Daws Butler (1916 - 1988)

Daws Butler was born on November 16, 1916 in Toledo, Ohio, the only child of Ruth Butler and Charles Allen Butler. The family later moved from Ohio to Oak Park, Illinois, where Butler got interested in impersonating people. In 1935, the future voice master started as an impressionist, entering multiple amateur contests and winning most of them. […]

Deacon Jones (1939 - 2013)

Jones was born in Eatonville, Florida, and lived in a four-bedroom house with his family of ten. Jones attended Hungerford High School, where he played football, baseball, and basketball. During high school, Jones developed a lump in his thigh and learned that it was a tumor; he had surgery to remove it.  When he was […]

Dean Corll (1939 - 1973)

Between 1970 and 1973, Dean Corll is known to have killed a minimum of 28 victims. All of his victims were males aged 13 to 20, the majority of whom were in their mid-teens. Most victims were abducted from Houston Heights, which was then a low-income neighborhood northwest of downtown Houston. With most abductions, he […]

Dean Jagger (1903 - 1991)

Born in Columbus Grove or Lima, Ohio, he dropped out of school several times before finally attending Wabash College. While at Wabash, he was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and played football. He dropped out in his sophomore year, realizing he was not suited for an academic life. For a few semesters, he […]

Dean Jeffries (1933 - 2013)

Legendary Custom Car Designer and Builder. Born Edward Dean Jeffies, he dreamed of attending art school, but his family could not afford the tuition. His father, a car mechanic, tried to teach him the trade, but he preferred drawing and hated the grease and dirt of mechanical work. During the Korean War, while stationed with […]

Dean Jones (1931 - 2015)

Dean Jones  Dean Jones, whose boyish good looks and all-American manner made him Disney’s favorite young actor for such lighthearted films as “That Darn Cat!” and “The Love Bug,” has died of Parkinson’s disease. He was 84. He died Monday in Los Angeles, Jones’ publicist Richard Hoffman said Wednesday. Jones’ long association with The Walt […]

Dean Manuel (1934 - 1964)

Dean Manuel In 1964, country star Jim Reeves died when the plane he was piloting crashed near Nashville. His pianist, Dean Manuel, also was killed. Reeves died when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed during a thunderstorm near Nashville, Tennessee. His business partner and manager Dean Manuel (who was also the pianist in Reeves’ […]

Dean Martin (1917 - 1995)

Dean Martin Born in Steubenville, Ohio, on June 7, 1917, to Italian immigrants, Dean Martin entered the nightclub circuit and landed a contract with MCA to sing in New York City. There he met Jerry Lewis and they started a long-running comedy partnership on radio, television and film. The team split in 1956, and Martin […]

Dean Meminger (1948 - 2013)

Meminger was born in Walterboro, South Carolina, and starred at Rice High School in New York City.  He attended Marquette University, where he played for coach Al McGuire. He helped Marquette win the 1970 National Invitational Tournament. Marquette’s 1970 team was ranked 8th in the country and was invited to the NCAA tournament. Following a […]

Dean Richmond (1804 - 1866)

Railroad Magnate. Born in Barnard, Vermont, he was noted as one of the most influential individuals of New York’s railroad service. In 1842, He established a commission transportation business  and became a director in the Utica and Buffalo Railroad Company. With the establishment of the New York Central Railroad Company in 1853, he was chosen […]

Dean Witter (1887 - 1969)

Businessman. He was the founder of the investment company that bears his name. It was started by him, Jean and Guy Witter in San Francisco in 1924, and dealt in municipal and corporate debt obligations. In 1929, he opened an office in New York, as well as becoming a member firm of the New York […]

Deanna Durbin (1921 - 2013)

Edna Mae Durbin was born on December 4, 1921 at Grace Hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the daughter of James Allen Durbin and his wife Ada (née Read), who were originally from Manchester, England. In 1923, her family moved from Winnipeg to southern California, and her parents soon become United States citizens. At the age […]

Debbie Reynolds (1932 - 2016)

Debbie Reynolds Debbie Reynolds, who personified celebrity life in Hollywood’s Golden Age through roles in classics like “Singin’ in the Rain” on screen and a paparazzi-feeding family life off-screen, died Wednesday after having a stroke. She was 84 years old. Ms. Reynolds died a day after her daughter, “Star Wars” actress and author Carrie Fisher, […]

Débora Arango (1907 - 2005)

Artist. She was born in Medellín (Colombia) and died in Envigado (Antioquía, Colombia). She was the disciple of painters Eladio Vélez and Pedro Nel Gómez. In 1939, she shocked the hypocrite moral of colombian society of her time, with her nude painting “Cantarina de Rosa.” She was hardly criticized and almost excommunicated by the catholic […]

Débora Arango (1907 - 2005)

Artist. She was born in Medellín (Colombia) and died in Envigado (Antioquía, Colombia). She was the disciple of painters Eladio Vélez and Pedro Nel Gómez. In 1939, she shocked the hypocrite moral of colombian society of her time, with her nude painting “Cantarina de Rosa.” She was hardly criticized and almost excommunicated by the catholic […]

Deborah Jin (1968 - 2016)

Deborah S. Jin (November 15, 1968 – September 15, 2016) was an American physicist and fellow with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); Professor Adjunct, Department of Physics at the University of Colorado; and a fellow of the JILA, a NIST joint laboratory with the University of Colorado. She is considered a pioneer in […]

Deborah Kerr (1921 - 2007)

Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer was born in a private nursing home (hospital) in Glasgow, the only daughter of Kathleen Rose (née Smale) and Capt. Arthur Charles Kerr-Trimmer, a World War I veteran who lost a leg at the Battle of the Somme and later became a naval architect and civil engineer. She spent the first three […]

Deborah Raffin (1953 - 2012)

Deborah Raffin appeared in several 1970s Hollywood films. She co-starred with Joseph Bottoms in the Gregory Peck-produced film The Dove (1974). Her 1976 television movie Nightmare in Badham County became a theatrical hit in mainland China, making Raffin a star there and leading to her later becoming the first Western actress ever to undertake a […]

Deborah Turbeville (1932 - 2013)

Deborah Lou Turbeville (July 6, 1932 – October 24, 2013) was an American fashion photographer. She is widely credited with adding a darker, more brooding element to fashion photography, beginning in the early 1970s. Turbeville is one of just three photographers, together with Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton, who essentially changed fashion photo shoots from […]

Deborah Walley (1941 - 2001)

She was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Ice Capades skating stars and choreographers, Nathan and Edith Walley. She attended Central High School in Bridgeport. At fourteen, she was playing summer-stock theatre. During her sophomore year, she attended Rosarian Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she was cast as Cinderella in the Academy’s annual musical […]

Debra Hill (1950 - 2005)

Hill was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She entered the movie business in 1975 and was unhappy with the level of condescension she experienced because of her gender. She started as a production assistant on adventure documentaries, and progressed through jobs as a script supervisor, assistant director and second […]

Debralee Scott (1953 - 2005)

Actress. A native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Scott appeared in several television programs and films during the 1970s and 1980s. Among Scott’s credits are the television programs, “Welcome Back Kotter” (as Rosalie ‘Hotsy’ Totsy in 1975 and 1978), “Isis,” “The Love Boat,” “Chain Reaction,” “Angie” (as Marie Falco, 1979-1980), “Forever Fernwood,” “Sons And Daughters,” “Mary […]

Decatur Axtell (1848 - 1922)

Businessman. Trained as a civil engineer, he worked on the construction of the first Union Pacific lines as a young man. In 1880, he became general manager of the Richmond and Allegheny Railroad, and, upon acquiring the James River and Kanawha Company, began constructing a rail line on the towpath of the old James River […]

Decimus Burton (1800 - 1881)

Architect. He was responsible for planning the layout in 1825 of Hyde Park in London. He studied under the tutorship of his father James Burton (1761-1837) and then John Nash for whom he elaborated on the designs of Cornwall Terrace, facing London’s Regents Park. He was also a noted garden designer in the classical style […]

Dee Carroll (1925 - 1980)

Actress. Appeared in motions picture and on television from the 1940s to the 1980s. Appeared in the films “April In Paris” (1952), and “The Andromeada Strain” (1971). She also appeared in television shows such as “Gunsmoke,” “The Twilight Zone,” and “Dragnet,”. (bio by: A.J. Marik)

Deems Taylor (1885 - 1966)

Deems Taylor was born in New York City to JoJo and Katherine Taylor. He attended New York University. Taylor married three times. His first wife was Jane Anderson. They married in 1910 and divorced in 1918. In 1921, he married Mary Kennedy, who was an actress and a writer. They had a daughter, Joan Kennedy Taylor, […]

DeFord Bailey (1899 - 1982)

DeFord Bailey Musician and Country Music Hall of Fame Member. A grandson of slaves, he was not just the first African American to appear on the Grand Ole Opry, he was the first star to appear. The show was originally named the WSM Barn Dance, but when it became a part of the NBC network […]

Deke Richards (1944 - 2013)

Deke Richards (born Dennis Lussier, April 8, 1944 – March 24, 2013), also known as Deke Lussier, was an American songwriter and record producer, one of many white musicians/songwriters who were affiliated with Motown. He is notable for being a member of both The Clan and The Corporation, the latter being a hitmaking production team […]

Del Close (1934 - 1999)

Del Close was born on March 9, 1934 in Manhattan, Kansas, the son of an inattentive alcoholic father. He ran away from home at the age of 17 to work in a traveling side show, but returned to attend Kansas State University. At age 19 he performed in summer stock with the Belfry Players at […]

Del Lord (1894 - 1970)

Del Lord (October 7, 1894 – March 23, 1970) was a Canadian film director and actor best known as a director of Three Stooges films. Delmer Lord was born in the small town of Grimsby, Ontario, Canada. Interested in the theatre, he traveled to New York City, then when fellow Canadian Mack Sennett offered him a job […]