Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Martin, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Martin, Steve, 1945–, American comedian, actor, and writer, b. Waco, Tex. An Emmy-winning television comedy writer in the late 1960s for the Smothers ...

Lee, Ang

(Encyclopedia)Lee, Ang äng [key], 1954–, Taiwanese filmmaker. Lee is one of the few directors who have achieved commercial and critical success in Asia and the United States, and is also unusual in the wide rang...

Bullins, Ed

(Encyclopedia)Bullins, Ed, 1935-2021, American playwright, b. Philadelphia, Pa., as Edward Artie Bullins, Antioch Univ. of San Fransico (B.A., 1989), San Francisco S...

Yale University

(Encyclopedia)Yale University, at New Haven, Conn.; coeducational. Chartered as a collegiate school for men in 1701 largely as a result of the efforts of James Pierpont, it opened at Killingworth (now Clinton) in 1...

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley

(Encyclopedia)Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751–1816, English dramatist and politician, b. Dublin. His father, Thomas Sheridan, was an actor and teacher of elocution and his mother, Frances Sheridan, published two...

Constitutions, Apostolic

(Encyclopedia)Constitutions, Apostolic, late-4th-century compilation, in eight books, of administrative canons for the clergy and the laity and of guides for worship. They were supposed to be works of the apostles,...

Jones, Sir William

(Encyclopedia)Jones, Sir William, 1746–94, English philologist and jurist. Jones was celebrated for his understanding of jurisprudence and of Oriental languages. He published an Essay on the Law of Bailments (178...

Bug, river, E Europe, also known as Western Bug

(Encyclopedia)Bug bo͞og, bŭg [key], Pol. Bug, Ukr. Buh or Zakhidnyy Buh, river, c.480 mi (770 km) long, rising in the Volhynian-Podolian hills, W Ukraine. It flows N along the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Belarusi...

directing

(Encyclopedia)directing, the art of leading dramatic performances on the stage or in films. The modern theatrical director is in complete charge of all the artistic aspects of a dramatic presentation. It is the dir...

Browse by Subject