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Tunku Abdul Rahman
Prime Minister / 1903 - 1990
Tunku Abdul Rahman was chief minister of the Federation of Malaya (1955–1957), the first prime minister of an independent Malaya (1957–1963), and the prime minister of Malaysia (1963–1970).
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(1903-1990)
Prime Minister
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Ralph D. Abernathy
Civil Rights Activist, Pastor / 1926 - 1990
Ralph D. Abernathy was a Baptist minister who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was a close adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.
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(1926-1990)
Civil Rights Activist, Pastor
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Reinaldo Arenas
Poet / 1943 - 1990
Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist and essayist who fled persecution under Fidel Castro and immigrated to the United States.
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(1943-1990)
Poet
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Juan José Arévalo
World Leader / 1904 - 1990
President of Guatemala Juan José Arévalo pursued a nationalistic foreign policy while internally encouraging the labor movement and instituting social reforms.
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(1904-1990)
World Leader
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Leonard Bernstein
Songwriter, Pianist / 1918 - 1990
Leonard Bernstein was one of the first American-born conductors to receive worldwide fame. He composed the score for the Broadway musical West Side Story.
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(1918-1990)
Songwriter, Pianist
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Art Blakey
Drummer / 1919 - 1990
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.
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(1919-1990)
Drummer
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Aaron Copland
Songwriter, Conductor / 1900 - 1990
For nearly four decades, American composer Aaron Copland achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style.
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(1900-1990)
Songwriter, Conductor
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Roald Dahl
Author / 1916 - 1990
Children's author Roald Dahl wrote the kids' classics Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, among other famous works. He was married to actress Patricia Neal.
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(1916-1990)
Author
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Sammy Davis Jr.
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Dancer, Singer / 1925 - 1990
Sammy Davis Jr. was an actor, comedian, singer and dancer, and part of the Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, with whom he starred in several films.
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(1925-1990)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian, Dancer, Singer
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George de Mestral
Engineer, Inventor / 1907 - 1990
Intrigued by burrs that stuck to his clothing, in 1956, Swiss engineer George de Mestral invented the popular fastener now known as Velcro®.
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(1907-1990)
Engineer, Inventor
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Irene Dunne
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress / 1898 - 1990
Irene Dunne was an Academy Award-nominated actress and singer known for her roles in Showboat, Anna and the King of Siam and Love Affair.
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(1898-1990)
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress
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José Figueres Ferrer
World Leader / 1906 - 1990
Moderate socialist Costa Rican statesman José Figueres Ferrer served as president of a governing junta and later as constitutional president of Costa Rica.
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(1906-1990)
World Leader
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Malcolm Forbes
Business Leader, Political Leader, Publisher / 1919 - 1990
Publisher Malcolm Forbes was the son of B.C. Forbes, who founded Forbes magazine. Malcolm Forbes eventually worked his way up to becoming company president.
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(1919-1990)
Business Leader, Political Leader, Publisher
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Halston
Fashion Designer / 1932 - 1990
Roy Halston Frowick, best known as Halston, was an iconic clothing designer of the 1970s. His sexy, yet elegant dresses became a staple in American discos.
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(1932-1990)
Fashion Designer
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Greta Garbo
Actress, Pin-up / 1905 - 1990
Greta Garbo is best known for her acting career, in both silent and talking films before World War II.
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(1905-1990)
Actress, Pin-up
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Ava Gardner
Film Actress, Pin-up / 1922 - 1990
Actress Ava Gardner was a sultry beauty famous for playing femme fatale roles, and for her marriages to Frank Sinatra, Artie Shaw and Mickey Rooney.
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(1922-1990)
Film Actress, Pin-up
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Paulette Goddard
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Model / 1910 - 1990
Paulette Goddard was an American actress best known for her film performances and her marriage to Charlie Chaplin and Burgess Meredith.
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(1910-1990)
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Model
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Arthur J. Goldberg
Supreme Court Justice, Diplomat / 1908 - 1990
Arthur J. Goldberg served as secretary of labor (1961–1962), Supreme Court Justice (1962–1965) and ambassador to the United Nations (1965–1968).
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(1908-1990)
Supreme Court Justice, Diplomat
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Dexter Gordon
Saxophonist / 1923 - 1990
Dexter Gordon was a big-toned, exultant, lyrical soloist on the tenor saxophone who thrived in the 1930s and 1940s.
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(1923-1990)
Saxophonist
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Keith Haring
Painter / 1958 - 1990
During his all-too-brief life, artist Keith Haring became a sensation in the art world with his bold, cartoon and graffiti influenced works during the 1980s.
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(1958-1990)
Painter
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Rex Harrison
Film Actor, Theater Actor / 1908 - 1990
Rex Harrison was a Tony- and an Oscar-winning English actor known for his film and stage performances. His most famous role is that of Henry Higgins in the film musical My Fair Lady.
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(1908-1990)
Film Actor, Theater Actor
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Jim Henson
Filmmaker, Inventor, Screenwriter / 1936 - 1990
Jim Henson was an American puppeteer best known for creating TV characters, including the Muppets, and for his work on the popular children's show Sesame Street.
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(1936-1990)
Filmmaker, Inventor, Screenwriter
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Alice Marble
Tennis Player / 1913 - 1990
Alice Marble was a women's tennis champion, winner of 12 U.S. Open and 5 Wimbledon titles. She also served as U.S spy in Switzerland during WWII.
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(1913-1990)
Tennis Player
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Mary Martin
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress, Singer / 1913 - 1990
Mary Martin was a Tony Award-winning actress and singer famous for her roles in stage productions of Peter Pan, South Pacific and The Sound of Music.
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(1913-1990)
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress, Singer
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Alberto Moravia
Journalist, Author / 1907 - 1990
Short-story writer and novelist Alberto Moravia, known for his fictional portrayals of social alienation, was a major figure in 20th-century Italian literature.
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(1907-1990)
Journalist, Author
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William S. Paley
Entrepreneur, Television Producer / 1901 - 1990
William S. Paley was a businessman who started what would become the CBS television network.
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(1901-1990)
Entrepreneur, Television Producer
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Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Diplomat / 1900 - 1990
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was an Indian political leader and diplomat, one of the world's leading women in public life in the 20th century.
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(1900-1990)
Diplomat
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Pearl Bailey
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress, Singer, Journalist / 1918 - 1990
Pearl Bailey was a Tony Award-winning singer and actress known for her roles in works like Carmen Jones, House of Flowers, Hello, Dolly! and Porgy and Bess.
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(1918-1990)
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress, Singer, Journalist
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Walker Percy
Author / 1916 - 1990
Walker Percy was a novelist known chiefly for his first novel, The Moviegoer, which explored spiritual emptiness.
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(1916-1990)
Author
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Manuel Puig
Author, Screenwriter / 1932 - 1990
Manuel Puig was an Argentine writer known for his film scripts and novels, notably Kiss of the Spider Woman.
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(1932-1990)
Author, Screenwriter
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Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh
Criminal, Cult Leader, Religious Leader / 1931 - 1990
Indian cult leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh created the spiritual practice of dynamic meditation. He started the Rancho Rajneesh commune in Oregon in the 1980s.
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(1931-1990)
Criminal, Cult Leader, Religious Leader
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B.F. Skinner
Academic, Academic Author / 1904 - 1990
American psychologist B.F. Skinner is best known for developing the theory of behaviorism, and for his utopian novel Walden Two (1948).
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(1904-1990)
Academic, Academic Author
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Barbara Stanwyck
Film Actress, Television Actress, Dancer, Pin-up / 1907 - 1990
Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress who had a 60-year career in film and TV. Usually playing strong-willed women, Stanwyck defined the femme fatale.
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(1907-1990)
Film Actress, Television Actress, Dancer, Pin-up
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A.J.P. Taylor
Historian, Academic Author / 1906 - 1990
A.J.P. Taylor was a British historian and journalist noted for his lectures on history and for his prose style, who often sparked controversy with his views.
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(1906-1990)
Historian, Academic Author
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Le Duc Tho
Political Leader / 1911 - 1990
Le Duc Tho was a Vietnamese politician and co-recipient in 1973 (with Henry Kissinger) of the Nobel Prize for Peace, which he declined.
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(1911-1990)
Political Leader
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Sarah Vaughan
Singer / 1924 - 1990
Sarah Vaughan was an American jazz vocalist known for her impressive three octave range. She was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1990.
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(1924-1990)
Singer
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Stevie Ray Vaughan
Songwriter, Guitarist / 1954 - 1990
A preeminent bluesman, award-winning guitarist and singer Stevie Ray Vaughan earned critical and commercial success during the 1980s.
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(1954-1990)
Songwriter, Guitarist
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Paul Watkins
1950 - 1990
Paul Watkins, a member of Charles Manson's "family," was not involved in the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders, but testified for the prosecution in the Manson trial, specifically about Manson's theory of "Helter Skelter."
See full bio
(1950-1990)
y
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Graham Young
Serial Killer / 1947 - 1990
Graham Young is best known as the Teacup Poisoner, responsible for the killing of at least three people in England.
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(1947-1990)
Serial Killer