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Nelson, Willie

(Encyclopedia)Nelson, Willie, 1933–, American country singer, guitarist, and songwriter, b. Abbott, Tex. Nelson began playing professionally at 10 and joined a western swing band as a teenager. In the 1960s he mo...

Pacino, Al

(Encyclopedia)Pacino, Al (Alberto Pacino) pəchēˈnō [key], 1940–, American actor, b. New York City, studied at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio, New York City. Known for his intense, finely tun...

mandrake

(Encyclopedia)mandrake, plant of the family Solanaceae (nightshade family), the source of a narcotic much used during the Middle Ages as a pain-killer and perhaps the subject of more superstition than any other pla...

solenodon

(Encyclopedia)solenodon sōlēˈnədŏn [key], venomous insectivorous mammal, genus Solenodon, found in the West Indies. Related to moles and shrews, the solenodon resembles a rat with an elongated snout and coarse...

Zanuck, Darryl Francis

(Encyclopedia)Zanuck, Darryl Francis, 1902–79, American movie producer, b. Wahoo, Nebr. Beginning his Hollywood career as a scriptwriter, he was hired (1924) by Warner Brothers and made a name for himself penning...

Ellison, Harlan

(Encyclopedia)Ellison, Harlan (Harlan Jay Ellison), 1934–2018, American writer best known for his science fiction, b. Cleveland. Ellison wrote more than 100 books and some 1,700 short stories and articles as well...

Gary, Romain

(Encyclopedia)Gary, Romain rōmăNˈ gĕrēˈ [key], 1914–80, French novelist, b. Vilna (now Vilnius), of Russian parentage, as Romain Kacew. In France after 1928, he fought in World War II and later entered the ...

violet

(Encyclopedia)violet, common name for some members of the Violaceae, a family of chiefly perennial herbs (and sometimes shrubs, small trees, or climbers) found on all continents. Violets, including the genus Viola ...

thylacine

(Encyclopedia)thylacine thīˈləsīnˌ [key] or Tasmanian wolf, carnivorous marsupial, or pouched mammal, of New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania, presumed extinct since 1936. The thylacine is often cited as an exa...

Böll, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Böll, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh böl [key], 1917–85, German novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. Böll presents a critical, antimilitarist view of modern society in a collection of masterful sh...