Jane Toppan (1857 - 1938)

Though scant records survive of Jane Toppan’s early years, it is known that her parents were Irish immigrants, and her mother, Bridget Kelley, died of tuberculosis when she was very young. Her father, Peter Kelley, was well known as an alcoholic and eccentric, nicknamed by those who knew him “Kelley the Crack” (crack as in […]

Jane Weir (1916 - 1937)

Actress. She made only four films, all of them in 1937: “Souls at Sea”, “Artists and Models”, “The Singing Marine” and “Criminals in the Air”. She died after an appendectomy. (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)

Jane White (1922 - 2011)

Actress. Born in New York City, her parents were active in civil rights causes and with the NAACP. She attended Smith College and the New School before making her professional acting debut on Broadway in the production “Strange Fruit” (1945 to 1946). During the 1950s, she accumulated TV roles on the programs “The Alcoa Hour” […]

Jane Wyatt (1910 - 2006)

Jane Waddington Wyatt was born on August 12, 1910, in Mahwah, New Jersey, but raised in Manhattan. Her father, Christopher Billopp Wyatt, Jr., was a Wall Street investment banker, and her mother, the former Euphemia Van Rensselaer Waddington, was a drama critic for the Catholic World. Both of her parents were Roman Catholic converts. Wyatt had […]

Jane Wyman (1917 - 2007)

Jane Wyman Academy Award-Winning Actress. Born Sarah Jane Mayfield, for many years she gave her birthdate as January 4, 1914 to make herself appear older, enabling her to work full time while still a minor. She launched her professional career in 1930 singing on radio programs under the name “Jane Durrell”,  and after 1932 she […]

Janet Achurch (1864 - 1916)

Born as Janet Sharp on 17 January 1864 in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, her mother died during childbirth and she was reared by her father William Prior Sharp, an insurance agent. Her maternal grandparents, James and Mary Achurch, managed the Theatre Royal in Manchester. She became an actress after ending her education in 1881 and joining Sarah […]

Janet Blair (1921 - 2007)

Actress. She was a singer in Hal Kemp’s Band when she signed with Columbia Studios in 1941. She made her film debut in “Three Girls on the Town” and held lead roles in “Broadway” (1944), “The Fabulous Dorseys,” “The Fuller Brush Man”(1946) and “The Black Arrow”(1948). After Columbia dropped her contract, she turned to acting […]

Janet Brown (1923 - 2011)

Actress. Though she had a long and respected career on the British stage and television she shall undoubtedly be remembered for an uncanny ability to impersonate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Educated in her hometown she took to the stage early and during World War II worked entertaining the troops. Janet made her silver screen bow […]

Janet Carroll (1940 - 2012)

Janet Carroll was born Janet Thiese in Chicago, the daughter of Hilda Catherine (Patton) and George Nicholas Thiese. She received formal theatrical training and began acting professionally in the late 1960s, appearing in numerous productions in local theaters. She then became a regular at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri, where she acted during five […]

Janet Chandler (1911 - 1994)

Actress. Born Lillian Barrett in Pine Bluffs, Arkansas, she made her screen debut in “The Three Musketeers” (1921), followed by ” Inez from Hollywood” (1922). A popular performer in the 1930s, she appeared in “The Golden West” (1932), “Cowboy Holiday” (1934), “House of Danger” (1934), “Cyclone of the Saddle” (1935) “Rough Riding Ranger” (1935), Million […]

Janet Dailey (1944 - 2013)

Novelist.  Janet Dailey is best remembered as a prolific writer of romance novels, beginning in 1974 through 2010.  Born Janet Anne Haradon, she loved to read books from an early age and aspired to become a writer.  She graduated from Jefferson High School, Independence, Iowa in 1962 and worked for a construction firm owned by […]

Janet Gaynor (1906 - 1984)

Janet Gaynor Janet Gaynor was born Laura Augusta Gainor (some sources stated Gainer) in Germantown, Philadelphia. Nicknamed “Lolly” as a child, she was the youngest of two daughters born to Laura and Frank De Witt Gainor. Frank Gainor worked as a theatrical painter and paperhanger. When Gaynor was a toddler, her father began teaching her […]

Janet Heaney (1958 - 1997)

Film and Television Writer. After graduating from Boston University as a major in broadcasting and film, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1987 and co-wrote the screenplay for the film “Powwow Highway” (1989). For television movies she wrote the screenplays for “Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love” (1991) and “Love, Lies and Lullabies” (1993). (bio by: John […]

Janet Leigh (1927 - 2004)

Actress. Born Jeanette Helen Morrison, she was discovered when retired film star Norma Shearer saw her picture at a ski resort.  Norma recommended her to talent agent Lew Wasserman who got Janet a contract at MGM for $50 a week and who christened Jeanette with the stage name, Janet Leigh. She made her first movie, […]

Janet MacLachlan (1933 - 2010)

MacLachlan was born Janet Angel MacLachlan in Harlem, New York; her mother, Iris South MacLachlan, and father, James MacLachlan, were both Jamaican-born and members of the Church of the Illumination. Attending P.S. 170 and Julia Ward Junior High School, MacLachlan graduated from Julia Richmond High School in 1950. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology […]

Janet Margolin (1943 - 1993)

Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin Margolin, an accountant who was born in Russia and was the founder and president of the Nephrosis Foundation, now the Kidney Foundation of New York. Her mother was Annette Margolin (née Lief, the daughter of Abraham and Nina Lief).  She attended the High School […]

Janet Munro (1934 - 1972)

Janet Munro (28 September 1934 – 6 December 1972) was an English actress. Janet Munro starred in three Disney film releases, Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959), Third Man on the Mountain (1959) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960), as well as The Horsemasters (1961), which aired on Disney’s weekly television series. Other film credits include […]

Janet Reno (1938 - 2016)

Janet Reno Janet Reno, the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general, died Monday from complications related to Parkinson’s disease. She was 78 years old, and her remarkable life ― including a career that continued for years after her initial diagnosis ― reveals just how productive and purposeful life can be with the neurological condition. The […]

Janet Webb (1930 - 1983)

British actress, starred in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”(1966). (bio by: Kieran Smith)

Janette Carter (1923 - 2006)

Janette Carter (2 July 1923, Maces Spring, Virginia – 22 January 2006, Kingsport, Tennessee) was the last surviving child of A.P. and Sara Carter, of Carter Family musical fame. In 1976, she and community members built an 880-seat amphitheater, the Carter Family Fold, beside the store her father operated in Southwestern Virginia. Today, the Carter […]

Jani Lane (1964 - 2011)

Singer. Lead singer for the 1990s hair metal band Warrant.  After the success of Warrant, he had a short acting career followed by solo albums and songwriting.  His most recent lead singer gig was filling in for Great White singer Jack Russell in 2010. (bio by: Lanie)

Janice “Jan” Grant Berenstain (1923 - 2012)

Author, Illustrator. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she demonstrated a true talent for drawing in high school, where she was co-art editor of the senior yearbook. These skills soon led to a scholarship to the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art, where she enrolled in the fall of 1941. It was there, on the first day […]

Janice Rule (1931 - 2003)

Janice Rule was born in Norwood, Ohio, to parents of Irish origin. Her father was a dealer in industrial diamonds. She began dancing at the Chez Paree nightclub at fifteen, which paid for ballet lessons, and was a dancer in the 1949 Broadway production of Miss Liberty. Rule also studied acting at the Chicago Professional School. She […]

Janice Voss (1956 - 2012)

Janice Voss graduated from Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, in 1972. She earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Purdue University while working on a co-op at the Johnson Space Center. She earned an S.M. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 1977. After studying space physics at Rice University from […]

Janis Carter (1913 - 1994)

Janis Carter (October 10, 1913 – July 30, 1994) was a film and television actress working in the 1940s and 1950s. After attending Mather College in Cleveland, Ohio, Carter headed to New York in an attempt to start an opera career. Although unsuccessful in opera, she was working on Broadway when she was spotted on stage […]

Janis Joplin (1943 - 1970)

Janis Joplin Born in Port Arthur, Texas, her father was a cannery worker and her mother a registrar for a business college. Graduating from Thomas Jefferson High School, she was a member of the Glee Club and the Future Teachers of America. She attended Lamar State College and the University of Texas, where a fraternity […]

János Arany (1817 - 1882)

Poet.

Janos Fadrusz (1858 - 1903)

Artist. A sculptor, The Crucifixion on his grave is his own work.

Janos Nagy Balogh (1874 - 1919)

Artist.  Born in Budapest to a working class family.  He grew up to start his passion for painting as a house painter. Janos went on to study at the School of Industrial Trade Drawing in Budapest for two years, and attended an evening course of the School of Design in 1898-99.  He joined the army […]

Janos Starker (1924 - 2013)

Starker was born in Budapest to a father of Polish descent and a mother who had immigrated from Ukraine, both Jewish. His two older brothers were violinists, and the young János (named for the hospital in which he was born) was given a cello before his sixth birthday. A child prodigy, Starker made his first […]