Dan Barton (1921 - 2009)

Actor. Born Daniel Burton, he started his career in Chicago in the 1930s, on the radio series “Skippy”. During World War II he was a member of the US Army Special Services, entertaining troops in the European arena. After the war he appeared in the Broadway road stage production of “Mr. Roberts” before settling in […]

Dan Blocker (1928 - 1972)

Actor. He is best remembered for his role of ‘Hoss Cartwright’ in the TV series, “Bonanza,” which ran from 1959 to 1972. Born in Bowie County, Texas, he entered the movie and television field in 1955 with his first role in the film, “Hook a Crook” (1955).  He began taking small cameo roles on television, […]

Dan Dailey (1915 - 1978)

Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show in 1921, and later appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in Babes in Arms. In 1940, he was signed by MGM to make films and, […]

Dan Daniel (1890 - 1981)

By 1924, Dan Daniel had settled at the New York Telegram, where he remained for the next forty years. In 1925, he won Best Story of the Year from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for his portrayal of Walter Johnson’s loss in the seventh game of the Washington Senators/Pittsburgh Pirates World Series match-up. In the […]

Dan Duryea (1907 - 1968)

Actor. He was known for playing villains and for his unique laugh. Born in White Plains, New York, he graduated with an English degree from Cornell University in 1928, having been president of the college drama society. He then got a job as a space salesman with an advertising agency, but, after several years, the […]

Dan Farrell (1930 - 2015)

Photojournalist. During a storied career that spanned five decades at the New York Daily News, he will perhaps be best remembered for capturing John F. Kennedy, Jr., (“John-John”) saluting his father’s casket following President John F. Kennedy’s funeral mass on November 25, 1963. His iconic photograph was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize but lost to […]

Dan Frazer (1921 - 2011)

Actor. Best remembered for playing Captain Frank McNeil in the TV detective series “Kojak” (1973 to 1978). The idea of acting appealed to him during his youth and at the age of fourteen, he made his introduction to audiences in a production with the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project. While serving with the Special Services in […]

Dan Haggerty (1942 - 2016)

Dan Haggerty Dan Haggerty, who played mountain man Grizzly Adams in a hit movie followed by a TV show in the 1970s, has died. He was 74. Haggerty died Friday morning at a Burbank, California, hospital after battling cancer for five months. Doctors discovered the cancer after he had surgery for back pain, Haggerty’s family […]

Dan Lurie (1923 - 2013)

Dan Lurie (April 1, 1923 – November 6, 2013) was a founding father of bodybuilding, television star, entrepreneur, world record holder for amazing feats of strength and a physical fitness pioneer that won the Mr. America title of “America’s Most Muscular Man” four times by 1949 and made history arm wrestling U.S. President Ronald Reagan […]

Dan Mitrione (1920 - 1970)

Dan Mitrione was a police officer in Richmond, Indiana, from 1945 to 1947 and joined the FBI in 1959. In 1960, he was assigned to the US State Department’s International Cooperation Administration, going to South American countries to teach “advanced counterinsurgency techniques.” A. J. Langguth, a former New York Times bureau chief in Saigon, claimed […]

Dan O’Herlihy (1919 - 2005)

O’Herlihy was born in County Wexford, Ireland, in 1919. His family moved to Dublin at a young age. He was educated at Christian Brothers College in Dun Laoghaire and later studied at University College Dublin, graduating in 1944 with a degree in Architecture. His first acting role came in 1944, when he played the lead in […]

Dan W. Evins (1935 - 2012)

Businessman. Founder of the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Restaurant chain. The Tennessee native while working in his family’s petroleum business envisioned the possibilities of an easier way to meet the needs of people who traveled by roadways. He drew from his memories while a youth, when it was commonplace to patronize a country […]

Dana Andrews (1909 - 1992)

Dana Andrews Actor. Born Carver Dana Andrews, he signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and nine years after arriving in Los Angeles was offered his first movie role in William Wyler’s The Westerner (1940), starring Gary Cooper. He was also memorable as the gangster in the 1941 comedy Ball of Fire. In the 1943 movie […]

Dana Andrews (1909 - 1992)

He was born Carver Dana Andrews on a farmstead outside Collins, Covington County, Mississippi, the third of thirteen children of Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister, and his wife Annis (née Speed). The family subsequently moved to Huntsville, Texas, where his younger siblings (including the late actor Steve Forrest) were born.  He attended college at […]

Dana Elcar (1927 - 2005)

Elcar was born in Ferndale, Michigan, the son of Hedwig (née Anderberg) and James Aage Elcar, a carpenter and butcher. Elcar was an alumnus of the University of Michigan where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Elcar served a tour a duty in the United States Navy. Elcar was also a […]

Dana Hill (1964 - 1996)

Dana Lynne Goetz was born in 1964 in Encino, Los Angeles, California, to Sandy Hill and Theodore Arthur “Ted” Goetz, a director of commercials. A diagnosis of Type I diabetes at an early age ended a promising athletic future. A 1982 article in People magazine reported that at age 10 Dana Hill had placed third […]

Dana Morosini Reeve (1961 - 2006)

Social Reformer, Actress. A native of New York City she graduated with honors from Middlebury College before venturing to California to pursue an acting career. She made appearances on television’s “Law and Order” and “All My Children” and hosted a talk show on the Lifetime Network. She performed on Broadway as well as regional theaters […]

Dana Plato (1964 - 1999)

Actress. She is best remembered for her role as ‘Kimberly Drummond’ on the television sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” that aired on NBC from November 1978 to May 1985 and on ABC from September 1985 until March 1986. She is also remembered for her troubled life after “Diff’rent Strokes” when her career spiraled downward after becoming addicted […]

Dana Reeve (1961 - 2006)

Reeve was born Dana Charles Morosini in Teaneck, New Jersey to Charles Morosini, a cardiologist, and Helen Simpson Morosini, who died in February 2005. She grew up in the town of Greenburgh, New York, where she graduated from Edgemont High School in 1979. She graduated summa cum laude in English Literature from Middlebury College in Vermont in […]

Dana Vavrova (1967 - 2009)

Actress. A noted child star, she went on a significant movie career in Germany and Austria. Raised in Prague, she took to show business early and from age six was a regular on the long-running Czech television series “Pan Tau”. She appeared in the 1976 film feature “Nezbedna Pohadka” and had notable roles in 1977’s […]

Dana Wynter (1931 - 2011)

Actress. Born Dagmar Spencer-Marcus, daughter of a surgeon, she was raised in London and later Southern Rhodesia before attending Rhodes University where she studied pre-med. She abandoned her pursuit in the medical field after catching the acting bug and began performing in amateur theater productions, prior to making her film debut with an uncredited part […]

Dane Clark (1912 - 1998)

Clark was born Bernard Zanville in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish immigrants, Samuel, a sporting goods store owner, and his wife, Rose. The date of birth is a matter of dispute, amongst different sources. He graduated from Cornell University and earned a law degree at St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, […]

Dane Witherspoon (1957 - 2014)

Dane Witherspoon Dane Witherspoon (December 27, 1957 – March 29, 2014) was an American actor who has appeared in such daytime TV soap operas as Santa Barbara as Joe Perkins in 1984, and Capitol as Tyler McCandless from 1985 to 1986. Early life and career Witherspoon was born in Denton, Texas. At age 19, he […]

Daniel Askew (1828 - 1875)

Western Frontier Figure. He was the neighbor to the east of the Jesse James family farm near Kearney, Missouri.  He had a man that worked for him, Jack Ladd, that was believed to have been a Pinkerton spy.  In January 1875, Pinkerton agents raided the James family farm, and threw a bomb in a window. […]

Daniel Bagley (1818 - 1905)

Seattle Pioneer, Minister. Born in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1842. He spent the first 10 years of his ministry traveling throughout the state of Illinois as a circuit preacher, before being assigned to the Oregon Territory in 1852. On April 20, 1852 he left Princeton, Illinois, for the Oregon […]

Daniel Best (1838 - 1923)

In 1839, Daniel Best’s father, John, moved the family to Missouri. There he built a saw mill and proceeded to cut lumber for the local pioneers to use in building their homes. The first nine years of Daniel’s life were spent here and is probably where he received his interest in logging and machines.  In […]

Daniel Chaplin (1820 - 1864)

Daniel Chaplin (January 22, 1820 – August 20, 1864) was a Union army officer in the American Civil War. Under Chaplin’s command, the ill-fated charge of the 1st Maine Heavy Artillery Regiment against Confederate breastworks during Siege of Petersburg resulted on the greatest single loss of life by a Union Regiment in a single action. […]

Daniel Chester French (1850 - 1931)

Sculptor. His two most famous statues are the bronze “The Minuteman” (1875) in Concord, MA, and the marble statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC (1922).  Family links:  Parents:  Henry Flagg French (1813 – 1885)  Anne Richardson French (1811 – 1856)  Spouse:  Mary Adams French French (1859 – 1939)*  Children:  Margaret […]

Daniel Coit Gilman (1831 - 1908)

Educator. He was the first President of Johns Hopkins University, and was instrumental in establishing its hospital in 1889. He began the practice of requiring a college degree as a stipulation for entrance in the college, a practice that adopted by all other medical schools.  Family links:  Parents:  William Charles Gilman (1795 – 1863)  Eliza […]

Daniel Cowan Jackling (1869 - 1956)

Industrialist, Mining Executive. A native of Missouri, Jackling was raised by his aunt after having lost both of his parents by the age of two. In 1892 he graduated from the Missouri School of Mines and returned the next year to serve as an assistant professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy. After working as a miner […]