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Stamos, Theodoros

(Encyclopedia)Stamos, Theodoros stămˈōs [key], 1920–97, American painter, b. New York City. Allied with the New York school of the 1960s (see modern art), Stamos drew much of his inspiration from Asian mystici...

black humor

(Encyclopedia)black humor, in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world. Ordinary characters or situations are usu...

March, Fredric

(Encyclopedia)March, Fredric, 1897–1975, American actor, b. Racine, Wis., as Frederick McIntyre Bickel. Equally distinguished on stage and screen, he won Academy Awards for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932) and The ...

Pearson, Sir Cyril Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Pearson, Sir Cyril Arthur pērˈsən [key], 1866–1921, English publisher. He founded and directed the periodicals Pearson's Weekly, Pearson's Magazine, and The Lady's Magazine and the London Daily E...

Cook, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Cook, Thomas, 1808–92, English travel agent. In Leicester in 1841 he founded a travel agency under his name. The idea of the guided tour met with quick success, and by 1852 Cook had moved his office...

Cornelius, Peter von

(Encyclopedia)Cornelius, Peter von, 1783–1867, German painter. He studied at Düsseldorf and in Rome, where he joined the German Nazarene group and collaborated with other members in the decoration of the Casa Ba...

Dietrich, Marlene

(Encyclopedia)Dietrich, Marlene märlāˈnə dēˈtrĭkh [key], 1901–92, German-American film actress and singer, b. Berlin. Dietrich began her career as a violinist. She then studied drama, appearing on the stag...

Hurt, John

(Encyclopedia)Hurt, John (Sir John Vincent Hurt), 1940–2017, English actor, b. Chesterfield, Derbyshire, grad. Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1962). Known for his sympathetic portrayal of unusual, often unappeali...

Negri, Ada

(Encyclopedia)Negri, Ada äˈdä nĕˈgrē [key], 1870–1945, Italian writer. Her first poems, Fatalità (1892, tr. Fate and Other Poems, 1898) voiced bitter protest against the state of the poor. Her passionate l...

Longford, Elizabeth

(Encyclopedia)Longford, Elizabeth lôngˈfərd [key], 1906–2002, British author. Born Elizabeth Harman, she married (1931) Frank Pakenham, later (1961) earl of Longford. She was educated at Oxford, lectured for t...