Curated playlist
1935 births
- Elvis PresleyA teacher told young Elvis Presley he had no aptitude for singing. He later sold an estimated 500 million records.
- Woody AllenWoody Allen failed a film production course at New York University, then went on to direct Annie Hall.
- Roger B. ChaffeeRoger Chaffee passed his Navy pilot's eye exam only because a doctor let him retake it the next morning.
- Ron PaulRon Paul delivered the Tejano singer Selena as a baby. He was a Texas obstetrician before he ran for president.
- Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis feared his own hit song was blasphemous.
- Gene VincentGene Vincent's hit "Be-Bop-a-Lula" was supposed to be the B-side. Radio stations played it over the A-side.
- John Bowker (theologian)John Bowker took on Richard Dawkins's claim that belief in God is a mental virus.
- Jeffrey G. WilliamsonWhy do some countries stay poor while others grow rich? Economist Jeffrey G. Williamson spent his career on it.
- Julie AndrewsJulie Andrews sang on a beer crate as a child. She needed it to reach the microphone in wartime variety shows.
- Herb AlpertHerb Alpert is the only musician to top the Hot 100 as both a singer and an instrumentalist.
- Jerry FodorPhilosopher Jerry Fodor argued that thinking works like a language inside the brain. He called it Mentalese.
- John Patrick DigginsHistorian John Patrick Diggins called Ronald Reagan one of the great presidents.
- Harrison SchmittHarrison Schmitt was the only professional geologist to walk on the Moon. He flew on Apollo 17 in 1972.
- Peter Brown (historian)Peter Brown argued that the late Roman world was a time of invention, not decline.
- Luciano PavarottiLuciano Pavarotti hit nine high Cs at the Metropolitan Opera and took seventeen curtain calls.
- Richard KuklinskiRichard Kuklinski, born in 1935 and later known as the Iceman, lived in the New Jersey suburb of Dumont with his wife and children. His wife Barbara described him as a wholesale distributor who employed an accountant. Neighbors saw a…
- Sylvia RobinsonSylvia Robinson pushed Grandmaster Flash's group to record "The Message" in 1982.
- Isao TakahataIsao Takahata survived an air raid at age nine, then made Grave of the Fireflies.
- Larry McDonaldCongressman Larry McDonald died on a plane that three colleagues were meant to share.
- Charles DukeCharles Duke walked on the Moon at 36, and no one younger has ever done it.
- Rusty SchweickartAstronaut Rusty Schweickart took up meditation after a five-minute pause outside Apollo 9.
- 14th Dalai LamaA two-year-old asked a disguised monk for an old mala that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama.
- Edward Jay EpsteinAs a graduate student, Edward Jay Epstein published a 1966 book criticizing the Warren Commission.