Bill Nunn (1952 - 2016)

Bill Nunn Bill Nunn, a versatile actor best known for playing the role of Radio Raheem, the boombox-toting neighborhood philosopher killed by police officers in Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing,” died on Saturday in Pittsburgh. He was 63. His death was announced on social media by Mr. Lee. His wife, Donna, told […]

Bill Paxton (1955 - 2017)

Bill Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray) and John Lane Paxton. His father was a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and occasional actor. His mother was Roman Catholic, and he and his siblings were raised in her faith. Paxton was in the crowd when President […]

Bill Plager (1945 - 2016)

William Ronald “Bill” Plager (July 6, 1945 – January 3, 2016) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. Before playing in the NHL, Bill Plager played for the Peterborough Petes in Peterborough, Ontario, where he met his wife Donna Hickey. Plager started his National Hockey League career with the Minnesota North Stars in 1967. He also played […]

Bill Quinn (1912 - 1994)

Bill Quinn (May 6, 1912 – April 29, 1994) was an American actor.  Quinn appeared in more than 150 acting roles over seven decades, starting in the 1920s in silent films and ending in 1989 in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. He is best remembered as Archie’s blind friend, Mr. Van Ranseleer, in All […]

Bill Sharman (1926 - 2013)

Sharman completed high school in the Southern California city of Porterville, California. He served during World War II from 1944 to 1946 in the US Navy, and was a graduate of the University of Southern California. He played 1st base on the 1948 USC Trojan’s College World Series championship team. Following his senior year, Sharman […]

Bill Skowron (1930 - 2012)

Skowron was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was of Polish descent. His father was a garbage collector. After his grandfather gave the seven-year-old Skowron a haircut that looked like the dictator’s and his friends jokingly called him “Mussolini”, his family shortened the nickname to “Moose.” The name stuck throughout his career.  Skowron attended Weber High […]

Bill Thompson (1913 - 1971)

Born to vaudevillian parents, Bill Thompson began his career in Chicago radio, where his early appearances included appearances as a regular on Don McNeill’s morning variety series The Breakfast Club in 1934 and a stint as a choir member on the musical variety series The Sinclair Weiner Minstrels around 1937. While on the former series, […]

Bill Tilden (1893 - 1953)

William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed “Big Bill,” was an American male tennis player. He is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Tilden was the World No. 1 player for six years from 1920 through 1925. He won 15 Major singles titles including ten […]

Bill Travers (1922 - 1994)

Travers was born in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon-Travers. He and his sister Linden (1913–2001) both became actors. Linden’s daughter Susan Travers also became an actress.  William Ingle Linden-Travers enlisted as a Private in the British Army at the age of eighteen, a few months after […]

Bill Vukovich (1918 - 1955)

Before he began Indy racing, Vukovich drove midget cars for the Edelbrock dirt track racing team. He raced on the West Coast of the United States in the URA, and won the series’ 1945 and 1946 midget car championships. Vukovich won the 1948 Turkey Night Grand Prix at Gilmore Stadium, and six of the last […]

Bill Wirtz (1929 - 2007)

Bill Wirtz (via his stake in the Wirtz Corporation) was most notable as owner of the Chicago Blackhawks; Wirtz Realty, a large real estate owner in Chicago; and Judge & Dolph Ltd., a major liquor distributor selling over 33 percent of all liquor in Illinois. Wirtz Corp. also has interests in banking and insurance, and […]

Bill Withers (1938 - 2020)

Bill Withers Songwriter/singer/guitarist Bill Withers is best remembered for the classic “Lean on Me” and his other million-selling singles “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Use Me,” but he has a sizable cache of great songs to his credit. Al Jarreau recorded an entire CD of Withers‘ songs on Tribute to Bill Withers (Culture Press, 1998). His popular radio-aired LP track from Still Bill, “Who […]

Bill Young (1930 - 2013)

Young was born in Harmarville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in 1930. He had Irish, German, and Swiss ancestry. He grew up in a Pennsylvania coal town in a shotgun shack. His father abandoned the family and a flood washed away their home at age 6. An uncle had a hunting camp in Florida, so […]

Billie Allen (1925 - 2015)

Actress. A versatile performer, she is remembered as one of the first black artists to achieve success on Broadway and to have a regular role in a television series. Born Wilhelmina Louise Allen, she was raised in Richmond’s West End, attended local schools as well as Hampton University, and in 1943 moved to New York […]

Billie Allen (1925 - 2015)

Actress. A versatile performer, she is remembered as one of the first black artists to achieve success on Broadway and to have a regular role in a television series. Born Wilhelmina Louise Allen, she was raised in Richmond’s West End, attended local schools as well as Hampton University, and in 1943 moved to New York […]

Billie Bird (1908 - 2002)

American stage, motion picture, and television actress of the 1920s thru 1990s. She appeared in many top films, such as “Home Alone” (1990), and several classic TV series. She is remembered by the modern television audience for her role as ‘Mrs. Philbert’ on the 1980s series “Dear John.” Married to songwriter Edwin Sellen. (bio by: […]

Billie Burke (1884 - 1970)

American Stage and Motion Picture Actress. She is best remembered in the role of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, from the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the role of the scatterbrained Clara Topper, wife of stuffy banker Cosmo Topper, in the “Topper” series of films (1937-1941). She was married to […]

Billie Dove (1903 - 1997)

Billie Dove (May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997) was an American actress. Billie Dove was born Bertha Bohny in 1903 to Charles and Bertha (née Kagl) Bohny, Swiss immigrants. As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired as a teenager by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his […]

Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959)

Billie Holiday By early 1959 Holiday had cirrhosis of the liver. She stopped drinking on doctor’s orders, but soon relapsed. By May she had lost 20 pounds (9 kg). Friends Leonard Feather, Joe Glaser, and Allan Morrison unsuccessfully tried to get her to a hospital. On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in […]

Billie Mae Dinsmore Richards (1921 - 2010)

Actress. Known primarily for voice characterizations, she shall be remembered as the title lead in the 1964 television special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Raised in Toronto, she was dancing by age two and at five was appearing in a revue titled “The Merry Makers”. During World War II she joined the Royal Canadian Navy and […]

Billie Nelson Tyrrell (1970 - 1970)

American Actress, Memorabilia Collector. Born Billie Nelson on the east coast, the aspiring actress arrived in Hollywood during the early  1940s, where she met and married actor David Tyrrell. The couple became close friends with Hollywood luminaries of the era ranging from Margaret O’Brien to Jackie Coogan. In the 1940s, she starred in off-Broadway plays, […]

Billie Sol Estes (1925 - 2013)

Billie Sol Estes Estes was born January 10, 1925 to John and Lillian Estes on a farm near Clyde, Texas. He was one of six children. He did not attend college, but served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.  In the late 1950s, Estes was heavily involved in the Texas anhydrous ammonia […]

Billie Sol Estes (1925 - 2013)

Estes was born January 10, 1925 to John and Lillian Estes on a farm near Clyde, Texas. He was one of six children. He did not attend college, but served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.  In the late 1950s, Estes was heavily involved in the Texas anhydrous ammonia business. He produced […]

Billie Whitelaw (1932 - 2014)

Actress. Born Billie Honor Whitelaw, she was raised in Bradford, England. Her father died when Billie was ten years old, leaving her mother to support her family. Billie joined an area drama group and experienced her first radio performance at the age of eleven. In 1950, she marked her theater debut and during this period, […]

Billy “Mr. B” Eckstine (1914 - 1993)

Singer, Actor. Mr. “B” is often considered a ground breaker for black vocalists. He cut a swath through American before Nat “King” Cole came to the scene. He was one of the very first African American matinee idols, singing first with Earl “Fatha” Hines orchestra, then veering off with his own band. He appeared in […]

Billy Barty (1924 - 2000)

Barty co-starred with Mickey Rooney in the Mickey McGuire shorts, a comedy series of the 1920s and 1930s based on the Toonerville Folks comics. Small for his age even then, Barty would impersonate very young children alongside brawny authority figures or wild animals, making these threats seem even larger by comparison. In the 1933 film Gold […]

Billy Benedict (1917 - 1999)

Actor. He is best known as ‘Whitey’ in the “Bowery Boys” comedies. He was a newsboy and a plumber’s assistant before he entered films as a youngster in the mid-1930s. While in Los Angeles, he auditioned for a movie studio and was immediately hired for a seven-year contract. He played ‘Skinny’ in some of the […]

Billy Bevan (1887 - 1957)

Actor. Prolific stage and screen actor, with a career that spanned the 1910s thru 1950s. He appeared in Mack Sennett comedies during the silent era. Married for a time to actress Leona Roberts. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouse:  Leah Leona Kohn Bevan (1895 – 1952)  Children:  Joan R Harris Bevan Oaks (1921 – […]

Billy Bletcher (1894 - 1979)

Billy Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several Our Gang and The Three Stooges comedies. He was most famous as a voice actor. His voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone. Bletcher provided the voices of various characters for Walt Disney Pictures (Black Pete, Short Ghost […]

Billy Carter (1937 - 1988)

Born in Plains, Georgia, Carter attended Emory University in Atlanta but did not complete a degree. He served four years in the United States Marine Corps, then returned to Plains to work with his brother in the family business of growing peanuts. In 1955, he married Sybil Spires (born 1938), also of Plains. They were […]