People a to z

Media magnate Conrad Black once owned The London Daily Telegraph and The Chicago Sun Times, before he was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice.

Film and TV actor Jack Black appeared in the popular comedy films Shallow Hal, High Fidelity and Tropic Thunder, and is the voice of Kung Fu Panda.

Harry Blackmun was the 98th U.S. Supreme Court Justice, known for his landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade.

Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States. She became a leading public health activist during her lifetime.

Rubén Blades is an acclaimed Panamanian singer, musician and actor known for albums like Buscando America and hits like "Pedro Navaja."

Rod Blagojevich is an Illinois-based politician whose career has been marred by as many scandals as it has been highlighted by successes.

David Blaine is a street magician who has become known for endurance stunts, such as living in a glass box for days.

Linda Blair is an Academy Award-nominated actress and animal activist known for her role as a demonically possessed girl in The Exorcist.

Montgomery Blair was a 19th century lawyer and politician who represented Dred Scott and served as Abraham Lincoln's postmaster general.

Tony Blair was leader of the British Labour Party from 1994 to 2007, and prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007.

Ragtime pianist Eubie Blake was one of the most famous composers of 20th century musicals, known for hits like "I'm Just Wild About Harry."

Robert Blake is an Emmy-winning actor known for his film roles and as the star of the '70s cop drama Baretta. He's also known for the murder trial of his second wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley.

William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced countless writers and artists through the ages, and he has been deemed both a major poet and an original thinker.

Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake holds the world record for the 4-by-100-meter relay. In 2012, he won a silver medal in both the 100-meter and 200-meter races, losing to rival and fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt in both events.

Art Blakey was an influential jazz drummer associated with the modern bebop style. He played with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious monk and countless other jazz greats.

Alfred Blalock was a surgeon who pioneered corrective heart surgery in newborns and did groudbreaking work related to blood loss and shock.

Mel Blanc was a voice actor and entertainer who provided voices for Bugs Bunny and over 400 other cartoon characters.

Jean-Pierre Blancard was a French balloonist who crossed the English Channel by balloon in 1785. He spurred interest in ballooning in Europe and the United States.

Thomas Blanchard was an American inventor whose patents contributed to the development of the mass production system.

Army nurse Florence Blanchfield is best known for her struggle to attain full military rank, and for equal rights in the military.

Infamous drug trafficker Griselda Blanco is suspected of committing more than 200 murders while transporting cocaine from Colombia to the U.S. She was murdered in Colombia in 2012.

Richard Blanco is the fifth inaugural poet of the United States, the first Latino and openly gay-identified person to hold the position.

The daughter of famous suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriot Stanton Blatch continued her mother's work in the women's rights movement.

Quarterback Drew Bledsoe was a starter with the New England Patriots for nearly eight years, before moving on to lead the Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys.

Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is best known for her role as Vanessa Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. In 2010 she became the host of the Style Network's Clean House. 

"Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" Mary J. Blige has influenced a generation of artists with hits like "Real Love" and "Be Without You." She has also been seen on screen, including as Betty Shabazz in the TV movie Betty & Coretta.

Cellular and molecular biologist Günter Blobel won the Nobel Prize in 1999 for his discoveries about proteins and their placement in the cell.

Claire Bloom English is a dramatic actress noted for her moving portrayals of Shakespearean heroines. She also played on stage, television, and in films.

Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire buisnessman and a three-term mayor of New York City.

Amelia Bloomer was a women's rights activist. She advocated for changes in women's fashion that would be less restrictive. "Bloomers" are named after her.

Isabella Blow was a British fashion director and style icon known for wearing flamboyant hats, many by designer Philip Treacy.

Bluford became the first African American to travel in space in 1983, as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

Author Judy Bloom is a writer and illustrator of books for children and young adults, including Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, and Tiger Eyes.

Nellie Bly was an American journalist known for her investigative and undercover reporting. She earned acclaim in 1887 for her exposé on the conditions of patients at Bellevue Hospital in New York City, and achieved further fame after the New York World sent her on a trip around the world in 1889.

American poet and activist Robert Bly is best known for writing Iron John: A Book About Men which is credited for starting the Mythopoetic men's movement.

Franz Boas was a German-born anthropologist who founded the relativistic, culture-centered school of American anthropology that dominated 20th century thought.

Lorena Bobbitt is best known for severing her husband's penis while he slept, in retaliation for his sexual assaults against her.

Steven Bochco is a US television producer and writer. He is famous for creating Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue.

John Boehner is best known as the Republican Speaker of the House, beginning in January 2011.

Ivan Boesky amassed a fortune of over $200 million in the 1980s before an insider trading scandal landed him with a $100 million fine and prison time.

One of Great Britain's leading male actors in the 1950s, Dirk Bogarde is known for his complex roles in the dark films Death in Venice (1912), Victim (1961) and The Night Porter (1974).

Actor Humphrey Bogart became a legend for his roles in 1940s-era films like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and To Have and Have Not.

Niels Bohr was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and humanitarian whose revolutionary theories on atomic structures helped shape research worldwide.

Jean-Bedel Bokassa was the president of the Central African Republic (1966-1976) and a self-proclaimed emperor of the Central African Empire (1976-1979).

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, served as queen of England in the 1530s. She was executed on charges of incest, witchcraft, adultery and conspiracy against the king.

Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military leader who was instrumental in the revolutions against the Spanish empire.

Usain Bolt became the first man in Olympic history to win both the 100-meter and 200-meter races in world record times in 2008. Four years later, at the London Olympics, he became the first man to win gold medals in both the 100 and 200 at consecutive Olympic Games and the first man in history to set three world records in a single Olympic Games competition.

Michael Bolton is a singer-songwriter known for his soft-rock ballads in the adult contemporary genre.

Humorist, writer, columnist and journalist Erma Bombeck found the humor in the everyday experiences of being a wife and mother and shared it with her readers.

Joseph Bonaparte was the older brother of Napoleon I, who made him king of Spain. He served as Spain's king from 1808 to 1813.

Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon I's third surviving brother, was king of Holland from 1806 to 1810.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a military general who became the first emperor of France. His drive for military expansion changed the world.

Hugh Bonneville is a British actor chiefly known for playing Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, on the hit TV series Downton Abbey.

Bono is the frontman of the Irish rock band U2. He's also known for participating in global charity efforts.

Chaz Bono is an Emmy-nominated media figure who, born the daughter of performers Sonny and Cher, has undergone gender reassignment

Musician and politician Sonny Bono was once wed to singer Cher and in 1994 was elected to U.S. Congress as a representative from California.

Arna Bontemps was an African-American author best known for his novels, children’s books and poems written during the 1930s-1970s.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is best known for his unorthodox approach to politics, for his revolutionizing reforms to Newark's crime rate and education, and for his personal willingness to help his constituents.

James Booker was an African-American musician known for his unique fusion of jazz and rhythm-and-blues, and for songs like "The Sunny Side of the Street," "A Taste of Honey" and "Papa Was a Rascal."

American explorer and frontiersman Daniel Boone blazed a trail to the far west though the Cumberland Gap, thereby providing access to the frontier.

On April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln while he was watching Our American Cousin at Ford Theater in Washington, D.C.

Tony, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Shirley Booth was in both the play and film versions of Come Back, Little Sheba, and the television show Hazel.

Lizzie Borden is best known for her arrest and trial for the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother. She was acquitted in 1893.

Lucrezia Borgia was an Italian noblewoman and daughter of Pope Alexander VI. A notorious reputation precedes her, and she is inextricably, and perhaps unfairly, linked to the crimes and debauchery of her family.

Actor Ernest Borgnine’s role in the film Marty transformed him from a stereotyped character actor to a leading man, earning him an Academy Award as Best Actor.

Hieronymus Bosch was a European painter of the late Middle Ages. His two most famous works are The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Temptation of St. Anthony.

Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose is known for working with Albert Einstein on the Bose-Einstein Condensate and as namesake of the boson, or “God particle.”

Subhas Chandra Bose was a 20th century organizational and military leader who fought for India’s freedom from British rule.