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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 ...

Robertson, Thomas William

(Encyclopedia)Robertson, Thomas William, 1829–71, English dramatist and actor; brother of Madge Kendal. After spending several years as an actor, he turned to playwriting, initiating the “cup and saucer” scho...

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...

Henie, Sonja

(Encyclopedia)Henie, Sonja sōˈnyə hĕnˈē [key], 1912–69, Norwegian-American figure skater and movie actress, b. Oslo, Norway. She began ice skating at the age of eight and two years later won the first of si...

Fisher, Carrie Frances

(Encyclopedia) Fisher, Carrie Frances , 1956-2016, American actress and author, b. Burbank, Ca. Fisher’s parents were singer Eddie Fisher and actress/dancer Debbie ...

Winfrey, Oprah

(Encyclopedia)Winfrey, Oprah, 1954–, African-American television host, actress, and media magnate, b. Kosciusko, Miss., as Orpah Gail Winfrey, grad. Tennessee State Univ. (1976). She began her career as a Nashvil...

Lawrence, Gertrude

(Encyclopedia)Lawrence, Gertrude, 1902?–1952, English actress and singer. Her original name was Gertrud Alexandra Dagmar Lawrence-Klasen. Performing on the musical stage from childhood, Lawrence made her New York...

Schumann-Heink, Ernestine

(Encyclopedia)Schumann-Heink, Ernestine sho͞oˈmən-hīngk [key], 1861–1936, Austrian-American contralto, b. near Prague. Her voice was distinguished for its richness and wide range. She studied with Marietta Le...

Cushman, Charlotte Saunders

(Encyclopedia)Cushman, Charlotte Saunders ko͝oshˈmən [key], 1816–76, one of the first outstanding American actresses, b. Boston. Cushman turned from opera to drama and in 1835 first played Lady Macbeth, the ro...

Cushman, Pauline

(Encyclopedia)Cushman, Pauline, 1835–93, Union spy in the Civil War, b. New Orleans. She became an actress at 18 in New York City. In 1863 she was banished to Confederate lines as a supposed Southern sympathizer,...