Neil Simon, Award-Winning Playwright

Crowned by Time magazine “the patron saint of laughter,” the creator of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, along with a host of other memorable...

Samuel Adams, One of the United States’ Founding Fathers

Rebel, patriot and politician Samuel Adams helped organize protests against the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Tea Act of 1773 and developed a...

William Faulkner, American Novelist

William Faulkner, revered modernist writer, historian and sociologist, is known for capturing the raw beauty of the rural South in all its dark complexity....

Alex Haley, Author of “Roots”

Characterized by his slow, honeyed voice, Alex Haley was one of America’s most popular oral and written storytellers. His timeless novel “Roots” illuminates and...

Leo Szilard, Physicist and Contributor to the Manhattan Project

Leo Szilard, the Hungarian Jewish physicist, molecular biologist and inventor, worked on the Manhattan Project but expressed himself as a “scientist of conscience,” using...

Abraham Lincoln, “The Great Emancipator”

Abraham Lincoln worked his way from a log cabin to the White House, teaching himself law and earning the faith of the electorate through...

Ingrid Bergman, Star of “Casablanca”

“I work so hard before the camera and on the stage that I have neither the desire nor the energy to act in my...

Paul Robeson, Entertainer and Social Activist

Paul Robeson was a renaissance man. Revered for his abilities on stage, on the football field, in the classroom and in the campaign for...

Fred Astaire, Dancing Film Star and Elegant Showman

A Broadway star who ventured to Hollywood mid-career, Fred Astaire quickly became the era’s icon of grace, style and perfection. Alone or with a...

H.L. Mencken, Reporter Who Covered Scopes “Monkey Trial”

H.L. Mencken, the “Sage of Baltimore,” was an outspoken journalist whose caustic tongue and scathing criticism of many segments of American society inspired anger...