FOUND A GRAVE

Alida Valli (1921 - 2006)

Valli was born in Pola, Istria, Italy (today Pula, Croatia; until 1918 it had formed part of Austria-Hungary). Her paternal grandfather was the Baron Luigi Altenburger (also: Altempurger), an Austrian-Italian from Trento, a descendant of the Counts d’Arco; her paternal grandmother was Elisa Tomasi from Trento, a cousin of the Roman senator Ettore Tolomei. Valli’s […]

Alison Parker (1991 - 2015)

Alison Parker, loved by everyone who knew her, was taken from us at the age of 24 on August 26, 2015. Born in Annapolis, MD, Alison grew up in Collinsville, Virginia and graduated from Martinsville High School in 2009. Her many accomplishments included Piedmont District Swimmer of the Year award, Big M Trophy recipient, and […]

Allan Dwan (1885 - 1981)

Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Allan Dwan,who was the younger son of commercial traveller of woolen clothing Joseph Michael Dwan (1857-1917) and his wife Mary Jane Dwan, nee Hunt, moved with his family to the United States when he was seven years old, on December 4, 1892 by ferry from Windsor to […]

Allan Edwall (1924 - 1997)

Johan Allan Edwall (25 August 1924 – 7 February 1997) was a Swedish actor, director, author, composer and singer, best-known outside Sweden for the small roles he played in some of Ingmar Bergman’s films, such as Fanny and Alexander (1982). He found his largest audience in the Scandinavian countries for playing lovable characters in several […]

Allan Jones (1907 - 1992)

Jones, of Welsh ancestry, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Pennsylvania. His father and grandfather were coal miners, and he worked in coal mines early in his adult life. He left that occupation to study voice at New York University.  In an interview in 1973, Jones recalled that his father and grandfather […]

Allan Lane (1909 - 1973)

Allan Lane was born as Harry Leonard Albershardt in Indiana to Linnie Anne and William H. Albershardt. He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Lane had been a photographer, model and stage actor by age 20. He was spotted by Fox Film Corporation (later 20th Century Fox) talent scouts and was signed to a contract. […]

Allan Melvin (1923 - 2008)

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, to Richard and Marie Melvin and raised in New York City by his paternal grandparents, Frank and Helen (née Campbell) Melvin. He attended Columbia University. After graduation he served in the United States Navy during World War II and married his wife, Amalia Faustina Sestero, in March 1944 in New […]

Allan Sherman (1924 - 1973)

Sherman was born in Chicago to Jewish American parents Percy Copelon and Rose Sherman. Percy was an auto mechanic and race car driver who, like his son, suffered from obesity (he weighed over 350 pounds), and died while attempting a 100-day diet. Sherman’s parents divorced when he was in grade school, and Allan adopted his […]

Allen Ludden (1917 - 1981)

Allen Ludden, born Allen Packard Ellsworth, was the first child of Elmer Ellsworth, a Nebraska native living in Mineral Point, Wisconsin and working as an ice dealer; and his wife Leila M. Allen, a Wisconsin native and housewife. Elmer Ellsworth died the next winter at age 26, a victim of the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic, […]

Allison Hayes (1930 - 1977)

Allison Hayes was born Mary Jane Hayes to William E. Hayes (1880–1959) and Charlotte Gibson Hayes (1893–1977) in Charleston, West Virginia. She was in the class of 1948 at Calvin Coolidge High School. Hayes won the title of Miss District of Columbia. She went on to represent D.C. in the 1949 Miss America pageant. Although […]

Alma Bennett (1904 - 1958)

Actress. She appeared in 56 films between 1919 and 1930, typically as alluring vamps. Her best films are the early sci-fi classic “The Lost World” (1925), and the Harry Langdon comedy “Long Pants” (1927). Bennett’s other credits include “The Affairs of Anatol” (1921), “The Silent Lover” (1926), and “Girl Crazy” (1929). Her career ended with […]

Alma Leonor Beltran (1919 - 2007)

Actress. She appeared in over 90 television and motion picture roles, spanning a career of nearly 60 years in the entertainment industry. She began her acting career in the 1945 motion picture “Pan-Americana,” playing the uncredited role of Miss Guatemala. Over the next several years she would appear in several more non credited acting roles […]

Alois Alzheimer (1864 - 1915)

Alois Alzheimer was born in Marktbreit, Bavaria on 14 June 1864. His father served in the office of notary public in the family’s hometown.  Alzheimer attended Aschaffenburg, Tübingen, Berlin, and Würzburg universities. He received a medical degree at Würzburg University in 1886. In the following year, he spent five months assisting mentally ill women, before […]

Alphonse Balat (1818 - 1895)

Balat was born in Gochenée. He studied at the Academie of Namur and obtained his degree in architecture from the Academy of Antwerp in 1838. In 1839 he stayed in Paris for a year but returned after his father’s death. He was soon discovered by the Walloon nobility for which he built or renovated a […]

Alvaro Mutis (1923 - 2013)

Mutis was born in Bogotá and lived in Brussels from the age of two until eleven, where his father, Santiago Mutis Dávila, held a post as a diplomat. They would return to Colombia by ship for summer holidays. During this time Mutis’ family stayed at his grandfather’s coffee and sugar cane plantation, Coello. For Álvaro […]

Alvin Ailey Jr (1931 - 1989)

Alvin Ailey Jr Ailey was born to his 17-year-old mother, Lula Elizabeth Ailey, in Rogers, Texas. His father, also named Alvin, abandoned the family when Alvin was only six months old. Like many African Americans living in Texas during the Great Depression, Ailey and his mother moved often and had a hard time finding work. […]

Alvy Moore (1921 - 1997)

Alvy Moore was born in Vincennes, Indiana, the son of Indiana natives Roy and Elice Moore. When Alvy was young, the family moved with his parents to Terre Haute, where Roy was a grocery store manager. He was the president of the senior class at Wiley High School in 1940-1941. He then attended Indiana State […]

Amanda Blake (1929 - 1989)

Amanda Blake Actress. She was born in Buffalo, New York as Beverly Louise Neill an only Child. She arrived in Claremont, California during a move with her family. While working as a telephone operator she began doing bit parts for MGM which landed her a contract. After a few menial movie appearances, she landed the […]

Amanda Peterson (1971 - 2015)

Peterson was born Phyllis Amanda Peterson to Dr. James and Sylvia Peterson. A native of Greeley, Colorado, she was the youngest of three children; her older siblings are sister, Anne Marie, and her brother, James Jr. Eventually, Peterson became known professionally as Amanda Peterson and was called “Mandy” by friends and family.  While living in […]

Amelia Dyer (1837 - 1896)

Unlike many of her generation, Dyer was not the product of grinding poverty. She was born the youngest of five (with three brothers, Thomas, James and William, and a sister, Ann) in the small village of Pyle Marsh, just east of Bristol (now part of Bristol’s urban sprawl known as Pile Marsh), the daughter of […]

Amelia Earhart (1897 - 1937)

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart (/ˈɛərhɑrt/; July 24, 1897 – disappeared July 2, 1937) was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She received the U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross for this record. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying […]

Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818 - 1894)

Amelia Bloomer was born in 1818 in Homer, New York. Bloomer came from a family of modest means and received only a few years of formal education in the local district school. After a brief stint as a school teacher at the age of 17, she decided to relocate, and moved in with her newly […]

Amrish Puri (1932 - 2005)

Amrish Puri was born in Lahore in then British India to a Punjabi-speaking family of Lala Nihal Singh Puri and Mst Ved Kaur. He had four siblings, elder brothers Chaman Puri and Madan Puri (both of whom also became actors), elder sister Chandrakanta, and a younger brother, Harish Puri. He later moved to Shimla and […]

Amy Winehouse (1983 - 2011)

Amy Winehouse was born in Chase Farm Hospital in north London, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell “Mitch” Winehouse, was a window panel installer then a taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (née Seaton), a pharmacist. Amy had an older brother, Alex (born 1979), and the family lived in London’s Southgate area.  Part of her […]

Anderson Ruffin Abbott (1837 - 1913)

Abbott was born in Toronto as the son of Wilson Ruffin Abbott and Ellen (Toyer) Abbott. The Abbotts were a prominent black family in Toronto who had left Alabama as free people of color after their store had been ransacked. After living a short time in New York, they relocated to Upper Canada in 1835 […]

Andrae Crouch (1942 - 2015)

Andrae Crouch Andraé Crouch, a gospel musician who bridged the worlds of church and mainstream music for more than 50 years, died Thursday afternoon. The 72-year-old singer, songwriter and choir director had been hospitalized since Saturday at Northridge Hospital Medical Center in the Los Angeles area after suffering a heart attack. Crouch, sometimes called “the […]

André Kim (1935 - 2010)

Andre Kim was born in Goyang, Gyeonggi, Korea, as Kim Bong-nam. The son of rural farmers, Kim attended Hanyeong High School and graduated from the Kukje Fashion Design Institute.  Kim has been in fashion design since 1962. At the age of 27 he opened Salon Andre in Sogong-dong, Central Seoul, becoming Korea’s first male fashion […]

Andre Marie Amphere (1775 - 1836)

Andre-Marie Ampère was born on 20 January 1775 to Jean-Jacques Ampère, a prosperous businessman, and Jeanne Antoinette Desutières-Sarcey Ampère during the height of the French Enlightenment. He spent his childhood and adolescence at the family property at Poleymieux-au-Mont-d’Or near Lyon. Jean-Jacques Ampère, a successful merchant, was an admirer of the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose […]

André Morell (1909 - 1978)

Morell was born Cecil André Mesritz in London, England, the son of André and Rosa Mesritz. Prior to taking up acting professionally he trained as a motor engineer, while also participating in amateur theatrical productions. He turned professional in 1934, initially acting under the name André Mesritz; he anglicised this to André Morell in 1936, […]

Andre the Giant (1946 - 1993)

Andre the Giant Professional wrestler and actor, born Andre Rene Roussimoff, on May 19, 1946, in Grenoble, France. Roussimoff suffered from acromegaly, or “giantism,” a endocrynological disorder that causes the body to secrete excessive amounts of growth hormones and produces continual growth, especially in the head, hands, and feet. He reportedly inherited the disease from […]