John Murray Anderson (1886 - 1954)

John Murray Anderson was born in 1886 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the son of Hon. John Anderson and his wife. His brother was Hugh Abercrombie Anderson. Anderson received his early education at Bishop Feild College in St. John’s. He was sent to Europe for additional studies at Edinburgh Academy in Scotland. He entered college at […]

Ernie Anderson (1923 - 1997)

Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Anderson planned to go to law school but was instead drafted into the U.S. Navy during World War II. In an interview, his son Paul Thomas Anderson spoke of his military service: “He (Ernie) was in the Navy stationed mainly in Guam. I don’t think he did any fighting. I think […]

Carmen Amaya (1918 - 1963)

Carmen Amaya was born on 2 November 1918 in a slum of Somorrostro, Barcelona, Catalonia, to José Amaya and Micaela Amaya Moreno. She came from a very poor family that lived in a wagon. She was born under their wagon turned home during an early winter storm. Amaya was second of six surviving children of […]

Robert Altman (1925 - 2006)

Altman was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Helen (née Matthews), a Mayflower descendant from Nebraska, and Bernard Clement Altman, a wealthy insurance salesman and amateur gambler, who came from an upper-class family. Altman’s ancestry was German, English and Irish; his paternal grandfather, Frank Altman, Sr., anglicized the spelling of the family name […]

Wayne Allwine (1947 - 2009)

Allwine was born in Glendale, California on February 7, 1947. In 1966, Allwine started work in the mailing room at the Disney studios, before working in the sound effects department under Jimmy MacDonald.  After auditioning for the role, Allwine became the voice of Mickey Mouse from 1977 until his death in 2009. He succeeded MacDonald, […]

Sheldon Allman (1924 - 2002)

Sheldon Allman (June 8, 1924 – January 22, 2002) was a Jewish American-born Canadian raised actor, singer, and songwriter.  He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the RCAF. Relocating to Los Angeles, he appeared in twelve movies, including such notable films as Nevada Smith, The […]

Robert Allman (1927 - 2013)

Robert Allman was born in Melbourne in 1927. He studied in Paris and sang at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden for three seasons from 1955. He then moved to Germany, where he sang in over a dozen opera houses. He also sang in opera houses including Zurich, New Orleans, Singapore and Vienna.  In 1965, he […]

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 […]

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 […]

Chesney Allen (1893 - 1982)

He was born William Ernest Chesney Allen in Battersea, London, England, married Aleta Cosette Turner in Leeds in 1926 and died in Midhurst, Sussex, England.  He began his career in straight acting, making his debut in stock at the Wimbledon Theatre, London, in 1912. As music hall comedians, they would often feature a mixture of […]

Annisteen Allen (1920 - 1992)

Annisteen Allen (born Ernestine Letitia Allen) (November 11, 1920, Champaign, Illinois – August 10, 1992, Harlem, New York City) was an American blues singer.  Allen’s first recordings were made in 1945, and included “Miss Annie’s Blues” and “Love for Sale”. She sang with Big John Greer, Wynonie Harris, and Lucky Millinder, and in 1951, Federal […]

Grigori Alexandrov (1903 - 1983)

Aleksandrov was born Grigori Vasilyevich Mormonenko in Ekaterinburg, Russia in 1903. Starting at age nine, Aleksandrov worked odd jobs at the Ekaterinburg Opera Theater, eventually making his way to assistant director. He also pursued a musical education, studying violin at the Ekaterinburg Musical School, from which he graduated in 1917. Aleksandrov came to Moscow after […]

Peter Alexander (1926 - 2011)

Peter Alexander Ferdinand Maximilian Neumayer (30 June 1926 – 12 February 2011), commonly known as Peter Alexander, was an Austrian actor, singer and entertainer. His fame emerged in the 1950s and 1960s through popular film comedies and successful recordings, predominantly of Schlager and operetta repertory. Later, Alexander established himself as the acclaimed host of television […]

Lennie Aleshire (1890 - 1987)

Lennie Aleshire was born April 27, 1890 in Christian County, Missouri, just south of Springfield. He was playing the fiddle by age six and learned the guitar, banjo and other instruments by ear. At 15, he lived with the Creek Indians near Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, though his mother was half Cherokee. After his parents died, […]

Robert Aldrich (1918 - 1983)

Aldrich was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, the son of Lora Lawson and newspaper publisher Edward Burgess Aldrich. He was a grandson of U.S. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich and a cousin to Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller. He was educated at the Moses Brown School in Providence, and studied economics at the University of Virginia where he […]

Al Alberts (1922 - 2009)

Born Al Albertini in Chester, Pennsylvania, he went to South Philadelphia High School. As a teenager, he appeared on the Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour, a radio program.  After graduating from South Philadelphia High, he went to Temple University and the United States Navy, where he met Dave Mahoney. They went on to found The […]

Lou Albano (1933 - 2009)

Albano’s parents, Carmen Louis Albano and Eleanor Albano née Morrone, were of Italian heritage but both born in the United States. Eleanor was a classical concert pianist who had performed at Carnegie Hall and later became a registered nurse. Her brother, a physician, introduced her to Carmen in the 1930s, who was training to be […]

Moustapha Akkad (1930 - 2005)

Al Akkad was born July 1, 1930 in Aleppo, Syria. He received his high school degree from the Aleppo American College. His father, then a customs officer, gave him $200 and a copy of the Quran before he left for the United States to study film direction and production at the University of California, Los […]

Alvin Ailey Jr (1931 - 1989)

Alvin Ailey Jr Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Elizabeth Ailey, in Rogers, Texas. His father, also named Alvin, abandoned the family when Alvin was only six months old. Like many African Americans living in Texas during the Great Depression, Ailey and his mother moved often and had a hard time finding work. […]

Antonio Aguilar Barraza (1919 - 2007)

Aguilar was born José Pascual Antonio Aguilar Márquez Barraza in Villanueva, Zacatecas, the son of Jesús Aguilar Aguilar and Ángela Márquez Barraza Valle, both of Villanueva.  He spent his early childhood in “La Casa Grande de Tayahua”, an hacienda first built in 1596 in the town of Tayahua, about 35 km from Villanueva. Aguilar’s ancestors […]

Joey Adams (1911 - 1999)

Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York as Joseph Abramowitz. For many years, he wrote the “Strictly for Laughs” column in the New York Post. His wife, Cindy Adams (to whom he was married from 1952 until his death), remains a society/gossip columnist for the same paper.  Adams’ career spanned more than 70 years and […]

Edie Adams (1927 - 2008)

Edie Adams Adams was born as Edith Elizabeth Enke in Kingston, Pennsylvania., the only daughter of Sheldon Alonzo Enke and his wife, Ada Dorothy (née Adams). She had an elder brother, Sheldon Adams Enke (June 28, 1922 – July 9, 2001). The family moved to nearby areas such as Shavertown, Grove City and Trucksville and […]

Brian Adams (1964 - 2007)

Brian Adams Brian Adams was born in Kona, Hawaii and was raised in Kealakekua, Hawaii and attended Konawaena High School. After graduating from high school, Adams joined the military, where he began boxing. It was during his time in the military, while stationed in Japan, that he was also exposed to wrestling. Adams was trained […]

Alan “Fluff” Freeman (1927 - 2006)

Born and educated in New South Wales, Australia, Freeman worked as an assistant paymaster/accountant for one of Australia’s largest timber companies after leaving school.  Freeman originally wanted to be an opera singer, but decided his voice was not strong enough. In 1952 he was invited to audition as a radio announcer and commenced working for […]

Edna Gellhorn (1878 - 1970)

Edna Fischel Gellhorn (December 18, 1878 – September 24, 1970) was an American suffragist and reformer, born in St. Louis.  She attended the Mary Institute and Bryn Mawr College, and was the student president at each, as well as an elected trustee of Bryn Mawr. She graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1900.  She was an […]

Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826 - 1898)

Matilda Gage spent her childhood in a house which was used as a station of the Underground Railroad. She faced prison for her actions under the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 which criminalized assistance to escaped slaves. Even though she was beset by both financial and physical (cardiac) problems throughout her life, her work for […]

Emily Davison (1872 - 1913)

Davison was born in Blackheath, London, the daughter of Charles Davison (of Morpeth, Northumberland) and Margaret Davison (of Longhorsley, Northumberland). She had two sisters, a brother and half-siblings from her father’s first marriage including a half-brother, retired naval captain Henry Jocelyn Davison, who gave evidence at her inquest. She later attended Kensington High School and […]

Jane Croly (1829 - 1901)

Jane Cunningham was born in England, the daughter of a Unitarian minister, Reverend Joseph Cunningham, and his wife Jane Scott. The family emigrated to the United States when young Jane was twelve. The family first lived in Poughkeepsie, New York and later in Southbridge Massachusetts.  Jane first became interested in journalism while a student; she […]

Prudence Crandall (1803 - 1890)

Prudence Crandall was born on September 3, 1803 to Pardon and Esther Carpenter Crandall, a Quaker couple in the Hope Valley area in the town of Hopkinton, Rhode Island. At the age of 17, her father decided to move the family to the small town of Canterbury, Connecticut. She attended the Friends’ Boarding School in […]

Laura Clay (1849 - 1941)

A daughter of Cassius Marcellus Clay and his wife Mary Jane Warfield, Clay was born at their estate, White Hall, near Richmond, Kentucky. The youngest of four daughters, Laura was raised largely by her mother, due to her father’s long absences as he pursued his political career and activities as an abolitionist. Clay was educated […]