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Herbert Jon “Tex” Antoine, Jr (1923 - 1983)

He was born as Herbert Jon Antoine, Jr., in Illinois, and was raised in California and Texas. His father was Herbert Jon Antoine, Sr. (1894–1972), an auto supply salesman. His mother was Bertha Campbell, and by 1930 the family was living in Los Angeles.  Antoine (whose nickname “Tex” came from his growing up in Texas) […]

James Arness (1923 - 2011)

James Arness Actor. He is best remembered for his role of ‘Marshall Matt Dillon’ in the long-running television Western “Gunsmoke” (1955 to 1975). Born James King Aurness, his father was a traveling salesman, his mother was a newspaper columnist. He briefly attended Beloit College in Wisconsin before his service with the USA Army during World […]

Max Baer (1909 - 1959)

Max Baer The Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1934 to 1935, he was born in Omaha, Nebraska and dropped out of school in the eighth grade to work with his father on a cattle ranch and developed great strength. He turned pro in 1929 and progressed steadily through the ranks beating the likes of […]

Richard Basehart (1914 - 1984)

Richard Basehart Mr. Basehart, who starred as Admiral Nelson in the television series ”Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” narrated the closing ceremonies of the Olympics on Aug. 12 and suffered the first of several strokes hours afterward, his lawyer, Bruce Stiglitz, said yesterday. He died in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where […]

Carmen Basilio (1927 - 2012)

Carmen Basilio A crafty prize fighter with an impressive amount of skill and stamina, he was the former World Welterweight Champion (1955 to 1957) and World Middleweight Champion (1957 to 1958). The son of an Italian immigrant onion farmer, he began his professional boxing career in the Lightweight Division during 1948 following service with the […]

Mark Belanger (1944 - 1998)

Mark Belanger Belanger was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he attended Pittsfield High at which he played baseball and basketball. Where he became one of the first 1,000 point scorers He was recruited by the Orioles as an amateur in 1962, and made his debut with the club on August 7, 1965. He took over […]

William J Bell (1927 - 2005)

William J Bell American screenwriter and television producer, best known as the creator of the soap operas Another World, The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful. In 1972, CBS executives wanted a new daytime serial that was youth oriented. William along with his wife Lee Phillip Bell created The Young and […]

Bea Benaderet (1906 - 1968)

Bea Benaderet Was an actress whose career spanned four decades but was probably best known for her comedic performances in “Petticoat Junction,” “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Flintstones.” Benaderet was born April 4, 1906, in New York and made her professional debut in a children’s production of “The Beggar’s Opera” in San Francisco when she […]

William Bendix (1906 - 1964)

William Bendix William Bendix made a career out of playing lovable big lugs, although he also occasionally got to play sinister and tragic roles with equal success. He was born in New York City, in a cold-water flat at Third Avenue and 45th Street in 1906, the only son of Oscar Bendix and the former […]

Fred Berry (1951 - 2003)

Fred Berry The African-American actor Fred Berry, who has died aged 52, found fame as the high school student Rerun Stubbs in the popular, 1970s US television show, What’s Happening!! He was well into his 20s when he joined the sitcom, and continued to play the role well into his 30s. The show began in […]

Bill Bixby (1934 - 1993)

Bill Bixby whose long career in television included starring roles in three popular series, died on Sunday at his home in Century City. He was 59. The cause was prostate cancer, said Pamela Golum, a spokeswoman for the NBC-TV show “Blossom.” Mr. Bixby, the show’s director, was on the job until last week. In the […]

Lionel Barrymore (1878 - 1954)

Lionel Barrymore Born on April 12, 1878 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as Lionel Herbert Blythe. He was the oldest child of stage perfomer Maurice Blythe who had gained fame as Maurice Barrymore and his wife Georgina Drew the daughter of celebrated actor John Drew. Lionel along with his sister Ethel and brother John, all aspired for […]

Ward Bond (1903 - 1960)

Ward Bond Ward Bond was a football player at the University of Southern California when, together with teammate John Wayne, he was hired for extra work in the silent film Salute (1928), directed by John Ford. Both Bond and Wayne continued in films, but Bond never achieved the fame and notoriety that was afforded Wayne. […]

Sonny Bono (1935 - 1998)

Sonny Bono Entertainer, US Congressman. Until the early 1960s, he had a job delivering meat along the Sunset Strip in California. He became an A&R Man for Phil Spector. Working with people such as Sam Cooke, and Chubby Checker, and writing songs such as ‘Baby Don’t Go’, and ‘Don’t Laugh At Me’ Bono achieved his […]

Charles Boyer (1899 - 1978)

Charles Boyer Born in Figeac, France, he was a distinguished performer who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. He began his career in the theater and made his big screen debut in was “L’homme du large” (1920). Relocating to America, he became a US citizen in 1942 and performed on Broadway, […]

Bobbi Kristina Brown (1993 - 2015)

Bobbi Kristina Brown Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, the only daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, died Sunday, nearly six months after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub of her home, her family said. Brown has been unresponsive in hospitals and hospice care since she was found in a bathtub of her Roswell, […]

Tony Canzoneri (1908 - 1959)

Tony Canzoneri American professional boxer who held world championships in the featherweight, lightweight, and junior-welterweight divisions. Canzoneri weighed only 95 pounds (43 kg) when he began his amateur boxing career. After turning pro in 1925, he won the National Boxing Association’s version of the bantamweight title. Canzoneri’s first world-title match was as a featherweight on […]

Sara Dougherty Carter (1898 - 1979)

Sara Dougherty Carter The most influential group in country music history, the Carter Family switched the emphasis from hillbilly instrumentals to vocals, made scores of their songs part of the standard country music canon, and made a style of guitar playing, “Carter picking,” the dominant technique for decades. Along with Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family […]

Charlton Heston (1923 - 2008)

Charlton Heston Heston made his feature film debut as the lead character in a 16mm production of Peer Gynt (1941), based on the Henrik Ibsen play. Shortly thereafter, he played ‘Marc Antony’ in Julius Caesar (1950), however Heston firmly stamped himself as genuine leading man material with his performance as circus manager ‘Brad Braden’ in […]

Jonathan Harris (1914 - 2002)

Jonathan Harris Jonathan Harris, a versatile character actor perhaps best known for his role as the villainous Dr. Smith in the science-fiction fantasy series ”Lost in Space” on CBS television, died on Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 87 and lived in the Encino section of Los Angeles. He had been hospitalized for a back […]

Dennis Cole (1940 - 2009)

Dennis Cole A performer of mainly television, he is best known for his role as ‘Detective Jim Briggs’ in the police drama “Felony Squad” (1966 to 1969). With his athletic build, the Detroit native was able to find work as a model and later as a Hollywood stuntman, which led to bit acting parts. His […]

Jack Dempsey (1895 - 1983)

Jack Dempsey Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1919 to 1926. The legendary Dempsey was born in Manassa, Colorado, one of 11 children. At 16 he left home and traveled on freight trains and fought to earn money. Then Dempsey met manager Jack ‘Doc’ Kearns and started knocking out legitimate contenders like Fireman Jim Flynn, […]

Richard Denning (1914 - 1998)

Richard Denning Originally studied business management in Los Angeles but decided to break into acting instead. He won a radio contest called “Do You Want to Be an Actor”, and was awarded a Warner Bros. screen test. Warner rejected him, but Paramount took him on the condition that he change his name to Denning. (Studio […]

Linda Gary (1944 - 1995)

Linda Gary Voice Actress. Best known as the voices of ‘Teela’, ‘Sorceress’ and ‘Evil-Lyn’ on the cartoon “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (1983). Other cartoons she did voice work for include “The Smurfs” (1981), “Transformers” (1984), “She-Ra: Princess of Power” (1985), “The Land Before Time” and “Spider-Man” (1994).

Peggy Lee (1920 - 2002)

Peggy Lee Singer, Songwriter and Actress. Best remembered for songs “Fever,” “Lover,” “Big Spender,” and a host of other songs. Born Norma Dolores Egstrom, her mother died when she was 4, and her father, a railroad station agent, remarried, but later abandoned the new family, leaving Peggy with her stepmother, who physically abused her. Peggy […]

Dwight Eisenhower (1890 - 1969)

Dwight Eisenhower 34th United States President, United States General of the Army. One of seven sons of a poor Kansas family, he discovered he could receive an education for free if he was accepted at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He passed the 1911 entry exam and graduated in the top half […]

Richard Dawson (1932 - 2012)

Dawson was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on November 20, 1932 to Arthur and Josephine Emm. At the age of 14 he ran away from home to join the British Merchant Navy, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached […]

Jonathan Frid (1924 - 2012)

Jonathan Frid Jonathan Frid, a Shakespearean actor who found unexpected — and by his own account unwanted — celebrity as the vampire Barnabas Collins on the sanguinary soap opera “Dark Shadows,” died last Saturday, April 14, in Hamilton, Ontario. He was 87. He died from complications of a fall, said Kathryn Leigh Scott, who played […]

Gene Fullmer (1931 - 2015)

Gene Fullmer Gene Fullmer was the World Middleweight Champion (1957). Widely believed, he was named after former boxer Gene Tunner, he was born into a Mormon family and endured a strict upbringing. He was introduced to the sport, when his father brought him and his two younger brothers to a local gym to watch the […]

James Garfield (0183 - 1881)

James Garfield American Civil War Major General, US Congressman, and US President. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 20th US President for only 200 days, from March until September 1881. He was the 3rd US President to die in office and the 2nd one who was assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln. Born […]