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Wilde, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Wilde, Oscar (Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde), 1854–1900, Irish author and wit, b. Dublin. He is most famous for his sophisticated, brilliantly witty plays, which were the first since the come...

Straus, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Straus, Oscar ôsˈkär shtrous [key], 1870–1954, Austrian composer; studied in Vienna and with Max Bruch in Berlin. After a brief career as conductor he turned entirely to composition. His operas a...

Oscar II

(Encyclopedia)Oscar II, 1829–1907, king of Sweden (1872–1907) and Norway (1872–1905), younger son of Oscar I. He succeeded his brother, Charles XV. He refused to concede to Norway its own consular representat...

Osorio, Oscar

(Encyclopedia)Osorio, Oscar ōskärˈ ōsōˈryō [key], 1910–69, president of El Salvador (1950–56). A peasant farmer, he joined the army and rose to the rank of major. As a member of the junta that seized pow...

Arias de Ávila, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Arias de Ávila, Pedro pāᵺräˈryäs [key], c.1440–1531, Spanish colonial administrator. He was sent (1514) as governor to Darién (now part of Panama), then under the rule of Vasco Núñez de Ba...

Arias de Saavedra, Hernando

(Encyclopedia)Arias de Saavedra, Hernando ārnändäˈryäs [key], 1561–1634, Spanish colonial governor, b. Asunción, in present-day Paraguay. An able administrator, he was elected (1592) lieutenant governor of ...

Dunn, Oscar James

(Encyclopedia)Dunn, Oscar James, c.1825–71, African-American politician, lieutenant governor of Louisiana (1868–71), b. New Orleans. A former slave, he fought for the Union and joined the Republican party (1863...

Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome ēhwāˈlōs [key], 1951–2013, Cuban-American novelist, b. New York City, grad. City College (B.A., 1975; M.F.A., 1976). The son of Cuban immigrants, he typically wrote about ...

Hammerstein, Oscar, 2d

(Encyclopedia)Hammerstein, Oscar, 2d, 1895–1960, American lyricist and librettist, b. New York City, grad. Columbia, 1916; grandson of Oscar Hammerstein. His first success was Wildflower (1923), with music by Vin...

Micheaux, Oscar Devereaux

(Encyclopedia)Micheaux, Oscar Devereaux, 1884–1951, American filmmaker and author, b. Metropolis, Ill. The son of former slaves, Micheaux first worked as a Pullman porter, then was a homesteader in South Dakota. ...