1918 births

Charles_F._Willis

Charles Fountain Willis, Jr. (July 23, 1918 – March 16, 1993) was an American political campaigner and low level government official.
Willis was born in Beaumont, Texas, and earned a B.A. from the University of Florida in 1939.
During World War II, Willis was a commander in the Naval Air Arm of the United States Navy. He served as a patrol pilot, a bomber pilot, and a fighter pilot. His efforts earned the Distinguished Flying Cross three times, three Air Medals, and a Purple Heart.
After the war, Willis entered private industry and founded Willis Air Service in 1946. In 1951, Willis and Stanley M. Rumbough Jr. co-founded the "Citizens for Eisenhower" movement in an attempt to secure the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Willis continued his work for the Eisenhower campaign in 1952 by joining the campaign staff. He is credited for coining the iconic political slogan, "I Like Ike."After Eisenhower's election in late 1952, Willis joined Eisenhower's staff and served as assistant to the assistant to the president from January 23, 1953, until June 30, 1955.Following Willis' departure from the White House, he served as assistant to the chairman of W. R. Grace and Company until 1957 when he became president of Alaska Airlines.
He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.

Jane_Bryan

Jane Bryan (born Jane O'Brien; June 11, 1918 – April 8, 2009) was an American actress groomed by Warner Bros. to become one of its leading ladies but she chose to retire from acting in 1940 at age 22, after which she became a philanthropist and arts patron.

Eleanor_Keaton

Eleanor Ruth Keaton (July 29, 1918 – October 19, 1998) was an American dancer and variety show performer. She was an MGM contract dancer in her teens and became the third wife of silent-film comedian Buster Keaton at the age of 21. She is credited with rehabilitating her husband's life and career. The two performed at the Cirque Medrano in Paris and on European tours in the 1950s; she also performed with him on The Buster Keaton Show in the early 1950s. After his death in 1966, she helped ensure Keaton's legacy by giving many interviews to biographers, film historians, and journalists, sharing details from his personal life and career, and also attended film festivals and celebrations honoring Keaton. In her later years, she bred champion St. Bernard dogs, was a gag consultant for Hollywood filmmakers, and was an invited speaker at silent-film screenings.

Joe_D._Montgomery

Joe D. Montgomery (January 28, 1918 – October 5, 2013) was an American politician, educator, and businessman.
Born in Floydada, Texas, he served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. He graduated from Colorado State University. Montgomery went to San Francisco, California and then moved to Anchorage, Alaska where he was an educator, principal, and superintendent of the Anchorage Public Schools. He also owned an automobile agency. He served two terms as a Republican in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1979 to 1983. He died in Anchorage, Alaska.

Fay_McKenzie

Eunice Fay McKenzie (February 19, 1918 – April 16, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She starred in silent films as a child, and then sound films as an adult, but perhaps she is best known for her leading roles opposite Gene Autry in the early 1940s in five horse opera features. She was also known for her collaborations with director Blake Edwards on five occasions.
She also appeared on Broadway, radio, and television, having appeared on screen at ten weeks old in 1918. She was still appearing on screen at the time of her death, with her latest project opposite her son Tom Waldman Jr. in the comedy Kill a Better Mousetrap, based on a play by Scott K. Ratner, filmed in the summer of 2018 and not yet released at the time of her death. She was briefly billed as Fay Shannon.

Manuel_Pertegaz

Manuel Pertegaz Ibáñez (18 May 1918 - 30 August 2014) known as Manuel Pertegaz or simply as Pertegaz was a Spanish fashion designer. He was so highly regarded that he was asked to succeed Christian Dior in 1957 as head designer at Dior, but chose to remain in Spain, where by the 1960s he was considered its leading couturier.

Alice_Louise_Judd_Simpich

Alice Louise Judd Simpich (1918–2006), also known as Awee Simpich was an American sculptor. She was born in Honolulu on March 1, 1918, and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1940. Simpich is best known for her sensitive portrait busts. In addition to being a sculptor, she was an active member and supporter of the Maui Humane Society. Simpich died at age 87 on January 21, 2006. Her carved stone portrait bust Head of a Young Woman, ca. 1953 is installed in the John Dominis and Patches Damon Holt Gallery of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Ann_Ayars

Ann Ayars (23 July 1918 – 27 February 1995) was an American soprano and actress. Early in her career she acted in several TV series and non musical films. Later, she sang with the New York City Opera (NYCO), and became known worldwide when she sang and acted the part of Antonia in the 1951 British film The Tales of Hoffmann.From 1968 to 1987 she taught voice and piano and staged 19 full-length opera productions at Mt. San Jacinto College in California, where she was made a professor emerita.

Claudia_Drake

Claudia Drake (born Olga Gloria Fishbine, January 30, 1918 – October 19, 1997) was an American actress and singer.At age 5, Drake and her sister Ella (age 8) formed the La Marr sisters, and the duo performed in vaudeville. When she was older, Busby Berkeley saw her singing in a casino and signed her to a contract with Warner Bros. Her roles in films included being leading lady in Hopalong Cassidy Westerns. She appears in both leading and supporting roles in a variety of B movies, mostly Westerns, from the 1940s and 1950s. One of her more memorable supporting roles is the character Sue Harvey in the 1945 film noir Detour. During the 1950s she also performed in several American television series.

Audra_Lindley

Audra Marie Lindley (September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997) was an American actress, most famous for her role as landlady Helen Roper on the sitcom Three's Company and its spin-off The Ropers.