Chuck Berry (1926 - 2017)

Chuck Berry Chuck Berry, who with his indelible guitar licks, brash self-confidence and memorable songs about cars, girls and wild dance parties did as much as anyone to define rock ’n’ roll’s potential and attitude in its early years, died on Saturday at his home near Wentzville, Mo. He was 90. The St. Charles County […]

Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1970)

Thomas Hardy was born on 2 June 1840 in Higher Bockhampton (then Upper Bockhampton), a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford to the east of Dorchester in Dorset, England, where his father Thomas (1811–1892) worked as a stonemason and local builder, and married his mother Jemima (née Hand;[4] 1813–1904) in Beaminster, towards the end of […]

Matthew Webb (1848 - 1883)

Matthew Webb was born at Dawley, Telford, in Shropshire, one of twelve children of a Coalbrookdale doctor. He acquired his ability to swim in the River Severn at Coalbrookdale. In 1860, at the age of twelve, he joined the training ship HMS Conway for two years, then entered the merchant navy and served a three-year […]

Larry Walters (1949 - 1993)

Larry Walters had often dreamed of flying, but was unable to become a pilot in the United States Air Force because of his poor eyesight. He first thought of using weather balloons to fly at age 13 and 14, after seeing them hanging from the ceiling of a military surplus store. Twenty years later, he […]

Timothy Treadwell (1957 - 2003)

Timothy Treadwell studied grizzly bears during summer seasons for 13 years, before being killed by one of them. According to his book, Among Grizzlies: Living with Wild Bears in Alaska, his mission to protect bears began in the late 1980s after surviving a heroin overdose. He claims in his book that his drug addiction grew […]

Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] – 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary […]

Daniel Webster (1782 - 1852)

Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American politician who twice served in the United States House of Representatives, representing New Hampshire (1813–1817) and Massachusetts (1823–1827), served as a U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (1827–1841 and 1845–1850) and was twice the United States Secretary of State, under Presidents William Henry Harrison and […]

Noah Webster (1758 - 1843)

Noah Webster was born in the Western Division of Hartford (which became West Hartford, Connecticut) to an established family. His father Noah Sr. (1722–1813) was a descendant of Connecticut Governor John Webster; his mother Mercy (Steele) Webster (1727–1794) was a descendant of Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony. His father was primarily a farmer, though […]

William Seward Webb (1851 - 1926)

William Seward Webb (January 31, 1851 – October 29, 1926) was a businessman, and Inspector General of the Vermont militia with the rank of Colonel. He was a founder and former President of the Sons of the American Revolution. William Seward Webb was born on January 31, 1851 to James Watson Webb. He studied medicine […]

Bernice Fisher (1916 - 1966)

As an activist Bernice Fisher headed a cell with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) in Chicago to concentrate on race relations. This small cell provided the people for the beginnings of the Committee of Racial Equality (CORE). James Farmer was among the co-founders. The founding members of CORE were James L. Farmer, Jr., Bernice Fisher, […]

George Houser (1916 - 2015)

George Houser joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the 1940s and worked with it until the 1950s. It sponsored education and activities related to civil rights for African Americans and the end of segregation. In 1942 with fellow staffer James Farmer and activist Bernice Fisher, and James Robinson he co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) […]

Bayard Rustin (1912 - 1987)

Bayard Rustin (/ˈbaɪərd/; March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania, where his family was involved in civil rights work. In 1936, he moved to Harlem, New York City, where he earned a living […]

Benjamin Spock (1903 - 1998)

Benjamin McLane Spock was born May 2, 1903, in New Haven, Connecticut; his parents were Benjamin Ives Spock, a Yale graduate and long-time general counsel of the New Haven Railroad, and Mildred Louise (Stoughton) Spock. His name came from Dutch ancestry; they originally spelled the name Spaak before migrating to the former colony of New […]

Roberto Rossellini (1906 - 1977)

In 1937, Roberto Rossellini made his first documentary, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. After this essay, he was called to assist Goffredo Alessandrini in making Luciano Serra pilota, one of the most successful Italian films of the first half of the 20th century. In 1940 he was called to assist Francesco De Robertis on Uomini […]

Luchino Visconti (1906 - 1976)

Luchino Visconti began his filmmaking career as an assistant director on Jean Renoir’s Toni (1935) and Partie de campagne (1936), thanks to the intercession of their common friend, Coco Chanel. After a short tour of the United States, where he visited Hollywood, he returned to Italy to be Renoir’s assistant again, this time for La […]

Jacques Tourneur (1904 - 1977)

Born in Paris, France, Jacques Tourneur was the son of film director Maurice Tourneur. At age 10, Jacques moved to the United States with his father. He started a career in cinema while still attending high school as an extra and later as a script clerk in various silent films. Both Maurice and Jacques returned […]

James Cain (1892 - 1977)

Upon returning to the United States, James Cain continued working as a journalist, writing editorials for the New York World and a play, a short story, and satirical pieces for American Mercury.[1] He briefly served as the managing editor of The New Yorker and later worked mainly on screenplays and novels. His first novel, The Postman […]

Georges Delerue (1925 - 1992)

Georges Delerue was born 12 March 1925 in Roubaix, France to Georges Delerue and Marie Lhoest. He was raised in a musical household; his grandfather led an amateur chorale group and his mother sang and played piano at family gatherings. By the age of fourteen he was playing clarinet at the local music conservatory. In […]

John Farrow (1904 - 1963)

Farrow was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of Lucy Villiers (née Savage; 1881-1907), a dressmaker, and Joseph Farrow (1880-1925), a tailor’s trimmer. His mother died when he was three years old. His parents were both of English descent. Farrow was educated at Newtown Public School and Fort Street Boys’ High School and then started […]

Kenneth Fearing (1902 - 1961)

Kenneth Fearing was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Harry Lester Fearing, a successful Chicago attorney, and Olive Flexner Fearing. His parents divorced when he was a year old, and he was raised mainly by his aunt, Eva Fearing Scholl. He went to school at Oak Park and River Forest High School, and […]

Steve Fisher (1912 - 1980)

Steve Fisher was born 29 August 1912, in Marine City, Michigan. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, where he attended Oneonta Military Academy until running away to join the Navy at the age of sixteen. Fisher spent four years in the Navy submarine service, during which time he wrote prolifically, selling stories to U.S. […]

Paul Wendkos (1925 - 2009)

Paul Wendkos (born September 20, 1925 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; died November 12, 2009 in Malibu, California) was an American television and film director. Following World War II service in the United States Navy and his education at Columbia University on the G.I. Bill, Wendkos made his first feature, a documentary on a school for the blind […]

Horace McCoy (1897 - 1955)

Horace McCoy was born in Pegram, Tennessee. During World War I McCoy served in the United States Army Air Corps. He flew several missions behind enemy lines as a bombardier and reconnaissance photographer. He was wounded and received the Croix de Guerre for heroism from the government of France. From 1919 to 1930, he worked as […]

Charles Willeford (1919 - 1988)

Charles Willeford was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1919. Following the death of his father from tuberculosis in 1922, Willeford and his mother moved to the Los Angeles area. After his mother’s death in 1927, also from TB, he lived with his grandmother Mattie Lowey on Figueroa Street near Exposition Park until 1932. At […]

Cornell Woolrich (1903 - 1968)

Cornell Woolrich was born in New York City; his parents separated when he was young. He lived for a time in Mexico with his father before returning to New York to live with his mother, Claire Attalie Woolrich. He attended Columbia University but left in 1926 without graduating when his first novel, Cover Charge, was published. […]

Jim Thompson (1906 - 1977)

James Myers Thompson (September 27, 1906 – April 7, 1977) was an American author and screenwriter, known for his hardboiled crime fiction. Jim Thompson wrote more than thirty novels, the majority of which were original paperback publications by houses, from the late-1940s through mid-1950s. Despite some positive critical notice—notably by Anthony Boucher in The New York […]

Richard Ballinger (1858 - 1922)

After serving as the mayor of Seattle, Richard Ballinger joined the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt and served as commissioner of the General Land Office from 1907 until 1908. In 1909, Ballinger helped organize the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a World’s Fair to highlight development in the Northwest. In 1909 despite previous promises to retain ex-President Roosevelt’s cabinet […]

Gaylord Nelson (1916 - 2005)

In 1948, Gaylord Nelson was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate. He remained a member until 1958. That year, Nelson was elected governor of Wisconsin, and he served two two-year terms before successfully running for Senate in 1962. He served three consecutive terms as a senator from 1963 to 1981. In 1963 he convinced President […]

Charles Mott (1875 - 1973)

Charles Mott was born on June 2, 1875 in Newark, Essex County, N.J.[1] to John Coon Mott and Isabella Turnball Stewart. He graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1897 with an engineering degree. He began working for his father and his uncle, Fred Mott, who had purchased a bicycle wheel making business (Weston-Mott Co.).[citation needed] […]

He Zizhen (1910 - 1984)

He Zizhen was born in Yunshan (云山, now Yongxin County), Jiangxi, during Qing Dynasty China and joined the Communist Youth League in 1925. She graduated from the Yongxin Girls’ School and joined the Communist Party of China in 1926. He Zizhen was introduced to Mao Zedong at Jinggangshan by Yuan Wencai, a classmate of her elder […]