. Novak (1963–65) and ABC’s Longstreet (1971–72), and for his vocal performance in the big-screen version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973). Along with Lloyd Bridges, he served as host as the syndicated real-life adventure series Waterworld, which aired from 1972 to 1975. In 1977, he starred in his fifth television series, the short-lived Hunter (as a secret agent).
He was also frequently seen in feature films of the 1960s and 1970s such as Youngblood Hawke, Snow Treasure, The Amazing Dobermans, Marooned, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, City on Fire, When Time Ran Out, The Valley of Gwangi, and The Greek Tycoon. Over the years, Franciscus found film work with Italian cinema. In 1971, he accepted the lead role in Dario Argento’s second film, The Cat o’ Nine Tails.[4] In 1979, he appeared in Antonio Margheriti’s Killer Fish, and in 1980 he starred in director Enzo G. Castellari’s Jaws-inspired Great White (aka The Last Shark). He continued appearing in roles on the screen and television. When less important roles were offered, Franciscus turned to writing screenplays and producing. In 1991, the year of his death, he worked as an associate producer and screenwriter on the movie 29th Street starring Anthony LaPaglia and Danny Aiello; it was his final project.
He was the voice of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, in the movie of the same name, written by Richard Bach. The movie was released in October 23, 1973.
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01-31 Happy birthday to Cristine Rose, Born: January 31, 1951.
She was a regular on the short-lived television series Ferris Bueller which was a TV remake of the famous film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
She also had major recurring roles on Picket Fences as Lydia Brock, as Barbara Norton on Grace Under Fire, and on Providence as Cynthia Blake. She also had recurring roles on Ellen as Susan, and on Charmed as Claire Pryce.
She played the role of Gi’ral in the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episodes “Birthright, Part I” and “Birthright, Part II” in 1993.
She has had guest roles in various shows, including 7th Heaven, Life Goes On, Friends, Days of Our Lives, Passions, Party of Five, The Wonder Years, Matlock, Malcolm in the Middle, Ally McBeal, Murder, She Wrote, Boston Legal, Diagnosis: Murder, Nash Bridges, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Practice, L.A. Law, Chicago Hope, Crossing Jordan, ER, St. Elsewhere, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gilmore Girls, Kate & Allie, Murphy Brown, Newhart, Growing Pains, How I Met Your Mother, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Clueless, Dharma and Greg, Life with Bonnie, The Nanny, The Jamie Foxx Show, The King of Queens, Two and a Half Men, Big Love, The Mentalist, Six Feet Under, and Charmed.
From 2006 to 2010, she played Angela Petrelli on the NBC series Heroes. In 2008, her role went from recurring to series regular. She reprised her role in 2015 miniseries Heroes Reborn. As for her roles in movies as of 2009, she had a small role in the movie He’s Just Not That into You and was one of the main supporting characters on the Disney Channel television movie Go Figure.
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01-30 Happy birthday to Abdullah II, Born: January 30, 1962.
Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein has been King of Jordan since 1999 upon the death of his father King Hussein. Abdullah is considered to be the 41st generation direct descendant of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, through his belonging to the ancient Hashemite family, which has ruled Jordan since 1921.
An acknowledged fan of Star Trek, King Abdullah (then a prince) appeared as an uncredited extra in the 1996 Star Trek: Voyager episode “Investigations”. Voyager executive producer Jeri Taylor commented, “Take away the title and the trappings, and at the core you have a Star Trek fan.” (Star Trek Monthly issue 16)
Abdullah’s cameo was arranged as a surprise for him by his US advisor. The prince – who, at the time of his cameo, was thirty-four years old.
He appears in the episode’s opening scene as a science officer who speaks with Harry Kim as the scene fades in.
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01-30 Happy birthday to Sheldon Collins, Born: January 30, 1955.
Sheldon Collins (born Sheldon S. Golomb) portrayed a tough kid in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “A Piece of the Action”. He filmed his scenes on Tuesday 7 November 1967 on location at Paramount Pictures’ “Boston Street” backlot.
He had a recurring role as Arnold Bailey on the television series The Andy Griffith Show and appeared in the 1966 film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, co-starring fellow Trek alumni Brian Keith, Theodore Bikel, Andrea Dromm, Guy Raymond, and Michael J. Pollard.
He also appeared in an episode of The Time Tunnel, where he played the young version of James Darren’s character.
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01-30 Happy birthday to Daphne Ashbrook, Born: January 30, 1963.
Daphne Lee Ashbrook is the actor who played Melora Pazlar in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Melora”. She is perhaps better known as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Dr. Grace Holloway in the 1996 television film Doctor Who. She prepared for the role of Melora Pazlar by taking a wheelchair to a local shopping mall. Commenting on the experience, she said, “Everything’s an obstacle and also nobody looks at you. I think because people are uncomfortable and they don’t know what to do.”
Ashbrook is one of the few actors to have speaking roles in both the Star Trek and Doctor Who franchises, appearing the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie. Until 2011, she was the only woman to do so.
Prior to Deep Space Nine, Ashbrook had guest roles in the television series Knight Rider, Fame, The A Team (with Dwight Schultz), and Murder, She Wrote. After playing Melora, she appeared in two episodes of Sisters and one episode of Diagnosis Murder. She also portrayed different characters in two further episodes of Murder, She Wrote, with Casey Biggs, John Rhys-Davies and Rosalind Chao. Between 1995 and 1998, Ashbrook had a recurring role as Annie Pendry on the long running series JAG, appearing alongside Norman Large, Steven Culp, Paul Collins and Gregory Itzin. She later starred in Profiler, Cupid and Judging Amy, before gaining the recurring role of Dawn Atwood in The OC (working with Melinda Clarke and again, Rosalind Chao). In 2005, Ashbrook starred in Crossing Jordan and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (with Jessica Collins), before going on to appear in Cold Case, Ghost Whisperer and Without a Trace. Her most recent television appearances are that of Jodi Morris in the 2010 Law & Order: Los Angeles episode “Playa Vista”, and Donna Peyton in the NCIS episode “Out of the Frying Pan…”
Ashbrook has also appeared in numerous television movies including Brothers-in-Law (1985), That Secret Sunday (1986), Carly’s Web (1987) and 14 Going on 30 (1988, with Richard McGonagle and Judith Jones), before going onto appear alongside future Deep Space Nine actors Rene Auberjonois and Andrew Robinson in the movies Longarm (1988) and Rock Hudson (1990) respecively. She later starred in Daughters of Privilege (1991, with Kate Vernon), Intruders (1992, again with Rosalind Chao), Dead Man’s Revenge (1994) and The Love Letter (1998).
Asbrook’s big screen debut came in 1984, when she was cast as Phoebe Willis in the cheerleading comedy film Gimme an ‘F’. Since then, she has starred in the movies Quiet Cool (1986), Sunset Heat (1992, with Tony Todd), Automatic (1995), Dumbarton Bridge (1999) and Delia’s Song (2000). Her latest film role, albeit a minor one, was in the 2009 movie The Lodger.
Aside from her acting career, Ashbrook also enjoys singing, citing “music runs thru the viens [sic] of my family like theatre does.” In November 2010, she released her first album entitled Grace Notes, featuring covers of her favorite songs by Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin, among others. The album was produced by her long-time partner and musician, David Vito Gregoli.
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