Silva Barunaki Kaputikyan (1919 - 2006)

Poet, writer. Her first collection of poems was published in 1944, and she became a leader in the “new literature” movement of Armenian poetry, depicting the life of Armenian women and survivors of the genocide. Once married to fellow poet Hovhannes Shiraz, their marriage ended in divorce due to the clash of their two titanic […]

Silvana Mangano (1930 - 1989)

Born in Rome to an Italian father and an English mother (Ivy Webb from Croydon), Silvana Mangano lived in poverty caused by the Second World War. Trained for seven years as a dancer, she was supporting herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, Mangano won the “Miss Rome” beauty pageant and through this, she […]

Silvana Pampanini (1925 - 2016)

Silvana Pampanini (25 September 1925 – 6 January 2016) was an Italian film actress and director. She took part in the Miss Italy contest in 1946 and the following year she started her movie career. Pampanini was wrongly reported as Miss Rome of 1947. A caption in a 1952 newspaper said, “She is considered Italy’s all-time […]

Silvia Derbez (1932 - 2002)

Actress. Born in San Luis de Potosí,  Mexico,  Derbez made her 1947 film debut in “La Novia del Mar” (“Girlfriend of the Sea.”) The following year she was seen in a classic of Mexican cinema,  “Allá en el Rancho Grande.” During the 1950s she won equal fame for her work in theatre, cinema and television. […]

Simeon Brooks Armour (1828 - 1899)

Businessman. One of 5 Armours who developed Armor and Company Meat Packing. In 1871 John Plankington and Phillip Armour opened a small slaughterhouse in Kansas City. The company already had two large packinghouses, one in Milwaukee and one in Chicago.  John Plankington retired from Plankington & Armour in 1885 and Armour Brothers was organized.  Phillip […]

Simeon Singer (1970 - 1970)

Rabbi. Author of the standard prayer book used in British and Commonwealth synagogues since 1890.

Simon Blumenfeld (1907 - 2005)

Author and Dramatist. Throughout his 20’s and 30’s Blumenfeld wrote plays, and published four novels, of which the best known was “Jew Boy”, about the East End; it originally came out in the US as The Iron Garden in 1932, was published in Britain in 1935 and was republished over 50 years later. Simon’s famed […]

Simon Cadell (1950 - 1996)

Born in London, he was the son of theatrical agent John Cadell, grandson of the Scottish character actress Jean Cadell, the brother of the actress Selina Cadell and commercials director Patrick Cadell, the cousin of the actor Guy Siner and son-in-law of the television producer David Croft. He was educated at The Hall School in […]

Simon Gipps-Kent (1958 - 1987)

English Actor. He appeared in many West End plays, most notably Childe Byron and Betzi, as well as several Shakespearean roles. Film and television roles came in the likes of Quadrophenia, The Tomorrow People, Doctor Who, To Serve Them All My Days and Great Expectations. (bio by: Kieran Smith) Cause of death: morphine poisoning

Simon J. Michelson (1879 - 1938)

Founder of Michelson Jewelers. (bio by: Tim Crutchfield)

Simon Marks (1888 - 1964)

Business Magnate. Son of the co-founder of one of Britains leading department stores Marks & Spencer, which has shops the world over. It was Simon Marks, who in the 1920s introduced the famous “St. Michael” brand which is famously sold in Marks & Spencer stores. (bio by: Kieran Smith)  Family links:  Parents:  Michael Marks (1859 […]

Simon Marks (1888 - 1964)

Business Magnate. Son of the co-founder of one of Britains leading department stores Marks & Spencer, which has shops the world over. It was Simon Marks, who in the 1920s introduced the famous “St. Michael” brand which is famously sold in Marks & Spencer stores. (bio by: Kieran Smith)  Family links:  Parents:  Michael Marks (1859 […]

Simone Battle (1989 - 2014)

Battle made her television debut in 2006, having small roles on shows including Zoey 101 and Everybody Hates Chris. In 2010, Battle was a background dancer in the Cali Swag District music video “Teach Me How to Dougie”.  In 2011, Battle auditioned for the American singing competition The X Factor in front of judges Simon […]

Simone Berriau (1896 - 1984)

Actress,  Theater Producer. Raised in France, she moved to Morocco at 15, and soon married her first husband, a French Army colonel whose name she took. She made her theatrical debut at the Opera-Comique in a production of “Pelleas et Melisande” under the name Simone Berry. Thru the 1930s, she appeared in a dozen movies, […]

Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986)

French writer, philosopher, feminist. She has come to be seen as the mother of post-1968 feminism. Philosophical writings linked to Sartrian existentialism. Best known for her work The Second Sex (1949) which contained detailed analysis of women’s oppression. Other major works: The Guest (1943); Memoires d’une jeune fille rangŽe (1958).

Simone DeCavalcante (2024 - 1997)

Organized Crime Figure. Known as “Sam the Plumber,” he was the boss of the Mafia’s New Jersey based DeCavalcante Family (which is named after him) from the 1960s until the mid 1970s. In 1961, the FBI planted a listening device in the office of his plumbing company, and recorded him discussing criminal activities with other […]

Simone Mareuil (1903 - 1954)

Actress. She is unforgettable as the heroine of director Luis Bunuel’s Surrealist classic “Un Chien Andalou” (“An Andalusian Dog”, 1929). Its opening scene, which involves Mareuil, Bunuel,  and a freshly-sharpened straight razor,  is as shocking today as it was to its original Paris audiences.  Mareuil was born in Perigueux,  in the Dordogne region of France. […]

Simone Renant (1911 - 2004)

French Actress and Comedienne. Best known for starring in the original French version of “Dangerous Liasions” in 1959. She appeared in over 50 other films from 1935 to 1983. (bio by: Butterfly)

Simone Schaller (1912 - 2016)

Simone Schaller was born in Manchester, Connecticut, to a Swiss father and an Italian mother. Her family left Connecticut when Simone was seven and moved to Monrovia, California, because of her father’s asthma. She had one brother, born in Manchester, and two sisters, one born in Manchester and the other in California. Her father, originally […]

Simone Signoret (1921 - 1985)

Actress. Born Simone Kaminker to a Polish Jewish father and a French mother, when she began acting in 1941 she took her mother’s maiden name, Signoret.  She met and eventually married the director Yves Allégret with whom she had a daughter Catherine.  He helped to further her career by giving her roles in his films. […]

Simone Simon (1910 - 2005)

Born in Béthune, Pas-de-Calais (some sources say Marseille), France, she was the daughter of Henri Louis Firmin Champmoynat, a French Jewish engineer, airplane pilot in World War II, who died in a concentration camp, and Erma Maria Domenica Giorcelli, an Italian housewife. Before settling and growing up in Marseille, Simon lived in Madagascar, Budapest, Turin […]

Sinclair Lewis (1885 - 1951)

Sinclair Lewis’s earliest published creative work—romantic poetry and short sketches—appeared in the Yale Courant and the Yale Literary Magazine, of which he became an editor. After graduation Lewis moved from job to job and from place to place in an effort to make ends meet, write fiction for publication and to chase away boredom. While […]

Siobhán McKenna (1923 - 1986)

Actress. Abbey Theatre, also played Anna in “Dr. Zhivago.”  Family links:  Parents:  Eoghan Mac Cionnaith (1892 – 1967)  Mhaghréad O’Reilly Nic Cionnáith (____ – 1952)  Spouse:  Denis O’Dea (1905 – 1978)* *Calculated relationship

Sippie Wallace (1898 - 1986)

Sippie Wallace followed her brothers to Chicago in 1923 and worked her way into the city’s bustling jazz scene. Her reputation led to a recording contract with Okeh Records in 1923. Her first recorded songs, “Shorty George” and “Up the Country Blues”, the former written with her brother George, sold well enough to make her […]

Sir Alec Guinness (1914 - 2000)

Actor. He is best remembered for his role of ‘Colonel Nicholson’ in the motion picture “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” (1957), and for his role of ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ in the first three “Star Wars” films (1977 to 1983).  Despite many rumors to the contrary, he never spoke the words “May the Force be with […]

Sir Anthony Caro (1924 - 2013)

Caro was born in New Malden, England to a Jewish family and was the youngest of three children. When Caro was 3, his father, a stockbroker, moved the family to a farm in Churt, Surrey. Caro was educated at Charterhouse School where his housemaster introduced him to Charles Wheeler. In the holidays he studied at […]

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008)

Author. One of the most prolific science-fiction writers of the 20th Century, he wrote over 100 books on science-fiction and space, and was a commentator during the Apollo moon flights with Walter Cronkite. He battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and was occasionally confined to a wheelchair. Clarke moved to Sri Lanka in 1956. […]

Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury (1877 - 1947)

Sir Bernard Spilsbury was Britain’s leading Home Office pathologist during the early 20th Century. Spilsbury worked on such high profile cases as the Crippen murder, Siddon case, ‘Brides in the Bath’ murders, ‘Blazing car murder’ and the Mahon case. His interest in crime led to him being recognised as the greatest medical detective of all […]

Sir Bernard Lovell (1913 - 2012)

Lovell was born at Oldland Common, Bristol in 1913, the son of Gilbert and Emily Laura Lovell. His childhood hobbies and interests included cricket and music – mainly the piano. He attended Kingswood Grammar School, now King’s Oak Academy.  Lovell studied physics at the University of Bristol obtaining a bachelor of science degree in 1934, […]

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons (1854 - 1931)

Engineer, scientist and industrialist. Pioneer of turbine technology, founding the succesful company C. A. Parsons Ltd. based in Newcastle. Also invented the ‘auxetophone’ for amplifiynig double-basses, but this proved less popular and profitable. Died on his yacht in Jamaica. (bio by: David Conway)