Biography

Biographies of notable people — their path, achievements and key facts.

S

Shelley Winters

Born Shirley Schrift, August 18, 1920, in St. Louis, MO; died of heart failure, January 14, 2006, in Beverly Hills, CA. Actress. Shelley Winters won two Academy Awards for her supporting r...

R

Robert Wise

Born Robert Earl Wise, September 10, 1914, in Winchester, IN; died of heart failure, September 14, 2005, in Los Angeles, CA. Director. In a career that spanned five decades, film director ...

E

Edward Witten

Physicist Born August 26, 1951, in Baltimore, MD; son of Louis W. Witten (a physicist); married Chiara Nappi (a physicist); children: Daniela, Ilana, Rafael. ...

P

Patricia A. Woertz

President and Chief Executive Officer of Archer Daniels Midland Born March 17, 1953, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; daughter of Chuck (a businessman) and Vi (a librarian) Woertz; ma...

T

Tobias Wolff

Author and professor Born Tobias Jonathan Ansell-Wolff III, June 19, 1945, in Birmingham, AL; son of Arthur (an aeronautical engineer) and Rosemary (Loftus) Wolff; married C...

Anna May Wong

Born: January 3, 1905 Los Angeles, California Died: February 3, 1961 Santa Monica, California Asian American actress ...

Tiger Woods

Born: December 30, 1975 Cypress, California African/Asian American golfer American golfer Tiger Woods is the youngest man ever, and the first man of ...

Virginia Woolf

Born: January 25, 1882 London, England Died: March 28, 1941 Lewes, Sussex, England English novelist, critic, and essayist ...

William Wordsworth

Born: April 7, 1770 Cookermouth, Cumberland, England Died: April 23, 1850 Rydal Mount, Westmorland, England English poet ...

H

Henry Clay Work

Little heralded even in histories of music that focus on popular song, American songwriter Henry Clay Work (1832–1884) nevertheless left a legacy that lived on in the memories of a...

J

John Wren

President and Chief Executive Officer of Omnicom Born c. 1952, in New York; married; children: two. Education: Earned undergraduate and M.B.A. degrees from...

Richard Wright

Born: September 4, 1908 Natchez, Mississippi Died: November 25, 1960 Paris, France African American writer The works ...

Frank Lloyd Wright

Born: June 8, 1869 Richland Center, Wisconsin Died: April 9, 1959 Phoenix, Arizona American architect The American ar...

T

Tammy Wynette

One of country music's most compelling rags-to-riches figures, American singer and songwriter Tammy Wynette (1942–1998) rose from dire poverty to become the first female performer ...

Malcolm X

Born: May 19, 1925 Omaha, Nebraska Died: February 21, 1965 New York, New York African American civil rights leader Af...

Deng Xiaoping

Born: August 22, 1904 Guangan, Sichuan Province, China Died: February 19, 1997 Peking, China Chinese politician and leader ...

Pope Benedict Xvi

April 16, 1927 • Marktl am Inn, Bavaria, Germany Roman Catholic Pope For twenty-seven years, from 1978 until his death in 2005, John Paul II (1920–2005) served as pope ...

X

Xzibit

Rap artist, television show host, and film actor Born Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, January 8, 1974, in Detroit, MI; children: Tremayne (son). Addresses: ...

Sun Yat-sen

Born: November 12, 1866 Choyhung, Kwangtung, China Died: March 12, 1925 Peking, China Chinese president and politician ...

William Butler Yeats

Born: June 13, 1865 Dublin, Ireland Died: January 28, 1939 Roquebrune, France Irish poet and dramatist William Butler...