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Kid Gavilán
Kid Gavilán (1926 - 2003)
Kid Gavilán Cuban professional boxer and world welterweight champion who was known for his “bolo punch,” a combination of a hook and an uppercut. Gavilan said that cutting sugarcane during his youth in Cuba helped him to perfect his punching technique. He was a flashy fighter and a skillful boxer who began his professional career […]
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Theda Bara
Theda Bara (1885 - 1955)
Theda Bara Actress. She appeared in 47 films, from 1914 to 1926, but was unable to make the transition to sound film. She was considered one of the most successful and glamorous stars of the 1910s. She was the original “Vamp”. Born under the name Theodosia Goodman, in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was close to her […]
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Betty Grable
Betty Grable (1916 - 1973)
Betty Grable During her lifetime, she would become one of the most prolific singing actresses of her time, starring in over one hundred films, including ‘Pin Up Girl’ and ‘How To Marry A Millionaire’. In 1929, the Grable family went on holiday to California, and Lilian, Betty’s Mother, decided that she and her daughter should […]
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James Best
James Best (1926 - 2015)
James Best Actor James Best, who played the often confused Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” died on Monday evening after a brief illness and battle with pneumonia, according to his rep. He was 88. Best got his start as an actor during World War II when he joined the military theatrical […]
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Jack Haley
Jack Haley (1897 - 1979)
Jack Haley Full name: John Joseph Haley, was the actor who played the part of the Tin Woodman and Hickory in MGM‘s 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. An established song-and-dance man, Haley was loaned to the MGM studio by his contract-holder, 20th Century Fox, on 4 November 1938. Haley replaced Buddy Ebsen, the actor who […]
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George Harrison
George Harrison (1943 - 2001)
George Harrison A master musician, a film producer and actor, best known as the lead guitarist and occasionally lead vocalist of The Beatles, George Harrison was born February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. He was also the youngest of four children, born to Harold and Louise Harrison. Like his future band mates, Harrison was […]
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Herb Hash
Herb Hash (1911 - 2008)
Herb Hash was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1940 to 1941 for the Boston Red Sox. He was born in Woolwine, Virginia, and attended the University of Richmond; he is a member of the University’s Hall of Fame. Hash made his debut for the Red Sox on April 19, […]
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Etta James
Etta James (1938 - 2012)
Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Hawkins, who was only 14 at the time. Her father has never been identified. James speculated that he was the pool player Rudolf “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone, and met him briefly in 1987. Due to her mother’s frequent absences from […]
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Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes (1942 - 2008)
Isaac Hayes The soul singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes, known for his gravelly voice, shaven head and copious jewellery, died on Sunday at his home in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 65. Hayes was found by family members, who discovered him lying next to a treadmill in a basement room at his home. Sheriff’s deputies performed CPR until […]
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Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday (1851 - 1887)
Doc Holliday A gunfighter and professional gambler, he is remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the notorious Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona that resulted in the killing of three members of the Cochise County Cowboys, a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County […]
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John Huston
John Huston (1906 - 1987)
John Huston John Huston, the legendary director and scenarist who made such classic films as ”The Maltese Falcon,” ”The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” ”The Asphalt Jungle” and ”The African Queen,” died yesterday in Middletown, R.I., at the age of 81. Associates said he had died in his sleep of complications from emphysema. The film […]
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Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger (1929 - 1971)
Dick Tiger Nigerian professional boxer, world middleweight (160 pounds) and light heavyweight (175 pounds) champion during the 1960s. Tiger learned to box from British military officers stationed in Nigeria. He began his professional boxing career in his homeland in 1952, and he went on to win the Nigerian championship in the middleweight division before moving […]
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Henry Armstrong
Henry Armstrong (1912 - 1988)
Henry Armstrong Born Henry Jackson, Jr., on December 12, 1912, in Columbus, Mississippi, Armstrong was the eleventh of the family’s 15 children. His father, Henry Jackson, Sr., was a sharecropper and a butcher. His mother, America Jackson was an Iroquois Indian. When Armstrong was four years old, his father moved the family to St. Louis, […]
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Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)
Michael Jackson He was called the “King of Pop,” and is best remembered for his revolutionary videos such as “Thriller” (1982), and “Dangerous” (1991), as well as two Guinness World Records: Most successful entertainer of all time (with 13 Grammy Awards, 13 Number One single hits in a solo career, and sales of over 750 […]
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Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965)
Stan Laurel Comedian. He found his greatest success when paired with Oliver Hardy. Born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, England, the second of five children. His father, A. J. Jefferson managed a number of vaudeville theaters, and his mother was an actress. He lived with his grandparents until age six, then moved in with his […]
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Jim Jeffries
Jim Jeffries (1875 - 1953)
Jim Jeffries James J. Jeffries was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1899 to 1905 but he is best known to history for coming out of retirement to take on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion in history, in what was called “The Fight of the Century”. That fight ensured Jeffries’ place […]
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George Jessel
George Jessel (1898 - 1981)
George Jessel Known as “The Toastmaster General of the United States.” He was born to a poor Jewish family in Harlem, New York . His father was an unsuccessful playwright who declared that George would “…never be an actor as long as I live.” His father died by the time he was 9, when George […]
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Michael Jeter
Michael Jeter (1952 - 2003)
Michael Jeter Jeter’s body was found in his Hollywood Hills home Sunday, publicist Dick Guttman said. Friends said they had communicated with him as recently as Saturday, Guttman added. An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death. Guttman said Jeter, who was HIV-positive but had been in good health, apparently died of natural […]
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Leavander Johnson
Leavander Johnson (1969 - 2005)
Leavander Johnson was an American lightweight boxer from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who once held the International Boxing Federation version of the world title. He won the title on June 17, 2005, against the Italian fighter Stefano Zoff, winning after the referee stopped the fight in the seventh round. Johnson made his debut as a […]
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David Bowie
David Bowie (1947 - 2016)
David Bowie Singer David Bowie has died at age 69 following “a courageous 18-month battle with cancer,” the pop icon’s website said. He died Sunday, two days after his birthday, when his album “Blackstar” was released. “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family,” the site said. “While many of you will share in […]
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Anissa Jones
Anissa Jones (1958 - 1976)
Anissa Jones She is best remembered for her role of ‘Buffy’ on the television series “Family Affair”. Born in West Lafayette, Indiana, her parents moved to San Diego County, California, when she was a small girl, settling in Playa del Rey, where she grew up. In 1966 she was cast as ‘Elizabeth “Buffy” Patterson-Davis’ in […]
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Davy Jones
Davy Jones (1945 - 2012)
Davy Jones Davy Jones, whose charming grin and British accent won the hearts of millions of fans on the 1960s television series “The Monkees,” died Wednesday, according to the Martin County, Florida, sheriff’s office. He was 66. A witness told authorities he was with Jones in Indiantown, Florida, when Jones “began to complain of not […]
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Joseph Kearns
Joseph Kearns (1907 - 1962)
Joseph Kearns He was a versatile character performer fondly remembered for his role as Mr. Wilson on the CBS “Dennis the Menace” television series. He began his acting career on radio in the 1930s, appearing on such programs as “The Adventures of Sam Spade”, “The Jack Benny Show”, “My Little Margie” and “It’s a great […]
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Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt (1927 - 2008)
Eartha Kitt Kitt was active in numerous social causes in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, she established the Kittsville Youth Foundation, a chartered and non-profit organization for underprivileged youth in the Watts area of Los Angeles. She was also involved with a group of youth in the area of Anacostia in Washington, D.C., who […]
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Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter (1912 - 2010)
Art Linkletter He hosted two of the longest-running programs in broadcast history and was a presence in American media for more than six decades. “Art Linkletter’s House Party,” a variety show, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS television from 1952 to 1969, and “People Are Funny”, which he helmed on radio […]
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Kirk Kerkorian
Kirk Kerkorian (1917 - 2015)
Kirk Kerkorian Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, an eighth-grade dropout who built Las Vegas’ biggest hotels, tried to take over Chrysler and bought and sold MGM at a profit three times, has died. He was 98. He died Monday night in Beverly Hills. The reserved, unpretentious Kerkorian spent much of his life trying to stay out of […]
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Elyse Knox
Elyse Knox (1917 - 2012)
Elyse Knox As a B-movie actress in the 1940s, Elyse Knox was perhaps best known for the only horror film she ever made, “The Mummy’s Tomb,” with Lon Chaney Jr. as the monster who kidnaps her. She later recalled working through the night on the abduction and graveyard scenes with Chaney, miserable in heavy makeup […]
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Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford (1923 - 1984)
Peter Lawford He is probably best remembered as a member of the Hollywood’s “Rat Pack’ which included entertainers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and films, including the movies “Ocean’s 11” (1960) and “Sergeants 3” (1962). He is also remembered as the husband of Patricia Kennedy, […]
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Cary Grant
Cary Grant (1904 - 1986)
Cary Grant Archibald Alexander Leach was born at 15 Hughenden Road, Horfield, Bristol, England, the only surviving child of Elsie Maria (née Kingdon) Leach (1877–1973) and Elias James Leach (1873–1935). Young Archie Leach, whose mother had suffered clinical depression since the death of a previous child, had an unhappy upbringing, attending Bishop Road Primary School […]
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Benny Leonard
Benny Leonard (1896 - 1947)
Benny Leonard He was the Lightweight Boxing Champion of the World from 1917 to 1925. Considered one of the greatest lightweight boxers in the history of the sport, he was feted as possessing superb boxing skills as well as potent punching power. He fought over two hundred times and suffered only four knockouts; three early […]