Walter Hickel (1919 - 2010)

Born in Ellinwood, Kansas, Hickel relocated to Alaska in 1940, going into the local real estate industry. By 1947, Hickel had formed a successful construction company. While some fellow Republicans in the Alaska Territory opposed statehood, Hickel joined Democrats in calls for joining the Union during the late 1940s and into the 1950s. Using his […]

Walter Hubert Annenberg (1908 - 2002)

Businessman. As a media magnate he controlled important properties in the newspaper, television, and magazine industries. Perhaps most significantly, he was responsible for the creation of “TV Guide”, the largest circulation weekly magazine in the world, a magazine central to understanding television in America. He was also very active in the arena of American politics, […]

Walter J. Biggs (1886 - 1968)

Artist. His illustrations over the years have appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, McCall’s, Cosmopolitan, and in 1963, the Society of Illustrators elected him to the Hall of Fame. (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Parents:  Walter Joseph Biggs (1850 – 1905)  Annie Rebecca Southall Biggs (1851 – 1948)  Siblings:  Walter J Biggs (____ – […]

Walter James Connolly (1887 - 1940)

Actor.  Memorable character player of 1930s Hollywood films.  Educated at St. Xavier College and the University of Dublin,  Ireland,  Walter James Connolly made his acting debut in 1910 and toured with the E.H. Sothern troupe.  Two early film appearances,  in “The Married Woman” (1914) and “A Soldier’s Oath” (1915),  turned him off to the medium […]

Walter Johnson (1887 - 1946)

Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed “Barney” and “The Big Train”, was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. He played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Washington Senators (1907–1927). He later served as manager of the Senators from 1929 through 1932 and for the Cleveland Indians from 1933 through […]

Walter Lang (1896 - 1972)

Walter Lang was born in Tennessee. As a young man he went to New York City where he found clerical work at a film production company. The business piqued his artistic instincts and he began learning the various facets of filmmaking and eventually worked as an assistant director. However, Lang also had ambitions to be […]

Walter Lantz (1899 - 1994)

Cartoonist. He created the cartoon character “Woody Woodpecker,” which was voiced by his wife, Gracie Lantz.  Family links:  Spouse:  Gracie Lantz (1903 – 1992)

Walter Neurath (1970 - 1970)

Founder of Thames and Hudson publishers in 1949.

Walter Newman Haldeman (1821 - 1902)

Newspaper Founder, Publisher, Editor. Haldeman started a newspaper career in 1840 working as a clerk for the “Louisville Journal”, where he remained three years. He then opened a bookstore and supplies business until one of his customers the “Louisville Dime” defaulted on its credit and he took over the paper and eventually changed the name […]

Walter Payton (1954 - 1999)

Payton was one of three children born to Peter and Alyne Payton in Columbia, Mississippi. His father was a factory worker who had played semi-professional baseball. Payton was an active member of the Boy Scouts, Little League, and his local church. At John J. Jefferson High School, Payton played drums in the marching band, participated in the track team and sang in the […]

Walter Philip Zeller (1890 - 1957)

Businessman. A native of Waterloo County, near the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, he was the founder of the Zellers chain of thrift stores. Founded in 1931 as a ‘thrift store’, it was originally called Zeller’s and then renamed Zellers to make it more bilingually appropriate. The company was concentrated in the area of Southern […]

Walter Pidgeon (1897 - 1984)

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, Walter Pidgeon was the son of Hannah (née Sanborn), a housewife, and Caleb Burpee Pidgeon, a haberdasher. His brother, Larry, was an editorial writer for the Santa Barbara News-Press. Walter Pidgeon attended local schools and the University of New Brunswick, where he studied law and drama. His university education […]

Walter Plunkett (1902 - 1982)

Walter Plunkett (June 5, 1902 in Oakland, California – March 8, 1982) was a prolific costume designer who worked on more than 150 projects throughout his career in the Hollywood film industry. Born in Oakland, California, Walter Plunkett studied law at the University of California, where he was a member of the California-Alpha chapter of Sigma […]

Walter R. Brooks (1886 - 1958)

Author. He is best known for the “Freddy the Pig” children’s book series.

Walter Sande (1906 - 1971)

Born in Denver, Colorado, Walter Sande was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no person could recognize by name. Sande showed an early interest in music as a youth and by his college years managed to start his own band. This led to a job as musical director for 20th Century-Fox’s theater […]

Walter Slezak (1902 - 1983)

Born in Vienna, Austria, the son of opera tenor Leo Slezak and Elsa Wertheim, he studied medicine for a time and later worked as a bank teller. He was talked into taking his first role, in the 1922 Austrian film Sodom und Gomorrah, by his friend and the film’s director, Michael Curtiz. In his early […]

Walter Stanley Campbell (1887 - 1957)

Historian, Author. Born as Stanley Vestal in Kansas, he took the surname of his stepfather, Campbell. At age twelve his family removed to Oklahoma. He became a graduate of what is now Southwestern Oklahoma State University and was a Rhodes Scholar from Oklahoma earning a B.A. and M.A. in English literature at Oxford. Professor of […]

Walter Stubbe (1970 - 1970)

Fellow of the College. (bio by: David Conway)

Walter T. Butterworth (1892 - 1962)

Actor. Born in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, for most of his career he was a prominent stage performer. He appeared in a supporting role in the film, “Citizen Saint” (1947) and was a regular on the television series “Kraft Television Theatre”, 1947 to 1958. Stage and vaudeville actress MabelButterworth, was his sister. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith) […]

Walter Thomas Cranfield (1970 - 1946)

Famed journalist and Canadian War Correspondent during World War Two. He came to prominence through his work for the BBC. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1909 - 1971)

Author. He wrote, “The Ox-Bow Incident” (1940) and “The Track Of The Cat” (1949). Both of these books were later made into Hollywood films.  Family links:  Spouse:  Barbara Frances Morse Clark (1906 – 1969)

Walter Vann Hough (1930 - 2000)

Businessman. Founder of Wavaho Oil Company, which started in Lacey’s Spring, Alabama, and became a chain of gas stations throughout the southern United States. He used the first two letters of his first, middle, and last name to create the name Wavaho for his petroleum company.

Walter Wagner (1894 - 1968)

Walter Wanger’s job was to help meet the studio’s large annual requirement for fresh stories . One of Wanger’s major successes in his early years with the company was his identification of the British novel The Sheik as a story with potential. In 1921 it was turned into an extremely successful film starring Rudolph Valentino. […]

Walter Wallace Singer (1911 - 1992)

Professional Football Player. He was and end at Syracuse University from 1932 to 1934 and then played offensive and defensive end for the New York Giants from 1935 to 1936. He also played baseball at Syracuse with his twim brother Milton. His NFL career stats were as follows: Games: 22, Receptions: 8, Receiving yards: 60, […]

Walter William Ralphs, Sr (1884 - 1971)

Supermarket chain executive. Walter William Ralphs was the nephew of Ralphs grocery store founder George A. Ralphs. When the company incorporated as the Ralphs Grocery Company in 1909, Walter W. Ralphs was one of three partners, along with his uncle and his father, Walter B. Ralphs. In 1914, after the death of George A. Ralphs, […]

Wanda Hawley (1895 - 1963)

Wanda Hawley (July 30, 1895 – March 18, 1963) was a veteran American actress of the silent screen films era. She entered the theatrical profession with an amateur group in Seattle, and later toured the U.S. and Canada as a singer. She co-starred with Rudolph Valentino in the 1922 The Young Rajah, and rose to […]

Wanda Hendrix (1928 - 1981)

Born Dixie Wanda Hendrix in Jacksonville, Florida, Hendrix was performing in her local amateur theater when she was seen by a talent agent who signed her to a Hollywood contract. She made her first film, Confidential Agent, in 1945 and for the first few years of her career was consistently cast in “B” pictures. By […]

Wanda Jean Allen (1959 - 2001)

Wanda Jean Allen was born in 1959, the second of eight children. Her mother was an alcoholic; her father left home after Wanda’s last sibling was born and the family lived in public housing and scraped by on public assistance.  At the age of 12, Allen was hit by a truck and knocked unconscious, and […]

Wanda McKay (1915 - 1996)

Actress. Born Dorothy Quackenbush in Portland, Oregon, she was Miss American Aviation in 1938 and performed in over 50 B movies in the 1940s. Among her credits are “The Quarterback” (1940), “Twilight on the Trail” (1941), “The Black Raven” (1943), “Hollywood and Vine” (1945), “Kilroy Was Here” (1947) and “The Golden Eye” (1948). For television, […]

Wanda Osiris (1905 - 1994)

Wanda Osiris (3 June 1905 – 11 November 1994) was an Italian revue soubrette, actress and singer. Born Anna Menzio in Rome, the daughter of a groom, she studied violin at a young age. She debuted on stage in 1923, in the revue Osvaldo mio mi fai morire. She was the major diva of the Italian […]