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Cornell, Katharine

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Katharine, 1898–1974, American actress, b. Berlin. Cornell made her debut in 1916 with the Washington Square Players. In 1921 she married Guthrie McClintic, a producer-director. From their ...

Colbert, Claudette

(Encyclopedia)Colbert, Claudette klōdĕtˈ kôlbĕrˈ [key], 1903–96, American movie actress, b. Paris as Lily Chauchoin. Known for her rosy cheeks, velvet voice, hearty laugh, and curly bangs, Colbert distingui...

Strand, Mark

(Encyclopedia)Strand, Mark, 1934–2014, American poet, b. Prince Edward Island, Canada, grad. Antioch College (B.A., 1957), Yale (B.F.A., 1959), Iowa Writers' Workshop (M.A., 1962). Meditative and death-haunted, h...

Wilson, Sir Angus

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Sir Angus, 1913–91, English novelist, b. South Africa. As a novelist, he attempted to delineate a society in which traditional values have lost their force and human relationships are corrup...

Rowson, Susanna Haswell

(Encyclopedia)Rowson, Susanna Haswell rouˈsən [key], 1762–1824, American author and actress, b. England. She was brought to America as a young child, but after the Revolution, the family returned to England. He...

Surratt, Mary Eugenia

(Encyclopedia)Surratt, Mary Eugenia sərătˈ [key], 1820–65, alleged conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, hanged on July 7, 1865. A widow (her maiden name was Jenkins) who had moved from Surratts...

Evelyn, John

(Encyclopedia)Evelyn, John ēvˈəlĭn, ĕvˈlĭn [key], 1620–1706, English diarist and miscellaneous writer. Although of royalist sympathies, he took little active part in the civil war. After 1652 he lived as a...

Lenya, Lotte

(Encyclopedia)Lenya, Lotte lôtˈə lĕnˈyä [key], 1898–1981, Viennese singer and character actress, b. Karoline Blamauer. The wife of the composer Kurt Weill, Lenya was the foremost singer of his songs. She an...

Calamity Jane

(Encyclopedia)Calamity Jane kəlămˈĭtē jānˈ [key], c.1852–1903, American frontier character, b. Princeton, Mo. Her real name was Martha Jane Canary, and the origin of her nickname is obscure. Little is know...

Sudermann, Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Sudermann, Hermann hĕrˈmän zo͞oˈdərmän [key], 1857–1928, German dramatist and novelist. His play Die Ehre (1889; tr. Honor, 1906) was one of the first successes of the burgeoning German natur...