Gone But Not Forgotten

1. Rue McClanahan

A New York stage actress in the 1950s, McClanahan was plucked from the stage by Norman Lear for roles on All in the Family (1971) and later Maude (1972). For two years (1982 - 1984), she played "Aunt Fran" on Mama's Family (1983) until her character was killed off and she joined the cast of Golden ...

February 21, 1934 June 3, 2010

2. Katherine MacGregor

Actress | Little House on the Prairie

Best known for her performance as the nasty, gossiping, greedy and arrogant Mrs. Harriet Oleson on the TV series Little House on the Prairie (1974). Katherine (Scottie) MacGregor could not appear in the final feature length episode "The Last Farewell" because she was on a pilgrimage in India.

Before...

January 12, 1925 November 13, 2018

3. Naya Rivera

Actress | Glee

Naya Rivera was an Afro-Latina American actress, model and singer known for playing Santana Lopez from Glee and Hillary Winston from The Royal Family. She also was in The Master of Disguise, Baywatch, CSI: Miami, American Dad, Batman: The Long Halloween Parts 1 and 2, Even Stevens and The Bernie ...

January 12, 1987 July 8, 2020

4. Luke Perry

Actor | Beverly Hills, 90210

Luke Perry was an American actor, primarily remembered as a teen idol throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s. Perry was born in Mansfield, Ohio in 1966. Mansfield was known at the time as a center for the home appliances and stove manufacturing industries. The city's largest employer used to be ...

October 11, 1966 March 4, 2019

5. Thuy Trang

Actress | The Crow: City of Angels

Thuy Trang was born on December 14th of 1973 in Saigon, Vietnam. After the fall of Saigon in 1975 to Communist forces, her father who had fought in the Vietnam War, traveled to the United States to seek political asylum. However, his entire family, unable to follow, were left behind.

In 1979, Thuy ...

December 14, 1973 September 3, 2001

6. Audra Lindley

Actress | Three's Company

Audra Marie Lindley was born in Los Angeles, California, to a show-business family -- her father, Bert Lindley, was a stage and film actor. She got her early start in Hollywood as a stand-in, which eventually progressed to stunt work. After a while, however, she found stunt work not to her liking ...

September 24, 1918 October 16, 1997

7. Cory Monteith

Actor | Glee

Cory Monteith was born on May 11, 1982 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada as Cory Allan Michael Monteith. He was an actor, known for playing the singing jock Finn on the American TV show Glee (2009) and films such as Monte Carlo (2011), and Final Destination 3 (2006). He died on July 13, 2013 in Vancouver...

May 11, 1982 July 13, 2013

8. Dixie Carter

Actress | Designing Women

Dixie is the middle of three children. Her father owned several small retail stores. Early on, she dreamed of being an opera singer, but a botched tonsillectomy at age 7 spoiled any chances for that dream. Still, she sang regularly and studied classical music. She can play the piano, trumpet, and ...

May 25, 1939 April 10, 2010

9. Vivian Vance

Actress | I Love Lucy

Born as Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas, she had a brother and four sisters. Her family moved to Independence, Kansas, and later studied drama under Anna Ingleman and William Inge. Their next move, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, brought her to that city's Little Theatre, which provided her ...

July 26, 1909 August 17, 1979

10. Michael Landon

Actor | Little House on the Prairie

Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on Saturday, October 31st, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.

When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, ...

October 31, 1936 July 1, 1991

11. Georgia Engel

Actress | Mary Tyler Moore

Georgia Engel was born on July 28, 1948 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was an actress, known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996) and Open Season (2006). She died on April 12, 2019 in Princeton, New Jersey, USA.

July 28, 1948 April 12, 2019

12. Donna Douglas

Actress | The Beverly Hillbillies

An honest-to-goodness Southern Belle, similar to her most famous character role, "Elly May Clampett" on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Donna Douglas grew up in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area, loving "critters". She got married soon after high school, had a son, divorced and won a couple of beauty...

September 26, 1933 January 1, 2015

13. John Ritter

Actor | Sling Blade

Jonathan Southworth Ritter was born in Burbank, California, on September 17, 1948. He was the son of legendary country singer/actor Tex Ritter and his wife, actress Dorothy Fay. The couple married in 1941 and had their first child, Tom Ritter, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. John was ...

September 17, 1948 September 11, 2003

14. Peggy McCay

Actress | Days of Our Lives

Peggy McCay was born on November 3, 1927 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Days of Our Lives (1965), The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990) and Hawaiian Eye (1959). She died on October 7, 2018 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

November 3, 1927 October 7, 2018

15. Florence Henderson

Actress | The Brady Bunch

Florence Henderson was considered by protocol executive Jerold Franks, CSA to be "...one of the most generous stars I have ever worked with." Los Angeles, New York and all parts of the country, Florence has helped raise millions of dollars for various charitable organizations.

Jerold Franks, friend ...

February 14, 1934 November 23, 2016

16. Elvis Presley

Soundtrack | Girls! Girls! Girls!

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. ...

January 8, 1935 August 16, 1977

17. Rock Hudson

Actor | Giant

Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, to Katherine (Wood), a telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer, an auto mechanic. He was of German, Swiss-German, English, and Irish descent. His parents divorced when he was eight years old. He failed to obtain parts in school ...

November 17, 1925 October 2, 1985)

18. Natalie Schafer

Actress | Gilligan's Island

Natalie Schafer got her start doing Broadway plays then making the move to the big screen. Even before Gilligan's Island (1964), she was typecast in roles as society women, or elegant, fashionable ladies. It was her role as "Eunice 'Lovey' Wentworth Howell" wife of multi-millionaire Thurston Howell...

November 5, 1900 April 10, 1991

19. George Michael

Soundtrack | Beverly Hills Cop II

George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in Finchley, north London, in the United Kingdom, to Lesley Angold (Harrison), a dancer, and Kyriacos Panayiotou, a restaurateur. His father was a Greek Cypriot, and his mother was of English background. He first discovered fame as a musician ...

June 25, 1963 December 25, 2016

20. Isabel Sanford

Actress | The Jeffersons

Isabel Sanford was a Broadway actress for over thirty years before moving to Hollywood. She made numerous guest appearances on TV, including a stint as a supporting cast member on The Carol Burnett Show (1967). Until her passing, Isabel continued to act frequently, most recently in a series of ...

August 29, 1917 July 9, 2004

21. Bea Arthur

Actress | The Golden Girls

Actress-comedienne Bea Arthur was born Bernice Frankel on May 13, 1922 in New York City to a Jewish family. She grew up in Maryland, where her parents ran a dress shop. At 12 years old, she was the tallest girl in her school at 5'9".

She earned the title of "Wittiest Girl" in her school, and her ...

May 13, 1922 April 29, 2009

22. Lynn Cohen

Actress | Munich

Lynn Cohen was born on August 10, 1933 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Munich (2005), The Cobbler (2014) and Eagle Eye (2008). She was married to Ronald Theodore Cohen and Gilbert Laman Frazen. She died on February 14, 2020 in New York City, New York, USA.

August 10, 1933 February 14, 2020

23. Ann B. Davis

Actress | The Brady Bunch

Ann B. Davis made her debut in show business at age 6 earning $2.00 in a puppet show. At the University of Michigan, Anne planned to study medicine but got the acting bug from her brother who was the lead dancer in the national company of "Oklahoma" for over a year. Anne then spent six years in ...

May 5, 1926 June 1, 2014

24. Estelle Getty

Actress | The Golden Girls

She was truly one mother of a mom...on stage, on film and on TV. A favorite firecracker on 80s and 90s television, tiny character player Estelle Getty became best known for her carping, meddlesome moms -- complete with bemused, cynical looks, irreverent digs and dead-pan Henny Youngman-like ...

July 25, 1923 July 22, 2008

25. Alice Ghostley

Actress | To Kill a Mockingbird

Whether portraying a glum, withering wallflower, a drab and dowdy housewife, a klutzy maid or a cynical gossip, eccentric character comedienne Alice Ghostley had the ability to draw laughs from the skimpiest of material with a simple fret or whine. Making a name for herself on the Tony-winning ...

August 14, 1924 September 21, 2007

26. Richard Bull

Actor | Little House on the Prairie

Richard Bull was born on June 26, 1924 in Zion, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Little House on the Prairie (1974), Sugar (2008) and The Andromeda Strain (1971). He was married to Barbara Collentine. He died on February 3, 2014 in Calabasas, California, USA.

June 26, 1924 February 3, 2014

27. Lucille Ball

Actress | I Love Lucy

The woman who will always be remembered as the crazy, accident-prone, lovable Lucy Ricardo was born Lucille Desiree Ball on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. Her father died before she was four, and her mother worked several jobs, so she and her younger brother were raised by their ...

August 6, 1911 April 26, 1989

28. Charlotte Rae

Actress | The Facts of Life

Charlotte Rae was born Charlotte Rae Lubotsky in 1926, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the middle daughter of three sisters, between Beverly and Mimi. Her parents, Esther (nee Ottenstein) and Meyer Lubotsky, were Russian Jewish immigrants. Her father owned an automobile tire business. Her mother had been ...

April 22, 1926 August 5, 2018

29. Jessica Tandy

Actress | Driving Miss Daisy

A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice ...

June 7, 1909 September 11, 1994

30. Elizabeth Montgomery

Actress | Bewitched

Elizabeth Montgomery was born into show business. Her parents were screen actor Robert Montgomery and Broadway actress Elizabeth Allen. Elizabeth graduated from the Spence School in New York City and attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. After three years' intensive training, she made ...

April 15, 1933 May 18, 1995

31. Sherman Hemsley

Actor | The Jeffersons

Sherman Hemsley played characters known to be wise-cracking, "Weezy" loving, boisterous fools which America and the entire world laughed with kindheartedly. Sherman Alexander Hemsley, Air Force veteran and actor, was born on Feb. 1, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, William Hemsley, ...

February 1, 1938 July 24, 2012

32. Shirley Temple

Actress | The Little Colonel

Shirley Temple was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in ...

April 23, 1928 February 10, 2014

33. Margaret Hamilton

Actress | The Wizard of Oz

Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio to Jennie and Walter Hamilton. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. Margaret had already built her resume with several...

December 9, 1902 May 16, 1985

34. James Avery

Actor | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Although known as the uncle/patriarch and judge "Philip Banks" on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990), James Avery was a classically trained actor and scholar. A native of Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA, he joined the US Navy after graduating high school and served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. Upon...

November 27, 1945 December 31, 2013

35. Russell Johnson

Actor | Gilligan's Island

Long before he was known as "The Professor" in the cult comedy classic Gilligan's Island (1964), Russell Johnson was a well-known character actor, starring in several Westerns and Sci-Fi classics as This Island Earth (1955) and It Came from Outer Space (1953). Johnson grew up in Pennsylvania and ...

November 10, 1924 January 16, 2014

36. Robin Williams

Actor | Mrs. Doubtfire

Robin McLaurin Williams was born on Saturday, July 21st, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois, a great-great-grandson of Mississippi Governor and Senator, Anselm J. McLaurin. His mother, Laurie McLaurin (née Janin), was a former model from Mississippi, and his father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, was a Ford ...

July 21, 1951 August 11, 2014

37. Meshach Taylor

Actor | Designing Women

Surrounded by four dazzling Southern-styled ladies on the hit sitcom Designing Women (1986), genial African-American actor Meshach Taylor made a name for himself as the beleaguered male foil consistently at the mercy of the title gals' antics during its popular 7-season run.

The Boston-born actor ...

April 11, 1947 June 28, 2014

38. Rosetta LeNoire

Actress | Family Matters

Born Rosetta Olive Barton, Rosetta LeNoire was the goddaughter of famed tap dancer "Bojangles" Bill Robinson. She was in the landmark all-black version of "Macbeth," directed by Orson Welles in the 1930s. Former president Bill Clinton presented her with the National Medal of the Arts in 1999. ...

August 8, 1911 March 17, 2002

39. Katharine Hepburn

Actress | The Lion in Winter

Katharine Hepburn was born on May 12, 1907 in Hartford, Connecticut to a suffragist and a doctor who both always encouraged her to speak her mind, develop it fully, and exercise her body to its full potential. An athletic tomboy as a child, she was very close to her brother Tom; at 14 she was ...

May 12, 1907 June 29, 2003

40. Peggy Rea

Actress | Grace Under Fire

Peggy Rea was born on March 31, 1921 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is known for Grace Under Fire (1993), The Dukes of Hazzard (1979) and Love Field (1992). She died on February 5, 2011 in Toluca Lake, California.

March 31, 1921 February 5, 2011

41. Walt Disney

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Flora Disney (née Call) and Elias Disney, a Canadian-born farmer and businessperson. He had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Walt moved with his parents to Kansas City at age seven, where he spent the majority of ...

December 5, 1901 December 15, 1966

42. Leslie Nielsen

Actor | Airplane!

Leslie William Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and raised in Tulita (formerly Fort Norman), Northwest Territories. His mother, Mabel Elizabeth (Davies), was Welsh. His father, Ingvard Eversen Nielsen, was a Danish-born Mountie and a strict disciplinarian. Leslie studied at the Academy of ...

February 11, 1926 November 28, 2010

43. Marvin Gaye

Soundtrack | High Fidelity

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (known professionally as Marvin Gaye; April 2, 1939 - April 1, 1984) was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of successes, earning him the nicknames ...

April 2, 1939 April 1, 1984

44. James Best

Actor | The Dukes of Hazzard

American character actor and teacher. Born Jewel Guy in Powderly, Kentucky, on July 26, 1926, he was orphaned at three and adopted by Armen and Essa Knowland Best, who renamed him James Knowland Best and raised him in Corydon, Indiana. Following high school he worked briefly as a metalworker before...

July 26, 1926 April 6, 2015

45. Marian Seldes

Actress | The Haunting

Tony Award-winner Marian Hall Seldes, one of the premier stage actresses in America, was born on August 23, 1928 in Manhattan, New York, to writer and journalist Gilbert Seldes, and his socialite wife, the former Alice Wadhams Hall. Her paternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and her ...

August 23 1928 October 6, 2014

46. Alaina Reed-Hall

Actress | 227

Alaina Reed-Hall was born on November 10, 1946 in Springfield, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for 227 (1985), Death Becomes Her (1992) and Cruel Intentions (1999). She was married to Tamim Amini, Kevin Peter Hall and Richard Hannum Cook. She died on December 17, 2009 in Santa Monica, ...

November 10, 1946 December 17, 2009

47. Paul Winfield

Actor | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Signifying intelligence, eloquence, versatility and quiet intensity, one of the more important, critically acclaimed black actors to gain a Hollywood foothold in the 1970s was Paul Winfield. He was born in 1939 in Dallas, Texas, where he lived in his early years before moving with his family to Los...

May 22, 1939 March 7, 2004

48. Virginia Capers

Actress | Howard the Duck

With plenty of heart and soul, singer/actress Virginia Capers served up loads of music in an entertainment career that spanned several decades. The benevolent, plus-sized talent was born Eliza Virginia Capers on September 22, 1925, in South Carolina and attended Howard University in Washington, D.C...

September 22, 1925 May 6, 2004

49. Freddie Mercury

Soundtrack | Flash Gordon

Freddie Mercury was born on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, sent him off to a private school in India, from 1955 til 1963. In 1964, he and his family flew to England. In 1966 he started his education at the Ealing College of Art, where he graduated in 1969. He ...

September 5, 1946 November 24, 1991

50. Anthony Perkins

Actor | Psycho

Anthony Perkins was born April 4, 1932 in New York City to Janet Esselstyn (Rane) and Osgood Perkins, an actor of both stage and film. His paternal great-grandfather was noted engraver Andrew Varick Stout Anthony.

Perkins attended the Brooks School, the Browne & Nichols School, Columbia University ...

April 4, 1932 September 12, 1992

51. Dack Rambo

Actor | Gunsmoke

Dack (given name Norman) and identical twin brother, Dirk Rambo (Orman), were born in sunny California in 1941. Dack's noticeable difference was a mole on his left cheek. Both happened upon an acting career, at age 21, after being discovered by Loretta Young for her TV show, while sitting in a ...

November 13, 1941 March 21, 1994

52. Raymond Burr

Actor | Rear Window

Born Raymond William Stacy Burr on 21 May 1917 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Burr spent most of his early life traveling. As a youngster, his father moved his family to China, where the elder Burr worked as a trade agent. When the family returned to Canada, Raymond's parents separated. He ...

May 21, 1917 September 12, 1993

53. Liberace

Soundtrack | Behind the Candelabra

Most remembered for his extravagant costumes and trademark candelabra placed on the lids of his flashy pianos, Liberace was loved by his audiences for his music talent and unique showmanship. He was born as Wladziu Valentino Liberace on May 16, 1919, into a musical family, in Wisconsin. His mother, ...

May 16, 1919 February 4, 1987

54. Ricky Nelson

Actor | The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

Ricky Nelson was born on May 8, 1940 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA as Eric Hilliard Nelson. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (1952) and Rio Bravo (1959). He was married to Kristin Harmon. He died on December 31, 1985 in De Kalb, Texas, USA.

May 8, 1940 December 31, 1985

55. Tupac Shakur

Actor | Juice

Born in New York City, Tupac grew up primarily in Harlem. In 1984, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he became good friends with Jada Pinkett Smith. His family moved again in 1988 to Oakland, California. His first breakthrough in music came in 1991 as a member of the group Digital ...

June 16, 1971 September 13, 1996

56. Dennis Hopper

Actor | Easy Rider

Multi-talented and unconventional actor/director regarded by many as one of the true "enfant terribles" of Hollywood who led an amazing cinematic career for more than five decades, Dennis Hopper was born on May 17, 1936, in Dodge City, Kansas. The young Hopper expressed interest in acting from a ...

May 17, 1936 May 29, 2010

57. Anne Bancroft

Actress | The Graduate

Anne Bancroft was born on September 17, 1931 in The Bronx, NY, the middle daughter of Michael Italiano (1905-2001), a dress pattern maker, and Mildred DiNapoli (1907-2010), a telephone operator. She made her cinema debut in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) in 1952, and over the next five years appeared...

September 17, 1931 June 6, 2005

58. Yvonne Craig

Actress | Batgirl

Yvonne Joyce Craig was born on May 16, 1937 in Taylorville, Illinois. As a young teenager, Yvonne showed such promise as a dancer that she was accepted to Denham's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. Her training progressed until she left the company in 1957 over a disagreement on casting changes. She ...

May 16, 1937 August 17, 2015

59. Chris Penn

Actor | Reservoir Dogs

Christopher Shannon Penn was born on October 10, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, the third son of actress Eileen Ryan (née Annucci) and director, actor, and writer Leo Penn. His siblings are musician Michael Penn and actor Sean Penn. His father was from a Lithuanian Jewish/Russian Jewish family, ...

October 10, 1965 January 24, 2006

60. Robert Urich

Actor | Magnum Force

Robert Urich grew up in Toronto, Ohio, one of four siblings of Slovak and Rusyn descent, raised Catholic by their parents, John P. Urich (died 1977) and Cecelia (née Halpate) Urich (died 2002). His athletic ability led to a four-year football scholarship at Florida State University (FSU). He earned...

December 19, 1946 April 16, 2002

61. John Denver

Soundtrack | Armageddon

His birth occurred on Friday, December 31st, 1943, as the son of an Air Force officer, Denver was constantly moved from state to state and country to country. It was in Tucson, Arizona, that his grandmother gave him his first acoustic guitar, a gift that would prove an icebreaker when meeting other...

December 31, 1943 October 12, 1997

62. Dr. Seuss

Writer | How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Acclaimed writer, Dr. Seuss was born Theodor Geisel in Springfield, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, March 2nd, 1904. After attending Dartmouth College and Oxford University, he began a career in advertising. His advertising cartoons, featuring Quick, Henry, the Flit!, appeared in several leading ...

March 2, 1904 September 4, 1991

63. Selena

Soundtrack | Don Juan DeMarco

Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas, 50 miles southeast of Houston, to Abraham Quintanilla Jr. and Marcella Quintanilla. Abraham opened a Mexican restaurant, Papagayo, in Lake Jackson. Selena was 9 years old when her father discovered her talent for singing. He formed a band consisting of Selena...

April 10, 1971 March 31, 1996

64. Diana Douglas

Actress | Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Diana Douglas was born on January 22, 1923 in Devonshire, Bermuda. She is known for Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Remington Steele (1982) and The Whistle at Eaton Falls (1951). She was married to Donald Albert Webster, Bill Darrid and Kirk Douglas. She died on July 3, 2015 in Woodland ...

January 22, 1923 September 3, 2015

65. Natalie Cole

Soundtrack | Taxi

Growing up and living under the huge, daunting shadow of a singing icon can intimidate a son or daughter enough to want to look anywhere else to find their station in life. Those who dared to try to follow in their footsteps, such as Frank Sinatra Jr., found success branching out in other areas of ...

February 6, 1950 December 31, 2015

66. David Bowie

Soundtrack | Labyrinth

David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was much more than that; he was also an accomplished actor, a mime and an intellectual, as well as an art lover whose appreciation and knowledge of it had led to him amassing one of the biggest ...

January 8, 1947 January 11, 2016

67. David Canary

Actor | All My Children

David Canary was born on August 25, 1938 in Elwood, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for All My Children (1970), One Life to Live (1968) and Hombre (1967). He was married to Maureen Maloney and Julie M. Anderson. He died on November 16, 2015 in Wilton, Connecticut, USA.

August 25, 1938 November 16, 2015

68. Dean Jones

Actor | The Love Bug

Born in Decatur, Alabama and christened Dean Carroll Jones, the actor's father worked for a railroad company and the family moved often, living in Washington, DC, Nashville, and New Orleans. "It was in New Orleans I really learned how to sing", Jones told the Pittsburgh Press in 1969. Dropping out ...

January 25, 1931 September 1, 2015

69. Maureen O'Hara

Actress | Miracle on 34th Street

In America, the early performing arts accomplishments of young Maureen FitzSimons (who we know as Maureen O'Hara) would definitely have put her in the child prodigy category. However, for a child of Irish heritage surrounded by gifted parents and family, these were very natural traits. Maureen made...

August 17, 1920 October 24, 2015

70. Wes Craven

Writer | A Nightmare on Elm Street

Wes Craven has become synonymous with genre bending and innovative horror, challenging audiences with his bold vision.

Wesley Earl Craven was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to Caroline (Miller) and Paul Eugene Craven. He had a midwestern suburban upbringing. His first feature film was The Last House on ...

August 2, 1939 August 30, 2015

71. Michael Galeota

Actor | Bailey Kipper's P.O.V.

Michael Galeota was born on August 28, 1984 in Smithtown, Long Island, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Bailey Kipper's P.O.V. (1996), The Jersey (1999) and Clubhouse Detectives (1996). He died on January 10, 2016 in Glendale, California, USA.

August 28, 1984 January 10, 2016

72. Dick Van Patten

Actor | Spaceballs

Dick Van Patten began acting as a child. He made his first of 27 Broadway appearances at age seven in "Tapestry in Grey". After, he appeared in numerous films, including Freaky Friday (1976), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and Spaceballs (1987). His television credits include his best-known role...

December 9, 1928 June 23, 2015

73. Jane Wyatt

Actress | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Born in Campgaw, New Jersey, Jane Waddington Wyatt came from a New York family of social distinction (her father was a Wall Street investment banker and her mother was a drama critic). Jane was raised from the age of three months in New York City and attended the fashionable Chapin School and later...

August 12, 1910 October 20, 2006

74. Chico Marx

Actor | Duck Soup

As a kid trying to negotiate his way through various gang territories to a floating crap game or a new pool hall where he was not yet known as a hustler, Leonard (Chico) Marx learned to fake several accents. Because he later employed an Italian accent in the Marx Brothers' act, people assumed his ...

March 22, 1887 October 11, 1961

75. Dean Martin

Soundtrack | The Dean Martin Show

Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, to Gaetano Alfonso "Guy" Crocetti, an Italian immigrant and barber, and his Ohio-born wife, Angela (Barra) Crocetti. He spoke only Italian until age five. Martin came up the hard way, with such jobs as a boxer ("Kid Crochet"), a steel mill ...

June 7, 1917 December 25, 1995

76. Johnny Carson

Soundtrack | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Johnny Carson, the legendary "King of Late Night TV" who dominated the medium's nether hours for three decades, was born in Corning, Iowa, but moved with his family to nearby Norfolk, Nebraska when he was eight years old. It was in Norfolk, where he lived until he was inducted into the US Navy in ...

October 23, 1925 January 23, 2005

77. Harper Lee

Writer | To Kill a Mockingbird

Nelle Harper Lee grew up in Monroeville, Alabama in the 1920s. It was a time of hostility between whites and blacks in the United States, especially in Alabama. Her father, a lawyer, also ran a local newspaper. Her mother suffered from mental illness and oftentimes stayed inside from others; she ...

April 28, 1926 February 19, 2016

78. Ellen Corby

Actress | The Waltons

Ellen Corby was born Ellen Hansen on June 3, 1911, in Racine, Wisconsin. She played many uncredited bit parts from the late 20's through the 30's. Ellen would not be seen on the big screen again until 1945 in Cornered (1945). In 1946, she appeared in 14 films, although mostly in small, minor roles....

June 3, 1911 April 14, 1999

79. Rose Wilder Lane

Writer | The Young Pioneers

Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), was a prolific fiction writer, biographer and political theorist, as well as the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House series of children's books. Lane's skillful editing and publishing connections assisted her mother in making the transition ...

December 5, 1886 October 30, 1968

80. Laura Ingalls Wilder

Writer | Little House on the Prairie

Born Laura Elizabeth Ingalls in Wisconsin in 1867, she spent her childhood as a "pioneer girl, " settling in Wisconsin (twice), Missouri, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota by the time she was twelve years old. Her family stayed in South Dakota, or Dakota Territory as it was known, and in ...

February 7, 1867 February 10, 1957

81. Eartha Kitt

Actress | The Emperor's New Groove

An out-of-wedlock child, Eartha Kitt was born in the cotton fields of South Carolina. Kitt's mother was a sharecropper of African-American and Cherokee Native American descent. Her father's identity is unknown. Given away by her mother, she arrived in Harlem at age nine. At 15, she quit high school...

January 17, 1927 December 25, 2008

82. Mahalia Jackson

Soundtrack | Mississippi Burning

Mahalia Jackson was born on October 26, 1911 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was an actress, known for Mississippi Burning (1988), Glory Road (2006) and An American Crime (2007). She was married to Minters Sigmund Galloway and Isaac Lanes Grey Hockenhull. She died on January 27, 1972 in Chicago...

October 26, 1911 January 27, 1972

83. Peggy Lee

Actress | Lady and the Tramp

Peggy Lee was Born Norma Dolores Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, on May 26, 1920. At age four her mother died. Peggy's father, a railroad station agent, remarried but later left home, leaving Peggy's care entrusted to a stepmother who physically abused her. Peggy later memorialized this in the ...

May 26, 1920 January 21, 2002

84. Ella Fitzgerald

Soundtrack | Sphere

On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal ...

April 25, 1917 June 15, 1996

85. Etta James

Soundtrack | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Etta James was born on January 25, 1938 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is known for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), Back to the Future (1985) and Suicide Squad (2016). She was married to Artis Mills. She died on January 20, 2012 in Riverside, California.

January 25, 1938 January 20, 2012

86. Frank Sinatra

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. ...

December 12, 1915 May 14, 1998

87. Nat 'King' Cole

Soundtrack | The Nat King Cole Show

Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and ...

March 17, 1919 February 15, 1965

88. Bing Crosby

Actor | White Christmas

Bing Crosby was born Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr. in Tacoma, Washington, the fourth of seven children of Catherine Helen "Kate" (Harrigan) and Harry Lowe Crosby, a brewery bookkeeper. He was of English and Irish descent. Crosby studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane but was more interested in ...

May 2, 1903 October 14, 1977

89. Kitty Wells

Soundtrack | The Blues Brothers

Kitty Wells was born on August 30, 1919 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She was married to Johnny Wright. She died on July 16, 2012 in Madison, Tennessee.

August 30, 1919 July 16, 2012

90. Buck Owens

Soundtrack | Ford v Ferrari

Buck Owens is a true legend in country music. Along with fellow performers Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart, Buck helped popularize the Bakersfield Sound, or honky-tonk infused with electric instrumentation and rock influences. Growing up in Arizona, Buck picked cotton and learned to play the ...

August 12, 1929 March 26, 2006

91. B.B. King

Actor | Blues Brothers 2000

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 - May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many ...

September 16, 1925 May 14, 2015

92. Ed McMahon

Soundtrack | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Ed McMahon's first appearance before a microphone was as a 15-year-old "caller" at a bingo game in Maine. After that, he spent the next three years touring the state fair and carnival circuit. A Marine fighter pilot during World War II, McMahon sold vegetable slicers on Atlantic City's boardwalk to...

March 6, 1923 June 23, 2009

93. Redd Foxx

Actor | Sanford and Son

Redd Foxx began doing stand-up comedy on the infamous "Chitlin' Circuit" in the 1940s and 1950s. Foxx was one of the premier "blue humor" comedians. Blue humor was very dirty, too dirty for white audiences. For years his party albums were not available in white record stores. In the 1960s his ...

December 9, 1922 October 11, 1991

94. David Wayne

Actor | The Andromeda Strain

His father was an insurance executive; his mother died when he was four. He attended Western Michigan University then worked as a statistician in Cleveland where he joined a Shakespeare repertory company. Two years later he had a minor role in "The American Way" in New York. He was rejected by the ...

January 30, 1914 February 9, 1995

95. Tony Jay

Actor | The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Tony Jay was a British actor and narrator. He is known for his deep and distinctive British voice. He was well-known for voicing Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Megabyte from ReBoot, Monsieur D'Arque from Beauty and the Beast, Shere Khan from The Jungle Book 2, Magneto in X-Men ...

February 2, 1933 August 13, 2006

96. Milo O'Shea

Actor | Barbarella

A fourth generation Dubliner he was equally known in his homeland and on British television for knockabout comedy and for classic tragedy. His father, Con O'Shea, was an actor - singer (part of a double act known as 'Light and Shade') who became an army captain in the Civil War. His mother was a ...

June 2, 1926 April 2, 2013

97. Kathleen Freeman

Actress | The Blues Brothers

Kathleen Freeman's introduction to show business came very early in life. Her parents were vaudevillians, and she made her debut at age 2 in their act. Later she attended UCLA with intentions of becoming a pianist, but was bitten by the acting bug and never looked back. She gained experience on ...

February 17, 1919 August 23, 2001

98. Murray Hamilton

Actor | Jaws

Murray Hamilton was one of those character actors whose face would be familiar to most movie buffs at an instant, yet his name may not. That's a shame, because Hamilton was one of the most versatile and prolific of performers who was never anything less than completely convincing in any role he ...

March 23, 1924 September 1, 1986

99. Cesar Romero

Actor | Batman: The Movie

Tall, suave and sophisticated Cesar Romero actually had two claims to fame in Hollywood. To one generation, he was the distinguished Latin lover of numerous musicals and romantic comedies, and the rogue bandit The Cisco Kid in a string of low-budget westerns. However, to a younger generation weaned...

February 15, 1907 January 1, 1994

100. Frances Bay

Actress | Blue Velvet

Cute, tiny, and prolific little old lady character actress Frances Bay worked constantly in both films and TV shows alike after making her debut at the age of 59 in life with a small part in the comedy Foul Play (1978) in 1978.

She frequently portrayed eccentric elderly women and good-hearted ...

January 23, 1919 September 15, 2011