John C. Austin (1870 - 1963)

Architect, Civic Leader. Educated in England, Austin moved to the United States in the late 1880s and worked as a draftsman for an architect in Philadelphia from 1891–1892, before relocating to San Francisco where he worked a draftsman from 1892-1895. He moved to Los Angeles in 1895, and became one of the city’s leading architects. […]

John C. Becher (1915 - 1986)

Actor. He was a veteran stage, film, and television actor whose career spanned 40 years. After graduating from high school, he attended Milwaukee State Teachers College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, graduating in 1938 with a Bachelor of Science Degree, followed by the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, Illinois, graduating in 1941 with a Bachelor of […]

John C. Wingate (1851 - 1924)

Community pillar of Pleasant Run, Indiana. In his honor, the citizens renamed the village “Wingate” in his honor.

John Cabell “Bunny” Breckenridge (1902 - 1996)

John Cabell Breckenridge nicknamed “Bunny” was born August 6th, 1902 in Paris, France to a wealthy family. Breckenridge was the great-grandson of US Vice President John C. Breckenridge, for whom he was named, and was also the great-grandson of the founder of the Wells Fargo Bank, Lloyd Tevis. Breckenridge grew up in England and attended […]

John Call (1908 - 1973)

Actor. His film roles include ‘Santa Claus’ in “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” (1964) and ‘O’Leary’ in “The Anderson Tapes” (1971). He ws in the origianl casts of “So Proudly We Hail” (1936), “Bet Your Life” (1937), “The Merchant of Yonkers” (1938), “The Life of Reilly” (1942), and “Oliver!” (1963). Father of actor Anthony Call […]

John Calvin Brown (1827 - 1889)

In May 1861, John Calvin Brown enlisted as a private in the Confederate infantry, and was elected Colonel of the 3rd Tennessee Infantry shortly afterward. He was later placed in charge of a brigade consisting of three Tennessee regiments. Following the surrender of Fort Donelson, he was held as a prisoner of war for six months […]

John Candy (1950 - 1994)

Candy was born in Newmarket, Ontario, in 1950. The son of Sidney James Candy and his wife Evangeline (Aker) Candy, he was raised in a working-class Roman Catholic family. His maternal grandparents, Jozefa (Stefaniuk) and Frank Michael Aker, were immigrants from Eastern Europe, of Polish and Ukrainian ancestry. Candy studied at Centennial College in Toronto and […]

John Carlyle (1931 - 2003)

Actor. Carlyle appeared in the films, “Whore” (1991), “Portrait Of A Rebel: The Remarkable Mrs. Sanger” (1980), “Rich Man, Poor Man” (1976), “The Monster That Challenged The World” (1957), “The Spirit Of St. Louis” (1957), “The Rack” (1956), “Daddy Long Legs” (1955), “Untamed” (1955), “Dangerous Mission” (1954), and “Three Wise Fools” (1946). He also appeared […]

John Carradine (1906 - 1988)

Shakespearean and Character Actor, Sculptor. John Carradine began his career in show business as a Shakespearean dramatic actor doing considerable stage work in classic drama with appearances on Broadway.  The money was in Hollywood and beginning  in 1930, he found success, taking the stage name John Carradine, then appeared in literally hundreds of “B” movies […]

John Carroll (1906 - 1979)

Carroll performed in several small roles in films under his original name until 1935, when he first used the name John Carroll in Hi, Gaucho! He appeared in several Western films in the 1930s, including the role of Zorro in Zorro Rides Again in 1937. He was the male lead in the Marx Brothers’ Western […]

John Carroll Dye (1963 - 2011)

Actor. Best known for his role as Andrew, the Angel of Death on the popular CBS television show “Touched By An Angel.” Born in Mississippi, Dye majored in theater at the University of Memphis. He made his film debut in 1984’s “Making the Grade,” which filmed in the Memphis area, before moving to Los Angeles […]

John Carter (1927 - 2015)

Actor. Often cast in roles of authority, such as military figures, police officers and judges, he will be best remembered for playing ‘Lieutenant John Biddle’ on the TV series “Barnaby Jones” (1973 to 1980). Raised in Missouri, he moved to New York City to begin his career as an actor and made his professional debut […]

John Cassavetes (1929 - 1989)

Actor, Director. He was known for his intensity as a performer and a gifted filmmaker who embraced the method of spontaneous  technique. John Nicholas Cassavetes was born in New York City, the son of a Greek businessman, he developed an interest in acting while attending Colgate University, where he studied English and later began his […]

John Cassell (1817 - 1865)

Businessman. The son of a Manchester publican, he was apprenticed to a joiner. Self-educated, he moved to London in 1836 where he became involved in the Temperance Movement. In 1847 he established himself as a tea and coffee merchant and soon afterwards started a publishing buisness with the aim of providing good literature to the […]

John Catron (1786 - 1865)

Little is known of Catron’s early life, other than that all of his grandparents emigrated from Germany to Virginia, as part of the extensive emigration of Germans and Swiss from Hesse and the Palatinate due to wars, and economic and religious insecurity in the area. His father, Peter (Catron) Kettering, had immigrated as a child […]

John Cazale (1935 - 1978)

Actor. Cazale is best remembered for his role as ‘Fredo Corleone’ in the films, “The Godfather” (1972), and “The Godfather: Part II” (1974). A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Cazale studied drama at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. Cazale, who was once engaged to actress Meryl Streep, also appeared in the films, “The Conversation” (1974), “Dog […]

John Cecil Dodsworth (1910 - 1964)

Actor. Dodsworth appeared in such films as, “The Rakes Progress” (1945), “Who Killed Van Loon?” (1948), “David And Bathsheba” (1951), “Singin’ In The Rain” (1952), “The Snows Of Kilimanjaro” (1952), “Charade” (1953), “Titanic” (1953), “Loose In London” (1953), “Her Twelve Men” (1954), “The Mole People” (1956), “The 27th Day” (1957), and “In The Money” (1958). […]

John Celardo (1918 - 2012)

After creating sports cartoons for Street & Smith magazines, John Celardo began drawing for comic books, including a job at the Eisner-Iger shop. During the 1940s, he was an assistant art director and a major contributor to the Fiction House line, notably for Wings Comics. Over decades, he did work for a variety of publishers, […]

John Chafee (1922 - 1999)

John Chafee became active in behind-the-scenes Rhode Island politics by helping elect a mayor of Providence in the early 1950s. He successfully ran for a seat in the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1956 and later became the minority leader. He was re-elected in 1958 and 1960, the latter a year when many Republicans […]

John Chancellor (1927 - 1996)

Chancellor attended the University of Illinois Navy Pier campus (precursor to UIC) which specified completing the last two years of instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1949. Originally a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, he first started his career in national television news as a correspondent on NBC’s evening newscast, the Huntley-Brinkley […]

John Cheever (1912 - 1982)

Master American Writer of Short Stories and Novels. Hailing from an old New England family, his father lost much of his money in the stock market crash. He was a high school dropout, but a brilliant wordsmith. Served as a sergeant in the US Army. Began selling short stories to the New Yorker and other […]

John Christopherson (1921 - 1996)

Artist. His early life was spent working at Shell-Mex house and County Hall, London, where decorated his office with prints by the artist Paul Nash. He started painting around 1950 while working at the Geological Museum, London. At this time he began to visit West-end galleries and met the sculptor Jacob Epstein. By 1959 he […]

John Clare (1793 - 1864)

Poet. He was born in Helpston, England. He was best known as the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet. His works include “Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery,” “The Village Minstrel and Other Poems,” “The Shepherd’s Calendar with Village Stories and Other Poems” and his best known book “The Rural Muse.” Today, children at the John Clare […]

John Clay Walker (1948 - 1985)

John Clay Walker (October 5, 1948 – January 30, 1985) was an American journalist and aspiring novelist who was abducted, tortured and murdered in Mexico by members of the Guadalajara Cartel under orders of their leader Rafael Caro Quintero. Caro Quintero suspected Walker of working as an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent (DEA) while he […]

John Clements (1910 - 1988)

Sir John Selby Clements, CBE (25 April 1910 – 6 April 1988) was an English actor and producer who worked in theatre, television and film. John Clements attended St Paul’s School and St John’s College, Cambridge then worked with Nigel Playfair and afterwards spent a few years in Ben Greet’s Shakespearean Company. He made his first […]

John Clifford Baxter (1958 - 2002)

Businessman, Alledged Criminal. Former Vice Chairman of Enron Energy Company. Died from a self inflicted gunshot wound.

John Close (1921 - 1963)

Hollywood film and television actor of the 1950s and 60s. Appeared in episodes of the sci-fi television classic ‘The Twilight Zone’. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

John Coffee “Jack” Hays (1817 - 1883)

Western Lawman. Born John Coffee Hays at Cedar Lick, Tennessee, he moved to Texas in 1836, joined a Ranger company and was appointed a Captain of Texas Rangers in 1840. His Ranger companies were well known for skirmishes with outlaws, hostile Indian tribes and Mexican troops. During Mexican War, as Colonel he commanded the 1st […]

John Colenback (1935 - 2015)

John Colenback (October 8, 1935 – May 12, 2015) was an American actor. He was best known for portraying Dan Stewart on As the World Turns. Colenback was born October 5, 1935, in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Colenback. His father, an executive vice president with Toledo Scale Company, died when he […]

John Colicos (1928 - 2000)

John Colicos was born in Montreal, Quebec, to a Greek father and a Canadian mother. In 1957 he appeared in Mary Stuart at the Phoenix Theatre in New York City and in 1963 he appeared in Troilus and Cressida at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. His other New York theatre credits are King Lear […]