1929 births

Philippe Venet (23 May 1929 – 22 February 2021) was a French fashion designer.

Edmond "Ted" Lapidus (23 June 1929 – 29 December 2008) was a French fashion designer. He was born in Paris, the son of a Russian-Jewish émigré tailor.Lapidus was considered the creator and pioneer of the unisex fashion look and is credited with introducing a military and safari look into haute couture. He is credited as the first designer to put Military style shoulder straps on both male and female clothing, and with making blue jeans part of the mainstream of fashion design. After an apprenticeship with Dior, Lapidus started his own fashion label in 1951, and gained prominence in the 1960s when French celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot, Françoise Hardy and Alain Delon started wearing his creations.
Lapidus proved influential outside France, too, and was the first designer to persuade Twiggy to wear a suit and tie rather than a mini-skirt. John Lennon was another admirer and in 1969 he asked Lapidus to design a white leather bag to house a set of fourteen erotic lithographs he had made. Known as "Bag One", the limited edition of 300 bags incorporated zips, handles and a lock, as well as Lennon's signature in black, and was hand-stitched in Italy and later autographed by The Beatles. Lapidus also designed the white suit that Lennon wore on the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album.
He was admitted to the Chambre syndicale de la haute couture parisienne in 1963. He designed the safari suit, a style of men's suit that was popular in Australia in the 1970s.
In the late 1970s the Lapidus label started to produce fashion accessories as the haute couture market declined. In 1989 Ted Lapidus's son Oliver Lapidus took over the Lapidus label. Lapidus sponsored the French Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives Formula One auto racing team in 1990 via the Ted Lapidus product name. In 1996 Lapidus designed both the home and away uniforms for the Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, which were used that year in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Conmebol. In 2000 the Lapidus label ceased producing haute couture and is now primarily known for its fashion accessories of watches and fragrances.Lapidus died in Cannes, aged 79, from pulmonary complications brought on by leukaemia. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid tribute and said Lapidus had "democratised French elegance and classicism" and "made fashion accessible to men and women in the street." Sarkozy's statement called him "the poet of French couture".
Lapidus was married twice. He is survived by two sons, Olivier and Thomas, and a daughter, Eloise.

Gérard de Villiers (French: [ʒeʁaʁ də vilje]; 8 December 1929 – 31 October 2013) was a French writer, journalist and publisher whose SAS series of spy novels have been major bestsellers.

Raul Augusto de Almeida Solnado (19 October 1929 - 8 August 2009) was a popular Portuguese actor and comedian. He was born in Lisbon's Madragoa neighborhood, and first appeared on stage there. In his long career, he developed many comic pieces that have become classics.
His humour was, at the time (especially considering Portugal was still under the dictatorial Salazar regime), both unexpected and fresh. It included a lot of nonsense, and stories making fun of daily life.
He often played an ingenuous poor man, whose life was neither good or bad. He portrayed characters with conviction and humor. His best material included pieces written by him, such as "Ida ao médico" ("At the doctor"), and others based on Spanish comedian Miguel Gila’s material: (“A guerra de 1908” / “The war of 1908” and “História da minha vida” / “The story of my life”).

José Manuel Cerqueira Afonso dos Santos (2 August 1929 – 23 February 1987), known professionally as José Afonso and also popularly known as Zeca Afonso, was a Portuguese singer-songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of Portugal's folk and protest music scene. His music played a significant role in the resistance against the dictatorial Estado Novo regime, making him an icon in Portugal.
Afonso's song "Grândola, Vila Morena" was used as a radio-broadcast signal by the Portuguese Armed Forces during their military coup operation in the morning of 25 April 1974, which led to the Carnation Revolution and the transition to democracy in Portugal. Subsequently, Afonso's music, along with "Grândola, Vila Morena," became emblematic of the revolution, anti-fascism, the Portuguese labor movement, and the political left.

Ralph William Beard (February 11, 1929 – February 10, 2003) was an American professional baseball player, a right-handed pitcher whose ten-season (1947–56) pro career included 13 games pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball. Beard, a native of Cincinnati, attended the University of Cincinnati. He stood 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).
Beard's 13 big-league appearances included ten starting pitcher assignments, as he took a regular turn in the Cardinals' rotation during late July and August of the 1954 season. Although he lost all four decisions, he made a memorable start on July 22, 1954, against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium. He went 12 innings and allowed only one earned run and eight hits (including a home run by Preston Ward for the Pirates' earned run), but left the game for a pinch hitter with the score tied 2–2. He was relieved by Gerry Staley, who hurled two perfect frames and St. Louis won, 3–2, in 14 innings.As a starter, Beard gave up 29 runs in ten efforts and 492⁄3 innings pitched, but only 21 were earned (for a 3.81 earned run average in starting assignments). All told as a Major Leaguer, he surrendered 62 hits and 28 bases on balls in 58 innings pitched, with 17 strikeouts.
Beard died in West Palm Beach, Florida, on the day before his 74th birthday.

Harold Lewis "Corky" Valentine (January 4, 1929 – January 21, 2005) was an American professional baseball pitcher who worked in 46 career games in Major League Baseball as a member of the 1954 and 1955 Cincinnati Redlegs. Born in Troy, Ohio, Valentine threw and batted right-handed and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 203 pounds (92 kg).

Melvin Nicholas Held (born April 12, 1929) is an American former professional baseball player. He appeared in four Major League Baseball games as a relief pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles at the outset of the 1956 season, and had a 13-year career in minor league baseball. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 178 pounds (81 kg).
Held, nicknamed "Country", was a nine-year minor league veteran when he pitched for the Orioles in 1956, having signed with the team when it was the St. Louis Browns in 1947. His performance during the 1955 season for the San Antonio Missions of the Class AA Texas League — he posted a 24–7 won-lost record and a 2.87 earned run average — earned him a call-up to Baltimore the following year.
In his first two MLB games, on April 27–28, Held pitched a total of three innings of scoreless relief against the Washington Senators. In his next two appearances, however, in May against the first-division Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees, Held surrendered four earned runs and five hits in four innings. Altogether, Held gave up seven hits in seven innings pitched in MLB, with three walks and four strikeouts. Held was sent back to the minor leagues for good at the May cutdown. His career continued through 1959, and he won 131 minor-league games.

Donald Ray Elston (April 6, 1929 – January 2, 1995) was an American relief pitcher who appeared in 450 games in Major League Baseball, all but one of them as a member of the Chicago Cubs (1953, 1957–1964). Elston batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg). He was born in Campbellstown, Ohio, and attended Camden High School. His 18-season professional baseball career began in the Cub farm system in 1948.
A hard thrower, Elston played for perennially weak Cubs teams over the course of his nine-year major league tenure. After a brief late-season trial with the 1953 Cubs, when he was treated rudely by the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, he was sent back to the minor leagues for the next two campaigns. Chicago included him in a December 1955 trade with the defending world champion Brooklyn Dodgers that was headlined by veterans Randy Jackson, Don Hoak, Russ Meyer and Walt Moryn, but Elston remained in the minors for all of 1956. He made the Dodgers' 1957 early-season roster and worked in one game. throwing one inning of shutout relief on May 5 against the Milwaukee Braves. He was traded back to the Cubs 18 days later for pitchers Jackie Collum and Vito Valentinetti.
The Cubs first used him as a swingman: in 1957, after his re-acquisition, he began as a reliever, then, beginning June 30, he made 14 appearances as a starter through September 13. But on September 18, he moved back to the bullpen, where he would spend the rest of his career. Elston became one of the best relief pitchers in the National League. He led the league with 69 games pitched in 1958, setting a club mark. Then, in 1959, he tied teammate Bill Henry for the league lead in appearances, with 65. That season, Elston won a career-high ten games and was selected to the 1959 National League All-Star team. He came on in the ninth inning of the first of 1959's two All-Star tilts and earned a save to preserve a 5–4 victory over the American League at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, on July 7. His 14 saves in 1959, third in the league, also was a career high. He was one of the Senior Circuit's top five relief pitchers for five straight years in saves (1957–1961) and games pitched (1958–1962). He posted sub-3.00 earned run averages in 1958, 1962 and 1963.
In 450 career MLB games, Elston compiled a 49–54 won–lost record with a 3.69 ERA and 64 saves. In 7552⁄3 innings pitched, he allowed 702 hits and 327 bases on balls. He struck out 519. During his brief career as a starting pitcher, he registered two complete games.
Elston died in Arlington Heights, Illinois, at the age of 65.

Calvin Eugene "Gene" Taylor (March 19, 1929 – December 22, 2001), was an American jazz double bassist. He was born in Toledo, Ohio, and began his career in Detroit, Michigan. Taylor worked with Horace Silver from 1958 until 1963. He then joined Blue Mitchell's quintet, with whom he recorded and performed until 1965. From 1966 until 1968, he toured and recorded with Nina Simone. Simone recorded the song "Why? (The King of Love is Dead)", which Taylor wrote following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Taylor began teaching music in New York public schools. Taylor worked with Judy Collins from 1968 until 1976, and made numerous television appearances accompanying Simone and Collins. He died on December 22, 2001, in Sarasota, Florida, where he had been living since 1990.