Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries
Filterable archive covering centuries of intellectual, artistic, and moral contributions to the human story.
Sidney Lumet
(Sidney Lumet)
Master American film director of gritty urban morality tales, who directed cinematic milestones including 12 Angry Men, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Verdict.
Farley Granger
(Farley Earle Granger II)
Handsome American Hollywood leading man best remembered for his starring roles in two of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thrillers: Rope (1948) and Strangers on a Train (1951).
Elizabeth Taylor
(Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor)
Legendary Hollywood screen icon who won two Academy Awards (Butterfield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) and co-founded amfAR, raising hundreds of millions of dollars to battle HIV/AIDS.
Nate Dogg
(Nathaniel Dwayne Hale)
American singer and rapper whose smooth, resonant baritone hooks defined West Coast G-funk hip-hop alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Warren G on classics like Regulate.
Joe Morello
(Joseph Albert Morello)
Virtuoso American jazz drummer of the Dave Brubeck Quartet celebrated for his unmatched mastery of odd time signatures, immortalized by his 5/4 drum solo on Take Five.
Jane Russell
(Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell)
Legendary Hollywood leading lady and glamour icon who starred opposite Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and founded the World Adoption International Fund (WAIF).
Annie Girardot
(Annie Suzanne Girardot)
One of the most beloved and acclaimed French actresses of the 20th century, star of Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers and Haneke's The Piano Teacher, winning three Cรฉsar Awards.
George Shearing
(Sir George Albert Shearing)
Blind British-American jazz pianist and composer who created the famous 'Shearing sound' with his quintet and composed the enduring jazz standard Lullaby of Birdland.
Gary Moore
(Robert William Gary Moore)
Virtuoso Northern Irish guitarist and singer celebrated for his blisteringly fast technique, lyrical vibrato, work with Thin Lizzy, and blues standards like Parisienne Walkways and Still Got the Blues.
Ahmed Bouanani
(ุฃุญู
ุฏ ุงูุจูุนูุงูู)
Visionary Moroccan cinematic poet, graphic artist, and novelist whose 1980 masterpiece 'The Mirage' (Al-Sarab) is recognized as one of the most artistically profound films in African cinema.
Maria Schneider
(Marie Christine Gรฉlin)
French actress who rose to controversial worldwide fame at age nineteen opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris and starred in Antonioni's The Passenger.
John Barry
(John Barry Prendergast)
Legendary English film composer who won five Academy Awards, created the signature James Bond orchestral sound across eleven 007 films, and scored Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.
Bhimsen Joshi
(เคญเฅเคฎเคธเฅเคจ เคเฅเคถเฅ)
Legendary Indian classical vocalist of the Kirana gharana, renowned for his thunderous voice, astounding breath control, and devotional Santvani abhangs, awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2008.
Susannah York
(Susannah Yolande Fletcher)
Leading British actress of the 1960s and 1970s who won the BAFTA Award and received an Oscar nomination for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and played Superman's mother Lara.
Gerry Rafferty
(Gerald Rafferty)
Scottish singer-songwriter whose unmistakable melodies and introspective lyrics created timeless rock classics including Baker Street, Right Down the Line, and Stuck in the Middle with You.
Pete Postlethwaite
(Peter William Postlethwaite)
Acclaimed English character actor described by Steven Spielberg as 'the best actor in the world', nominated for an Academy Award for In the Name of the Father.
Fatima Hassan El Farrouj
(ูุงุทู
ุฉ ุญุณู ุงููุฑูุฌ)
Celebrated Moroccan self-taught naive painter whose vibrant, highly detailed canvases depicted traditional female rituals, henna ceremonies, and Berber weddings, exhibited worldwide.
Bobby Farrell
(Roberto Alfonso Farrell)
Aruban-Dutch dancer and charismatic frontman of disco legends Boney M., whose acrobatic stage presence brought hits like Rasputin, Daddy Cool, and Rivers of Babylon to life.