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Nicholas Brothers

(Encyclopedia)Nicholas Brothers, African-American tap dance team consisting of Fayard Antonio Nicholas, 1914–2006, b. Mobile, Ala., and Harold Lloyd Nicholas, 1921–2000, b. Winston-Walem, N.C. Performing on sta...

McEnroe, John Patrick, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)McEnroe, John Patrick, Jr. măkˈənrōˌ [key], 1959–, American tennis player, b. Weisbaden, West Germany. He grew up in Douglaston, Queens, N.Y. After winning the National Collegiate Athletic Asso...

Bennett, Alan

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Alan, 1934–, British playwright and actor, b. Leeds, England, grad. Exeter College, Oxford (1957). Bennett became a fixture of the British cultural scene as part of the satirical revue Beyo...

Blades, Rubén

(Encyclopedia)Blades, Rubén ro͞obānˈ bläˈᵺās [key], 1948–, Panamanian singer, songwriter, band leader, and actor. He is a graduate (1972) of the Univ. of Panama law school and holds a masters degree (198...

Temple, Shirley

(Encyclopedia)Temple, Shirley, 1928–2014, American child film star, b. Santa Monica, Calif., as Shirley Jane Temple. She started in movies at three-and-a-half and starred in her first feature (Stand Up and Cheer!...

Beeson, Jack

(Encyclopedia)Beeson, Jack, 1921–2010, American composer, b. Muncie, Ind. Beeson studied at the Eastman School of Music and privately in New York with Béla Bartók. Teaching at Columbia from 1945, he was named M...

Ryazanov, Eldar Aleksandrovich

(Encyclopedia)Ryazanov, Eldar Aleksandrovich, 1927–2015, Russian film director and screenwriter, b. Samara, grad. State Institute of Cinematography (1950). Probably Russia's most popular filmmaker, he renowned fo...

Saro-Wiwa, Ken

(Encyclopedia)Saro-Wiwa, Ken (Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa) säˈrō-wēˈwä [key], 1941–95, Nigerian writer and environmental activist, b. Rivers state, grad. Univ. of Ibadan, 1965. He was a government administrator...

Cameron, James

(Encyclopedia)Cameron, James, 1954–, Canadian motion-picture director and screenwriter, b. Kapuskasing, Ont. Beginning as a screenwriter and then art director, he first directed in 1981. His science-fiction block...

Campion, Jane

(Encyclopedia)Campion, Jane, 1954–, New Zealand film director, b. Wellington; grad. Victoria Univ., Wellington (1975), Sydney College of the Arts, Australia (1979), Australian School of Film and Television, Sydne...