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James Agee
Author, Poet, Screenwriter / 1909 - 1955
James Agee was a film critic for TIME magazine, penned the screenplay for The African Queen, and won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for his novel A Death in the Family.
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(1909-1955)
Author, Poet, Screenwriter
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Ciro Alegría
Activist, Author / 1909 - 1967
Ciro Alegria was a Peruvian novelist who wrote about the struggles of the Peruvian Indians, and whose militant pro-Indian activism led to his arrest and exile.
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(1909-1967)
Activist, Author
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Virginia Apgar
Scholar, Doctor / 1909 - 1974
Virginia Apgar was a physician and medical researcher who developed the Apgar Scoring System, which measures newborn well-being.
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(1909-1974)
Scholar, Doctor
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Clyde Barrow
Murderer, Thief / 1909 - 1934
Outlaw Clyde Barrow and his partner, Bonnie, robbed banks and store owners during the Depression and were believed to be responsible for at least 13 murders.
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(1909-1934)
Murderer, Thief
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Isaiah Berlin
Educator, Historian, Philosopher, Scholar, Academic Author, Journalist / 1909 - 1997
Isaiah Berlin was a trailblazing 20th century scholar, philosopher and author, who championed pluralistic thinking and openness to ideas.
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(1909-1997)
Educator, Historian, Philosopher, Scholar, Academic Author, Journalist
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Victor Borge
Comedian, Pianist / 1909 - 2000
Victor Borge was a classically trained pianist who went from concert halls to playing shows infused with humor.
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(1909-2000)
Comedian, Pianist
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Mother Maybelle Carter
Guitarist, Singer / 1909 - 1978
Singer and guitarist Mother Maybelle Carter began performing with The Carter Family in the 1920s and influenced country and folk music for decades to come.
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(1909-1978)
Guitarist, Singer
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Katherine Dunham
Anthropologist, Activist, Choreographer, Journalist / 1909 - 2006
Katherine Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist noted for her innovative interpretations of ritualistic and ethnic dances.
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(1909-2006)
Anthropologist, Activist, Choreographer, Journalist
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Errol Flynn
Film Actor / 1909 - 1955
Australian actor Errol Flynn was celebrated as the screen's foremost swashbuckler. He had a reputation as an irrepressible drinker and womanizer.
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(1909-1955)
Film Actor
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Ernest Gallo
Entrepreneur / 1909 - 2007
Ernest Gallo and brother Julio founded E. & J. Gallo Winery and built an empire by shaping American drinking tastes with inexpensive, non-vintage wines.
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(1909-2007)
Entrepreneur
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Barry Goldwater
U.S. Representative / 1909 - 1998
Barry Goldwater was an American politician best known as a senator from Arizona and the Republican candidate for president in 1964.
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(1909-1998)
U.S. Representative
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Benny Goodman
Songwriter / 1909 - 1986
Benny Goodman, "The King of Swing", was the clarinetist composer responsible for multiple hit singles as a band leader before World War II.
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(1909-1986)
Songwriter
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Eugène Ionesco
Playwright / 1909 - 1994
Playwright Eugène Ionesco's first “antiplay,” The Bald Soprano, inspired a revolution in dramatic techniques and helped inaugurate the Theatre of the Absurd.
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(1909-1994)
Playwright
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Burl Ives
Film Actor, Singer / 1909 - 1995
Actor and singer Burl Ives recorded more than 100 albums during his lifetime. His hits include “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Blue Tail Fly.”
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(1909-1995)
Film Actor, Singer
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Elia Kazan
Director / 1909 - 2003
Elia Kazan directed plays by Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller on Broadway, then won Oscars for films like On The Waterfront.
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(1909-2003)
Director
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Gene Krupa
Drummer / 1909 - 1973
Dummer Gene Krupa, who played with Benny Goodman in the 1930s, was known for his extended solos. His style inspired swing era music.
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(1909-1973)
Drummer
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Edwin Land
Inventor, Physicist / 1909 - 1991
Edwin Land is best known as the inventor of the Polaroid camera and film, and as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation.
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(1909-1991)
Inventor, Physicist
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Rita Levi-Montalcini
Educator, Medical Professional, Neurologist, Academic Author / 1909 - 2012
Rita Levi-Montalcini shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for her part in the discovery of a protein that stimulates nerve cell growth.
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(1909-2012)
Educator, Medical Professional, Neurologist, Academic Author
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Bruno Ludke
Serial Killer / 1909 - 1944
Bruno Ludke was a German serial killer responsible for up to 80 murders in the years leading up to WWII.
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(1909-1944)
Serial Killer
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Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Director, Producer, Screenwriter / 1909 - 1993
American producer, director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz was known for creating memorable characters. He worked with many major Hollywood stars.
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(1909-1993)
Director, Producer, Screenwriter
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Johnny Mercer
Songwriter / 1909 - 1976
Songwriter Johnny Mercer cofounded Capitol Records. His songs for films won four Academy Awards. He collaborated with composers such as Henry Mancini.
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(1909-1976)
Songwriter
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Harriet Nelson
Film Actress, Television Actress / 1909 - 1994
As housewife and mother on the hit series The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Harriet Nelson became one of television's best-loved characters during the 1950s.
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(1909-1994)
Film Actress, Television Actress
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David Niven
Film Actor, Theater Actor / 1909 - 1983
David Niven was an actor of stage and the big screen who epitomized dapper charm in films like The Pink Panther.
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(1909-1983)
Film Actor, Theater Actor
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Kwame Nkrumah
World Leader, Prime Minister / 1909 - 1972
Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian nationalist leader who led the Gold Coast's independence from Britain and presided over its emergence as the new nation of Ghana
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(1909-1972)
World Leader, Prime Minister
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Juan Carlos Onetti
Journalist, Author / 1909 - 1994
Juan Carlos Onetti was an Uruguayan novelist and short-story writer whose existential works, including A Brief Life, chronicled the decay of modern urban life.
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(1909-1994)
Journalist, Author
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C. Northcote Parkinson
Educator, Historian, Academic Author / 1909 - 1993
Author Cyril Northcote Parkinson is a British historian. He has written a number of books, but is best known for 1955’s Parkinson’s Law.
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(1909-1993)
Educator, Historian, Academic Author
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Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche
Business Leader, Engineer / 1909 - 1998
Thanks to the model 356, created in 1948 by Ferdinand Anton Ernst "Ferry" Porsche, the Porsche car company became known worldwide as a producer of successful sports and racing cars. Several years earlier, in 1934, Porsche worked with father Ferdinand Porsche on the first designs of the Volkswagen car.
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(1909-1998)
Business Leader, Engineer
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Jessica Tandy
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress / 1909 - 1994
Jessica Tandy was an English-born U.S. actress well known for her role in Broadway's Foxfire and her Oscar-winning performance in the film Driving Miss Daisy.
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(1909-1994)
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress
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Art Tatum
Pianist / 1909 - 1956
Art Tatum was a highly influential 20th century jazz pianist known for his radical reinventions of pop standards.
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(1909-1956)
Pianist
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Edward Tatum
Scientist / 1909 - 1975
Biochemist Edward Tatum won the 1958 Nobel Prize for his research, which helped create the field of molecular genetics.
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(1909-1975)
Scientist
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U Thant
Educator, Civil Servant, Diplomat / 1909 - 1974
U Thant was a Burmese diplomat, pacifist and third secretary general of the United Nations.
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(1909-1974)
Educator, Civil Servant, Diplomat
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Vivian Vance
Film Actress, Television Actress / 1909 - 1979
Vivian Vance was an actress chiefly known as Ethel Murtz on the 1950s TV sitcom I Love Lucy.
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(1909-1979)
Film Actress, Television Actress
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Ben Webster
Saxophonist / 1909 - 1973
Jazz musician Ben Webster (1909–1973) played tenor saxophone with jazz greats like Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum.
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(1909-1973)
Saxophonist
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Simone Weil
Educator, Philosopher, Civil Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Journalist / 1909 - 1943
Simone Weil was a French intellectual, activist and Christian Mystic.
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(1909-1943)
Educator, Philosopher, Civil Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Journalist
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Eudora Welty
Photographer, Journalist, Author / 1909 - 2001
Short-story writer and novelist Eudora Welty’s work focuses on the regional manners of people inhabiting a small Mississippi town that resembles her birthplace.
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(1909-2001)
Photographer, Journalist, Author
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Lester Young
Saxophonist / 1909 - 1959
Lester Young was a saxophonist who introduced an approach to improvisation that provided much of the basis for modern jazz solo conception.
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(1909-1959)
Saxophonist