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Henry Armstrong
Henry Armstrong (1912 - 1988)
Henry Armstrong Born Henry Jackson, Jr., on December 12, 1912, in Columbus, Mississippi, Armstrong was the eleventh of the family’s 15 children. His father, Henry Jackson, Sr., was a sharecropper and a butcher. His mother, America Jackson was an Iroquois Indian. When Armstrong was four years old, his father moved the family to St. Louis, […]
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Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)
Michael Jackson He was called the “King of Pop,” and is best remembered for his revolutionary videos such as “Thriller” (1982), and “Dangerous” (1991), as well as two Guinness World Records: Most successful entertainer of all time (with 13 Grammy Awards, 13 Number One single hits in a solo career, and sales of over 750 […]
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Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965)
Stan Laurel Comedian. He found his greatest success when paired with Oliver Hardy. Born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, England, the second of five children. His father, A. J. Jefferson managed a number of vaudeville theaters, and his mother was an actress. He lived with his grandparents until age six, then moved in with his […]
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Jim Jeffries
Jim Jeffries (1875 - 1953)
Jim Jeffries James J. Jeffries was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1899 to 1905 but he is best known to history for coming out of retirement to take on Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight champion in history, in what was called “The Fight of the Century”. That fight ensured Jeffries’ place […]
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George Jessel
George Jessel (1898 - 1981)
George Jessel Known as “The Toastmaster General of the United States.” He was born to a poor Jewish family in Harlem, New York . His father was an unsuccessful playwright who declared that George would “…never be an actor as long as I live.” His father died by the time he was 9, when George […]
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Michael Jeter
Michael Jeter (1952 - 2003)
Michael Jeter Jeter’s body was found in his Hollywood Hills home Sunday, publicist Dick Guttman said. Friends said they had communicated with him as recently as Saturday, Guttman added. An autopsy was planned to determine the cause of death. Guttman said Jeter, who was HIV-positive but had been in good health, apparently died of natural […]
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Leavander Johnson
Leavander Johnson (1969 - 2005)
Leavander Johnson was an American lightweight boxer from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who once held the International Boxing Federation version of the world title. He won the title on June 17, 2005, against the Italian fighter Stefano Zoff, winning after the referee stopped the fight in the seventh round. Johnson made his debut as a […]
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Anissa Jones
Anissa Jones (1958 - 1976)
Anissa Jones She is best remembered for her role of ‘Buffy’ on the television series “Family Affair”. Born in West Lafayette, Indiana, her parents moved to San Diego County, California, when she was a small girl, settling in Playa del Rey, where she grew up. In 1966 she was cast as ‘Elizabeth “Buffy” Patterson-Davis’ in […]
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Davy Jones
Davy Jones (1945 - 2012)
Davy Jones Davy Jones, whose charming grin and British accent won the hearts of millions of fans on the 1960s television series “The Monkees,” died Wednesday, according to the Martin County, Florida, sheriff’s office. He was 66. A witness told authorities he was with Jones in Indiantown, Florida, when Jones “began to complain of not […]
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David Bowie
David Bowie (1947 - 2016)
David Bowie Singer David Bowie has died at age 69 following “a courageous 18-month battle with cancer,” the pop icon’s website said. He died Sunday, two days after his birthday, when his album “Blackstar” was released. “David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family,” the site said. “While many of you will share in […]
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Joseph Kearns
Joseph Kearns (1907 - 1962)
Joseph Kearns He was a versatile character performer fondly remembered for his role as Mr. Wilson on the CBS “Dennis the Menace” television series. He began his acting career on radio in the 1930s, appearing on such programs as “The Adventures of Sam Spade”, “The Jack Benny Show”, “My Little Margie” and “It’s a great […]
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Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt (1927 - 2008)
Eartha Kitt Kitt was active in numerous social causes in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1966, she established the Kittsville Youth Foundation, a chartered and non-profit organization for underprivileged youth in the Watts area of Los Angeles. She was also involved with a group of youth in the area of Anacostia in Washington, D.C., who […]
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Art Linkletter
Art Linkletter (1912 - 2010)
Art Linkletter He hosted two of the longest-running programs in broadcast history and was a presence in American media for more than six decades. “Art Linkletter’s House Party,” a variety show, debuted on radio in 1944 and was seen on CBS television from 1952 to 1969, and “People Are Funny”, which he helmed on radio […]
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Kirk Kerkorian
Kirk Kerkorian (1917 - 2015)
Kirk Kerkorian Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, an eighth-grade dropout who built Las Vegas’ biggest hotels, tried to take over Chrysler and bought and sold MGM at a profit three times, has died. He was 98. He died Monday night in Beverly Hills. The reserved, unpretentious Kerkorian spent much of his life trying to stay out of […]
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Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler (1869 - 1934)
Actress. Born Leila Koerber on Ontario, Canada, Marie Dressler made her first public appearance at the age of five when she appeared as “Cupid” on a pedestal in a church theatrical performance. She wrote in her memoirs that she was instructed by her father to remain still, but she claims that the stool didn’t and […]
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Elyse Knox
Elyse Knox (1917 - 2012)
Elyse Knox As a B-movie actress in the 1940s, Elyse Knox was perhaps best known for the only horror film she ever made, “The Mummy’s Tomb,” with Lon Chaney Jr. as the monster who kidnaps her. She later recalled working through the night on the abduction and graveyard scenes with Chaney, miserable in heavy makeup […]
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Hugh O Brian
Hugh O Brian (1925 - 2016)
Hugh O Brian Hugh O Brian, who helped tame the Wild West as the star of TV’s “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” and was the founder of a long-running youth leadership development organization, has died. He was 91. Hugh O Brian, who had several health issues, died Monday morning with his wife nearby at […]
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Karyn Kupcinet
Karyn Kupcinet (1941 - 1963)
Karyn Kupcinet was born Roberta Lynn Kupcinet in Chicago, Illinois to Irv Kupcinet, a sportswriter for the Chicago Daily Times, and his wife, Esther “Essee” Solomon Kupcinet. She acquired the nickname “Cookie” during her childhood. She made her acting debut at age 13 in the Chicago production of Anniversary Waltz and went on to attend […]
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Peter Lawford
Peter Lawford (1923 - 1984)
Peter Lawford He is probably best remembered as a member of the Hollywood’s “Rat Pack’ which included entertainers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and films, including the movies “Ocean’s 11” (1960) and “Sergeants 3” (1962). He is also remembered as the husband of Patricia Kennedy, […]
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Cary Grant
Cary Grant (1904 - 1986)
Cary Grant Archibald Alexander Leach was born at 15 Hughenden Road, Horfield, Bristol, England, the only surviving child of Elsie Maria (née Kingdon) Leach (1877–1973) and Elias James Leach (1873–1935). Young Archie Leach, whose mother had suffered clinical depression since the death of a previous child, had an unhappy upbringing, attending Bishop Road Primary School […]
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Benny Leonard
Benny Leonard (1896 - 1947)
Benny Leonard He was the Lightweight Boxing Champion of the World from 1917 to 1925. Considered one of the greatest lightweight boxers in the history of the sport, he was feted as possessing superb boxing skills as well as potent punching power. He fought over two hundred times and suffered only four knockouts; three early […]
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Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon (1925 - 2001)
Jack Lemmon One of the most consistently acclaimed actors in motion picture and television history, Jack Lemmon became the first man to win Academy Awards as both Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Mister Roberts” (1955) and Best Actor for “Save the Tiger” (1973). In between and after, Lemmon amassed an envious résumé of […]
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Jean Darling
Jean Darling (1922 - 2015)
Jean Darling Child star of the Our Gang comedies who went on to perform as an adult in Broadway musicals and radio shows The popularity of the long-running Our Gang series of comedy shorts (1922-44), created by the producer Hal Roach, which followed the adventures of a group of poor urban children, made unlikely film […]
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Peter Lind Hayes
Peter Lind Hayes (1915 - 1998)
Peter Lind Hayes He was only two when his father, Joseph Conrad Lind Snr, a railroad man and amateur singer, died. Peter attended parochial school in Cairo, Illinois, but, from the age of nine, performed every summer with his mother, Grace Hayes, a vaudeville star. At 16, he wrote a new act for his mother […]
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Nicolino Locche
Nicolino Locche (1939 - 2005)
Nicolino Locche Born September 2, 1939 in Tunuyan, Mendoza, Argentina. Nicolino Locche renowned for his uncanny defensive tactics, Locche’s extraordinary reflexes and ability to feint earned him the nickname “El Intocable” (The Untouchable). Following a tremendous amateur career, in which he lost only 5 of 122 bouts, Locche turned pro in 1958. In 1961 […]
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Dolores Del Rio
Dolores Del Rio (1904 - 1983)
Dolores Del Rio Dolores del Rio was the first Mexican movie star with international appeal and had a meteoric career in 1920s Hollywood (an extraordinary accomplishment for an Hispanic female on those years). She came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything they had and […]
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David Margulies
David Margulies (1937 - 2016)
David Margulies David Margulies, an actor whose range took him from Broadway to Ghostbusters!, has died, according to his agent, Mary Harden. David Margulies, who was 78, was perhaps best known for playing the Mayor of New York in Ghostbusters andGhostbusters II, but his career stretches back to the 1950s, when he launched a stage career off-Broadway. […]
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Gary Mason
Gary Mason (1962 - 2011)
Gary Mason was a British boxer who was based in Chatham, Kent, England. He was born in Jamaica. Mason fought at the heavyweight level and became the British heavyweight champion in 1989. Mason was a top ten contender, his main strengths being his punching power, heart and physical strength. Mason fought 38 times as a […]
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Hector Camacho
Hector Camacho (1962 - 2012)
Hector Camacho was a Puerto Rican professional boxer and singer. Known for his quickness in the ring and flamboyant style, he held major championships in the super featherweight (WBC, 1983), lightweight (WBC, 1985), and junior welterweight (WBO, 1989 and 1991) divisions. After earning minor titles in four additional weight classes, Camacho became the first boxer […]
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Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall (1928 - 1998)
Roddy McDowall Roderick McDowall was born in London, the son of a Merchant Mariner father and a mother who had always wanted to be in movies. He was enrolled in elocution courses at age five and by ten had appeared in his first film, Murder in the Family (1938), playing Peter Osborne, the younger brother […]