Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Capra, Frank kăpˈrə [key], 1897–1991, American film director, b. Bisaquino, Sicily. One of the preeminent Hollywood directors of the 1930s and 40s, he produced idealistic populist movies that, so...

(Encyclopedia) Taylor, Elizabeth, 1932–2011, Anglo-American film actress, b. London. Regarded as one of the world's most beautiful women, Taylor went from child star and typical teenager roles to a series of ladyl...

(Encyclopedia) Jameson, John Franklin, 1859–1937, American historian, b. Somerville, Mass. After teaching at Johns Hopkins, Brown, and the Univ. of Chicago he was director (1905–28) of the department of historic...

(Encyclopedia) Brandywine, battle of, in the American Revolution, fought Sept. 11, 1777, along Brandywine Creek. The creek, formed by two small branches in SE Pennsylvania, flows southeast to join, near Wilmington, ...

(Encyclopedia) Dana, John Cotton, 1856–1929, American librarian and museum director, b. Woodstock, Vt. He was a lawyer and a civil engineer before joining the staff of the Denver (Colo.) Public Library in 1889, wh...

(Encyclopedia) Wyler, William, 1902–1981, American film director, producer, and writer, b. Mülhausen, Germany (now Mulhouse, France) as Willi Wilder. He came to the United States (1920) at the invitation of Carl ...

(Encyclopedia) Morgan, John, 1735–89, American physician, b. Philadelphia, grad. College of Philadelphia (now Univ. of Pennsylvania), 1751. He founded, in Philadelphia (1765), the first medical school in the Unite...

(Encyclopedia) Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich, 1908–79, U.S. public official, governor of New York (1959–73), Vice President of the United States (1974–77), b. Bar Harbor, Maine; grandson of John D. Rockefeller. ...

(Encyclopedia) Von Stroheim, Erich (Hans Erich Marie Stroheim von Nordenaall) āˈrĭkh fən shtrōˈhīm [key], 1885–1957, Austrian-American film director, writer, and actor. He came to the United States in 1909,...

(Encyclopedia) Eisenstein, Sergei Mikhailovich syĭrgāˈ mēkhīˈləvĭch īˈzənshtīn [key], 1898–1948, Russian film director. An architect and engineer, he became interested in a theatrical career and worked...