Sy Berger (1923 - 2014)

Designer. Known as “The Father of the modern day baseball card”, Berger (while an employee at the Topps Company) created a revolutionary appearance for the baseball trading card which evolved from a hobby into a multi-million dollar business. Born Seymour Perry Berger, he served with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II […]

Christian Bérard (1902 - 1949)

Artist. Born in Paris, he exhibited his paintings as early as 1924 but won fame later in the decade as a fashion illustrator. He worked for Vogue magazine from 1935 to 1948 and his designs influenced Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli. Berard was also active in movies and the theatre, and is probably best remembered […]

August Benziger (1867 - 1955)

Artist. He was a portrait painter best known of his portraits of Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, which are in the Historical Society of Chicago. He was also was commissioned to do portaits of Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI. (bio by: Laurie)  Family links:  Spouse:  Gertrude L. Lytton Benziger (1875 – 1966)* *Calculated […]

Thomas Hart Benton (1889 - 1975)

Painter,  Muralist.  Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry,  he was the outstanding figure in the American Regionalist movement of the 1930s and 1940s. Benton is best known for his murals of everyday and historical scenes of the Midwest and Southern United States.  Although he declared himself “an enemy of modernism” his work is […]

Arthur Burnett Benton (1858 - 1927)

American Architect. In 1887, Benton studied at the Topeka School of Art and Design in Kansas. The following year he went to work for two years as a draftsman in the architectural department of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. In 1890, he relocated to Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked as a draftsman in […]

John Bentley (1839 - 1902)

John Francis Bentley was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire. As a boy, he enjoyed sketching and architecture, but his father disapproved and found him a job as an apprentice with a firm of engineers in Manchester. In 1855, however, he moved to London and began a five-year indenture with a firm of architects. The following year, […]

Marilyn Burns (1950 - 2014)

American Actress. Burns, who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Drama, made her first film appearance in the Robert Altman movie ‘Brewster McCloud’ (1970). She appeared in small parts in other films, but her breakout came in 1974 when she landed the lead role of Sally Hardesty in Tobe […]

John Prentiss Benson (1865 - 1947)

Maritime realist painter and architect. He was born into a wealthy Salem merchant family. His brother, Frank W. Benson was a renowned impressionist painter. Although he aspired to a career in art, he made his living as an architect and was well into his fifties before he began his career painting maritime scenes. He is […]

Frank Weston Benson (1862 - 1951)

Last of the Great American Impressionist painters and one of the most honored and successful artists of his time. He is famed for works that capture dazzling plays of light in both indoors and outdoors settings. He was born to a wealthy merchant family in Salem. His brother, John Prentiss Benson, was a well known […]

Dallas McDonald Burnette (1900 - 1976)

Stage and screen actress. She is buried next to her husband, actor Smiley Burnette. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Spouse:  Smiley Burnette (1911 – 1967)* *Calculated relationship

Alexander Benois (1870 - 1960)

Theatrical Designer, Painter, Historian. An imaginative Classicist, his colorful style blended Russian Folk and French Rococo influences. He played an instrumental role in the founding of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.  Alexander Nikolayevich Benois was born in St. Petersburg,  Russia,  into a distinguished family of French-Italian descent.  Apart from a brief course in stage design at […]

Peppino “José” Benlliure Ortiz (1884 - 1916)

Valencian Painter. Son of painter José Benlliure y Gil and nephew of sculptor Mariano Benlliure, he was known as Peppino, because she was born in Rome, where his father lived and worked. In his Italian period, he painted oils and landscapes as “Vía del Cardenal Merry del Val.” From 1901, he established himself in Valencia. […]

Dorothy Burgess (1907 - 1961)

Actress. After learning her art on the stage, she appeared in several dozen Hollywood features during the 1930s. Raised initially in Los Angeles where her father was in the transportation business, she studied painting and sculpture in New York, then got her theatrical start as a bit-player and dancer in productions that featured her maternal […]

José Benlliure Gil (1855 - 1937)

Painter. He was born in El Canyamelar (Valencia, Spain), and was member of an artist family. He was son of painter Juan Antonio Benlliure and brother of sculptor Mariano Benlliure and painters Blas and Juan Antonio. Soon, he showed his talent for painting and after spent a time working in Valencia and Madrid, he moved […]

Mariano Benlliure (1862 - 1947)

Spanish sculptor. He was born in a family of artists. He studied in Valencia, Madrid, Rome and Paris. Among his sculptures: “Accidente,” “Monument to Velázquez,” “Goya,” and religious figures such as “María Magdalena” and “Santísimo Cristo Yacente.” (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)  Family links:  Spouses:  Carmen Quevedo Pessanha*  Leopoldina Tuero O’Donnell (1867 – 1952)* […]

Robin Nadine Benedict (1961 - 1983)

Murder Victim. She was a recent graduate of the Greater Lawrence Regional Vocational School. At the time of her death, she was pursuing a freelance a career in graphic arts and had a small contract with Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts.  Tufts biology professor Dr. William Douglas allegedly “picked her up” as a prostitute in […]

Ed Benedict (1912 - 2006)

Cartoon Animator. Best known for designing the characters of “The Flintstones” cartoon series. He designed the look of Fred, Barney, Wilma and Betty as well as their houses and foot-driven cars. He was working for MGM, Universal and various other studios on cartoon shorts when, in the late 1950s, he joined Bill Hanna and Joe […]

Federico Beltrán-Masses (1970 - 1949)

Spanish painter. He was born in 1885 in Guaira de la Melena, Cuba, where his father was a Spanish military envoy to Cuba.  After the war between the United States and Cuba ended in 1899, the family returned to Spain.  Beltran-Masses studied with the painter Sorolla at l’École des Beaux-Arts de Barcelone. In 1905 he […]

Argentina Brunetti (1907 - 2005)

Actress. Best remembered as ‘Mrs. Martini’ in the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” She began her show business career at the age of three in a walk on part in the opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana” and followed her mother actress Mimi Aguglia’s footsteps in the theater performing several supporting roles on stages in Europe, and […]

Vicente Beltrán Grimal (1896 - 1963)

Artist. He was born in Sueca, Valencia. Son of peasants, he studied in Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Carlos with Vicente Ballester Marco, among others. In 1922, he moved to Roma where obtained big success with sculptures such as “Aurora” and “Aretusa.” Also he was married with radio host Anita Ricci. In 1928, he […]

Paul Belmondo (1898 - 1982)

Sculptor. Paul was born in Algiers into a poor family. His early schooling was at Dordor in Algiers. Passionate about art and design, he began carving at the age of 13 years. He studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Algiers, but his studies were interrupted by the First World War.  A grant from […]

George Wesley Bellows (1882 - 1925)

Artist. He was a realist painter-lithographer noted for his paintings of action scenes, expressive portraits and seascapes. While attending Ohio State University, he started by providing illustrations for the school’s student yearbook, then relocated to New York in 1904, to study at the New york School of Art. By 1908, he had his own studio […]

Vanessa Stephen Bell (1879 - 1961)

Artist. She was a painter, the elder sister of author Virginia Woolf and a leading member of the Bloomsbury Group. The daughter of the Victorian writer Sir Leslie Stephen, in 1901 she entered the Royal Academy painting school. In 1907 she married the poet and art critic Clive Bell who was also a member of […]

Robert Anning Bell (1863 - 1933)

Artist and Member of Royal Academy. (bio by: David Conway)

Bill Belew (1931 - 2008)

Costume Designer. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, designed costumes for over 70 theatrical productions, musicals, operas, ballets, Television specials and series. He was once former head costumer at NBC Studios in Burbank, California until the early 1980’s. He designed apparel for such celebrities as Lynne Redgrave, Lena Horne, Josephine […]

John Belcher (1841 - 1913)

British architect. A renowed architect, his numerous projects included Whiteley’s store in Bayswater (1910), Colchester Town Hall (1898) and the Aston Memorial in Lancaster (1906), which was built in the lavish Edwardian Baroque style. He was also an accomplished musician and artist, and was elected President of the RIBA, (1904-1906) and the Royal Academy in […]

Zdzislaw Beksinski (1929 - 2005)

Renowned Polish painter, photographer, and fantasy artist. He is the only modern European artist to have had an exhibition in the Osaka Museum of Art in Japan. A prestigious exhibition in Warsaw in 1964 proved to be his first major success, as all his paintings were sold. In the 1980s his works gained on popularity […]

Claud Beelman (1884 - 1963)

American Architect. Beelman de­signed numerous buildings in the Beaux-Arts, Art Deco and Streamline Moderne styles. In the 1920s, Beelman and his then partner, William Curlett, designed no fewer than 22 structures in Los Angeles.  Following the dissolution of the partnership in the early 1930s, Beelman designed the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, an addition to the […]

Charlotte Bridgwood (1861 - 1929)

Stage actress using the name Lotta Lawrence, Bridgwood was the mother of the “world’s first movie star,” Florence Lawrence.  Charlotte was the inventor of the automobile turn signal as well as the windshield wiper, which she patented in 1917.  She also invented an application that would prevent glass from fogging, which was offered to the […]

Alan Brookman Beddoe (1893 - 1975)

Artist. He is best remembered as Canadian war artist, artist and consultant in heraldry, and founder and first president of the Heraldry Society of Canada in 1965. After completing high school, he studied at Ashbury College in Rockcliffe Park, Ottawa, Canada. During World War I, he volunteered for the Canadian Army and in 1915 he […]