W. H. Auden (1907 - 1973)

W.H. Auden was a British poet, author and playwright best known as a leading literary figure in the 20th century for his poetry. Known for his chameleon-like ability to write poems in almost every verse form, Auden’s travels in countries torn by political strife influenced his early works. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. […]

W.T. Grace (1907 - 1989)

Founder of Helen Grace Candy. He began his career as a candy assistant.  Family links:  Parents:  James Grace (1865 – 1913)  Mary Della Fisher Luten (1878 – 1969)  Spouse:  Helen Grace (1914 – 2002)  Siblings:  Leona Brook Fraseur (1896 – 1960)**  James Grace (1902 – 1902)**  James R Grace (1904 – 1923)*  India Grace Sax […]

Wade Dominguez (1966 - 1998)

Wade Dominguez (May 10, 1966 – August 26, 1998) was an American actor, model, singer, and dancer best known for his role as Emilio Ramírez in Dangerous Minds. Wade Dominguez was born in Santa Clara County, California in 1966, and graduated from Live Oak High School, Morgan Hill. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting […]

Wade Hampton McCree, Jr (1920 - 1987)

Wade Michael Page (1971 - 2012)

Following emergency calls around 10:25 a.m. CDT, police responded to a shooting at a Sikh gurdwara located in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. On arrival, they engaged the gunman, later identified as Wade Michael Page, who had shot several people at the temple, killing six. Page wounded an officer; after being shot in the stomach by another, […]

Wahoo McDaniel (1938 - 2002)

Wahoo McDaniel Wahoo McDaniel, who capitalized on his American Indian heritage as a football player and then a professional wrestler, died last Thursday at a hospital in Houston. He was 63. McDaniel was on the waiting list to receive a kidney when he died because of complications arising from renal failure, the National Football League […]

Wail al-Shehri (1973 - 2001)

Wail al-Shehri was born on 31 July 1973 in Khamis Mushait, Asir Province, Saudi Arabia, the older brother of Waleed al-Shehri. The al-Shehri family strictly followed Wahhabism, and they did not allow for Wail to listen to music, have contact with girls, use the Internet, or use the television. In 1999 Wail graduated from the […]

Wäinö Valdemar Aaltonen (1894 - 1966)

Sculptor. As a young man he studied painting for five years at the School of Drawing of the Turku Art Association in Turku, Findland, but as a sculptor he was largely self-taught. Working in bronze and stone, occasionally incorporating glass, he developed a naturalistic style, with some influence of Cubism, which he had encountered during […]

Waite Hoyt (1899 - 1984)

Waite Hoyt was born in Brooklyn, New York to Addison and Louise Benedum Hoyt and attended Erasmus Hall High School. Despite being a Dodgers fan, he was signed to a professional contract by New York Giants manager John McGraw when he was but 15. Because of his extreme youth, he was immediately nicknamed “The Schoolboy […]

Waldemar Kmentt (1929 - 2015)

Waldemar Kmentt (Wien, 2 February 1929 – Ibidem, 21 January 2015) was an Austrian operatic tenor, who was particularly associated with the German repertory, both opera and operetta. Born in Vienna, Kmentt studied at the Vienna Music Academy, first the piano, and later voice with Adolf Vogel, Elisabeth Radó and Hans Duhan. In 1950, he sang […]

Waleed al-Shehri (1978 - 2001)

Studying to become a teacher like his brother, Wail, Waleed al-Shehri was from ‘Asir province, a poor region in southwestern Saudi Arabia that borders Yemen. Since Shehri’s family adhered to the Wahhabi school of Islam, he grew up in a very conservative household. His family did not have satellite television or internet and he was […]

Walker Percy (1916 - 1990)

Walker Percy was born in 1916 in Birmingham, Alabama, as the first of three boys to LeRoy Pratt Percy and Martha Susan Phinizy. His father’s Mississippi Protestant family included his great-uncle LeRoy Percy, a U.S. Senator, and LeRoy Pope Percy, a Civil War hero. In February 1917, Percy’s grandfather committed suicide. This seemed to set […]

Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones (1970 - 1970)

US Olympic Gold Medalist, Professional Basketball Player. He was a member of the 1948 US Basketball Gold Medal Squad. Born Wallace Clayton Jones, he attended Harlan High School in Kentucky and played collegiate basketball and football at the University of Kentucky. While with the Wildcats, Jones had the distinction of playing for two legendary coaches. […]

Wallace Beery (1885 - 1949)

Wallace Beery In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on Broadway […]

Wallace Carothers (1896 - 1937)

After receiving his Ph.D., Wallace Carothers stayed at the University of Illinois for two years as an instructor in organic chemistry. In 1926 Carothers moved to Harvard University. In 1927, DuPont decided to fund fundamental, pure research: research not deliberately aimed at the development of a money-making product. Carothers traveled to Wilmington, Delaware, to discuss the possibility […]

Wallace Ford (1898 - 1966)

Following military service as a trooper at Fort Riley, in Kansas with the United States Army Cavalry during World War I, he became a vaudeville stage actor in an American stock company. In 1919, he performed in an adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s Seventeen, which played to full houses in Chicago for several months, before transferring […]

Wallace Lloyd Algie (1891 - 1918)

He was born on 10 June 1891 at Alton, Ontario, the son of James and Rachel Algie who resided at 1155 King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Wallace was brought up by his parents in the Presbyterian faith. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada. Prior to April 1916 he served as a lieutenant […]

Wallis Simpson (1896 - 1986)

Wallis, Duchess of Windsor (previously Wallis Simpson and Wallis Spencer, born Bessie Wallis Warfield; 19 June 1896 – 24 April 1986) was an American socialite. Her third husband, Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, abdicated his throne to marry her.  Wallis’s father died shortly after her birth, and she and her widowed […]

Wally Albright (1925 - 1999)

Actor.  As a child performer of the 1930s, he is best remembered for his brief stint as Wally in Hal Roach’s “Our Gang” (aka “The Little Rascals”) films.  Born Walton Algernon Albright, Jr. in Burbank, California, he made his acting debut at age four. He was naturally blond but his trademark tousled locks depended on […]

Wally Brown (1904 - 1961)

Vaudeville, radio, motion picture, television actor and comedian. He was part of the comedy team “Brown and Carney” (Alan Carney) in a number of films in the 1940s. Played the role of Mr. Hopkins in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Notorious” (1946). (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Wally Cassell (1912 - 2015)

Wally Casell (March 3, 1912 – April 2, 2015), born as Oswaldo Silvestri Trippilini Rolando Vincenza Castellano, was an Italian-born American film-noir character actor and businessman. Castellano was born in Agrigento, Sicily, and moved with his family to the United States when he was two years of age. He began his film career in 1942, initially […]

Wally Cox (1924 - 1973)

In 1949, Wally Cox appeared on the CBS network-radio show Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, to the great amusement of host Godfrey. The first half of his act was a monologue in a slangy, almost-mumbled punk-kid characterization, telling listeners about his friend Dufo: “What a crazy guy.” The gullible oaf Dufo would take any dares and […]

Wally Herbert (1934 - 2007)

Walter Herbert was born into an army family in England who emigrated to Egypt on assignment when he was three. They moved on to South Africa for nine years. He studied at the Royal School of Military Survey, then spent 18 months surveying in Egypt and Cyprus. He travelled back to England through Turkey and […]

Walt Arfons (1916 - 2013)

Walter Charles “Walt” (Poppy) Arfons (December 10, 1916 – June 4, 2013) was the half brother of Art Arfons, his former partner in drag racing, and his competitor in jet-powered land speed record racing. Along with Art, he was a pioneer in the use of aircraft jet engines for these types of competition. Walt Arfons was […]

Walt Barnes (1918 - 1998)

Barnes earned his nickname of “Piggy” from catching a piglet when a boy. Playing football at Parkersburg High School, he was on the unbeaten 1938 team and played in the 1939 North-South Game. Following military service in the United States Army in World War II as a Army Sergeant he enrolled in Louisiana State University […]

Walt Bellamy (1939 - 2013)

Bellamy chose to play basketball at Indiana University. “In the summer after my junior year of high school I played with some guys from Indiana,” he said. “Indiana at the time was the closest school to the South that would accept African-Americans. It was an easy transition for me to make. Not that I was […]

Walt Hazzard (1942 - 2011)

Walt Hazzard attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where his teams went 89-3 and he was named the city’s player of the year when he was a senior. Hazzard then went on to UCLA, where he became an important player on the varsity basketball team. In Hazzard’s first season on the varsity squad, the […]

Walt Kelly (1913 - 1973)

Walt Kelly began a series of comic books based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes along with annuals celebrating Christmas and Easter for Dell Comics. Kelly seems to have written or co-written much of the material he drew for the comics; his unique touches are easily discernible. He also produced a series of stories based […]

Walt Kuhn (1880 - 1949)

Artist. Well known for his works “The Blue Clown,” “The White Clown,” and “Juggler.” He also wrote and produced the motion picture “Walt Kuhn’s Adventure in Art.” (bio by: Laurie)

Walt Whitman (1819 - 1892)

Walter “Walt” Whitman (/ˈhwɪtmən/; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. […]