Frank Hans Johnston (1888 - 1949)

Artist. He was one of the original members of the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933 that also included Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. He was born Francis Hans Johnston on June 19, 1888 in Toronto, Ontario, […]

Frank Hardart, Sr (1850 - 1918)

Businessman. In 1858, his family emigrated from Bavaria to New Orleans, where, at 13, he learned the French-drip method of brewing coffee while working at a lunch counter. In 1886, Hardart answered an advertisement for a restaurant partner placed by Philadelphian  Joseph V. Horn and became his partner. Hardart’s introduction of French-drip coffee is generally […]

Frank Hatch (1970 - 1938)

Actor. A writer, director and performer on Broadway, some of his appearances in original productions were “The Countess Chiffon” ((1900), “Lover’s Lane” (1901), “The Fatted Calf” (1912), and “The Octoroon” (1929). He directed “Life” (1914) and “The Land of the Free” (1917). (bio by: Ginny M)

Frank Hurley (1885 - 1962)

Frank Hurley was the third of five children to parents Edward and Margaret Hurley and was raised in Glebe, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. He ran away from home at the age of 13 to work on the Lithgow steel mill, returning home two years later to study at the local technical school and attend […]

Frank J. Callier (1883 - 1971)

Internationally renowned violin maker. Known as the “Stradivari of his day.” (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Frank James (1843 - 1915)

Frank James was born Alexander Franklin James in Kearney, Missouri, to Baptist minister Reverend Robert Sallee James and his wife Zerelda (Cole) James, who had moved from Kentucky. He was the oldest of three children. His father died in 1851 and his mother remarried Benjamin Simms in 1852. After his death she married a third […]

Frank Keenan (1858 - 1929)

Frank Keenan (April 8, 1858 – February 24, 1929) was an American stage and film actor and stage director and manager during the silent film era. He was among the first stage actors to star in Hollywood, and he pursued work in film features a number of years. Born in Dubuque, Iowa, Keenan acquired his […]

Frank Kelly Freas (1922 - 2005)

Illustrator. Former Mad Magazine illustrator who shaped the image of Alfred E. Newman then became a prolific and influential illustrator of sleek, stirring images for science fiction and fantasy books. Born in Hornell, New York, he demonstrated artistic talent at an early age. During Word War II service in the Pacific theater while assigned to […]

Frank King (1883 - 1969)

Cartoonist. He is remembered for his cartoon strip “Gasoline Alley” which first appeared in November 1918 and continues to run in syndicated newspapers to this day, and is currently is the second longest running comic strip in the US. Born Frank Oscar King, his father was a mechanic and at the age of for, he […]

Frank Lautenberg (1924 - 2013)

Lautenberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey, to Mollie (née Bergen) and Sam Lautenberg, impoverished Jewish immigrants from Poland and Russia, who had arrived in the United States as infants. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Frank Bergen, and close family friend and Paterson community activist, Raleigh Weintrob.  When Lautenberg was 19, his father […]

Frank Lloyd (1886 - 1960)

Frank William George Lloyd (2 February 1886 – 10 August 1960) was a Scottish-American film director, scriptwriter and producer. He was among the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was its president from 1934-35. Frank Lloyd was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother Jane was Scottish and his father Edmund was […]

Frank Marth (1922 - 2014)

Frank Marth (July 29, 1922 – January 12, 2014) was an American film and television actor. He may be best known as a cast-member of Cavalcade of Stars (1949; 1950–1957), especially segments of The Honeymooners, which later became a television series (1955–56). Tall and fair-haired, Marth, often in tandem with the short, dark-haired George O. Petrie, […]

Frank McErlane (1894 - 1932)

Organized Crime Figure. Chicago gangster of the bootlegging 1920s. Credited with being the first to use a submachine gun in gang warfare. He was thought to be one of the machine gunners in the St. Valentines Day massacre of 1929, Chicago, Illinois.

Frank McHugh (1898 - 1981)

Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, Frank McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents ran a stock theatre company and as a young child he performed on stage. His brother Matt and sister Kitty performed an act with him by the time he was ten years old, but the family quit the stage about 1930. Another […]

Frank Morgan (1890 - 1949)

Frank Morgan “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” exclaimed beloved character actor Frank Morgan during a key moment in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) and his beautifully conveyed expression of embarrassment and desperation perfectly exemplified the capacity he displayed in so much of his work. He first established himself on stage, making […]

Frank Morgan Cavett (1905 - 1973)

Motion Picture Screenwriter. He  authored eleven motion pictures screenplays including those for “Forsaking All Others,” “The Corn is Green” and “Across the Wide Missouri.” He was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, and won for “The Greatest Show on Earth,” and “Going My Way.”  Family links:  Parents:  Charles Dawes Cavett (1865 – 1939) […]

Frank Nitti (1888 - 1943)

Organized Crime Figure. The number 2 man for famed gangster Al Capone, he was born about 1883 in Italy. He started as a barber, but became involved in the Chicago gang started by Capone when he was asked to fence some stolen jewelry. He quickly became a favorite of Capone by his ability to do […]

Frank Norris (1870 - 1902)

Frank Norris’s work often includes depictions of suffering caused by corrupt and greedy turn-of-the-century corporate monopolies. In The Octopus: A California Story, the Pacific and Southwest Railroad is implicated in the suffering and deaths of a number of ranchers in Southern California. At the end of the novel, after a bloody shootout between farmers and […]

Frank O’Connor (1881 - 1959)

Born on April 11, 1881, in New York City, Frank O’Connor would begin his film career with a starring role in the 1915 silent film, The Voice in the Fog, which also starred Donald Brian and Adda Gleason. He starred or had featured roles in six more films between 1917 and 1920, before focusing on […]

Frank Orth (1880 - 1962)

By 1897, Frank Orth was performing in vaudeville with his wife, Ann Codee, in an act called “Codee and Orth”. In 1909, he expanded into song writing, with songs such as “The Phone Bell Rang” and “Meet Me on the Boardwalk, Dearie”. His first contact with motion pictures was in 1928, when he was part […]

Frank Parker (1916 - 1997)

Frank Parker is one of the few Americans to win both the French Championships (1948, 1949) and the U.S. Championships (1944, 1945). Parker became the singles champion at Cincinnati, then called the Tri–State Tennis Tournament in 1941 and was a four-time singles finalist (1932, 1933, 1938, 1939). He won the Canadian title in 1938. He was […]

Frank Pellegrino (1944 - 2017)

Frank Joseph Pellegrino (May 19, 1944 – January 31, 2017) was an American actor and restaurateur. Born in East Harlem, Frank Pellegrino has often acted in law and gangster-themed film and television productions. He was a member of an early 1960s singing group called the Holidaes. Notable acting roles include Johnny Dio in Goodfellas, assorted appearances […]

Frank Reicher (1875 - 1965)

Frank Reicher was born in Munich, Germany, the son of actor Emanuel Reicher  and Hedwig Kindermann, a popular German prima donna who was a daughter of the famous baritone August Kindermann. Reicher’s parents divorced in 1881 and his mother died two years later while at Trieste. His sister, Hedwiga Reicher, would also become a Hollywood […]

Frank Rio (1895 - 1935)

Organized Crime Figure. Al Capone’s personal bodyguard, he was also known as “Frankie Cline” and “Slippery Frank” because he was good at avoiding trials. While dining with Capone in the Hawthorne Hotel in September 1926, Rio threw himself on top of Capone to protect him from machine gun fire during a drive-by shooting courtesy of […]

Frank Scalice (1893 - 1957)

Scalice was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1893, and later emigrated to the US, settling in The Bronx. He operated his business from the Little Italy area in the Bronx. He also lived and raised his family in the City Island section of the Bronx. He was involved in many crimes, and became Capo in […]

Frank Sinatra (1915 - 1998)

Frank Sinatra Baritone Frank Sinatra was indisputably the 20th century’s greatest singer of popular song. Though influenced by Bing Crosby’s crooning, and by learning from trombonist Tommy Dorsey’s breath control and blues singer Billie Holiday’s rhythmic swing, Frank Sinatra mainstreamed the concept of singing colloquially, treating lyrics as personal statements and handling melodies with the […]

Frank Sinatra Jr (1944 - 2016)

Frank Sinatra Jr Some sons run from their fathers. Others ride their fathers’ coattails. Frank Sinatra Jr., who died Wednesday of a heart attack at 72, charted an even rockier middle course. “I was never a success,” he told The Washington Post’s Wil Haygood in 2006. “Never had a hit movie or hit TV show or hit […]

Frank Storrs (1863 - 1939)

Published Theater programs and built movie theaters.  Family links:  Parents:  Nathan Strauss (1831 – 1905)  Siblings:  Rosa Strauss Hirschheimer (1859 – 1943)*  Frank Storrs (1863 – 1939)  Yetta Strauss Newbury (1869 – 1958)* *Calculated relationship

Frank Stringfellow Barr (1897 - 1982)

Educator. Barr taught modern European history at the University of Virginia (1924-1936). Barr became president in 1937 of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, and he inaugurated a revival of the traditional liberal arts course through a mandatory four-year program based on the study of some 100 classics, a curriculum similar to those at Columbia […]

Frank Swift Chase (1886 - 1958)

Artist.  He is remembered as a Post-Impressionist landscape painter and a founder of the Woodstock Artists Association in Woodstock, New York, and the Sarasota School of Art.  He grew up in modest comfort in Bauxite, Arkansas, where he attended public schools and while possessing mathematical skills, he did not attend college but worked as an […]