FOUND A GRAVE

B.B. King (1925 - 2015)

B.B. King B.B. King spread joy to millions by giving them the blues. The iconic musician, along with his ever-present guitar Lucille, spent nearly 70 years thrilling audiences and spreading the music he learned as a poverty-stricken youth in the Mississippi Delta all over the world. King, 89, died in Las Vegas, his attorney announced […]

Babe Adams (1882 - 1968)

Charles Benjamin “Babe” Adams (May 18, 1882 – July 27, 1968) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1906 to 1926 who spent nearly his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Noted for his outstanding location control, his career average of 1.29 walks per 9 innings pitched was the second lowest of […]

Babe Paley (1915 - 1978)

Born Barbara Cushing in Boston, Massachusetts, she was the daughter of world-renowned brain surgeon Dr. Harvey Cushing, who was professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins, Harvard and Yale universities, and Katharine Stone Crowell Cushing. Her older sisters both married into money and prestige: Minnie Cushing was the second wife of Vincent Astor, and Betsey Cushing […]

Babe Ruth (1895 - 1948)

Babe Ruth An American baseball outfielder and pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1914 to 1935. Nicknamed “The Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat“, he began his career as a stellar left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New […]

Balto (1919 - 1933)

In January 1925 doctors realized that a potentially deadly diphtheria epidemic was poised to sweep through Nome’s young people. The only serum that could stop the outbreak was in Anchorage, Alaska, approximately 1,000 miles (1609 km) away. The engine of the only aircraft that could quickly deliver the medicine was frozen and would not start. […]

Barbara Billingsley (1915 - 2010)

Barbara Billingsley Barbara Billingsley, who wore a classy pearl necklace and dispensed pearls of wisdom as America’s quintessential mom on “Leave it to Beaver,” has died at age 94, a family spokeswoman said Saturday. The actress passed away at 2 a.m. (5 a.m. ET) Saturday at her home in Santa Monica, California, after a long […]

Barbara Ann Scott (1928 - 2012)

Scott was the youngest of three children born to Canadian Army Colonel Clyde Rutherford Scott and Mary (née Purves) of Sandy Hill, Ottawa. She began skating at the age of seven with the Minto Skating Club, coached by Otto Gold and Sheldon Galbraith. At age nine, Scott switched from regular schooling to tutoring 2 1/2 […]

Barbara Bates (1925 - 1969)

Movie and TV actress of the 1940s and 50s. After winning a local beauty contest, she won a trip to Hollywood where she met Cecil Coen, a publicist for UA whom would later be her first husband. Her second husband was William Reed. After some bit parts and a cover of Yank magazine in 1945, […]

Barbara Baxley (1923 - 1990)

Barbara Baxley (January 1, 1923 – June 7, 1990) was an American actress and singer. Barbara Angie Rose Baxley was born in Porterville, California, the daughter of Emma (née Tyler) and Bert Baxley. A life member of the Actors Studio, Barbara Baxley also studied acting under the tutelage of Sanford Meisner at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School […]

Barbara Britton (1919 - 1980)

Barbara Maurine Brantingham was born September 26, 1919, in Long Beach, California. Her involvement with stage productions began when she was 14. She attended Polytechnic High School and Long Beach City College, majoring in speech with the intention of working as a speech and drama teacher. While in school she began to show an interest […]

Barbara Graham (1923 - 1955)

Graham was born Barbara Elaine Ford in Oakland, California to young unwed mother Hortense Ford. On February 23, 1925, Hortense Ford gave birth to a second daughter out of wedlock, Claire Elizabeth. Hortense Ford later married a man by the name of Joseph Wood, whose surname was then given to Barbara and Claire. Hortense had […]

Barbara Hamilton (1926 - 1996)

Actress. Known for her work on Canadian stage and television, she was once labelled the funniest woman in Canada. Born in Kingston, Ontario, Hamilton attended the University of Toronto before embarking on a career in theatre arts. Her father, who raised her and sister Mary, alone since the death of her mother when she was […]

Barbara Jo Allen (1906 - 1974)

Actress. She is best remembered as ‘Vera Vague’ the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. As ‘Vera Vague’, she popularized the catch phrase “You dear boy!” Born in New York City, New York, her acting skills first appeared in school plays. She traveled to Paris, […]

Barbara La Marr (1896 - 1926)

La Marr was born in 1896 as Reatha Dale Watson to William Wallace and Rosana “Rose” Watson in Yakima, Washington (La Marr later claimed she was born in Richmond, Virginia). Her father was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother had a son, Henry, born in 1878, and a daughter, Violet, born in February […]

Barbara Lawrence (1930 - 2013)

Born to Morris Lawrence and Berniece (or Bernice) Eaton Lawrence in Carnegie, Oklahoma, Barbara Lawrence moved with her mother to Kansas City, Missouri as an adolescent. Lawrence’s career began as a child photographer’s model. She appeared in her first film, Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe (1945), as a night-club patron. A year later, she made a […]

Barbara Loden (1932 - 1980)

Barbara Loden made her New York theater debut in 1947 in Compulsion and also appeared on stage in The Highest Tree with Robert Redford as well as Night Circus with Ben Gazzara and in the stage version of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.  She made her television debut on […]

Barbara McNair (1934 - 2007)

Barbara McNair (March 4, 1934 – February 4, 2007) was an American singer and actress. Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Her big break came with a win on Arthur Godfrey’s TV show Talent Scouts, which led to […]

Barbara Meek (1934 - 2015)

Barbara Meek was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Juanita (née Coleman) and Harold Talmadge Meek, and is the maternal granddaughter of the Reverend Horatius “H.H.” Coleman, pastor of the Greater Macedonia Baptist Church. She was a graduate of Northwestern High School, and as an undergraduate was asked to join Wayne State University’s graduate theater program. […]

Barbara Mullen (1914 - 1979)

Barbara Mullen (9 June 1914, Boston, Massachusetts – 9 March 1979, London, England) was an American actress well known in the UK for playing the part of Janet, the housekeeper, in Dr Finlay’s Casebook. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later years, she had already made her mark in the theatre. Mullen’s parents, […]

Barbara Piasecka Johnson (1937 - 2013)

Piasecka Johnson was born in Staniewicze near Grodno, Poland (now in Belarus). Her father was a farmer. She graduated from Wroclaw University with a M.A. in Art History. She left Poland in 1968, with just $100.  Piasecka was hired as a cook by Esther Underwood Johnson, then wife of John Seward Johnson I. Her cooking […]

Barbara Read (1917 - 1963)

Born in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, Barbara Read relocated to California during the mid-1930s. Read received her first movie contract while living with in Laguna Beach, California. She was watching a film production in Laguna when she was spotted and offered a screen test. She was given a six-month contract with the production company. When […]

Barbara Ruick (1930 - 1974)

Barbara Ruick was the daughter of actors Lurene Tuttle and Melville Ruick. She grew up acting out scenes with dolls, employing her mother as an audience. She attended Roosevelt High School, Burbank High School in Burbank, and North Hollywood High School. She did little acting in high school but joined a school band at the […]

Barbara Stanwyck (1907 - 1990)

Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens on July 16, 1907, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the fifth and youngest child of Catherine Ann (née McPhee) and Byron E. Stevens. Her parents were working class. Her father was a native of Massachusetts and her mother was an immigrant from Nova Scotia. Ruby was of […]

Barbara Stuart (1930 - 2011)

Stuart portrayed “Miss Bunny”, the girlfriend of Sergeant Vincent Carter, played by Frank Sutton, on three seasons of CBS’s Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. In 1969, Stuart was cast as “Wilma Winslow” on CBS’s The Queen and I. In 1985, she was cast as Marianne Danzig, the wife of a Mafia godfather in the ABC’s crime drama Our […]

Barnard Hughes (1915 - 2006)

Hughes was born in Bedford Hills, New York, the son of Irish immigrants Marcella “Madge” (née Kiernan) and Owen Hughes. He attended La Salle Academy and Manhattan College in New York City. Hughes served in the United States Army during World War II. Hughes was married to actress Helen Stenborg. They married on April 19, […]

Barney Ross (1909 - 1967)

Barney Ross Dov-Ber (or Beryl) Rosofsky was born in New York City to Isidore “Itchik” Rosofsky and Sarah Epstein Rosofsky. His father was a Talmudic scholar who had emigrated to America from his native Brest-Litovsk after barely surviving a pogrom. The family then moved from New York to Chicago. Isidore became a rabbi and owner […]

Barney Rosset (1922 - 2012)

Rosset was born and raised in Chicago to a Jewish father, Barnet Rosset, and an Irish Catholic mother, Mary (née Tansey). He attended the progressive Francis Parker School, where he was best friends with renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler. He went on to study at Swarthmore College, UCLA and the New School for Social Research. He […]

Barry Allan Ackerley (1934 - 2011)

Barry Allan Ackerley Sports Magnate. He was the principal owner of the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association, from 1983 to 2001. A graduate of the University of Iowa, he rose to the position of Chairman and Corporate Executive Officer (CEO) of Ackerley Communications, a media conglomerate operating television and radio stations in 20 […]

Barry Atwater (1918 - 1978)

The son of a renowned landscape painter of the same name, Barry Atwater was born in Denver, Colorado. He served as head of the UCLA Sound Department before he began his acting career. His work teaching audio techniques led to a role in the student film A Time Out of War, a Civil War allegory […]

Barry Brown (1951 - 1978)

Born Donald Barry Brown in San Jose, California, he was the eldest child of Donald Bernard Brown and Vivian Brown (née Agrillo). His sister was the actress Marilyn Brown, who committed suicide in 1997 at the age of 44. His brother is the novelist James Brown (Final Performance, Hot Wire), who etched an intimate portrait […]