Famous Birthdays on July 4

Jeremy Cedric Spencer is a British musician, best known for playing slide guitar and piano in the original line-up of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. A member since Fleetwood Mac's inception in July 1967, he remained with the band until his abrupt departure in February 1971, when he joined the Children of God, a religious organisation now known as The Family International, with which he is still affiliated. After a pair of solo albums in the 1970s, he continued to tour as a musician, but did not release another album until 2006. He released further solo albums from 2012 onwards and has also recorded as part of the folk trio Steetley. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Joshua Treadwell McCown is an American professional football coach and former quarterback. He is the offensive passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). McCown played three seasons of college football for the SMU Mustangs, throwing for 27 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. He then transferred to play his final season of college football for the Sam Houston State Bearkats. In his only season with the Bearkats, he threw for 3,481 yards, 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, earning Southland Football League Player of the Year and third-team Division I-AA All-American honors. McCown was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the third round of the 2002 NFL draft. McCown was in the NFL for eighteen seasons and was a member of twelve different franchises. He also played one year in the United Football League (UFL).

Pamela Howard Shriver is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and world No. 1 in doubles. During the 1980s and 1990s, Shriver won 133 WTA Tour-level titles: 21 in singles and 112 in doubles. This includes 22 major titles, 21 in women's doubles and one in mixed doubles, as well as an Olympic gold medal in women's doubles at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, partnering Zina Garrison. Shriver and regular doubles partner Martina Navratilova are the only women's pair to complete the Grand Slam in a calendar year, winning all four majors in 1984.

Mitchell William Miller was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor and artists and repertoire (A&R) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A&R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as a player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings. His albums were #1 for 22 weeks in Canada between 1959 and 1962.

Ömer Faruk Aşık is a Turkish former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and other leagues. Aşık, standing at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), was sought after by many of the top Euroleague basketball teams at the age of 19. Aşık got his first chance playing professionally with the Turkish Basketball League team Fenerbahçe in 2005–06. After one season with Alpella, Aşık moved back to Fenerbahçe and eventually ended his Turkish club career with them in 2009–10. He gained recognition playing for the Turkey national team at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, and as the starting center, he helped Turkey win the silver medal. In July 2010, Aşık signed with the Chicago Bulls. He was nicknamed "The Turkish Hammer" and "Asik the Destroyer" by Bulls commentator Stacey King.

Emerson Boozer is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a running back for the New York Jets in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). In the last year of separate drafts by the AFL and the NFL, Boozer signed with the AFL's Jets, rather than with an NFL team. He was a member of the Jets team that defeated the NFL's champion Baltimore Colts, 16–7, in Super Bowl III. Before joining the AFL, Boozer played college football at Maryland State College, which is now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).

Michael Owen Johnson is a former footballer who played as a defender, primarily at centre back, although he also played left-back when called upon. He is a current England U18s coach and club ambassador of Derby County. He made more than 550 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, including more than 250 games for Birmingham City and more than 100 each for Notts County, the club where he began his professional career, and for Derby County. Johnson was born in Nottingham, England, and played 13 times for the Jamaica national team, for which he qualified by descent. He retired as a player at the end of the 2008–09 season, and took up the post of youth team manager with Notts County. Michael can also be found coaching with the Campioni Soccer Academy at family holiday resorts during the summer months, coaching and mentoring children whilst they holiday with their parents.

Victor Babeș was a Romanian physician, bacteriologist, academician and professor. One of the founders of modern microbiology, Victor Babeș is the author of one of the first treatises of bacteriology in the world – Bacteria and their role in pathological anatomy and histology of infectious diseases, written in collaboration with French scientist Victor André Cornil in 1885. In 1888, Babeș underlined the principle of passive immunity, and a few years later he enunciated the principle of antibiosis. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. He also discovered more than 50 unknown germs and foresaw new methods of staining bacteria and fungi. Victor Babeș introduced rabies vaccination and founded serotherapy in Romania.

Giuseppe Bertone, also called "Nuccio", was an automobile designer and constructor. He took over Carrozzeria Bertone from his father, Giovanni after World War II, growing the small business to a car building and designing powerhouse. After racing Fiat, O.S.C.A., Maserati, and Ferrari, Bertone moved to construction, agreeing to build his first car, a series of 200 MGs, at the 1952 Turin Motor Show. He drew attention at the Paris Motor Show that year with an Abarth concept, and was chosen to design the replacement for the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante. These so-called BAT cars used the Alfa Romeo 1900 Sprint chassis. Bertone is also responsible for designing the famous Lambretta GP/DL range of scooters and the Luna line of scooters.

Shen Dehong, best known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, and literary and cultural critic. He was highly celebrated for his realist novels, including Midnight, which depicts life in cosmopolitan Shanghai. Mao was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party and participated in a number of left-wing cultural movements during the 1920s and 1930s. He was the editor-in-chief of Fiction Monthly and helped lead the League of Left-Wing Writers. He formed a strong friendship with fellow left-wing Chinese author Lu Xun. From 1949 to 1965, Mao served as the first Minister of Culture in the People's Republic of China.

Harold Clifton Lanier is an American former infielder, coach and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Known as a brainy, defense-first player, he won National League Manager of the Year as a rookie manager for leading the Astros to the National League West division championship in 1986. From November 2014 through the end of his 2018 contract, Lanier served as the first manager of the Ottawa Champions of the independent Can-Am League. From 1964 through 1973, Lanier played for the San Francisco Giants (1964–71) and New York Yankees (1972–73). He is the son of Max Lanier, a former MLB All-Star pitcher.

Keiko Ihara is a Japanese auto racing driver and businesswoman. She was a former race queen, a model who appears in a swimsuit or other fashionable apparel at race circuits, before deciding to become a racing driver. She is one of the few Japanese women nationals to race internationally at a high level. Her best finishes in the British Formula Three Championship are two eighth places finishes in 2005, which helped her to a final championship standing position of 16th with 12 points. In the 2006 series, she finished in 17th and last position in the Championship Class, with four points.

James Louis Beattie is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners from 1978 to 1986. He also served as the Montreal Expos' general manager from 1995 to 2001, and was the Baltimore Orioles' general manager with Mike Flanagan from 2003 to 2005. As of 2010, Beattie served as a professional scout in the Toronto Blue Jays organization through the 2018 season. Beattie retired from his decades-long career in MLB at the end of the 2018 season. Beattie starred in baseball and basketball at South Portland High School in South Portland, Maine.

George Lloyd Murphy was an American actor and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1944 to 1946, and was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1951. Murphy served from 1965 to 1971 as U.S. Senator from California, the first notable American actor to be elected to statewide office in California, predating Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who each served two terms as governor. He is the only United States senator represented by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Floyd Douglas Little was an American professional football player who was a halfback for the Denver Broncos, initially in the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Syracuse Orangemen, twice earning All-American honors. Little was the sixth overall selection of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft, the first common draft. He was the first first-round draft pick to sign with the AFL's Broncos, where he was known as "the Franchise". Little was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Gloria Frances Stuart was an American actress, visual artist and activist. She was known for her roles in pre-code films, and garnered renewed fame late in life for her portrayal of Rose Dawson Calvert in James Cameron's epic romance Titanic (1997), one of the highest-grossing films of all time. Her performance in the film won her a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role and earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.

Jan Ellegaard Magnussen is a Danish professional racing driver and was a factory driver for General Motors until the end of the 2020 season. He has competed in Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), NASCAR, the FIA Formula One World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the Corvette Racing team, Magnussen won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in class on four occasions, in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009, as well as the IMSA Sportscar Championship twice in 2017 and 2018. He also won the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona in the GTLM class.

La'Roi Damon Glover is an American professional football coach and former player who is the defensive line coach for the Orlando Storm of the United Football League (UFL). He played as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). Glover played college football for the San Diego State Aztecs. He enjoyed a 13-year career in which he made six-consecutive Pro Bowls and was a four-time All-Pro selection. He spent five seasons with the New Orleans Saints (1997–2001), four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys (2002–2005) and finished his playing career with the St. Louis Rams (2006–2008).

Timmie Rogers was an American comedian, singer-songwriter, bandleader and actor who appeared on many national TV shows in the 1960s and 1970s. Rogers was one of the first Black comedians allowed to directly address a white audience when he worked. Before Rogers, African-American funny men had to either work in pairs or groups, only conversing with each other, and they had to play a character, while popular white comedians, such as Bob Hope and Jack Benny got to play themselves. Rogers worked by himself, always dressed well, often wearing a tuxedo, and never wore blackface.