Famous Birthdays on July 9

Christopher Walton Cooper is an American actor. Having debuted as a stage actor, his television breakthrough was as Sheriff July Johnson in the acclaimed Western television miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989). He has appeared in major Hollywood films, including A Time to Kill (1996), October Sky (1999), American Beauty (1999), The Bourne Identity (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), Capote (2005), Syriana (2005), The Kingdom (2007), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), The Town (2010), The Muppets (2011), Live by Night (2016), Cars 3 (2017), A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), and Little Women (2019). He won the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for Adaptation.

Donald Henry Rumsfeld was an American politician, businessman, naval officer, and diplomat who served as the 13th United States secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again as the 21st secretary of defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He was both the youngest and the oldest secretary of defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a four-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois (1963–1969), director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), counselor to the president (1969–1973), the U.S. Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and the White House chief of staff (1974–1975). Between his terms as secretary of defense, he was the CEO and chairman of several companies.

Frederick Aaron Savage is an American actor and director. He is best known for his role as Kevin Arnold in the American television series The Wonder Years (1988–1993). He has earned several awards and nominations, such as People's Choice Awards and Young Artist Awards. He is also known for playing the Grandson in The Princess Bride, and voiced the title protagonist in Oswald. Savage has worked as a director, and in 2005 later starred in the television sitcom Crumbs. Savage returned to acting in the television series The Grinder, as well as the Netflix series Friends from College. He was fired from a The Wonder Years reboot in 2022 after the revelation of various misconduct allegations.

Dean Ray Koontz is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. Many of his books have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list, with fourteen hardcovers and sixteen paperbacks reaching the number-one position. Koontz wrote under a number of pen names earlier in his career, including "David Axton", "Deanna Dwyer", "K. R. Dwyer", "Leigh Nichols" and "Brian Coffey". He has published over 105 novels and a number of novellas and collections of short stories, and has sold over 500 million copies of his work. He has been acknowledged as "America's most popular suspense novelist" by Rolling Stone and as one of today's most celebrated and successful writers.

Rebecca Sugar is an American animator, storyboard artist, screenwriter, producer, director, and musician. A pioneer of LGBTQ representation in children's television, she is best known for being the creator of the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe, making her the first non-binary person to independently create a series for the network; prior to coming out as non-binary, Sugar was described as the first woman to do so. Prior to the premiere of Steven Universe in 2013, Sugar was a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series Adventure Time. Her work on the two series has earned her seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations in total.

Ferdinand II was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria, who were devout Catholics. In 1590, when Ferdinand was 11 years old, they sent him to study at the Jesuits' college in Ingolstadt because they wanted to isolate him from the Lutheran nobles. A few months later, his father died, and he inherited Inner Austria–Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and smaller provinces. His cousin, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was the head of the Habsburg family, appointed regents to administer these lands.

John Archibald Wheeler was an American theoretical physicist. He was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the United States after World War II. Wheeler also worked with Niels Bohr to explain the basic principles of nuclear fission. Together with Gregory Breit, Wheeler explored positron-electron pair production from the collision of two photons, now known as the Breit–Wheeler process. He is known for popularizing the term "black hole" to describe the gravitationally completely collapsed objects predicted by general relativity. He also coined "quantum foam", "neutron moderator", "wormhole" and "it from bit", and hypothesized the "one-electron universe". Stephen Hawking called Wheeler the "hero of the black hole story".

Samuel Eliot Morison was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years. He won Pulitzer Prizes for Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942), a biography of Christopher Columbus, and John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1959). In 1942, he was commissioned to write a history of United States naval operations in World War II, which was published in 15 volumes between 1947 and 1962. Morison wrote the popular Oxford History of the American People (1965), and co-authored the classic textbook The Growth of the American Republic (1930) with Henry Steele Commager.

Yordan Letchkov Yankov is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. He is generally regarded as one of the best players to come out of Bulgaria and was a key member of the squad which reached the semi-finals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Known to many as "The Magician", Letchkov was a gifted player who could play as a central midfielder or on the left side of midfield, and he was easily recognizable for his baldness. He was best known for his dribbling ability. However, his career was often adversely affected by his moody nature and the numerous arguments and fallings-out he had with fellow players and managers. He was the mayor of his home town for eight years, but was removed from duty due to corruption.

Eduardo Montes-Bradley is a documentary filmmaker born in Córdoba, whose work focuses on biographical, cultural, and historical subjects. He is co-founder of Heritage Film Project and resides in Charlottesville. In addition to his work in film, he is the author of Cortázar sin barba, a literary biography of Julio Cortázar published by Random House Mondadori. His most recent works include The Piccirilli Factor, a film about the Italian-American sculptors, and Black Fiddlers. He is also known for directing Evita (2008), Rita Dove: An American Poet, Harto the Borges, and Daniel Chester French: American Sculptor made possible with the support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Among Montes-Bradley's other documentary works is his biographical film on civil rights leader Julian Bond.

George Ferguson Durand was a Canadian architect. Born in London, Canada West, to a Scottish immigrant, he showed an interest in the arts from a young age. He apprenticed under William Robinson before working with Thomas Fuller on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York. Returning to London by 1878, he joined Robinson, Tracy, & Company as a junior partner, being made partner in 1880; with the departure of Thomas Henry Tracy in 1882, Durand became the lead architect for the firm. He received many commissions in London and throughout Southwestern Ontario, including several from the federal government, and helped establish the Ontario Association of Architects in 1889.

David Braden Frohnmayer was an American attorney, politician, and academic administrator from Oregon. He was the 15th president of the University of Oregon, serving from 1994 to 2009. His tenure as president was the second-longest after John Wesley Johnson. He was the first native Oregonian to run the University of Oregon. Frohnmayer previously served as Oregon Attorney General from 1981 to 1991, and subsequently served as dean at the University of Oregon School of Law before serving as president of the university. He served in an of counsel attorney role with the Oregon law firm, Harrang Long Gary Rudnick P.C.

Alexander William Doniphan was a 19th-century American attorney, soldier and politician from Missouri who is best known today as the man who prevented the summary execution of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at the close of the 1838 Mormon War in that state. He also achieved renown as a leader of American troops during the Mexican–American War, as the author of a legal code that still forms the basis of New Mexico's Bill of Rights, and as a successful defense attorney in the Missouri towns of Liberty, Richmond and Independence.

Saturnino Herrán Guinchard, also known as Saturnino Herrán was a Mexican painter influential to Latin culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. His work is part of the Mexican muralism, and also is considered to be one of the first queer painters in Mexico, as presented on the international exhibition “The First Homosexuals: The Birth of a New Identity, 1869-1939”. His paintings are recognized for addressing pre-Hispanic myths as well as scenes from popular and indigenous classes. Although he only lived 31 years, he created some of the most recognized plastic works of Mexican art.

Sanjeev Kumar was an Indian actor who worked in Hindi and Gujarati cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and finest actors in the history of Indian cinema, Kumar was known for his acting versatility. He acted in a wide variety of genres ranging from romantic drama to thriller. He was voted seventh among the "Greatest Actors of Indian cinema of All Time" in a poll conducted by Rediff.com. His double role in Angoor was listed among the "25 Iconic Performances of Indian cinema" by Forbes India on the occasion of celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema.

Shelton James Benjamin is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler. As of October 2024, he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Hurt Syndicate and a former AEW World Tag Team Champion with stablemate Bobby Lashley. Benjamin is best known for his tenures with WWE, first from 2000 to 2010, and then again from 2017 to 2023. He is also known for his appearances in Ring of Honor (ROH) and in Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah under the ring name Shelton X Benjamin.

Māris Gailis is a Latvian businessman and former politician. He is the former prime minister of Latvia, an office he held from September 1994 to December 1995. In the government of the Prime Minister Valdis Birkavs, Gailis became a Minister of State Reform; in the government of the Prime Minister Andris Šķēle, he was the Minister of Environmental Protection and Regional Development. As a member of the right-wing liberal political party Latvian Way, he was elected in the 5th Saeima and 6th Saeima. He led a round-the-globe expedition on the yacht Milda from 2001 to 2003.

Jimmy L. Smits is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Attorney Victor Sifuentes on the legal drama L.A. Law, NYPD Detective Bobby Simone on the police drama NYPD Blue, Matt Santos on the political drama The West Wing and Bail Organa in the Star Wars franchise. He has also appeared as ADA Miguel Prado in Dexter, Nero Padilla in Sons of Anarchy and Elijah Strait in Bluff City Law, and appeared in the films Switch (1991), My Family (1995), The Jane Austen Book Club (2007), and In the Heights (2021).

Pamela Adlon is an American actress, writer, and director. She is known for voicing Bobby Hill in the animated comedy series King of the Hill, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award. She also voiced Baloo in Jungle Cubs (1996–1998), the title role in the Pajama Sam video game series (1996–2001), Lucky in 101 Dalmatians: The Series (1997–1998), Margaret "Moose" Pearson in Pepper Ann (1997–2001), Ashley Spinelli in Recess (1997–2001), Otto Osworth in Time Squad (2001–2003), Vidia in the Tinker Bell franchise and Brigette Murphy in Milo Murphy's Law (2016–2019), among numerous others.