Born. To Jean-Louis Trintignant, 43, low-keyed French actor who starred in A Man and a Woman, Z, My Night at Maud's and The Conformist, and Nadine Trintignant, 38, film writer (It Only Happens to Others) and director: their third child, first son; in Paris. Name: Vincent. His birth coincides with the premiere of his mother's most recently directed film, Forbidden to Know, which stars his father and features his 11-year-old sister Marie.

Engaged. Kathleen Kennedy, 22, oldest of the late Robert F. Kennedy's eleven children and a senior studying American history and literature at Radcliffe College; and David Lee Townsend, 25, doctoral candidate in English and American literature at Harvard who tutored her in Southern writers. Kennedy and Townsend are such Mark Twain fans that in the summer of '72 they recruited three friends to help build a raft and ride the Mississippi for 21 days in Huck Finn style.

Married. Patricia McBride, 30, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet since 1961; and Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, 30, a principal with the same company since 1970 and a former star of the Paris Opera Ballet; both for the first time. McBride and Bonnefous were married in the Saone-et-Loire church of Notre Dame de La Clayette, where Bonnefous' father and grandfather were also married.

Died. Albert Nicholas, 73, one of the last and best Creole-style clarinetists from the early days of New Orleans jazz; following surgery; in Basel, Switzerland. Nicholas grew up alongside such greats as Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, in whose band he later played. In the 1950s, Nicholas followed other American musicians to Europe and settled in jazz-hungry Paris, playing and touring with the Dutch Swing College Band.

Died. John Ford, 78, director of more than 100 films and winner of four Oscars (see SHOW BUSINESS).

Died. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, 81, creative mythologer and author of the immensely popular The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit (see BOOKS).

Died. Shirali Mislimov, 168, a Caucasian herdsman regarded in the Soviet Union as the oldest man alive; in Barzavu, U.S.S.R. Mislimov, who neither smoked nor drank, and existed largely on a diet of chicken broth, cheese and curded milk, is survived by his 107-year-old third wife and 219 other family members, including a grandchild aged 100.

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