220 Biographies
Filter By:
Welles, Orson
Orson Welles

American actor, director and writer

Dylan Thomas, 1952.
Dylan Thomas

British author

Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and prose writer whose work is known for its comic exuberance, rhapsodic lilt, and pathos. His personal life, punctuated by reckless bouts of drinking, was notorious. Thomas spent…...
Bob Hope, 1957.
Bob Hope

American actor and entertainer

Bob Hope, British-born American entertainer and comic actor, known for his rapid-fire delivery of jokes and one-liners and for his success in virtually all entertainment media. He was also known for his…...
Rupert Murdoch.
Rupert Murdoch

Australian-born American publisher

Rupert Murdoch, Australian-born American newspaper publisher and media entrepreneur who founded (1979) the global media holding company the News Corporation Ltd.—often called News Corp. It focused on publishing…...
Reginald A. Fessenden.
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden

Canadian scientist

Armstrong, Edwin H.
Edwin H. Armstrong

American inventor

Edwin H. Armstrong, American inventor who laid the foundation for much of modern radio and electronic circuitry, including the regenerative and superheterodyne circuits and the frequency modulation (FM)…...
George Roy Hill

American director

George Roy Hill, American director of stage and screen who was perhaps best known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973). Hill studied music at Yale University, earning a degree…...
Cronkite, Walter
Walter Cronkite

American journalist

Walter Cronkite, American journalist and pioneer of television news programming who became known as “the most trusted man in America.” He was the longtime anchor of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite…...
Sarnoff, 1971
David Sarnoff

American entrepreneur and radio and television pioneer

David Sarnoff, American pioneer in the development of both radio and television broadcasting. As a boy in Russia, Sarnoff spent several years preparing for a career as a Jewish scholar of the Talmud. He…...
Glenn Beck, 2003.
Glenn Beck

American television and radio personality

Glenn Beck, American conservative political commentator and television and radio personality, perhaps best known for hosting the talk show Glenn Beck (2009–11) on the Fox News Channel (FNC). Beck grew…...
Allen, Steve
Steve Allen

American entertainer

Steve Allen, pioneer American television entertainer, versatile author, songwriter, and comedian who performed in radio, motion pictures, and theatre as well as television. He was perhaps best known for…...
Dan Rather in Somalia.
Dan Rather

American newscaster

Dan Rather, American newscaster and author who covered some of the most important historical events of his time, including the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the Watergate scandal, during…...
Helena Bonham Carter

British actress

Helena Bonham Carter, British actress whose dark aesthetic brought flair to roles ranging from period pieces to modern fantasy. Bonham Carter grew up in London. Her mother, Elena, was a psychotherapist,…...
Sellers, Peter
Peter Sellers

British actor

Peter Sellers, versatile English comic actor whose astonishing range of characters earned him international stardom at a time when rigid typecasting was usual. Sellers was a descendant of legendary Portuguese-Jewish…...
Studs Terkel.
Studs Terkel

American author and oral historian

Studs Terkel, American author and oral historian who chronicled the lives of Americans from the Great Depression to the early 21st century. After spending his early childhood in New York City, Terkel moved…...
Aleksandr Popov, detail of a painting by P.D. Korin
Aleksandr Popov

Russian engineer

Aleksandr Popov, physicist and electrical engineer acclaimed in Russia as the inventor of radio. Evidently he built his first primitive radio receiver, a lightning detector (1895), without knowledge of…...
Harold Pinter

British dramatist

Harold Pinter, English playwright, who achieved international renown as one of the most complex and challenging post-World War II dramatists. His plays are noted for their use of understatement, small…...
Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Lucille Ball

American actress

Lucille Ball, radio and motion-picture actress and longtime comedy star of American television, best remembered for her classic television comedy series I Love Lucy. Ball determined at an early age to…...
Morita Akio

Japanese businessman

Morita Akio, Japanese businessman who was cofounder, chief executive officer (from 1971), and chairman of the board (from 1976 through 1994) of Sony Corporation, world-renowned manufacturer of consumer…...
O'Hara, Maureen
Maureen O'Hara

American actress

Maureen O’Hara, Irish-American actress known for her portrayals of willful women. FitzSimons was the second of six children born to the manager of a hat manufacturer and his wife, a fashion designer and…...
Helen Hayes as Queen Victoria.
Helen Hayes

American actress

Helen Hayes, American actress who was widely considered to be the “First Lady of the American Theatre.” At the behest of her mother, a touring stage performer, Hayes attended dancing class as a youngster,…...
Rachel Maddow.
Rachel Maddow

American political commentator

Rachel Maddow, American liberal political commentator and radio and television personality, host of The Rachel Maddow Show (2008– ) on the cable television channel MSNBC. Maddow grew up in the San Francisco…...
Saca, Antonio
Antonio Saca

president of El Salvador

Antonio Saca, Salvadoran sportscaster who served as president of El Salvador (2004–09). Saca was the grandson of Palestinian Catholics who moved to El Salvador from Bethlehem early in the 20th century.…...
Tyson, Neil deGrasse
Neil deGrasse Tyson

American astronomer

Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astronomer who popularized science with his books and frequent appearances on radio and television. When Tyson was nine years old, his interest in astronomy was sparked by…...
McPherson, Aimee Semple
Aimee Semple McPherson

American religious leader

Rush Limbaugh

American radio personality and author

Rush Limbaugh, American radio personality and author known for his ultraconservative and often controversial views. Limbaugh was the older of two sons of a prominent Cape Girardeau family. At age 16 he…...
Cristina Saralegui

Cuban American media personality and entrepreneur

Cristina Saralegui, Cuban American media personality, entrepreneur, and host and executive producer of El Show de Cristina (“The Cristina Show”; 1989–2010), a popular Spanish-language television talk show.…...
Ira Glass

American radio and television host

Ira Glass, American television and radio personality who was the popular host of a radio program (begun 1995 and later adapted for television) called This American Life. In 1978 Glass talked his way into…...
Patrick Buchanan.
Pat Buchanan

American journalist and politician

Pat Buchanan, conservative American journalist, politician, commentator, and author who held positions in the administrations of three U.S. presidents and who three times sought nomination as a candidate…...
McDaniel, Hattie
Hattie McDaniel

American actress and singer

Hattie McDaniel, American actress and singer who was the first African American to win an Academy Award. She received the honour for her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). McDaniel was…...
Stoppard, Tom
Tom Stoppard

British writer

Tom Stoppard, Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter whose work is marked by verbal brilliance, ingenious action, and structural dexterity. Stoppard’s father was working in Singapore in the late…...
McPartland, Marian
Marian McPartland

American musician and radio personality

Marian McPartland, English-born American jazz musician and radio personality, best known in the United States for her National Public Radio program Piano Jazz. McPartland began playing the piano when she…...
Vera Lynn, 1989.
Vera Lynn

English singer

Vera Lynn, English singer whose sentimental material and wholesome stage persona endeared her to the public during World War II. Broadcasts of her songs of love and longing were particularly resonant with…...
Blanc, Mel
Mel Blanc

American entertainer

Mel Blanc, entertainer renowned as America’s greatest voice-over artist who created more than 400 unique voices for popular radio, television, movie, and cartoon characters. Blanc was interested in music…...
George Burns and Gracie Allen, 1958.
George Burns

American comedian

George Burns, American comedian who—with his dry humour, gravelly voice, and ever-present cigar—was popular for more than 70 years in vaudeville, radio, film, and television. He was especially known as…...
Boone, Pat
Pat Boone

American singer and television personality

Giulietta Masina

Italian actress

Giulietta Masina, Italian motion-picture actress and the wife of Italian film director Federico Fellini. Her portrayal of waiflike innocents served as the emotional focal point for some of Fellini’s best…...
Paul Harvey receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Paul Harvey

American broadcaster

Paul Harvey, American radio commentator and news columnist noted for his firm staccato delivery and his conservative but individualistic opinions on current events. He enjoyed an almost unparalleled longevity…...
Fulton J. Sheen.
Fulton J. Sheen


Fulton J. Sheen, American religious leader, evangelist, writer, Roman Catholic priest, and radio and television personality. Sheen attended parochial school and St. Viator College, in Bourbonnais, Illinois,…...
Crosby, Bing
Bing Crosby

American singer, actor, and songwriter

Bing Crosby, American singer, actor, and songwriter who achieved great popularity in radio, recordings, and motion pictures. He became the archetypal crooner of a period when the advent of radio broadcasting…...
Citizen Kane
Joseph Cotten

American actor

Joseph Cotten, American actor best known for his performances in several film classics of the 1940s, particularly those directed by Orson Welles. After a brief stint as a part-time drama critic for the…...
Kate Smith, c. 1947.
Kate Smith

American singer

Kate Smith, American singer on radio and television, long known as the “first lady of radio.” Smith started singing before audiences as a child, and by age 17 she had decided on a career in show business.…...
Mehmet Oz.
Mehmet Oz

Turkish American surgeon, educator, and author

Mehmet Oz, Turkish American surgeon, educator, author, and television personality who cowrote the popular YOU series of health books and hosted The Dr. Oz Show (2009– ). Oz, whose parents were Turkish…...
Irene Worth

American actress

Irene Worth, American actress noted for her versatility and aristocratic bearing. Although she had her greatest success on the stages of London’s West End, she also earned three Tony awards for her work…...
Don Imus

American radio talk-show host

Keith Olbermann, 2007.
Keith Olbermann

American journalist, political commentator, and sportscaster

Keith Olbermann, American television journalist, liberal political commentator, and sportscaster perhaps best known as the host of the nightly news and analysis program Countdown with Keith Olbermann (2003–11)…...
Mary Margaret McBride (right) interviewing Eleanor Roosevelt, 1947.
Mary Margaret McBride

American journalist and broadcaster

Mary Margaret McBride, American journalist and broadcaster, perhaps best remembered for the warm down-home personality she projected on her highly popular long-running radio program. McBride moved frequently…...
Radio personality Howard Stern at Sirius Satellite Radio, New York City, 2006.
Howard Stern

American radio host

Howard Stern, American radio show host known for his controversial broadcasts. Stern was introduced to radio by his father, a sound engineer. The younger Stern, an awkward and shy child, found an outlet…...
Archibald MacLeish

American author, educator, and public official

BBC war correspondent Richard Dimbleby (left) assisting Indian troops to record messages to be sent home from Syria, June 1942.
Richard Dimbleby

British journalist

Richard Dimbleby, pioneer radio news reporter and the first of Britain’s great broadcast journalists. He was the first war correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); his voice became…...
Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day
Commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day