There are 3 entries for this date: Bruce Willis, Sir Richard F. Burton and Jean Astruc.

On this date in 1955, actor Bruce Willis, ne Walter Bruce Willis, was born on a military base in Germany. He grew up in PennsGrove, New Jersey, attended Montclair State College, New Jersey, then moved to New York City. Willis waited on tables and bartended while looking for acting jobs. He was (type)cast for one of his first roles as a bartender by a director who spotted him tending bar. Willis' TV break came in the series "Moonlighting" (1985). His first box office hit was "Die Hard" (1988). Among his many movies: "Look Who's Talking" (1989), "The Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990), "The Last Boy Scout" (1991), "Pulp Fiction" (1994), "Twelve Monkeys" (1995), "The Jackal" (1997), "Breakfast of Champions" (1999), "The Sixth Sense" (1999), and "The Story of Us" (1999), not to mention three "Die Hard" sequels. Willis was married for 11 years to actress Demi Moore, with whom he has three daughters.

On this date in 1821, Sir Richard F. Burton was born in Great Britain. The colorful adventurer and explorer, educated at Oxford, served in the army in India, where he began to study languages and Muslim culture. Burton became fluent in nearly 30 languages. Posing as a pilgrim, he was the first nonMuslim to partake in the rituals of Mecca, writing a book about the experience. He made famous translations of the Arabian Nights and the Kama Sutra, and traveled extensively in the Mideast, Africa, and South America. Biographers, including his niece, Georgiana Stisted (True Life of Sir. R.F. Burton) considered Burton a rationalist, at most an agnostic or Deist. He was married to a highly superstitious Catholic woman who had last rites administered at Burton's death. D. 1890.

On this date in 1684, Jean Astruc was born in France. Astruc, a French physician, became the founder of bible criticism. He served as Professor of Anatomy at Toulouse, then Montpellier, and later Professor of Medicine at Paris. In 1753, he published his "Conjectures" that Moses appeared to have composed the book of Genesis. Freethought historian Joseph McCabe noted that this was the first time the Mosaic narrative was divided into Jahvist and Elohist documents. According to historian J.M. Robertson, Astruc died without the sacraments. D. 1766.