Iron Eyes Cody (1904 - 1999)

Actor. Born Espera Oscar DeCorti in Kaplan, Louisiana, the second child of Italian immigrants Antonio DeCorti and Francesca Salpietra. DeCorti Senior abandoned the family in 1909, and ten years later his three sons followed him to Texas where they adopted his altered surname of Corti. In 1924, the brothers moved to Hollywood, and changed their […]

Irv Robbins (1917 - 2008)

Entrepreneur. With Burt Baskin he co-founded the Baskin-Robbins ice cream chain in 1945.  They also pioneered in franchising their stores. Famed for its “31 flavors” concept, Baskin-Robbins now has over 5500 outlets around the world.  Robbins was born in Winnepeg,  Manitoba,  Canada,  and raised in Washington state. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouse:  Irma […]

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (1876 - 1944)

Humorist. Born in Paducah, Kentucky, he made his mark as a columnist in New York. He wrote over 60 books, but is probably best known for his humorous tales of Kentucky first seen in a collection of stories about a shrewd but kindly Kentucky judge in “Old Judge Priest” in 1915. Among his other books […]

Irving Allen (1905 - 1987)

Irving Allen (November 24, 1905 – December 17, 1987) was a theatrical and cinematic producer and director.  He won an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie Climbing the Matterhorn. In the early 1950s he formed Warwick Films with partner Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and relocated to England to leverage film making against a […]

Irving Applebaum Allen (1905 - 1987)

Film and Television Producer,  Director. He is best remembered today for the break up of his partnership with Albert “Cubby” Broccoli,  when he disagreed with Broccoli that the James Bond novel series would translate over to film. Allen reportedly told Bond author Ian Fleming during their initial meeting that his stories weren’t even good enough […]

Irving Bacon (1893 - 1965)

Actor. Born in St. Joseph, Missouri, after serving in the US Army in World War I, he entered films at the Keystone Studios Hollywood, where his athletic prowess featured him in many silent films. A popular character actor he appeared in over 400 films and was best known for his role as Mr. Crumb the […]

Irving Berlin (1888 - 1989)

Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Baline, May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born Jewish-American composer and lyricist. Widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, his music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook. He published his first song, “Marie from Sunny Italy”, in 1907, receiving 37 cents […]

Irving Cummings (1888 - 1959)

Irving Cummings (October 9, 1888 – April 18, 1959) was an American movie actor, director, producer and writer. Irving Cummings was born in New York City. He is the father of the screenwriter and producer Irving Cummings, Jr. Cummings started his acting career in his late teens on Broadway stage, and appeared with the legendary Lillian Russell. […]

Irving Fisher (1867 - 1947)

Irving Fisher was born in Saugerties, New York. His father was a teacher and a Congregational minister, who raised his son to believe he must be a useful member of society. Despite being raised in religious family, he later on became an atheist. As a child, he had remarkable mathematical ability and a flair for […]

Irving Foy (1908 - 2003)

Youngest son of actor Eddie Foy Sr. who along with his brothers and sisters were the “Seven Little Foys” in vaudeville. The family crisscrossed the country from 1912 to 1928 performing their singing, dancing and slapstick comedy sharing billing with the likes of Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, Buffalo Bill Cody and […]

Irving Lerner (1909 - 1976)

Irving Lerner (7 March 1909, New York City – 25 December 1976, Los Angeles) was an American filmmaker. Before becoming a filmmaker, Lerner was a research editor for Columbia University’s Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, getting his start in film by making documentaries for the anthropology department. In the early 1930s, he was a member of […]

Irving Milberg (2024 - 1938)

Organized Crime Figure. A member of Detroit’s Purple Gang, he was born and raised in Brooklyn along with several other Purples including Abe Axler, Eddie Fletcher, Sam Abramson, and Isadore Cantor. First coming to Detroit in late 1923 to fight in the Oakland Sugar House War, he soon became one of the Purple Gang’s top […]

Irving Pichel (1891 - 1954)

A native of Pittsburgh, Irving Pichel graduated from Harvard University in 1914 and went immediately into the theater. Pichel’s first work in musical theatre was as a technical director for the theater of the San Francisco Bohemian Club; he also helped with the annual summer pageant, held at the elite Bohemian Grove, in which up […]

Irving Rapper (1898 - 1999)

Irving Rapper (16 January 1898 – 20 December 1999) was an England-born American film director. Born in London, England, Rapper emigrated to the United States and became an actor and stage director on Broadway while studying at New York University. In 1936, he went to Hollywood, where he was hired by Warner Bros. as an assistant […]

Irving Ravetch (1920 - 2010)

Irving Ravetch was born to a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Sylvia (Shapiro) and I. Shalom Ravetch, a rabbi. His mother was born in Palestine and his father in the Ukraine. Ravetch was an aspiring playwright when he enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles. Following graduation, he joined the young […]

Irving Reis (1906 - 1953)

Irving Reis, (born May 7, 1906, in New York City – died July 3, 1953, in Woodland Hills, California) was a radio program producer and director, and a film director. Irving Reis was born into a Jewish family (Reis being a common Portuguese-Sephardic surname). Reis began his career as a motion picture photographer. The most notable of […]

Irving Thalberg (1899 - 1936)

Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called “The Boy Wonder” for his youth and his extraordinary ability to select the right scripts, choose the right actors, gather the best production staff and make hundreds of very profitable […]

Irwin Allen (1916 - 1991)

Allen was born in New York City. His film credits include the 3-D film Dangerous Mission (1954), The Animal World (1956), The Story of Mankind (1957), The Big Circus (1959), The Lost World (1960), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) (later the basis of his TV series of the same name), and Five […]

Irwin Charone (1922 - 2016)

Actor. His father was an attorney, he served with the United States Army Signal Corps during World War II and upon his return home, he studied acting at the Goodman Theatre School, followed by the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Theatre Wing of New York City. He launched his career in television during […]

Irwin Corey (1914 - 2017)

In 1938 Irwin Corey returned to New York, where he got a job writing and performing in Pins and Needles, a musical comedy revue about a union organizer in the “garment district”. He claims he was fired from this job for his union organizing activities. Five years later he was working in New Faces of […]

Irwin Rose (1926 - 2015)

Irwin Rose was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a secular Jewish family, the son of Ella (Greenwald) and Harry Royze, who owned a flooring store. Irwin Rose attended Washington State University for one year prior to serving in the Navy during World War II. Upon returning from the war he received his Bachelor of […]

Isa Miranda (1909 - 1982)

Isa Miranda (5 July 1909 – 8 July 1982) was an Italian actress with an international film career. A native of Bergamo, Ines Isabella Sampietro worked as a typist whilst attending the drama academy in Milan and training as a stage actress. She went on to play bit parts in Italian films in Rome. She […]

Isa Quensel (1905 - 1981)

Swedish Actress and Opera singer. She was recognized as a great personality and became one of the most respected actresses in Swedish film history. She made her dubute 1929 in the play ”Rose-Marie” at Vasateatern in Stockholm. She then commenced a career containing over 50 films, leading roles in many operas, TV-series, radio shows etc. […]

Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

Author, Scientist. Born in Petrovichi, Russia, his family relocated to New York in 1923, where his father operated a series of candy stores in Brooklyn. He developed a deep fascination with the science fiction genre, and became a legend and a giant in the genre as an author. Beginning with stories sold to magazines by […]

Isaac Babel (1894 - 1940)

Author.  A master of the short story,  he is regarded by many as the greatest Russian writer of the 1920s. Born in Odessa, Ukraine, to a family of Jewish merchants, he began writing as a teenager under the influence of Maupassant. In 1916 Babel met author Maxim Gorky, who published two of his stories but […]

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902 - 1991)

Author. Isaac Bashevis Singer was born Icek-Hersz Zynger in Radzymin, near Warsaw, Poland, the son of a Hasidic rabbi and Bathsheba, the daughter of a rabbi. In 1920 Singer entered the Tachkemoni Rabbinical Seminary for a short time. In 1923 he moved to Warsaw where he worked as a proofreader for the Literarische Bleter, a […]

Isaac Burns Murphy (1861 - 1896)

Isaac Burns Murphy rode in eleven Kentucky Derbies, winning three times: on Buchanan in 1884, Riley in 1890, and Kingman in 1891. Kingman was owned by Jacobin Stables (co-owners, Preston Kinzea Stone and Dudley Allen) and trained by Dudley Allen, and is the first horse co-owned by an African-American to win the Derby. Murphy is […]

Isaac Catlin (1835 - 1916)

Immediately after President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers at the beginning of the Civil War, Catlin raised a company of infantry and was appointed its captain. The unit, said to be “the first full company which enlisted in the North,” was mustered in on May 14, 1861, as part of Frederick Townsend’s 3rd New York […]

Isaac da Costa (1798 - 1860)

Poet. He was born to a family of Portuguese-Jewish descent, converted to Calvinism and became a prolific writer and strong reactionary.

Isaac Grünewald (1889 - 1946)

Artist. A prolific Swedish expressionist painter, he emerged as a leader of the Swedish modernist artists from 1910 until his death. Born in Stockholm, Sweden to Jewish parents, he studied at a prominent Swedish art school as a teenager. At age 19, he moved to Paris, France to further study with artist Henri Matisse. The […]