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Jack Dempsey
Jack Dempsey (1895 - 1983)
Jack Dempsey Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1919 to 1926. The legendary Dempsey was born in Manassa, Colorado, one of 11 children. At 16 he left home and traveled on freight trains and fought to earn money. Then Dempsey met manager Jack ‘Doc’ Kearns and started knocking out legitimate contenders like Fireman Jim Flynn, […]
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Richard Denning
Richard Denning (1914 - 1998)
Richard Denning Originally studied business management in Los Angeles but decided to break into acting instead. He won a radio contest called “Do You Want to Be an Actor”, and was awarded a Warner Bros. screen test. Warner rejected him, but Paramount took him on the condition that he change his name to Denning. (Studio […]
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Linda Gary
Linda Gary (1944 - 1995)
Linda Gary Voice Actress. Best known as the voices of ‘Teela’, ‘Sorceress’ and ‘Evil-Lyn’ on the cartoon “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” (1983). Other cartoons she did voice work for include “The Smurfs” (1981), “Transformers” (1984), “She-Ra: Princess of Power” (1985), “The Land Before Time” and “Spider-Man” (1994). Linda Gary was born on […]
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Jack Diamond
Jack Diamond (1897 - 1931)
Jack Diamond Born on July 10, 1897, in Philadelphia, Jack Diamond became a leading figure in organized crime during the Prohibition era. He established liquor-smuggling enterprises in New York City and upstate New York, where he lived for a time after shooting and killing men in his Hotsy Totsy club. He was found dead in […]
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Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee (1920 - 2002)
Peggy Lee Singer, Songwriter and Actress. Best remembered for songs “Fever,” “Lover,” “Big Spender,” and a host of other songs. Born Norma Dolores Egstrom, her mother died when she was 4, and her father, a railroad station agent, remarried, but later abandoned the new family, leaving Peggy with her stepmother, who physically abused her. Peggy […]
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Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight Eisenhower (1890 - 1969)
Dwight Eisenhower 34th United States President, United States General of the Army. One of seven sons of a poor Kansas family, he discovered he could receive an education for free if he was accepted at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He passed the 1911 entry exam and graduated in the top half […]
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Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson (1932 - 2012)
Dawson was born in Gosport, Hampshire, England, on November 20, 1932 to Arthur and Josephine Emm. At the age of 14 he ran away from home to join the British Merchant Navy, where he pursued a boxing career. After his discharge, he pursued a comedy career using the stage name Dickie Dawson; when he reached […]
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Jose Fernandez
Jose Fernandez (1992 - 2016)
Jose Fernandez Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident early Sunday morning in Florida, the Marlins confirmed. The Marlins’ game against the Atlanta Braves scheduled for Sunday afternoon has been canceled. Fernandez, the 24-year-old right-hander whose vibrant personality endeared himself to fans as much as his dominant fastball, was a Cuban-born […]
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Kelly Fleming
Kelly Fleming (1983 - 1999)
Kelly Fleming and her family moved to Littleton from Phoenix, Arizona 18 months before the shooting. Her father Don said they scoured the area looking for a good neighborhood where their daughters would be safe. Kelly was a shy and creative girl who loved Halloween and was an aspiring songwriter and author who wrote many […]
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Charles Arthur Floyd
Charles Arthur Floyd (1904 - 1934)
Charles Arthur Floyd was born in Bartow County, Georgia in 1904. His family moved to Oklahoma in 1911, and he grew up there. As a youth, he spent considerable time in nearby Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. Floyd was first arrested at age 18 after he stole $3.50 in coins from a local post office. Three […]
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Jonathan Frid
Jonathan Frid (1924 - 2012)
Jonathan Frid Jonathan Frid, a Shakespearean actor who found unexpected — and by his own account unwanted — celebrity as the vampire Barnabas Collins on the sanguinary soap opera “Dark Shadows,” died last Saturday, April 14, in Hamilton, Ontario. He was 87. He died from complications of a fall, said Kathryn Leigh Scott, who played […]
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Gene Fullmer
Gene Fullmer (1931 - 2015)
Gene Fullmer Gene Fullmer was the World Middleweight Champion (1957). Widely believed, he was named after former boxer Gene Tunner, he was born into a Mormon family and endured a strict upbringing. He was introduced to the sport, when his father brought him and his two younger brothers to a local gym to watch the […]
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James Garfield
James Garfield (0183 - 1881)
James Garfield American Civil War Major General, US Congressman, and US President. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 20th US President for only 200 days, from March until September 1881. He was the 3rd US President to die in office and the 2nd one who was assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln. Born […]
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Kid Gavilán
Kid Gavilán (1926 - 2003)
Kid Gavilán Cuban professional boxer and world welterweight champion who was known for his “bolo punch,” a combination of a hook and an uppercut. Gavilan said that cutting sugarcane during his youth in Cuba helped him to perfect his punching technique. He was a flashy fighter and a skillful boxer who began his professional career […]
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Theda Bara
Theda Bara (1885 - 1955)
Theda Bara Actress. She appeared in 47 films, from 1914 to 1926, but was unable to make the transition to sound film. She was considered one of the most successful and glamorous stars of the 1910s. She was the original “Vamp”. Born under the name Theodosia Goodman, in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was close to her […]
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Betty Grable
Betty Grable (1916 - 1973)
Betty Grable During her lifetime, she would become one of the most prolific singing actresses of her time, starring in over one hundred films, including ‘Pin Up Girl’ and ‘How To Marry A Millionaire’. In 1929, the Grable family went on holiday to California, and Lilian, Betty’s Mother, decided that she and her daughter should […]
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James Best
James Best (1926 - 2015)
James Best Actor James Best, who played the often confused Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane on “The Dukes of Hazzard,” died on Monday evening after a brief illness and battle with pneumonia, according to his rep. He was 88. Best got his start as an actor during World War II when he joined the military theatrical […]
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Jack Haley
Jack Haley (1897 - 1979)
Jack Haley Full name: John Joseph Haley, was the actor who played the part of the Tin Woodman and Hickory in MGM‘s 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. An established song-and-dance man, Haley was loaned to the MGM studio by his contract-holder, 20th Century Fox, on 4 November 1938. Haley replaced Buddy Ebsen, the actor who […]
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George Harrison
George Harrison (1943 - 2001)
George Harrison A master musician, a film producer and actor, best known as the lead guitarist and occasionally lead vocalist of The Beatles, George Harrison was born February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. He was also the youngest of four children, born to Harold and Louise Harrison. Like his future band mates, Harrison was […]
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Doug Harvey
Doug Harvey (1924 - 1989)
Doug Harvey played minor league hockey in Oxford Park, Notre Dame de Grace in his native Montreal, Quebec, Canada, then began his professional career with the Montreal Royals of the Quebec Senior Hockey League where he played from 1945 to 1947, helping them win the Allan Cup. He then played one season with the Buffalo […]
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Herb Hash
Herb Hash (1911 - 2008)
Herb Hash was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1940 to 1941 for the Boston Red Sox. He was born in Woolwine, Virginia, and attended the University of Richmond; he is a member of the University’s Hall of Fame. Hash made his debut for the Red Sox on April 19, […]
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Etta James
Etta James (1938 - 2012)
Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Hawkins, who was only 14 at the time. Her father has never been identified. James speculated that he was the pool player Rudolf “Minnesota Fats” Wanderone, and met him briefly in 1987. Due to her mother’s frequent absences from […]
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Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes (1942 - 2008)
Isaac Hayes The soul singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes, known for his gravelly voice, shaven head and copious jewellery, died on Sunday at his home in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 65. Hayes was found by family members, who discovered him lying next to a treadmill in a basement room at his home. Sheriff’s deputies performed CPR until […]
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Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday (1851 - 1887)
Doc Holliday A gunfighter and professional gambler, he is remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the notorious Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona that resulted in the killing of three members of the Cochise County Cowboys, a loosely associated group of outlaw cowboys in Pima and Cochise County […]
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Ken Howard
Ken Howard (1944 - 2016)
Ken Howard Ken Howard, the current national president of SAG-AFTRA who came to fame as the supportive inner-city high school basketball coach on the 1970s CBS drama The White Shadow, died Wednesday. He was 71. Howard, who got laughs as Hank Hooper, the CEO of Kabletown, the cable company that buys NBC from General Electric, […]
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Gordie Howe
Gordie Howe (1928 - 2016)
Gordie Howe Gordie Howe, the rough-and-tumble Canadian farm boy whose blend of boundless talent and toughness made him the NHL’s quintessential star during a career that lasted into his 50s, has died. The man forever known as Mr. Hockey was 88. Son Murray Howe confirmed the death Friday, texting to The Associated Press: “Mr Hockey […]
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John Huston
John Huston (1906 - 1987)
John Huston John Huston, the legendary director and scenarist who made such classic films as ”The Maltese Falcon,” ”The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” ”The Asphalt Jungle” and ”The African Queen,” died yesterday in Middletown, R.I., at the age of 81. Associates said he had died in his sleep of complications from emphysema. The film […]
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Dick Tiger
Dick Tiger (1929 - 1971)
Dick Tiger Nigerian professional boxer, world middleweight (160 pounds) and light heavyweight (175 pounds) champion during the 1960s. Tiger learned to box from British military officers stationed in Nigeria. He began his professional boxing career in his homeland in 1952, and he went on to win the Nigerian championship in the middleweight division before moving […]
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Ub Iwerks
Ub Iwerks (1901 - 1971)
Ub Iwerks Ub Iwerks was a man of many talents. He was a prolific animator and a brilliant technical mind. He was Walt’s Swiss Army knife, a man who was to Walt whatever he needed him to be. He was as necessary to the beginning of Walt’s career as he was to the end. He […]
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Shoeless Joe Jackson
Shoeless Joe Jackson (1887 - 1951)
Shoeless Joe Jackson Shoeless Joe Jackson is best known today for being the most recognizable of the eight Chicago White Sox players who were banned forever from Major League baseball for his role in the 1919 “Black Sox” Scandal. Born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1902 he became a cotton textile worker with Brandon Mills, sweeping […]