Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries
Filterable archive covering centuries of intellectual, artistic, and moral contributions to the human story.
Michael Dean Bossy
(Mike Bossy)
Deadly, gentlemanly New York Islanders sniper celebrated as the most pure and prolific goal-scorer in NHL history, leading the Islanders dynasty to four consecutive Stanley Cups (1980โ1983) and holding the NHL record for highest goals-per-game average (0.762).
Larry Rayfield Wright
(Rayfield Wright)
Hall of Fame offensive tackle nicknamed "Big Cat" who anchored Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys offensive line through five Super Bowls in the 1970s, winning Super Bowl VI and XII and named to the NFL 1970s All-Decade Team.
Nehemiah Persoff (ื ืืืื ืคืจืกืืฃ)
Centenarian Israeli-American character actor whose prolific seventy-year career spanned over 200 film and television roles, including mob boss Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot, Barbra Streisand's father in Yentl, and the voice of Papa Mousekewitz in An American Tail.
Sidney Altman
(Sidney Altman)
Canadian-American molecular biologist and Yale University Sterling Professor awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the catalytic properties of RNA (ribozymes), upending the dogma that only proteins could act as biological enzymes.
Oliver Taylor Hawkins
(Taylor Hawkins)
Charismatic American rock drummer who powered the Foo Fighters for twenty-five years alongside Dave Grohl, revered for ferocious kinetic drumming, sunny spirit, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright
(Marie Jana Korbelovรก)
Distinguished American diplomat and scholar who made history as the first female United States Secretary of State (1997โ2001) under President Bill Clinton, championing NATO enlargement, human rights, and intervention in the Balkans.
Eugene Newman Parker
(Eugene Parker)
American solar astrophysicist who predicted the existence of the "solar wind" in 1958 and the Parker spiral magnetic field, becoming the first living person to have a NASA spacecraft named in his honor: the Parker Solar Probe.
William McChord Hurt
(William Hurt)
Celebrated American actor of cerebral intensity and emotional complexity who became the first performer to receive three consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in the 1980s, winning for Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Shane Keith Warne
(Shane Keith Warne)
Australian international cricketer widely considered the greatest bowler in cricket history, revived the dying art of leg-spin bowling.
Sally Clare Kellerman
(Sally Kellerman)
Sultry-voiced, Oscar-nominated American actress and singer who created the immortal role of Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's 1970 satirical anti-war masterpiece M*A*S*H, and starred in Back to School.
Mark William Lanegan
(Mark Lanegan)
Deep-voiced Pacific Northwest grunge pioneer and poet who fronted the Screaming Trees, collaborated with Queens of the Stone Age and Isobel Campbell, and produced haunting, blues-drenched solo albums.
Paul Edward Farmer
(Paul Farmer)
Mรฉdecin et anthropologue amรฉricain, cofondateur de Partners In Health, rรฉvolutionnaire de la santรฉ mondiale offrant des soins de pointe aux populations les plus pauvres.
Steve Fonyo
(Steve Fonyo)
Cancer survivor who lost his leg to bone cancer and completed the historic 7,924-kilometer "Journey for Lives" cross-Canada run in 1985, raising $13 million.
Arnaldo Jabor
(Arnaldo Jabor)
Influential Brazilian Cinema Novo film director, screenwriter, and incisive cultural commentator whose provocative films (Tudo Bem, I Love You, Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar) and biting daily political broadcasts on TV Globo dissected Brazilian society for four decades.
Alokesh Lahiri
(เฆฌเฆพเฆชเงเฆชเง เฆฒเฆพเฆนเฆฟเฆกเฆผเง)
Beloved "Disco King of Bollywood", composer, and playback singer who pioneered synthesized disco music in Indian cinema in the 1980s, composing viral chartbusters for Disco Dancer ("I Am a Disco Dancer") and Himmatwala, famed for his trademark gold chains and sunglasses.
Patrick Jake O'Rourke
(P. J. O'Rourke)
Irreverent, sharp-witted American political satirist, gonzo foreign correspondent, and bestselling author of Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance, famed for skewering government absurdity with libertarian humor.
Driss El Khouri
(ุฅุฏุฑูุณ ุงูุฎูุฑู)
Pioneering Moroccan short story writer, art critic, and journalist who, alongside Mohamed Zefzaf and Mohamed Choukri, formed the holy trinity of raw Moroccan realism.
Luc Antoine Montagnier
(Luc Montagnier)
French virologist awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1983 co-discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) at the Pasteur Institute, enabling early diagnostic blood tests that saved millions of lives.