Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

455 results found

Tussaud, Marie

(Encyclopedia)Tussaud, Marie to͝osōˈ, tüsōˈ [key], 1760–1850, Anglo-French modeler in wax, b. Strasbourg, France, as Marie Grosholtz or Grosholz. She learned her art from her uncle, Philippe Curtius, a prop...

Thorndike, Dame Sybil

(Encyclopedia)Thorndike, Dame Sybil (Agnes Sybil Thorndike), 1882–1976, English actress. Thorndike made her debut with the Ben Greet Players and toured the United States with them (1904–7). She worked with the ...

Anderson, Dame Judith

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Dame Judith, 1898–1992, British actress, b. Adelaide, S. Australia, originally named Frances Margaret Anderson. She made her debut in Sydney in 1915 and by 1924 had become celebrated for h...

Markova, Dame Alicia

(Encyclopedia)Markova, Dame Alicia märkōˈvä [key], 1910–2004, English ballerina. Her original name was Lilian Alicia Marks. Markova joined Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1924 and, in 1931, the Vic-Wells Ballet...

Fonteyn, Dame Margot

(Encyclopedia)Fonteyn, Dame Margot fŏntānˈ [key], 1919–91, English ballerina. Fonteyn was for many years prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet. Her original name was Margaret Hookham. In 1934 she joined...

Saunders, Dame Cicely

(Encyclopedia)Saunders, Dame Cicely (Cicely Mary Strode Saunders), 1918–2005, British physician, a pioneer in the modern hospice movement. She left Oxford during World War II to become a nurse (1944) and, after w...

Marie Antoinette

(Encyclopedia)Marie Antoinette ăntwənĕtˈ, äNtwänĕtˈ [key], 1755–93, queen of France, wife of King Louis XVI and daughter of Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. She was mar...

Laurencin, Marie

(Encyclopedia)Laurencin, Marie märēˈ lōräNsăNˈ [key], 1885–1956, French painter and print maker. She studied under Carrière and was influenced by the fauvist and cubist movements. By 1918 Laurencin had de...

Murdoch, Dame Iris

(Encyclopedia)Murdoch, Dame Iris (Dame Jean Iris Murdoch) mûrˈdŏk [key], 1919–99, British novelist and philosopher, b. Dublin, Ireland, grad. Oxford (1942). In 1948 she was named lecturer in philosophy at Oxfo...