Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries
Filterable archive covering centuries of intellectual, artistic, and moral contributions to the human story.
Celeste Holm
(Celeste Holm)
Charming American actress who originated the role of Ado Annie in Broadway's Oklahoma!, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Gentleman's Agreement, and starred in All About Eve.
Ernest Borgnine
(Ermes Effron Borgnino)
Beloved American character actor and ten-year Navy veteran who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Marty (1955), starred in The Wild Bunch and The Poseidon Adventure, and voiced Mermaid Man in SpongeBob.
Andy Griffith
(Andy Samuel Griffith)
Legendary American actor and entertainer whose portrayal of Sheriff Andy Taylor in 'The Andy Griffith Show' and defense attorney Ben Matlock in 'Matlock' made him an enduring symbol of American television warmth and integrity.
Yitzhak Shamir
(ืืฆืืง ืฉืืืจ)
Seventh Prime Minister of Israel (1983โ1984 and 1986โ1992), underground commander of Lehi, and Mossad operative who led Israel during the Gulf War and the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.
Nora Ephron
(Nora Ephron)
Sharp-witted American journalist, essayist, and three-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter/director who reinvented modern romantic comedy with When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail.
Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
(ูุงูู ุจู ุนุจุฏ ุงูุนุฒูุฒ ุขู ุณุนูุฏ)
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and powerful Minister of the Interior for thirty-seven years (1975โ2012), who defeated the 2003โ2006 Al-Qaeda insurgency in the Kingdom through security operations and psychological rehabilitation.
Gitta Sereny
(Gitta Sereny)
Austrian-British investigative author and humanitarian journalist who worked with war-traumatized children following World War II and authored masterwork psychological explorations into the roots of human evil, including 'Into That Darkness'.
Elinor Ostrom
(Elinor Claire Awan)
American political economist who became the first woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2009) for demonstrating how local communities successfully govern common-pool resources without state intervention or privatization.
Teรณfilo Stevenson
(Teรณfilo Stevenson Lawrence)
Teรณfilo Stevenson was a monumental Cuban heavyweight boxer who became one of only three men in history to win three Olympic boxing gold medals (Munich 1972, Montreal 1976, Moscow 1980). Renowned for his devastating right hand and textbook athletic grace, he famously rejected a $5 million offer from American promoters to turn professional and fight Muhammad Ali, proclaiming: 'What is a million dollars compared to the love of eight million Cubans?'
Bob Welch
(Robert Lawrence Welch Jr.)
American rock musician, singer, and songwriter who played guitar and sang in Fleetwood Mac from 1971 to 1974 bridging their British blues and pop eras, later achieving solo platinum success with 'Sentimental Lady' and 'Ebony Eyes'.
Ray Bradbury
(Ray Douglas Bradbury)
One of America's most celebrated 20th-century authors, whose dystopian masterpiece Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, and The Illustrated Man brought science fiction into the literary mainstream.
Eduard Khil
(ะญะดัะฐัะด ะะฝะฐัะพะปัะตะฒะธั ะฅะธะปั)
Acclaimed Russian baritone and People's Artist of the RSFSR whose joyous vocal performances earned immense prestige in the Soviet Union, who achieved global viral fame in 2010 as 'Mr. Trololo' for his 1976 vocalise performance.
Richard Dawson
(Colin Lionel Emm)
Charismatic British-American actor and television host celebrated as Corporal Peter Newkirk on 'Hogan's Heroes' and the kissing host of 'Family Feud', as well as his iconic villainous turn in 'The Running Man'.
Andrew Huxley
(Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley)
English biophysicist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the ionic mechanism of nerve impulses and co-discovered the sliding filament theory of muscle contraction, serving as Master of Trinity College and President of the Royal Society.
Doc Watson
(Arthel Lane Watson)
Blind American folk, bluegrass, and country guitarist whose astonishing flatpicking speed, warm baritone singing, and deep Appalachian heritage won eight Grammy Awards and the National Medal of Arts.
Robin Gibb (Robin Hugh Gibb)
Legendary British-Australian singer-songwriter whose unmistakable vibrato tenor was a core pillar of the Bee Gees, co-writing immortal classics on the 40-million-selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
Eugene Polley
(Eugene Joseph Polley)
American engineer at Zenith Radio Corporation who invented the Flash-Matic in 1955, the world's first wireless television remote control, changing the way humanity consumes media.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
(Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau)
German lyric baritone acclaimed as one of the supreme classical vocalists of the 20th century, renowned for his unmatched diction and interpretive mastery across over 400 recorded Schubert Lieder.