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1-50 of 103
- Writer
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A gifted poet, playwright and wit, Oscar Wilde was a phenomenon in 19th-century England. He was illustrious for preaching the importance of style in life and art, and of attacking Victorian narrow-mindedness.
Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1854. He studied at Trinity College in Dublin before leaving the country to study at Oxford University in England when he was in his early 20s. His prodigious literary talent was recognized when he received the Newdegate Prize for his outstanding poem "Ravenna". After leaving college his first volume of poetry, "Patience", was published in 1881, followed by a play, "The Duchess of Padua", two years later. It was around this time that Wilde sparked a sensation.
On his arrival to America he stirred the nation with his flamboyant personality: wearing long silk stockings--an unusual mode of dress--long, flowing hair that gave the impression to many of an effeminate and a general air of wittiness, sophistication and eccentricity. He was an instant celebrity, but his works did not find recognition until the publication of "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" in 1888. His other noted work was his only novel, was "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890), which caused controversy as the book evidently attacked the hypocrisy of England. It was later used as incriminating evidence at Wilde's trial, on the basis of its obvious homosexual content.
Wilde was a married man with children, but his private life was as a homosexual. He had an affair with a young snobbish aristocrat named Lord Alfred Douglas. Douglas' father, the Marquess of Queensberry, did not approve of his son's relationship with the distinguished writer, and when he accused Wilde of sodomy, Wilde sued the Marquess in court. However, his case was dismissed when his homosexuality--which at the time was outlawed in England--was exposed. He was sentenced to two years hard labor in prison. On his release he was a penniless, dejected man and soon died in Paris. He was 46.
Wilde is immortalized through his works, and the stories he wrote for children, such as "The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant", are still vibrant in the imagination of the public, especially "The Picture of Dorian Gray", the story of a young handsome man who sells his soul to a picture to have eternal youth and beauty, only to face the hideousness of his own portrait as it ages, which entails his evil nature and degradation. The book has been interpreted on stage, films and television.- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
John Philip Sousa was born on 6 November 1854 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was a writer and composer, known for Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Octopussy (1983) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). He was married to Jane van Middlesworth Bellis. He died on 6 March 1932 in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Arthur Rimbaud was born on 20 October 1854 in Charleville-Mézières, Ardennes, France. He was a writer, known for Ein großer graublauer Vogel (1970), Ardiente paciencia (1983) and Criminal Lovers (1999). He died on 10 November 1891 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.- Cinematographer
- Director
- Producer
American-born English inventor and technician, a pioneer of early cinema design, photography, development, and patents. He was born to English parents in Richmond, Virginia, on July 23, 1854. His parents moved with young Birt to North Carolina and started a plantation there. However, the U.S. Civil War erupted and both parents died defending the plantation. Young Acres, orphaned at 10, went to live with his aunt in Virginia. She recognized his artistic and inventive talents and sent him to Paris to study at the Sorbonne Art Studios. He became enthralled with photography and began to study the science of cameras and the potential for moving pictures. Upon his return from France, he set out on a long journey through the American West. He worked as a lumberjack and studied and traded with Native American tribes. Eventually, his love of photography led him to move to England, where he opened a photography and painting studio in Ilfracombe, Devon. He applied himself to the study and development of photographic chemistry. He wrote scholarly articles on photography and chemical development and became rather well-known in the photographic community. He was invited to join the Royal Meteorological and Photographic Societies. In 1891, he was invited to take over the running of Elliott & Sons, the leading British maker of photographic plates and paper. He moved to London with his relatively new family. He was especially fond of nature photography and developed a slide projector which could crudely replicate, by shuffling rapidly through images, the motion of waves, clouds, and wind-blown trees, a precursor using the persistence of vision effect that would make motion pictures possible. In 1894, Acres met Robert W. Paul, who was interested in creating films that could be shown on Thomas A. Edison's new kinetoscope. Together they invented a camera that would make 35 mm films compatible with Edison's machine. Acres used it to create the first film to be shot in England, Clovelly Cottage, Barnet (1895) or "lncident in Clovelly Cottage," filmed at Acres's home. Acres and Paul began making films of various sporting events as well as human interest and comedy pieces. But the two men were incompatible partners and split up angrily in 1895. Each went his own way, and they became competitors in the business of projector manufacture and sales. Acres in January, 1896, presented the first public projection of motion picture film in Britain with screenings at the Lyonsdown Photographic Club and the Royal Photographic Society. He presented his films at a Royal Command Performance at Marlborough House that summer and was invited to photograph the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Cardiff Exhibition. With a prescient concept of a home-movie market, he invented a 17.5 mm camera called the Birtac that used half the normal amount of film and was small enough to be used by non-professional individuals. His original projector, the Kineopticon, or Kinetic Lantern, he continued to develop and improve. He founded a company, The Northern Photographic Works (later Whetstone Photographic Works), in London. He continued to invent and develop products for motion picture photography, but was reluctant to take part in the increasing entertainment market for films. Thus his business began to suffer, since he preferred to promote (and lecture about) scientific and nature-oriented cinema. He was twice bankrupted and by 1900 had abandoned the film business. He died from peritonitis following appendicitis on December 27, 1918, at 64, survived by his wife of 27 years, Annie, and their two children. He is buried in Walthamstow Cemetery in Greater London.- Scots stage actor who late in life appeared in a number of silent films. Educated in Belfast, Ireland, Mantell traveled to America at 24 and played in "Romeo and Juliet" and "East Lynne" with Helena Modjeska. He worked constantly in America and Great Britain and established himself as a great success in Shakespearean works. Mantell married five times and was widowed twice. His third wife, Charlotte Behrens, had been his leading lady. Married, she fell in love with Mantell and lived openly with him. Her husband threatened to kill Mantell, who was also married. Following a divorce for each of them, they married, but Charlotte died less than two years later under cloudy circumstances. His fourth wife, Marie Booth Russell, was also his leading lady, and she too died at an early age, of Bright's Disease, in 1911. Mantell's fifth wife, Genevieve Hamper, was another of his leading ladies. She survived him when he died at 74, in 1928, following a nervous collapse. Mantell's son, Robert B. Mantell Jr. appeared in a few films before his suicide.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Engelbert Humperdinck was born on 1 September 1854 in Siegburg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was a composer and writer, known for Hannibal Rising (2007), Lore (2012) and Hänsel und Gretel (2015). He was married to Hedwig Taxer. He died on 27 September 1921 in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Francis Marion Crawford was born on 2 August 1854 in Bagni di Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany [now Tuscany, Italy]. Francis Marion was a writer, known for Son of India (1931), The White Sister (1923) and The White Sister (1933). Francis Marion was married to Elizabeth Christophers Berdan. Francis Marion died on 9 April 1909 in Sorrento, Campania, Italy.- James T. Kelley was born on 10 July 1854 in Castlebar, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland]. He was an actor, known for Among Those Present (1921), The Rink (1916) and The Fireman (1916). He died on 12 November 1933 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Director
- Cinematographer
William Matthew Tilghman served as a lawman for 35 years. In his career he rode with the Earps, was a lawman in Dodge City, Kansas, and battled the Dalton gang and the Wild Bunch. In the early 1900s he became fed up with the way Hollywood glamorized the outlaws of the west and, along with his friends E.D. Nix and Chris Madsen, set out to make a movie of how it really was back then. They starred in the film, Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws (1915), as themselves and arranged to have a member of the Dalton gang named Arkansas Tom released from prison to act as a technical consultant. They met with some difficulty in getting the film shown--theater owners didn't want to show it because there were no name actors in it. Hollywood told them to put Tom Mix in it if they wanted it to sell, but Tilghman refused.
In 1924, some businessmen from the town of Cromwell, Oklahoma, contacted Tilghman, hoping to persuade him to accept the position of town sheriff. Cromwell was a virtual cesspool of crime: bootlegging, gambling and prostitution (many of the prostitutes being underage) were among the illegal activities going on, all under the protection of a corrupt federal Prohibition agent named Wiley Lynn. Cromwell was a booming oil town, and its citizens wanted Tilghman to run the "bad element" out of town in order to preserve its future; they didn't want the town to dry up when the oil did. Tilghman was reluctant at first, but finally took the job and promised to clean up the town. He made good on his promises, closing down gambling houses, arresting bootleggers and moonshiners and sending the prostitutes home to their families. This upset those in town who were running the various crime rings, including Wiley Lynn. One night as Tilghman was having dinner with friends at Ma Murphy's restaurant, Lynn showed up. He claimed he had a warrant, and was coming in to clear out the underage girls who worked there, dancing with lonely men. He was brandishing a pistol, and according to witnesses was either drunk or high on cocaine. As Tilghman and his deputy attempted to disarm Lynn, he pulled out a .22-caliber pistol and shot Tilghman in the mid-section. He escaped, while Tilghman lay dying on the boardwalk. A doctor was summoned, and a friend fetched Tilghman's young wife and children. The doctor was unable to save him, and Tilghman died on a table in Ma Murphy's, surrounded by his friends and family (in 1925 Wiley Lynn was tried for and acquitted of Tilghman's murder, but was dismissed from federal service. In 1932 he was shot and killed by an agent of the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation).- Actor
- Producer
George A. Williams was born on 11 August 1854 in Kinnikinnic, Wisconsin, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Super Speed (1925), Thundering Romance (1924) and Lucky Dan (1922). He died on 21 February 1936 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- James Bland was an African-American musician and composer who wrote many songs about the American South for use in minstrel shows. His most famous was Carry Me Back to Old Virginny (1878), which became the official State Song of Virginia, being retired in 1997 due to racial controversies. Bland was born in Flushing, New York on October 22, 1854, one of eight children to educated free parents. His father bought him an eight-dollar banjo and Bland was soon performing professionally by his early teens. He attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., but soon pursued music, inspired by the music of some of the workers on the Howard campus, and joined the all-black Georgia Minstrels in the late 1870's. He soon married fellow Howard student and Virginia native Mamie Friend, and was inspired to write Carry Me Back to Old Virginny after hearing her speak of her homesickness while away at college. Other songs composed by Bland were In the Morning in the Bright Light (1879), In the Evening by the Moonlight (1879), and his second most famous song, Oh! Dem Golden Slippers (1879), known today mostly because it was used in an often-aired Golden Grahams cereal television commercial in the 1970's. In 1881, he moved to London, spending the next twenty years there before returning to the United States. While in London, he performed without blackface and gave command performances for Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales. Bland was making $10,000 a year at one point but recklessly spent his money. In 1901 he returned penniless to Washington, D.C., and as the popularity of minstrel shows waned, Bland could not find work. He died alone in Philadelphia on May 5, 1911, a victim of tuberculosis. He was buried in an unmarked grave but in 1939 the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) provided a headstone at the grave site to commemorate his life. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
- Writer
- Actor
- Director
George Morgan was born on 10 October 1854 in Concord, Delaware, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for The Lurking Peril (1919), The Hurricane Express (1932) and The Pirate of Panama (1929). He died on 8 January 1936 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.- Auguste Prasch-Grevenberg was born on 22 August 1854 in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. She was an actress, known for Die Buddenbrooks (1923), Die Heilige und ihr Narr (1928) and Die Rache einer Frau (1921). She died on 14 December 1945 in Weimar, Thuringia, Germany.
- Amalia Kasprowicz was born on 20 March 1854 in Lemberg, Galicia, Austrian Empire [now Lviv, Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for Ofiara namietnosci (1912). She died on 22 May 1938 in Lwów, Lwowskie, Poland [now Lviv, Ukraine].
- Hugo Thimig was born on 16 June 1854 in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony [now Saxony, Germany]. He was an actor, known for Geld auf der Straße (1930), Velbloud uchem jehly (1926) and Das verbotene Land (1924). He was married to Franziska Hummel. He died on 24 September 1944 in Vienna, Austria.
- Brilliant stage and screen actor Charles Eldridge was born in New York in 1854. Starred on the drama and comedy theatre from the 1870's. Occasionally known as Mr. Eldridge became a white haired gentleman who starred and supported in more than 160 melodrama, comedy and crime movies, with the Vitagraph Film Company from 1910, making his film debut as the old farmer in 'The Legacy' co-starring Mary Maurice. His most notable role was as Jabee Smith in many of the 'Mr. Jarr' comedies starring Harry Davenport in 1915. Mr. Eldridge left Vitagraph in 1916 to worked for several other film companies including IMP, Victor, Rolfe, Columbia, Stubert and last with Goldwyn and Fox until his death from cancer in 1922 age 68.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Alfredo Catalani was born on 19 June 1854 in Lucca, Grand Duchy of Tuscany [now Tuscany, Italy]. He is known for Crimson Tide (1995), A Single Man (2009) and Philadelphia (1993). He died on 7 August 1893 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Willis P. Sweatnam was born on 16 March 1854 in Zanesville, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for The County Chairman (1914). He died on 25 November 1930 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Louis H. Chrispijn was born on 13 May 1854 in Netherlands. He was a director and actor, known for De vloek van het testament (1915), Krates (1913) and Luchtkastelen (1914). He died on 1 November 1926 in Netherlands.- Tolbert McCoy was born on 16 June 1854 in Kentucky, USA. He was married to Mary Butcher. He died on 9 August 1882 in Mouth of Blackberry Creek, Banks of the Tug Fork River, Kentucky, USA.
- Music Department
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Leos Janácek was born on 3 July 1854 in Hukvaldy/Hochwald, Moravia, Austrian Empire [now Czech Republic]. He was a writer, known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), Cunning Little Vixen and NET Opera Theater (1967). He was married to Zdenka Schulzova. He died on 12 August 1928 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].- C. Oliver Iselin was born on 8 June 1854 in New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Hope Iselin and Frances Garner. He died on 1 January 1932 in Brookville, New York, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Moritz Moszkowski was born on 23 August 1854 in Breslau, Prussia, German Confederation. Moritz is known for Remember (2015), Wolo czawienko (1916) and Great Performances (1971). Moritz was married to Henriette Chaminade. Moritz died on 4 March 1925 in Paris, French Third Republic.- Ante Kovacic was born on 6 June 1854 in Seou Oplaznik iznad Sutle, Croatia, Austrian Empire [now Croatia]. He was a writer, known for Fiskal (1970), U registraturi (1974) and Ladanjska sekta (1967). He died in 1889 in Stenjevec kraj Zagreba, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary [now Croatia].
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Camillo De Riso was born on 20 November 1854 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies [now Campania, Italy]. He was an actor and director, known for Nanà (1917), La principessa (1917) and Armiamoci e... partite! (1915). He died on 2 April 1924 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- François de Curel was born on 10 June 1854 in Metz, France. He was a writer, known for This Mad World (1930), The Savage Woman (1918) and Ankara postasi (1928). He died on 26 April 1928 in Paris, France.
- Thomas R. Marshall was born on 14 March 1854 in North Manchester, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Million Dollar Mystery (1914), Pathé's Weekly, No. 36 (1912) and Pathé's Weekly, No. 46 (1912). He died on 1 June 1925 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Maurice Ordonneau was born on 18 June 1854 in Saintes, Charente-Maritime, France. He is known for Les saltimbanques (1930), Airs de France (1955) and A baba (1919).- Clara Louise Burnham was born on 25 May 1854 in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. She was a writer, known for Opened Shutters (1921), Jewel (1915) and The Opened Shutters (1914). She was married to Walter Burnham. She died on 20 June 1927 in Bailey Island, Maine, USA.
- Francis Wilson was born on 2 February 1854 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 7 October 1935 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Pol Plancon was born on 12 June 1854 in Fumay, Ardennes, France. He was an actor, known for Lucia di Lammermoor (1911). He died on 12 August 1914 in Paris, France.
- Gustav Maran was born on 8 January 1854 in Vienna, Austrian Empire [now Austria]. He was an actor, known for Filmposse (1914) and Dominik, wo ist die Tänzerin (1916). He died on 19 July 1917 in Sulz im Wienerwald, Lower Austria, Austria-Hungary [now Austria].
- H.M. Thurston was born on 9 August 1854 in Heuvelton, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Anything Once (1917) and The Belle and the Bell Hop (1916). He died on 24 December 1921 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Carl Schönfeld was born on 4 February 1854 in Pest, Hungary. He was a writer and director, known for ... welche sterben, wenn sie lieben (1913), Leidvolle Liebe (1917) and Um ein Weib (1915). He died on 17 April 1934 in Hübingen, Germany.- Additional Crew
Edmund Wood was born on 2 December 1854 in the USA. Edmund died on 25 May 1935.- Jules Friquet was born on 1 April 1854 in France. He was an actor, known for Captain of His Soul (1918) and Limousine Life (1918). He died on 18 November 1921 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Sandor Ksaver-Djalski was born on 26 October 1854 in Gredice, Croatia, Austrian Empire [now Croatia]. He was a writer, known for San Dr Misica (1973), Oblaci, crni oblaci (1963) and Nocturno (1974). He died on 9 February 1935 in Gredice, Croatia, Yugoslavia [now Croatia].
- Gyula Nárczisz was born on 11 September 1854. He was an actor, known for Katonabecsület (1915). He died on 9 November 1928 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Gustave Frohman was born on 7 November 1854 in Sandusky, Ohio, USA. He was a producer, known for The Fairy and the Waif (1915), Just Out of College (1915) and The Builder of Bridges (1915). He was married to Marie Hubert Frohman. He died on 16 August 1930 in New York City, New York, USA.- Cinematographer
John Urie was born on 5 October 1854 in Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was a cinematographer, known for The Queen of Hearts (1918), The Law of Compensation (1917) and The Prima Donna's Husband (1916). He died on 16 May 1938 in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA.- Maggie Fisher was born on 10 June 1854 in Manchester, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Bachelor's Romance (1915), Out of a Clear Sky (1918) and The Valentine Girl (1917). She died on 3 November 1938 in Glendale, California, USA.
- Writer
- Actor
G.H. Chirgwin was born on 13 December 1854 in London, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for The Blind Boy (1917), The Blind Boy (1900) and Chirgwin Plays a Scotch Reel (1896). He died on 14 November 1922 in London, England, UK.- George Musgrove was born on 21 January 1854 in Surbiton, Surrey, England, UK. He was a producer, known for Nell Gwynne (1911). He was married to Emily Knight Fisk. He died on 21 January 1916 in Sydney, Australia.
- Herbert Gladstone was born on 7 January 1854 in London, England, UK. He died on 6 March 1930 in Dane End, near Ware, Hertfordshire, England, UK.
- William Granger was born on 24 May 1854 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Other Tomorrow (1930) and 6 Day Bike Rider (1934). He died on 23 December 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- J.G. Harper was born on 19 December 1854 in Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Squaw Man (1914) and The Death Web (1915). He died on 2 January 1919 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Thomas Cobb was born on 8 June 1854. He was a writer, known for Mrs. Erricker's Reputation (1920). He died on 15 January 1932.
- Apel·les Mestres was born on 29 October 1854 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Apel·les was a writer, known for Teatro catalán (1964) and Un passeig per la cultura catalana (2007). Apel·les died on 19 July 1936 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
- Sigge Malmgren was born on 11 April 1854 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Friaren från landsvägen (1923). He died in 1934.
- Benjamin B. Odell Jr. was born on 14 January 1854 in Newburgh, New York, USA. He died on 9 May 1926.