Caryl Chessman (1921 - 1960)

He was born Carol Whittier Chessman in St. Joseph, Michigan, the only child of Hallie Lillian (née Cottle) and Whittier Serl Chessman who were both devout Baptists. In 1922, the family relocated to Glendale, California. Chessman’s father worked a series of job but was ultimately unsuccessful in every venture he pursued. Whittier Chessman became despondent […]

Ted Bundy (1946 - 1989)

Bundy was born Theodore Robert Cowell at the Elizabeth Lund Home For Unwed Mothers (now the Lund Family Center) in Burlington, Vermont on November 24, 1946 to Eleanor Louise Cowell (known for most of her life as Louise). His father’s identity has never been determined with certainty. His birth certificate assigns paternity to a salesman […]

Ma Baker (1873 - 1935)

Born Arizona Clark, in Ash Grove, Missouri, she was known as “Arrie”. In 1892 she married George Barker, in Lawrence Co., MO. The couple had four boys, named Herman (1893-1927), Lloyd (1897-1949), Arthur (1899-1939) and Fred (1901-1935). It appears from the 1910 to 1930 censuses and the Tulsa City Directories from 1916 to 1928 that […]

Elizabeth Bathory (1560 - 1614)

Elizabeth Báthory was born on a family estate which derived from the Chesta family in prior years in Nyírbátor, Hungary, in 1560 or 1561, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father, a distant cousin of Tony Chesta Antonious Samank Chesta was George Báthory of the Ecsed branch of the family, brother of Andrew […]

Richard Chase (1950 - 1980)

Chase was born in Santa Clara County, California. He was abused by his mother, and Chase exhibited by the age of 10 evidence of the Macdonald triad: enuresis, pyromania, and zoosadism. In his adolescence, he was known as an alcoholic and a chronic drug abuser.  Chase developed hypochondria as he matured. He often complained that […]

Lilly Pulitzer (1931 - 2013)

Lillian Lee “Lilly” McKim was born to socialites Robert V. McKim and his wife, Lillian (née Bostwick) in Roslyn, New York in 1931, the middle daughter of three. Her elder sister was named Mary Maude, and her younger sister was Florence Fitch. Her mother, Lillian Bostwick McKim was an heiress to the Standard Oil fortune. […]

Ottavio Missoni (1921 - 2013)

Ottavio Missoni was born in Dubrovnik, on the Dalmatian coast. His mother, Teresa de Vidovich, was Countess of Capocesto and Rogoznica, and his father, Vittorio Missoni, was a Friulian sea captain who had moved to Dalmatia whilst it was under Austrian rule. He was educated in Zara, Trieste, and Milan.  Aged 16, Missoni joined the […]

Charlotte Dawson (1966 - 2014)

Dawson grew up in Auckland, New Zealand, after being adopted at birth. She dropped out of high school at age 16 to model in Europe and with Ford Models in New York City. A decade later she relocated to Australia where she became a familiar face on the Australian fashion scene.  In 1997, she became […]

Eva Rausing (1964 - 2012)

She was born Eva Louise Kemeny, a daughter of Tom Kemeny, a PepsiCo executive. In 2008, Rausing and her husband faced drugs charges after she was caught trying to smuggle drugs into the US embassy in London, and hard drugs were subsequently found at their home. She was eventually cautioned by the police.  Rausing was […]

Charles Schmid (1942 - 1975)

Charles Schmid was an illegitimate child adopted by Charles and Katharine Schmid, owners and operators of Hillcrest Nursing Home in Tucson, Arizona. He had a difficult relationship with his adoptive father, whom Katharine Schmid later divorced. When Schmid tried to meet his birth mother, she angrily told him never to come back.  He did poorly […]

Donald Leroy Evans (1957 - 1999)

In 1991, Evans was arrested in Louisiana for the kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl. He confessed to the killing and led the authorities to the girl’s body. He also confessed to killing more than 70 other people in over 20 different states. Most of the murders and rapes took place at rest stops and public […]

Graham Young (1947 - 1990)

Young was born in Neasden, north west London. His mother died a few months after his birth. He was sent by his father to live with an uncle and aunt, while his older sister went to live with grandparents. A few years later he was separated from his aunt and uncle in order to live […]

Zelda Kaplan (1916 - 2012)

Zelda Kaplan The world of fashion is in mourning after Zelda Kaplan, 95, died after fainting in her front-row seat at a fashion show yesterday. The drama and spectacle surrounding her death almost seems to befit the New York style icon that she was right up to her final breath. Ms Kaplan was known for […]

Casey Johnson (1979 - 2010)

Johnson was born in Florida to Nancy Sale Frey, a socialite and former model, and Robert Wood Johnson IV (“Woody” Johnson), owner of the New York Jets. She was raised in the New York City borough of Manhattan along with her sisters, Daisy and Jaime. She attended the exclusive Chapin, Marymount, and Dwight Schools and […]

Brooke Astor (1902 - 2007)

Brooke was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the only child of John Henry Russell, Jr. (1872–1947), the 16th Commandant of the Marine Corps, and his wife, Mabel Cecile Hornby Howard (1879–1967). Her paternal grandfather John Henry Russell, Sr. was a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy. She was named for her maternal grandmother (Roberta) and […]

Doris Duke (1912 - 1993)

Duke was the only child of tobacco and hydroelectric power tycoon James Buchanan Duke and his second wife, Nanaline Holt Inman, widow of Dr. William Patterson Inman. At his death in 1925, the elder Duke’s will bequeathed the majority of his estate to his wife and daughter, along with $17,000,000, in two separate clauses of […]

Bill Monroe (1911 - 1996)

Bill Monroe Musical pioneer Bill Monroe is known as “the father of bluegrass music.” While Monroe would humbly say, “I’m a farmer with a mandolin and a high tenor voice,” he and His Blue Grass Boys essentially created a new musical genre out of the regional stirrings that also led to the birth of such […]

George Morgan (1924 - 1975)

George Morgan Musician. Born in Waverly, Tennessee, he was a singer-guitarist referred to as the country crooner in the 1950s. In 1948, he became a member of the Grand Ole Opry and recorded the song “Candy Kisses” which was a number one hit on the country music Billboard charts in 1949. His other hits included […]

Helen Carter (1927 - 1998)

Helen Carter Country Musician. Born Helen Myrl Carter, she was a member of the country singing group ” Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters”. She performed with her mother Maybelle, sisters Anita and June, later wife to Johhny Cash. She had a professional career in music that spanned 60 years and recorded for such labels […]

Steve Sanders (1952 - 1998)

Steve Sanders Steve Sanders, a baritone who spent a decade with the Oak Ridge Boys after replacing one of country music’s most colorful personalities, died Wednesday. He was 45. The former child star died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Police said Sanders’ wife, Janet, told them he shot himself at his […]

Archie Campbell (1914 - 1987)

Archie Campbell Actor, Comedian. This native of Bulls Gap, Tennessee, got his start in 1936 co-hosting a radio show with Roy Acuff on Knoxville station WNOX. After one year he relocated to Chattanooga where he worked in radio until joining the Navy in 1941. He retuned from the service to Knoxville where he helped launch […]

Ira Louvin (1924 - 1965)

Ira Louvin Ira Louvin was born in Section, Alabama and played together with his brother, Charlie, in the close harmony tradition as the Louvin Brothers. They were heavily influenced by the Delmore Brothers and Monroe Brothers. Ira played mandolin with Charlie Monroe, guitar player of the Monroe Brothers in the early 1940s. The Louvin Brothers’ […]

Eddie Rabbitt (1941 - 1998)

Eddie Rabbitt When Rabbitt arrived in Nashville during the late 1960s, a friend gave him a pet chicken. Rabbitt noted that he had “an affinity for animals” and kept the bird for a while before ultimately giving it to a farmer. During his Nashville days in the early 1970s, Rabbitt owned a pet monkey named […]

Otis Blackwell (1931 - 2002)

Otis Blackwell Songwriter. He is best known for writing such classics Rock and Roll songs as “Return To Sender”, “All Shook Up”, and “Great Balls of Fire”. He is credited with writing songs that have sold over 185 million copies. Tracks for Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis were most popular, but he also wrote for […]

Goldie Hill (1933 - 2005)

Goldie Hill Hill was soon performing on Louisiana Hayride as part of her brother Tommy’s band. On the show, she was dubbed The Golden Hillbilly, and the name stuck with her for the rest of her career. Louisiana Hayride opened even more doors for Hill, and she soon had a contract with Decca Records. Her […]

Mel Street (1933 - 1978)

Mel Street Street was born in Rowe, Virginia to a coal mining family. Publications cite his year of birth as 1933, although his family maintains that he was born in 1935. He began performing on western Virginia and West Virginia radio shows at the age of sixteen. Street subsequently worked as a radio tower electrician […]

Grant Turner (1912 - 1991)

Grant Turner Grant Turner, a Grand Ole Opry announcer for a half-century, died Saturday of a heart aneurysm. He was 79. As he had for 47 years, Mr. Turner worked the Friday night Opry show. He died six hours later at Saint Thomas Hospital. “He worked every Friday and Saturday night, every weekend, doing what […]

Anita Carter (1933 - 1999)

Anita Carter Born in Maces Spring, Virginia, she scored two Top Ten hits in 1951 with “Down The Trail of Achin’ Hearts” with Hank Snow at No. 2 and “Blue Bird Island” at No. 4. She reached the Top Ten again in 1968 with “I Got You” with Waylon Jennings at No. 4. Other solo […]

Rick Nelson (1940 - 1985)

Rick Nelson Nelson dreaded flying but refused to travel by bus. In May 1985, he decided he needed a private plane and leased a luxurious, fourteen-seat, 1944 Douglas DC-3 that had once belonged to the DuPont family and later to Jerry Lee Lewis. The plane had been plagued by a history of mechanical problems. In […]

Jim Eanes (1923 - 1995)

Jim Eanes Homer Robert Eanes Jnr., 6 December 1923, Mountain Valley, Henry County, Virginia, USA, d. 21 November 1995, Martinsville, Virginia, USA. His early musical interest came from his father, a talented banjo player, who ran a local band. When only six months old, he suffered severe burns to his left hand that left the […]