FOUND A GRAVE

Ira Frederick Aldridge (1807 - 1867)

Actor. He gained fame in the 19th century as one of the most prominent African-American Shakespearian actors and the first American actor to perform in Russia. Born in New York City, New York, he was the son of poor citizens of class known as “Free Negroes.” Educated at New York’s African Free School, he won […]

Tony Alescio (1893 - 1920)

Tony Alescio Organized Crime Figure. Born in Alcamo, Sicily, he was orphaned as a young child and immigrated to Detroit, Michigan in the spring of 1911. Escaping an abusive uncle, mob boss Antonino “Tony” Giannola took him in and treated him as one of his own. He grew to be Giannola’s personal bodyguard, but during […]

Lennie Aleshire (1890 - 1987)

Lennie Aleshire was born April 27, 1890 in Christian County, Missouri, just south of Springfield. He was playing the fiddle by age six and learned the guitar, banjo and other instruments by ear. At 15, he lived with the Creek Indians near Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, though his mother was half Cherokee. After his parents died, […]

Frank Aletter (1926 - 2009)

Frank Aletter (January 14, 1926 – May 13, 2009) was an American stage, film, and television actor.  During the 1950s, Aletter appeared on Broadway in Bells Are Ringing, Time Limit, and Wish You Were Here.  He soon moved on to a prolific television career, appearing as a guest on numerous shows between 1956 and 1988. […]

Cecil Frances Alexander (1818 - 1895)

Alexander was born in Dublin, the third child and second daughter of Major John Humphreys (of Norfolk, land-agent to 4th Earl of Wicklow and later to the second Marquess of Abercorn), and Elizabeth (née Reed). She began writing verse in her childhood, being strongly influenced by Dr Walter Hook, Dean of Chichester. Her subsequent religious […]

Claudia Alexander (1959 - 2015)

Claudia Alexander was born in Canada but raised in Santa Clara, California by her mother, Gaynelle, and father, Harold. She had two siblings: Suzanne and David. Claudia Alexander wanted to be a journalist but her parents—who were paying for her education—wanted her to become an engineer. After a summer job at the Ames Research Center, […]

Terence Alexander (1923 - 2009)

Alexander was born in London, the son of a doctor, and grew up in Yorkshire. He was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire, and Norwood College, Harrogate, and started acting in the theatre at the age of 16. During World War II he served in the British Army as a lieutenant with the 27th Lancers, and […]

Ernest Alexander (1870 - 1934)

Major General Ernest Wright Alexander VC CB CMG (2 October 1870 – 25 August 1934) was by birth an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.  Alexander was trained at the Royal Military […]

Peter Alexander (1926 - 2011)

Peter Alexander Ferdinand Maximilian Neumayer (30 June 1926 – 12 February 2011), commonly known as Peter Alexander, was an Austrian actor, singer and entertainer. His fame emerged in the 1950s and 1960s through popular film comedies and successful recordings, predominantly of Schlager and operetta repertory. Later, Alexander established himself as the acclaimed host of television […]

John Alexander (1897 - 1982)

Actor. Born in Newport, Kentucky, he began his career young, making his New York City theater debut in 1902 in “The Children of Kings” which ran for less than a year. He worked his way up through the chorus and walk on roles and appeared in his first name role, ‘Jump Steady’, in the Broadway […]

Grover Cleveland Alexander (1887 - 1950)

Alexander was born in Elba, Nebraska, in the first term of President Grover Cleveland and was one of thirteen children. He played semi-professional baseball in his youth, signing his first professional contract at age 20 in 1907 for $50 per month. In 1909 he played for the Galesburg Boosters in the Class D Illinois–Missouri League […]

Blaise Alexander (1976 - 2001)

Alexander was born on March 26, 1976 in Montoursville, Pennsylvania. He began his stock car career at age 12 in the World Karting Association and was the champion of the East Series in 1992. From that point, Alexander moved onto the Micro-Sprint racing series at tracks in different states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, […]

Ben Alexander (1911 - 1969)

Ben Alexander was born in Goldfield, Nevada and raised in California, Alexander made his screen debut at age of five in Every Pearl a Tear. He went on to portray Lillian Gish’s young brother in D.W. Griffith’s Hearts of the World. After a number of silent films, he retired from screen work but came back […]

Dr. Ernst F.W. Alexanderson (1878 - 1975)

Alexanderson was born at Uppsala, Sweden, and educated at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and the Technische Hochschule (Technical University) in Berlin, Germany. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1902 and spent much of his life working for the General Electric company. Alexanderson designed the Alexanderson alternator, an early longwave radio transmitter, one […]

Grigori Alexandrov (1903 - 1983)

Aleksandrov was born Grigori Vasilyevich Mormonenko in Ekaterinburg, Russia in 1903. Starting at age nine, Aleksandrov worked odd jobs at the Ekaterinburg Opera Theater, eventually making his way to assistant director. He also pursued a musical education, studying violin at the Ekaterinburg Musical School, from which he graduated in 1917. Aleksandrov came to Moscow after […]

Catherine the Great (1729 - 1796)

Catherine the Great Yekaterina Alexeevna or Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great (Russian: Екатерина II Великая, Yekaterina II Velikaya; 2 May 1729 – 17 November 1796), was the most renowned and the longest-ruling female leader of Russia, reigning from 9 July 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. Her […]

Wallace Lloyd Algie (1891 - 1918)

He was born on 10 June 1891 at Alton, Ontario, the son of James and Rachel Algie who resided at 1155 King Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Wallace was brought up by his parents in the Presbyterian faith. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada. Prior to April 1916 he served as a lieutenant […]

Elizabeth Allan (1908 - 1990)

Elizabeth Allan (9 April 1910 – 27 July 1990) was an English actress who worked in both Britain and Hollywood, making about 50 films over more than a quarter century. She was born at Skegness, Lincolnshire in 1910 (some sources indicate 1908), and after four years onstage with the Old Vic, she made her film […]

Gia Allemand (1983 - 2013)

Gia Marie Allemand was born to Eugene and Donna Allemand in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York City, and grew up in the borough of Staten Island and nearby in suburban Long Island, where she graduated from Lindenhurst High School in 2001. Allemand’s parents separated in 1992, later divorcing; Donna Allemand married Tony […]

Viola Allen (1867 - 1948)

Allen was born in Huntsville, Alabama in 1867 (some sources say 1869 see discussion), the daughter of actors C. Leslie Allen and Sarah Lyon. She moved to Boston at three years of age and later moved with her family to Toronto. She was educated at the Bishop Strachan School, her brothers being educated at Trinity […]

Sheila Allen (1932 - 2011)

Allen was born in Chard, Somerset, to Dorothy Essex (née Potter) and William Allen.  From the 1950s, Allen appeared in plays by Shakespeare, including for the RSC in both Stratford and London. Her first leading role was that of Katherine (“the shrew”) in The Taming of the Shrew for the Arena Company in Birmingham (1954–56). […]

Gracie Allen (1902 - 1964)

Comedienne, Actress. The wife of George Burns, for more than 30 years she appeared on radio, television, and film, playing a single scatterbrained character, with her husband playing opposite as the straight man. She was born Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen in San Francisco to George and Margaret Allen joining a family consisting of three […]

Mel Allen (1913 - 1996)

Allen was born in Birmingham, Alabama. (Biographer Stephen Borelli noted that he added the second middle name Avrom after his deceased grandfather.) He attended the University of Alabama, where he was a member of the Kappa Nu Fraternity as an undergraduate. During his time at Alabama, Israel served as the public address announcer for Alabama Crimson Tide football games. In 1933, when the […]

Barbara Jo Allen (1906 - 1974)

Actress. She is best remembered as ‘Vera Vague’ the spinster character she created and portrayed on radio and in films during the 1940s and 1950s. As ‘Vera Vague’, she popularized the catch phrase “You dear boy!” Born in New York City, New York, her acting skills first appeared in school plays. She traveled to Paris, […]

Marit Allen (1941 - 2007)

Marit Allen was born in Cheshire, England on 17 September 1941 to a Norwegian mother and an English father. She was a pupil at Adcote School, an independent girls’ boarding school in Shropshire from 1951 and 1959. She then graduated from the University of Grenoble, in France.  Allen’s career in fashion began in 1961 when […]

James Allen (1864 - 1912)

Born in Leicester, England, into a working-class family, Allen was the elder of two brothers. His mother could neither read nor write while his father, William, was a factory knitter. In 1879 following a downturn in the textile trade of central England, Allen’s father travelled alone to America to find work and establish a new […]

Wanda Jean Allen (1959 - 2001)

Wanda Jean Allen was born in 1959, the second of eight children. Her mother was an alcoholic; her father left home after Wanda’s last sibling was born and the family lived in public housing and scraped by on public assistance.  At the age of 12, Allen was hit by a truck and knocked unconscious, and […]

Annisteen Allen (1920 - 1992)

Annisteen Allen (born Ernestine Letitia Allen) (November 11, 1920, Champaign, Illinois – August 10, 1992, Harlem, New York City) was an American blues singer.  Allen’s first recordings were made in 1945, and included “Miss Annie’s Blues” and “Love for Sale”. She sang with Big John Greer, Wynonie Harris, and Lucky Millinder, and in 1951, Federal […]

Chesney Allen (1893 - 1982)

He was born William Ernest Chesney Allen in Battersea, London, England, married Aleta Cosette Turner in Leeds in 1926 and died in Midhurst, Sussex, England.  He began his career in straight acting, making his debut in stock at the Wimbledon Theatre, London, in 1912. As music hall comedians, they would often feature a mixture of […]

Irving Allen (1905 - 1987)

Irving Allen (November 24, 1905 – December 17, 1987) was a theatrical and cinematic producer and director.  He won an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie Climbing the Matterhorn. In the early 1950s he formed Warwick Films with partner Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and relocated to England to leverage film making against a […]