FOUND A GRAVE

Beverly Garland (1926 - 2008)

Garland was born Beverly Lucy Fessenden in Santa Cruz, California, the daughter of Amelia Rose (née Scherer), a businesswoman, and James Atkins Fessenden, a singer and salesman. Garland grew up in Glendale, California. She was a drama student of Anita Arliss. In the 1950s, many of her roles were of secure, tough women who could handle […]

Beverly Michaels (1928 - 2007)

Arriving in Hollywood in 1948, aged 19, and standing 5 feet 9 inches, she quickly found modeling work, in which she was mistakenly billed as “Beverley Michaels”. Later the same year, she had a brief role in the film East Side, West Side, and two years later had a minor role in the film version […]

Big John Studd (1948 - 1995)

Big John Studd Studd jumped to the World Wrestling Federation in late 1982, and was paired with manager “Classy” Freddie Blassie. Studd quickly became a monster heel, adopting a gimmick of bringing a stretcher to the ring and beating his opponents so badly they would be taken out on the stretcher. While Studd became a […]

Big Pun (1971 - 2000)

Rios was born on November 10, 1971 in The Bronx, New York City, United States, to parents of Puerto Rican descent. He grew up in the South Bronx neighborhood of the city. At the age of five, Rios broke his leg while playing in a park, which would later lead to a large settlement from […]

Bijan (1944 - 2011)

Born in Tehran, Iran, Bijan migrated to Los Angeles in 1973. His exclusive boutique on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills was established in 1976. It has been described as “the most expensive store in the world”.  Bijan’s main residence was in Beverly Hills, California, but he was also known to own residences in New York […]

Bill Waddington (1916 - 2000)

Waddington was born at Oldham on 10 June 1916, the son of a builder. He played the ukulele and became a member of a group called the Blue Pencils, recruited to entertain forces during the Second World War.  After the war “Waddy” became a comedian, often appearing on the same bill as Jill Summers, who […]

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 […]

Bill Bixby (1934 - 1993)

Bill Bixby whose long career in television included starring roles in three popular series, died on Sunday at his home in Century City. He was 59. The cause was prostate cancer, said Pamela Golum, a spokeswoman for the NBC-TV show “Blossom.” Mr. Bixby, the show’s director, was on the job until last week. In the […]

Bill Carlisle (1908 - 2003)

Bill Carlisle Yodeling singer/songwriter/guitarist Bill Carlisle was the younger brother of popular 1930s country singer Cliff Carlisle. During the ’30s, Bill established himself as an expert purveyor of racy, blues-tinged country songs, but during the ’50s and ’60s, he was best-known for his novelty songs as he and his family band, the Carlisles, became regulars […]

Bill Cullen (1920 - 1990)

Cullen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of William and Lillian Cullen. He survived a childhood bout with polio that left him with significant physical limitations for the rest of his life (see medical history). He also wore spectacles, which became his trademark. Cullen’s broadcasting career began in Pittsburgh at WWSW radio, where he […]

Bill Erwin (1914 - 2010)

Erwin was born in Honey Grove, Texas. He attended San Angelo College before earning his bachelor’s degree in journalism at University of Texas at Austin, graduating in 1935. He completed a masters of theater arts in California at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1941. After serving as a Captain in the United States Army Air Corps […]

Bill Hunter (1940 - 2011)

Hunter was born in Ballarat, a son of William and Francie Hunter. He had a brother, John, and a sister, Marie Ann. During his teens, Hunter was a champion swimmer, and briefly held a world record for the 100 yards freestyle until his record was broken by John Devitt in the very next heat ten minutes […]

Bill Kerr (1922 - 2014)

Bill Kerr was born William Henry Kerr in Cape Town, South Africa, on 10 June 1922 to an Australian performing arts family, growing up in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia. His career in show business began when he was very young. Wilton, his son, recalled: “His mum used him instead of using a prop, […]

Bill Mazer (1920 - 2013)

Mazer’s family left Kiev, emigrating before his first birthday. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Yeshiva University High School for Boys, he received a BA at University of Michigan for premed before being drafted. During World War II, he served the majority of his time in the Armed Forces-Air Force Transport […]

Bill McKinney (1931 - 2011)

William Denison McKinney was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He had an unsettled life as a child, moving 12 times. Once, when his family moved from Tennessee to Georgia, he was beaten by a gang and thrown into a creek. At the age of 19, he joined the Navy during the Korean War. He served two […]

Bill Melendez (1916 - 2008)

A native of the Mexican city of Hermosillo, Sonora, Melendez was educated in U.S. public schools in Douglas, Arizona. He was a very good student, and later attended the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (which would later become California Institute of the Arts). Following the 1941 Disney strike, Bill was hired by Leon Schlesinger to animate in Bob Clampett’s unit. After Clampett’s departure, […]

Bill Monroe (1911 - 1996)

Bill Monroe Musical pioneer Bill Monroe is known as “the father of bluegrass music.” While Monroe would humbly say, “I’m a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice,” he and His Blue Grass Boys essentially created a new musical genre out of the regional stirrings that also led to the birth of such […]

Bill Quinn (1912 - 1994)

Bill Quinn (May 6, 1912 – April 29, 1994) was an American actor.  Quinn appeared in more than 150 acting roles over seven decades, starting in the 1920s in silent films and ending in 1989 in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. He is best remembered as Archie’s blind friend, Mr. Van Ranseleer, in All […]

Bill Sharman (1926 - 2013)

Sharman completed high school in the Southern California city of Porterville, California. He served during World War II from 1944 to 1946 in the US Navy, and was a graduate of the University of Southern California. He played 1st base on the 1948 USC Trojan’s College World Series championship team. Following his senior year, Sharman […]

Bill Skowron (1930 - 2012)

Skowron was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was of Polish descent. His father was a garbage collector. After his grandfather gave the seven-year-old Skowron a haircut that looked like the dictator’s and his friends jokingly called him “Mussolini”, his family shortened the nickname to “Moose.” The name stuck throughout his career.  Skowron attended Weber High […]

Bill Travers (1922 - 1994)

Travers was born in Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, the son of Florence (née Wheatley) and William Halton Lindon-Travers. He and his sister Linden (1913–2001) both became actors. Linden’s daughter Susan Travers also became an actress.  William Ingle Linden-Travers enlisted as a Private in the British Army at the age of eighteen, a few months after […]

Bill Vukovich (1918 - 1955)

Before he began Indy racing, Vukovich drove midget cars for the Edelbrock dirt track racing team. He raced on the West Coast of the United States in the URA, and won the series’ 1945 and 1946 midget car championships. Vukovich won the 1948 Turkey Night Grand Prix at Gilmore Stadium, and six of the last […]

Bill Young (1930 - 2013)

Young was born in Harmarville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, in 1930. He had Irish, German, and Swiss ancestry. He grew up in a Pennsylvania coal town in a shotgun shack. His father abandoned the family and a flood washed away their home at age 6. An uncle had a hunting camp in Florida, so […]

Billie Burke (1884 - 1970)

American Stage and Motion Picture Actress. She is best remembered in the role of Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, from the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”, and in the role of the scatterbrained Clara Topper, wife of stuffy banker Cosmo Topper, in the “Topper” series of films (1937-1941). She was married to […]

Billie Dove (1903 - 1997)

Billie Dove (May 14, 1903 – December 31, 1997) was an American actress. Billie Dove was born Bertha Bohny in 1903 to Charles and Bertha (née Kagl) Bohny, Swiss immigrants. As a teen, she worked as a model to help support her family and was hired as a teenager by Florenz Ziegfeld to appear in his […]

Billie Holiday (1915 - 1959)

Billie Holiday By early 1959 Holiday had cirrhosis of the liver. She stopped drinking on doctor’s orders, but soon relapsed. By May she had lost 20 pounds (9 kg). Friends Leonard Feather, Joe Glaser, and Allan Morrison unsuccessfully tried to get her to a hospital. On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in […]

Billie Sol Estes (1925 - 2013)

Billie Sol Estes Estes was born January 10, 1925 to John and Lillian Estes on a farm near Clyde, Texas. He was one of six children. He did not attend college, but served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.  In the late 1950s, Estes was heavily involved in the Texas anhydrous ammonia […]

Billie Sol Estes (1925 - 2013)

Estes was born January 10, 1925 to John and Lillian Estes on a farm near Clyde, Texas. He was one of six children. He did not attend college, but served in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II.  In the late 1950s, Estes was heavily involved in the Texas anhydrous ammonia business. He produced […]

Billy Barty (1924 - 2000)

Barty co-starred with Mickey Rooney in the Mickey McGuire shorts, a comedy series of the 1920s and 1930s based on the Toonerville Folks comics. Small for his age even then, Barty would impersonate very young children alongside brawny authority figures or wild animals, making these threats seem even larger by comparison. In the 1933 film Gold […]

Billy Bletcher (1894 - 1979)

Billy Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several Our Gang and The Three Stooges comedies. He was most famous as a voice actor. His voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone. Bletcher provided the voices of various characters for Walt Disney Pictures (Black Pete, Short Ghost […]