Yakima Canutt (1895 - 1986)

Stuntman, Actor, Director. A World Champion rodeo star, he entered films as a stuntman in the early 1920s and enjoyed success as a B western star of the late silent period. When talkies came in his voice was deemed unsuitable and he returned to stunting, doubling for such stars as John Wayne and Clark Gable. […]

Yale Summers (1933 - 2012)

Born in Manhattan, Yale Summers made his acting debut in the 1961 film, Mad Dog Coll, playing a small unbilled role. The remainder of his career was almost entirely occupied with television. He appeared in a recurring role on the ABC soap opera, General Hospital, as Dr. Bob Ayres during the 1964-1965 television season. His […]

Yale Thomas Boss (1899 - 1977)

Actor. He appeared in “The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies” (1914) with Mary Fuller “Knights of the Square Table” (1917)  as ‘David Scudder’ and in “Souls for Sale.” (1923) He died of Lung Cancer. (bio by: MC)

Yanis Chimaras (1955 - 2007)

Actor. Born Juan Andrés Yanis Chimaras Maury,  he was one of the most popular Venezuelan actors of the 1980s and 1990s, and well known in all Latin America for his roles in television soap operas. He appeared in more than 20 soap operas,  including “Luisana Mía”,  “Elizabeth”,  “La Salvaje”,  “Piel”,  “Amantes de Luna Llena”,  and […]

Yankel Kalich (1891 - 1975)

Actor. A native of Rymanów, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Poland), he had a long career in Yiddish Theatre, and also made a number of appearances on early television programs.

Yasuo Hamatsu (1970 - 1970)

Actor. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Yasutsugu Shigeno (1827 - 1910)

He was born in Sakamoto-mura Village, Kasgohima Country, Satsuma Province. In 1864, he became an instructor at hanko (a domain school) of the Satsuma Domain, Zoshikan school, and by the order of the so called ‘adored leader as father of the Satsuma Domain,’ Hisamitsu SHIMAZU, he wrote “Kochoseikan” (imperial court almanac). He also became a […]

Yekaterina “Katia” Golubeva (1966 - 2011)

Actress. She shall be remembered for starring and sometimes appearing nude in several rather complicated and dark themed French and Russian film features. Raised in what was then the Soviet Union, little is known of her early years; she made her silver screen bow in the 1984 “Grazhadne vselennoy” and was to work steadily to […]

Yetta Zwerling (1894 - 1982)

Comedienne and motion picture actress of the 1930s through the 1950s. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Yevgeni Bauer (1865 - 1917)

Motion Picture Director. He and Yakov Protazanov were the most important Russian filmakers of the Czarist era. Yevgeni Frantsevich Bauer was born in Moscow, into an artistic family of German descent. He graduated from the Institute of Painting, Sculpture,  and Architecture in 1887.  Restlessly creative,  he was an actor,  newspaper cartoonist,  and theatre producer before […]

Yip Harburg (1896 - 1981)

Yip Harburg, the youngest of four surviving children (out of ten), was born Isidore Hochberg on the Lower East Side of New York City on April 8, 1896. His parents, Lewis Hochberg and Mary Ricing, were Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jews who had emigrated from Russia. Isidore later adopted the name Edgar Harburg, and came to be best […]

Ynez Seabury (1907 - 1973)

Actress in 24 films including “Madam Satan,” “The Sign of the Cross,” “Now and Forever,” “The Girl of the Golden West,” “Union Pacific,” “Reap the Wild Wind,” and “Samson and Delilah.” (bio by: TLS)

Yogi Berra (1925 - 2015)

Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra (May 12, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) (1946–63, 1965) (all but the last for the New York Yankees). He was an 18-time All-Star and 10-time World Series champion as a player. Berra had […]

Yogi Bhajan (1929 - 2004)

Yoga Pioneer. Born as Harbhajan Singh Puri, in India, he arrived in Los Angles, California in 1969 and was the first to publicly teach Kundalini Yoga. A deeply devoted Sikh, his inspiration and example motivated millions to embrace the Sikh way of life. Through his personal efforts, he was legally incorporated and officially recognized as […]

Yoka Berretty (1928 - 2015)

Dutch Actress. Berretty, born Johanna Ernstina Petrusa Meijeringh, was a very well known actress in film and television. She began her career in Italian films such as “Angela” (1954), “Scandal in Sorrento” (1955), and “The Band of Honest Men” (1956).  Berretty would later appear in such films as “De overval” (1962), “Charlotte” (1981), and “De […]

Yolande Donlan (1920 - 2014)

The daughter of James Donlan, a character actor in Hollywood films of the 1930s, it is speculated by some that she had uncredited roles in films such as Pennies From Heaven (1936) and Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), but this has not been confirmed. Her early credited roles include Frenchy, the maid in the horror film […]

Yona Magalhaes (1935 - 2015)

Brazilian Actress. Born Yoná Magalhães Gonçalves Mendes da Costa, she was a very prominent actress in television and film, whose career spanned 7 decades. She got her start in acting in the television series “As Professoras” in 1955.  Magalhaes would go on to act in 60 television series and films throughout her career including “Paraíso […]

Yootha Joyce (1927 - 1980)

Yootha Joyce Needham was born in Wandsworth, London, the only child of musical parents Hurst Needham, a well-known singer, and Jessica Revitt, a concert pianist. Her mother named her “Yootha” an Aboriginal name meaning “thirsty” ) Joyce was evacuated to Hampshire during World War II. She left school at 15, then trained at RADA where […]

Yosa Buson (1970 - 1784)

Poet,  Painter. Along with Basho Matsuo and Issa Kobayashi, Yosa Buson is considered among the greatest poets of the Edo Period. He was born in the village of Kema in Settsu Province (now Kema-chô, Miyakojima Ward in the city Osaka). His real last name was “Taniguchi.” Around the age of 20, Buson moved to Edo […]

Yoshiharu Iwamoto (1863 - 1942)

Educator. Served as vice-president of the Meiji Girls’ School. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Yoshiko Okada (1902 - 1992)

Actress. Born in Hiroshima prefecture, Okada was described as 5 feet tall, weighed 95 pounds and had both black eyes and hair. After training at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, she joined the Butai Kyokai (Stage Show Association). She was accepted by “Shukke to sono deshi”. In 1922,she made her debut as a movie […]

Yoshio Akao (1970 - 1970)

Publisher, Broadcaster. He was the founder of Oubunsha, a cultural enterprise that served as a publisher for high school students. Before World War II, he wrote and published a famous English glossary for preparatory school students called “Akao No Mametan.” He and his family became very wealthy from this endeavor and then began publishing various […]

Yoshisuke Aikawa (1880 - 1967)

Aikawa was born in what is now part of Yamaguchi city, Yamaguchi prefecture. His mother was the niece of Meiji period genrō Inoue Kaoru. He graduated from the engineering department of Tokyo Imperial University in 1903 and went to work for Shibaura Seisakusho, the forerunner of Toshiba. Although his pay was very low, Aikawa managed […]

Yousai Kikuchi (1970 - 1970)

Japanese-style painter. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Yousuf Karsh (1908 - 2002)

Artits. Noted Portrait Photographer. A native of Mardin, Armenia-in-Turkey, he became one of Canada’s best-known portrait photographers of famous personalities. After moving to Ottawa, Ontario, in 1924 with an uncle, he was sent to be schooled in Sherbrooke, Quebec. After school he went to Boston, Massachusetts, and became an apprentice to John Garo, but returned […]

Yuki Nambá (1923 - 2006)

Actress.  Real name Lidia Rosa Tempone. A native of Tres Arroyos, Argentina, she was one of her country’s top movie stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Her films include “Peluquería de Señoras” (1941), “La Piel de Zapa” (1943), “El Último Pallador” (1950), “Sucedió en Buenos Aires” (1954), “Mercado de Abasto” (1955) and “La Morocha” (1955). […]

Yul Brynner (1920 - 1985)

Yul Brynner Motion Picture and Stage Actor. Famed as much for his baldness, he was the first bald movie idol, as for his performances. He was the son of Boris Bryner, a Swiss-Mongolian engineer and inventor, and Marousia Blagavidova, the daughter of a Russian doctor. He was born in their hometown of Vladivostok and named […]

Yusef Hawkins (1973 - 1989)

Yusef Hawkins had gone to Bensonhurst that night with three friends to inquire about a used 1982 Pontiac automobile that was for sale. The group’s attackers had been lying in wait for either African-American or Latino youths they believed had dated a neighborhood girl. Hawkins and his friends walked onto the ambushers’ block unaware of […]

Yuzuru Hiraga (1878 - 1943)

shipbuilder and naval engineer. He designed some of Japan’s top battleships, including the Mutsu, Nagato and Yamato. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Yves Barsacq (1931 - 2015)

French Actor. Barsacq was a very prominent actor in French cinema over a sixty year span. He came from the theatrical business with his father being a famous production designer.  Barsacq went into acting first in the cinema and then in television, appearing in such works as “Thierry la Fronde” (1963-1966), “Arsene Lupin” (1973), “Le […]