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Whitty, Dame May

(Encyclopedia)Whitty, Dame May, 1865–1948, English actress. She made her London debut in 1881. In 1892 she married Ben Webster, an actor, and in 1895 she first appeared in the United States, becoming a favorite o...

West, Dame Rebecca

(Encyclopedia)West, Dame Rebecca, 1892–1983, English novelist and critic, b. Ireland as Cicily Isabel Fairfield. West began her career as a journalist for feminist and suffragist publications. At various times sh...

Spark, Dame Muriel

(Encyclopedia)Spark, Dame Muriel, 1918–2006, Scottish novelist, b. Muriel Sarah Camberg. She lived in Edinburgh, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), London, New York, and Rome, and spent her last years in Tuscany. Spark's t...

Smith, Dame Maggie

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Dame Maggie (Dame Margaret Natalie Cross), 1934–, English actress. Smith first appeared on stage in Twelfth Night (1952). With her precise, sometimes rapid-fire, articulation and her meticulo...

Thorndike, Dame Sybil

(Encyclopedia)Thorndike, Dame Sybil (Agnes Sybil Thorndike), 1882–1976, English actress. Thorndike made her debut with the Ben Greet Players and toured the United States with them (1904–7). She worked with the ...

Rambert, Dame Marie

(Encyclopedia)Rambert, Dame Marie, 1888–1982, a founder of the English ballet, b. Warsaw as Miriam Rambam. Trained by Jacques Dalcroze in eurythmics, Rambert joined the Diaghilev's Ballets Russes as an instructor...

Saunders, Dame Cicely

(Encyclopedia)Saunders, Dame Cicely (Cicely Mary Strode Saunders), 1918–2005, British physician, a pioneer in the modern hospice movement. She left Oxford during World War II to become a nurse (1944) and, after w...

Camelot

(Encyclopedia)Camelot kămˈəlŏt [key], in Arthurian legend, the seat of King Arthur's court. The origin of the name is unknown. It has been variously located at Cadbury Camp, Somerset; Winchester; Camelford; and...

Dole, Elizabeth Hanford

(Encyclopedia)Dole, Elizabeth Hanford, 1936–, American public official, b. Salisbury, N.C., B.A., Duke, 1958, J.D., Harvard, 1965; wife of Bob Dole. A Republican, she held several government positions including c...

Elizabeth of Valois

(Encyclopedia)Elizabeth of Valois vălˈwä, Fr. välwäˈ [key], 1545–68, queen of Spain, daughter of Henry II of France. Originally intended to wed Don Carlos, son of Philip II of Spain, she was married (1559) ...