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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Ronald Allen (1930 - 1991)

Ronald John Allen (16 December 1930 – 18 June 1991) was an English character actor who achieved the status of a soap opera star.  Allen was born in Reading, Berkshire. He studied at Leighton Park School in Reading and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, worked in repertory theatre, had […]

Steve Allen (1921 - 2000)

Steve Allen Steve Allen is best known as the first host of The Tonight Show, but he was also an accomplished musician, composer, author and actor, with many books, musical compositions and films to his credit. After the death of his father, Allen and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. In 1947, he began hosting […]

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). […]

Ethan Nathan Allen (1904 - 1993)

Ethan Nathan Allen (January 1, 1904 – September 15, 1993) was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball from 1926 to 1938. He played for the Cincinnati Reds (1926–30), New York Giants (1930–32), St. Louis Cardinals (1932–33), Philadelphia Phillies (1934–36), Chicago Cubs (1936), and St. Louis Browns (1936–38).  Born in Cincinnati, Ohio and an […]

Forrest Clare “Phog” Allen (1885 - 1974)

Allen was born in the town of Jamesport, Missouri. His father, William Allen, was among the 30 people who originally incorporated Jameson Missouri in 1879 and the doctor who delivered Allen lived in James. However, William Allen also had strong ties to Jamesport where he was town clerk, collector, and constable. Biographies of Allen usually […]

George Allen (1918 - 1990)

Allen was born in Nelson County, Virginia, the son of Loretta M. and Earl Raymond Allen, who was recorded in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. census records for Wayne County, Michigan as working as a chauffeur to a private family. He earned varsity letters in football, track and basketball at Lake Shore High School in […]

George Trenholm Allen (1914 - 2000)

George Trenholm Allen (July 27, 1914 – March 27, 2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played Left Wing in the National Hockey League, mostly for the Chicago Black Hawks.  Allen began his career playing in various locations in the east, until he joined the North Battleford Beavers of the Northern Saskatchewan Senior […]

Johnny Thomas Allen (1905 - 1959)

John Thomas Allen (September 30, 1904 – March 29, 1959) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, Brooklyn Dodgers, and New York Giants.  Born in Lenoir, North Carolina, Allen reached the Yankees in an unusual way. While working as a bellhop in a hotel, […]

Keith Allen (1923 - 2014)

Allen played junior hockey for the Saskatoon Quakers in 1940–41, and then joined the Washington Eagles of the Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1941–42 season, followed by a year with the Buffalo Bisons of the American Hockey League. During the Second World War, he played on the Saskatoon Navy hockey team, and then played […]