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Helmut Zacharias
Helmut Zacharias (1920 - 2002)
Helmut Zacharias was born in Berlin. His father Karl was a violinist and conductor, and his mother was a singer. He started having lessons from his father at the age of 2 and a half and at 6 he played at the Faun club, a cabaret venue on the Friedrichstraße in Berlin. At the age […]
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Sherry Britton
Sherry Britton (1918 - 2008)
Sherry Britton (July 28, 1918 – April 1, 2008) was an American burlesque performer of the 1930s and early 1940s. The 5-foot-3-inch (1.60 m) Britton had an 18-inch (46 cm) waist, and was once said to have a “figure to die for.” She got her stage name from a liquor store on a bottle of […]
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Morris Bernard Zale
Morris Bernard Zale (1901 - 1995)
Businessman. He co-founded the “Zale’s Jewelers” jewelry chain with his uncle, Samuel Kruger. Family links: Spouse: Edna Lipshy Zale (1907 – 1996)* Children: Herschel Zale (1927 – 1930)* *Calculated relationship
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Tony Zale
Tony Zale (1913 - 1997)
Tony Zale His three-fight series with Rocky Graziano between 1946 and 1948 are treated with reverence and awe by those who simply read about them as well as the relative few who witessed them in person. Only the third, in which Zale proved his superiority with a third-round knockout, was filmed. The grainy footage provides […]
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Pedro Zamora
Pedro Zamora (1972 - 1994)
Pedro Zamora was born in Diezmero, San Miguel del Padrón, on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, to Hector Zamora, a food-warehouse worker, and Zoraida Diaz, a housewife. Zamora was the eighth and youngest child in his family. After the birth of their seventh child, Zoraida had been told that she would not be able to […]
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Jordan Christopher
Jordan Christopher (1940 - 1996)
Born in Youngstown, Ohio, to Macedonian immigrants Eli and Dorothy Zankoff, he moved at an early age to Akron, where his father ran a downtown bar. Christopher became interested in singing with the rise of rock & roll, spending much of his time at the music clubs in Akron’s black section. He formed a doo-wop group […]
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Richard Zanuck
Richard Zanuck (1934 - 2012)
Richard Zanuck married three times. On January 14, 1958, he married Lili Charlene Gentle (b. March 4, 1940), an actress from Birmingham, Alabama, and second cousin of Tallulah Bankhead. The marriage, which produced two daughters, Virginia and Janet, was dissolved in 1968. On October 26, 1969, Zanuck and his protégé, actress Linda Harrison, together with […]
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Virginia Fox
Virginia Fox (1902 - 1982)
Virginia Fox Zanuck (April 2, 1902 – October 14, 1982) was an American actress who starred in many silent films of the 1910s and 1920s. Virginia Fox was born in Wheeling, West Virginia (though her grave erroneously lists Charleston, W.Va. as her place of birth), the daughter of Marie (née Oglseby) and Frederick Fox. While on vacation […]
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Marco Zanuso
Marco Zanuso (1916 - 2001)
Marco Zanuso was born in Milano (Italy) May 14, 1916. He was one of a group of Italian designers from Milan shaping the international idea of “good design” in the postwar years. Trained in architecture at the Politecnico di Milano university, he opened his own design office in 1945. From the beginning of his career, […]
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Dane Clark
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, […]
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Jaime Zapata
Jaime Zapata (1978 - 2011)
Jaime Zapata was born in Brownsville, Texas, United States, a border city directly north across Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He was one of five brothers, all in the field of criminal justice. Zapata attended Homer Hanna High School, and later graduated from the University of Texas at Brownsville in 2005, where he attained a degree in […]
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Carmen Zapata
Carmen Zapata (1927 - 2014)
Carmen Margarita Zapata (July 15, 1927 – January 5, 2014) was an American actress. Zapata was born in New York City to a Mexican father and an Argentine mother. Zapata made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Oklahoma! in 1946. She appeared in over one hundred movies and shows, including Batman: The Animated Series, […]
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Ron Zappe
Ron Zappe (1943 - 2010)
Entrepreneur. A native of Texas, he was running an oilfield service company when he went bankrupt in the oil bust of the early 1980s. In 1985, he decided to start a new venture as founder and president of Zapp’s Gourmet Potato Chip Company in Gramercy, Louisiana. His product line, which included “Zapp’s Tiger Tators”, “Natural […]
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Ambrós “Miguel” Ambrosio Zaragoza
Ambrós “Miguel” Ambrosio Zaragoza (1912 - 1992)
Illustrator. He was born in Albuixech, Valencia. He is fondly remembered for all a generation of childrens for his character “El Capitán Trueno,” created along with the writer Víctor Mora. He also illustrated the comics “El Caballero Fantasma” and “El Corsario de Hierro.” In 1989, he was awarded with the prestigious Saló del Comic de […]
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Michael Zaslow
Michael Zaslow (1944 - 1998)
Zaslow was born in Inglewood, California. He played Dick Hart on the CBS soap opera Search for Tomorrow and Dr. Peter Chernak on Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. He also played David Renaldi on ABC’s One Life to Live from 1983 to 1986, and in 1998. Zaslow was also a writer for the NBC […]
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Michael Zaslow
Michael Zaslow (1942 - 1998)
Actor. He is best remembered for his roles on television soap operas. Among his many roles are as, ‘Jonathan Hadary’ on “King’s Crossing” in 1982, ‘Dick Hart’ on “Search For Tomorrow” from 1970 to 1971, ‘Dr. Peter ‘Pete’ Chernak’ on “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” in 1970, ‘David Renaldi’ on “One Life To Live” […]
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Emil Zátopek
Emil Zátopek (1922 - 2000)
Emil Zátopek was the sixth child in a modest family. Aged 16, he began working in a Bata shoe factory in Zlín. Zátopek says that “One day, the factory sports coach, who was very strict, pointed at four boys, including me, and ordered us to run in a race. I protested that I was weak […]
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John Zawahri
John Zawahri (1989 - 2013)
After setting fire to the house, John Zawahri, armed with an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle, which he put together himself from legally purchased components, some of which required machining with a mill. He stopped a woman driving a Mazda hatchback, holding her at gunpoint. A passing female driver tried to intervene and was shot and wounded […]
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Regina Zdanaviciute
Regina Zdanaviciute (1925 - 2015)
Lithuanian Actress. Zdanaviciute was a well-known actress in both the theater and film for many years. She graduated from the Juozas Miltinis Theatre Studio in 1943 and went directly to acting on the stage, appearing in over 120 productions throughout her career. Zdanaviciute also appeared in numerous films during her career, such as “Niekas nenorejo […]
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Rosel Zech
Rosel Zech (1942 - 2011)
Actress. A longtime star of the German stage and screen she shall probably remembered for her lead role in 1982’s “Veronika Voss”. Raised in Hoya she broke into show business in 1962 at Landshut’s South Bavarian City Theatre then over the next years was to refine her craft in the increasingly important venues of such […]
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Rosel Zech
Rosel Zech (1942 - 2011)
Actress. A longtime star of the German stage and screen she shall probably remembered for her lead role in 1982’s “Veronika Voss”. Raised in Hoya she broke into show business in 1962 at Landshut’s South Bavarian City Theatre then over the next years was to refine her craft in the increasingly important venues of such […]
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Leatrice Joy
Leatrice Joy (1893 - 1985)
Leatrice Johanna Zeidler was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to dentist Edward Joseph Zeidler, who was of Austrian and French descent, and Mary Joy Crimens Zeidler, who was of German and Irish descent. She had a brother, Billy, who later worked at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Leatrice Joy attended New Orleans Convent of the Sacred Heart but left when […]
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Erich Zeisl
Erich Zeisl (1905 - 1959)
Born to a middle class Jewish family in Vienna, Erich Zeisl was the son of Kamilla (Feitler) and Siegmund Zeisl. His musical precocity enabled him to gain a place at the Vienna State Academy (against the wishes of his family) when he was 14, at which age his first song was published. While there, he […]
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Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss (1816 - 1888)
German industrialist. Raised in Weimar, Germany, he gained worldwide attention as a notable lens maker and manufacturer of fine optical instruments. His lenses were high-quality and had a very large opening that allowed for very bright images. In 1846, Zeiss opened a workshop in Jena that at first only made lenses for microscopes, but later […]
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Walter Philip Zeller
Walter Philip Zeller (1890 - 1957)
Businessman. A native of Waterloo County, near the city of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, he was the founder of the Zellers chain of thrift stores. Founded in 1931 as a ‘thrift store’, it was originally called Zeller’s and then renamed Zellers to make it more bilingually appropriate. The company was concentrated in the area of Southern […]
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Eleanor Audley
Eleanor Audley (1905 - 1991)
Eleanor Audley Beginning as a radio actress, she worked extensively in the 1940s and 50s in Hollywood on such shows as Escape, Suspense and the radio versions of My Favorite Husband (as mother-in-law Mrs. Cooper), The Story of Dr. Kildare (as receptionist Molly Byrd), and Father Knows Best (as one of the Anderson family’s neighbors). […]
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Lilyan Chauvin
Lilyan Chauvin (1925 - 2008)
Chauvin began her career working in broadcasting in France. Her mother was French and her father was Italian. While under contract to a French radio station she had her heart set on becoming a lawyer; however her earnings soon exceeded that of her parents and she gave serious consideration to making show business her way […]
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Meles Zenawi
Meles Zenawi (1955 - 2012)
Meles was born in Adwa, Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, to an Ethiopian father Zenawi Asres from Adwa and Alemash Guebreluel from Adi Quala, Eritrea. He was the third of six children in the family. His first name at birth was “Legesse” (thus Legesse Zenawi, Ge’ez: ለገሰ ዜናዊ legesse zēnāwī). However, he eventually became better known […]
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Si Zentner
Si Zentner (1917 - 2000)
Simon Hugh “Si” Zentner (June 13, 1917 in New York City – January 31, 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American trombonist and jazz big-band leader. Si Zentner played violin from age four and picked up trombone a few years later. As a teenager, he was awarded the Guggenheim Foundation Philharmonic Scholarship. He attended college […]
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Mai Zetterling
Mai Zetterling (1925 - 1994)
Actress. Born in Sweden, she moved to London, England to pursue her career in film career. After an impoverished childhood and training at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School, Stockholm, Sweden. She starred in films like Frenzy in 1944 and came to England to play Frieda in 1947. Her film credits include, “Portrait from Life” in […]