Decimus Burton (1800 - 1881)

Architect. He was responsible for planning the layout in 1825 of Hyde Park in London. He studied under the tutorship of his father James Burton (1761-1837) and then John Nash for whom he elaborated on the designs of Cornwall Terrace, facing London’s Regents Park. He was also a noted garden designer in the classical style […]

René Burri (1933 - 2014)

Photographer. He photographed almost all the wars and crises and many of the movers and shakers of the last sixty years, with many of his photographs becoming iconic. Many of his colleagues considered him the last great photojournalist of the twentieth century. He worked for Magnum Photos and became a full member in 1959. In […]

Edward Burra (1905 - 1976)

Artist. He is best known for his surreal paintings of urban subcultures.  Burra also designed the costumes and sets for many ballet productions, including “The ABC of Theatre” (1932), “Rio Grande” (1932), “Barabau” (1936), “Miracle of the Gorbals” (1944), “Carmen” (1947), “Don Juan” (1948) and “Don Quixote” (1950). In his later years he focused on […]

Silas Reese Burns (1855 - 1940)

American Architect. Burns graduated with a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1875. From 1881 through 1907, he was a partner in the firm of Peters and Burns of Dayton, Ohio, which specialized in institutional and educational buildings. He moved to Los Angeles in 1907 and three years later, formed a partnership with […]

Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846 - 1912)

Architect. Known as”The Father of American City Planning”, he is best remembered for his direction of the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1892 to 1893, and for designing several famous buildings, including the New York City, New York’s Flatiron Building and the Postal Square Building in Washington, DC.  Born in Henderson, New York and raised in […]

Havis Olson Davenport (1933 - 1975)

Actress. She made her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954) followed by “Scandal Incorporated” (1956) and “Casey Jones” (1957). She also appeared on the television series “The George Sanders Mystery Theater”, “The O. Henry Playhouse”, “The Adventures of Jim Bowie” and retired from acting in 1957. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)

Philip Burne-Jones (1861 - 1926)

Painter of portraits & figure subjects. Son of painter Edward Coley Burne-Jones, his portraits included such personages as Rayleigh, Kipling & G.F. Watts. His best known painting is A Vampire(1897). He also made some book illustrations. (bio by: Connie Nisinger)  Family links:  Parents:  Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833 – 1898)  Sibling:  Christopher Burne-Jones (____ – 1864)* […]

Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833 - 1898)

Artist. Born in Birmingham, he was the son of Edward, a frame-maker and gilder, and Elizabeth, who died within days of his birth. He was raised by his father and a housekeeper. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford, he originally studied theology and intended to go into the Church. But a visit to France in 1855 […]

Edward Loomis Davenport (1815 - 1877)

Stage actor in the 1800s. He is best known for his roles as ‘Hamlet’,  ‘Brutus’ in “Julius Caesar”, and ‘Sir Giles Overreach’ in “A New Way to Pay Old Debt”s. He began acting in 1836 and starred on the stage in the United States and England.  He is the father of actors Edgar, Harry and […]

William Burn (1789 - 1870)

Architect. Burn was born in Edinburgh. He was the son of another famous architect, Robert Burn. He worked in London and Edinburgh during his career. Burn was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style, perfected by his pupil David Bryce (1803-76). He designed many Scottish churches, public buildings and country houses, including Blairquhan Castle, South […]

Francis Boucher Franklin Burgess (1868 - 1935)

Architect.  He is known for building Cedar Grove, using late-Federal styling.  Popular from about 1800 to 1860, the house is of interest for several reasons. It is one of the very few substantial brick houses built between 1845 and 1880, a period experiencing extreme economic instability. The house is nearly unique in that the two-part […]

Jane O’Brien Dart (1918 - 2009)

Actress. She appeared in around twenty movies in the late 1930s, then later helped persuade her friend Ronald Reagan to enter politics. Raised in Los Angeles, she was signed to a Warner Brothers contract in 1936, and performed in the 1937 “Marked Woman”; her most acclaimed role was as Paul Muni’s doomed mistress in the […]

James Bunstone Bunning (1802 - 1863)

Architect of Holloway Prison and Billingsgate Market. Helped lay out Highgate Cemetery.

Joseph Bulova (1970 - 1935)

Businessman, Manufacturer. He founded the J. Bulova Watchmaking Company, which is today the highly successful Bulova Watch Company.  Family links:  Spouse:  Bertha Bulova (1862 – 1943)*  Children:  Hannah Bulova (1887 – 1971)*  Arde Bulova (1889 – 1958)*  Emily B Bulova Henshel (1892 – 1989)*  Stella Bulova (1894 – 1912)* *Calculated relationship

Jean Darling (1922 - 2015)

Jean Darling Child star of the Our Gang comedies who went on to perform as an adult in Broadway musicals and radio shows The popularity of the long-running Our Gang series of comedy shorts (1922-44), created by the producer Hal Roach, which followed the adventures of a group of poor urban children, made unlikely film […]

Clarence Sinclair Bull (1896 - 1979)

Photographer. As head of MGM’s Stills Department from 1924 to 1960, he pioneered celebrity portraiture with his alluring, mysteriously-lit images. Bull was Greta Garbo’s favorite photographer and she posed for him almost exclusively for most of her career. His other famous subjects included Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, and Grace […]

Charles Bulfinch (1763 - 1844)

Architect. He was the first native-born professional architect in the United States. Important commissions include the Connecticut State House in Hartford (1793 to 1796), the Massachusetts State House in Boston (1795 to 1797), Saint Stephen’s Church in Boston (1802 to 1804), and the Maine State House in Augusta (1829 to 1832). In 1818, he was […]

Charles Bulfinch (1763 - 1844)

Architect. He was the first native-born professional architect in the United States. Important commissions include the Connecticut State House in Hartford (1793 to 1796), the Massachusetts State House in Boston (1795 to 1797), Saint Stephen’s Church in Boston (1802 to 1804), and the Maine State House in Augusta (1829 to 1832). In 1818, he was […]

Bebe Daniels (1901 - 1971)

Bebe Daniels Actress. She was a child star, having acted in the Shakespearian play ‘Richard III’ onstage at four years old, earning her first leading part at the age of seven, and starting her movie career at nine years old in 1910. One of her earliest roles was that of Dorothy in the oldest known […]

Beniamino Benevento Bufano (1890 - 1970)

Sculptor. Born in San Fele, Italy, he was a skilled artist known for his unique designs in sculpture. As a child, he moved with his family to New York City, was educated by private tutors and went on to study art at the New York Art Students League in 1913. He developed his craft on […]

Marjorie Lyman Henderson Buell (1904 - 1993)

Cartoonist. A native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was born Marjorie Lyman Henderson. She is best remembered for being the creator of cartoon characters ‘Little Lulu’ and her friends including ‘Tubby.’ At the age of 16, she had her first cartoon published. In 1934, she was hired by The Saturday Evening Post as a cartoonist and […]

Dorothy Jean Dandridge (1922 - 1965)

Filippo Brunelleschi (1970 - 1446)

Brunelleschi was an archietect/sculptor who built the dome for the cathedral in Florence.

Constantino Brumidi (1805 - 1880)

Artist. Many biographers refer to him as the “Michelangelo of the Capitol.” He grew up in Rome and studied at the Italian Academy of Arts. During the French occupation of Italy he was 47 years of age and decided it was time to immigrate to the United States. He settled in New York City and […]

Joseph Goldsborough Bruff (1804 - 1889)

Artist. Historian. In the 1840s, he worked for the United States Bureau of Topographical Engineers where he created many of the maps used by the United States government, including maps of battle sites from the war with Mexico. In 1849, he was among the “49ers” who headed west during the California Gold Rush. He was […]

Pieter Brueghel, the Elder (1970 - 1569)

Artist. South-Netherlandish painter and father of Jan Bruegel. His contemporaries dubbed him ‘Boeren-Bruegel’ (Farmers-Bruegel) for his skillful sketches of country-life, a nickname that does not do justice to either his work nor his talent. He was an apprentice of Pieter Coecke van Aelst, whose daughter Mayken he later married. He spent some time in France […]

Charles DeWolf Brownell (1822 - 1909)

Artist.  He was raised in Connecticut and became an attorney in 1843.  In the early 1850s an illness led Brownell to give up practicing law for a career as a painter.  In 1854 he received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Hartford’s Trinity College.  After several years of study, in 1860 Brownell established a […]

Dik Browne (1917 - 1989)

Cartoonist. Born Richard Arthur Allan Browne, he was a popular comic artist best known for his newspaper comic strip characters. While serving in the US Army, he began producing work for the Engineer Corps and created a comic strip about The Woman’s Army Corps titled, ” Jenny Jeep”. In the 1940s, he worked as an […]

Augusta Dabney (1918 - 2008)

Actress. Born in Berkeley, California, she is best known to television audiences for her roles in numerous soap operas including, “As the World Turns”, “The Guiding Light”, “General Hospital”, “Another World” and “Loving”. She began her career on the Broadway stage and would appear in the productions, “Another Love Story”, “The Playroom” and “Everything in […]

Lancelot “Capability” Brown (1970 - 1783)

Famed British landscape designer. He served as head gardener at Stowe before moving to London in 1751. He then purchased a small estate at Fenstanton and Hilton in 1767, later acquiring the manor of Fenstanton in 1770. His work is still thriving today across the country at many of the most famous estates in the […]