David Markson (1927 - 2010)

David Merrill Markson was born in Albany, New York, on December 20, 1927. Educated at Union College and Columbia University, Markson began his writing career as a journalist and book editor, periodically taking up work as a college instructor at Columbia University, Long Island University, and The New School. Though his first novel was published in […]

William Gaddis (1922 - 1998)

William Gaddis was born in New York City to William Thomas Gaddis, who worked “on Wall Street and in politics”, and Edith (Charles) Gaddis, an executive for the New York Steam Corporation. When he was 3, his parents separated and Gaddis was subsequently raised by his mother in Massapequa, Long Island. At age 5 he […]

Marc Hunter (1953 - 1998)

Born in Taumarunui, Marc Hunter joined Dragon in 1974 and the band recorded two albums of progressive rock for Vertigo Records. The band moved to Sydney, Australia, in 1975. After suffering the heroin-related death of drummer Neil Storey, Dragon became a pop-rock act and went on to become one of Australia’s biggest-selling bands, scoring a […]

Douglas Camfield (1931 - 1984)

Douglas Gaston Sydney Camfield (8 May 1931 – 27 January 1984) was an accomplished director for television from the 1960s to the 1980s. He studied at York School of Art and aimed to work for Walt Disney. He was a Lieutenant in the West Yorkshire Regiment and was training to be in the SAS but […]

Hugh O Brian (1925 - 2016)

Hugh O Brian Hugh O Brian, who helped tame the Wild West as the star of TV’s “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” and was the founder of a long-running youth leadership development organization, has died. He was 91. Hugh O Brian, who had several health issues, died Monday morning with his wife nearby at […]

Jose Fernandez (1992 - 2016)

Jose Fernandez Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident early Sunday morning in Florida, the Marlins confirmed. The Marlins’ game against the Atlanta Braves scheduled for Sunday afternoon has been canceled. Fernandez, the 24-year-old right-hander whose vibrant personality endeared himself to fans as much as his dominant fastball, was a Cuban-born […]

Arnold Palmer (1929 - 2016)

Arnold Palmer Arnold Palmer, who died Sunday in Pittsburgh at age 87, led an American life that will never be duplicated, so rooted was it in a lost time and a place and the sui generis chemistry of the man. Arnold Palmer won his last major championship in 1964 and his last PGA Tour event in 1973, but in […]

Irma Grese (1923 - 1923)

Irma Grese was born to Berta Grese and Alfred Grese, a dairy worker. Irma was the third of five children (three girls and two boys). In 1936, her mother committed suicide by drinking hydrochloric acid after discovering that Alfred had had an affair with a local pub owner’s daughter. Alfred Grese is speculated to have […]

Jane Toppan (1857 - 1938)

Though scant records survive of Jane Toppan’s early years, it is known that her parents were Irish immigrants, and her mother, Bridget Kelley, died of tuberculosis when she was very young. Her father, Peter Kelley, was well known as an alcoholic and eccentric, nicknamed by those who knew him “Kelley the Crack” (crack as in […]

Mario Monicelli (1915 - 2010)

Mario Monicelli was born in Viareggio in Tuscany and was the youngest son of the journalist Tommaso Monicelli. His older brother Giorgio worked as writer and translator. Another older brother, Franco, was a journalist. He attended studies in the local lyceum, and entered into the film world through his friendship with Giacomo Forzano, son of the […]

Jimmy Sangster (1927 - 2011)

James Henry Kinmel “Jimmy” Sangster (2 December 1927 – 19 August 2011) was a British screenwriter and director, known for his work for horror film producers Hammer Film Productions, including scripts for The Curse of Frankenstein (the first British horror film to be shot in colour) and Dracula (US: Horror of Dracula). Jimmy Sangster originally worked […]

Mike Raven (1924 - 1997)

In the early 1960s, still using his real name, Mike Raven began working for BBC radio, presenting talks and, occasionally, Woman’s Hour. However, when his cousin, the Liberal Party politician Oliver Smedley, founded the pirate radio station Radio Atlanta, he joined the station as a disc jockey, broadcasting from the ship Mi Amigo moored off […]

Terry Nation (1930 - 1997)

Born in Llandaff, Cardiff, Terry Nation initially worked in comedy, entering the industry in 1955 after a (possibly apocryphal) incident in which Spike Milligan bought a sketch that he had written because he thought that Nation appeared hungry. During the 1950s, Nation worked with John Junkin and Johnny Speight for writers’ agency Associated London Scripts, […]

Tim Moore (1887 - 1958)

Tim Moore The face of Tim Moore is known to millions as that of George “Kingfish” Stevens, star of the “Amos ‘n Andy” television program.  What is not so well known is that Moore was literally called out of retirement to play that role.   He enjoyed a wide and varied career for many years […]

Freddie Francis (1917 - 2007)

Born in Islington in London, England, Freddie Francis was originally on the way to a career in engineering. At school, a piece he wrote about films of the future won him a scholarship to the North West London Polytechnic in Kentish Town. He left school at age 16, becoming an apprentice to a stills photographer […]

Milton Subotsky (1921 - 1991)

MIlton Subotsky was born in New York City, to a family of Jewish immigrants. During World War II, he served in the Signal Corps, in which he wrote and edited technical training films. After the war, he started a career as a writer and producer during the 1950s “Golden Age” of television. In 1954, he […]

Tiny Tim (1932 - 1996)

Tiny Tim Tiny Tim, whose quavery falsetto and ukulele made ”Tiptoe Through the Tulips With Me” a novelty hit in 1968, died on Saturday night at the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. He was 64 and had lived in Minneapolis for the past year. The cause of death apparently was cardiac arrest, a nursing […]

George Wallace (1919 - 1998)

George Wallace George C. Wallace, 79, the four-time governor of Alabama and four-time candidate for president of the United States who became known as the embodiment of resistance to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, died last night in Montgomery, Ala. He had battled Parkinson’s disease in recent years. Cut down by a would-be […]

Notorious BIG (1972 - 1997)

Notorious BIG Notorious BIG was large and imposing; at 6 ft 3 inches Christopher Wallace weighted close to three hundred pounds. Notorious BIG was born in Brooklyn to Jamaican parents growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area and raised by his mother Voletta Wallace a preschool teacher. He was singing and talking before he could walk. At […]

Sir William Wallace (1270 - 1305)

Sir William Wallace Sir William Wallace, a Scottish knight, became a central early figure in the wars to secure Scottish freedom from the English, becoming one of his country’s greatest national heroes. Born circa 1270, near Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland, William Wallace was the son of a Scottish landowner. He spearheaded his country’s long charge against the English toward […]

Jean Shepard (1933 - 2016)

Jean Shepard Jean Shepard was born Ollie Imogene Shepard on Nov. 21, 1933 in Oklahoma, but was raised in California, where she was influenced greatly by the West Coast country sound. She started her musical career playing in an all-female group called The Melody Ranch Girls, who caught the eyes and ears of Capitol Records […]

Ronald Winans (1956 - 1956)

Ronald Winans The multi-award winning musical dynasty, The Winans Family said good bye to Ronald Winans, the second eldest of the ten siblings, on the morning of June 17th. Winans endured a massive heart-attack in 1997, but because of much prayer he experienced a miraculous recovery after the doctors had given him up for dead. […]

Charles Keating JR (1923 - 2014)

Charles Keating JR Charles H. Keating Jr., who went to prison and came to symbolize the $150 billion savings-and-loan crisis a generation ago after fleecing thousands of depositors with regulatory help from a group of United States senators known as the Keating Five, has died. He was 90. The death was confirmed Tuesday night by […]

Brandon Lee (1965 - 1993)

Brandon Lee Actor Brandon Lee, the 28-year-old son of the late kung fu star Bruce Lee, was killed Wednesday after a small explosive charge used to simulate gunfire went off inside a grocery bag during filming on a movie set in Wilmington, N.C. Brandon Lee, who many believed was on the threshold of stardom similar to […]

Bill Nunn (1952 - 2016)

Bill Nunn Bill Nunn, a versatile actor best known for playing the role of Radio Raheem, the boombox-toting neighborhood philosopher killed by police officers in Spike Lee’s 1989 film “Do the Right Thing,” died on Saturday in Pittsburgh. He was 63. His death was announced on social media by Mr. Lee. His wife, Donna, told […]

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 […]

Robert Bolt (1924 - 1995)

Robert Bolt was born in Sale, Cheshire. At Manchester Grammar School his affinity for Sir Thomas More first developed. He attended the University of Manchester, and, after wartime service in the RAF (1943–1946), the University of Exeter. For many years he taught English and history at Millfield School and only became a full-time writer at […]

Alma Reville (1899 - 1982)

Alma Reville was born in Nottinghamshire, the second daughter of Matthew Edward and Lucy Reville (née Owen). The family moved to London when Reville was young, as her father got a job at Twickenham Film Studios; Reville often visited her father at work and eventually got a job there as a tea girl. At 16, […]

Robert Fuest (1927 - 2012)

Born in London, Robert Fuest served a period of time in post-war Germany with the Royal Air Force in National Service air-lifting coal over the Berlin Wall, after which he attended Wimbledon and Hornsey Schools of Art. For a time he lectured at Southampton College of Art. Fuest also spent time as a drummer in […]

Jon Finch (1942 - 2012)

After performing in amateur theatre groups and singing in a folk group, Jon Finch did his National Service (National Service had been abolished at this time-) in The Parachute Regiment and stayed on as a member of the SAS Reserve Regiment, training at weekends and several nights a week. He resigned from the military as […]