Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Powell, William

(Encyclopedia)Powell, William, 1892–1984, American movie actor, b. Pittsburgh. Powell made his stage debut in 1912. He played the dapper villain in such early films as Sherlock Holmes (1921), Romola (1924), and B...

Baziotes, William

(Encyclopedia)Baziotes, William băzēōˈtēz [key], 1912–64, American painter, b. Pittsburgh. Baziotes's works of the 1940s and 50s are largely abstract images, usually with brooding, primitive qualities encomp...

Steig, William

(Encyclopedia)Steig, William, 1907–2003, American cartoonist and children's book writer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. He began drawing cartoons for the The New Yorker in the 1930s, and ultimately produced over 1,600 spontan...

Bent, William

(Encyclopedia)Bent, William, 1809–69, American frontiersman, b. St. Louis. One of the younger brothers of Charles Bent, he was for many years the manager of Bent's Fort, while Charles Bent lived mainly in Taos. W...

Gates, John Warne

(Encyclopedia)Gates, John Warne, 1855–1911, American financier and promoter, known as Bet-a-Million Gates, b. near Chicago. He discovered a market for wire fencing on the Western plains, began the manufacture of ...

Gropper, William

(Encyclopedia)Gropper, William, 1897–1977, American painter and cartoonist, b. New York City. Gropper studied painting under Henri and Bellows. Employed as cartoonist by the New York Tribune, he went to work for ...

Joyce, William

(Encyclopedia)Joyce, William, 1906–46, British Nazi propagandist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., called Lord Haw-Haw. Taken to England as a child, Joyce became involved there in the fascist movement. He went to Germany just ...

Dawes, William

(Encyclopedia)Dawes, William, 1745–99, figure in the American Revolution, b. Boston, Mass. On the night of Apr. 18, 1775, Dawes rode from Boston, via Brighton Bridge, to Lexington, warning the countryside of the ...

Eustis, William

(Encyclopedia)Eustis, William yo͞oˈstĭs [key], 1753–1825, U.S. government official, b. Cambridge, Mass. A surgeon in the patriot forces during the American Revolution, he later served (1801–5) in Congress as...

Primrose, William

(Encyclopedia)Primrose, William, 1904–82, Scottish-American violist. After studying in London, and with Eugène Ysaÿe, he played with the London String Quartet (1930–35) and the NBC Symphony Orchestra (1937–...