Fulgencio Batista

Cuban military officer & politician born in 1901. Elected Cuban president & U.S.-backed military dictator.

Queen Elisabeth

Empress of Austria & Queen of Hungary by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I, born in 1837.

Dalida

French singer & actor who rose to fame with her 1950s hit “Bambino,” launching a 30-year career.

Yukio Mishima

Japanese writer, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, & founder of the Tatenokai militia born in 1925.

Marlene Dietrich

German American actor & singer who starred in classic Hollywood films incl. Morocco, Shanghai Express, & Desire.

Marie Duplessis

French courtesan & salon hostess born in 1824. Inspiration for Alexander Dumas’ character Marguerite Gautier.

Rudyard Kipling

English journalist, short-story writer, poet, & novelist born in 1865. Best known for his novel The Jungle Book.

Andrew Johnson

17th President of the United States born in 1808. Succeeded Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.

Frédéric Soulié

French popular writer born in 1800. Wrote over 40 “sensation novels” such as Mémoires du diable.

Georges Seurat

French post-Impressionist artist born in 1859 & best known for devising chromoluminarism & pointillism.