Born on this day – Will Rogers:

Will Rogers

Vaudevillian

Actor

November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935

Credits:

Stand Up and Cheer! (1934); In Old Kentucky (1935); Steamboat Round the Bend (1935); Doubting Thomas (1935); Life Begins at 40 (1935); The County Chairman (1935); Judge Priest (1934); Handy Andy (1934); David Harum (1934); Mr. Skitch (1933); Doctor Bull (1933); State Fair (1933); Too Busy to Work (1932); Down to Earth (1932); Business and Pleasure (1932); Ambassador Bill (1931); Young as You Feel (1931); A Connecticut Yankee (1931); Lightnin' (1930); So This Is London (1930); They Had to See Paris (1929); Happy Days (1929); A Texas Steer (1927); Tiptoes (1927); Roaming the Emerald Isle with Will Rogers (1927); With Will Rogers in Dublin (1927); Gee Whiz, Genevieve (1924); A Truthful Liar (1924); Our Congressman (1924); Jubilo, Jr. (1924); Don't Park There (1924); Going to Congress (1924); High Brow Stuff (1924); The Cake Eater (1924); The Cowboy Sheik (1924); Two Wagons: Both Covered (1924); Uncensored Movies (1923); Hustlin' Hank (1923); Jus' Passin' Through (1923); Hollywood (1923); Fruits of Faith (1922); The Headless Horseman (1922); The Ropin' Fool (1922); One Glorious Day (1922); A Poor Relation (1921); Doubling for Romeo (1921); An Unwilling Hero (1921); Boys Will Be Boys (1921); Guile of Women (1920); Honest Hutch (1920); Cupid the Cowpuncher (1920); Jes' Call Me Jim (1920); The Strange Boarder (1920); Water, Water, Everywhere (1920); Jubilo (1919); Almost a Husband (1919); Laughing Bill Hyde (1918); Roaring Camp (1916).

Born on this day – Gaby Deslys:

Gaby Deslys

Actress

Singer

November 4, 1881 – February 11, 1920

Credits:

Albums:

La Parisienne (1910); Philomene (1910); Tout en Rose (1910).

Stage:

Stop! Look! Listen! (December 25, 1915 - March 25, 1916); The Revue of Revues (September 27, 1911 - November 11, 1911); The Honeymoon Express (February 6, 1913 - June 14, 1913); The Belle of Bond Street (March 30, 1914 - May 9, 1914); Vera Violetta (November 20, 1911 - February 24, 1912).

Movies and television:

Animated Weekly, No. 55 (1913); Her Triumph (1915); Infatuation (1918); La nuit est à elles, Paris 1919-1939 (2018); La remplaçante (1916); Le Dieu du hasard (1920); Rosy Rapture (1915).

Born on this day – Stanley Cortez:

Stanley Cortez

Cinematographer

November 4, 1908 – December 23, 1997

Born on this day – Virginia Field:

Virginia Field

Actress

November 4, 1917 – January 2, 1992

Born on this day – Martin Balsam:

Martin Balsam

Actor

November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996

Born on this day – Henry Langrehr:

 

Henry Langrehr

World War II Veteran

Writer

November 4, 1924 – April 23, 2025

Book:
 
Whatever It Took
An American Paratrooper's Extraordinary Memoir of Escape, Survival, and Heroism in the Last Days of World War II

by Henry Langrehr & Jim DeFelice.

Published by William Morrow.

Illustrated edition.

Published 2020.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0063027429
ISBN-13: 978-0063027428

Description:

"Extraordinary. ... Reveal[s] [Langrehr] as a person of great courage and strength who did whatever it took to survive." – Quad-City Times.

“Simply fascinating...reads with all the emotional impact of a finely crafted novel...an extraordinary and impressively presented military biography.” – Midwest Book Review.

Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom.

Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War II stories ever told. As the Allied Invasion of Normandy launched in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, Henry Langrehr, an American paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, was among the thousands of Allies who parachuted into occupied France. Surviving heavy anti-aircraft fire, he crashed through the glass roof of a greenhouse in Sainte-Mère-Église. While many of the soldiers in his unit died, Henry and other surviving troops valiantly battled enemy tanks to a standstill. Then, on June 29th, Henry was captured by the Nazis. The next phase of his incredible journey was beginning.

Kept for a week in the outer ring of a death camp, Henry witnessed the Nazis’ unspeakable brutality – the so-called Final Solution, with people marched to their deaths, their bodies discarded like cords of wood. Transported to a work camp, he endured horrors of his own when he was forced to live in unbelievable squalor and labor in a coal mine with other POWs. Knowing they would be worked to death, he and a friend made a desperate escape. When a German soldier cornered them in a barn, the friend was fatally shot; Henry struggled with the soldier, killing him and taking his gun. Perilously traveling westward toward Allied controlled land on foot, Henry faced the great ethical and moral dilemmas of war firsthand, needing to do whatever it took to survive. Finally, after two weeks behind enemy lines, he found an American unit and was rescued.

Awaiting him at home was Arlene, who, like millions of other American women, went to work in factories and offices to build the armaments Henry and the Allies needed for victory. Whatever It Took is her story, too, bringing to life the hopes and fears of those on the homefront awaiting their loved ones to return.

A tale of heroism, hope, and survival featuring 30 photographs, Whatever It Took is a timely reminder of the human cost of freedom and a tribute to unbreakable human courage and spirit in the darkest of times.

Born on this day – Doris Roberts:

Doris Roberts

Actress

November 4, 1925 – April 17, 2016

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