Martyr Edmund Day in England (Edmund the Martyr also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869, was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death)
1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
1993 – Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
1985 – Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
1977 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
1974 – The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
1969 – Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.
1943 – World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins: United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
1861 – American Civil War: A secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.
1789 – New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at the Palisades and then attack Fort Lee. The Continental Army starts to retreat across New Jersey.
Births
1988 – Max Pacioretty, American ice hockey player. Maximillian Kolenda Pacioretty (born November 20, 1988) is an American professional ice hockey left winger and an alternate captain for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL).
1986 – Ashley Fink, American actress and singer. Ashley Rae Fink (born November 20, 1986) is an American actress and singer, known for her role as Lauren Zizes in the television series Glee, and also as Carter McMahon in Huge.
1984 – Tashard Choice, American football player. Choice (born November 20, 1984) is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Buffalo Bills and the Indianapolis Colts.
1983 – Future, American rapper. The future is the time after the present.
1981 – Carlos Boozer, American basketball player. As a member of Team USA, Boozer won an Olympic bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
1981 – Sam Fuld, American baseball player. Samuel Babson Fuld (born November 20, 1981) is an American former professional baseball outfielder.
1979 – Jacob Pitts, American actor. Marshal Tim Gutterson on the FX television drama Justified (2010–15).
1979 – Joseph Hallman, American composer and academic. He attended Girard College from first to twelfth grades.
1978 – Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model. Velázquez (born November 20, 1978) is an American actress and model known for her roles as Catalina Aruca on My Name Is Earl and Sofia Ruxin on The League.
1977 – Josh Turner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and actor.
1977 – Rudy Charles, American wrestling referee, was the promotion's senior referee. In July 2013, Engler joined WWE at their Performance Center as a referee for NXT.
1975 – Davey Havok, American singer-songwriter. David Paden Marchand (born November 20, 1975), known professionally as Davey Havok, is the lead vocalist of the American rock band AFI, the electronic music band Blaqk Audio, hardcore band XTRMST, new wave band Dreamcar, and in a fictional rock band My Purple Agony from Harvey Girls Forever!.
1975 – Dierks Bentley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's Modern Day Drifter, are certified platinum in the United States.
1975 – J. D. Drew, American baseball player. D." Drew (born November 20, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder.
1975 – Ryan Bowen, American basketball player and coach. Ryan Cleo Bowen (born November 20, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1973 – Angelica Bridges, American actress and singer. She was given a pictorial spread in Playboy magazine's November 2001 issue and featured as the issue's cover model.
1971 – Joel McHale, American comedian, actor, and producer. He has appeared in the films Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011) and Ted (2012).
1971 – Joey Galloway, American football player and sportscaster. Joseph Scott Galloway (born November 20, 1971) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) and current college football analyst with ESPN.
1971 – Marco Oppedisano, American guitarist and composer. Marco Oppedisano (born November 20, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American guitarist and composer whose compositions focus on the innovative use of electric guitar in the genre of electroacoustic music.
1970 – Delia Gonzalez, American boxer. She has a record of 13-9-4 with 3 knockout wins, although several of her losses have been controversial.
1970 – Geoffrey Keezer, American pianist and educator. Geoffrey Keezer (born November 20, 1970) is an American jazz pianist.
1970 – Matt Blunt, American lieutenant and politician, 54th Governor of Missouri. He grew up in a political family and his father Roy Blunt served in a variety of political offices (including as Missouri secretary of state and congressman, and since 2011 in the U.S.
1970 – Sabrina Lloyd, American actress. Sabrina Anne Lloyd (born November 20, 1970) is an American film and television actress.
1969 – Callie Thorne, American actress and producer. She is also known for past work such as her roles on Homicide: Life on the Street as Detective Laura Ballard, a role she held for two seasons, and the movie Homicide: The Movie, as well as for playing Sheila Keefe on Rescue Me and Elena McNulty in The Wire.
1969 – Dabo Swinney, American football player and coach. Swinney took over as head coach at Clemson midway through the 2008 season, following the resignation of Tommy Bowden.
1969 – Meredith Whitney, American financial anaylst. Meredith Ann Whitney (born November 20, 1969) is an American businesswoman hailed as “The Oracle of Wall Street” by Bloomberg.
1968 – Jeff Tarango, American tennis player. He is now the Director of Tennis at the Jack Kramer Club, which is just south of Los Angeles.
1968 – Robin Canup, American astrophysicist and astronomer. She received her B.S. from Duke University and her PhD from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
1966 – Jill Thompson, American author and illustrator. Well known for her work on Neil Gaiman's The Sandman characters and her own Scary Godmother series, she has worked on The Invisibles, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman as well.
1965 – Jimmy Vasser, American race car driver. Vasser was the last American to win the Champ Car championship.
1963 – Ming-Na Wen, Macanese-American actress. She reprised the role of Mulan in the video game Kingdom Hearts II (2005), the animated children's series Sofia the First (2014), and the animated comedy film Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018).
1961 – Jim Brickman, American singer-songwriter and pianist. He is known for his solo piano compositions, pop-style instrumentals, and vocal collaborations with artists such as Lady Antebellum, Johnny Mathis, Michael W.
1961 – Larry Karaszewski, American director, producer, and screenwriter. Scott Alexander (born June 16, 1963, Los Angeles, California) and Larry Karaszewski (/ˌkærəˈzjuːski/; born November 20, 1961, South Bend, Indiana) are an American screenwriting team.
1959 – Sean Young, American actress and dancer. She is best known for her performances in the films Stripes (1981), Blade Runner (1982), Dune (1984), No Way Out (1987), Wall Street (1987), Cousins (1989) Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), and Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
1956 – Bo Derek, American actress and producer. Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins; November 20, 1956) is an American film and television actress, film producer, and model perhaps best known for her breakthrough film role in the sex comedy 10 (1979).
1956 – Mark Gastineau, American football player and boxer. Gastineau was ranked the 8th greatest pass rusher in NFL History on NFL Network's Top 10 Pass Rushers.
1951 – David Walters, American businessman and politician, 24th Governor of Oklahoma, was the 24th governor of Oklahoma from 1991 to 1995.
1951 – Rodger Bumpass, American actor and singer. He voices several other characters on the show as well, including the Purple Doctor Fish and various anchovies.
1949 – Jeff Dowd, American film producer and activist. Jeff Dowd (born November 20, 1949) is an American film producer and political activist best known as a member of the "Seattle Seven," who went to jail (briefly, for contempt of court) following a violent protest against the Vietnam War.
1949 – Thelma Drake, American politician. Thelma Day Drake (born November 20, 1949) is an American politician and former member of Congress for Virginia's 2nd Congressional District.
1948 – Barbara Hendricks, American-Swedish soprano and actress. She is a citizen of Sweden following her marriage to a Swedish citizen.
1948 – John R. Bolton, American lawyer and diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations. John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, political commentator, Republican consultant, former diplomat and national security advisor.
1948 – Richard Masur, American actor and director. Masur currently sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.
1947 – Joe Walsh, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor. Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter.
1946 – Duane Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1971), was an American guitarist, session musician, and founder and leader of the Allman Brothers Band.
1946 – Greg Cook, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2012), was an American football quarterback. Once considered a rising star for the Cincinnati Bengals, shoulder troubles prematurely ended his career.
1946 – Judy Woodruff, American journalist and educator. Judy Carline Woodruff (born November 20, 1946) is a U.S. broadcast journalist, who has worked in network, cable, and public television news since 1976.
1946 – Samuel E. Wright, American actor, voice actor and singer. He is best known as the voice of Sebastian in Disney's The Little Mermaid, for which he provided the lead vocals to "Under the Sea", which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
1945 – Rick Monday, American baseball player and sportscaster. Robert James "Rick" Monday Jr. (born November 20, 1945 in Batesville, Arkansas) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder and is currently a broadcast announcer.
1944 – Donald DiFrancesco, American lawyer and politician, 51st Governor of New Jersey. In 2006 he was retroactively declared the 51st Governor of New Jersey by a law of the New Jersey Legislature.
1944 – Louie Dampier, American basketball player and coach. Louis Dampier (born November 20, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player.
1944 – Mike Vernon, English record producer, founded Blue Horizon, was an Australian consumer activist.
1942 – Bob Einstein, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, was an American actor, comedy writer and producer. He created and performed the satirical stuntman character Super Dave Osborne and played Marty Funkhouser in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry Middleman on Arrested Development.
1942 – Joe Biden, American lawyer and politician, 47th Vice President of the United States. Senate from 1973 to 2009.
1942 – Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer. In 1991, Monk composed an opera called Atlas, commissioned and produced by the Houston Opera and the American Music Theater Festival.
1942 – Norman Greenbaum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for writing and performing the 1969 song "Spirit in the Sky".
1939 – Dick Smothers, American actor and comedian. He is half of the musical comedy team the Smothers Brothers, with his older brother Tom.
1937 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist and educator (d. 2005), was an American classical pianist.
1936 – Charles R. Larson, American admiral (d. 2014), was an Admiral of the United States Navy.
1936 – Don DeLillo, American novelist, essayist, and playwright. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, performance art, the Cold War, mathematics, the advent of the digital age, politics, economics, and global terrorism.
1932 – Richard Dawson, English-American actor and game show host (d. 2012), was a British-American actor, comedian, game show host and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in Hogan's Heroes, as a regular panelist on Match Game (1973–1978) and as the original host of Family Feud (1976–1985 and 1994–1995).
1930 – Curly Putman, American country music songwriter (d. 2016), was an American songwriter.
1929 – Don January, American golfer and architect. Donald Ray January (born November 20, 1929) is an American retired professional golfer, best known for winning the 1967 PGA Championship.
1928 – Franklin Cover, American actor (d. 2006), was an American actor best known for starring in the sitcom The Jeffersons. His character, Tom Willis, was half of one of the first interracial marriages to be seen on prime-time television.
1927 – Ed Freeman, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2008), was a United States Army helicopter pilot who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in the Battle of Ia Drang during the Vietnam War. During the battle, he flew through gunfire numerous times, bringing supplies to a trapped American battalion and flying dozens of wounded soldiers to safety.
1927 – Estelle Parsons, American actress and director. Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress, singer and stage director.
1925 – George Barris, American engineer and car designer (d. 2015). George Barris is the name of:
1925 – June Christy, American singer (d. 1990), was an American singer, known for her work in the cool jazz genre and for her silky smooth vocals. Her success as a singer began with The Stan Kenton Orchestra.
1925 – Kaye Ballard, American actress and singer, was an American actress, comedian and singer.
1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (d. 1968), was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. Senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968.
1924 – Benoit Mandelbrot, Polish-American mathematician and economist (d. 2010), was a Polish-born, French and American mathematician and polymath with broad interests in the practical sciences, especially regarding what he labeled as "the art of roughness" of physical phenomena and "the uncontrolled element in life". He referred to himself as a "fractalist" and is recognized for his contribution to the field of fractal geometry, which included coining the word "fractal", as well as developing a theory of "roughness and self-similarity" in nature.
1923 – Danny Dayton, American actor and director (d. 1999), was an American actor and television director. Beginning in the 1950s, he played many roles in film and on TV.
1921 – Jim Garrison, American lawyer and judge (d. 1992), was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana, from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F.
1919 – Phyllis Thaxter, American actress (d. 2012). Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1919 – August 14, 2012) was an American actress.
1918 – Corita Kent, American nun, illustrator, and educator (d. 1986), was an American Roman Catholic religious sister, artist, designer and educator. Key themes in her work included Christianity, and social justice.
1917 – Robert Byrd, American lawyer and politician (d. 2010), was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd previously served as a U.S.
1916 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (d. 2008), was an American film actress. She is best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.
1916 – Michael J. Ingelido, American general (d. 2015), was an American Air Force major general who was commander of the Fourteenth Aerospace Force, (Air Defense Command), Ent Air Force Base, Colorado.
1913 – Judy Canova, American actress and comedian (d. 1983), was an American comedian, actress, singer, and radio personality. She appeared on Broadway and in films.
1908 – Alistair Cooke, British-born American journalist and author (d. 2004), was a British-born American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States. Outside his journalistic output, which included Letter from America and America: A Personal History of the United States, he was well known in the United States as the host of PBS Masterpiece Theatre from 1971 to 1992.
1907 – Fran Allison, American entertainer (d. 1989), was an American television and radio comedian, personality and singer. She is best known for her starring role on the weekday NBC-TV puppet show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, which ran from 1947–57, occasionally returning to the air until the mid-1980s.
1903 – Alexandra Danilova, Russian-American ballerina and choreographer (d. 1997), was a Russian-born prima ballerina, who became an American citizen. In 1989, she was recognized for lifetime achievements in ballet as a Kennedy Center Honoree.
1900 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist and author, created Dick Tracy (d. 1985), was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of the Dick Tracy comic strip, which he wrote and drew from 1931 to 1977, incorporating numerous colorful and monstrous villains.
1900 – Florieda Batson, American hurdler, captain of the United States team at the 1922 Women's Olympics (d. 1996). Batson was the youngest of three children born to Robert Percy Batson, a successful New Orleans businessman, and his wife Florieda Burton Batson.
1892 – James Collip, Canadian biochemist and academic, co-discovered insulin (d. 1965), was a Canadian biochemist who was part of the Toronto group which isolated insulin. He served as the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University from 1928–1941 and Dean of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario from 1947–1961, where he was a charter member of The Kappa Alpha Society.
1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1953). He played a crucial role in establishing the fields of extragalactic astronomy and observational cosmology and is regarded as one of the most important astronomers of all time.
1886 – Bray Hammond, American historian and author (d. 1968), was an American financial historian and assistant secretary to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in 1944–1950. He won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for History for Banks and Politics in America from the Revolution to the Civil War (1957).
1885 – Olive Dennis, American engineer (d. 1957), was an engineer whose design innovations changed the nature of railway travel. Born in Thurlow, Pennsylvania, she grew up in Baltimore.
1884 – Norman Thomas, American minister and politician (d. 1968), was an American Presbyterian minister who achieved fame as a socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
1882 – Andy Coakley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1963), was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics (1902–1906), Cincinnati Reds (1907–1908), Chicago Cubs (1908–09) and New York Highlanders (1911).
1880 – George McBride, American baseball player and manager (d. 1973). George Florian "Pinch" McBride (November 20, 1880 – July 2, 1973) was an American professional baseball shortstop for the Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St.
1874 – James Michael Curley, American lawyer, politician, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts, and criminal (d. 1958), was an American Democratic Party politician from Boston, Massachusetts. One of the most colorful figures in Massachusetts politics in the first half of the 20th century, Curley served four terms as Democratic Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, including part of one while in prison.
1869 – Clark Griffith, American baseball player and manager (d. 1955). Clark Calvin Griffith (November 20, 1869 – October 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Old Fox", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, manager and team owner.
1866 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American lawyer and judge (d. 1944), was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 until his death. He is remembered for his handling of the Black Sox scandal, in which he expelled eight members of the Chicago White Sox from organized baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series and repeatedly refused their reinstatement requests.
Deaths
2015 – Jim Perry, American-Canadian singer and game show host (b. 1933)
2013 – Frank Lauterbur, American football player and coach (b. 1925)
2012 – David C. Copley, American publisher and philanthropist (b. 1952)
2012 – David O'Brien Martin, American soldier and politician (b. 1944)
2010 – Chalmers Johnson, American author and scholar (b. 1931)
2010 – Danny McDevitt, American baseball player (b. 1932)
2010 – Rob Lytle, American football player (b. 1954)
2008 – Bennie Gonzales, American architect, designed the Heard Museum (b. 1924)
2006 – Andre Waters, American football player and coach (b. 1962)
2006 – Donald Hamilton, American author (b. 1916)
2006 – Robert Altman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
2005 – Chris Whitley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
Remind me of this day
