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Henry Bessemer (1813 - 1898)

The invention from which Henry Bessemer made his first fortune was a series of six steam-powered machines for making bronze powder, used in the manufacture of gold paint. As he relates in his autobiography, he examined the bronze powder made in Nuremberg which was the only place where it was made at the time. He […]

Eugenie Besserer (1868 - 1934)

Actress. She is best-remembered for playing Al Jolson’s doting mother in the landmark talkie “The Jazz Singer” (1927). In the film’s most famous scene, Jolson serenades her with Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” and then utters the immortal phrase, “You ain’t heard nothing yet!” Besserer was born in Watertown, New York. She married at 15 and […]

Saint André Bessette (1845 - 1937)

He was born Alfred Bessette in Mont-Saint-Grégoire, Quebec, a small town situated 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Montreal. Bessette was the eighth of 12 children (four of whom died in infancy). He was so frail when he was born that the curé baptized him “conditionally” the following day, completing an emergency ritual performed at […]

Edna Best (1900 - 1974)

Edna Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a British actress. Born in Hove, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first Professor of Drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Best was known on the London stage […]

Charles Herbert Best (1899 - 1978)

Born in West Pembroke, Washington County, Maine, he was the son of Luella Fisher and Herbert Huestis Best, Canadians from Nova Scotia.  Best married Margaret Hooper Mahon in Toronto in 1924 and they had two sons. One son, Dr. Henry Best was a well-regarded historian who later became president of Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. […]

Daniel Best (1838 - 1923)

In 1839, Daniel Best’s father, John, moved the family to Missouri. There he built a saw mill and proceeded to cut lumber for the local pioneers to use in building their homes. The first nine years of Daniel’s life were spent here and is probably where he received his interest in logging and machines.  In […]

Zina Bethune (1945 - 2012)

Actress, Disability Advocate. Perhaps best remembered for playing Gail Lucas in the TV series “The Nurses” (1962 to 1965). The daughter of an actress, her father died when she was five years old. She followed her mother’s path to the entertainment industry and at the age of six began taking lessons at George Balanchine’s School […]

Zina Bethune (1945 - 2012)

Zina Bethune was born in New York City, the daughter of Ivy (née Vigder), an actress (born June 1, 1918, Sevastopol, Russia) and William Charles Bethune, a sculptor and painter who died in 1950 when Zina was five years old. Zina began her formal ballet training aged six at George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. […]

Tony Bettenhausen (1916 - 1961)

Melvin Eugene “Tony” Bettenhausen (September 12, 1916 Tinley Park, Illinois – May 12, 1961 Indianapolis, Indiana) was an American racing driver, who won the National Championship in 1951 and 1958.  Bettenhausen was nicknamed the “Tinley Park Express” in honor of his hometown. He was nicknamed “Tunney” after heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney. “Tunney” later became […]

Lyle Bettger (1915 - 2003)

Born in Philadelphia, the son of Frank Bettger, an infielder for the St Louis Cardinals. He left school in his late teens with the ambition of becoming an actor. Bettger graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. His theatrical debut was in Brother Rat at the Biltmore Theatre in New York […]

Carl Betz (1921 - 1978)

Growing up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon, Carl Betz began his acting career unofficially in grammar school when he formed a theatrical company with friends, performing plays in his grandmother’s basement. After graduating from Mount Lebanon High School in 1939, he won scholarship to Duquesne University. During the summer, Betz performed in a […]

Bill Beutel (1930 - 2006)

Beutel graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire after a stint in the Army and studied law at the University of Michigan Law School, though he left Michigan without obtaining his law degree. While Beutel was in law school, he wrote Edward R. Murrow a letter saying, “I very much wanted to be a […]

Dr. Ernest Beutler (1928 - 2008)

Born in Berlin, to a Jewish family, his family home was located on Reichskanzlerplatz, renamed “Adolf Hitler Platz” after Hitler’s ascent to power, and then Theodor Heuss Platz after the Second World War. Both of his parents (Alfred and Kaethe, née Italiener) were physicians. His mother, a pediatrician, was in pre-war times the physician to […]

Don Bexley (1910 - 1997)

Bexley was born on March 10, 1910 in either Jamestown, Virginia or Detroit, Michigan to the late Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Bexley. His father was a Bible scholar and teacher and his mother a classical vocalist. “I was born with a flair for the stage, as I had always been a clown – even during […]

Divya Bharti (1974 - 1993)

Divya Bharti was born on 25 February 1974, in Mumbai, India, as the child of Om Prakash Bharti, an insurance officer, and his second wife, Meeta Bharti. She had a younger brother named Kunal and two half siblings who were the result of her father’s first marriage. She spoke Hindi, English and Marathi fluently. In […]

Regina Bianchi (1921 - 2013)

Actress. She will perhaps be best remembered for her leading role in the successful play “Filomena Marturano”. Born to parents of French origin, she was cast at young age in Raffaele Viviani’s company theater and then in that of Eduardo De Filippo becoming one of the most popular actresses of the Neapolitan theater. Regina was […]

Jeanne Bice (1939 - 2011)

Bice was born on July 20, 1939, in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where she was also raised. She later moved to the nearby town of Ripon, Wisconsin as an adult. Bice and her husband, Arlow “Butch” Bice Jr., had a son and a daughter, Tim and Lee. She opened her first store, a women’s apparel […]

Marie François Xavier Bichat (1771 - 1802)

Bichat was born at Thoirette in Jura, France. His father was Jean-Baptise Bichat, a physician who had trained at Montpellier and was Bichat’s first instructor. His mother was Jeanne-Rose Bichat, his father’s wife and cousin. He entered the college of Nantua, and later studied at Lyon. He made rapid progress in mathematics and the physical […]

Mary Ann Bickerdyke (1817 - 1901)

Mary Ann Bickerdyke (July 19, 1817 – November 8, 1901), also known as Mother Bickerdyke, was a hospital administrator for Union soldiers during the American Civil War.  She was born in Knox County, Ohio, to Hiram Ball and Annie Rodgers Ball. She later moved to Galesburg, Illinois.  After the outbreak of the Civil War, she […]

Phyllis Calvert (1915 - 2002)

Born Phyllis Hannah Bickle in Chelsea, she trained at the Margaret Morris School of Dancing and performed from the age of ten, gaining her first film role at the age of 12, in The Arcadians (1927), also known as The Land of Heart’s Desire. Calvert performed in repertory theatre and in several films, before making […]

Hedwig Biebtreu (1868 - 1958)

Actress. Born in Linz, Austria, she made her stage debut in 1886 at the Theater of Augsburg in Germany. In 1891 she moved to Vienna, where she became the doyenne of the National Theatre. She later appeared in the silent films “Die Herrin der Welt” (1919) and “Die Kurtisane von Venedig” (1924). Her most famous […]

Jane Adams (1921 - 2014)

Jane Adams was born in San Antonio, Texas and received a full scholarship to Juilliard, which she turned down to spend years studying at the Pasadena Playhouse. From there she got her start on Lux Radio Theatre and then with the Harry Conover Modeling Agency, where she was given her nickname “Poni”. (This was supposedly […]

Wilfred Gordon Bigelow (1913 - 2005)

Wilfred Gordon “Bill” Bigelow, OC FRSC (June 18, 1913 – March 27, 2005) was a Canadian heart surgeon known for his role in developing the artificial pacemaker and the use of hypothermia in open heart surgery.  Born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of Dr. Wilfred Abram Bigelow, founder of the first private medical clinic in […]

Ronnie Biggs (1929 - 2013)

Biggs was born in Stockwell, Lambeth, London, on 8 August 1929. As a child during the Second World War, he was evacuated to Flitwick, Bedfordshire, and then Cornwall.  In 1947, at age 18, Biggs joined the RAF but was dishonorably discharged on charges of desertion two years later after breaking into a local chemist shop. […]

Denise Darcel (1924 - 2011)

Born as Denise Billecard in Paris, she was one of five daughters of a French baker, and she was college educated, studying at the University of Dijon. According to a friend, whom she met in Paris during World War II, she was a passenger in an L-5 Stinson light observation aircraft on VJ Day to […]

Francelia Billington (1895 - 1934)

Actress, Cinematographer. Blonde, slender star of silent films. Born and raised on a ranch near Dallas, Texas, she entered films in 1912 with the Kalem Company and was quickly promoted to leads after the departure of their star, Alice Joyce. Her expertise in horse riding made her a natural for westerns though she was versatile […]

Theodor Billroth (1829 - 1894)

Billroth was born at Bergen auf Rügen in the Kingdom of Prussia. He went to school in Greifswald. He was an indifferent student, and spent more time practicing piano than studying. Torn between a career as a musician or as a physician, he acceded to his mother’s wishes and enrolled himself at the University of […]

Thomas Bilotti (1940 - 1985)

Thomas Bilotti Over the years, Bilotti became a close aide-de-camp, confidant and chauffeur for capo Paul Castellano. Bilotti was a regular visitor to Castellano’s Todt Hill, Staten Island mansion and was considered a close family friend. However, when Castellano started an affair with his maid, Bilotti kept it secret from Castellano’s wife. He would also […]

Maeve Binchy (1940 - 2012)

Binchy was born on 28 May 1940 in Dalkey, County Dublin (modern-day Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown), Ireland, the oldest child of four. Her siblings include one brother, William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College, Dublin, and two sisters: Renie (who predeceased Binchy) and Joan Ryan. Her uncle was the historian D. A. Binchy (1899–1989). Educated […]

John Bindon (1943 - 1993)

John Bindon was born in Fulham, London, and was the son of Dennis Bindon, a merchant seaman and engineer, turned cab driver. The second eldest in a working-class family of three children, Bindon went to St Mark’s Church School in Fulham where he became a noted rugby union junior, but left at the age of […]