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Charles, Ray

(Encyclopedia)Charles, Ray (Ray Charles Robinson), 1930–2004, African-American musician and composer, b. Albany, Ga. Blinded at age seven, he was raised in Florida and at 16 began singing in a local hillbilly gro...

Chandler, Raymond Thornton

(Encyclopedia)Chandler, Raymond Thornton, 1888–1959, American author, b. Chicago, educated in England. After World War I, he entered the oil business in California. Bankrupt during the Depression, he published hi...

Fast, Howard

(Encyclopedia)Fast, Howard, 1914–2003, American author, b. New York City. A prolific writer, he is best known for historical novels that mainly concern rebellion against various forms of tyranny. They include Cit...

Pollock, Sir Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Pollock, Sir Frederick pŏlˈək [key], 1845–1937, English jurist, b. London. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and was admitted to the bar in 1871. He succeeded to his baronetcy in 1888. Polloc...

Baker, Ray Stannard

(Encyclopedia)Baker, Ray Stannard, pseud. David Grayson, 1870–1946, American author, b. Lansing, Mich., grad. Michigan State College (now Michigan State Univ.), 1889. At first a Chicago newspaper reporter, he joi...

O'Toole, Peter

(Encyclopedia)O'Toole, Peter (Peter Seamus O'Toole), 1932–2013, British actor, b. Connemara, Ireland, grad. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London (1955). A classical stage actor, he appeared (1955–58) with the ...

Dundee, Angelo

(Encyclopedia)Dundee, Angelo, 1921–2012, American boxing trainer, most famous for his work with Muhammad Ali, b. Philadelphia as Angelo Mirena, Jr. After serving in World War II he moved to New York City, where h...

Gunn, Thom

(Encyclopedia)Gunn, Thom (Thomson William Gunn), 1929–2004, Anglo-American poet, b. Gravesend, Kent, England, grad. Trinity College, Cambridge (1953). Gunn published his first volume of poems, the critically accl...

Kemal, Yaşar

(Encyclopedia)Kemal, Yaşar or Yashar, 1923–2015, Turkish novelist, b. Kemal Sadik Gögçeli. His rural childhood was marked by poverty and trauma; at a mosque at age five he witnessed his father's murder and was...

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur

(Encyclopedia)Stefansson, Vilhjalmur vĭlˈhyoulmər stĕfˈənsən [key], 1879–1962, Arctic explorer, b. Canada, of Icelandic parents, educated at the Univ. of North Dakota, the State Univ. of Iowa, and Harvard....