Vanna Bonta (1958 - 2014)

Vanna Bonta was born in the United States to Maria Luisa Bonta (née Ugolini), an artist from Florence, Italy, and James Cecil Bonta, a military officer from Kentucky. Her mother’s elder sister was Italian children’s author Lydia Ugolini. In 1995, Bonta’s first novel, Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel was published. Flight has been characterized as “inter-genre” […]

Vannie Higgins (1897 - 1932)

Organized Crime Figure. A veteran of the United States Navy, he rose to prominence by trafficking outlawed rum and other alcohol during the Prohibition Era. He was eventually shot by men of “Murder Inc” in 1932, on a street in Brooklyn, New York City, New York.

Varduhi Varderesyan (1928 - 2015)

Armenian Actress. Varderesyan was a well known actress in both film and the theater stage. She went to Armenia in 1946 and studied acting at the Leninakan Dramatical Theater.  Varderesyan worked at the theater until 1958 when she moved over to the Sundukyan Drama Theatre of Yerevan where she became a leading actress.   She […]

Vasili Blokhin (1895 - 1955)

Soviet Secret Police Commander. As chief executioner of Josef Stalin’s security forces (variously named the OGPU, NKVD and MGB) he supervised and participated in the mass killings of “enemies of the Soviet state” during the 1930s and 1940s. In 2010, Guinness World Records listed him as the “most prolific executioner” in history. Blokhin was born […]

Vasily Aksyonov (1932 - 2009)

Writer. He was a prolific Russian author best known for his novels critical of the Soviet system. He began his career writing for the Yunost (Youth) magazine in the 1950s and his first novel, “The Colleagues,” was published in 1959. In 1970s, Aksyonov with several other writers set up their own journal called Metropol, but […]

Vasily Alekseyev (1942 - 2011)

At the age of 18, Vasily Alekseyev began practicing weightlifting at Trud Voluntary Sports Society, trained by his coach Rudolf Plyukfelder until 1968, when he began to train solo. He was not a naturally large man like other super heavyweights but was encouraged to gain strength by adding weight. In January 1970 Alekseyev set his […]

Västgöta Bengtsson (1908 - 2000)

Ethnologist, Educator, Author. His name was Sixten Bengtsson, but to the people of Sweden, he was to be known as ”Västgöta-Bengtsson”. ”Västgöta” indicates the province of Västergötland where he throughout his life pursued research and documentation of peasant living, national characters, idioms and philology. He educated the people of Sweden on these subjects through TV, […]

Vaughan Glaser (1872 - 1958)

Character Actor. He was born in Ohio and died in Van Nuys (California). He appeared in over 25 films such as “What a Life” (1939), “A Girl From Avenue” (1940), “Meet John Doe” (1941), “Saboteur” (1942), “My Favorite Spy” (1942), “Shadow of a Doubt” (1943), “Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid” (1944), “Once Upon a Time” (1944) […]

Vaughn Harper (1945 - 2016)

Vaughn Harper played on the Orangemen squad as a starter from 1966 to 1968, as a sophomore he started in all but three games for Syracuse in the NCAA East Region tourney. Despite playing in only three varsity campaigns he is 10th on the Orangemen’s all-time rebounding chart. As a senior, Vaughn led the Orangemen […]

Veit Harlan (1899 - 1964)

German actor, film director and writer. He was married three times to different actress, the last Swedish actress Kristina Söderbaum. During the Nazi era in Germany, Harlan’s career flourished, and he notoriously made anti-Semitic propaganda films. After World War II he was charged and prosecuted several times for war crimes and crimes against humanity. (bio […]

Velma Barfield (1932 - 1984)

Velma Barfield was born in rural South Carolina, but grew up near Fayetteville, North Carolina. Her father reportedly was abusive and she resented her mother who did not intervene in the beatings. She escaped by marrying Thomas Burke in 1949. The couple had two children and were reportedly happy until Barfield had a hysterectomy and […]

Venus Ramey (1924 - 2017)

Venus Ramey became the first Miss America to run for public office, seeking a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives. She was wooed by Hollywood in 1947, but dissatisfied with show business, she returned home to her Eubank, Kentucky, tobacco farm (which she maintained for over 50 years) in Lincoln County, Kentucky. She married […]

Veola Vonn (1918 - 1995)

Actress. Born in New York City, she appeared in over 25 feature films from the 1930s to 1950s. Her credits included “Bars and Stripes” (1937), “Charlie Chan in City in Darkness” (1939), “Burma Cowboy” (1941), “My Favorite Spy” (1951), “Paris Playboys” (1954), “Spy Chasers” (1955) and “Lafayette Escadrille” (1958). For television, she appeared on “Colgate […]

Vera Brittain (1893 - 1970)

British pacifist, feminist, poet, and novelist. She was born at Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire. Her father, Thomas Brittain, was a wealthy paper manufacturer, and her mother Edith Bervon. Vera was educated at home by a governess, then at a boarding school in Surrey and finally at Somerville College, Oxford. In 1914 Vera met and fell […]

Věra Chytilová (1929 - 2014)

Věra Chytilová was born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia on 2 February 1929. She had a strict Catholic upbringing, which would later come to influence many of the moral questions presented in her films. While attending college, Chytilová initially studied philosophy and architecture, but abandoned these fields. She then worked as a draftsman, fashion model and as a […]

Véra Clouzot (1913 - 1960)

Actress.  The wife of French director Henri-Georges Clouzot,  she appeared in three of his films,  memorably as the would-be murderess with a heart condition in “Les Diaboliques” (1955).  Her other acting credits are “The Wages of Fear” (1953) and “The Spies” (1957),  and she cowrote the screenplay for Clouzot’s  “The Truth” (1960).  Vera Gibson-Amado was […]

Vera Ellen (1921 - 1981)

Vera-Ellen Westmeier Rohe was born in Norwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati, to Martin F. Rohe, a piano dealer, and Alma Catherine Westmeier, both descended from German immigrants. Her hyphenated name originated in her mother’s dream in which she had a daughter named “Vera-Ellen.” Vera Ellen began dancing at age 10 and quickly became proficient. (One […]

Vera Feodorovna Komissarzhevskaya (1864 - 1910)

Actress. Though her career started late and was brief, she is remembered as her country’s premier theatrical personality at the dawn of the 20th Century. The child of an opera singer father and a mother descended from a distinguished military family, she was raised in wealth and privilege, took to the stage early, at 19 […]

Vera Fuller Mellish (1970 - 1970)

Actress. She appeared in the film “The Beautiful Adventure” (1917). On Broadway, some of the original productions she appeared in were “A Little Journey”(1918), ” Shall We Join the Ladies?”(1925), “Late One Evening”(1933), “The Puritan”(1936), and “The Solid Gold Cadillac”(1953). She was the daughter of actor Fuller Mellish, and sister of actor Fuller Mellish, Jr. […]

Vera Gordon (1886 - 1948)

Actress. Russian-born motion picture figure of the 1920s through 1940s. Often appeared in the role of the family matriarch. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Vera Kholodnaya (1893 - 1919)

Actress. Nicknamed “The Queen of the Screen”, she was Russia’s first female movie star. Although most of her films are lost, her haunting beauty and untimely death have made her a figure of enduring interest. Vera Vasilyevna Levchenko was born in Poltava, Ukraine, and largely raised by her grandmother in Moscow. At 17 she married […]

Véra Korène (1901 - 1996)

Actress. Born Rébecca Véra Korestzky in Russia. She played the leading roles in “Savage Brigade,” “Seven Men, One Woman,” “Double Crime in the Maginot Line” and “The Volga Boatman.” (bio by: MC)

Vera Laroche (1912 - 2008)

Actress. During the early 1930s she modeled hats and stockings while appearing on magazine covers like Midinette and La Belle France before performing for two years on stage at the Caveau des Moulins in Paris. She went on to appear in twelve films, most notably in Jean Renoir’s ‘La Marseillaise’ in 1938. After World War […]

Vera Lockwood (1917 - 2000)

Actress. Gray-haired character actress, usually played Grandmothers. Appeared in Television shows such as “Ryan’s Hope” (1975) as Marian ‘Schultzie’ Schultz (1980-1982), and more recently in Port Charles (1997) as Eleni Kanelos (1998-1999).  She made several guest appearences on shows like: “NYPD Blue,” “Full House,” and “Who’s the Boss.”  She appeared in movies such as 1996’s […]

Vera Petrovna Maretskaya (1906 - 1978)

Actress. Born in the village of Barvikha outside of Moscow, she was one of the Soviet Union’s most successful and decorated film stars. She made her film debut in the 1925 motion picture “The Tailor from Torzhok,” and remained active in the film industry until the mid 1960s. Her notable film credits include: “The House […]

Vera Ralston (1919 - 2003)

Vera Ralston was born Věra Helena Hrubá to a wealthy jeweler in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her age was uncertain; Ralston at various times gave 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923 as her year of birth. Her brother was Rudy Ralston, who later became a film producer in the United States. As a figure skater, she represented Czechoslovakia in […]

Vera Reynolds (1899 - 1962)

Vera Reynolds (November 25, 1899 – April 22, 1962) was an American film actress. Born in Richmond, Virginia in 1899, she started out as a dancer, worked as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, and became a leading lady in silent motion pictures. Among her film credits are starring roles in Sam Wood’s Prodigal Daughters (1923), […]

Vera Rubin (1928 - 2016)

Vera Rubin held various academic appointments for the next eleven years. She served for a year as an Instructor of Mathematics and Physics at Montgomery County Community College, then worked from 1955-1965 at Georgetown University, as a Research Associate Astronomer, Lecturer (1959-1962), and finally, Assistant Professor of Astronomy (1962-1965). She joined the Carnegie Institute in […]

Vera Sisson (1891 - 1954)

Actress.  Born in Salt Lake City,  she made her movie debut as an extra in 1913 and shot to fame as the leading lady of cowboy superstar  J. Warren Kerrigan in seven very successful westerns,  beginning with “A Bogus Bandit” (1915).  Sisson went on to enjoy top billing in such melodramas as “The Iron Will” […]

Vera Steadman (1900 - 1966)

Actress, Comedienne. She is probably best remembered for her association with film director Mack Sennett, having been one of his famous bathing beauties. Her film career spanned from 1915 until 1941, and during this time she appeared in almost 120 silent and sound films and shorts, of which her roles went mostly uncredited after 1933. […]