Douglas, Helen Gahagan (25 November 1900–28 June 1980), actress and politician, was born in Boonton, New Jersey, the daughter of Walter Hamer Gahagan, a civil and contracting engineer, and Lillian Rose Mussen. In 1905 the family moved to an exclusive neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. Helen’s authoritarian father made all the family decisions; her mother stressed education and the religious values of the Episcopal church. She also had a penchant for the opera and took Helen to every performance of the Metropolitan Opera. As a child Helen often staged dramatic presentations atop her father’s billiard table for siblings and friends. Although bright, she was a poor student and dreamed of being an actress, a career choice neither parent found acceptable....
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Thomas Dublin
Winslow, Rose (Ruza Wenclawksa) (15 Dec. 1889–?), suffragist, labor activist, and actor, was born Ruza Wenclawska in Calvaris, Poland, then part of the Suwalki province in Tsarist Russia. The family immigrated to the United States when she was five, settled in Pittsburgh, and her father worked in a nearby mine. During these years the family changed its name to Winslow, and she now went by Rose. By ...
