-
Aaron Spelling
Aaron Spelling (1923 - 2006)
Aaron Spelling Spelling was born in Dallas, Texas. He was the son of Pearl (née Wald) and David Spelling, who were Jewish emigrants from Poland. His father worked as a tailor and changed his surname from Spurling to Spelling after emigrating to the United States. Spelling had three brothers: Sam, Max, and Daniel, and a […]
-
Aarthi Agarwal
Aarthi Agarwal (1984 - 2015)
Aarthi Agarwal (March 5, 1984 – June 6, 2015) was an Indian-American actress who primarily worked in Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood. Aarthi Agarwal was born on March 5, 1984, to a Gujarati family. Her father, Shashank, is in the hotel business and her mother, Veema, is a homemaker. She has two siblings. At around […]
-
Abbey Lincoln
Abbey Lincoln (1930 - 2010)
Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday. She often visited the Blue Note jazz club in New York City. Her debut album, Abbey Lincoln’s Affair – A Story of a Girl in Love, was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records. In 1960 she sang on Max Roach’s landmark civil […]
-
Abe Axler
Abe Axler (2024 - 1933)
Abe Axler Organized Crime Figure. One of the most prominent members of Detroit’s Purple Gang. He was born and raised in Williamburg, Brooklyn, along with future Purples like Eddie Fletcher, Irving Milberg, Sam Abramson, and Isadore Cantor. In the fall of 1921, Abe and his brother Simon were convicted on burglary charges and did 4 […]
-
Abe Fortas
Abe Fortas (1910 - 1982)
Fortas was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Ray (née Berson) and William Fortas. He was the youngest of five children. His parents were Orthodox Jews, were of British descent, and his father worked as a cabinetmaker. Fortas acquired a lifelong love for music from his father, who encouraged his playing the violin, and […]
-
Abe Reles
Abe Reles (1906 - 1941)
Organized Crime Figure. Known as “Kid Twist”, he was a member of the murder-for-hire group of mafia assassins that became known as “Murder Inc”. About to go to trial for his involvement, he instead became a government witness. Just prior to his scheduled testimony against crime boss Lepke Buchalter and other figures. he either fell, […]
-
Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda (1921 - 2016)
Abe Vigoda was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Lena (née Moses) and Samuel Vigoda, Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a tailor who had two other sons: Hy and Bill. The latter was a comic book artist who drew for the Archie comics franchise and others in the 1940s. Abe Vigoda began […]
-
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams (1922 - 1955)
Actress. Born Margaret Thomas Adams in Greenville, South Carolina, she had a limited motion picture career, seeing only bit, uncredited roles in most of the 15 films she appeared in (she was only credited in 4 of those films). However, she gained renown for her many affairs with Hollywood notables, including an 11 year affair […]
-
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
Abigail Adams was born at the North Parish Congregational Church in Weymouth, Massachusetts, to The Reverend William Smith (1707-1783) and Elizabeth (née Quincy) Smith. On her mother’s side she was descended from the Quincy family, a well-known political family in the Massachusetts colony. Through her mother she was a cousin of Dorothy Quincy, wife of […]
-
Abigail Fillmore
Abigail Fillmore (1798 - 1853)
Abigail Powers Fillmore (March 13, 1798 – March 30, 1853), wife of Millard Fillmore, was First Lady of the United States from 1850 to 1853. Abigail was born in Stillwater, New York, 1798, in Saratoga County, New York. She was the daughter of the Reverend Lemuel Powers, a Baptist minister, and Abigail Newland-Powers, Abigail grew […]
-
Abigail Folger
Abigail Folger (1943 - 1969)
Folger was born in San Francisco. Her parents were Peter Folger, Chairman and President of the Folger Coffee Company, and Ines “Pui” Mejia (1907–2007), the youngest child of Gertrude and Encarnacion Mejia, a consul general of El Salvador. She had a younger brother, Peter, Jr. (born 1945). Her Roman Catholic parents divorced in 1952 when […]
-
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865)
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, […]
-
Ace Parker
Ace Parker (1912 - 2013)
Ace Parker was the son of Ernest and Mabel Parker and grew up near Norfolk, Virginia. He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, graduating with the class of 1933 and starring in five sports. He enrolled at Duke University as a freshman in 1933. At Duke, Parker competed in three sports: football, basketball and […]
-
Ada Louise Huxtable
Ada Louise Huxtable (1921 - 2013)
Huxtable was born and died in New York City, New York. Her father, the physician Michael Landman, was co-author (with his brother, Rabbi Isaac Landman) of the play A Man of Honor. Ada Louise Landman received an A. B. (magna cum laude) from Hunter College, CUNY in 1941. In 1942, she married industrial designer L. […]
-
Adam Heyer
Adam Heyer (1889 - 1929)
Adam Heyer On St. Valentine’s Day, 1929, one of America’s most atrocious crimes was committed when seven men were lined up against a wall in a bootlegger’s garage and machine-gunned to death. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the centerpiece crime of the lawless decade, climaxed ten years of wholesale murder. The mass killing took place […]
-
Adam Petty
Adam Petty (1980 - 2000)
Adam Petty On May 12, 2000, Petty was practicing for the Busch series Busch 200 race at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. While entering turn three, Petty’s throttle stuck wide open, causing the car to hit the outside wall virtually head on. Petty was killed instantly due to a basilar skull […]
-
Adam Ward
Adam Ward (1988 - 2015)
Adam Ward was tragically taken from this world on Wednesday, August 26, 2015. He was a bright light in our lives for 27 wonderful years.Adam was born on May 10, 1988, to Charles “Buddy” and Mary Lou Speas Ward of Daleville. Although he grew up in Botetourt with his sister and brother, Sarah and Jay, […]
-
Adam Williams
Adam Williams (1922 - 2006)
Williams was born in Wall Lake, Iowa. A veteran “bad guy” actor of 1950s film and TV who began his career after distinguished World War II military service as a United States Navy pilot, for which he received the Navy Cross. In 1952, Williams played the lead, a Los Angeles woman killer, in the film, […]
-
Adam Yauch
Adam Yauch (1964 - 2012)
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Adam Yauch was the only child of a social worker and a painter and architect. Yauch had a non-religious upbringing. His father had been raised a Catholic and his mother was Jewish. Yauch attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood. In high school, he taught himself […]
-
Addison Owen Randall
Addison Owen Randall (1906 - 1945)
Actor. The brother of fellow actor Robert Livingston (who he strongly resembled), he appeared in a number of Western B movies. Two versions of the cause of his death exist; he either had a heart attack or he fell off his horse Rusty and broke his neck while filming “The Royal Mounted Rides Again”. He […]
-
Adelbert Ames
Adelbert Ames (1835 - 1933)
Ames graduated from the United States Military Academy on May 6, 1861, standing fifth in his class of 45. On that same date he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Artillery. Eight days later he was promoted to first lieutenant and was assigned to the 5th U.S. Artillery. During the First Battle […]
-
Adele Mara
Adele Mara (1923 - 2010)
Adele Mara (April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010), born Adelaida Delgado, was an American actress, singer and dancer who appeared in films during the 1940s and 1950s. During the 1940s, the blond actress was also a popular pinup girl. Mara was born in Highland Park, Michigan, to Spanish parents. One of her early roles was as […]
-
Adolph Frederick
Adolph Frederick (1710 - 1771)
His father was Christian Augustus (1673—1726) duke and a younger prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, prince-bishop of Lubeck, and administrator, during the Great Northern War, of the duchies of Holstein-Gottorp for his relative Charles Frederick. His mother was Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. On his mother’s side, Adolf Frederick descended from king Gustav I of Sweden and from […]
-
Adolph Ochs
Adolph Ochs (1858 - 1935)
Adolph Ochs Ochs was born to a Jewish family in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 12, 1858. His parents Julius Ochs and Bertha Levy were both German immigrants. His father had left Bavaria for the United States in 1846. He was a highly educated man and fluent in six languages which he gave instruction in at […]
-
Adremy Dennis
Adremy Dennis (1976 - 2004)
Adremy Dennis, (23 January 1976 – October 13, 2004) was a convicted murderer executed by the State of Ohio. He was found guilty of the 1994 murder of Akron, Ohio resident Kurt Kyle. Dennis was the 15th person executed by the state since it reinstated the death penalty in 1981. Late on Saturday, June 4, […]
-
Adriana Caselotti
Adriana Caselotti (1916 - 1997)
Caselotti was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to an Italian American family. Her father, Guido Caselotti (1884-1978), was an immigrant from Udine, and worked as a teacher of music and a vocal coach. Her mother, Maria Orefice (1893-1961), from Naples, was a singer in the Royal Opera Theatre of Rome. Her older sister, Louise, sang opera […]
-
Adrienne Ames
Adrienne Ames (1903 - 1947)
Actress. Born Adrienne Ruth McClure, she played in films such as “The Death Kiss,” “George White’s Scandals” and “The Road to Reno.” Married for a time to actor Bruce Cabot, she leaves films business in 1941 and becomes a commentator on a New York City radio station, interviewing celebrities and dispensing beauty suggestions.
-
Adrienne Shelly
Adrienne Shelly (1966 - 2006)
Shelly was born Adrienne Levine in Queens, New York, to Sheldon M. Levine and Elaine Langbaum. She had two brothers, Jeff and Mark, and was raised on Long Island. She began performing when she was about 10 at Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center. She made her professional debut in a summer stock production of […]
-
Ahmed Ben Bella
Ahmed Ben Bella (1916 - 2012)
Ben Bella volunteered for service in the French Army in 1936. The Army was one of the few avenues of advancement for Algerians under colonial rule and voluntary enlistment was common. Posted to Marseille he played center mid-field for Olympique de Marseille in 1939–1940. His only appearance for the club was in a game against […]
-
Aileen Wuornos
Aileen Wuornos (1956 - 2002)
Wuornos was born Aileen Carol Pittman in Rochester, Michigan, on February 29, 1956. Her mother, Diane Wuornos (born 1939), was 14 years old when she married Aileen’s father, Leo Dale Pittman, on June 3, 1954. Less than two years later, and two months before Aileen was born, Diane filed for divorce. Aileen’s older brother Keith […]