MILESTONES: October 21, birthdays for Michelle Trachtenberg, Kim Kardashian, Elvin Bishop

October 21, 2019 Brooklyn Eagle History

Michelle Trachtenberg. Photo by Omar Vega/Invision/AP

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NOTABLE PEOPLE BORN ON THIS DAY include actress and model Michelle Trachtenberg, who was born in Brooklyn in 1985; television personality Kim Kardashian, who was born in 1980; journalist, historian and author Frances FitzGerald, who was born in 1940; actor Ken Watanabe, who was born in 1959; musician and singer-songwriter Elvin Bishop, who was born in 1942; Hall of Fame baseball player Whitey Ford, who was born in 1928; and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, who was born in 1949.

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GENRE-ALTERING SCIENCE FICTION WRITER Ursula K. Le Guin was born on this day in 1929. Le Guin was an influential author of speculative fiction and is best known for her novels “A Wizard of Earthsea” and “The Left Hand of Darkness.” Her work often included themes of feminism and cultural anthropology, and subverted genre tropes regarding gender, sexuality and race. Le Guin won eight Hugo Awards, six Nebula Awards, 22 Locus Awards and the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress in 2000. Le Guin died on Jan. 22, 2018 in Portland, Oregon.

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ACTRESS, AUTHOR AND “PRINCESS” Carrie Fisher was born on this day in 1956. Fisher was nominated for four Saturn Awards for her performance as Princess Leia in the “Star Wars” series and appeared in several other iconic films, including “When Harry Met Sally…” and “The Blues Brothers.” She wrote four novels, four non-fiction books, three plays and two screenplays, and worked as a screenplay doctor, improving the scripts of films including “Sister Act” and “The Wedding Singer.” She spoke publicly about mental illness and addiction, winning Harvard College’s annual Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism in 2016. Fisher died on Dec. 27, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

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THE QUEEN OF SALSA: Celia Cruz was born on this day in 1925. Cruz was a Cuban singer known as the “Queen of Salsa” or the “Queen of Latin Music.” One of the most popular Latin musicians of the 20th century, her career spanned six decades and included a wide range of Afro-Cuban musical styles. Cruz was two Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards, was known for her catchphrase “¡Azúcar!” (“Sugar!”) and became a spokesperson for the Cuban community after the Cuban Revolution. Cruz died on July 16, 2003 in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.

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“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, who was born on this day in 1929