(Encyclopedia) Griffith, D. W. (David Llewelyn Wark Griffith), 1875–1948, American movie director and producer, b. La Grange, Ky. Griffith was the first major American film director. He began his…
(Encyclopedia) Friendly, Fred W., 1915–98, American broadcaster and author, b. New York City as Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer. He began his career at age 22 at a radio station in Providence where…
(Encyclopedia) Johnson, Richard W., 1827–97, Union general in the Civil War, b. Livingston co., Ky., grad. West Point, 1849. Before the Civil War he served principally on the frontier. Johnson, made…
(Encyclopedia) Mohammed, W. Deen (Warith Deen Mohammed), 1933–2008, American Muslim leader, b. Detroit as Wallace Dean Muhammad. The son of Nation of Islam (Black Muslim) leader Elijah Muhammad, he…
(Encyclopedia) Moerner, W. E. (William Esco Moerner), 1953–, American physical chemist, b. Pleasanton, Calif., Ph.D. Cornell, 1982. Moerner worked at the IBM Almaden Research Center from 1981 to 1995…
(Encyclopedia) Merwin, W. S. (William Stanley Merwin), 1927–2019, American poet and translator, b. New York City. After graduating from Princeton in 1948, he traveled in Europe, working as a tutor…
(Encyclopedia) Murnau, Friedrich W.Murnau, Friedrich W.frēˈdrĭkh m&oobreve;rˈnou [key], 1889–1931, German film director, b. as Friedrich W. Plumpe. He began directing films in Germany in 1919 and…
(Encyclopedia) Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh Auden)Auden, W. H.ôˈdən [key], 1907–73, Anglo-American poet, b. York, England, educated at Oxford. A versatile, vigorous, and technically skilled poet, Auden…
(Encyclopedia) Pabst, G. W. (Georg Wilhelm Pabst)Pabst, G. W.gāˈôrkh vĭlˈhĕlm päpst [key], 1885–1967, German film director, b. Austria. He used montage in such works of social realism as The Joyless…