Alla Nazimova (1879 - 1945)

Alla Nazimova’s theater career blossomed early; and by 1903 she was a major star in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. She toured Europe, including London and Berlin, with her boyfriend Pavel Orlenev, a flamboyant actor and producer. In 1905 they moved to New York City and founded a Russian-language theater on the Lower East Side. The […]

Alla Tarasova (1898 - 1973)

Actress. A preeminent Russian stage star of the Soviet era, famed for her six-decade association with the Moscow Art Theatre (MAT).  Alla Konstantinova Tarasova was born in Kiev, Ukraine. She was attracted to the theatre from childhood and caught the performing bug after seeing the MAT on tour in Kiev. In 1914 she moved to […]

Allan “Big Pete” Shields (1906 - 1975)

Allan Shields played in the longest game in NHL history. Montreal Maroons vrs. Detroit Red Wings, March 1936. In 1934 he was selected to the First NHL All-Star Team ever assembled. As an interesting side note, in 1930/31 he along with Syd Howe and Wally Kilrea were loaned from Ottawa to the Philadelphia Quakers to help liven […]

Allan Arbus (1918 - 2013)

Actor. He is best remembered for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the television series M*A*S*H. Born Allan Franklin Arbus to Jewish parents in New York City, New York, his father was a stockbroker. He developed an interest in acting when he won a part in a play at DeWitt Clinton High School […]

Allan Drake (1921 - 1986)

Actor. Born in Massachusetts, he was comedian best remembered for the role of Rodney Victor on the television comedy series “Sanford and Son”. He began his career as a standup comic appearing on the “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the 1950s. He soon became a popular figure on “The Jackie Gleason Show”, “The Dean Martin […]

Allan Dwan (1885 - 1981)

Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Allan Dwan,who was the younger son of commercial traveller of woolen clothing Joseph Michael Dwan (1857-1917) and his wife Mary Jane Dwan, nee Hunt, moved with his family to the United States when he was seven years old, on December 4, 1892 by ferry from Windsor to […]

Allan Edvall (1924 - 1997)

Swedish Actor, Writer, Director and Singer. A many talanted person, who had his major breakthrough as ‘Karlsson’ in the TV-series ”Hemsöborna” (1966), based on August Strindberg´s novel. He also was recognized for another Strindberg play, ”Röda Rummet”. He worked with director Ingmar Bergman, acted at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, and through the 1990s, […]

Allan Edwall (1924 - 1997)

Johan Allan Edwall (25 August 1924 – 7 February 1997) was a Swedish actor, director, author, composer and singer, best-known outside Sweden for the small roles he played in some of Ingmar Bergman’s films, such as Fanny and Alexander (1982). He found his largest audience in the Scandinavian countries for playing lovable characters in several […]

Allan Holdsworth (1946 - 2017)

Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British guitarist and composer. He released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played a variety of musical styles in a career spanning more than four decades, but is best known for his work in jazz fusion. Allan Holdsworth was known for his […]

Allan Jones (1907 - 1992)

Jones, of Welsh ancestry, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Pennsylvania. His father and grandfather were coal miners, and he worked in coal mines early in his adult life. He left that occupation to study voice at New York University.  In an interview in 1973, Jones recalled that his father and grandfather […]

Allan Lane (1909 - 1973)

Allan Lane was born as Harry Leonard Albershardt in Indiana to Linnie Anne and William H. Albershardt. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lane had been a photographer, model and stage actor by age 20. He was spotted by Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century Fox) talent scouts and was signed to a contract. […]

Allan Melvin (1923 - 2008)

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Richard and Marie Melvin and raised in New York City by his paternal grandparents, Frank and Helen (née Campbell) Melvin. He attended Columbia University. After graduation he served in the United States Navy during World War II and married his wife, Amalia Faustina Sestero, in March 1944 in New […]

Allan Pinkerton (1819 - 1884)

Detective. Born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Isabell and William Pinkerton, an ex-policeman removed from active service after an on duty injury. William died in a political riot in Glasgow, and Pinkerton left school to support his family, becoming a runner for a pattern maker. He then apprenticed as a […]

Allan Sherman (1924 - 1973)

Sherman was born in Chicago to Jewish American parents Percy Copelon and Rose Sherman. Percy was an auto mechanic and race car driver who, like his son, suffered from obesity (he weighed over 350 pounds), and died while attempting a 100-day diet. Sherman’s parents divorced when he was in grade school, and Allan adopted his […]

Allen Ellender (1890 - 1972)

Allen Ellender was appointed as the city attorney of Houma from 1913 to 1915, and then district attorney of Terrebonne Parish from 1915 to 1916. He was a sergeant in the United States Army Artillery Corps during World War I, serving from 1917 to 1918. Allen Ellender was a delegate to the Louisiana constitutional convention in […]

Allen Eugene Paulson (1922 - 2000)

Founder of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. Won many aviation related awards, including the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in 1987 and the Howard Hughes Award for Aviation in 1988, and holds many international speed records. He was also one of thoroughbred horse racing’s most successful owners and breeders.  (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouse:  Lola Irene […]

Allen H. Lockheed (1889 - 1969)

Aviation Pioneer. In 1911 he began designing aircraft and in 1916 Lockheed was co-founder of the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation with his brother Malcolm. In 1929 Lockheed developed the Lockheed Vega monoplane, built for the likes of Wiley Post and Amelia Earhart. That same year Lockheed retired from the company and gave full command to his […]

Allen Jenkins (1900 - 1974)

Allen Jenkins was born Alfred McGonegal on Staten Island, New York on April 9, 1900. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In his first stage appearance, he danced next to James Cagney in a chorus line for an off-Broadway musical called Pitter-Patter, earning five dollars a week. He also appeared in Broadway […]

Allen Ludden (1917 - 1981)

Allen Ludden, born Allen Packard Ellsworth, was the first child of Elmer Ellsworth, a Nebraska native living in Mineral Point, Wisconsin and working as an ice dealer; and his wife Leila M. Allen, a Wisconsin native and housewife. Elmer Ellsworth died the next winter at age 26, a victim of the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic, […]

Allen Schindler (1969 - 1992)

Schindler was from a naval family in Chicago Heights, Illinois and was serving as a radioman on the amphibious assault ship USS Belleau Wood in Sasebo, Nagasaki. According to several of his friends, Schindler had complained repeatedly of anti-gay harassment to his chain of command in March and April 1992, citing incidents such as the gluing-shut […]

Allen Welsh Dulles (1893 - 1969)

US Diplomat, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director. He was the first civilian Director of the CIA and served in that position from February 1953 until November 1961, its longest-serving director as of 2014. He is considered one of the essential creators of the modern US intelligence system and was an indispensable guide to clandestine operations […]

Allison Hayes (1930 - 1977)

Allison Hayes was born Mary Jane Hayes to William E. Hayes (1880–1959) and Charlotte Gibson Hayes (1893–1977) in Charleston, West Virginia. She was in the class of 1948 at Calvin Coolidge High School. Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia. She went on to represent D.C. in the 1949 Miss America pageant. Although […]

Alma Bella (1910 - 2012)

Actress. A Filipina starlet who got her start in silent films, she was perhaps her country’s leading movie sex kitten for a generation. Born to a family of wealth and position, she was drawn to the stage after attending a London performance of “Hamlet” at 17. Alma made her silver screen debut in the 1932 […]

Alma Bennett (1904 - 1958)

Actress. She appeared in 56 films between 1919 and 1930, typically as alluring vamps. Her best films are the early sci-fi classic “The Lost World” (1925), and the Harry Langdon comedy “Long Pants” (1927). Bennett’s other credits include “The Affairs of Anatol” (1921), “The Silent Lover” (1926), and “Girl Crazy” (1929). Her career ended with […]

Alma Kruger (1970 - 1960)

Actress. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she began her career performing on Broadway in 1907 and made her screen debut in “These Three” (1936). A veteran of more then forty films during the 1930s and 1940s, her credits included “Craig’s Wife” (1936), “The Great Waltz” (1938), “His Girl Friday” (1940), “Saboteur” (1942), “Babes on Swing Street” […]

Alma Leonor Beltran (1919 - 2007)

Actress. She appeared in over 90 television and motion picture roles, spanning a career of nearly 60 years in the entertainment industry. She began her acting career in the 1945 motion picture “Pan-Americana,” playing the uncredited role of Miss Guatemala. Over the next several years she would appear in several more non credited acting roles […]

Alma Leonor Martinez Beltran (1919 - 2007)

Actress. She appeared in over 90 television and motion picture roles, spanning a career of nearly 60 years in the entertainment industry. She began her acting career in the 1945 motion picture “Pan-Americana,” playing the uncredited role of Miss Guatemala. Over the next several years she would appear in several more non credited acting roles […]

Alma Muriel (1951 - 2014)

Actress. A typecast villainess of the Mexican big and small screens, she shall be remembered for her award-winning roles on multiple television soaps. Raised in her country’s capital, she had early show business ambitions, made her 1969 silver screen bow in “Lio de faldas”, and that same year was seen in the television series “Rosario”. […]

Alma Reville (1899 - 1982)

Alma Reville was born in Nottinghamshire, the second daughter of Matthew Edward and Lucy Reville (née Owen). The family moved to London when Reville was young, as her father got a job at Twickenham Film Studios; Reville often visited her father at work and eventually got a job there as a tea girl. At 16, […]

Alma Rubens (1897 - 1931)

Actress. She is remembered for a prolific albeit drug shortened career in silent features. Born Alma Rueben, not Genevieve Driscoll as stated by some sources, to a mixed Irish-German family, she hooked-up with a local theatrical troupe while still a young girl and made her initial stage appearance when the group needed a fill-in for […]