biographer, reporterBorn: 7/31/1912Birthplace: Alton, Illinois After working as a newspaper reporter, in 1954 Phelan went freelance and eventually wrote for more than 60 magazines, including…
soul singerBorn: 5/3/1933Birthplace: Barnwell, South Carolina Energetic, intense singer best known for his gospel-tinged, rhythm and blues songs that influenced the direction of funk, soul and…
actorBorn: 7/17/1899Birthplace: New York City Academy Award-winning actor best known for his brash gangster role in Public Enemy (1931). But Cagney first performed as a song-and-dance man,…
actorBorn: 2/8/1931 Film actor who achieved cult-figure status after making only three films, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956). A car accident ended his troubled…
directorBorn: 8/16/1954Birthplace: Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada If he does nothing else, Cameron will always be remembered as the Oscar-winning director of Titanic (1997), the top-grossing film of…
writerBorn: 11/27/1909Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee Brilliant and versatile, he wrote the text for Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941), which, with photographs by Walker Evans, details the lives…
actorBorn: 5/15/1909Birthplace: Huddersfield, England A gifted and accomplished actor, Mason first performed on stage and in film in England, where in the 1940s he became the country's most popular…
actorBorn: 6/15/1954Birthplace: Chicago Younger brother of the comedian and actor John Belushi, he appeared in a number of successful movies in the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s, including…
Born: Nov. 6, 1861 Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891 at the YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Mass. Died: Nov. 28, 1939
Born: July 26, 1935Olympics archer and sporting goods manufacturer (Easton softball bats); one of 4 American delegates to the International Olympic Committee; president of International Archery…
