born June 10, 1899, Roquecourbe, France died July 3, 1984, Paris French military officer who sought to prevent Algerian independence. During a military career in which he became the French army's most decorated soldier, he served in France during World War I (1914-18), French West Africa (1941-44), French Indochina (1945-53), and Algeria (1956-62). Rebelling against Charles de Gaulle's decision to free Algeria, in 1961 he formed a right-wing extremist group, the Secret Army Organization, which terrorized France and Algeria. He was captured in 1962 and tried for treason
a French painter famous for his brightly coloured paintings of horse races, beaches, and boats (1877-1953). born June 3, 1877, Le Havre, Fr. died March 23, 1953, Forcalquier French painter and designer. In 1900 he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and experimented with Impressionism, but by 1904 he had adopted the flat areas of bright colour typical of Fauvism. In the early 1920s he developed a distinctive style characterized by rapid calligraphic drawing on backgrounds of bright, decorative colour; his subjects were usually recreational scenes such as horse races, parades, and concerts. He also designed textiles and made numerous book illustrations
born June 10, 1899, Roquecourbe, France died July 3, 1984, Paris French military officer who sought to prevent Algerian independence. During a military career in which he became the French army's most decorated soldier, he served in France during World War I (1914-18), French West Africa (1941-44), French Indochina (1945-53), and Algeria (1956-62). Rebelling against Charles de Gaulle's decision to free Algeria, in 1961 he formed a right-wing extremist group, the Secret Army Organization, which terrorized France and Algeria. He was captured in 1962 and tried for treason
born Aug. 4, 1912, Stockholm, Swed. died July 17, 1947?, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R Swedish businessman and humanitarian. The scion of a family of bankers, industrialists, and diplomats, in 1936 he became the foreign representative of a Hungarian trading company whose president was Jewish. When the Nazis sent troops to round up Jews in Hungary (1944), Wallenberg asked to be sent to Budapest as a diplomat. There he rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews by sheltering them in "protected houses" under the Swedish flag or securing their passage out of Hungary through bribes or counterfeit documents. Soon after Soviet troops occupied Budapest (1945), he was arrested on suspicion of espionage. He was sent to Moscow, where he allegedly died of a heart attack in prison in 1947. Unconfirmed reports from freed Soviet prisoners reported him alive in 1951, 1959, and 1975
born March 11, 1887, New York, N.Y., U.S. died Dec. 31, 1980, Simi Valley, near Los Angeles, Calif. U.S. film director. Walsh began acting for the stage in 1910 and on film in 1912, the same year that he began directing. He was an assistant to D.W. Griffith and appeared in The Birth of a Nation (1915). In his 50-year career, he directed over 200 films, usually characterized by their simplicity and quick action. His White Heat (1949) is a classic study of a pathological criminal, and The Naked and the Dead (1958) is an effective translation of Norman Mailer's novel into film. His other films include What Price Glory? (1926), The Roaring Twenties (1939), They Drive by Night (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), High Sierra (1941), and A Distant Trumpet (1964)
born May 10, 1888, Vienna, Austria died Dec. 28, 1971, Hollywood, Calif., U.S. Austrian-born U.S. composer and conductor. A prodigy, he wrote an operetta at age 14 that ran in Vienna for a year. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1914 and worked in New York City as a theatre conductor and arranger, and then he moved to Hollywood in 1929. He became one of the first and finest (if not subtlest) movie composers, establishing many techniques that became standard, with his scores for King Kong (1933), The Informer (1935, Academy Award), Gone with the Wind (1939), Now, Voyager (1942, Academy Award), Since You Went Away (1944, Academy Award), The Big Sleep (1946), The Fountainhead (1949), and many others