Born in 1932 – François Truffaut, French director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.

Above: Still from Truffaut’s 1959 film, The 400 Blows.

Born in 1914 – William S. Burroughs, American author and painter.

“We must all face the fact that our leaders are certifiably insane, or worse.”

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Born in 1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian, imprisoned and executed in 1945 for anti-Nazi activities.

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Politics are not the task of a Christian.”

Born in 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter.

Above: Renee Falconetti in Dreyer’s 1928 film, The Passion of Joan of Arc.

On this date in 1933, Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

Born in 1853 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic.

“Imagine a group of people who are all blind, deaf and slightly demented and suddenly someone in the crowd asks, ‘What are we to do?’… The only possible answer is ‘Look for a cure.’ Until you are cured, there is nothing you can do. And since you don’t believe you are sick, there can be no cure.“

Born in 1842 – Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ukrainian-Russian painter.

Above: Evening in Ukraine (1878–1901)

Born in 1915 – Robert Motherwell, American painter and academic.

Above: Elegy to the Spanish Republic No. 110, 1971