Curated playlist
1957 births
- Steve Winter (game designer)A campus newsletter ad turned journalist Steve Winter into a Dungeons and Dragons designer.
- John LasseterDisney fired John Lasseter in 1984 after he pitched a film blending hand-drawn art with computer backgrounds.
- Daniel Day-LewisDaniel Day-Lewis collapsed sobbing during a 1989 Hamlet, in the scene where the ghost of Hamlet's father appears.
- Afrika BambaataaAfrika Bambaataa turned a street gang into a global peace movement. He wanted hip-hop to draw angry kids out of gangs.
- Hans ZimmerHans Zimmer, the German film composer born on the 12th of September 1957, once set out to write a sound that people would truly hate. His own words were: "I wanted to write something people would truly hate." The target was the villain in…
- Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, left behind a letter that was released only after his death. It urged Americans to work with the Obama administration to prevent climate change and to "save humanity" from the greenhouse gas…
- Nick CaveNick Cave is an Australian singer whose first famous band earned a reputation as “the most violent live band in the world.” That sounds like the biography of a man who burns out young. Instead, he spent the following decades writing novels…
- Qasem SoleimaniAfter a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, the body of Qasem Soleimani was identified by a ring he wore on his finger. It was a small, quiet detail for an Iranian military officer whose name had been spoken with fear, awe and…
- Fumio KishidaFumio Kishida hosted the 2023 G7 summit in Hiroshima, where his relatives died in the atomic bombing.
- Saeko HimuroMost people outside Japan know Saeko Himuro through one Studio Ghibli film. I Can Hear the Sea came out in 1993.
- Dave WolvertonDave Wolverton chose a second name partly because of where books were placed in bookstores. He was born John David Wolverton, and he published as both Dave Wolverton and David Farland. His reasoning was practical. A fantasy author needed a…
- Mira NairMira Nair finished cutting Salaam Bombay! only three days before the film had its world premiere. The date was the 19th of May 1988, and the setting was the closing gala of the Cannes Film Festival. When the screening ended, the audience…
- Russell SimmonsRussell Simmons said a 1977 Harlem rap show was "the invention of the wheel." He went on to build Def Jam and Phat Farm.
- Daniel LichtDaniel Licht scored every season of Dexter but wouldn't call it his big break. He began on clarinet at age eight.
- Gary GenslerGary Gensler had to retract an SEC post announcing bitcoin ETF approval. He said the SEC's X account was compromised.
- Antonio CabriniAntonio Cabrini missed a penalty in a World Cup final and still won. Italy beat West Germany in 1982.
- Luis GaravitoLuis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos was sentenced to 1,853 years and 9 days in prison, the longest term ever handed down in Colombia. He was born on the 25th of January 1957 and died on the 12th of October 2023. Colombians called him La Bestia,…