Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
According to Wikipedia, Hepburn "was a iconic four-time Academy Award-winning American star of film, television and stage, widely recognized for her sharp wit, New England gentility and fierce independence.... A screen legend, Hepburn holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscar wins with four, from twelve nominations). Hepburn won an Emmy Award in 1975 for her lead role in Love Among the Ruins, and was nominated for four other Emmys and two Tony Awards during the course of her more than 70-year acting career. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Hepburn as the number one female star in their Greatest American Screen Legends list.
"Her paternal grandfather, Sewell Hepburn, was an Episcopal clergyman, but on the subject of religion, she told a Ladies Home Journal reporter in October 1991, 'I'm an atheist and that's it. I believe there's nothing we can know except that we should be kind to each other and do what we can for other people.'"
Today is also the birthday of comedian, actor, and author George Carlin (born May 12, 1937 in New York, New York).
According to Wikipedia, Carlin is "a staunch atheist, Carlin has often denounced the idea of God in interviews and performances, most notably with his 'Invisible Man in the Sky' and 'There Is No God' routines. In mockery he invented the parody religion Frisbeetarianism for a newspaper contest. He defined it as the belief that when one dies 'his soul gets flung onto a roof, and just stays there', and cannot be retrieved.
"Carlin has also facetiously stated he worships the Sun, because he can actually see it, but prays to Joe Pesci because 'he's a good actor', and 'looks like a guy who can get things done!', and praying to him has approximately the same 50% success rate as praying to God."
