Alfred Cooke (1970 - 1970)

Theatrical Actor. He was the “eminent equestrian.”  When, in the summer of 1843, William Cooke advertised his “Royal Circus” to the people of Greenock, Scotland, one of the featured performers was his son Alfred. Standing on a horse’s back and circling the ring at a slow canter, Alfred entered costumed as Shakespeare’s Falstaff leading his […]

Alfred Dawson (1843 - 1931)

Landscape Painter and Etcher. He studied art under his father, a marine and landscape painter, before establishing himself as a successful etcher and landscape painter in Chertsey, Surrey. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, London, between 1860 and 1889, showing works including “A Page from Gray’s Elegy” and “Leaving the Plough”. He also showed […]

Alfred Drake (1914 - 1992)

Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Brooklyn College. He is best known for his leading roles in the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma!; Kiss Me, Kate; Kismet; and for playing Marshall Blackstone in the original […]

Alfred Edmeades Bestall (1892 - 1985)

Artist. He was the Illustrator of the “Rupert Bear” stories in the Daily Express for 30 years. Invited to take over the “Rupert Bear” strip in 1935 when its originator, Mary Tourtel, had to retire due to failing eyesight, he developed and wrote over 270 Rupert adventures, and remained the regular artist and author until […]

Alfred Edward Chalon (1780 - 1860)

Artist. Born in Geneva to French parents. His father became a professor at the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, and the family moved to England. He joined the Associated Artists in Water-Colours in 1797. In the Academy, he was elected an associat (ARA) in 1812, then academician (RA) in 1816. His work became highly fashionable. […]

Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898 - 1995)

Photojournalist. Renown for his photos that appeared on the cover of “Life Magazine”, his most famous photo became the shot of a United States Navy sailor kissing a woman in a white dress  in New York City, New York’s Times Square during the celebration sparked by V-J Day on August 14, 1945.  Family links:  Spouse: […]

Alfred Hall (1881 - 1943)

Actor. Born in Brockton, Massachusetts, he was a veteran performer who appeared in over 21 feature films from 1940 to 1943. His credits include “Men Without Souls” (1940), “Meet John Doe” (1941), “Mr. Celebrity” (1941), “Pretty Doll” (1942) and “Heaven Can wait” (1943). He died at age 61 in Los Angeles, California. (bio by: John […]

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980)

Born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone, (then part of Essex, now part of London), England, Hitchcock was the second son and the youngest of three children of William Hitchcock (1862–1914), a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock (née Whelan; 1863–1942). Named Alfred after his father’s brother, Hitchcock was brought up as a Roman […]

Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980)

Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 – 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 – 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and Eileen Hitchcock (born […]

Alfred J. Delcambre (1909 - 1958)

Actor. He is best known for appearing in crime or western films. He is most remembered for his role as Dr. Jason Barlow in the 1936 film, “Tundra.” His other credits include, “Search For Beauty” (1934), “Wharf Angel” (1934), “You’re Telling Me!” (1934), “The Notorious Sophie Lang” (1934), “Wagon Wheels” (1934), “The Lemon Drop Kid” […]

Alfred Jackson Billes (1902 - 1995)

Entrepreneur, Business Magnate. Founder of the Canadian Tire company.  Family links:  Spouse:  Muriel Moore Billes (____ – 1979)*  Children:  Alfred William Billes (1935 – 2007)* *Calculated relationship

Alfred Joseph Balasic (1896 - 1967)

Cirus Performer. Vaudeville star with the Balasic Family acrobats. (bio by: Mark Balasi)

Alfred Laliberté (1878 - 1953)

Artist. Born in Ste-Élisabeth-de-Warwick, Arthabaska, Québec in 1878, he began carving with his pocket knife as a youth, produced woodcarvings so impressive that they gained the attention of the public. A Montreal newspaper, “La Presse,” organized a scholarship drive to raise money to send him to Paris, France to study art at the École des […]

Alfred Marks (1921 - 1996)

Marks was born as Ruchel Kutchinsky in Holborn, London. He left Bell Lane School at 14 and started in entertainment at the Windmill Theatre. He then served in the RAF as a Flight Sergeant in the Middle East where he arranged concerts for servicemen. He also worked as an auctioneer and engineer. He started in variety […]

Alfred Marshall (1842 - 1924)

Alfred Marshall was born in Clapham, England, 26 July 1842. His father was a bank cashier and a devout Evangelical. Marshall grew up in the London suburb of Clapham and was educated at the Merchant Taylors’ School and St John’s College, Cambridge, where he demonstrated an aptitude in mathematics, achieving the rank of Second Wrangler […]

Alfred P. Sloan (1875 - 1966)

Alfred P.Sloan (/sloʊn/; May 23, 1875 – February 17, 1966) was an American business executive in the automotive industry. He was a long-time President, chairman and CEO of General Motors Corporation. Sloan, first as a senior executive and later as the head of the organization, helped GM grow from the 1920s through the 1950s, decades […]

Alfred Pritchard Sloan, Jr (1875 - 1966)

American corporate executive and philanthropist, best known as the longtime chairman of General Motors Corporation (GM). He was born Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. in New Haven, Connecticut on May 23, 1875, the son of a coffee and tea importer. In 1892, at the age of 17, he graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a […]

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 - 1913)

Alfred Russel Wallace OM FRS (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection; his paper on the subject was jointly published with some of Charles Darwin’s writings in 1858. This prompted Darwin to […]

Alfred Ryder (1916 - 1995)

Alfred Ryder (born Alfred Jacob Corn; January 5, 1916 – April 16, 1995) was an American film, radio and television actor. Ryder is known for appearing in over one hundred television shows, including the starring role as a British criminal who could not be killed in Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond episode “The Devil’s Laughter’” […]

Alfred Steele (1900 - 1959)

Alfred Steele (April 24, 1900 – April 19, 1959) was an American soft drink businessman. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1923, where he played football, and became an ad executive. He first worked for The Coca-Cola Company, as vice president of marketing. He later became the CEO of the Pepsi-Cola Company in 1949. Under his […]

Alfred Swaine Taylor (1806 - 1880)

Physician. Medical expert for trials. Authority on poisons. Quoted by Dorothy Sayers and Conan Doyle.

Alfred Warner Hair, Sr. (1918 - 1970)

Artist and Entrepreneur. He helped start a folk art movement known as the Highwaymen. In the segregated mid-1950s, this loosely affiliated group of black painters traveled across the state selling their Florida landscape paintings, often door-to-door. Hair and 25 members of the Highwaymen were inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in Tallahassee. Alfred […]

Alfred Worden (1932 - 2020)

Alfred Worden Alfred M. Worden, who orbited the moon for three solitary days in the summer of 1971, piloting the Apollo 15 command module and taking detailed pictures of the lunar surface as his fellow astronauts drove a rover far below, died March 17 or 18 at an assisted-living center in Sugar Land, Tex. He […]

Alfred Wright (1830 - 1891)

Businessman. He was a successful perfume manufacturer and a deeply religious man, who found that many of his employees were not attending church on Sunday mornings because they were too tired after long hours working the other six days a week. As a result, he ordered all his factories to be closed at noon on […]

Algis Budrys (1931 - 2008)

Called “AJ” by friends, Budrys was born Algis Budrys in Königsberg in the then East Prussia, to a family which considered itself Lithuanian rather than German. In 1936, when Budrys was five years old, his father Jonas Budrys was appointed as the Lithuanian consul general in New York. Jonas Budrys continued to hold that position, […]

Algur Hurtle Meadows (1899 - 1978)

Businessman. He and J.W. Gilliland, a petroleum expert, formed the General American Oil Company in 1936. In 1941 he became the president and major stockholder, and by 1959 his company had 2,990 oil wells in fifteen states and Canada. He gave more than $34 million to Southern Methodist University, and by 1992 his foundation had […]

Alice Allyn (1929 - 1976)

Actress. Born in Canada, she was most noted for the role of Alice on the television series “Baretta”, 1975 to 1978. For feature films, she appeared in “The Millionaire” (1958), “Operation Dames” (1959) and “All Fall Down” (1962). (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)

Alice Backes (1923 - 2007)

Actress. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, she was a character actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows from the 1940s to the 1990s. After making her debut in the 1948 film “Up in Central Park”, Backes appeared in “I Want To Live!” (1958), “It Started with a Kiss” (1959), “The Glory Guys” […]

Alice Brady (1892 - 1939)

Actress. Born Mary Rose Brady in New York City, New York, she began her career in the theatre in 1911, at age 18. In 1914, she made her motion picture debut in the silent picture “As Ye Sow”. She appeared in 53 films in the next 10 years, all while continuing to perform on stage, […]

Alice Calhoun (1900 - 1966)

Born Alice Beatrice Calhoun in Cleveland, Ohio, she made her film debut in a role not credited in 1918 and went on to appear in another forty-seven films between then and 1929. As a star with Vitagraph in New York City, she moved with the company when it relocated to Hollywood. In the comedy, The […]