Leonard Freed (1929 - 2006)

Photojournalist. Born in Brooklyn, he was a member of the Magnum Photography Collective, well known for his in-depth coverage of African-Americans in the era of the civil rights movement. Freed made classic photo essays on assignments for Life, Look, Paris-Match, Der Spiegel, Stern and Libération, among many others, from Asian immigrants in England to Spain […]

Leonard Frey (1938 - 1988)

Actor. He maded his off-Broadway debut in “Little Mary Sunshine.” He appeared in “Fiddler on the Roof” on Broadway in the late 1960s. After, he played ‘Motel,’ the timid taylor in the 1972 screen version, a role that earned him an Academy Award Nomination as Best Supporting Actor. (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni) Cause […]

Leonard Garment (1924 - 2013)

Garment was born in Brooklyn, New York. He was a graduate of Brooklyn Law School (1949) and that same year he joined the law firm of Mudge, Stern, Baldwin, and Todd. He became the head of litigation and a partner in the late fifties. (Later the firm would be called Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & […]

Leonard Grover, Jr (1970 - 1947)

Actor. His films include “The Black Sheep” (1912), “The Day of Days” (1914), “The Redemption of Corson” (1914), “The Coming Power” (1914) and “Romeo and Juliet” (1916). (bio by: Ginny M)

Leonard Harrison “Lennie” Aleshire (1890 - 1987)

Entertainer, Musician. He teamed up with Floyd Rutledge as the musical comedy due “Lennie and Goo Goo”, and were pioneers that set the stage for became known as “hillbilly music.” Famous for their comedy and musical talent by playing cow bells and their crude homemade instruments, their career spanned from the 1920s to the 1960. […]

Leonard Herzenberg (1931 - 2013)

Herzenberg was born in New York City, U.S.A.. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1952 from Brooklyn College in biology and chemistry. In 1955, he received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in biochemistry with a specialization in immunology for studies on cytochrome in Neurospora.  After school he was a postdoctoral fellow at the […]

Leonard Hokanson (1931 - 2003)

Leonard Hokanson (August 13, 1931 – March 21, 2003) was an American pianist who achieved prominence in Europe as a soloist and chamber musician. Born in Vinalhaven, Maine, he attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts and Bennington College in Vermont, where he received a master of arts degree with a major in music. He made […]

Leonard Lake (1945 - 1985)

Leonard Lake was born in San Francisco, California. His parents separated when he was 6 years old, after which he and his siblings were sent to live with their maternal grandmother. He was reportedly a bright child, but had an obsession with pornography that stemmed from taking nude photos of his sisters, apparently with the […]

Leonard Mason (1920 - 1944)

Leonard Mason (February 22, 1920 – July 22, 1944) served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Battle of Guam where he was mortally wounded. Leonard Foster Mason was born on February 22, 1920 in Middlesboro, Kentucky. He enlisted in […]

Leonard Nimoy (1931 - 2015)

Leonard Simon Nimoy was born on March 26, 1931 in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Soviet Union (now Ukraine). His parents left Iziaslav separately—his father first walking over the border into Poland—and reunited in the United States. His mother, Dora (née Spinner), was a homemaker, […]

Leonard P. Geer (1914 - 1989)

Actor. He had many acting credits, including “The Lord of the Rings” (1978), “Scarface” (1983), “The Great Locomotive Chase” (1956), and in Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse Club serial, “The Adventures of Spin and Marty” (1955). He also was a stunt double for actors Robert Mitchum, and George Montgomery.  He was married to Dorothy H. Geer, […]

Leonard Rosenman (1924 - 2008)

Leonard Rosenman was born in Brooklyn, New York. After service in the Pacific with the United States Army Air Forces in World War II, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of California, Berkeley. He also studied composition with Arnold Schoenberg, Roger Sessions and Luigi Dallapiccola. Amongst Rosenman’s earliest film work was the […]

Leonardo Anthony Cimino (1917 - 2012)

Actor. He had a career which spanned over 50 years that included the theatre, motion pictures and television. His performances in the theatre would produce awards such as an Obie Award in 1958 for his work in “The Brothers Karamozov”, and a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actor in 1970 for “The Man In The […]

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 – 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath, painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest painters of all time and perhaps the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. […]

Leone Levi (1821 - 1888)

Instigated the establishment of Chambers of Commerce in Northern England, held first Chair of commerce at Kings College London.

Leonid Andreyev (1871 - 1919)

Author. Born in Oryol, Russia, he studied law at the universities of St. Petersburg and Moscow, but quickly abandoned the legal profession for a literary career. He was mentored by Maxim Gorky,  who helped get his first collection of stories published in 1901,  but their friendship later ended because of opposing political views.  Andreyev’s writing […]

Leonid Kantorovich (1912 - 1986)

Leonid Kantorovich was born on 19 January 1912, to a Russian Jewish family. His father was a doctor practicing in Saint Petersburg. In 1926, at the age of fourteen, he began his studies at the Leningrad University. He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics in 1930, and began his graduate studies. In 1934, at the […]

Leonid Kinskey (1903 - 1998)

Leonid Kinskey (18 April 1903 – 8 September 1998) was a Russian-born film and television actor who enjoyed a long career. Kinskey is best known for his role as Sascha in the film Casablanca (1942). Leonid Kinskey was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He fled the Russian Revolution and acted on stage in Europe and […]

Leonid Stadnyk (1970 - 2014)

Leonid Stadnyk was formerly listed as the world’s tallest living man according to Guinness World Records.  On August 20, 2008, editor-in-chief of Guinness World Records, Craig Glenday, announced that the title of world’s tallest man had been returned to China’s Bao Xishun after Stadnyk refused to be measured under the Guinness standard guidelines requiring several […]

Leonora Carrington (1917 - 2011)

Artist. One of her generation’s premier Surrealist painters, she also achieved renown as a sculptor and novelist. Born to wealth and high position, she apparently had artistic ambitions from early childhood but was pushed by her father into a conventional education. Though bright, she was possessed of a rebellious nature that led to a succession […]

Leopold de Rothschild (1845 - 1917)

British Banker. The 3rd son and youngest child of British banker and politician Lionel de Rothschild, he came from a prestigious and wealthy Jewish family whose banking roots went back to Germany in the 1760s. He received his education at King’s College School in London, England and Trinity College in Cambridge, England. He then entered […]

Leopold Stokowski (1882 - 1977)

Leopold Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor of Polish and Irish descent. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th Century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and for appearing in the film Fantasia. He was especially noted for his free-hand […]

Leopold Zunz (1794 - 1886)

Scholar and writer who formed with friends, (including Abraham Geiger, qv), the ‘Society for the Science of Judaism’, one of the first attempts to study Judaism in the light of modern history and sociology and a forerunner of the Reform movement. (bio by: David Conway)

Leopoldine Konstantin (1886 - 1965)

Actress. She was born in Brünn, Moravia, now Czech Republic. She developed her career on stage and screen from the silent movies to “talkies.” During Second World War, she was forced to exile, first to London, where she lost her son during a bombardment and later exiled to Hollywood.  She is fondly remembered as Claude […]

Leopoldo “Clarín” Alas (1852 - 1901)

Author. He is best remembered for his book “La Regenta”, and the works “Adiós, Cordera” and “Cuentos Morales”.

Leora Middleton (1888 - 1945)

Actress. Born Leora Spellmeyer in Bonne Terre, Missouri, she began her career in vaudeville where she met and married actor Charles Middleton. Using the stage name Laura Spellman, she performed in live theatre with her husband and they made their debut together in the silent film, “Wits vs. Wits” (1920). She continued working primarily on […]

Leora Thatcher (1894 - 1984)

Actress. Daughter of prominent Salt Lake Theater Company owner Moses Thatcher, Jr, Leora appeared on stage, radio and television. She also appeared in 3,180 performances of “Tobacco Road” in the role of Ada Lester. In 1912, her Grandfather’s opera house in Logan, Utah, was gutted by a devastating fire and in 1921, she rebuilt the […]

LeRoy Neiman (1921 - 2012)

Neiman was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of Lydia Sophia (née Serline) of Braham, Minnesota and Charles Julius Runquist, who were married in 1918, and living at Grasston, Minnesota (Kanabec County) in 1921. He was of Swedish descent. His father deserted his family, and when his mother married his stepfather, John L. Niman (Neiman) in 1926, LeRoy changed to the new […]

Leroy Shield (1893 - 1962)

Leroy Shield (October 2, 1893 – January 9, 1962) was an American film score and radio composer. A native of Waseca, Minnesota, Shield was an employee of RCA Victor’s National Broadcasting Company, for which he composed and conducted on-air musical pieces. Starting approximately 1922 (seven years before the Victor Talking Machine was bought by RCA and […]

LeRoy Whitfield (1969 - 2005)

Journalist and Writer. He was born in Chicago and died in Harlem. He used a magazine column to chronicle the everyday struggles of people with H.I.V. He moved to New York in 2000, where he became one of the nation’s leading journalists reporting on AIDS among African-Americans. He had written a column titled “Native Tongue” […]