Massimo Amfiteatrof (1907 - 1990)

Massimo Amfiteatrof was born Maksim Aleksandrovič Amfiteatrov (russian: Максим Александрович Амфитеатров) from a russian family. His mother, Ilariā Vladimirovna Amfiteatrova, was an actress and a singer, while his father, Alexander Amfiteatrov, was a writer and a journalist. His brother, Daniele Amfitheatrof, became an orchestra conductor. He lived in St. Petersburg until 1917. When the Russian […]

Marty Paich (1925 - 1995)

From the beginning of his professional career, Marty Paich also learned music in the time-honored ways: he transcribed tunes and charts from recordings, he attended concerts, and he sat-in on a jams. After finishing his formal studies, Paich took a series of jobs in the Los Angeles music and recording industry. These included arranging (and […]

Bud Shank (1926 - 2009)

Clifford Everett “Bud” Shank, Jr. (May 27, 1926 – April 2, 2009) was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton’s Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as […]

Shorty Rogers (1924 - 1994)

Shorty Rogers worked first as a professional musician with Will Bradley and Red Norvo. From 1947 to 1949, he worked extensively with Woody Herman and in 1950 and 1951 he played with Stan Kenton. Rogers appeared on the 1954 Shelly Manne album The Three and the Two along with Jimmy Giuffre. Much of the music […]

Daniele Amfitheatrof (1901 - 1983)

Following his graduation, Daniele Amfitheatrof took his place in Italian music circles of the day. In 1924 he was appointed pianist, organist, and assistant choral conductor of the Augusteo Symphony of Rome. Successive appointments included a position as the artistic director of the Italian Radio in Genoa and Trieste (1929–1932), as well as the management […]

Leith Stevens (1909 - 1970)

The music accompanying the film The James Dean Story was composed and conducted by Leith Stevens. An eponymous album containing this music was released by Capitol Records in 1957, and its anonymous sleeve notes say, “Here is the music direct from the soundtrack of The James Dean Story, a different kind of motion picture. This […]

Daniel Mainwaring (1902 - 1977)

Daniel Mainwaring (July 22, 1902 – January 31, 1977) was an American novelist and screenwriter. A native of Oakland, California, he began his professional career as a journalist for the San Francisco Chronicle and enjoyed a successful career as a mystery novelist (under the name Geoffrey Homes). He worked as a film publicist and eventually […]

Dudley Nichols (1895 - 1960)

Dudley Nichols (April 6, 1895 – January 4, 1960) was an American screenwriter and director. Dudley Nichols was born April 6, 1895, in Wapakoneta, Ohio. He studied at the University of Michigan where he was active member of the Sigma Chapter of Theta Xi fraternity. After working as a reporter for the New York World, Nichols moved […]

Jennings Lane (1915 - 1996)

Jennings Lang (May 28, 1915, New York City – May 29, 1996, Palm Desert, California) was an American film producer, as well as a screenwriter and actor. Lang was born to a Jewish family in New York City, New York. Originally a lawyer, from New York City, he came to Hollywood in 1938 and set up […]

Walter Wagner (1894 - 1968)

Walter Wanger’s job was to help meet the studio’s large annual requirement for fresh stories . One of Wanger’s major successes in his early years with the company was his identification of the British novel The Sheik as a story with potential. In 1921 it was turned into an extremely successful film starring Rudolph Valentino. […]

Joe Hyams (1923 - 2008)

Joe Hyams was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on June 6, 1923, and grew up in nearby Brookline, Massachusetts. While attending Harvard University, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1942. He received a Purple Heart and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal while serving in the South Pacific. He later covered the war for […]

Frank Parker (1916 - 1997)

Frank Parker is one of the few Americans to win both the French Championships (1948, 1949) and the U.S. Championships (1944, 1945). Parker became the singles champion at Cincinnati, then called the Tri–State Tennis Tournament in 1941 and was a four-time singles finalist (1932, 1933, 1938, 1939). He won the Canadian title in 1938. He was […]

Gardnar Mulloy (1913 - 2016)

While Gardnar Mulloy was the tennis coach at the University of Miami, Mulloy recruited Pancho Segura for the tennis team. Segura won three straight NCAA singles titles in 1943, 1944, and 1945, a college record now matched by Steve Johnson, who won in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Segura went on to enjoy a successful professional […]

Elwood Cooke (1913 - 2004)

Elwood Thomas Cooke (July 5, 1913 – April 16, 2004) was an amateur American tennis player in the 1930s and 1940s. Cooke was ranked in Top 10 in the United States in 1938 (ranked No. 7), 1939 (No. 6), 1940 (No. 9), and 1945 (No. 4), whilst reaching as high as World No. 8 in Gordon […]

Cilly Aussem (1909 - 1963)

In 1928 Cilly Aussem’s mother claimed that Paula von Reznicek had twice beaten her daughter by using hypnotism, which led to a lawsuit in which Von Reznicek filed charges of ‘defamation of character’ and Aussem’s mother charged her with ‘insulting assault.’ She lost her German Championships singles title in 1928 after a three-sets defeat in […]

Bobby Riggs (1918 - 1995)

After the war, as a professional, Bobby Riggs won the US Pro titles in 1946, 1947, and 1949, beating Don Budge in all three finals. In the 1946 tour against Budge, Riggs won 24 matches and lost 22, plus 1 match tied at Birmingham, Alabama establishing himself as the best player in the world (source : […]

Jack Kramer (1921 - 2009)

Jack Kramer began his tennis career by taking lessons from teaching professional, Dick Skeen. Within a year, he was playing junior tournaments. He played on the Montebello High School tennis team with George Richards. Because of his obvious ability and his family’s lack of money, he came under the guidance of Perry T. Jones. at […]

Ken Hubbs (1941 - 1964)

Kenneth Douglass Hubbs (December 23, 1941 – February 13, 1964) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman for the Chicago Cubs from 1961 to 1963. He was killed in a plane crash near Provo, Utah prior to the 1964 season. In his short big-league career, Hubbs was […]

John Kundla (1916 - 2017)

John Kundla was born in the mining town of Star Junction, Pennsylvania to an Austro-Hungarian mother and Slovak father. He moved to Minneapolis at age 5. After attending and playing basketball for Minneapolis Central High School (which closed in 1982), Kundla attended the University of Minnesota and was a standout for the Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball […]

Barbara Sinatra (1927 - 2017)

Barbara Marx Sinatra (née Blakeley; March 10, 1927 – July 25, 2017) was an American model and showgirl who was married to Zeppo Marx from 1959 to 1973, and was the fourth and final wife of Frank Sinatra from 1976 until his death in 1998. Barbara Ann Blakeley was born on March 10, 1927, in Bosworth, Missouri, the […]

Harley Hotchkiss (1927 - 2011)

Harley Norman Hotchkiss, CC AOE (July 12, 1927 – June 22, 2011) was a Canadian business and community leader who was best known for his contributions to health and sports development in Canada. He was part of the consortium that brought the National Hockey League’s Atlanta Flames to Calgary in 1980, and remained a part-owner […]

Frank Arthur Calder (1915 - 2006)

Frank Arthur Calder, OC OBC (August 3, 1915 – November 4, 2006) was a Nisga’a politician in Canada, the first First Nations person to be elected to any legislature in Canada. Born in Nass Harbour, British Columbia, Calder was the first Indian to graduate from the Anglican Theological College of the University of British Columbia. Mr. […]

Bill Wirtz (1929 - 2007)

Bill Wirtz (via his stake in the Wirtz Corporation) was most notable as owner of the Chicago Blackhawks; Wirtz Realty, a large real estate owner in Chicago; and Judge & Dolph Ltd., a major liquor distributor selling over 33 percent of all liquor in Illinois. Wirtz Corp. also has interests in banking and insurance, and […]

Frank Calder (1877 - 1943)

In 1917, the NHA’s owners decided to drop Eddie Livingstone’s Toronto Blueshirts franchise and took his players. The NHA’s president, Frank Robinson, seeing he was as powerless as his predecessor Emmett Quinn was, resigned as NHA president. Frank Calder, the league secretary, saw opportunity in the situation. He decided that the NHA owners allied against […]

Ed Litzenberger (1932 - 2010)

Edward Charles John “Eddie” Litzenberger (July 15, 1932 – November 1, 2010) was a Canadian ice hockey right winger from Neudorf, Saskatchewan. Ed Litzenberger was donated to the Chicago Black Hawks by the Montreal Canadiens in his first year in the NHL. At the time the Black Hawks were struggling to survive as a franchise, […]

Len Lunde (1936 - 2010)

Leonard Melvin Lunde (November 13, 1936 – November 22, 2010) was a professional ice hockey player who played 321 games in the National Hockey League and 72 games in the World Hockey Association. He played for the Chicago Black Hawks, Minnesota North Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, and Detroit Red Wings. Len Lunde was born in […]

Dave Balon (1938 - 2007)

Dave Balon played his junior hockey for the Prince Albert Mintos of the SJHL before turning pro in 1958 and joining the New York Rangers farm system. He would make his NHL debut in the 1959–60 season with a three-game callup to the Rangers. Over the next two years, he would be a frequent callup, […]

Harvey Atkin (1942 - 2017)

Harvey Atkin was born in 1942 in Toronto, Ontario to parents of Russian-Jewish descent. He developed his interest in acting during high school. After school, he initially worked at his father’s construction company. He then became a real estate agent, eventually transitioning to acting in commercials. Atkin played Morty Melnick in the comedy film Meatballs (1979), […]

Red West (1936 - 2017)

In 1976, Red West was involved in a series of heavy-handed incidents in Las Vegas with aggressive fans that got out of hand, drawing criticism by the media. More than that, West was becoming more vocal about Presley’s drug problem and how he needed help. As a result, West, his cousin Sonny West, and a […]

George A. Romero (1940 - 2017)

George A. Romero was born in the New York City borough of the Bronx, to a Cuban-born father and a Lithuanian American mother. His father has been reported as born in A Coruña, with his family coming from the Galician town of Neda, although Romero once described his father as of Castilian descent. His father […]