Actress Winona Ryder has starred in a number of high-profile, iconic films over the course of her five-decade spanning career. She was won industry accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Academy Award nominations. With her breakout role in Lucas, her gothy take in Beetlejuice and her dark comedic turn in Heathers under her …
On January 27, 1967, Gus Grissom was killed in a fire in a pre-launch test aboard Apollo 1 (then known as AS-204). Grissom, along with fellow astronauts Roger Chaffee and Ed White, were working in the Command Module of the spacecraft. Grissom said: “”How are we going to get to the Moon if we can’t …
Singer/songwriter/musician Bobby Womack started off his career singing with his brothers as The Womack Brothers. They toured the country, accompanied by their mother and father on piano and guitar respectively. The group caught the attention of singer Sam Cooke. Cooke became the band’s mentor and booked them on a national tour with The Staple Singers. …
In 1975, The Philadelphia Eagles signed 6 foot 5 inch, 254 pound defensive end Blenda Gay. He became a fixture on the team’s defensive line and played every regular season game for the next two seasons. In December 1976, Roxanne Gay, Blenda’s wife, slit Blenda’s throat while he slept. Mrs. Gay explained to arresting Camden, …
With dreams of becoming a fashion designer, Mattiwilda Dobbs attended Spellman College in the early 1940s. Her instructors encouraged young Mattiwilda to pursue singing and she graduated in 1946 with a degree in music. She began performing in Europe, making her operatic debut in Holland in Stravinsky’s The Nightingale. In 1953, at the request of …
The child of free blacks who moved North just prior to the Civil War, Mary Eliza Mahoney began working as an untrained practical nurse at twenty-years old. To supplement her income, Mary took on janitorial duties at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. In 1878, she was accepted into the New England Hospital’s …
Pete Smith began his career, humbly, as an aide on the vaudeville circuit. He soon found work with Louis B. Mayer as a publicity manager for Mayer’s studio. He was promoted to doing voice overs and editing on short subjects and sports-related newsreels. Based on his sense of humor, Pete was given his own series …
Louise Harrison came to the United States from her native England in the 1950s. She settled in Illinois with her husband, a Scottish expatriate. She lived the unassuming life of a mid-Western housewife. In the early 1960s, Louise’s younger brother George formed a rock band with two young men he had recently met. The pair …
As a student at Northern Illinois University, Cynthia Ann Cichorski took DJ duties at the campus radio station. She parlayed her communications degree as a reporter for a local radio station using the more “radio-friendly name “Morgan.” After graduation, Cindy worked as the on-air weather forecaster at a Rockford TV station. Eventually, she made her …
