Famous People

Marilyn Monroe
Real Name: Norma Jeane Mortenson or Baker
Born: 6/1/26 in Los Angeles, California
Died: 8/5/62
Legendary actress and star of such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Some Like It Hot (1959). She was married to baseball legend Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller. She died of an overdose of sleeping pills, which probably was suicide.

Elizabeth Taylor
Born: 2/27/32 in London, England
Died: March 23, 2011
Actress. Her films include National Velvet (1944), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Cleopatra (1963). She won Oscars for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) and Butterfield 8 (1960). Taylor has been active in fundraising for AIDS-related causes. Her former husbands include Eddie Fisher, Richard Burton (twice) and most recently construction worker Larry Fortensky.

Doris Day

Real Name: Doris von Kappelhoff

Born: 4/3/24 in Cincinnati, Ohio

A singer, actress who was America’s No.1 female box office attraction during the late 1950s and ’60s. Doris Day starred in a number musicals, comedies, and thrillers, including The Pajama Game (1957) and Pillow Talk (1959), often pairing with Rock Hudson. She later left films to star in the popular TV sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–73). Her hit songs include Que Sera Sera.

 

Lucille Ball

Born: 8/6/11 in Jamestown, New York

Died: 4/26/89

Zany comedienne best known and loved for I Love Lucy (1951–57). Lucille Ball won 8 Emmys over the years of her career. Her films include Stage Door (1937) and Mame (1974). She was married to Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, with whom she had children Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lucy Arnaz and later to Gary Morton.

Elvis Presley

Born:1/8/1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi

Died: 8/16/1977 in Memphis, Tennessee

Was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King".

James Dean

Born: 2/2/31

Died: 9/30/55

Brooding, rebel actor who achieved cult-figure status after making only three films, Rebel Without a Cause (1955), East of Eden (1955) and Giant (1956). Dean died in a car accident which cut off a promising career.

Frank Sinatra

Born: 12/12/15 in Hoboken, New Jersey

Died: 5/14/98

Both an Academy Award-winning actor and a Grammy Award-winning singer. ‘Ole Blue Eyes, the Chairman of the Board is perhaps best known as the leader of the Rat Pack, a group which included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. Sinatra was a heartthrob for bobby-soxers who phrasing of songs remains classic. His screen performances include From Here to Eternity (1953) for which he won the Oscar, The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and The Man With the Golden Arm (1955).

John Wayne

Real Name: Marion Michael Morrison

Born: 5/26/1907 in Winterset, lowa

Died: 6/11/1979

Portrayed the quintiessential American hero onscreen. Best known as a cowboy in John Ford directed Westerns such as Stagecoach (1939), Fort Apache (1948) and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950). Wayne won an Academy Award for True Grit (1969).