a
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Dai Ailian
Ballet Dancer, Choreographer / 1916 - 2006
Dai Ailian was a dancer and choreographer who co-founded the Central Ballet of China (also known as the National Ballet of China).
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(1916-2006)
Ballet Dancer, Choreographer
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Robert Altman
Director / 1925 - 2006
Filmmaker Robert Altman is best known for his highly individualistic films and use of simultaneous layers of dialogue.
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(1925-2006)
Director
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Lillian Asplund
1906 - 2006
Lillian Asplund was a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic and the last living American survivor.
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(1906-2006)
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Joseph Barbera
Illustrator, Television Producer / 1911 - 2006
Cartoon artist, director and producer Joseph Barbera formed Hanna-Barbera with William Hanna, which by the late 1960s dominated the TV animation scene.
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(1911-2006)
Illustrator, Television Producer
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Syd Barrett
Musician / 1946 - 2006
Guitarist Syd Barrett helped found the psychedelic rock band Pink Floyd. After a mental break forced his departure, he spent 30 years as a painter and recluse.
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(1946-2006)
Musician
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P.W. Botha
World Leader, Prime Minister / 1916 - 2006
P.W. Botha was a former South African prime minister and president who maintained the racial caste system of apartheid.
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(1916-2006)
World Leader, Prime Minister
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Peter Boyle
Actor / 1935 - 2006
American actor Peter Boyle is best known as the grumpy dad on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, a role he held for eleven years.
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(1935-2006)
Actor
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Ed Bradley
News Anchor / 1941 - 2006
Journalist Ed Bradley spent 26 years on TV as a member of the 60 Minutes team, winning 19 Emmy Awards along the way.
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(1941-2006)
News Anchor
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James Brown
Activist, Dancer, Songwriter, Singer / 1933 - 2006
James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul," was a prolific singer, songwriter and bandleader, as well as one of the most iconic figures in funk and soul music from 1956 to 2006.
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(1933-2006)
Activist, Dancer, Songwriter, Singer
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Ruth Brown
Theater Actress, Singer / 1928 - 2006
Rhythm and blues singer Ruth Brown signed with Atlantic Records at a young age and recorded a number of hit songs throughout the 1950s.
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(1928-2006)
Theater Actress, Singer
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Jerome Brudos
Serial Killer / 1939 - 2006
Jerome Brudos was a serial murderer and necrophile who murdered four women in Oregon during the 1960s. He was known as the "The Lust Killer" and "The Shoe Fetish Slayer."
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(1939-2006)
Serial Killer
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Susan Butcher
Athlete / 1954 - 2006
Susan Butcher was a champion American dog musher and four-time winner of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
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(1954-2006)
Athlete
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Octavia E. Butler
Author / 1947 - 2006
Author Octavia E. Butler is known for blending science fiction with African-American spiritualism. Her novels include Patternmaster, Kindred, Dawn and Parable of the Sower.
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(1947-2006)
Author
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Red Buttons
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Comedian, Television Personality / 1919 - 2006
Actor Red Buttons got his name from the flame-colored hair and uniform as a bellhop. He is best known as a comedian but he had a prolific film career as well.
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(1919-2006)
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Comedian, Television Personality
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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
d
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Desmond Dekker
Musician / 1941 - 2006
Jamaican born singer Desmond Dekker was best known for creating several musical hits in the ska and reggae genres.
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(1941-2006)
Musician
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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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Gerald Ford
Lawyer, U.S. President, U.S. Vice President, U.S. Representative / 1913 - 2006
Gerald Ford became the 38th president of the United States following Richard Nixon's resignation, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.
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(1913-2006)
Lawyer, U.S. President, U.S. Vice President, U.S. Representative
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Glenn Ford
Film Actor, Television Actor / 1916 - 2006
Actor Glenn Ford rose to fame after serving in World War II, thanks to several film roles in the '30s and beyond.
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(1916-2006)
Film Actor, Television Actor
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Betty Friedan
Women's Rights Activist, Journalist / 1921 - 2006
Writer, feminist and women's rights activist Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) and co-founded the National Organization for Women.
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(1921-2006)
Women's Rights Activist, Journalist
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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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Saddam Hussein
World Leader / 1937 - 2006
As dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the Persian Gulf War in 1992. His downfall was a direct effect of the Iraq War, initiated by the U.S. in 2003. Hussein was executed in 2006.
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| Watch video
(1937-2006)
World Leader
i
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Steve Irwin
Television Personality / 1962 - 2006
Steve Irwin was a famous Australian wildlife enthusiast who was at the helm of the popular Crocodile Hunter series.
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(1962-2006)
Television Personality
j
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Jane Jacobs
Activist, Journalist / 1916 - 2006
Author and activist Jane Jacobs wrote about preserving urban neighborhoods, in books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Dark Age Ahead.
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(1916-2006)
Activist, Journalist
k
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Coretta Scott King
Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Writer / 1927 - 2006
Coretta Scott King was an American civil rights activist and the wife of 1960s civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
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(1927-2006)
Civil Rights Activist, Women's Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Writer
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Jeane Kirkpatrick
Scholar, Political Scientist, Government Official / 1926 - 2006
Jeane Kirkpatrick was the first American female ambassador to the United Nations, an anticommunist, and Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser.
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(1926-2006)
Scholar, Political Scientist, Government Official
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Don Knotts
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian / 1924 - 2006
Don Knotts was a comedic actor of film and television known for his roles on TV's The Andy Griffith Show and Three's Company.
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(1924-2006)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Comedian
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Stanley Kunitz
Educator, Poet / 1905 - 2006
Stanley Kunitz was an American poet who served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1974; 2000). He won the Pulitzer Prize for his work Selected Poems 1928-1958 (1958).
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(1905-2006)
Educator, Poet
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Kenneth Lay
Business Leader, White Collar Criminal / 1942 - 2006
Best known as Enron business executive who was convicted of conspiracy and fraud. 20,000 Enron employees lost their jobs and life savings.
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(1942-2006)
Business Leader, White Collar Criminal
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Al Lewis
Film Actor, Television Actor, Entrepreneur / 1923 - 2006
Al Lewis was an entertainer who was best known for his role as Grandpa, the elderly vampire in a family of monsters, in the 1964 sitcom The Munsters.
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(1923-2006)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Entrepreneur
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Jeffrey Lundgren
Cult Leader / 1950 - 2006
Jeffrey Lundgren was an Ohio-based cult leader who murdered a family of five.
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(1950-2006)
Cult Leader
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Naguib Mahfouz
Author / 1911 - 2006
Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) won the Nobel Prize in 1988 for his significant contribution to Arabic literature.
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(1911-2006)
Author
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Jackie McLean
Academic, Saxophonist / 1931 - 2006
Jackie McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist and also an educator. His personal style included short phrases or irregular length.
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(1931-2006)
Academic, Saxophonist
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Slobodan Milosevic
World Leader / 1941 - 2006
Slobodan Milosevic was a politician best known as the Serbian and Yugoslavian president in the late 1980s through the '90s. After losing power in 2000, he was charged for crimes against humanity.
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(1941-2006)
World Leader
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Buck Owens
Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer, Television Personality / 1929 - 2006
Country singer Buck Owens is one of several musicians credited with creating the Bakersfield Sound, which combines rock and classic country music.
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(1929-2006)
Songwriter, Guitarist, Singer, Television Personality
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Kerry Packer
Business Leader, Publisher / 1937 - 2006
Kerry Packer was an Australian media tycoon and business figure who, at the time of his death in 2005, was one of the richest men in Australia.
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(1937-2006)
Business Leader, Publisher
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Jack Palance
Actor / 1919 - 2006
Jack Palance was an American actor best known for playing villainous roles in the 1960s and for his award-winning appearance in the film City Slickers.
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(1919-2006)
Actor
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Gordon Parks
Photographer, Director, Songwriter, Pianist, Writer / 1912 - 2006
Gordon Parks was an African-American photographer, filmmaker and author, best known for his work published in LIFE magazine and for directing the hit movie Shaft.
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(1912-2006)
Photographer, Director, Songwriter, Pianist, Writer
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Floyd Patterson
Boxer / 1935 - 2006
American boxer Floyd Patterson was the first to hold the world heavyweight championship twice. He won a gold medal in the 1952 Olympic Games.
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(1935-2006)
Boxer
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Wilson Pickett
Songwriter, Singer / 1941 - 2006
Wilson Pickett was an American singer-songwriter, whose explosive style helped define the soul music of the 1960s.
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(1941-2006)
Songwriter, Singer
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Augusto Pinochet
General, Dictator / 1915 - 2006
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet overthrew the Allende government in 1973 and stayed in power until 1998. He was never tried for alleged human rights abuses.
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(1915-2006)
General, Dictator
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Gene Pitney
Songwriter, Singer / 1941 - 2006
Singer and songwriter Gene Pitney wrote and recorded popular music in the 1960s, including Ricky Nelson's 1961 hit "Hello Mary Lou."
See full bio
(1941-2006)
Songwriter, Singer
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Johannes Rau
Environmental Activist, World Leader / 1931 - 2006
Johannes Rau was a member of the Social Democratic Party Executive and chair of the party state organization before serving as president of Germany (1999-2004).
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(1931-2006)
Environmental Activist, World Leader
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Lou Rawls
Singer / 1933 - 2006
Lou Rawls was a singer and songwriter known for his baritone voice and the small acting roles he took on the side.
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(1933-2006)
Singer
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Dana Reeve
Theater Actress, Television Actress, Singer, Philanthropist / 1961 - 2006
Dana Reeve was an actress and the wife of actor Christopher Reeve. She established and chaired the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center.
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(1961-2006)
Theater Actress, Television Actress, Singer, Philanthropist
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Ann Richards
U.S. Governor / 1933 - 2006
Feisty politician Ann Richards came to national attention as a keynote speaker in the 1988 Democratic National Convention and later as governor of Texas.
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(1933-2006)
U.S. Governor
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Tokyo Rose
Radio Personality / 1916 - 2006
Tokyo Rose, whose real name was Iva Toguri, was an American-born Japanese woman who hosted a Japanese propaganda radio program aimed at U.S. troops during World War II.
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| Watch video
(1916-2006)
Radio Personality
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Norman Shumway
Surgeon / 1923 - 2006
Surgeon Norman Shumway performed the first human heart transplant in 1968.
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(1923-2006)
Surgeon
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Muriel Spark
Literary Critic, Academic Author, Publisher, Author, Poet / 1918 - 2006
Dame Muriel Spark was a Scottish novelist, poet and literary critic best known for her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
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(1918-2006)
Literary Critic, Academic Author, Publisher, Author, Poet
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Aaron Spelling
Actor, Television Producer, Screenwriter / 1923 - 2006
Aaron Spelling remains television’s most prolific producer, primarily known for escapist entertainment.
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(1923-2006)
Actor, Television Producer, Screenwriter
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Mickey Spillane
Author / 1918 - 2006
Mickey Spillane was an American writer of mysteries and pulp fiction. His most famous creation was hard-boiled detective, Mike Hammer.
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(1918-2006)
Author
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Maureen Stapleton
Film Actress, Theater Actress / 1925 - 2006
Maureen Stapleton was an American actress known primarily for her stage work in the plays of Tennessee Williams.
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(1925-2006)
Film Actress, Theater Actress
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William Styron
Author / 1925 - 2006
Novelist William Styron won a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and wrote Sophie’s Choice, the basis of an Academy Award-winning film.
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(1925-2006)
Author
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Wendy Wasserstein
Playwright / 1950 - 2006
Wendy Wasserstein was an award-winning playwright of such works as The Sisters Rosensweig and An American Daughter.
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(1950-2006)
Playwright
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Shelley Winters
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Pin-up / 1920 - 2006
Shelley Winters was a popular American actress who is perhaps most remembered for her starring role in the 1951 film A Place in the Sun, for which won an Oscar.
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(1920-2006)
Film Actress, Theater Actress, Pin-up
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Jane Wyatt
Theater Actress, Television Actress / 1910 - 2006
Emmy-award winning actress Jane Wyatt is best known for her role as housewife and mother Margaret Anderson on the CBS television sitcom Father Knows Best.
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(1910-2006)
Theater Actress, Television Actress