Famous Masons
Many men throughout history have been members of our fraternity.
In these pages we will present you with them and try to impress upon you the great men that have been Masons.
Famous Mason Categories
Articles of Confederation • Astronauts • Businessmen • Entertainers • Explorers and Frontiersmen • Governors • Military Leaders
Politician • Presidents • Senator • Signer Declaration of Independence • Sports • Supreme Court Justice • US Constitution
Members on this page are members of the Entertainment Industry
Entertainment industry – those involved in providing entertainment: radio and television and films and theater.
American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.
American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the ?King of Country Music,? Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and ?hoedown? format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.
American silent film director, actor, and screenwriter who was involved in more than 100 productions throughout his career. An early acting credit was in the recently restored 1912 film Robin Hood. His urn at findagrave.com says he was born January 19, 1881.
Better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was also owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.
Lloyd Bacon is probably best known for his director?s credit on such classic Warner Bros. films as ?42nd Street?, ?Footlight Parade?, ?Knute Rockne ? All American?, and ?Action in the North Atlantic?. Still, other film personalities are better remembered for these films: choreographer Busby Berkeley for the musicals, and actors Pat O?Brien, Ronald Reagan, and Humphrey Bogart for the 1940s films.…
Meyer Kessler, was an American magician, comedian and actor.
Billing himself as ?The Great Ballantine?, ?The Amazing Ballantine? or ?Ballantine: The World?s Greatest Magician?, his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go ?hilariously awry? to the wisecracking Ballantine?s mock chagrin. He has been credited with creating comedy magic and has influenced both comics and magicians.
Bancroft was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1882. During his early days as a sailor he staged plays on board ship. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy, but left the Navy to become a ?black face? song and dance comedian in revue. After that he turned to melodrama and musical comedy. He later became one of the top Hollywood stars of the 1920s.…
American cinematographer from the era of silent films to the early 1950s. Over the course of his career, he was nominated for an Academy Award eight times, including his work on The Devil Dancer (1927) with Gilda Gray and Clive Brook. However, he only won once, for his work on the Alfred Hitchcock film Rebecca (1940).…
American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. His mother taught him to play the piano and he started performing in his teens. Dropping out of school, he learned to operate lights for vaudeville and to improvise accompaniment for silent films at a local movie theater in his home town of Red Bank, New Jersey. By 16 he increasingly played jazz piano at parties, resorts and other venues.…
Joined the circus as a cage cleaner as a teen and became famous as a lion tamer and animal trainer. He also became a circus impresario who owned his own show that later merged with the Cole Bros. Circus to form the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus.
He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 movies in a 36-year career.…
Russian-born Jewish-American composer and lyricist. Widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, his music forms a great part of the Great American Songbook. He published his first song, ?Marie from Sunny Italy?, in 1907, receiving 37 cents for the publishing rights, and had his first major international hit, ?Alexander?s Ragtime Band? in 1911.…
Pulitzer Prize?winning cartoonist with the Washington Star newspaper from 1907 to 1949. He was also a cartoonist for The Washington Post from 1891 to 1907.
Berryman was born on April 2, 1869, in Clifton, Kentucky, to James Thomas Berryman and Sallie Church Berryman. He married Kate Geddes Durfee in July, 1893, and they had three children: Mary Belle (died as an infant), Florence Seville (an art critic), and James Thomas (a Pulitzer Prize?winning cartoonist).…
American actor, comedian, and radio personality. Although he began his sixty-plus-year career performing in radio, Blanc is best remembered for his work with Warner Bros. as the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, the Tasmanian Devil and many of the other characters from the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoon short films, produced during the golden age of American animation.…
Movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles.
American film and television actor whose career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1955 for Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962?1966 series McHale?s Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles.…
American actor and comedian most famous for his portrayal of a lovable drunken man in nightclub performances and television programs.
American actor and comedian, remembered for his amiable screen persona, comic timing, and enormous smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s with successful films like A Midsummer Night?s Dream, Earthworm Tractors and Alibi Ike. In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the famous punchline ?Well, nobody?s perfect?.
American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s. As Uncle Joe, he took over as proprietor of the Shady Rest Hotel following the 1968 death of Bea Benaderet, who had played Kate Bradley.
Edward Israel Iskowitz, was an American ?illustrated song? performer, comedian, dancer, singer, actor and songwriter. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie and early television audiences, this ?Apostle of Pep? was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five daughters. Some of his hits include ?Makin?…
J.R. ?Johnny? Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.…
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1992. Roy Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre. During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw.…
American film and theater actor. Best known for his work in comedies, Coburn received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 1943?s The More the Merrier. Coburn was born in Macon, Georgia, the son of Scots-Irish Americans Emma Louise Sprigman and Moses Douville Coburn. Growing up in Savannah, he started out at age 14 doing odd jobs at the local Savannah Theater, handing out programs, ushering, or being the doorman.…
American scout, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), in Le Claire but he grew up for several years in his father?s hometown in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill started working at the age of eleven after his father?s death, and became a rider for the Pony Express at age 14.…
Known professionally as George M. Cohan, was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudeville act known as ?The Four Cohans.? Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote, composed, produced, and appeared in more than three dozen Broadway musicals.…
Known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres and which he used to become a major force in popular music for 3 decades producing many hit songs for Cole.…
Norman Lawrence ?Norm? Crosby is an American comedian sometimes associated with the Borscht Belt who often appeared on television in the 1970s. He is known for his use of malapropisms and is often called The Master of Malaprop. He was born in Boston.
Born in New York and drawn to the theatre from his youth, Dano was a tall and rugged supporting actor with piercing blue eyes and deep resonant voice. His career spanned the years from 1950 to 1993. He appeared in over 80 feature films including ?The Red Badge of Courage?, ?Moby Dick?, ?The Trouble With Harry?, ?King Of Kings?, ?The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid?, ?Electra Glide in Blue?, The Outlaw Josie Wales?…
Prominent American actor-manager. He is associated with operating a major theater in St. Louis, and for portraying the role of Falstaff. He was also connected by marriage with the Booth family of actors.
American film, radio, and television actor. DeFore is best known as Erskin ?Thorny? Thornberry, the Nelson family?s neighbor on the long running sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and as George ?Mr. B.? Baxter on the 1960s sitcom Hazel. From 1961 to 1965, DeFore was a co-star of the television series Hazel as ?Mr. B.?…
American filmmaker. Between 1913 and 1956, he made seventy features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the Hollywood film industry, the most commercially successful producer-director in cinema history. DeMille began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse Lasky, who was then a vaudeville producer.…
Irish-born American actor. He appeared in 205 films between 1915 and 1948. He was nicknamed ?The King of the Silent Serials.? Born William Mannion in Dublin, Ireland, he was raised in New York City. He later changed his surname to a stage name. He started out in vaudeville and the legitimate stage before making his film debut.…
James Cecil Dickens, better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4?11? (150 cm), and his rhinestone-studded outfits (which he is given credit for introducing into country music live performances). He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983.…
American sound engineer. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He worked on 100 films between 1958 and 1990.
Waldo Brian Donlevy, later known as Brian Donlevy, was an American actor, noted for playing dangerous tough guys from the 1930s to the 1960s. He usually appeared in supporting roles. Among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939) and The Great McGinty (1940). For his role as Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.…
Better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler and writer. Fields?s comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist, who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs and children. His career in show business began in vaudeville, where he attained international success as a silent juggler. He gradually incorporated comedy into his act, and was a featured comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years.…
American producer, director, production manager and assistant director. He was best known for his films produced for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Dull was nominated during the 6th Academy Awards for the short lived Best Assistant Director category and won during the 1948 Oscars for the film The Secret Land in the category of Best Documentary He worked on over 40 films from 1925 to 1951
Edward Kennedy ?Duke? Ellington was an American composer, pianist and bandleader of jazz orchestras. He led his orchestra from 1923 until his death, his career spanning over 50 years. Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra?s appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem.…
American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro but spent the early part of his career making comedies.
Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood?s Golden Era with a career that lasted over 50 years. Despite his versatility, Ford was best known for playing ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford interrupted his film career to volunteer for duty in World War II with the United States Marine Corps Reserve on December 13, 1942. He was assigned in March 1943 to active duty at the Marine Corps Base in San Diego.…
Isadore ?Friz? Freleng, often credited as I. Freleng, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and producer famous for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons from Warner Bros. He introduced and/or developed several of the studio?s biggest stars, including Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam (to whom he was said to bear more than a passing resemblance), and Speedy Gonzales.…
American film actor, often referred to as ?The King of Hollywood? or just simply as ?The King?. Gable began his career as a stage actor and appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926, and progressed to supporting roles with a few films for MGM in 1931. The next year he landed his first leading Hollywood role and became a leading man in more than 60 motion pictures over the next three decades.…
American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead. No TV personality in 1950s America enjoyed more clout or fame than Godfrey until an infamous on-air incident undermined his folksy image and triggered a gradual decline. At the peak of his success, Godfrey helmed two CBS-TV weekly series and a daily 90-minute television mid-morning show, but, by the early 1960s, his presence had been reduced to hosting the occasional TV special.…
(aka Eddie Guest) was a prolific English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People?s Poet. In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England. After he began at the Detroit Free Press as a copy boy and then a reporter, his first poem appeared 11 December 1898.…
American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted 25 years, from 1927 to 1951. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In some of his early works, he was billed as Babe Hardy, using his nickname.
American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter. He was involved in well over 60 films either as an actor or director or both in his twenty-year career, between 1914 and 1934 when he retired from filmmaking.
KBE, KC*SG, KSS, was an English-born American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 films and shorts, including a series of ?Road? movies co-starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. In addition to hosting the Academy Awards fourteen times (more than any other host), he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of fourteen books.…
(born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss) was a Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the US and then as ?Harry Handcuff Houdini? on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can.…
Ingalls knew Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry from their days as officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in the early 1950s. The following decade, Ingalls wrote two episodes for Roddenberry’s Star Trek: The Original Series, the first being the first season’s “The Alternative Factor”. This was followed in the second season by “A Private Little War”, for which he chose to be credited under the pseudonym Jud Crucis.…
American actor, writer, and folk singer. As an actor, Ives?s work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, ?Ives?s voice ? had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity.…
American motion picture star of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, known for his work starring in many popular western movies. In his early film appearances, he was billed as Charles Jones. Charles Frederick Gebhart was born on the outskirts of Vincennes, Indiana on December 12, 1891. In 1907, Jones joined the US Army a month after his sixteenth birthday: his mother had signed a consent form that gave his age as eighteen.…
United States march music bandmaster and composer. He is best known as the composer of “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite”. King the composer published more than 300 works: galops, waltzes, overtures, serenades, rags, and 188 marches and screamers. It could be said that King did for the circus march what Sousa did for the patriotic march. He seemed to like composing under pressure and often composed in tight spots (such as by oil lamp in cramped circus tents).…
American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and former soldier. He is known for writing and recording such hits as “Me and Bobby McGee”, “For the Good Times”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. Kristofferson is the sole writer of most of his songs, and he has collaborated with various other figures of the Nashville scene such as Shel Silverstein.[1] In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in forming the country music supergroup, The Highwaymen.…
Magician, master of ceremonies, clown, worldwide; Organizer annual magic show to raise funds for neuromuscular disease research.
Born Otto Elmo Linkenhelt, the actor is best known in his silent movie role as the first Tarzan in 1918?s Tarzan of the Apes as an adult?(Gordon Griffith played him as a child in the same movie). He portrayed the character twice more?in The Romance of Tarzan (also 1918) and in the 1921 serial The Adventures of Tarzan.
American actor, comedian, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer who is most famous for his silent comedy films. Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular and influential film comedians of the silent film era. Lloyd made nearly 200 comedy films, both silent and ?talkies?, between 1914 and 1947.…
Professionally as Charlie Louvin, was an American country music singer and songwriter. He is best known as one of the Louvin Brothers, and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1955.Born in Section, Alabama, Louvin was one of 7 children. He started singing when he was 8 years old. Louvin began singing professionally with his brother Ira as a teenager on local radio programs in Chattanooga, Tennessee.…
Alvin Morris, was an American actor and singer who was married to performer Cyd Charisse for 60 years. In films, he was first cast in a number of bit parts, including a role as a sailor in the movie Follow the Fleet (1936), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. He eventually signed with 20th Century-Fox and then Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which he starred in a number of musicals.…
American motion picture stuntman and actor. Maynard was born in Vevay, Indiana, one of five children, another of whom, his lookalike younger brother, Kermit, would also become an actor; most audience members assumed that Kermit was his brother’s identical twin. Ken Maynard began working at carnivals and circuses, where he became an accomplished horseman. As a young man, he performed in rodeos and was a trick rider with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.…
American film actor and the star of many early Western movies between 1909 and 1935. Mix appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent movies. He was Hollywood?s first Western megastar and is noted as having helped define the genre for all cowboy actors who followed.
Better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner, Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay.
One of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. At the age of 19, Murphy received the Medal of Honor after single-handedly holding off an entire company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, then leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.…
American screen actor and matinee idol of the silent film era and beyond. He was also a well-known television actor and radio performer. Nagel was immediately cast in film roles that cemented his unspoiled lover image. His first film was the 1918 retelling of the Louisa May Alcott classic, Little Women, which quickly captured the public’s attention and set Nagel on a path to silent film stardom.…
American country music singer-songwriter and musician. Starting with his 1999 debut album, Who Needs Pictures, he has released 10 studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashville label, with all of his albums certified Gold or higher by the RIAA. He has scored 32 Top 10 singles on the U.S. Billboard Country Airplay chart, 19 of which have reached #1.…
American country music disc jockey and singer. Parker was named Disc Jockey of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1974 and by the Academy of Country Music in 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1984. He was inducted into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1992, the Western Swing Hall of Fame in 1993, and received the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.…
American singer-songwriter who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning in 1954. His best-known song is “Blue Suede Shoes”. According to Charlie Daniels, “Carl Perkins’ songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins’ sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed.” Perkins’ songs were recorded by artists (and friends) as influential as Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Johnny Cash, which further cemented his place in the history of popular music.…
American actor who played Balki Bartokomous in the ABC sitcom, Perfect Strangers (1986?93). In 2012, he starred in his own reality series, The Bronson Pinchot Project on the DIY Network. He also starred in feature films, such as Risky Business (1983), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), True Romance (1993), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), It?s My Party (1996), Courage Under Fire (1996) and The First Wives Club (1996), as well as on television in roles such as classic comic book villain The Prankster on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.…
American singer, actor, film producer, film director and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility and successfully transformed into a hardbitten leading man starring in projects of a more dramatic nature.
American actor, writer and television producer, best known for his portrayal of Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld, for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series three times.
American country singer in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as “The Singing Brakeman”, “The Blue Yodeler”, and “The Father of Country Music”.
American singer and cowboy actor who was one of the most popular Western stars of his era. Known as the ?King of the Cowboys?, he appeared in over 100 films and numerous radio and television episodes of The Roy Rogers Show. In many of his films and television episodes, he appeared with his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German Shepherd dog Bullet.…
Part Native American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator and motion picture actor. He was one of the world?s most famous stars in the 1920s and 1930s. Known as ?Oklahoma?s Favorite Son?, Rogers was born to a prominent Cherokee Nation family in Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma)
Greek-American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Perhaps best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz (1962).
British film actor, comedian and singer. He performed in the BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show, featured on a number of hit comic songs and became known to a world-wide audience through his many film characterizations, among them Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther series of films.
American entertainer best known for his national radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971 and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. Skelton, who has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio and television, also appeared in vaudeville, films, nightclubs, and casinos, all while he pursued an entirely separate career as an artist.…
American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known primarily for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as “The March King” or the “American March King” due to his British counterpart Kenneth J. Alford also being known by the former nickname. Among his best-known marches are “The Liberty Bell”, “The Thunderer”, “The Washington Post”, “Semper Fidelis” (Official March of the United States Marine Corps), and “The Stars and Stripes Forever” (National March of the United States of America).
American actor, singer/guitarist and songwriter. He is the younger brother of Sylvester Stallone.
Harold Ray Ragsdale Known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian. Ray Stevens was born Harold Ray Ragsdale in Clarkdale, Georgia on January 24, 1939. Clarkdale was a small cotton mill town twenty miles north of Atlanta. Ray?s early influences came from the radio and the jukebox at the village swimming pool where Ray and most kids spent their summers.…
General Tom Thumb was the stage name of Charles Sherwood Stratton, a dwarf who achieved great fame as a midget performer under circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. Stratton became a Freemason on October 3, 1862. Stratton, by now 2 feet 11 inches (89 cm) tall, was Initiated with a man 6 feet 3 inches (191 cm)
American actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide. Switzer began his career as a child actor in the mid-1930s appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series? most popular and best-remembered characters. After leaving the series in 1940, Switzer struggled to find substantial roles due to typecasting. As an adult, he appeared mainly in bit parts and B-movies.…
American nightclub comedian and television and film actor and producer, whose career spanned five decades. Thomas was best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy (also known as The Danny Thomas Show). He was also the founder of St. Jude Children?s Research Hospital. He was the father of Marlo Thomas, Terre Thomas, and Tony Thomas.
Stage magician from Columbus, Ohio, United States. His childhood was unhappy and he ran away to join the circus, where his future partner Harry Kellar also performed. Thurston was deeply impressed after he attended magician Alexander Herrmann’s magic show and was determined to equal his work. He eventually became the most famous magician of his time.…
American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits. Tillis’s biggest hits include “I Ain’t Never”, “Good Woman Blues”, and “Coca-Cola Cowboy”. On February 13, 2012, President Barack Obama awarded Tillis the National Medal of Arts for his contributions to country music.[1] He also has won the CMA Awards’ most coveted award, Entertainer of the Year.…
Claimant to being the world’s tallest individual. Tomaini claimed a height of 8 feet, 6½ inches; however, Guinness World Records stated he was really 7 feet, 11 inches. Tomaini was the son of Santo Tomaini and Maria Bossone. He was one of seven children. At the age of 12, he was taller than his father, who stood 6 feet, 1 inch tall.…
American country music instrumentalist currently performing in Branson, Missouri. He invented the electric banjo and also plays the five-string banjo, dobro, steel guitar, mandolin, electric bass and guitar.
American country musician born in Copeville, Texas. He held membership in the Grand Ole Opry from 1967, and was inducted into the Country Radio DJ Hall of Fame in 1981. Walker worked as a disc jockey in the early 1950s at KENS in San Antonio, Texas before signing with Decca Records. His first hit, “Only You, Only You” was co-written with Jack Newman and reached No.…
German-American high wire artist and founder of The Flying Wallendas, a daredevil circus act which performed dangerous stunts, often without a safety net. He was the great-grandfather of current performer Nik Wallenda. The Great Wallendas were noted throughout Europe for their four-man pyramid and cycling on the high wire. The act moved to the United States in 1928, performing as freelancers.…
John Wayne, was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner, Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height. He was also active as a member of the Order of DeMolay.
Charles Adrien Wettach, was a Swiss clown, composer and musician. Called ?the king of clowns? and ?the greatest of Europe?s clowns?, Grock was once the most highly paid entertainer in the world
American bandleader, composer, orchestral director and violinist. Leader of one of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s, Whiteman produced recordings that were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the “King of Jazz”. Using a large ensemble and exploring many styles of music, Whiteman is perhaps best known for his blending of symphonic music and jazz, as typified by his 1924 commissioning and debut of George Gershwin’s jazz-influenced “Rhapsody in Blue”.…
American film and television actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. Wills was born in 1902 in Seagoville near Mesquite in Dallas County, Texas. He was a performer from early childhood, forming and leading The Avalon Boys singing group in the 1930s. After appearing in a few westerns, he disbanded the group in 1938 and struck out on a solo acting career.…