Today is December 9, 2009 and the 343^rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar.  There are 22 days left in the year 2009.  On this date, the first YMCA in North America was established in Montreal, Quebec.  Hypertext and the Computer Mouse were first premiered in San Francisco in 1968, changing the way we work on computers.  Here are five people that share a birthday on this day:

John Malkovich (Born 1953)
Film actor born in Christopher, Illinois, Malkovich won an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Places in The Heart (1984), and later films include Empire of the Sun (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Con Air (1997), and the ingenious Being John Malkovich (1999). Among further films are Ripley’s Game (2003) and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005).  He has appeared in over 70 films during his 25+ year film career and is known for his distinctive voice.  His acting career began with the formation of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, Illinois with fellow actors Gary Sinise and Joan Allen.

Donny Osmond (Born 1957)
Born in Ogden, Utah to the famous Osmond family, Donald Clark Osmond is an actor, singer, and television personality.  A natural entertainer, Donny Osmond began performing with his older brothers at the age of five as part of the Osmond Brothers when he was a young child. Alan, Wayne, Merrill, and Jay Osmond had already been singing together for a few years before adding Donny to the group. He served as the lead vocalist on many of the group’s tracks, including their first big hit, “One Bad Apple,” which spent five weeks at the top of the pop charts in 1971. Then billing themselves as the Osmonds, they had several more hits with “Down by the Lazy River” and “Crazy River.”  In the early 70’s, Donny pursued a successful solo career where he had hits like “Puppy Love” and “Too Young”.  In 1974, he began performing with his sister, Marie and the two had their own variety show that began in 1976.  By 1998, Osmond began hosting television shows including a talk show with his sister, and $25,000 Pyramid.  Currently, he is performing on Broadway in such hits as: Beauty and the Beast and Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Redd Foxx (1922-1991)
Redd Foxx was born John Elroy Sanford in St.Louis, Missouri.  He was a stand up comedian and actor known for his outrageous and raunchy acts.  His style of comedy, often described as “blue” for its foul language and highly adult subject matter, influenced generations of comics. He was also the star of the hit television series Sanford and Son, which ran on NBC from 1972 to 1977.  His hit show, Sanford and Son (named Fred Sanford after his brother) was produced by Norman Lear and based off of the British comedy Steptoe and Son. After the show was cancelled in 1977 after a dispute with the shows producers, Foxx went on to act in a couple of films and headline in Las Vegas.  He was shooting a new comedy, The Royal Family, when he died in 1991.

Kirk Douglas (Born 1916)
U.S. Actor and author was born Issur Danielovitch on December 9, 1916, in Amsterdam, New York. Known for his distinctive voice, strapping physique, and cleft chin, Kirk Douglas was a popular leading man during the 1950s and 1960s.  After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II and having a brief career on the Broadway stage, Kirk Douglas made his first Hollywood film, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck.  His most famous movie was Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film, Spartacus, where Douglas played a Roman slave who leads an uprising.  In the 1970’s, Douglas tried his hands at directing with little success.  In the 1990’s, he wrote four books: his best-selling autobiography, The Ragman’s Son, three fiction books, including Dance with the Devil (1990) and The Gift (1992),  and one non-fiction book: Climbing the Mountain: My Search for Meaning (1997).  The latter was completed right after he had a stroke that has slowed him down since 1995.  He has continued to appear in film and is still writing.

Dame Judy Dench (Born 1934)
Born in York, England, actress Judi Dench made her stage debut as Ophelia in ‘Hamlet’ (1957). A member of the Old Vic Company (1957?61), she became one of Britain’s most distinguished classical actresses, as well as a popular film and TV performer. She played M in several James Bond movies, and was created a dame (the female version of an English knight) in 1988.  She is best known in America as James Bond’s boss, “M”, in the films GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Die Another Day (2002), Casino Royale (2006), and Quantum of Solace (2008).

Related posts:

1. Five People Born on January 21
2. Five People Who Changed Their Birthdays