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People: Famous People born in the 1900s (1900-1909)

People in chronological context: The 1900s (pronounced "nineteen-hundreds") was a decade that began on January 1, 1900, and ended on December 31, 1909. The Edwardian era (1901–1910) covers a similar span of time. The term "nineteen-hundreds" is sometimes also used to mean the entire century from January 1, 1900, to December 31, 1999 (the years beginning with "19"). The Scramble for Africa continued, with the Orange Free State, South African Republic, Ashanti Empire, Aro Confederacy, Sokoto Caliphate and Kano Emirate being conquered by the British Empire, alongside the French Empire conquering Borno, the German Empire conquering the Adamawa Emirate, and the Portuguese Empire conquering the Ovambo. Atrocities in the Congo Free State were committed by private companies and the Force Publique, with a resultant population decline of 1 to 15 million. From 1904 to 1908, German colonial forces in South West Africa led a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment, genociding 24,000 to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Namaqua. The First Moroccan and Bosnian crises led to worsened tensions in Europe that would ultimately lead to the First World War in the next decade. Cuba, Bulgaria, and Norway became independent. The deadliest conventional war of this decade was the Russo-Japanese War, fought over rival imp... ()

People born in year: 1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909


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1,922 people found (page 1/65):

Hank Worden(† 91)

Actor | Rolfe, Iowa (US)

Raised on a cattle ranch in Montana. Educated at Stanford and the University of Nevada as an engineer. Washed out as an Army pilot. Toured the country in rodeos as a saddle bronc rider. Broke his neck in a horsefall in his 20s, but didn't know it until his 40s. Chosen along withTex Ritterfrom a rodeo at Madison Square Garden in New York to appear in the Broadway play "Green Grow the Lilacs", the play from which the musical "Oklahoma" was later derived. Drove a cab in New York, then worked on dude ranches as a wrangler and as a guide on the Bright Angel trail of the Grand Canyon. Recommended byBillie Burketo several movie producers. Became friends withJohn Wayne,Howard Hawks, and laterJohn Ford, all of whom provided him with much work. Survived by adopted daughter Dawn Henry.Date of Death: 6December1992,Los Angeles, California, USA(natural causes)

* 07/23/1901

Gary Cooper(† 60)

Actor | Helena, Montana (US)

Gary Cooper (May 7, 1901- May 13, 1961) was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-six years, from 1925 to 1961, and included leading roles in eighty-four feature films. He was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through to the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to both men and women, and his range of performances included roles in most major movie genres. Cooper's ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his natural and authentic appearance on screen. Throughout his career, he sustained a screen persona that represented the ideal American hero.

* 05/07/1901

Paul Ford(† 74)

Actor | Baltimore, Maryland (US)

Paul Ford Weaver (November 2, 1901 – April 12, 1976) was an American character actor and comedic actor who came to specialize in portraying authority figures whose ineptitude and pompous demeanor were played for comic effect, notably as Mayor George Shinn in the 1957 Broadway musical comedy play, followed five years later by repeating in the feature film version The Music Man (1962), (starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones), and on television as U.S. Army Colonel John T. Hall on several seasons of the military comedy The Phil Silvers Show(1955–1959).

* 11/02/1901

Vittorio De Sica(† 73)

Actor | Sora, Frosinone, Lazio (IT)

Vittorio De Sica (7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: Sciuscià and Bicycle Thieves (honorary), while Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Il giardino dei Finzi Contini won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Indeed, the great critical success of Sciuscià (the first foreign film to be so recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Bicycle Thieves helped establish the permanent Best Foreign Film Award. These two films are considered part of the canon of classic cinema. Bicycle Thieves was cited by Turner Classic Movies as one of the 15 most influential films in cinema history.De Sica was also nominated for the 1957 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing Major Rinaldi in American director Charles Vidor's 1957 adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, a movie that was panned by critics and proved a box office flop. De Sica's acting was considered the highlight of the film.

* 07/07/1901

Reed Howes(† 64)

Actor | Washington, D.C. (US)

Hermon Reed Howes (July 5, 1900 – August 6, 1964) was an American model who later became an actor in silent and sound films.

* 07/05/1900

James Dunn(† 65)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

James Dunn worked on the stage, in vaudeville and as an extra in silent movies before he was signed by Fox in 1931. His first movie with Fox was 1931's Sob Sister (1931). While at Fox, he appeared with Shirley Temple in her first three features: Baby Take a Bow (1934), Stand Up and Cheer! (1934) and Bright Eyes (1934). Dunn's screen character was usually the boy next door or the nice guy. In 1935 musicals at the new 20th Century-Fox were out and Dunn would move to the "B" list, from which he would never return. In The Payoff (1935) he plays the nice guy newspaper columnist whose wife ruins his career. By the late 1930s he was drinking heavily and become unemployable. He would appear in small roles in films during the early 1940s, but those parts were few. In 1945 he was able to make a comeback and win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), but his rejuvenated career would not continue. By 1951 he would again be unemployed and bankrupt. Television would later supply some work and he would be a regular on the series It's a Great Life (1954).Dunn was born 2November 1901,New York City, New York, USA, and he died 1September 1967,Santa Monica, California, USA (following abdominal surgery)

* 11/02/1901

Ed Begley(† 69)

Actor | Hartford, Connecticut (US)

Edward James Begley Sr. (March 25, 1901 – April 28, 1970) was an American actor of theatre, radio, film, and television.

* 03/25/1901

Barbara Cartland(† 98)

Crew | Edgbaston (GB)

Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland, (9 July 1901 – 21 May 2000) was an English writer, known as the Queen of Romance, who published both contemporary and historical romance novels, the latter set primarily during the Victorian or Edwardian period. Cartland is one of the best-selling authors worldwide of the 20th century. Many of her novels have been adapted into films for television including A Hazard of Hearts, A Ghost in Monte Carlo and Duel of Hearts. Her novels have been translated from English into numerous languages, making Cartland the fifth most translated author worldwide, excluding biblical works. Her prolific output totals some 723 novels. Although best known for her romantic novels, she also wrote non-fiction titles including biographies, plays, music, verse, drama, operettas, and several health and cook books. She also contributed advice to TV audiences and newspaper magazine articles. She sold more than 750 million copies of her books, though other sources estimate her total sales at more than two billion. The covers of her novels featured portrait-style artwork, usually designed by Francis Marshall (1901–1980). Cartland was also a businesswoman who was head of Cartland Promotions. She was a London society figure, often dressed in a pink chiffon gown, a plumed hat, blonde wig, and heavy make-up.

* 07/09/1901

Helen Hayes(† 92)

Actress | Washington, D.C. (US)

Helen Hayes MacArthur (née Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 82 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award (an EGOT). She was also the first person to win the Triple Crown of Acting. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. In 1988, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. The annual Helen Hayes Awards, which have recognized excellence in professional theatre in greater Washington, D.C., since 1984, are her namesake. In 1955, the former Fulton Theatre on 46th Street in New York City's Theatre District was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. When that venue was torn down in 1982, the nearby Little Theatre was renamed in her honor. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the greatest leading ladies of the 20th-century theatre.

* 10/10/1900

Friedrich von Ledebur(† 86)

Actor | Nisko (PL)

Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius Graf von Ledebur-Wicheln ((1900-06-03)3 June 1900 – (1986-12-25)25 December 1986) was an Austrian actor who was known for Moby Dick (1956), Alexander the Great (1955) and Slaughterhouse-Five (1972).

* 06/03/1900

Louis Mercier(† 92)

Actor | Algiers, Alger, France [now Algeria]

- No description / details available yet. -

* 03/07/1901

Thomas Wolfe(† 37)

Crew | Asheville, North Carolina (US)

Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American writer. The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction states that "Wolfe was a major American novelist of the first half of the twentieth century, whose longterm reputation rests largely on the impact of his first novel, Look Homeward Angel (1929), and on the short fiction that appeared during the last years of his life." Along with William Faulkner, he is considered one of the two most important authors of the Southern Renaissance within the American literary canon. He remains an important writer in modern American literature, as one of the first masters of autobiographical fiction, and is considered among North Carolina's most famous writers. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books, written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American culture and the mores of that period, filtered through Wolfe's sensitive, sophisticated, and hyper-analytical perspective. After Wolfe's death, contemporary author Faulkner said that Wolfe might have been the greatest talent of their generation for aiming higher than any other writer. Faulker's endorsement, however, failed to win over mid to late 20th century literary critics and for a time Wolfe's place in the literary canon was questioned. However, 21st century academics have largely rejected this negative assessment, and both a greater appreciation of his experimentation with literary forms and a renewed interest in Wolfe's works, in particular his short fiction, has secured Wolfe's place in the literary canon with a more positive and balanced assessment. Wolfe's influence extends to the writings of Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac, and of authors Ray Bradbury and Philip Roth, among others.

* 10/03/1900
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Herbert Weißbach(† 93)

Actor | Bernburg-Germany

Herbert Weißbach (12 November 1901 – 13 October 1995) was a German actor, cabaret artist, and voice actor. Born in Bernburg, he appeared in more than 240 films and television shows between 1935 and 1994.

* 11/12/1901

Lesley Selander(† 79)

Crew | Los Angeles, California (US)

Lesley Selander (May 26, 1900 – December 5, 1979) was an American film director of Westerns and adventure movies. His career as director, spanning 127 feature films and dozens of TV episodes, lasted from 1936 to 1968. Before that, Selander was assistant director on films such as The Cat and the Fiddle (1934), A Night at the Opera (1935), and Fritz Lang's Fury (1936). To this day Selander remains one of the most prolific directors of feature Westerns in cinema history, having taken the helm for 107 Westerns between his first directorial feature in 1936 and 1967. In 1956 he was nominated for the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television, for his work directing a 1954 episode of Lassie.

* 05/26/1900

Connie Gilchrist(† 84)

Actress | Brooklyn, New York City, New York (US)

Rose Constance Gilchrist (July 17, 1895 – March 3, 1985) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Among her screen credits are roles in the Hollywood productions Cry 'Havoc' (1943), A Letter to Three Wives (1949), Little Women (1949), Tripoli (1950), Houdini (1953), Some Came Running (1958), and Auntie Mame (1958).

* 02/02/1901

Andre Kostelanetz(† 78)

Actor | Saint Petersburg (RU)

Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Kostelanetz escaped in 1922 after the Russian Revolution.He arrived in the United States that year, and in the 1920s, conducted concerts for radio. In the 1930s, he began his own weekly show on CBS, André Kostelanetz Presents.Kostelanetz was known for arranging and recording light classical music pieces for mass audiences, as well as orchestral versions of songs and Broadway show tunes. He made numerous recordings over the course of his career, which had sales of over 50 million and became staples of beautiful music radio stations.For many years, Kostelanetz also conducted the New York Philharmonic in pops concerts and recordings, in which they were billed as Andre Kostelanetz and His Orchestra.André Kostelanetz may be best known to modern audiences for a series of easy listening instrumental albums on Columbia Records from the 1940s until 1980. Kostelanetz actually started making this music before there was a genre called "easy listening." He continued until after some of his contemporaries, including Mantovani, had stopped recording.

* 12/22/1901

Marc Allégret(† 72)

Crew | Bâle (CH)

Marc Allégret was a French screenwriter and film director. He was born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer. Allégret became André Gide's lover when he was fifteen and Gide was forty-seven. Later, Marc was to fall briefly under the spell of Cocteau, who Gide feared would "corrupt" him.Marc's father, Elie Allégret, had originally been hired by André Gide's mother to tutor André in light of his weak grades in school, after which he and his charge became fast friends. In 1895 Elie Allégre was best man at André Gide's wedding.After filming a 1927 trip to the Congo with André Gide, Marc Allégret chose to pursue a career in the motion picture industry. His relationship with Gide ended after that trip after having experiences with Congolese women. They nevertheless remained close friends until Gide's death in 1951. After working and training as an assistant director, in 1931 he directed his first feature Mam'zelle Nitouche, and the following year received much acclaim for his film, Fanny. He went on to a long career during which he wrote numerous scripts and directed more than fifty films.Marc Allégret is noted for discovering and developing new acting talent who went on to stardom including Michèle Morgan, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Raimu, Gérard Philipe, Danièle Delorme, Louis Jourdan, and Roger Vadim who would become his directing assistant.He was married to Nadine Vogel.He was a married man who then felt he had an obligation to proclaim his homosexuaity. He was hoever seen as a general liberator rather than a specilist defender of homosexual rights.He died in 1973 and was interred in the Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles, France.

* 12/22/1900

Llewellyn Rees(† 92)

Actor | Charmouth, Dorset, England (GB)

Walter Llewellyn Rees (18 June 1901 – 7 January 1994) was an English actor.

* 06/18/1901

Jester Hairston(† 98)

Actor | Belews Creek (US)

Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 – January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on black spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include "Amen," a gospel-tinged theme from the film Lilies of the Field and a 1964 hit for the Impressions, and the Christmas song "Mary's Boy Child."

* 07/09/1901

Julia Montoya(† 92)

Actor

- No description / details available yet. -

* 1901

Ricardo Cortez(† 76)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

Ricardo Cortez (September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American film actor who began his career during the silent film era.Born Jacob Krantz in New York City into a Jewish family, he worked on Wall Street in a broker's office and as a boxer before his looks got him into the film business. Hollywood executives changed his name to Cortez to appeal to film-goers as a "Latin lover" to compete with such highly popular actors of the era as Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro and Antonio Moreno. When rumour began to circulate that Cortez was not actually Spanish, the studios tried to pass him off as a different type of Latin, French, before they finally admitted his (supposedly) Viennese origin.Cortez appeared in over 100 films. He played opposite Joan Crawford in Montana Moon in 1930, played Sam Spade in the original The Maltese Falcon in 1931, co-starred with Charles Farrell and Bette Davis in The Big Shakedown and Wonder Bar (with Al Jolson and Dolores del Río) in 1934. He also played Perry Mason in the 1936 film The Case of the Black Cat. Although he began his career playing romantic leads with actresses like Greta Garbo, when sound cinema arrived, his powerful delivery and New York accent made him an ideal villain and conman, and he switched from sex symbol to character actor.Cortez was married to silent film actress Alma Rubens until her death of pneumonia in 1931.When he retired from the film business, Cortez went to work as a stockbroker for Solomon Brothers on New York's Wall Street. He died in New York City in 1977 and was interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx.He was the older brother of noted cinematographer Stanley Cortez (born Stanislaus Krantz).

* 09/19/1900

Emerson Treacy(† 66)

Actor | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (US)

Emerson Treacy (September 17, 1900 – January 10, 1967) was an American film, Broadway, and radio actor.

* 09/17/1900

Marie Rosůlková(† 91)

Actress | Plzeň, Česko, Rakousko-Uhersko

- No description / details available yet. -

* 12/17/1901

Curt Bois(† 90)

Actor | Berlin (DE)

Curt Bois (born Kurt Boas; April 5, 1901 – December 25, 1991) was a German actor with a career spanning over 80 years. He is best remembered for his performances as the pickpocket in Casablanca (1942) and the poet Homer in Wings of Desire (1987).

* 04/05/1901

Jim Hayward(† 80)

Actor | Philadelphia / Philly (US)

- No description / details available yet. -

* 09/08/1900

Enrico Glori(† 64)

Actor | Napoli, Campania (IT)

Enrico Musy, better known as Enrico Glori (3 August 1901 – 22 April 1966) was an Italian actor.

* 08/03/1901

Clark Gable(† 59)

Actor | Cadiz, Ohio (US)

William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American film actor. Often referred to as the "King of Hollywood", he had roles in more than 60 motion pictures in a variety of genres during a career that lasted 37 years, three decades of which was as a leading man. He was named the seventh greatest male movie star of classic American cinema by the American Film Institute. Gable won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the romantic comedy It Happened One Night (1934). He was further Oscar-nominated for his roles as Fletcher Christian in the drama Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and Rhett Butler in the historical romance drama Gone with the Wind (1939). He received Golden Globe Award nominations for his comedic roles in Teacher's Pet (1958), and But Not for Me (1959). He also starred in Call of the Wild (1935), Key to the City (1950), and Mogambo (1953). His final on-screen role was as an aging cowboy in The Misfits (1961). Gable was one of the most consistent box-office performers in the history of Hollywood, appearing on Quigley Publishing's annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll sixteen times. He appeared opposite many of the most popular actresses of their time. He frequently acted alongside Joan Crawford, Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Norma Shearer and Ava Gardner. Gable died of a heart attack at the age of 59.

* 02/01/1901

Xavier Cugat(† 90)

Actor | Girona, Catalonia (ES)

Xavier Cugat was a popular Spanish-American bandleader. He made many appearances in Hollywood films and on television throughout the decades, from 1921.

* 01/01/1900

Brian Donlevy(† 71)

Actor | Portadown, County Armagh, Ireland [now in Northern Ireland] (GB)

Waldo Brian Donlevy (February 9, 1901 – April 6, 1972) was an American actor, who was noted for playing dangerous and tough characters. Usually appearing in supporting roles, among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939), The Great McGinty (1940) and Wake Island (1942). For his role as the sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He starred as U.S. special agent Steve Mitchell in the radio/TV series Dangerous Assignment. His obituary in The Times newspaper in the United Kingdom said, "Any consideration of the American 'film noir' of the 1940s would be incomplete without him".

* 02/09/1901

Chick Hannan(† 79)

Actor | Iron River, Michigan (US)

Chester William Hannan (May 24, 1901 – August 14, 1980) was an American actor and rodeo performer. He was known for starring as Yucca Bill Thompson in the 1937 film Stars Over Arizona. Hannah was born in Iron River, Michigan. In 1924, he traveled to England with the Tex Austin Rodeo. Hannan moved to California in the 1930s. Hannan began his career in 1933, first appearing in the serial film The Three Musketeers, which starred John Wayne and Ruth Hall. Hannan made over 370 film and television appearances. Hannan appeared in films, such as, The Red Rider (1934), starring Buck Jones; Trouble in Texas (1937), starring Tex Ritter; The Utah Trail (1938), again with Tex Ritter; The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939), starring Robert Livingston; King of the Texas Rangers (1941), starring Sammy Baugh; West of the Rio Grande (1944), starring Johnny Mack Brown; Lone Texas Ranger (1945), starring Wild Bill Elliott; Roaring Rangers (1946), starring Charles Starrett and Smiley Burnette; Raiders of the South (1947), again with Johnny Mack Brown; Return of the Bad Men (1948), starring Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys, George "Gabby" Hayes and Jacqueline White; Across the Rio Grande (1949), starring Jimmy Wakely; Code of the Silver Sage (1950), starring Allan Lane; The Brass Legend (1956), starring Hugh O'Brian and The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959), starring Joel McCrea. His final film credit was from the 1966 film A Big Hand for the Little Lady, which starred Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward and Jason Robards. In his film career, he served as a double for actor and musician Tex Ritter's wife Dorothy Fay and also for other actresses. Hannan's television credits includes Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Wagon Train, The Virginian, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, The Deputy, Bat Masterson, Tales of Wells Fargo, Death Valley Days, The Restless Gun, Sugarfoot and The Adventures of Kit Carson. He was an on-set representative for the American Humane. He died in August 1980 in San Fernando, California, at the age of 79.

* 05/24/1901
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