Curated playlist
1944 births
- George LucasGeorge Lucas turned down a higher directing fee for Star Wars. He asked for toy and merchandise rights instead.
- Vernor VingeWhat happens when machines get smarter than the people who built them? Vernor Vinge kept asking.
- Michael DouglasMichael Douglas won a Best Picture Oscar before he was a star. He produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
- Jimmy PageJimmy Page was thirteen when a television host asked what he planned to do with his life. His answer had nothing to do with music. The year was 1957, and the programme was All Your Own, a talent show on BBC1 hosted by Huw Wheldon. Page had…
- Jürgen GrabowskiJürgen Grabowski's cross set up a last-second equalizer in the 1970 World Cup semi-final. West Germany still lost 4-3.
- Sepp MaierA car crash in July 1979 nearly killed goalkeeper Sepp Maier. Doctors first found only a few rib fractures.
- Robert HanssenRobert Philip Hanssen, a veteran FBI agent, drove to Foxstone Park on the 18th of February 2001. The park sits near his home in the Washington suburb of Vienna, Virginia. He was there to leave a package of classified material at a dead…
- Robert MuellerRobert Mueller was the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Senate confirmed him on the 2nd of August 2001, by a vote of 98-0. Not one senator opposed him. That kind of agreement was no accident of timing. Four…
- Lorne MichaelsLorne Michaels once offered The Beatles $3,000 to reunite on live TV. It came in Saturday Night Live's first season.
- Rutger HauerRutger Hauer wrote parts of Blade Runner's tears in rain speech the evening before filming. He added its last line.
- Townes Van ZandtTownes Van Zandt earned one of the boldest compliments in American songwriting from his friend Steve Earle. Earle said Van Zandt was "the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and…
- James HeckmanAre people who join a program different from those who don't? James Heckman won a Nobel Prize for fixing that problem.
- Pattie BoydPattie Boyd is an English model and photographer whose life runs through two of the most famous love songs in rock. One is "Something," written by George Harrison. The other is "Layla," written by Eric Clapton. Harrison and Clapton were…
- Rick BarryRick Barry is the only player to lead the NCAA, ABA and NBA in scoring in a season each.
- Diana RossDiana Ross got her name from a birth certificate mistake. Her mother had planned to name her Diane.
- Angela DavisAngela Davis was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, then acquitted by an all-white jury.
- Donald F. GlutDonald Frank Glut was born on the 19th of February 1944, and his career refuses to stay in one lane. He has written novels, cartoons, comics and books about dinosaurs. He has directed horror films and played bass in a band. Most people who…
- Donald L. MillerHistorian Donald L. Miller wrote the book behind the Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air.