Walt Disney, Creator of Mickey Mouse and Disneyland

Although Walt Disney’s first illustration company went broke, the ambitious animator took his sketchbook to Hollywood where he made it big with a mouse...

Sidney Poitier, Pioneering African-American Actor

Sidney Poitier was the child of tomato farmers in the Bahamas. He moved to New York as a teenager and worked as a dishwasher...

Nadine Gordimer, 1991 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature

Writer Nadine Gordimer has devoted her life to fighting for the rights and health of the less fortunate and oppressed. She won the Nobel...

Jimmy Stewart, Award-Winning Actor and War Hero

Whether playing a sardonic journalist, earnest politician, recalcitrant cowboy or a man at his wit’s end, Jimmy Stewart stuttered and shuffled his way into...

Pablo Sarasate, Spanish Composer and Violin Virtuoso

Violinist Pablo Sarasate is a figure of tremendous national and international regard. The distinctly Spanish flavor of his compositions, combined with his masterful technique...

William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet and Dramatist

William Butler Yeats, a romantic, poet, playwright and senator, drew on national pride, spiritualism and love, and was credited with helping revive interest in...

Louis Henri Sullivan, Renowned American Architect

“The skyscraper poet” is how Time magazine referred to Louis Sullivan in 1951. The description holds true today, as Sullivan is widely recognized as...

Elizabeth Taylor, Hollywood Actress

Elizabeth Taylor spent her life on camera. She took her first screen test in 1939 at age seven and worked as an actress until...

Wangari Muta Maathai, Conservationist and Nobel Peace Prize Winner

In 2004, Wangari Muta Maathai became the first African Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai is known as the founder of the...

Václav Havel, Playwright and Former President of the Czech Republic

Václav Havel was a revolutionary, a poet, a playwright and a president. Although he was reluctant to become a public figure, he has been...