(Encyclopedia) Mitchum, Robert (Robert Charles Duran Mitchum), 1917–97, American film actor, b. Bridgeport, Conn. He found extra work and bit parts in early 1940s movies, and first achieved wide…
(Encyclopedia) Lang, FritzLang, Fritzläng [key], 1890–1976, German-American film director, b. Vienna. His silent and early sound films, notably the iconic masterpiece Metropolis (1926) with its…
(Encyclopedia) Knight, Bobby (Robert Montgomery Knight), 1940–, American basketball coach, b. Massillon, Ohio. A point guard at Ohio State (grad. 1962), Knight became (1963) an assistant coach at…
(Encyclopedia) banyanbanyanbănˈyən [key], species of fig (Ficus bengalensis) of the family Moraceae (mulberry family), native to India, where it is venerated. Its seeds usually germinate in the…
(Encyclopedia) thresher shark, long-tailed, warm-water shark, genus Alopias. The upper fork of its tail is slender and sickle-shaped and is about equal in length to the rest of the body. This shark…
(Encyclopedia) Searle, Ronald William Fordham, 1920–2011, British cartoonist, b. Cambridge. He joined the army as World War II broke out, was captured (1942) by the Japanese at Singapore, and was in…
(Encyclopedia) Cronin, James Watson, 1931–2016, American nuclear physicist, b. Chicago, Ph.D. Univ. of Chicago, 1955. Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in…
(Encyclopedia) Parcells, Bill, 1941–, American football coach, b. Englewood, N.J., as Duane Charles Parcells, nicknamed “the Big Tuna.” He played for Colgate and Wichita State before being drafted (…
(Encyclopedia) Huntington, Collis Potter, 1821–1900, American railroad builder, b. near Torrington, Conn. A storekeeper of Oneonta, N.Y., before he went West in the gold rush of 1849, he became a…
(Encyclopedia) angler or anglerfish, common name for a member of the order Lophiiformes, predacious fishes found worldwide; many are deep-sea dwellers. Anglers lure their prey with a long, wormlike…