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Suzanne Pleshette is born (1937). The husky-voiced actor is best known to mainstream audiences as Emily Hartley, Bob Newhart's wife on The Bob Newhart Show. She memorably reprised the role in the all-a-dream ending of the comedian's subsequent series, Newhart. Genre fans may most associate her with her role in Alfred Hitchock's The Birds. She was also a popular television guest star, which included such sci-fi series as The Invaders and The Wild Wild West. She appeared in a few comedies for Disney, such as Blackbeard's Ghost and The Shaggy D.A. (a sequel to The Shaggy Dog). Her distinctive voice can be heard in Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride and the English language version of Spirited Away. In the cult hit The Power, a telekinesis thriller, she costars with George Hamilton and Richard Carlson. Pleshette was born in New York City, New York, and died January 19, 2008.

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William Sylvester is born (1922). This American leading man appeared in numerous British films since 1949, including Gorgo (1959). He starred in several low-budget horror movies during the 1960s, such as The Devil Doll (1963), Devils of Darkness (1964) and The Hand of Night (aka The Beast of Morocco, 1966), and played “Dr. Heywood Floyd” in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Sylvester appeared in the made-for-television movie Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973) and the remake of Heaven Can Wait (1978), while as "Leonard Driscoll," he was a regular on the TV series Gemini Man (1976-77). Sylvester passed away on January 25, 1996.

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James Franciscus is born (1934). This handsome leading man played John Brent in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) and Clayton Stone in Marooned (1969). His other genre projects include When Time Ran Out . . . (1980), Killer Fish (1978), The Valley of Gwangi (1969) and Dario Argento's World of Horror (1985). Franciscus's television credits include two episodes of the original Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Summer Shade" and "Forty Detectives Later"), and installments of Ghost Story ("At the Cradle Foot") and the original Twilight Zone ("Judgement Night"). Franciscus, who died in 1991, was born in Clayton, Missouri.

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SCIFIpedia Timeline for January 31