Born in Kansas City, Mo., to a clarinetist father and a singer mother, DeRosa went into the family business playing a French horn, usually as a studio musician, available for hire for anyone who needed a horn for a recording. Classical? Jazz? Movie/TV soundtracks? He did it all, playing for Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin, John … Read more
From This is True for 24 July 2022
John only played one role, but had a long and influential acting career.
From This is True for 17 July 2022
Growing up in South Texas, Dohlen wanted to be a jockey, but he was too tall. He instead studied Theater at the University of Texas, and moved to Denver to finish his degree. He moved to New York to find acting jobs. “I knew I wanted to go to New York City to work in … Read more
From This is True for 10 July 2022
Born Peggy Doris Hawkins in Nashville, Tenn., as a child Peggy lost hearing in one ear during surgery, and learned to understand people better by looking them in the eyes when they spoke. At 10 she started painting. Her subject: children. In the early 1950s she met Walter Keane, who said he was a painter … Read more
From This is True for 3 July 2022
Born on his family’s farm in eastern New York, Knowlton was precocious: he graduated a year early from high school and still made valedictorian. He went to Cornell University, where his parents had met, for a 5-year program in engineering and physics; he stayed at Cornell to complete a Master’s degree in the same subjects. … Read more
From This is True for 26 June 2022
A singer, Cruise was in the right place at the right time more than once. “I was in this country-and-western musical in the East Village,” she recalled in 1990. “I was a chorus girl with a big skirt and a big wig, singing way too loud. Angelo was doing the music for the show, and … Read more
From This is True for 19 June 2022
A schoolteacher and writer, Cook’s face had been printed on billions of labels to sell products, but she wasn’t allowed to publicly acknowledge that the well-known (trademarked!) face was hers, even though she had not consented to the use of her face. Until 1978, that is, when the product company allowed her name to be known. The … Read more
From This is True for 5 June 2022
A British graphic designer, Forbes took an unusual approach to setting up a design firm: a strong desire to have a multidisciplinary team. The co-founders of the resulting new company, Pentagram, named for the five “star” founders: Theo Crosby (architect), Kenneth Grange (industrial designer), Mervyn Kurlansky and Alan Fletcher (graphic designers), and Forbes. With the … Read more
From This is True for 29 May 2022
Born in San Francisco, Calif., Cantwell had an insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge: by the end of the first grade he had gone through all the books in his school’s library; he then moved on to the public library. He studied various fields at the University of California at Los Angeles, which took his … Read more
From This is True for 22 May 2022
Born in Washington state, Walden’s family moved to San Francisco when he was 4. He went to school at the University of California at Berkeley, but dropped out after just one semester due to his poor grades. He regrouped and went to San Francisco State, getting his BS in mathematics, during which time he worked … Read more
From This is True for 8 May 2022