1923 births

Luther Skaggs Jr. (March 3, 1923 – April 6, 1976) was a United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on the beachhead in Guam during World War II.

James Walter Carter (December 15, 1923, in Aiken, SC – September 21, 1994) was an American world lightweight boxing champion three times between 1951 and 1955. His managers included Jimmy Roche and Willie Ketchum. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2000. Carter's loss to Lauro Salas in 1952 and his loss to Paddy DeMarco in 1954 were each named Ring Magazine upset of the year. His professional record was 80-31-9 with 32 knockouts.

Carroll Devol "Rock" Brett (August 1, 1923 – August 14, 2010) was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force (USAF) who piloted aircraft during crises and wars from 1948 (the Berlin Crisis) through the Vietnam War (1960s). He served in Austria, West Germany, South Korea, South Vietnam, the United Kingdom, Iran and Turkey, before his final assignment as commander of Allied Air Forces Southern Europe in 1977. After his retirement in 1978, he was a defense consultant for more than 20 years, retiring in 1998.

Ernest Blanc (November 1, 1923 – December 22, 2010) was a French opera singer, one of the leading baritones of his era in France.
Born in Sanary-sur-Mer, Ernest Blanc studied at the Music Conservatory of Toulon with Sabran, from 1946 to 1949. He made his debut in Marseille, as Tonio, in 1950. He then sang throughout France in the French and Italian repertories.
In 1954, he made his debut at the Palais Garnier in Paris, as Rigoletto, he sang there as first baritone for 25 years in a wide repertoire (Rameau, Mozart, Gounod, Bizet, Massenet, Verdi, Puccini, etc.). He also appeared often at the Opéra-Comique, and was a regular guest at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
His career took an international turn in 1958, with debut at the Bayreuth Festival, followed by debuts at La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Teatro Nacional Sao Carlos in Lisbon, the Liceo in Barcelona, the Berlin State Opera, etc.
He also enjoyed considerable success in America, at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the San Francisco Opera, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, etc.
Notable roles included; Don Giovanni, Valentin, Zurga, Escamillo, Golaud, Germont, Renato, Amonasro, Scarpia, Riccardo in I puritani, opposite Joan Sutherland, Alfonso in La favorite, Wolfram, Telramund, etc.
A stylish singer and a fine musician, he possessed a beautiful voice with a brilliant upper register and impeccable diction, one of the few post war French singers to have enjoyed a truly international career. After his retirement he taught in Paris.

Private First Class Harold Glenn Epperson, USMCR (July 14, 1923 – June 25, 1944) was a United States Marine who posthumously received the Medal of Honor, the United States' highest military honor, for his actions during the World War II Battle of Saipan.

Eugene James Carroll, Jr. (December 2, 1923 Miami, Arizona – February 19, 2003) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy, and deputy director of the Center for Defense Information. After his retirement, he became a vocal proponent of nuclear disarmament.

Vernal "Buzz" Miller (December 23, 1923 – February 23, 1999) was an American dancer who was equally at home on Broadway and in contemporary ballet and modern dance.

Jean Hagen (born Jean Shirley Verhagen; August 3, 1923 – August 29, 1977) was an American actress best known for her role as Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain (1952), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hagen was also nominated three times for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Margaret Williams on the first three seasons (1953–56) of the television series The Danny Thomas Show (when titled as Make Room for Daddy).

Kenneth Linn Franklin (March 25, 1923 – June 18, 2007) was an American astronomer and educator. Franklin was the chief scientist at the Hayden Planetarium from 1956 to 1984 and was co-credited with discovering radio waves originating on Jupiter, the first detection of signals from another planet. He was often a local and national media figure including during Apollo 11, the first human mission to the moon, when Franklin was an on-camera astronomy expert for NBC.

Janet McLuckie Brown (14 December 1923 – 27 May 2011) was a Scottish actress, comedian and impressionist who gained considerable fame in the 1970s and 1980s for her impersonations of Margaret Thatcher. Brown was the wife of Peter Butterworth, who was best known for his appearances in the Carry On films. Butterworth died in 1979 and Brown never remarried.