FOUND A GRAVE

Bessie Smith (1894 - 1937)

Bessie Smith Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists. On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along […]

Sugar Ray Robinson (1921 - 1989)

Sugar Ray Robinson Robinson was a fluid boxer who possessed a quick jab and knockout power. He possessed tremendous versatility—according to boxing analyst Bert Sugar, “Robinson could deliver a knockout blow going backward.” Robinson was efficient with both hands, and he displayed a variety of effective punches—according to a TIME magazine article in 1951, “Robinson’s […]

Hal Smith (1916 - 1994)

Smith was born in Petoskey in Emmet County in the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, but he spent a significant part of his early years living in Massena, New York. He graduated from the Massena High School in 1936. His mother was a seamstress, and his father worked at the local Aluminum […]

Silk Smitha (1960 - 1996)

Vijayalakshmi (2 December 1960 – 23 September 1996), better known by her stage name Silk Smitha, was an Indian film artiste who worked predominantly in the South Indian languages. She entered the industry as an extra actress and first got noticed for her role as “Silk” in the 1979 Tamil film Vandichakkaram. She became the […]

Hank Snow (1914 - 1999)

Hank Snow The death of country singer Hank Snow marks the passing of a major figure in the history of popular music. Snow, who died December 20 in Nashville at age 85, played a key role in helping transform country music from a localized, largely rural musical style to an internationally popular form. In a […]

Harriet Nelson (1909 - 1994)

She was born Peggy Louise Snyder in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Hazel Dell (née McNutt) and Roy Hilliard Snyder. She appeared on the vaudeville stage when she was three years old and made her debut on Broadway in her teens.  She frequented the Cotton Club, began smoking at age 13, was briefly married […]

Zach Sobiech (1995 - 2013)

At age 14, Sobiech was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer which mostly strikes children. CBS reported that during his treatment he underwent 10 surgeries and 20 rounds of chemotherapy. He started writing music after his diagnosis.  In May 2012 his doctors informed him that he had up to a year to live. Sobiech recorded […]

Ruth Sobotka (1925 - 1967)

The daughter of prominent Austrian architect and interior designer, Walter Sobotka (1888–1972) and Viennese actress, Gisela Schönau, Ruth Sobotka immigrated to the United States from Vienna with her parents in 1938. She studied set design at The University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology. After studying at the School of American […]

Lilia Skala (1896 - 1994)

Skala was born Lilia Sofer in Vienna, Austria. Her mother, Katharina Skala, was Catholic, and her father, Julius Sofer, was Jewish and worked as a manufacturers representative for the Waldes Koh-i-noor Company. Skala was one of the first women to graduate in architecture and engineering from the University of Dresden, before practicing architecture professionally in […]

Alberto Sordi (1920 - 2003)

Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician, Sordi enrolled in Milan’s dramatic arts academy but was kicked out because of his thick Roman accent. In the meantime he studied to be an opera singer, a bass. It was his accent and voice that would later prove to be his trademark. In a career that […]

Brad Dexter (1917 - 2002)

Dexter was born Veljko Šošo (Serbian Cyrillic: Вељко Шошо), in Goldfield, Nevada, of Serbian descent. He spoke Serbian as his first language. Burly, dark and handsome, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles of a rugged character. Early in his acting career, he went by the name of Barry Mitchell. After a stint as an amateur […]

Saint Bernadette Soubirous (1844 - 1879)

Bernadette (the sobriquet by which she was universally known) was the daughter of François Soubirous (Francés Sobirós in Occitan) (1807–1871), a miller, and Louise (Loïsa Casteròt in Occitan) (1825–1866), a laundress. She was the eldest of nine children—Bernadette, Jean (born and died 1845), Toinette (1846–1892), Jean-Marie (1848–1851), Jean-Marie (1851–1919), Justin (1855–1865), Pierre (1859–1931), Jean (born […]

Karel Soucek (1947 - 1985)

Karel Soucek (born April 19, 1947 in Czechoslovakia, died January 20, 1985 in Houston, Texas) was a Canadian professional stuntman who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1984. He lived in Hamilton, Ontario.  Soucek prepared for his 1984 Niagara Falls stunt by researching previous attempts, by sending unmanned barrels over the falls to […]

Olan Soule (1909 - 1994)

Born in La Harpe, Illinois to Elbert and Ann Williams Soule (descendants of three Mayflower passengers), Olan left Illinois at the age of seven and arrived in Des Moines, Iowa, where he lived until he was seventeen. He then launched his theatrical career by joining Jack Brooks’ tent show in Sabula, Jackson County, in eastern […]

Red Sovine (1918 - 1980)

Red Sovine In 1965 Sovine found his niche when he recorded “Giddyup Go“, which, like most of his other trucker hits, he co-wrote with Tommy Hill. It is spoken, rather than sung, as the words of an older long-distance truck driver who rediscovers his long-lost son driving another truck on the same highway. Minnie Pearl […]

Arlen Specter (1930 - 2012)

Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from 1965 until 2009, when he switched back to the Democratic Party. First elected in 1980, he represented his state for 30 years in the Senate. Specter was […]

Brock Speer (1920 - 1999)

Brock Speer Gospel Singer. Born Houston, Alabama, he was a member of the Speer Family Singers, known as the “First Family of Southern Gospel music”. While still a small boy in the late 1920s, he began to perform with his family on stage. As he matured, his smooth bass voice became a trademark of group’s […]

Paul Shane (1940 - 2013)

Paul Shane was born George Frederick Speight in Thrybergh, West Riding of Yorkshire, near Rotherham. He was a miner at Silverwood Colliery but slipped on soap in the pit-head baths in 1967, resulting in double herniated discs. He was pensioned from the pit at 27. Two years later, he became a professional entertainer since he […]

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 […]

Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. Widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, Churchill was also an officer in the British […]

Mickey Spillane (1918 - 2006)

Born in Brooklyn, New York City, and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Spillane was the only child of his Irish bartender father, John Joseph Spillane, and his Scottish mother, Catherine Anne. Mickey Spillane attended Erasmus Hall High School, graduating in 1935. He started writing while in high school, briefly attended Fort Hays State College in […]

Victor Spinetti (1929 - 2012)

Vittorio Giorgio Andrea Spinetti (2 September 1929 – 18 June 2012) was a Welsh comedy actor, author, poet and raconteur. Victor Spinetti appeared in dozens of films and stage plays throughout his 50-year career and is best remembered today for appearing in the three Beatles films in the 1960s, A Hard Day’s Night, Help! and […]

Chris Squire (1948 - 2015)

Chris Squire The co-founder and longtime bassist of prog rock icons Yes and the only member of the group to feature on every studio album, has passed away just over a month after revealing that he was suffering from a rare form of leukemia. Squire was 67. Current Yes keyboardist Geoff Downes first tweeted the news, “Utterly […]

Ken Stabler (1945 - 2015)

Ken Stabler Stabler first showed his professional chops in a 1972 playoff game best known for the Immaculate Reception. Mostly forgotten was that Stabler replaced starter Daryle Lamonica and led the Raiders to what seemed to be the winning touchdown in the fourth quarter — until Franco Harris’ spectacular catch and run won the game […]

Ann Rule (1931 - 2015)

Ann Rae Stackhouse was born on October 22, 1931, in Lowell, Michigan. One of two children of Chester R. Stackhouse and Sophie Marie Hansen, her mother was a teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children; her father was a sports coach. As Rule did during young adulthood, her family members had careers in law enforcement. Rule’s […]

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 […]

Luisa Casati (1881 - 1957)

The younger daughter of Alberto Amman and his wife, the former Lucia Bressi, Luisa Adele Rosa Maria Amman was born in Milan to a life of luxury. Luisa’s father was of Austrian descent, while her mother was Italian and Austrian. Luisa’s father was made a count by King Umberto I. Countess Amman died when Luisa […]

Arnold Stang (1918 - 2009)

Stang once claimed he got his break in radio by sending a postcard to a New York station requesting an audition, was accepted, and then bought his own ticket to New York from Chelsea, Massachusetts with the money set aside for his mother’s anniversary gift. True or not, Stang worked on New York-based network radio […]

Francis Edgar Stanley (1849 - 1918)

He and his twin brother, Freelan Oscar Stanley (otherwise known as Freel, or more often F. O.) learned to carve violins as taught by their grandfather, Liberty Stanley, at the age of ten. He attended Western State Normal School, now known as the University of Maine at Farmington. While F. O. initially became a teacher, […]

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815 - 1902)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the eighth of 11 children, was born in Johnstown, New York, to Daniel Cady and Margaret Livingston Cady. Five of her siblings died in early childhood or infancy. A sixth sibling, her elder brother Eleazar, died at age 20 just prior to his graduation from Union College in Schenectady, New York. Only […]