|
William Powell
William Powell 1892-1984, American movie actor, b. Pittsburgh. Powell made his stage debut in 1912. He played the dapper villain in such early films as Sherlock Holmes (1921), Romola (1924), and Beau Geste (1926). In sound films, his sonorous voice and elegant manner made him more popular as ...
Read more
|
|
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baden-Powell of Gilwell, 1st Baron
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell Baden-Powell of Gilwell, 1st Baron , 1857-1941, British soldier, founder of the Boy Scouts . He saw much active service in India and Africa prior to the South African War, in which he defended Mafikeng for seven months (1899-1900) and subsequently organized the ...
Read more
|
|
William Powell Frith
William Powell Frith 1819-1909, English anecdotal and genre painter. His early paintings were illustrations, such as his Scene from a Sentimental Journey (Victoria and Albert Mus.). Later he painted many enormously popular pictures of everyday English life, among them Derby Day (National Gall.,...
Read more
|
|
Dawn Powell
Dawn Powell 1896-1965, American novelist, b. Mt. Gilead, Ohio. She came to New York City in 1918 and settled several years later in Greenwich Village, where she spent most of the rest of her life and became a member of a stellar literary set. These two locales are reflected in Powell's 15 novels: h...
Read more
|
|
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire , 1899-1987, American dancer, actor, and singer, b. Omaha, Nebr., as Frederick Austerlitz. After 1911 he and his sister Adele formed a successful Broadway vaudeville team. After his sister retired, Astaire became a film actor (1933). He became known as a debonair song-and-dance man, par...
Read more
|
|
John Wesley Powell
John Wesley Powell 1834-1902, American geologist and ethnologist, b. Mt. Morris (now part of New York City). The family moved to Illinois, where Powell joined the Natural History Society, making collections and serving as secretary of the society. After the Civil War, in which he lost an arm at Shi...
Read more
|
|
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. 1908-72, American politician and clergyman, b. New Haven, Conn. In 1937 he became pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, and he soon became known as a militant black leader. He was elected to the city council of New York in 1941, and was elected for the f...
Read more
|
|
Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr.
Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. 1907-98, American lawyer, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1971-87), b. Suffolk, Va. He studied law at Washington and Lee Univ. and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1931. He had a successful law practice in Richmond and held several local offices. Powell al...
Read more
|
|
Colin Luther Powell
Colin Luther Powell 1937-, U.S. army general and government official, b. New York City, grad., City College (B.S., 1958); George Washington Univ. (M.A., 1969). The son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was the first African American and the youngest person to chair (1989-93) the Joint Chiefs of Staff ...
Read more
|
|
Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell 1912-98, British politician. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a fellow there (1934-38) and professor of Greek at the Univ. of Sydney, Australia (1937-39). He entered Parliament in 1950 as a Conservative from Wolverhampton and served as minister of health (1960-63). With t...
Read more
|