Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Close, Glenn, 1947–, American actress, b. Greenwich, Conn. She began her career in the theater, debuting on Broadway in Love for Love (1974), winning an Obie for the off-Broadway The Singular Life o...

(Encyclopedia) Hunter, Evan, 1926–2005, American novelist, b. New York City as Salvatore A. Lambino, grad. Hunter Coll. (1950). He achieved both success and acclaim with the publication of his third novel, The Bla...

(Encyclopedia) Haneke, Michael häˈnəkə [key], 1942–, Austrian film director and screenwriter, b. Munich, Germany. In the 1970s and 80s, he wrote and directed for television and the theater. His first film, The...

(Encyclopedia) Simpson, O. J. (Orenthal James Simpson), 1947–, American football player, b. San Francisco. As a running back for the Univ. of Southern California, he won the Heisman Trophy as the best college play...

(Encyclopedia) Quinn, Anthony (Anthony Rudolph Oaxaca Quinn), 1915–2001, American actor, b. Chihuahua, Mex. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was four years old. Quinn had a number of jobs before turning to ...

(Encyclopedia) Trevor, William, 1928–2016, Anglo-Irish fiction writer, b. William Trevor Cox, grad. Trinity College, Dublin (1950). He resided in England from 1960. Trevor's novels are usually set in England or Ir...

(Encyclopedia) Sagan, Carl Edward sāˈgən [key], 1934–96, American astronomer and popularizer of science, b. New York City. Early in his career he investigated radio emissions from Venus and concluded that the c...

(Encyclopedia) terbium tûrˈbēəm [key] [from Ytterby, a village in Sweden], metallic chemical element; symbol Tb; at. no. 65; at. wt. 158.92535; m.p. 1,356℃; b.p. 3,123℃; sp. gr. about 8.25; valence +3 or +4....

(Encyclopedia) Shaffer, Sir Peter shăfˈər [key], 1926–2016, English playwright, b. Liverpool, grad. Cambridge, 1950. Before turning to the stage he wrote for radio and television and was the author of several m...

(Encyclopedia) Thomas, Clarence, 1948–, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1991–), b. Pin Point (Savannah), Ga. Raised in a poor family, he graduated (1974) from the Yale Law School and became a promin...