Hell

Former Japanese PM Naoto Kan is 77 today.

American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer Orson Welles died on this day 38 years ago, aged 70. His first film was Citizen Kane (1941), which he co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in as the title character, Charles Foster Kane. It has been consistently ranked as one of the greatest films ever made. He directed twelve other features, the most acclaimed of which include The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Stranger (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), The Trial (1962), Chimes at Midnight (1966) and F for Fake (1973). Welles also starred in films such as Jane Eyre (1943), The Third Man (1949), and A Man for All Seasons (1966).

Guillermo del Toro is 59 today.

American Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist Che Guevara died on this day 56 years ago, aged 39. He is a major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.

R. L. Stine is 80 today.

14th President of the United States Franklin Pierce died on this day 154 years ago, aged 64. He served as president from 1853 to 1857. He is a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity, he alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act. Conflict between North and South continued after Pierce's presidency, and, after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, the Southern states seceded, resulting in the American Civil War.

Vladimir Putin is 71 today.

American writer, poet, author, editor, and literary critic Edgar Allan Poe died on this day 174 years ago, aged 40. He is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He is the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

Robert Kuok is 100 today.

American actress Bette Davis died on this day 34 years ago, aged 81. After appearing on stage in New York for a short period, Davis moved to Hollywood in 1930. After some unsuccessful films, she had her critical breakthrough playing a vulgar waitress in Of Human Bondage (1934), although, contentiously, she was not among the three nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actress that year. The next year, Davis received her first Best Actress nomination, and she won for her performance in Dangerous (1935). In 1937, she starred in Marked Woman, a film regarded as one of the most important in her early career. Davis's portrayal of a strong-willed 1850s southern belle in Jezebel (1938) won her a second Academy Award for Best Actress, and was the first of five consecutive years in which she received a Best Actress nomination; the others were for Dark Victory (1939), The Letter (1940), The Little Foxes (1941), and Now, Voyager (1942).

Imran Khan is 71 today.

American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer Rodney Dangerfield died on this day 19 years ago, aged 82. He appeared in a few bit parts in films, such as The Projectionist, throughout the 1970s, but his breakout film role came in 1980 as a boorish nouveau riche golfer in the ensemble comedy Caddyshack, which was followed by two additional successful films in which he starred: 1983's Easy Money and 1986's Back to School. Additional film work kept him busy through the rest of his life, mostly in comedies, but with a rare dramatic role in 1994's Natural Born Killers as an abusive father. Health troubles curtailed his output through the early 2000s before his death in 2004, following a month in a coma due to complications from heart valve surgery.

Leroy Van Dyke is 94 today.

American singer and songwriter Janis Joplin died on this day 53 years ago, aged 27. In 1967, Joplin rose to prominence following an appearance at Monterey Pop Festival, where she was the lead singer of the then little-known San Francisco psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. After releasing two albums with the band, she left Big Brother to continue as a solo artist with her own backing groups, first the Kozmic Blues Band and then the Full Tilt Boogie Band. She appeared at the 1969 Woodstock festival and on the Festival Express train tour. Five singles by Joplin reached the US Billboard Hot 100, including a cover of the Kris Kristofferson song "Me and Bobby McGee", which posthumously reached number one in March 1971. Her most popular songs include her cover versions of "Piece of My Heart", "Cry Baby", "Down on Me", "Ball and Chain", "Summertime", and her original song "Mercedes Benz", her final recording.

Charles Duke is 88 today.

American actress Janet Leigh died on this day 19 years ago, aged 77. Leigh appeared in radio programs before her first formal foray into acting, making her film debut in the drama The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). With MGM, she appeared in many films which spanned a wide variety of genres, which include the crime-drama Act of Violence (1948), the drama Little Women (1949), the comedy Angels in the Outfield (1951), the romance Scaramouche (1952) and the western drama The Naked Spur (1953). She played dramatic roles during the late 1950s, in such films as Safari (1956) and Orson Welles's film noir Touch of Evil (1958). With RKO Radio Pictures she co-starred in the romantic comedy Holiday Affair (1949) with Robert Mitchum.

Sting is 72 today.

American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball owner Gene Autry died on this day 25 years ago, aged 91. He gained fame largely by singing in a crooning style on radio, in films, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was the owner of a television station and several radio stations in Southern California. He was the founding owner of the California Angels franchise of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1961 to 1997.

Julie Andrews is 88 today.

Italian jurist, journalist, and politician Enrico De Nicola died on this day 64 years ago, aged 81. He was the provisional head of state of republican Italy from 1946 to 1948. Afterwards, he became the first president of Italy on 1 January 1948. He was the President of the Senate of the Republic of Italy from 28 April 1951 to 24 June 1952. He was the President of the Chambers of Deputies of Italy from 26 June 1920 to 25 January 1924.

Barbara Knox is 90 today

American attorney and businessman Robert Kardashian died on this day 20 years ago, aged 59. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appear on their family reality television series, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spinoffs.

Pete McCloskey is 96 today.

American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein died on this day 26 years ago, aged 73. He became a leading figure in the new art movement. His most expensive piece is Masterpiece, which was sold for $165 million in January 2017. Whaam! and Drowning Girl and Look Mickey proved to be his most influential works. His work defined the premise of pop art through parody.

Nikolai Ryzhkov is 94 today.