Barbie, Doll of 1,000 Careers and Outfits
It's been more than 50 years since the blond-haired, blue-eyed, impossibly proportioned Barbie doll hit the market. She's held many jobs, lived in many...
Jean Renoir, French Filmmaker
Lauded after his death as one of cinema’s greatest directors, Jean Renoir earned comparatively few words of praise during his lifetime. From a childhood...
Peter the Great, Czar of Russia
Peter the Great became czar of Russia when he was only 10 years old. As a young man, he showed little interest in politics...
Francis Scott Key, Author of “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Francis Scott Key was a Federalist, a lawyer, attorney general of Washington, D.C., a husband and the father of 11 children. An ancestor and...
Cornel West, Author, Professor and Hip-Hop Artist
Cornel West, a popular professor of religion at Princeton University, has received widespread notoriety for both his intellectual abilities and his knack for sparking...
Sir Laurence Olivier, Stage and Screen Actor
Considered by many to be the greatest actor of the 20th century, Laurence Olivier changed the landscape of theater and film in his time,...
Harry Houdini, Escape Artist Extraordinaire
During his short career, Harry Houdini’s “death-defying” feats astonished his audiences. People from all walks of life came to watch Houdini escape from shackles,...
Magic Johnson, Legendary Basketball Player
His nimbleness on the court earned him the nickname “Magic,” and Earvin Johnson has truly lived up to it. Whether he was facing rival...
Truman Capote, Investigative Journalist and Author
Writer Truman Capote emerged from the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, to become one of the most visible writers of the 1950s and ’60s....
Shigeru Miyamoto, Father of Modern Video Games
Beginning with the seminal arcade game Donkey Kong nearly three decades ago, Nintendo’s chief game developer and the father of modern video games, Shigeru...
