Jack Swigert (1931 - 1982)

After unsuccessfully applying for NASA’s second and third astronaut selections, Jack Swigert was accepted into the NASA Astronaut Corps as part of NASA Astronaut Group 5 in April 1966. Swigert became a specialist on the Apollo Command Module: he was one of the few astronauts who requested to be command module pilots. Jack Swigert was one […]

Jack Twyman (1934 - 2012)

Twyman, a 6’6″ forward from the University of Cincinnati, spent eleven seasons in the NBA as a member of the Rochester/Cincinnati Royals. Twyman and Wilt Chamberlain became the first players in NBA history to average more than 30 points per game in a single season when they both accomplished that feat during the 1959–60 season. […]

Jack Warden (1920 - 2006)

Jack Warden was born John Warden Lebzelter Jr. in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Laura M. (née Costello) and John Warden Lebzelter, who was an engineer and technician. He was of Pennsylvania Dutch (German) and Irish ancestry. Reared in Louisville, Kentucky, he was expelled from high school for fighting and eventually fought as a professional […]

Jack Warner (1895 - 1981)

Warner was born in London, his real name being Horace John Waters. His sisters Elsie and Doris Waters were well-known comediennes who usually performed as “Gert and Daisy”. Warner attended the Coopers’ Company’s Grammar School for Boys in Mile End, while his sisters both attended the nearby sister school, Coborn School for Girls in Bow. […]

Jack Weil (1901 - 2008)

Jack Arnold Weil (March 28, 1901 – August 13, 2008) was the founder and CEO of the Denver-based Western clothing manufacturer Rockmount Ranch Wear and was believed to be the oldest working CEO in the United States. Weil was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1901. In 1926, Weil (also known as Papa or “Papa Jack”) […]

Jack Wrather (1918 - 1984)

Oil millionaire. Producer. Built the Disneyland Hotel. Turned the RMS Queen Mary and Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose” into tourist attractions.  Family links:  Parents:  John Deveraux Wrather (1871 – 1945)  Ada Mazie Cogdell Wrather (1890 – 1965)  Spouses:  Molly O’ Daniel Danielson (1922 – 1996)  Bonita Granville (1923 – 1988)*  Children:  John Deveraux Wrather (1944 – […]

Jackie Burkett (1936 - 2017)

Jackie Burkett accepted a scholarship from Auburn University, where he was a two-way player, playing center and linebacker, while also calling the defensive signals. He was named a starter as a sophomore and was a part of a team that won the SEC and the National championship. That squad was led by its defense, which registered […]

Jackie Burroughs (1939 - 2010)

Born in Lancashire, England, Burroughs acted in live theatre at Ontario’s Stratford Festival. Her film credits included The Dead Zone (1983), The Grey Fox (1982), and a voice-over stint in the legendary animated anthology Heavy Metal (1981), while her TV-series résumé includes the roles of Mrs. Amelia Evans in Anne of Green Gables (1985) and […]

Jackie Collins (1937 - 2015)

Collins was born in 1937 in Hampstead, London, the younger daughter of Elsa (née Bessant) Collins (died 1962) and Joseph William Collins (died 1988), a theatrical agent whose clients later included Shirley Bassey, the Beatles and Tom Jones.  Collins’ South African-born father was Jewish and her British mother was Anglican. A middle child, Collins had […]

Jackie Condon (1918 - 1977)

Actor. Born John Michael Condon, he was a child performer who appeared in over 80 films. He is best known as being “Jackie” a cast member on the “Our Gang” comedy shorts series of the silent film era. Some of his noted “Our Gang” features included “Fire Fighters” (1922), “Dogs of War” (1923), “Circus Fever” […]

Jackie Coogan (1914 - 1984)

Silent Movie, Screen, Stage and Television Actor. Child star Jackie Coogan was born John Leslie Coogan Jr. on October 26th, 1914, in Los Angeles, California, to a show business family where his father, John H. Coogan, was a dancer and his mother, Lillian Dolliver, had been a child star on the stage. Shortly after Jackie’s […]

Jackie Cooper (1922 - 2011)

Jackie Cooper first appeared in films as an extra with his grandmother, who would bring him along in hopes of aiding her own attempts to get extra work. At age three, Jackie appeared in Lloyd Hamilton comedies under the name of “Leonard”. He graduated to bit parts in feature films such as Fox Movietone Follies of […]

Jackie Gerlich (1917 - 1960)

Actor and Circus Entertainer.  An Austrian native and dwarf performer who emigrated to the United States aboard the steamship ‘President Roosevelt’ in 1936.  Known professionally as Jackie Gerlich or Jack E. Gerlich, his first acting role was an uncredited appearance as the character “Bobby” in the 1938 film “Terror in Tiny Town”.  His most recognized […]

Jackie Gleason (1916 - 1987)

Actor, Comedian. Best known for his classic television series “The Honeymooners” and his character of bus driver ‘Ralph Kramden.’ He started out in show business at the age of 15, after winning an amateur night contest at the Halsey Theater in Brooklyn. He was then hired by the manager as emcee. From that start, he […]

Jackie Lynn Taylor (1925 - 2014)

Actress, Television Host. Taylor will best be remembered for appearing in several ‘Our Gang’ short subjects from 1934 to 1935, often portraying the sister or girlfriend of one of the boys. Like all the cast, she was replaced (by Darla Hood) as she grew too “old” to be a Little Rascal, but spent 15 more […]

Jackie Mitchell (1913 - 1987)

Jackie Mitchell was born August 29, 1913 in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Virne Wall Mitchell and Dr. Joseph Mitchell. When she learned how to walk, her father took her to the baseball diamond and taught her the basics of the game. Her next door neighbor, Dazzy Vance, taught her to pitch and showed her his “drop […]

Jackie Presser (1926 - 1988)

Labor Leader. He was President of the Teamsters Union from 1983 to 1988. He was indicted on federal charges in 1986 of racketeering and embezzlement but never stood trial. Presser said that he was an FBI informant. Died from complications after brain cancer surgery. Was a staunch supporter of Ronald Reagan and assisted him in […]

Jackie Robinson (1919 - 1972)

Jackie Robinson American baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. As the first major league team to play a black man since the 1880s, […]

Jackie Stallone (1921 - 2020)

Jackie Stallone Born Jacqueline Labofish on November 29, 1921 in Washington D.C., she claimed to have started her entertainment career as an aerialist with the Flying Wallendas act in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Circus. Stallone was the first woman to have a daily TV show on exercise and weight lifting in Washington, […]

Jackson Beck (1912 - 2004)

Voice Actor, Narrator. A native of New York, New York, he is best remembered for his role as the voice of ‘Bluto’ or ‘Brutus’ in the early “Popeye” cartoon shorts from 1944 to 1956, and the animated television series of the same name from 1956 to 1963. Beck also did the voice of ‘Perry White’ […]

Jaclyn Linetsky (1986 - 2003)

Voice Actress. Jaclyn Linetsky was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on January 8, 1986. She is best remembered for her voice roles on cartoons, including as ‘Caillou’ on “Caillou” from 2000 to 2002, in which she did the English-speaking voice of the character. She also voiced ‘Bitzi’ on “Daft Planet” in 2002, ‘Meg’ on “Mega […]

Jacob Best (1786 - 1861)

Business Magnate. Jacob Best learned the brewer’s trade in his hometown of Hesse Darnstadt, Germany, and then moved on to operate a small brewery in Mattenheim. In 1840, two of Best’s four sons immigrated to America, settling in the Kilbourntown section of Milwaukee. They were joined by Jacob Best, his two younger sons and other […]

Jacob Chestnut (1940 - 1998)

Jacob Chestnut (April 28, 1940 – July 24, 1998), one of the two United States Capitol Police officers killed in the line of duty on July 24, 1998, was the first African American to lie in honor in the United States Capitol. Chestnut is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His funeral included a speech by […]

Jacob Christian Jacobsen (1811 - 1887)

Industrialist. In 1835 he took over his father’s brewery and introduced German methods of brewing of beer using pure cultivated yeast. In 1846 he began the construction of the Carlsberg Breweries, named after his son Carl. In 1876 he founded the world famous Carlsberg Laboratory, which has played an important role in the development of […]

Jacob Epstein (1880 - 1959)

Jacob Epstein was born in New York City of Jewish parents. His ambition was to become a painter, and he began by sketching the characters of the ghetto. Unfortunately, he had to abandon this because of his poor eyesight, and decided to become a sculptor instead. In 1902, he moved to Paris in order to […]

Jacob Howard (1805 - 1871)

Jacob Howard was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont, and attended the district schools and the academies of Bennington and Brattleboro. He graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1830 and then studied law. He moved to Detroit, Michigan in 1832 and was admitted to the bar in 1833 and commenced practice in Detroit. He was city […]

Jacob Lawrence (1917 - 2000)

Jacob Lawrence was born in 1917 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was thirteen when his family, including his sister and brother, moved to New York City. Lawrence was introduced to art shortly after that, when their mother enrolled him in classes at an arts and crafts settlement house in Harlem, in an effort to […]

Jacob Orgen (1893 - 1927)

Born to a middle class Orthodox Jewish family in the city of Minsk in the old Tsarist Russian Empire, Orgen became a well known labor slugger for Benjamin “Dopey Benny” Fein by the early 1910s. Being ambitious, he had formed his own gang, “The Little Augies” c. 1911. He operated his labor rackets diligently for […]

Jacob P. Adler (1855 - 1926)

Actor. He was a major figure in early 20th Century Yiddish theatre.  Family links:  Spouse:  Sarah Adler (1858 – 1953)  Children:  Celia Adler (1889 – 1979)*  Charles Adler (1892 – 1955)*  Jay Adler (1896 – 1978)*  Stella Adler (1901 – 1992)*  Luther Adler (1903 – 1984)* *Calculated relationship

Jacob Schmidt (1846 - 1910)

Businessman. Born in Bavaria, Germany, he arrived in America at the age of 20 and after working at several breweries for five years, he settled in St. Paul, Minnesota. In St. Paul, he was the Brewmaster for the Theodore Hamm’s Brewing Company, when he left this position in 1900, to become owner and founder of […]