All articles starting with W
11,426 articles
Willy Kyrklund
Willy Kyrklund, born Paul Wilhelm Kyrklund in Helsinki in 1921, was a Sweden-based Finland-Swedish author of condensed, ironic prose, known for Solange and the essay book Om godheten.
Willy Loman
Willy Loman is the tragic protagonist of Arthur Miller's 1949 play Death of a Salesman, a sixty-year-old salesman whose confused pursuit of success and being liked ends in suicide for a $20,000 insurance payment.
Willy Lützow
Willy Lützow (Wilhelm Bernhard Adolf Emil Lützow), German breaststroke swimmer, born 1892; 1912 Olympic silver in the 200 m breaststroke, 100 m breaststroke world record 1:16.8 in 1914; missing in action 1915 at Tahure, France.
Willy Michel
Willy Michel, born 1947 in Burgdorf, Switzerland, is a Swiss entrepreneur who founded Disetronic and Ypsomed, pioneered insulin delivery systems, and sold Disetronic's pump business to Roche in 2003.
Willy Moon
Willy Moon, stage name of William George Sinclair (born 1989), New Zealand-born London-based musician blending 1950s rock and roll with hip-hop; known for "Yeah Yeah" in Apple's 2012 iPod ad and album Here's Willy Moon.
Willy Polleunis
Willy Polleunis, Belgian long-distance runner born 1947 in Hasselt; three-time Olympian (1968, 1972, 1976), sixth in the 1976 Olympic 5000 m, 1973 European indoor 3000 m silver medalist, and fifth at the 1973 World Cross Country Championships.
Willy Rice
William "Willy" Rice (born 1963) is an American Southern Baptist pastor who leads Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida, and was elected the 66th president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2026.
Willy Rodriguez
Willy Rodriguez (Willy Rodriguez Quiñones), Puerto Rican drummer from Ponce based in New York; Latin Grammy winner on Mon Laferte's Norma (2018), Mars Volta drummer (2022, 2025), leader debut Seeing Sounds (2024), Sunnyside album In The Unknown (2026).
Willy Røgeberg
Willy Røgeberg (1905–1969), Norwegian rifle shooter and gun dealer, won 50 m prone small-bore rifle gold at Berlin 1936 with a perfect 300/300, bronze at London 1948, and survived Grini concentration camp.
Willy Ronis
Willy Ronis (1910–2009) was a French photographer and a leading figure of humanist photography, known for black-and-white images of working-class Paris, including Le petit Parisien.
Willy Rosingh
Willy Rosingh (Wilhelm Herman Conrad Enno Rösingh, 1900-1976) was a Dutch rower of club Laga Delft who won gold in the men's coxless pairs with Teun Beijnen at the 1924 Paris Olympics, the first Dutch Olympic rowing gold.
Willy Rozenbaum
Willy Rozenbaum is a French infectious-disease physician and co-discoverer of HIV, whose patient supplied the 1983 lymph-node sample from which the AIDS virus was first isolated, published in Science.
Willy Russell
Willy Russell (born 1947) is the English Liverpool playwright of Educating Rita (1980), Blood Brothers (1983), and Shirley Valentine (1986), each an Olivier Award winner; two became films, and he was Oscar-nominated for the Educating Rita screenplay.
Willy Sagnol
Willy Sagnol (born 1977) is a French football manager and former right-back, a Bayern Munich defender (2000-2009) with 58 France caps and the 2001 Champions League, who coached Georgia from 2021 to 2026, reaching Euro 2024's round of 16.
Willy Theisen
Willy Theisen, born William M. Theisen, is an American restaurateur who founded Godfather's Pizza in Omaha in 1973 and built it into one of the largest US pizza chains.
Willy Verstraete
Willy Verstraete, born 1946 in Belgium, is an environmental biotechnologist and emeritus Ghent University professor known for microbial fuel cells, wastewater treatment, and Microbial Resource Management.
Willy William
Willy William (Willy Fauade William), French DJ, producer and singer, ex-Collectif Métissé; known for "Ego" (2015) and "Mi Gente" with J Balvin (2017), first all-Spanish track to top Spotify's global chart.
Willy Wonka
Willy Wonka is the fictional chocolatier created by Roald Dahl in the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Also known for the 1971 Gene Wilder film, the 2005 Johnny Depp version, and the 2023 prequel Wonka, he hides Golden Tickets for factory tours and is now a Netflix-owned franchise spanning films, a reality series, and merchandise.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), Mel Stuart's musical fantasy starring Gene Wilder, adapted from Roald Dahl's 1964 novel, financed by Quaker Oats, shot in Munich, a box-office disappointment that became a classic.
Willy's Chocolate Experience
Willy's Chocolate Experience, also called the Glasgow Willy Wonka Experience, was a failed unlicensed Wonka-themed children's event held 24 February 2024 in Glasgow; its AI-generated ads promised an immersive £35 experience, police were called after it was canceled within hours, and 850 refunds were pledged.
Willy's Wonderland
Willy's Wonderland is a 2021 American comedy horror film directed by Kevin Lewis, starring Nicolas Cage as a drifter who battles murderous animatronic mascots in an abandoned Nevada fun center.
Willys
Willys, also known as Willys-Overland, was an American automaker founded by John North Willys in Toledo, Ohio, best known for the World War II Jeep and first civilian Jeeps.
Willys Hurricane engine
The Willys Hurricane engine was an F-head gasoline engine family built from 1950 to 1971, best known for the F4-134 four that powered Jeep CJ vehicles and the military M38A1.
Willys K. Silvers
Willys K. Silvers (1928–2024) was an American transplantation immunologist at the University of Pennsylvania known for research on skin graft rejection and the H-Y antigen.
Willys MB
The Willys MB, or Willys Jeep, was a four-wheel-drive utility truck built in Toledo, Ohio, for the US Army during World War II from 1941 to 1945.
Wilm Hosenfeld
Wilm Hosenfeld (Wilhelm Hosenfeld, 1895–1952), Wehrmacht captain in occupied Warsaw who hid and aided persecuted Poles and Jews, including pianist Władysław Szpilman; died in Soviet captivity, honored Righteous Among the Nations 2008.
Wilma Flintstone
Wilma Flintstone (Wilma Anna Flintstone, née Slaghoople) is the fictional wife of Fred Flintstone in Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones (1960–66), voiced originally by Jean Vander Pyl, mother of Pebbles, based on Alice Kramden of The Honeymooners.
Wilma Mankiller
Wilma Pearl Mankiller (1945–2010) was a Cherokee activist who served as the first woman elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1985 to 1995.
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994), American sprinter and polio survivor; won 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay gold at Rome 1960, first American woman with three golds at one Olympics.
Wilma Stockenström
Wilma Stockenström, born in 1933, is a South African Afrikaans poet, novelist, playwright, and actress, known for her 1981 novel Die kremetartekspedisie, translated by J.M. Coetzee as The Expedition to the Baobab Tree.