Famous Birthdays on March 26

Leonard Simon Nimoy was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise for over 40 years. This includes originating Spock in the original Star Trek series in 1966, then Star Trek: The Animated Series, the first six Star Trek films, Star Trek: The Next Generation, the 2009 Star Trek film, and Star Trek Into Darkness. Nimoy also directed films, including Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and Three Men and a Baby (1987), and his career included roles in music videos and video games. In addition to acting and filmmaking, Nimoy was a photographer, author, singer, and songwriter.

Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator, noted atheist, and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford. In 1995 he was named the first Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, a position he held until 2008, and is on the advisory board of the University of Austin. Dawkins has won several academic and writing awards, among them the 2005 Shakespeare Prize and the 2006 Lewis Thomas Prize. Presenting the latter, Paul Nurse said "In eloquent, evocative prose, Richard Dawkins conveys the certainty that, rather than diminishing the myriad beauties of the universe and extinguishing wonderment at its mysteries, science reveals truths that are yet more awe-inspiring than the mysteries they solve."

Amy Lysle Smart is an American actress and former model. Her first role in film was in Martin Kunert's anthology horror film Campfire Tales, followed by a minor part in Starship Troopers, directed by Paul Verhoeven. In 1998, Smart played a role in Dee Snider's Strangeland. She garnered widespread recognition after appearing in the mainstream teen drama Varsity Blues (1999), as well as for a recurring role as Ruby on the television series Felicity (1999–2001). Next was a lead role in the college sex comedy Road Trip (2000); she was a co-star in Jerry Zucker's ensemble comedy Rat Race (2001). She had a lead role opposite Ashton Kutcher in the sci-fi drama The Butterfly Effect (2004).

Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. It was one of the first bands to incorporate guttural vocals, up-tempo blast beats, multiple tempo changes and a dark atmosphere. Morbid Angel was also the first death metal band to experience mainstream success in connection with being signed to Giant Records in 1992, heavy rotation of its music videos on MTV, and having the music video for the song "God of Emptiness" shown on an episode of Beavis and Butt-Head. The band's first three albums – Altars of Madness (1989), Blessed Are the Sick (1991), and Covenant (1993) – are considered classics in the death metal genre.

Alfred Edward Housman was an English classical scholar and poet. He showed early promise as a student at the University of Oxford, but he failed the final examination in literae humaniores and took employment as a patent examiner in London in 1882. In his spare time he engaged in textual criticism of classical Greek and Latin texts and his publications as an independent researcher earned him a high academic reputation and appointment as a professor of Latin at University College London in 1892. In 1911 he was appointed Kennedy Professor of Latin in the University of Cambridge. He is regarded as one of the foremost classicists of his age and one of the greatest classical scholars. His editions of Juvenal, Manilius, and Lucan are still considered authoritative.

Palmiro Michele Nicola Togliatti was an Italian politician and statesman who led the Italian Communist Party for nearly forty years, from 1927 until his death. Born into a middle-class family, Togliatti received an education in law at the University of Turin, later served as an officer and was wounded in World War I, and became a tutor. Described as "severe in approach but extremely popular among the Communist base" and "a hero of his time, capable of courageous personal feats", his supporters gave him the nickname il Migliore. In 1930, Togliatti renounced Italian citizenship, and he became a citizen of the Soviet Union; upon his death, a Soviet city was named after him. Considered one of the founding fathers of the Italian Republic, he led Italy's Communist party from a few thousand members in 1943 to two million members in 1946.

Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was an Italian racing driver who participated in 17 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix from 1974 to 1976. Lombardi was the second female driver to qualify for Formula One, after Maria Teresa de Filippis, and is the only female driver who finished within the points in Formula One, having scored half a point in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. Lombardi was also the first woman to qualify and compete in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, and raced in sports cars. She won the 1979 6 Hours of Pergusa, the 1979 6 Hours of Vallelunga and the 1981 6 Hours of Mugello, and finished 2nd in her class at the 1976 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Rufus C. Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm-and-blues, funk, soul and blues singer, songwriter, dancer, DJ and comic entertainer from Memphis, Tennessee. He recorded for several labels, including Chess Records and Sun Records in the 1950s, before becoming established in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records. His dance records, including "Walking the Dog" (1963), "Do the Funky Chicken" (1969), and "(Do the) Push and Pull" (1970), were some of his most successful songs. According to the Mississippi Blues Commission, "Rufus Thomas embodied the spirit of Memphis music perhaps more than any other artist, and from the early 1940s until his death . . . occupied many important roles in the local scene."

Conrad Gessner was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zurich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him through university, where he studied classical languages, theology and medicine. He became Zurich's city physician, but was able to spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography and zoology and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plague at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. He was frequently the first to describe species of plants or animals in Europe, such as the tulip in 1559. A number of plants and animals have been named after him.

Charles de Lorraine, duc de Mayenne was a French noble, governor, military commander and rebel during the latter French Wars of Religion. Born in 1554, the second son of François de Lorraine, duke of Guise and Anne d'Este, Mayenne inherited his fathers' position of Grand Chambellan in 1563 upon his death. He fought at the siege of Poitiers for the crown in 1569, and crusaded against the Ottomans in 1572. He served under the command of the king's brother Anjou during the siege of La Rochelle in the fourth war of religion, during which he was wounded. While the siege progressed, his uncle was killed by a cannonball, and he inherited his position as governor of Bourgogne. That same year, his marquisate of Mayenne was elevated to a duché pairie. He travelled with Anjou when he was elected as king of the Commonwealth and was a member of his court there until early 1574 when he departed on crusade again. Returning to France, he served in the fifth war of religion for Anjou, now king Henri III of France, but his badly underfunded army was unable to seriously impede the Protestant mercenary force under Casimir. He aligned himself with the Catholic Ligue that rose up in opposition to the generous Peace of Monsieur and fought in the sixth war of religion that resulted, serving at the sieges of La Charité-sur-Loire and Issoire. During 1576, he married Henriette de Savoie-Villars, securing a sizable inheritance in the south west, and the title of Admiral on the death of her father in 1578. Mayenne was granted full command of a royal army during the seventh war of religion in 1580, besieging the Protestant stronghold of La Mure successfully, and clearing several holdout towns after the peace. In 1582, he was obliged to surrender his title of Admiral to Joyeuse, a favourite of Henri. The following year, he was involved in an abortive plan to invade England, though it came to nothing due to lack of funds.

Jason Ramond Maxwell is an American former professional baseball player. Primarily an infielder, Maxwell first played in 1998 for the Chicago Cubs. Maxwell played the 2000 and 2001 seasons with the Minnesota Twins. Maxwell attended Marshall County High School in Lewisburg, TN, where he played high school baseball for the Tigers. Maxwell is now the Head Baseball Coach and Athletic Director for Ensworth High School in Nashville, TN. He has also coached several U15 and U18 teams for USA Baseball. Some of his favorite players from the USA development program include Royce Lewis, Anthony Volpe and Dylan Crews. Maxwell recommended that his former club, the Twins, select Lewis with the first overall pick in the 2017 MLB draft.

Rennae Stubbs is an Australian former professional tennis player, coach and television commentator. She was ranked number 1 in the world in doubles, and the winner of 4 major doubles titles and 2 mixed doubles titles as well as 66 WTA doubles titles. She is the host of "The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast". She worked at the Seven Network between 2011 and 2018 as an analyst and is now a full time commentator for ESPN tennis. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. In January 2019, Stubbs received the OLY post-nominal title at the Brisbane International tournament. She is also the longest-serving member of the Australian BJK Cup team.

Matthew Grevers is a former American competition swimmer who competed in the backstroke and freestyle events, and is a six-time Olympic medalist. He has won a total of thirty-three medals in major international competition, fourteen gold, twelve silver, and seven bronze spanning the Olympics, World Championships, and the Universiade. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Grevers won gold medals as a member of the U.S. teams in the 4×100-meter freestyle and 4×100-meter medley relays, and a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke. Four years later, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 4×100-meter medley relay, and a silver medal in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay.

Sandra Day O'Connor was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O'Connor was the first woman to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. A moderate conservative, she was considered a swing vote. Before O'Connor's tenure on the Court, she was an Arizona state judge and earlier an elected legislator in Arizona, serving as the first female majority leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. Upon her nomination to the Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate.

William Blount was an American politician, landowner and Founding Father who was one of the signers of the Constitution of the United States. He was a member of the North Carolina delegation at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and led the efforts for North Carolina to ratify the Constitution in 1789 at the Fayetteville Convention. He then served as the only governor of the Southwest Territory and played a leading role in helping the territory gain admission to the union as the state of Tennessee. He was selected as one of Tennessee's initial United States Senators in 1796, serving until he was expelled for treason in 1797.

William Grawn Milliken was an American businessman and politician who served as the 44th governor of Michigan from 1969 to 1983. A member of the Republican Party, he assumed the governorship following the resignation of George Romney and went on to win three terms in 1970, 1974, and 1978, becoming the longest-serving governor in Michigan history. During this period he dealt with dramatic changes to the state economy, due to industrial restructuring and challenges to the auto industry, resulting in loss of jobs and population from Detroit, the state's largest city. He also oversaw the PBB crisis and adopted a policy of environmental protection and conservation.

Mary Beale (née Cradock) (1633‍–‍1699) was an English painter who specialised in portrait painting. She was part of a small band of female professional artists working in London. Beale became the main financial provider for her family through her professional work – a career she maintained from 1670/71 to the 1690s. Beale was also a writer, whose prose Discourse on Friendship of 1666 presents a scholarly, uniquely female take on the subject. Her 1663 manuscript Observations, on the materials and techniques employed "in her painting of Apricots", though not printed, is the earliest known instructional text in English written by a female painter.

Howard Radclyffe Roberts Jr. was an American entomologist known for his work on grasshoppers. His 1941 University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. dissertation was an early work highlighting the role phallic structures could play in grasshopper taxonomy. While serving in World War II, he and Edward Shearman Ross cowrote The Mosquito Atlas, used by the armed forces to identify malaria-transmitting mosquitos. Roberts worked for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP), serving as its managing director from 1947 to 1972. He described dozens of grasshopper species from North and South America, and also is the eponym of several taxa named in his honor.

Choi Woo-shik is a Canadian actor based in South Korea. He first gained recognition for starring in the film Set Me Free (2014) and the television series Hogu's Love (2015) before coming to international prominence for his roles in the films Train to Busan (2016) and Parasite (2019) both of which were critical and commercial successes with the latter winning the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Picture. He has since starred in the television series Our Beloved Summer (2021–2022) and A Killer Paradox (2024), as well as the films The Policeman's Lineage (2022) and Wonderland (2024).