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Ansel Adams
Environmental Activist, Photographer / 1902 - 1984
Ansel Adams was an American photographer best known for his iconic images of the American West, including Yosemite National Park.
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(1902-1984)
Environmental Activist, Photographer
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Gracie Allen
Film Actress, Comedian, Singer / 1905 - 1964
One of America's best-loved comediennes, Gracie Allen developed the Burns and Allen weekly radio program with husband George Burns.
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(1905-1964)
Film Actress, Comedian, Singer
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Luis W. Alvarez
Physicist / 1911 - 1988
Luis Alvarez was an experimental physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1968.
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(1911-1988)
Physicist
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Dorothy Arzner
Director / 1897 - 1979
Dorothy Arzner was a pioneer in the film industry, becoming one of the first women directors of feature films and the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America.
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(1897-1979)
Director
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Bill Bixby
Film Actor, Television Actor / 1934 - 1993
Bill Bixby, American actor, was best known for his role as The Incredible Hulk on television.
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(1934-1993)
Film Actor, Television Actor
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Mel Blanc
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Musician, Radio Talk Show Host, Talk Show Host / 1908 - 1989
Mel Blanc was a voice actor and entertainer who provided voices for Bugs Bunny and over 400 other cartoon characters.
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(1908-1989)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Musician, Radio Talk Show Host, Talk Show Host
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Benjamin Bratt
Actor / 1963 -
Benjamin Bratt is known for his television and film roles, including his selection as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful" in 1999.
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(1963-)
Actor
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Owen Chamberlain
Physicist / 1920 - 2006
Owen Chamberlain worked on the Manhattan atomic bomb project. He and his colleague Emilio Segrè received a Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the antiproton.
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(1920-2006)
Physicist
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Margaret Cho
1968 -
Margaret Cho is a Korean-American comic best known for her candid comedy, TV roles and advocacy.
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(1968-)
d
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Barry Diller
Business Leader / 1942 -
Media mogul Barry Diller popularized the TV miniseries with Roots, cofounded the Fox network, and owned shopping channels QVC and HSN.
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(1942-)
Business Leader
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Clint Eastwood
Actor, Director / 1930 -
Clint Eastwood has made his name as a popular TV and film actor. He went on to become a famed director, working on several Academy Award-winning films.
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(1930-)
Actor, Director
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Dianne Feinstein
Mayor, U.S. Representative / 1933 -
Dianne Feinstein is a United States senator from California and a former mayor of San Francisco.
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(1933-)
Mayor, U.S. Representative
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Leon Fleisher
Pianist / 1928 -
Pianist Leon Fleisher is best known for his compositions and performances of classical music.
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(1928-)
Pianist
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Dian Fossey
Zoologist / 1932 - 1985
Dian Fossey was a zoologist best known for researching the endangered gorillas of the Rwandan mountain forest from the 1960s to the '80s, and for her mysterious murder.
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(1932-1985)
Zoologist
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Robert Frost
Educator, Poet / 1874 - 1963
A four-time Pulitzer Prize winner in poetry, American Robert Frost depicted realistic New England life through language and situations familiar to the common man.
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(1874-1963)
Educator, Poet
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Jerry Garcia
Songwriter, Guitarist / 1942 - 1995
Jerry Garcia was the lead guitarist, as well as one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead.
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(1942-1995)
Songwriter, Guitarist
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Clifford Geertz
Anthropologist, Educator, Journalist / 1926 - 2006
Clifford Geertz was a leading proponent of a form of anthropology that stresses the importance of symbols and interpretation in human social life.
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(1926-2006)
Anthropologist, Educator, Journalist
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Danny Glover
Film Actor / 1946 -
Danny Glover is an actor who came into his own as Mel Gibson's co-star in the Lethal Weapon films in the 1980s and 1990s.
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(1946-)
Film Actor
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Rube Goldberg
Illustrator, Journalist / 1883 - 1970
American cartoonist Rube Goldberg was best known for his work satirizing America's obsession with technology. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for his editorial cartoon "Peace Today."
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(1883-1970)
Illustrator, Journalist
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Merv Griffin
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Entrepreneur, Singer, Talk Show Host, Television Producer / 1925 - 2007
Merv Griffin was an American television host, singer and business magnate. He created the game shows Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune and Click.
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(1925-2007)
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Entrepreneur, Singer, Talk Show Host, Television Producer
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Laird Hamilton
Athlete, Producer, Model, Television Personality / 1964 -
Laird Hamilton is an athlete, surfer, model and television host. He is one of today’s best known big wave surfers.
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(1964-)
Athlete, Producer, Model, Television Personality
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Josh Hartnett
Film Actor, Television Actor / 1978 -
With a string of big-budget titles to his credit, actor Josh Hartnett has emerged from the crowd of 1990s teen heartthrobs to become a sought after leading man.
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(1978-)
Film Actor, Television Actor
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William Randolph Hearst
Business Leader, Publisher / 1863 - 1951
William Randolph Hearst is best known for publishing the largest chain of American newspapers in the late 19th century, and particularly for sensational "yellow journalism."
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(1863-1951)
Business Leader, Publisher
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Shirley Jackson
Author / 1916 - 1965
Writer Shirley Jackson is best known for her story “The Lottery," which suggests a sinister underside to small-town America, and The Haunting of Hill House.
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(1916-1965)
Author
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Warren Jeffs
Criminal, Religious Leader / 1955 -
Warren Jeffs, the former leader of the polygamist sect Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was convicted in 2011 for the sexual assault of underage girls.
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(1955-)
Criminal, Religious Leader
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Steve Jobs
Entrepreneur / 1955 - 2011
Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Computers with Steve Wozniak. Under Job's guidance, the company pioneered a series of revolutionary technologies, including the iPhone and iPad.
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(1955-2011)
Entrepreneur
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Joanna Kerns
Television Actress / 1953 -
On the hit sitcom, Growing Pains, actress Joanna Kerns played Maggie Seaver, one of the most popular television mothers of the late 1980s.
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(1953-)
Television Actress
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Jason Kidd
Basketball Player / 1973 -
Professional basketball player Jason Kidd is one of the top point guards in the sport. He helped the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA Championship in 2011.
See full bio
(1973-)
Basketball Player
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Leonard Lake
Serial Killer / 1945 - 1985
Leonard Lake was a serial killer who partnered with another man to rape and kill several people in the 1980s.
See full bio
(1945-1985)
Serial Killer
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Jack LaLanne
Athlete, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Television Personality / 1914 - 2011
The "godfather of fitness," Jack LaLanne, is known for his 1950s TV fitness program and for his endorsement of a power juicer in 2002.
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(1914-2011)
Athlete, Entrepreneur, Inventor, Television Personality
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Bruce Lee
Film Actor, Television Actor, Martial Arts Expert / 1940 - 1973
Bruce Lee was an actor, film producer and director, and the martial arts expert who founded the Jeet Kune Doe martial arts system.
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(1940-1973)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Martial Arts Expert
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Jack London
Journalist, Author / 1876 - 1916
Jack London was a 19th century American author and journalist, best known for the adventure novels White Fang and The Call of the Wild.
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(1876-1916)
Journalist, Author
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Courtney Love
Film, Songwriter, Singer / 1964 -
Before she became the poster child for drugs and plastic surgery, Courtney Love was an alternative rock star married to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
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(1964-)
Film, Songwriter, Singer
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Leslie Mann
Film Actress / 1972 -
American actress Leslie Mann is known for her comedic performances, especially in several films directed by her husband, Judd Apatow.
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(1972-)
Film Actress
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Frances Marion
Screenwriter / 1888 - 1973
Screenwriter Frances Marion wrote more than 100 scripts during her career. She won Academy Awards for The Champ and The Big House.
See full bio
(1888-1973)
Screenwriter
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Robert S McNamara
Entrepreneur, Military Leader, Government Official / 1916 - 2009
Robert S. McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth U.S. Secretary of Defense. He is best known for helping lead the U.S. into the Vietnam War.
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(1916-2009)
Entrepreneur, Military Leader, Government Official
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Kevin Pollak
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Game Show Host / 1957 -
Comedian and actor Kevin Pollack starred opposite Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Other memorable roles followed.
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(1957-)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Game Show Host
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Rob Schneider
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Director, Screenwriter / 1963 -
Actor and comedian Rob Schneider's is best known for his combination of self-deprecating humor and goofball antics in films like Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.
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(1963-)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Director, Screenwriter
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Liev Schreiber
Film Actor / 1967 -
Liev Schriber is an actor known for appearing in such films as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Hamlet and Scream.
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(1967-)
Film Actor
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Alicia Silverstone
Animal Rights Activist, Film Actress / 1976 -
Alicia Silverstone is an actress who starred in such films as Clueless and The Crush. She is an outspoken environmentalist, vegan and animal rights activist.
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(1976-)
Animal Rights Activist, Film Actress
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O.J. Simpson
Actor, Football Player, Criminal / 1947 -
O.J. Simpson is best known for his arrest and trial in the 1994 murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, of which he was found not guilty.
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(1947-)
Actor, Football Player, Criminal
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Lemony Snicket
Author / 1970 -
Writer Lemony Snicket became well-known for his series of children's novels, A Series of Unfortunate Events, featuring the Baudelaire siblings.
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(1970-)
Author
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David Strathairn
Actor / 1949 -
David Strathairn is an American actor best known for his Oscar-nominated role in Good Night, and Good Luck, and performances in We Are Marshall, The Bourne Ultimatum, Temple Grandin and Lincoln.
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(1949-)
Actor
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Caspar Weinberger
Lawyer, Government Official / 1917 - 2003
Caspar Weinberger served in three U.S. presidential administrations. He was appointed Secretary of Defense after Reagan’s election in 1980.
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(1917-2003)
Lawyer, Government Official
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Bob Weir
Environmental Activist, Guitarist / 1947 -
Bob Weir was a rhythm guitarist for the legendary rock band the Grateful Dead from 1964 to 1995 and later reunited to tour with former members as The Other Ones.
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(1947-)
Environmental Activist, Guitarist
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Dan White
Assassin, Government Official / 1946 - 1985
Dan White assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist, in 1978.
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(1946-1985)
Assassin, Government Official
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Nancy Wilson
Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer / 1954 -
Nancy Wilson is a singer, songwriter and guitarist for the rock band Heart, along with her sister, Ann Wilson.
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(1954-)
Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer
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Natalie Wood
Film Actress / 1938 - 1981
Actress Natalie Wood starred in the films Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean and in West Side Story as Maria. She drowned during a boating trip in 1981.
See full bio
(1938-1981)
Film Actress