a
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Lou Albano
Film Actor, Television Actor, Athlete, Television Personality / 1933 - 2009
Lou Albano was a professional wrestler-turned-wrestling personality in the hugely popular World Wrestling Federation of the 1980s.
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(1933-2009)
Film Actor, Television Actor, Athlete, Television Personality
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RaĂşl AlfonsĂn
Lawyer, World Leader / 1927 - 2009
Raúl Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and is known best for being the first democratically elected president of Argentina.
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(1927-2009)
Lawyer, World Leader
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Corazon Aquino
World Leader / 1933 - 2009
Corazon Aquino was the 11th president (and first female president) of the Philippines. She restored democracy after the long dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
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(1933-2009)
World Leader
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Alexis Arguello
Boxer / 1952 - 2009
Alexis Arguello was a Nicaraguan professional boxer who held several world championship titles. He became mayor of Managua in 2008.
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(1952-2009)
Boxer
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Bea Arthur
Animal Rights Activist, Actress / 1922 - 2009
Bea Arthur was an Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress who starred in the television shows Maude and The Golden Girls.
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(1922-2009)
Animal Rights Activist, Actress
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Susan Atkins
Murderer / 1948 - 2009
Susan Atkins was a member of Charles Manson's "Family" and was convicted of the group's infamous 1969 murder of Sharon Tate, which was orchestrated by Manson.
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(1948-2009)
Murderer
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Paul Harvey
Radio Personality / 1918 - 2009
American radio commentator Paul Harvey spent a long life delivering conservative broadcasts on current events, reaching, at his peak, 24 million people daily.
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(1918-2009)
Radio Personality
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J.G. Ballard
Author / 1930 - 2009
J.G. Ballard was an English novelist and a key figure in the New Wave movement in science fiction. He wrote Empire of the Sun and Crash.
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(1930-2009)
Author
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Doc Blanchard
Football Player / 1924 - 2009
Doc Blanchard was a collegiate football player who won the 1945 Heisman Trophy while at West Point.
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(1924-2009)
Football Player
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Norman Borlaug
Biologist / 1914 - 2009
Norman Borlaug’s research of genetic mutation in plants helped start the Green Revolution, which resulted increased wheat production in Mexico, Pakistan and India.
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(1914-2009)
Biologist
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Dennis Brutus
Poet / 1924 - 2009
Dennis Brutus was a poet whose works center on his sufferings and those of his fellow blacks in South Africa.
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(1924-2009)
Poet
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David Carradine
Film Actor, Television Actor / 1936 - 2009
David Carradine was an actor known for his starring role on the 1970s TV series Kung Fu and later in the Kill Bill films.
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(1936-2009)
Film Actor, Television Actor
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Walter Cronkite
News Anchor, Journalist / 1916 - 2009
Walter Cronkite was a lifelong news man who became the voice of the truth for America as a nighttime anchorman.
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(1916-2009)
News Anchor, Journalist
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Merce Cunningham
Choreographer / 1919 - 2009
Merce Cunningham was a dancer and choreographer known for his long-time collaboration with avant-garde composer John Cage.
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(1919-2009)
Choreographer
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Kim Dae-jung
Activist, World Leader / 1925 - 2009
Kim Dae-jung was president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He arranged an historic summit with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il.
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(1925-2009)
Activist, World Leader
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Millvina Dean
Civil Servant / 1912 - 2009
Millvina Dean was the youngest of the 705 survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic and lived to be the last survivor.
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(1912-2009)
Civil Servant
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Roy DeCarava
Photographer / 1919 - 2009
Roy DeCarava was an American photographer who created some of the most iconic images we have of the Civil Rights Movement and jazz musicians in motion.
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(1919-2009)
Photographer
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Dom DeLuise
Film Actor, Television Actor / 1933 - 2009
Dom DeLuise was an actor of film and TV known for parts in such Mel Brooks movies as Silent Movie and Blazing Saddles.
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(1933-2009)
Film Actor, Television Actor
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Dominick Dunne
Producer, Television Personality, Journalist, Author / 1925 - 2009
Novelist and journalist Dominick Dunne wrote fiction and nonfiction about the rich, famous, and corrupt. He covered the O. J. Simpson trial for Vanity Fair.
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(1925-2009)
Producer, Television Personality, Journalist, Author
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Farrah Fawcett
Actress, Pin-up / 1947 - 2009
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress best known for her role in the TV series Charlie’s Angels. She was also famous for her pin-up status and her signature hairstyle.
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(1947-2009)
Actress, Pin-up
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John Hope Franklin
Educator, Historian, Journalist / 1915 - 2009
American historian and educator John Hope Franklin is noted for his reappraisal of the American Civil War era and the importance of the black American struggle.
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(1915-2009)
Educator, Historian, Journalist
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Ellie Greenwich
Songwriter / 1940 - 2009
Ellie Greenwich is best known as the writer of hit songs from the 1960's through the 1980's.
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(1940-2009)
Songwriter
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Don Hewitt
Television Producer / 1922 - 2009
Don Hewitt was a television producer who created the long-running news show 60 Minutes.
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(1922-2009)
Television Producer
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John Hughes
Director, Producer, Screenwriter / 1950 - 2009
Film director and screenwriter John Hughes directed a string of hit teen films, including Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink.
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(1950-2009)
Director, Producer, Screenwriter
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Michael Jackson
Dancer, Songwriter, Music Producer, Singer / 1958 - 2009
Singer-songwriter Michael Jackson's award-winning career as the King of Pop transformed the face of pop music and popular culture. He released the best-selling album in history, Thriller, in 1982. He died unexpectedly in 2009.
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(1958-2009)
Dancer, Songwriter, Music Producer, Singer
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Janet Jagan
Activist, Nurse, World Leader, Prime Minister / 1920 - 2009
Janet Jagan co-founded the People's Progressive Party. She was the first woman to become prime minister of Guyana and was also Guyana’s first female president.
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(1920-2009)
Activist, Nurse, World Leader, Prime Minister
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Jennifer Jones
Film Actress, Television Actress / 1919 - 2009
Jennifer Jones was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-winning performance in the film The Song of Bernadette.
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(1919-2009)
Film Actress, Television Actress
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Ted Kennedy
U.S. Representative / 1932 - 2009
Known as the “Lion of the Senate,” Democrat Ted Kennedy was a staunch liberal who was elected to Congress 9 times, spearheading many legislative reforms.
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(1932-2009)
U.S. Representative
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Helen Levitt
Photographer, Filmmaker / 1913 - 2009
Helen Levitt was a photographer, film editor and director known for her captivating portraits of New York urban life.
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(1913-2009)
Photographer, Filmmaker
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Karl Malden
Film Actor, Television Actor / 1912 - 2009
Karl Malden has established a venerable career as a character actor, appearing in close to seventy films in his fifty years in Hollywood.
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(1912-2009)
Film Actor, Television Actor
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Billy Mays
Television Personality / 1958 - 2009
Billy Mays is best known for his enthusiastic infomercials, pitching products like Orange Glo and Oxiclean.
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(1958-2009)
Television Personality
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Frank McCourt
Journalist / 1930 - 2009
Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt wrote the biography Angela’s Ashes after retiring from teaching for 30 years in New York City.
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(1930-2009)
Journalist
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Ed McMahon
Comedian, Game Show Host / 1923 - 2009
Ed McMahon was the announcer on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, made famous through his banter and his opening introduction, 'Heeeere's Johnny!'
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(1923-2009)
Comedian, Game Show Host
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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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Ricardo Montalban
Actor / 1920 - 2009
Actor Ricardo Montalban is best known for playing Mr. Roarke on television's Fantasy Island—the role that launched him into true stardom.
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(1920-2009)
Actor
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Roh Moo-hyun
Lawyer, World Leader / 1946 - 2009
Roh Moo-hyun was a lawyer and human rights activist who was the president of South Korea from 2003-'08.
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(1946-2009)
Lawyer, World Leader
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John Allen Muhammad
Murderer / 1960 - 2009
John Allen Muhammad became an infamous figure as part of a sniper team that terrorized the Washington, DC, area for several weeks in October 2002
See full bio
(1960-2009)
Murderer
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Brittany Murphy
Film Actress / 1977 - 2009
Brittany Murphy was an actress who appeared in a string of critically acclaimed films, including Girl, Interrupted (1999) and 8 Mile (2002).
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(1977-2009)
Film Actress
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Bob Novak
Talk Show Host / 1931 - 2009
Bob Novak was a conservative TV talk show personality, most famously appearing on CNN's often-explosive Crossfire.
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(1931-2009)
Talk Show Host
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Les Paul
Inventor, Guitarist / 1915 - 2009
Les Paul was a musician who designed a solid-body guitar in 1941, which then was a new type of instrument.
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(1915-2009)
Inventor, Guitarist
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Irving Penn
Photographer / 1917 - 2009
The stunning portraits of photographer Irving Penn have been collected in several books and exhibitions.
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(1917-2009)
Photographer
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Natasha Richardson
Theater Actress, Television Actress / 1963 - 2009
British actress of stage and screen Natasha Richardson won a Tony for her work in the Broadway show Cabaret before she died in a tragic skiing accident.
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(1963-2009)
Theater Actress, Television Actress
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Oral Roberts
Evangelist / 1918 - 2009
Radio and television evangelist Oral Roberts believed he had direct communications from God. In 1963, he founded Oral Roberts University.
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(1918-2009)
Evangelist
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William Safire
Journalist, Author / 1929 - 2009
William Safire was a writer whose column "On Language" was a long-running feature of the New York Times Magazine.
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(1929-2009)
Journalist, Author
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Soupy Sales
Television Personality / 1926 - 2009
Comedian and pie-throwing television personality Soupy Sales was the popular host of such shows as Lunch with Soupy Sales and the Soupy Sales Show.
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(1926-2009)
Television Personality
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Paul Samuelson
Academic, Economist / 1915 - 2009
American economist Paul Samuelson is best known as a founder of neo-Keynesian economics and for being the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.
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(1915-2009)
Academic, Economist
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Percy Sutton
Civil Rights Activist, Lawyer / 1920 - 2009
Percy Sutton was a Freedom Rider, civil rights activist and prominent African-American lawyer best known for representing Malcolm X.
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(1920-2009)
Civil Rights Activist, Lawyer
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Helen Suzman
Civil Rights Activist, Government Official / 1917 - 2009
Helen Suzman was a white South African legislator who for many years was the only government official speaking out against apartheid measures.
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(1917-2009)
Civil Rights Activist, Government Official
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Patrick Swayze
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Singer / 1952 - 2009
Patrick Swayze was a Golden-Globe winning, beloved actor, as well as a singer, songwriter, and dancer, who died of pancreatic cancer in September of 2009.
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(1952-2009)
Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Singer
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Mary Travers
Anti-War Activist, Singer / 1936 - 2009
Mary Travers was a member of the 1960s folk music trio Peter, Paul & Mary.
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(1936-2009)
Anti-War Activist, Singer
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John Updike
Author / 1932 - 2009
Writer John Updike's works are known for their subtle depiction of American middle-class life. His popular Rabbit series earned him two Pulitzer prizes.
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(1932-2009)
Author
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Andrew Wyeth
Painter / 1917 - 2009
Andrew Wyeth was an American realist painter who painted subjects around his hometown pf Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. His most famous work is Christina's World.
See full bio
(1917-2009)
Painter