Clifton Williams (1932 - 1967)

Williams was born on September 26, 1932 in Mobile, Alabama, to parents Clifton Curtis Williams and Gertrude (née Medicus) Williams. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. Williams attended Murphy High School in Mobile, from which he graduated in 1949. He received a Bachelor […]

Charles Bassett (1931 - 1966)

Bassett was born in Dayton, Ohio, on December 30, 1931. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America, where he achieved its second highest rank, Life Scout. After graduating from Berea High School in Berea, Ohio in 1950, he attended Ohio State University from 1950 to 1952, and Texas Technological College, now Texas Tech […]

Gus Grissom (1926 - 1967)

Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana, on April 3, 1926, the second child of Dennis David Grissom (1903–1994) and Cecile King Grissom (1901–1995). His father was a signalman for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and his mother a homemaker. His older sister died shortly before his birth, and he was followed by three younger siblings, […]

Hayley Marie Kohle (1982 - 2008)

Kohle was born in Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada. According to Kohle’s main agency Panache Management, she began her modeling career in 2000, while according to her sister Bridget Kohle, she began her career in 2002 after winning a local model search contest.  She was represented by agencies in Toronto, Canada, New York, USA, Athens, Greece, Istanbul, […]

Ruslana Korshunova (1987 - 2008)

Ruslana Korshunova was born in Almaty, Kazakh SSR. Her father, Sergey Korshunov, died in 1992 when she was 5 years old. Her mother, Valentina (née Kutenkova) and her brother, Ruslan, live in Kazakhstan. With different degrees of fluency she spoke Russian, Kazakh, English and German. She was discovered in 2003, when All Asia magazine printed […]

Katy French (1983 - 2007)

French was born in Basel, Switzerland, to parents Janet (from Britain) and John (from Australia) French. She moved with her family to Ireland aged two, briefly living in the Sandyford area before settling in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, and later to Stillorgan, County Dublin. French attended Alexandra College in Milltown, Dublin, from the age seven. While […]

Audrey Lindvall (1982 - 2006)

Born in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, to Randall (a pharmacist) and Laura Rasdall, she graduated from Lee’s Summit High School in June 2001. Growing up with four sisters and one brother, it was her sister, Michelle, that wanted to be a model. Michelle and her other sister Angela, went to local Kansas City fashion shows. It […]

Lou Reed (1942 - 2013)

Lou Reed Rock Musician. Founding member and lead vocalist of the seminal rock band The Velvet Underground. As a solo artist, Reed will be best remembered for his 1972 hit “A Walk on the Wild Side”. Born Lewis Allen Reed, into a Jewish family, he was raised in Freeport, Long Island. Influenced by doo-wop music […]

Nafisa Joseph (1978 - 2004)

Nafisa Joseph was born on 28 March 1978 in Bangalore, Karnataka, where she was also brought up. She was the younger of two daughters born to father Nirmal Joseph, a Keralite Syrian Christian and mother Usha Joseph, a Bengali, who was a descendant of Tagore and first cousin of Sharmila Tagore. Nafisa studied at Bishop […]

Isabelle Caro (1980 - 2010)

Isabelle Caro (13 September 1980 – 17 November 2010) was a French model and actress from Marseille, France, who became well known after appearing in a controversial advertising campaign “No Anorexia” which showed Caro with vertebrae and facial bones showing under her skin in a picture by photographer Oliviero Toscani.  Caro suffered from severe anorexia […]

Eliana Ramos (1988 - 2007)

Ramos was a fashion model in Latin America and was signed to Dotto Models, a prestigious modeling agency based in Argentina. Outside of South America, Eliana also worked in Mexico and stayed in Japan for 3 months in early 2006 with her sister Luisel.  On February 13, 2007, Eliana Ramos was found dead at her […]

Karen Carpenter (1950 - 1983)

Karen Carpenter was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of Agnes Reuwer (née Tatum) and Harold Bertram Carpenter. When she was young, she enjoyed playing baseball with other children on the street. On the TV program This Is Your Life, she stated that she liked pitching. Later, in the early 1970s, she would become […]

Susan Peters (1921 - 1952)

Peters was born Suzanne Carnahan in Spokane, Washington, the elder of two children born to Robert and Abby Carnahan. Her father was a civil engineer of Irish descent while her mother was of French descent. Shortly after her birth, the Carnahan family moved to Portland, Oregon. In 1933, Robert Carnahan was killed in a car […]

Renée Vivien (1877 - 1909)

Vivien was born in London, England to a wealthy British father and an American mother from Jackson, Michigan. She grew up in Paris and London. Upon inheriting her father’s fortune at 21, she emigrated permanently to France.  In Paris, Vivien’s dress and lifestyle were as notorious among the bohemian set as was her verse. She […]

Eileen Brennan (1932 - 2013)

Eileen Brennan American actress of film, television, and theater. Brennan was known for her role as Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin, for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She reprised the role for the TV adaptation, winning both a Golden Globe and Emmy for her performance. She received Emmy nominations for […]

James Brown (1933 - 2006)

James Brown Brown’s personal life was marred by several brushes with the law. At the age of 16, he was convicted of theft and served three years in juvenile prison. On July 16, 1978, after performing at the Apollo, Brown was arrested for reportedly failing to turn in records from one of his radio stations […]

Phil Silvers (1911 - 1985)

Phil Silvers Silvers became a household name in 1955 when he starred as Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko in You’ll Never Get Rich, later retitled The Phil Silvers Show. The military comedy became a television hit, with the opportunistic Bilko fast-talking his way through one obstacle after another. In 1958 CBS switched the show to be […]

David Brenner (1936 - 2014)

David Brenner Brenner was a writer, director or producer of 115 television documentaries and headed the documentary units of Westinghouse Broadcasting and Metromedia, winning nearly 30 awards including an Emmy, before moving to comedy. His first paid gig was at The Improv in June 1969, and following that he frequently performed at clubs in Greenwich […]

Bobby Womack (1944 - 2014)

Bobby Womack Singer, Songwriter, Musician. He was born Robert Dwayne Womack. He began his career as lead singer with his family musical group The Valentinos (Friendly Womack, Jr., Curtis Womack, Harry Womack and Cecil Womack). In the 1960’s the group was discovered by Sam Cooke, who later signed the group to his SAR label, they […]

Johnny Winter (1944 - 2014)

Johnny Winter American Musician and Producer. Winter released nearly 20 albums and earned seven Grammy nominations in his career as an iconic blues musician. When he was ten years old, he and his younger brother Edgar, who were both born with albinism, appeared on a local children’s show, playing ukulele and singing Everly Brothers songs. […]

James Garner (1928 - 2014)

James Garner Garner, who had a long and storied career that spanned almost 60 years, first found success playing Bret Maverick in the ABC western ‘Maverick’ from 1957 to 1960. Born James Scott Bumgarner, he moved to Los Angeles as a teenager with his family, and joined the Merchant Marines, later joining the National Guard. […]

James Brady (1940 - 2014)

James Brady Former White House Press Secretary, Gun Control Advocate. On March 30, 1981, Brady suffered a serious head wound when he was among four people shot during an assassination attempt on then President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley. Although he survived, the wound left him with slurred speech and partial paralysis that required the […]

Joan Rivers (1933 - 2014)

Joan Rivers Rivers was a member of the Reform synagogue Temple Emanu-El in New York and said she “love[d] Israel.” Rivers’ first marriage was in 1955 to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager. The marriage lasted six months and was annulled on the basis that Sanger did not want children […]

Selena (1971 - 1995)

Selena Mexican actress Salma Hayek was originally asked to play the role of Selena in a biopic film produced by the Quintanilla family and Warner Bros. Hayek turned the role down, feeling that it was “too early” to base a movie on Selena and that it would be too emotional since Selena’s death was still […]

Skye McCole Bartusiak (1992 - 2014)

Skye McCole Bartusiak was born in Houston, Texas, where she lived until her death with her parents Donald and Helen Bartusiak (née McCole).  McCole Bartusiak first starred in Stephen King’s Storm of the Century as young Pippa Hatcher. She then starred in The Patriot, starring Mel Gibson, in 2000. She played the young Marilyn Monroe […]

Heather O’Rourke (1975 - 1988)

O’Rourke was born in San Diego, California to Kathleen and Michael O’Rourke. Her mother worked as a seamstress and her father was a construction worker. She had an older sister, Tammy. Kathleen and Michael divorced in 1981, and O’Rourke’s mother married truck driver James A. “Jim” Peele in 1984. After her parents’ divorce, O’Rourke rarely […]

Henry II of England (1133 - 1189)

Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (French: Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress or Henry Plantagenet, ruled as Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Count of Nantes, King of England (1154–89) and Lord of Ireland; at various times, he also controlled Wales, Scotland and […]

Empress Matilda (1102 - 1167)

Empress Matilda (c. 7 February 1102 – 10 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was the claimant to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as a child when she married the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry […]

Billy Walker (1929 - 2006)

Billy Walker American country music singer and guitarist best known for his 1962 hit, “(I’d Like to Be In) Charlie’s Shoes“. Nicknamed The Tall Texan, Walker had more than 30 charted records during a nearly 60-year career; and was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry. After a brief attempt at rock ‘n’ roll, […]

Phil Hartman (1948 - 1998)

Phil Hartman Philip Edward “Phil” Hartman (September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998; born Hartmann) was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10. After graduating from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in graphic arts, he […]