What happened on December 19 ?

1554 - Philip William, Prince of Orange (d. 1618)

1683 - King Philip V of Spain (d. 1746)

1699 - William Bowyer, English printer (d. 1777)

1714 - John Winthrop, American astronomer (d. 1779)

1778 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte, eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI of France (d. 1851)

1813 - Thomas Andrews, Irish chemist (d. 1885)

1852 - Albert Abraham Michelson, Prussian-born American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)

1865 - Minnie Maddern Fiske, American actress (d. 1932)

1885 - Joe "King" Oliver, American jazz musician (d. 1938)

1888 - Fritz Reiner, Austro-Hungarian-born American conductor (d. 1963)

1894 - Ford Frick, American baseball commissioner (d. 1978)

1901 - Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)

1902 - Sir Ralph Richardson, British actor (d. 1983)

1903 - George Davis Snell, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)

1906 - Leonid Brezhnev, Russian-born leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)

1907 - Jimmy McLarnin, Northern Irish-born boxer and World Welterweight Champion (d. 2004)

1910 - Jean Genet, French writer (d. 1986)

1915 - ÿdith Piaf, French singer and actress (d. 1963)

1918 - Professor Longhair (Henry Roeland Byrd), American blues musician (d. 1980)

1920 - David Susskind, American TV talk show host (d. 1987)

1923 - Gordon Jackson, British actor (d. 1990)

1925 - Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter

1925 - Tankred Dorst, German dramatist

1927 - James Booth (David Geeves), British actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)

1929 - Bob Brookmeyer, American jazz musician

1933 - Cicely Tyson, American actress

1934 - Al Kaline, baseball player

1934 - Rudi Carrell, Dutch singer

1935 - Bobby Timmons, American jazz pianist (d. 1974)

1940 - Phil Ochs, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 1976)

1941 - Maurice White, American singer and songwriter (Earth, Wind & Fire)

1944 - Richard Leakey, British anthropologist

1944 - Mitchell Feigenbaum, American mathematical physicist

1944 - Alvin Lee (Graham Barnes), British singer and guitarist (Ten Years After)

1944 - Zal Yanovsky, Canadian guitarist and singer (The Lovin' Spoonful)

1946 - Stan Smith, American tennis player

1946 - Robert Urich, American actor (d. 2002)

1949 - Sebastian, Danish musician

1957 - Kevin McHale, American profesional basketball player

1957 - John Gulager, American film director

1958 - Limahl (Christopher Hamill), British singer (Kajagoogoo)

1960 - Mike Lookinland, American actor

1961 - Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate

1961 - Matthew Waterhouse, British actor

1961 - Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004)

1964 - Arvydas Sabonis, Soviet-born Lithuanian basketball player and Olympic gold medalist

1965 - Chito Martinez, Belizean baseball player

1966 - Eric Weinrich, American ice hockey player

1969 - Kristy Swanson, American actress

1969 - Richard Hammond, Top Gear and Brainiac: Science Abuse Presenter

1970 - Tyson Beckford, American male supermodel

1971 - Tiffany Towers, Canadian adult film actress

1972 - Alyssa Milano, American actress

1972 - Warren Sapp, American football player

1974 - Jake Plummer, American football player

1974 - Ricky Ponting, Australian test cricketer

1975 - Olivier Tebily, Ivorian international footballer

1980 - Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor

1980 - Marla Sokoloff, American actress

1983 - Kahlen Rondot, American model

1988 - Paulina Gretzky, American actress; daughter of Wayne Gretzky