Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

347 results found

Ormandy, Eugene

(Encyclopedia)Ormandy, Eugene ôrˈməndē [key], 1899–1985, American conductor, b. Budapest. At the age of five Ormandy entered the Budapest Conservatory, where he studied the violin. Graduating in 1914, he beca...

Bruhn, Erik

(Encyclopedia)Bruhn, Erik ĕrˈĭk bro͞on [key], 1929–86, Danish ballet dancer, b. Copenhagen. Bruhn joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1947 and became a soloist there in 1949. He was widely regarded as one of th...

Arrabal, Fernando

(Encyclopedia)Arrabal, Fernando fārnänˈdō äräbälˈ [key], 1932–, French playwright, b. Melilla, Morocco. He studied law in Madrid before moving to Paris in 1954. His plays, which reflect his abhorrence of ...

Hughes, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Hughes, Richard, 1900–1976, English novelist. After graduating from Oxford in 1922, he helped found the Portmadoc Players and was for a time vice president of the Welsh National Theatre. In addition...

Dolin, Sir Anton

(Encyclopedia)Dolin, Sir Anton dōˈlĭn [key], 1904–83, English ballet dancer and choreographer, originally named Patrick Healey-Kay. Dolin joined Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1921, becoming a principal danseur...

Finnbogadóttir, Vigdís

(Encyclopedia)Finnbogadóttir, Vigdís vĭgˈdēs fĭnˌbōgədôˈtĭr [key], 1930–, Icelandic teacher and politician, president of Iceland (1980–96). She first became a public figure as the director of the Re...

Sastre, Alfonso

(Encyclopedia)Sastre, Alfonso älfōnˈsō säˈstrā [key], 1926–, Spanish dramatist, essayist, and critic, b. Madrid. Approaching his work from a Marxist and existentialist point of view, he explores the proble...

Sharaku Toshusai

(Encyclopedia)Sharaku Toshusai shäˈräko͞o tōsho͝osīˈ [key], fl. 1794, Japanese artist. Extant sources indicate that he was either Saito Jurobei, a Noh dancer in the employ of the Daimyo of Awa, or that his ...

Baker, George Pierce

(Encyclopedia)Baker, George Pierce, 1866–1935, American educator, b. Providence, R.I., grad. Harvard, 1887. He taught (1888–1924) in the English department at Harvard and there conceived and instituted (1906) t...

Richardson, Sir Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Sir Ralph, 1902–83, English stage and film actor. Since his first professional stage appearance in The Merchant of Venice (1921), Richardson has played a variety of classic and modern ro...