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Riggs, Bobby

(Encyclopedia)Riggs, Bobby (Robert Larimore Riggs), 1918–95, U.S. tennis player, b. Los Angeles. Playing tennis from the age of 11, Riggs won several tournaments in the 1930s and helped the U.S. team win the Davi...

Perpignan

(Encyclopedia)Perpignan pĕrpēnyäNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 108,049), capital of Pyrénées-Orientales dept., S France, near the Spanish border and the Mediterranean. It is a farm trade center, handling wine, fru...

silk

(Encyclopedia)silk, fine, horny, translucent, yellowish fiber produced by the silkworm in making its cocoon and covered with sericin, a protein. Many varieties of silk-spinning worms and insects are known, but the ...

Depardieu, Gérard

(Encyclopedia)Depardieu, Gérard jĕˌrärdˈ dəpärˌdyöˈ [key], 1948–, French actor, b. Châteauroux. He is a versatile, highly successful actor, who has performed on stage and screen in France and also has ...

Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John

(Encyclopedia)Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John krĕvkörˈ [key], 1735–1813, American author and agriculturist, b. France as Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur. It is believed that he served under Montcalm in Ca...

Couthon, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Couthon, Georges zhōrzh ko͞otôNˈ [key], 1755?–1794, French revolutionary. An able lawyer, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly (1791) and to the Convention (1792). He became (1793) an impo...

Guitry, Lucien Germain

(Encyclopedia)Guitry, Lucien Germain säshäˈ [key], 1885–1957, actor and dramatist. Guitry's skillful and witty dramas include Nono (1905), Deburau (1918), Jean de la Fontaine (1922), and Mozart (1925). He also...

Gérard, François Pascal Simon, Baron

(Encyclopedia)Gérard, François Pascal Simon, Baron zhārärˈ [key], 1770–1837, French portrait and historical painter, b. Rome. In Paris, after brief study under Pajou and others, he became a favorite pupil o...

Montalembert, Charles Forbes, comte de

(Encyclopedia)Montalembert, Charles Forbes, comte de shärl fôrbz kôNt də môNtäläNbĕrˈ [key], 1810–70, French political leader and writer, b. London. He went to Paris (1830), where he became associated wi...

Mielziner, Jo

(Encyclopedia)Mielziner, Jo mēlzēˈnər [key], 1901–76, American theatrical scene designer, b. Paris. Mielziner made his Broadway design debut in 1924 with The Guardsman. He designed sets, and usually the light...