Thursday, July 3, 2003 | 8:48 a.m.
The birthdays of the famous fill calendars and websites. But it takes a special someone to blow out the birthday candles on the Fourth of July.
After researching the subjects on the Internet, here's a look at 20 notables born on the Fourth of July in chronological order: Who they are, what they did to become well known and their patriotic ranking, from 0-5 done in American Flags, of course.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
1804-1864, author
A novelist and short-story writer, Hawthorne was a central figure in the American Renaissance, which also included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville. Among his best-known works are "The Scarlet Letter" (1851), which dealt with Puritan oppression and spiritual intolerance; and "The House of the Seven Gables" (1851), which was based on a supposed curse placed on his family during the Salem witchcraft trials.
Patriot rating: With a willingness to thrust a condemning finger at our nation's repressive origins, Hawthorne earns his U.S. stripes.
Stephen Foster
1826-1864, composer
During a productive career, Foster penned "Oh! Susanna," "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Swanee River" and "Camptown Races." Sadly, he died impoverished and was interred in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.
Patriot rating: Would "Looney Tunes" have been the same without Foster's contributions? Hardly.
Calvin Coolidge
1872-1933, 30th U.S. president
The son of a village storekeeper, Coolidge is perhaps best known for what he chose not to do. In his inaugural speech, he proclaimed that the nation had achieved "a state of contentment seldom before seen." He pledged to maintain the status quo a promise he kept. While president, he twice vetoed farm-relief bills and nixed a plan to produce cheap federal electric power on the Tennessee River. His hands-off approach must have worked a few months after he left office, the United States sank into the Great Depression.
Patriot rating: Being elected president of the United States is worth at least four flags; however, accomplishing nothing while in office negates three of those.
Rube Goldberg
1883-1970, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, sculptor, author Goldberg went to college to become an engineer, but he spent a lifetime working as an artist. A founding member of the National Cartoonists Society, Goldberg is best remembered for his "inventions,"cartoons that displayed man's capacity for exerting maximum force for minimal gain. His name has since become synonymous with any overly complicated device, scheme, program or set of rules, e.g., "a Rube Goldberg tax structure."
Patriot rating: He spawned a colloquialism and won a Pulitzer. A resume doesn't get much better.
Louis B. Mayer
1885-1957, legendary movie producer
Born Eliezer (Lazar) Mayer in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus), the one-time most powerful man in Hollywood began his career as a junk dealer. He later bought a small theater in Haverhill, Mass., which led to his owning the largest theater chain in New England. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and formed his own production company that, after a series of mergers, became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1924. Mayer served as MGM production chief from 1924-1951, overseeing some of the screen's biggest stars: Clark Gable, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland and Greta Garbo, whom Mayer discovered.
Patriot rating: Mayer almost single-handedly defined the term "movie mogul" and was known to stretch and manipulate the rules to his gain. Then again, he did give us "The Wizard of Oz."
Irving Caesar
1895-1996, lyricist
Caesar was a Tin Pan Alley lyricist famed for his ability to compose songs in a matter of minutes. During his career he published more than 1,000 songs, "Tea for Two," "Swanee," "Is it True What They Say About Dixie?" and "Just a Gigolo" among them. Caesar also collaborated with the likes of George Gershwin and George M. Cohan, and was a charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Patriot rating: It's difficult to read "Tea for Two" and "Just a Gigolo" and not hear those songs in your head.
Gloria Stuart
1910, actress
When the promise of a famed movie career never materialized, Stuart all but retired from acting in the mid-'40s to raise a family. Thirty years later she returned to her craft, first in a made-for-TV movie and later in bit roles in several films, including "My Favorite Year" and "Wildcats." It wasn't until 1997's "Titanic," though, that she got the role of a lifetime and, at 87, became the oldest person ever nominated for an Oscar. She also appeared in a music video, "River," for boy band Hanson, and was selected to People magazine's list of 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1998.
Patriot rating: She received an Oscar nomination and was named to the 50 Most Beautiful list. Then again, she also worked with former teen heartthrobs Hanson.
Ann Landers
1918-2002, advice columnist
Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer, known professionally as Ann Landers, was the the first twin born -- 18 minutes ahead of Pauline Esther Friedman of Dear Abby fame. Lederer was also the first sister with an advice column, replacing another advice columnist named Ann Landers at the Chicago Sun-Times in October 1955. She eventually became the most widely syndicated columnist in the world, with 90 million readers in more than 1,200 publications around the globe. Lederer died of cancer on June 22, 2002. Her final column was published July 27.
Patriot rating: There's no need to ask for advice on this ranking ... the original is almost always the best.
Abigail Van Buren
1918, advice columnist
Friedman had never written professionally until 1956, when she contacted the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle and said that she could write a better advice column than the one running in that paper. Using the name Abigail Van Buren and answering to "Dear Abby," Friedman's column became one of the more popular syndicated columns in the world. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Friedman recently retired from writing her column. Her daughter, Jeanne, continues in the role of Dear Abby.
Patriot rating: Good, but accept no substitutes.
Leona Helmsley
1920, New York real-estate mogul
Born Leona Mindy Rosenthal, Helmsley worked as a model for years before she took a job as a receptionist at a major New York real estate firm. After rising through the ranks, she left and formed her own successful real estate firm. In 1970 she began working for real estate mogul Harry Helmsley. Two years later they were married, and in 1980 she was named president of Helmsley Hotels Inc. Her ruthless and cutthroat reputation eventually earned her the media moniker, "The Queen of Mean." In 1988 she was tried and convicted for tax evasion. It was during the hearings that a former housekeeper quoted Helmsley as saying: "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes." Helmsley was convicted of failure to pay taxes and served 21 months of a four-year sentence. Her husband died in 1997 and Helmsley, already one of the richest woman in the United States, c ontinues to manage his real-estate empire.
Patriot rating: Sure, the designer-rags-to-real-estate-riches story is a warped version of the American dream. But not living up to your obligation to pay taxes is as un-American as it gets. No flags.
Eva Marie Saint
1924, actress
Saint began her film career at the pinnacle: winning an Oscar for her portrayal as Marlon Brando's girlfriend in "On the Waterfront." She later appeared opposite Cary Grant in "North by Northwest" and Paul Newman in "Exodus." After a 14-year absence Saint returned to the big screen in "Nothing in Common," playing Tom Hanks' mother and the ex-wife of Jackie Gleason. She has also appeared on the comedy-romance detective series, "Moonlighting," as Cybill Shepherd's mother, and won a Best Supporting Actress Emmy for her work on "People Like Us" in 1990.
Patriot rating: Saint's resume includes two of the greatest films of all time: "On the Waterfront" and "North by Northwest." She's also the only Oscar winner born on the Fourth of July.
Gina Lollobrigida
1927, actress
The daughter of a furniture manufacturer, Lollobrigida was born in Subiaco, Italy. She began her film career in 1946 with several Italian films before she came to Hollywood, where she had her breakout movie role in 1953 in John Huston's "Beat the Devil." As Lollobrigida's popularity increased she became regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the world. By 1970 the actress opted to leave Hollywood behind as she concentrated on her other passion, photography. In 1984 she first appeared on U.S. television in the prime-time soap, "Falcon Crest." Three years later she ran unsuccessfully for one of Italy's European Parliament seats.
Patriot rating: Poor immigrants to the United States finding prosperity is the American dream. While Lollobrigida had already experienced limited screen success in her native Italy, it was the Hollywood dream machine that catapulted her to screen stardom and as a face for the ages.
Neil Simon
1927, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, author
Marvin Neil Simon got his start writing for Sid Caesar on "Your Show of Shows" in the '50s. While working for the gag show, some of Simon's writing partners included Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and Carl Reiner. His first play, "Come Blow Your Horn," was a Broadway hit in 1961 and was adapted to the big screen two years later. Thus began a string of stage, screen (both big and small) hits for Simon, including: "Barefoot in the Park," "Sweet Charity," "The Odd Couple," "The Sunshine Boys," "California Suite," "The Out-of-Towners," "The Goodbye Girl," "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues." In 1991 he won the Pulitzer for "Lost in Yonkers."
Patriot rating: "Max Dugan Returns," "The Slugger's Wife," "The Odd Couple II" ... OK, so nobody's perfect. But you can't dismiss Simon's unparalleled success -- or the many great laughs he's provided as, arguably, America's finest comedic playwright.
Al Davis
1929, owner, former coach, Oakland Raiders
Davis began his career as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles/San Diego Chargers in the early '60s. He took over as general manager-coach of the Oakland Raiders in 1963. In his first year with the Raiders, the squad went 10-4 and Davis was named Coach of the Year by AP, UPI, Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News. In 1966, at 36, he became Commissioner of the American Football League and is regarded as the guiding force behind the AFL and NFL merger. As principal owner and chief executive of the Raiders, Davis has won three Super Bowls and earned a reputation as being both difficult and stubborn. The maverick owner was the first to arbitrarily move his football franchise -- transplanting the Oakland Raiders to Los Angeles in 1982 and then back to Oakland in 1995 -- defying fellow NFL owners and winning a lawsuit in the process.
Patriot rating: Love him or hate him, the NFL's outlaw has had a tremendous impact on the Oakland/Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders and on America's national pastime. Forget the Super Bowl loss (and his apparent mistake to release former head coach Jon Gruden to Tampa Bay), Davis is still one NFL troublemaker many fans of lackluster teams would love to deal with.
George Steinbrenner
1930, owner New York Yankees
Steinbrenner began work as an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue before becoming owner and chief operating officer of the American Shipbuilding Co. In 1973 an investor group Steinbrenner assembled bought the Yankees, and he took over as principal owner, despite the fact he knew little about baseball. How quickly that changed. The mercurial owner has replaced 21 managers and 11 general managers in 30 years. Of course, he's also won nine pennants and six World Series. In 1990 Steinbrenner was ordered by then-baseball commissioner Faye Vincent to surrender control of the Yankees for two years because of his dealings with a small-time gambler. In 1993, though, he returned to his beloved team. As Steinbrenner once said: "Owning the New York Yankees is like owning the Mona Lisa."
Patriot rating: Similar to Raiders' fans and Davis, Yankees' faithful have a love-hate relationship with Steinbrenner, himself brilliantly parodied as a doltish lout on "Seinfeld." And much like Davis, whose simple motto is "Just win, baby," Steinbrenner is the envy of beleaguered baseball fans.
Geraldo Rivera
1943, lawyer-turned-TV journalist
Rivera was discovered while serving as an attorney for the New York Puerto Rican activist group, the Young Lords. After interviewing Rivera, a New York TV affiliate hired him to serve as a reporter. He then gained national prominence after an investigative special on abuse at New York's Willowbrook State School for the mentally ill. He then left for ABC's "Good Morning America," and in 1978 joined the network's prime-time news program, "20/20." In 1985 he was fired after criticizing ABC for failure to air his report on an alleged relationship between JFK and Marilyn Monroe. A year later came the infamous "The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault" special, a highly hyped two-hour unveiling that yielded nothing but a few old gin bottles. And in 1987 he launched his controversial talk show, "Geraldo," a parade of titillation and human oddities that's credited for hel ping birth "Trash TV," as Newsweek dubbed it. In 1993 Rivera became a serious journalist again with a nightly news show on ! CNBC, "Rivera Live." He joined the Fox News Channel as a war correspondent in November 2001; however, he was briefly removed from his embed during the Iraq War after revealing troop movement.
Patriot rating: Cheesy moustache ... free; prime-time network special ... $1 million plus. Becoming a national joke as you open an empty vault in front of millions ... priceless.
Ron Kovic
1946, activist, author "Born on the Fourth of July"
Kovic joined the marines in 1964 because he "wanted to be a hero." He went to Vietnam to fulfill that dream. After his spinal cord was shattered during combat, paralyzing him from the waist down, Kovic's ideas of heroism and patriotism remained on the battlefield. Returning to the United States mentally and physically wounded, Kovic was with hostilities and indifference. After years of pent-up anger and depression, Kovic turned his life around and became an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War. His life was later chronicled in his autobiography, "Born on the Fourth of July," and then in Oliver Stone's 1989 film based on the book, with Tom Cruise as Kovic.
Patriot rating: This ultimate patriot sacrificed body and mind for a war he later came to believe was unjust.
Morganna Roberts
1947, baseball's "Kissing Bandit"
It's more difficult to say whether Roberts is best known for her on-the-field antics of planting a kiss on unsuspecting Big Leaguers during games, or that she's a natural 60-23-39. ("Those are my baseball stats," she once joked.) Roberts first jogged onto a baseball field on a dare from a friend. It was during a 1971 Cincinnati Reds game and she cornered and kissed the temperamental Pete Rose, who was none too pleased with the surprise encounter. Over the years Roberts kissed many baseball stars, including Cal Ripken, Steve Garvey, Johnny Bench and Nolan Ryan, along with other athletes and celebrities. After her celebrity began to diminish -- Roberts was now reduced to chasing after minor leaguers -- the Kissing Bandit, as a Cincinnati sportswriter had dubbed her, retired on Jan. 1, 2000.
Patriot rating: Similar to Barbie, Roberts became famous for being blonde and buxom -- not to mention a little bit daring. As comedian Yakov Smirnoff cracks: "What a country!"
Pam Shriver
1962, former tennis star
While perhaps not quite as successful as her contemporaries Chris Everett and Matrina Navratilova, at one point Shriver was ranked third in the American Tennis Professionals singles rankings, winning 21 singles titles overall. But it's her performance on the doubles circuit for which she's best known. Shriver won 22 Grand Slam doubles titles, many with Navratilova, and took gold in the 1988 Olympics with partner Zena Garrison. Inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame on July 14, Shriver serves as a tennis analyst for ESPN and the BBC.
Patriot rating: When asked by ESPN The Magazine what being born on July 4 meant to her, she replied: "It makes me more patriotic and more aware of how our country came to be. I think people born on the Fourth feel a little more connection with the country." Indeed.
Mark Slaughter
1964, lead singer, guitarist for metal band Slaughter
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Slaughter was always musically inclined, performing on the "Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon" in his early teens. After performing in other groups, Vinnie Vincent Invasion being the most notable, in 1989 he put together a metal band of his own: the self-named Slaughter. A year later the group had a multiplatinum hit with its debut disc, "Stick it to Ya," which featured the singles, "Up All Night" and "Fly to the Angels." The band's second album, "Wildlife," also sold well. Then alternative/grunge music came to the forefront, however, and hair metal bands such as Slaughter found platinum sales hard to come by. More recently the group has played as part of a hard-rock ensemble tour, such as 2001's Voices of Metal Tour, which featured the likes of Vince Neil of Motley Crue, Vixen and Ratt.
Patriot rating: If this was 1991 Slaughter (the singer) would fare much better. Still, you have to respect the perseverance of a guy whose day came and went with spandex. Rock on.
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