40.6979° N, 73.9995° W

NEW YORK CITY

Most Famous People Born in New York City, USA

Notable people
22,064
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1935
Most distinctive
Screenwriter 5.4×

If the 20th century held a casting call, it was in New York. Almost all of the city's notable births fall after 1900, fueled by an entertainment economy — Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, the studio system, late-night TV, hip-hop in the Bronx — that has minted more actors, comedians, and musicians than any other American city. Even its 19th-century names skew literary: poets, editors, journalists, not generals or industrialists.

Standouts

What New York City Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is New York City's biggest profession — 14% of all notables (3,012).

New York City over-indexes on screenwriter 5.4× the global rate.

New York City under-produces football — only 0.1× the global rate.

  1. Actor 3,012 2.6×
  2. Politician 1,004 0.4×
  3. Writer 859 1.2×
  4. Film 841 3.1×
  5. Lawyer 794 2.1×
  6. Music 767 2.4×
  7. Baseball 584 2.3×
  8. Singer 573 1.3×
  1. Screenwriter 522 5.4×
  2. Producer 225 3.6×
  3. Novelist 299 3.4×
  4. Film 841 3.1×
  5. Photographer 287 2.7×
  6. Actor 3,012 2.6×
  7. Music 767 2.4×
  8. Baseball 584 2.3×
  1. Football 365 0.1×
  2. Politician 1,004 0.4×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of New York City's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Science
  • Other
All22,064
Sort By

Showing 1,769 of 22,064 notable people

3370 MUSIC

Maxine Sullivan

1911 - 1987

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3413 ACTOR

Victoria Horne

1911 - 2003

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3441 WRITER

Hutton Gibson

1918 - 2020

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3449 FILM

Russell Rouse

1913 - 1987

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3470 POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Albert Wohlstetter

1913 - 1997

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3494 SINGER

Joan Roberts

1917 - 2012

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3511 MATHEMATICIAN

William Kruskal

1919 - 2005

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3525 SCREENWRITER

Dean Riesner

1918 - 2002

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3528 SCREENWRITER

Edward Anhalt

1914 - 2000

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3552 JOURNALIST

Ruth Gruber

1911 - 2016

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3604 MUSIC

Bob Haggart

1914 - 1998

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3609 BANJOIST

Dave Barbour

1912 - 1965

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3612 MUSIC

Billy Bauer

1915 - 2005

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3616 KILLED

Leon Klinghoffer

1916 - 1985

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3621 ACTOR

Sylvia Fine

1913 - 1991

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3669 SCREENWRITER

Henry Ephron

1911 - 1992

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3670 IMPRESARIO

Sid Bernstein

1918 - 2013

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3678 PHOTOGRAPHER

Irving Klaw

1910 - 1966

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3713 SCREENWRITER

Edmund H. North

1911 - 1990

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3728 PRESENTER

Edwin Newman

1919 - 2010

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3732 WRITER

Harold Norse

1916 - 2009

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3742 DIPLOMAT

Lincoln Gordon

1913 - 2009

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3753 WRITER

Morton Freedgood

1912 - 2006

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3759 WRITER

Barbara Cooney

1917 - 2000

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3761 SINGER

Lina Romay (singer)

1919 - 2010

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3766 ANTHROPOLOGIST

David M. Schneider

1918 - 1995

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3776 PENCILLER

Harry Lampert

1916 - 2004

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3809 ACTOR

Walter Brooke

1914 - 1986

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3853 WRITER

Stanley Kauffmann

1916 - 2013

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3877 ACTOR

Will Rogers Jr.

1911 - 1993

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3893 COMPOSER

Gene de Paul

1919 - 1988

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3901 FILM

Charles S. Dubin

1919 - 2011

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3907 PHYSICIST

Herbert L. Anderson

1914 - 1988

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3931 SCREENWRITER

Phoebe Ephron

1914 - 1971

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3976 FILM

Felix E. Feist

1910 - 1965

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3978 ECONOMIST

Moses Abramovitz

1912 - 2000

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4003 POET

Peter Viereck

1916 - 2006

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4010 MUSIC

Curley Russell

1917 - 1986

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4027 CONDUCTOR

Nicola Rescigno

1916 - 2008

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4035 CONDUCTOR

Anton Coppola

1917 - 2020

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4041 HISTORIAN

Oscar Handlin

1915 - 2011

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4048 SCREENWRITER

Isobel Lennart

1915 - 1971

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4074 FILM

Aaron Rosenberg

1912 - 1979

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4079 ACTOR

O. Z. Whitehead

1911 - 1998

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4088 ACTOR

Charlotte Henry

1914 - 1980

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4094 PSYCHIATRIST

Leon Goldensohn

1911 - 1961

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4104 DRUMMER

Jim Chapin

1919 - 2009

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4107 FILM

Morris Engel

1918 - 2005

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4109 NOVELIST

Henry Denker

1912 - 2012

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4110 FOLKLORIST

Richard Dorson

1916 - 1981

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4121 BANDLEADER

Shep Fields

1910 - 1981

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4127 PHOTOGRAPHER

O. Winston Link

1914 - 2001

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4145 BIOCHEMIST

David E. Green

1910 - 1983

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4170 AUTHOR

Vince Gironda

1917 - 1997

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4186 PSYCHIATRIST

George L. Engel

1913 - 1999

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4190 FILM

Raymond Abrashkin

1911 - 1960

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4222 CLARINET

Flip Phillips

1915 - 2001

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4227 CHESS

Fred Reinfeld

1910 - 1964

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4260 MUSIC

Chubby Jackson

1918 - 2003

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4305 SCREENWRITER

Walter Newman (screenwriter)

1916 - 1993

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4311 MUSIC

Denzil Best

1917 - 1965

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4314 PHOTOGRAPHER

Roy DeCarava

1919 - 2009

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4329 PROFESSOR

Lionel Casson

1914 - 2009

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4330 LAWYER

Robert Morgenthau

1919 - 2019

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4334 POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Harry V. Jaffa

1918 - 2015

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4340 ACTOR

Sid Melton

1917 - 2011

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4342 SCREENWRITER

Milton Sperling

1912 - 1988

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4377 PHYSICIAN

Adrian Kantrowitz

1918 - 2008

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4421 CELLIST

Fred Katz (cellist)

1919 - 2013

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4462 ARCHITECT

John M. Johansen

1916 - 2012

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4466 NUTRITIONIST

Philip Handler

1917 - 1981

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4495 NOVELIST

Irving Shulman

1913 - 1995

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4518 AUTHOR

Flora Rheta Schreiber

1918 - 1988

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4523 BUSINESS

Theodore N. Kaufman

1910 - 1986

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4527 ARTIST

Jim Mooney

1919 - 2008

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4541 THEOLOGIAN

R. J. Rushdoony

1916 - 2001

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4549 AUTHOR

Sidney Shapiro

1915 - 2014

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4551 LAWYER

Mario Biaggi

1917 - 2015

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4556 COMPOSER

Ervin Drake

1919 - 2015

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4565 AUTHOR

Eugene V. Rostow

1913 - 2002

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4581 MATHEMATICIAN

Louis Guttman

1916 - 1987

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4588 GOVERNMENT

Stanley Rogers Resor

1917 - 2012

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4592 ARTIST

William Copley (artist)

1919 - 1996

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4596 SCREENWRITER

Ben Roberts (writer)

1916 - 1984

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4617 ACTOR

William Tannen

1911 - 1976

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4622 ACTOR

Willard Parker

1912 - 1996

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4632 COMPOSER

Bob Hilliard

1918 - 1971

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4643 COMPOSER

John Serry Sr.

1915 - 2003

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4652 ACTOR

Beverly Roberts

1914 - 2009

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4654 COMPOSER

Irving Gordon

1915 - 1996

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4669 PHYSICIST

Ivan A. Getting

1912 - 2003

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4684 FARMER

Max Yasgur

1919 - 1973

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4689 BIOCHEMIST

Elkan Blout

1919 - 2006

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4696 PRODUCER

Fred Freiberger

1915 - 2003

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4726 ENGINEER

John R. Ragazzini

1912 - 1988

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4748 DIPLOMAT

Angier Biddle Duke

1915 - 1995

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4766 ACTOR

Ramsay Ames

1919 - 1998

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4771 ACTOR

Grace Bradley

1913 - 2010

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4809 SCREENWRITER

Robert Youngson

1917 - 1974

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4811 MATHEMATICIAN

Milton Abramowitz

1915 - 1958

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4839 MUSIC

Sylvia Syms (singer)

1917 - 1992

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4841 FILM

Harry Essex

1910 - 1997

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4859 NURSE

Faye Glenn Abdellah

1919 - 2017

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4864 MATHEMATICIAN

Rufus Isaacs (game theorist)

1914 - 1981

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4868 ACTOR

Fay Baker

1917 - 1987

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4901 PIANIST

Joe Bushkin

1916 - 2004

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4917 SCREENWRITER

Clarence Greene

1913 - 1995

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4921 CHEMIST

Elvin A. Kabat

1914 - 2000

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4929 POLITICIAN

Peter Frelinghuysen Jr.

1916 - 2011

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4932 ACTOR

Phil Foster

1913 - 1985

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4937 SOLDIER

Milton Wolff

1915 - 2008

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4943 ACTOR

Louis Guss

1918 - 2008

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4946 PSYCHIATRIST

Arthur M. Sackler

1913 - 1987

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4959 POLITICIAN

Peter J. Brennan

1918 - 1996

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4974 MUSIC

George Forrest (author)

1915 - 1999

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4991 FILM

Cy Feuer

1911 - 2006

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5007 OFFICER

Lewis Nixon III

1918 - 1995

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5011 ACTOR

Mary Doran

1910 - 1995

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5028 ACTOR

Larry J. Blake

1914 - 1982

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5035 PHYSICIST

William Nierenberg

1919 - 2000

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5036 BUSINESS

Whitney Straight

1912 - 1979

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5039 WIFE OF

Rúhíyyih Khánum

1910 - 2000

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5041 PRODUCER

David Dortort

1916 - 2010

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5044 SCREENWRITER

William Ludwig

1912 - 1999

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5084 SCREENWRITER

Jay Dratler

1911 - 1968

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5093 PHYSICIST

Bruria Kaufman

1918 - 2010

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5095 COLONEL

Trevor N. Dupuy

1916 - 1995

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5097 WRITER

Sheldon Mayer

1917 - 1991

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5115 ACTOR

Judith Allen

1911 - 1996

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5182 WRITER

Thomas Quinn Curtiss

1915 - 2000

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5186 FILM

Richard Sale (director)

1911 - 1993

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5194 MUSIC

Irving Fields

1915 - 2016

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5224 FILM

Martin Manulis

1915 - 2007

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5241 FOOTBALL

Alfonso Negro

1915 - 1984

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5258 ACTOR

Eleanor Hunt

1910 - 1981

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5272 BUSINESS

Seymour Durst

1913 - 1995

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5290 COMPOSER

Arthur Berger (composer)

1912 - 2003

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5305 MOBSTER

Paul Vario

1914 - 1988

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5321 AUTHOR

William Lederer

1912 - 2009

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5331 ACTOR

Alan Hewitt

1915 - 1986

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5341 ARTIST

Irving Amen

1918 - 2011

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5350 ART DIRECTOR

Bill Ward (cartoonist)

1919 - 1998

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5355 PHYSICIST

Solomon Berson

1918 - 1972

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5360 PROFESSOR

Ascher H. Shapiro

1916 - 2004

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5367 PIANIST

Bill Miller (pianist)

1915 - 2006

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5368 ARTIST

John Cullen Murphy

1919 - 2004

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5374 JOURNALIST

W. C. Heinz

1915 - 2008

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5375 ACTOR

Margot Stevenson

1912 - 2011

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5377 POLITICIAN

Lester L. Wolff

Born 1919

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5381 ACTOR

Italia Coppola

1912 - 2004

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5383 BUSINESS

Joseph Cullman

1912 - 2004

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5403 SCREENWRITER

Irving Brecher

1914 - 2008

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5412 FILM

Richard J. Collins

1914 - 2013

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5420 AUTHOR

Heywood Hale Broun

1918 - 2001

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5460 NOVELIST

Ed Lacy

1911 - 1968

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5464 ACTOR

Luther Davis

1916 - 2008

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5465 SCREENWRITER

Frank Tarloff

1916 - 1999

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5468 BOTANIST

Daniel I. Axelrod

1910 - 1998

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5481 FILM

Jennings Lang

1915 - 1996

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5484 ACTOR

Ed Peck

1917 - 1992

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5496 AVIATOR

Elinor Smith

1911 - 2010

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5497 WRITER

Ezra Jack Keats

1916 - 1983

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5498 AUTHOR

Hortense Calisher

1911 - 2009

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5509 SONGWRITER

Buddy Kaye

1918 - 2002

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5511 FILM

Paul Landres

1912 - 2001

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5520 FILM

Joey Adams

1911 - 1999

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5543 CORRESPONDENT

David Scherman

1916 - 1997

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5577 ACTOR

Tod Andrews

1914 - 1972

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5597 BOBSLED

Billy Fiske

1911 - 1940

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5601 NOVELIST

Mitchell A. Wilson

1913 - 1973

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5604 ACTOR

Miriam Battista

1912 - 1980

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5622 ACTOR

Frank Gerstle

1915 - 1970

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5632 PSYCHOLOGIST

Seymour Sarason

1919 - 2010

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5633 ACTOR

Maurice Gosfield

1913 - 1964

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5644 ACTOR

Henry Morgan (humorist)

1915 - 1994

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5670 SCREENWRITER

Joe Connelly (producer)

1917 - 2003

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5674 SCREENWRITER

Nelson Gidding

1919 - 2004

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5675 ENTREPRENEUR

Alfred S. Bloomingdale

1916 - 1982

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5690 PIANIST

Johnny Guarnieri

1917 - 1985

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5698 COMPOSER

George Bassman

1914 - 1997

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5709 ACTOR

Harold Jacob Smith

1912 - 1970

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5711 PHOTOGRAPHER

Arthur Leipzig

1918 - 2014

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5735 MUSIC

Al Viola

1919 - 2007

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5747 SCREENWRITER

Arnold Perl

1914 - 1971

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5757 WRITER

Kin Platt

1911 - 2003

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5758 COMPOSER

Eddie Sauter

1914 - 1981

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5760 PLAYER

Rudolf Wanderone

1913 - 1996

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5761 PAINTER

Seymour Fogel

1911 - 1984

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5766 FEMINIST

Barbara Deming

1917 - 1984

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5774 SCREENWRITER

Norman Rosten

1913 - 1995

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5805 POET

Edwin Honig

1919 - 2011

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5815 SONGWRITER

Roy C. Bennett

1918 - 2015

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5833 SCREENWRITER

Fredric M. Frank

1911 - 1977

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5866 FILM

Jerry Wald

1911 - 1962

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5878 CARTOONIST

Mac Raboy

1914 - 1967

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5889 ACTOR

Than Wyenn

1919 - 2015

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5894 COMMUNIST

John Gates

1913 - 1992

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5900 DANCER

Ann Hutchinson Guest

Born 1918

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5902 ACTOR

Joan Tompkins

1915 - 2005

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5916 ASTRONOMER

Leo Goldberg

1913 - 1987

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5929 BIOGRAPHER

Joseph Frank (writer)

1918 - 2013

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5947 PHYSICIST

Martin Pope

Born 1918

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5954 ACTOR

Nick Stewart

1910 - 2000

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5956 PSYCHOLOGIST

Herman Witkin

1916 - 1979

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5959 POET

William Morris Meredith Jr.

1919 - 2007

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5966 DIPLOMAT

Gerard C. Smith

1914 - 1994

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5996 COMPOSER

Doris Fisher (songwriter)

1915 - 2003

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6010 ONCOLOGIST

Jane C. Wright

1919 - 2013

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6026 MUSIC

Charles Fowlkes

1916 - 1980

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6038 MUSIC

Art Mooney

1911 - 1993

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6041 SWIMMER

George Kojac

1910 - 1996

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6042 SONGWRITER

Walter Kent

1911 - 1994

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6093 ECONOMIST

Robert Dorfman

1916 - 2002

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6105 CARTOONIST

Irwin Hasen

1918 - 2015

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6108 MAGAZINE

Michael Straight

1916 - 2004

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6121 ACTOR

Betty Furness

1916 - 1994

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6126 FILM

Henry Morgenthau III

1917 - 2018

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6131 POLITICIAN

Gladys Spellman

1918 - 1988

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6138 NUTRITIONIST

Herman Tarnower

1910 - 1980

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6141 CHOREOGRAPHER

John Taras

1919 - 2004

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6143 COSTUME DESIGNER

Raoul Pene Du Bois

1914 - 1985

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6147 COMPOSER

Sherman Edwards

1919 - 1981

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6152 CHEMIST

William Gardner Pfann

1917 - 1982

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6167 PHILOSOPHER

Morton White

1917 - 2016

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6169 FILM

Alex Segal

1915 - 1977

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6188 PENCILLER

Bernard Krigstein

1919 - 1990

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6205 ACTOR

Florence Meyer

1911 - 1962

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6214 OFFICER

John D. Bulkeley

1911 - 1996

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6240 AUTHOR

Jack Belden

1910 - 1989

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6255 COLLECTOR

Victor Ganz

1913 - 1987

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6264 PHILOSOPHER

Maxine Greene

1917 - 2014

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6270 MATHEMATICIAN

Alfred Horn

1918 - 2001

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6284 BIOLOGIST

Sol Spiegelman

1914 - 1983

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6289 SINGER

Helen Ward (singer)

1913 - 1998

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6300 BASEBALL

Frank McCormick

1911 - 1982

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6302 CLIMATOLOGIST

Herbert Saffir

1917 - 2007

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6315 SCREENWRITER

Allen Adler

1916 - 1964

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6316 ACTOR

Gloria Blondell

1915 - 1986

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6324 ECONOMIST

Eliot Janeway

1913 - 1993

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6355 COMPOSER

Sunny Skylar

1913 - 2009

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6370 DIPLOMAT

Harlan Cleveland

1918 - 2008

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6389 SCREENWRITER

Martin Goldsmith

1913 - 1994

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6396 ECONOMIST

Nathaniel Weyl

1910 - 2005

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6402 ACTOR

Paul Gilbert (actor)

1918 - 1975

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6406 ACTIVIST

H. Stuart Hughes

1916 - 1999

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6421 ACTOR

Paul Tripp

1911 - 2002

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6436 SCREENWRITER

Stanley Rubin

1917 - 2014

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6439 BASKET

Chick Reiser

1914 - 1996

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6468 SOCIOLOGIST

Daniel Lerner

1917 - 1980

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6471 ACTOR

Margaret Wright (actress)

1917 - 1999

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6489 ACADEMIC

Harold Isaacs

1910 - 1986

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6500 CINEMA

Arthur Ornitz

1916 - 1985

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6519 LAWYER

Lloyd Cutler

1917 - 2005

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6534 ACTOR

Elliott Lewis (radio)

1917 - 1990

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6541 BOTANIST

William Alfred Weber

1918 - 2020

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6554 COMIC

Lou Fine

1914 - 1971

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6559 ACTOR

Paula Stone

1912 - 1997

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6567 SCREENWRITER

Stanley Roberts (screenwriter)

1916 - 1982

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6583 COMPOSER

Eddie Snyder

1919 - 2011

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6584 BANDLEADER

Si Zentner

1917 - 2000

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6599 BASKET

Ralph Bishop

1915 - 1974

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6604 ACTOR

Jackson Beck

1912 - 2004

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6612 PAINTER

Arthur B. Singer

1917 - 1990

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6613 NOVELIST

Elizabeth Janeway

1913 - 2005

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6639 ACTOR

Dayton Allen

1919 - 2004

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6655 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Richard MacNeish

1918 - 2001

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6657 ANIMATOR

Mel Shaw

1914 - 2012

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6660 LAWYER

Irving Kaufman

1910 - 1992

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6668 MATHEMATICIAN

James Dugundji

1919 - 1985

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6669 MATHEMATICIAN

Henry Wallman

1915 - 1992

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6670 MODEL

Eddie August Schneider

1911 - 1940

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6678 PLAYER

Alastair Martin

1915 - 2010

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6680 ATTIVISTA

Julius Rosenberg

1918 - 1953

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6687 SCIENTIST

Bernard T. Feld

1919 - 1993

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6688 WRITER

Jim Kjelgaard

1910 - 1959

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6692 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Lawrence Krader

1919 - 1998

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6705 BIOLOGIST

Gladys Lounsbury Hobby

1910 - 1993

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6718 DIPLOMAT

Leonore Annenberg

1918 - 2009

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6731 ANIMATOR

Hal Seeger

1917 - 2005

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6742 SCREENWRITER

Jerome Weidman

1913 - 1998

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6747 AUTHOR

Robert Lochner

1918 - 2003

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6748 PSYCHOLOGIST

Abraham S. Luchins

1914 - 2005

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6757 ENGINEER

Victor Wouk

1919 - 2005

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6760 POET

Joe Darion

1917 - 2001

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6777 SCREENWRITER

Malvin Wald

1917 - 2008

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6780 ACTOR

Richard Reeves (actor)

1912 - 1967

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6781 MATHEMATICIAN

Ellis Kolchin

1916 - 1991

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6784 ACTOR

Hermann Braun

1917 - 1945

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6792 PHYSICIST

Albert Rose (physicist)

1910 - 1990

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6823 ACTOR

Vivian Nathan

1916 - 2015

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6835 SCREENWRITER

Edna Anhalt

1914 - 1987

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6839 PENCILLER

Alfred Andriola

1912 - 1983

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6863 MUSIC

Eddie Shu

1918 - 1986

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6872 PRIEST

Patrick Ahern

1919 - 2011

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6883 PHOTOGRAPHER

Eliot Elisofon

1911 - 1973

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6897 WRITER

Julius Fast

1919 - 2008

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6915 COMPOSER

Walter Schumann

1913 - 1958

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6952 COMPOSER

Sid Kuller

1910 - 1993

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6966 ARTIST

Harry Holtzman

1912 - 1987

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6972 LYRICIST

Manny Curtis

1911 - 1984

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