Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States
Some consider Ronald Reagan the greatest president in contemporary American history: under his watch, the country saw the longest period of peacetime prosperity in...
Nat King Cole, Singer and Jazz Pioneer
Nat King Cole’s musical upbringing forged a career that would delve the nuances of the jazz trio and fashion a more subtle approach to...
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...
Martin Scorsese, Director of “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull”
“It’s easy to think of Scorsese as a kind of poet of the underworld,” the American Film Institute reflected when they granted him a...
Harvey Pekar, Author of the ‘American Splendor’ Comic Books
Harvey Pekar has made a career out of being an ordinary man. As a comic book writer, he documented the most mundane details of...
Roger Federer, Record-Breaking Tennis Player
Roger Federer is leading men’s tennis into a new generation of high intensity, skillful play. But this emotional phenom has had to overcome heartache,...
Cecil B. DeMille, Hollywood Director
Cecil B. DeMille was one of the most successful directors in Hollywood. Not only did he produce and direct more than 70 films to...
Stevie Wonder, Musician, Producer and Activist
Stevie Wonder, the Motown sensation, chart topper, producer and humanitarian, has been in the spotlight for four decades.
Early Days
Stevland Hardaway Judkins was born prematurely...
Al Hirschfeld, Caricature Artist
Al Hirschfeld demonstrated prodigious artistic talent at an early age. As an adult, his technique was deceptively simple; he harnessed the power of a...
Rainer Maria Rilke, Author of “Letters to a Young Poet”
Rainer Maria Rilke spent his life traveling the globe. Despite a variety of lovers and locales—Prague, Munich, Rome, Paris and Switzerland—Rilke remained alone, seeking...
