Diane Cilento (1933 - 2011)

Actress, Author. Born to well-versed parents in the medical field, her father Sir Ralph West Cilento was an expert on tropical medicine, her mother Lady Phyllis Cilento was a gynecologist; she settled with her family in the Brisbane region of Australia. She began her acting studies, initially at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts […]

Gutzon Borglum (1867 - 1941)

Artist. Best known for being the Mount Rushmore sculptor. He was born John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum in Idaho to a Danish immigrant who embraced the Mormon religion and immediately acquired two wives who were sisters.  When Borglum was 4, his father, a frontier doctor, left the church, discarding young Borglum’s mother so he […]

Norah Borges (1901 - 1998)

Artist. Sister of famed fantasy writer Jorge Luis Borges. Her original name was Leonor Fanny Borges, but her famous brother changed her name to “Norah.” She made many ilustrations for his brother´s book, as well for Victoria Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares. (bio by: 380W)  Family links:  Spouse:  Guillermo De Torre (1900 – 1971)* *Calculated […]

Virginia Christine (1920 - 1996)

Actress. She is best remembered as “Mrs Olson,” of the Folger’s Coffee television commercials of the 1960s and 1970s, who dispensed sage advise to next door neighbor young couples while serving them Folger’s Coffee. Born Virginia Christine Kraft in Stanton, Iowa, to the family of Rudolf Kraft, a first generation German farm laborer, she began […]

Francisco Bores (1898 - 1972)

Artist. A Spanish-French painter, he was born in Madrid and died in Paris. He was included in Ultraism movement. In the 20s, he moved to Paris where developed all his career. He was one of the important painters in the spanish colony in Paris, along with Pancho Cossio or Joaquín Peinado. Among his paintings “San […]

Linda Christian (1923 - 2011)

Actress. Born Blanca Rosa Welter, the daughter of a Dutch executive in the oil industry, she grew up in Venezuela, South Africa, Holland, Switzerland and Palestine, learning to speak multiple languages fluently while becoming a model student during her schooling. She worked at the Office of the British Censor during her residence in Palestine and […]

Paul-Emile Borduas (1905 - 1960)

Painter. Leader of the Automatistes, important artists group of Canada. Main author of Refus global, manifesto published in 1948 and signed by many important quebecers artists such as Jean-Paul Riopelle, Claude Gauvreau, Fernand Leduc and Marcelle Ferron.  (bio by: Stephane Tremblay)

Joseph Bonomi (1796 - 1878)

Draftsman, Egyptologist. Born Joseph Bonomi the Younger, in London, son of architect, Joseph Bonomi the Elder. He studied in Rome before accepting a position with an expedition to Egypt in 1824. For the following two years he served as draftsman for the Hay’s Expedition at Abu Simbel, Kalabsha, and Thebes, producing accurate sketches and plaster […]

Richard Parkes Bonnington (1802 - 1828)

Artist and friend of Delacroix. (bio by: Kieran Smith)

America Chedister (1895 - 1975)

Actress. She appeared on the silent screen in films such as Scrambled Wives (1921), Dawn of the East (1921), and Sea Raiders (1922). She was married to film director and writer Edward H. Griffith. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouse:  Edward H. Griffith (1888 – 1975)* *Calculated relationship

Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (1833 - 1922)

Artist. He was considered to be one of the most celebrated portrait artists of his day, receiving commissions from many of the wealthiest and most influential families of the period. His subjects included Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur, and French President Adolphe Thiers. He was heavily influenced by the Spanish Old Masters Velasquez, Murillo, and Zurbarán, […]

Jean-Marie Bonnassieux (1810 - 1892)

Sculptor. One of his most famous work is the Statue of Notre Dame in  Le-Puy-en-Velay (Departement Haute-Loire) made out of canons “taken” in the battle of Sebastopol. The Virgin holds the Jesus Child on her right arm, so that he can easily bless the City down the volcano hill  with his right arm.

Ricard Boix Oviedo (1904 - 1994)

Sculptor. He was born and died in Valencia (Spain). He studied in Academia de San Carlos and was friend of the artists Josep Renau, Francesc Badía and Rafael Pérez Contel. He also was the brother of sculptor Arturo Boix. In 1930, he moved during two months to Paris where discovered the egyptian sculpture. When he […]

Marguerite Chapman (1918 - 1999)

Actress. She played tough but alluring leading ladies in B and occasional A films of the 1940s, including “Spy Smasher” (1942), “Murder in Times Square” (1943), “Destroyer” (1943), “Appointment in Berlin” (1943),  “The Walls Came Tumbling Down” (1946),  “Relentless” (1948),  and “The Green Promise” (1949).  Chapman was born in Chatham,  New York,  and made her […]

Arturo Boix Oviedo (1970 - 1965)

Artist. He was born in Valencia, Comunidad Valenciana. In 1915, he moved to Cuba, where began his work as sculptor and painter. When he returned to Valencia, he continued his career, and he participated in the International Exhibition of Paris in 1937. Among his works “La Serpiente,” “Hermanos y Qué Diferentes” and “Savia Nova.” He […]

Francisco Boix (1920 - 1951)

Photographer. He was born in Barcelona (Catalunya). During and after Spanish Civil War, he fought against Franco’s dictatorship, and was forced to exile. In Second World War, he was interned in Mauthausen’s Death Camp. After the liberation, his photos of the nazi’s atrocities in the camp hardly reflected the horror of Holocaust. He moved to […]

Abraham Jacob “A.J.” Bogdanove (1886 - 1946)

Painter, Educator. He is best known for his Maine seascapes. Bogdanove came to America on December 25, 1900 with his parents and two brothers. He won a scholarship to Cooper Union and later to Columbia University to study Art.  After graduating, he apprenticed with C.Y.Turner and F.C. Jones as a muralist, often working with the […]

Marie Champmesle (1642 - 1698)

French Actress. The daughter of an actor, she married actor Charles Chevillet Champmesle in 1666. By 1669, they were both members of the Theatre du Marais in Paris. In 1670, they joined the Hotel de Bourgogne, where she had her first success as Hermione in Jean Racine’s “Andromaque.” It was with great difficulty that Racine’s […]

Maud Humphrey Bogart (1865 - 1940)

Artist. Mother of motion picture legend, Humphrey Bogart. She was renowned in her own right as a popular artist and illustrator. Her “Humphrey Baby,” a series of watercolors romanticizing infants wearing long curls, period garments, and innocent smiles, was famous in America and throughout the world. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouse:  Belmont DeForest […]

James Bogardus (1800 - 1874)

Architect. Initially a watch engraver, he was largely self-taught in architecture. He became a prominent designer and promoter of cast-iron architecture as fireproof, efficient, and transportable. He built structures in New York City, where several survive, as well as in Charleston, South Carolina and the District of Columbia.  Four of his five surviving buildings are […]

Shirley Chambers (1913 - 2011)

Actress. One of Hollywood’s earliest typecast ‘dumb blondes’, she is probably best remembered for her part in 1939’s Oscar-winning classic “Gone with the Wind”. Raised in Northern California from infancy, she became a model as a teenager, in 1930 was signed by MGM as a Goldwyn Girl, made her silver screen bow in the 1930 […]

Edward Marshall Boehm (1913 - 1969)

Artist.  Born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1913. His surname is pronounced “Beam”. His parents separated before he was born. His mother, Elsie Boehm, died when he was seven years old. (He was not to meet his father until he was in his twenties.) Friends enrolled him in an all boys school for orphans and the […]

Joseph Bodner (1925 - 1982)

Artist. Compared to the “Great Masters”, his oils have been collected by numerous celebrities and dignitaries. He graduated Art Center and was selected most likely to succeed by Norman Rockwell. His work was best known for Monochromatic Westerns, Majestic Horses and Dramatic Skies. He was in Who’s Who in France. His paintings are still collected […]

Elise Cavanna (1902 - 1963)

Actress. Appeared in motion pictures primarily during the 1930s. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Parents:  Thomas M. Seeds (1865 – 1916)  Sallie D. Burk Seeds (1863 – 1913)

Aubrey Bodine (1906 - 1970)

Aubrey Bodine was an American photographer and photojournalist for the Baltimore Sun‘s Sunday Sun Magazine, also known as the brown section, for fifty years. Bodine is known for his images of Maryland landmarks and traditions. Bodine’s books include My Maryland, Chesapeake Bay and Tidewater, Face of Maryland, Face of Virginia, and Guide to Baltimore and Annapolis. He was born July 21, 1906, in Baltimore, Maryland. After entering professional photography […]

Anna Boch (1848 - 1936)

Painter. She was the only person who bought (in 1890) a painting from Vincent Van Gogh when he was alive : “Les Vignes rouges.”

Umberto Boccioni (1882 - 1916)

Painter, Sculptor, Theorist. The greatest of the Italian Futurists, he celebrated the vitality of the industrial age by seeking to depict time, space, energy, and even sound in his work. Although he was active with that movement only a short period before his premature death, Boccioni’s ideas had far-reaching consequences in the development of 20th […]

Peggie Castle (1927 - 1973)

Actress. Starting out as a magazine model, she made her first film in 1947, and within three years, she was prominently cast as a succession of gun molls, b-girls and murderesses. She was married for a time to producer William McGarry. After abruptly ending her career in 1962, she died in obscurity of cirrhosis of […]

Edward Blore (1787 - 1879)

Architect. Edward was born in Derby. The eldest child of Thomas Blore, a topographer and antiquary. Edward began in his fathers footsteps, becoming apprenticed to an engraver, he became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1823. His precise and atmospheric illustrations for the Rev. Philip Bliss’s Monumental Remains of Noble and Eminent Persons […]

Movita Castaneda (1916 - 2015)

Actress. Born Maria Castaneda, to parents of Mexican-American descent, she had the distinction of being born on a train which was traveling from Mexico to Arizona. Her exotic beauty caught the attention of Paramount Studio which led to her film debut at the age of thirteen in a Spanish-speaking film in 1930. She was cast […]