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...

Roger Bannister, First Runner to Break the Four-Minute Mile

In 1954, British medical student Roger Bannister became the first man to break the four-minute mile barrier, earning him international admiration and to receive...

Louis XV, King of France

King Louis XV of France was known as “the Well-Beloved,” although he apparently did little to earn the name. He reigned for nearly 60...

Auguste Escoffier, Innovative Chef and Inventor of the Chef’s Hat

Modern cuisine owes many of its practices to the great French chef Auguste Escoffier: he changed public dining in hotels and restaurants worldwide by...

Melvin Van Peebles, Writer, Director and Actor

Melvin Van Peebles has been called a renaissance man, displaying his multi-genre talents writing screenplays, novels, plays and music, in addition to acting in...

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...

Woody Guthrie, Folk Musician

Woody Guthrie was a folk music master. During his career, he gave the world more than 1,000 songs, including notable classics like “This Land...

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....

Sonia Sotomayor, First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice

Sonia Sotomayor is the first Hispanic and the third female justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Hailing from a working-class background, Sotomayor...

Ursula K. Le Guin, Writer

Novelist, poet and translator Ursula Le Guin is best known for creating worlds of fantasy and of the far future, but that is only...