Curated playlist
20th-century American businesspeople
- Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
- Pete ConradPete Conrad's first words on the Moon were a joke he had bet $500 on.
- MadonnaMadonna arrived in New York in 1978 with thirty-five dollars. It was her first plane ride and first taxi.
- Donald TrumpDonald Trump was a millionaire in inflation-adjusted terms by age eight.
- George H. W. BushAfter being shot down in 1944, George H. W. Bush asked why he alone had been spared. Both of his crewmates died.
- Jay-ZNo major label would sign Jay-Z, so he sold burned CDs out of his car.
- Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
- Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch kept a bust of Lenin in his rooms at Oxford. Peers called him "Red Rupert".
- Janet JacksonJanet Jackson was seen at the 1983 American Music Awards wearing a hoop earring with a key attached to it. She has worn variations of that earring in music videos and live shows ever since. The pair she wore between 1987 and 1990 is now on…
- Reese WitherspoonReese Witherspoon walked into an open casting call in 1991 intending to read for a bit part. She left with the lead in The Man in the Moon, playing Dani Trant, a 14-year-old country girl in Louisiana. Thirty years later, in 2021, Forbes…
- Elon MuskIn 2001, Elon Musk traveled to Moscow twice to buy missiles, hoping to launch a plant greenhouse to Mars.
- George LucasGeorge Lucas turned down a higher directing fee for Star Wars. He asked for toy and merchandise rights instead.
- Dr. DreDr. Dre's G-funk had live musicians replay funk melodies instead of sampling them. It debuted on The Chronic.
- Donn F. EiseleDonn Eisele was in a hospital on January 27, 1966, exactly a year before the Apollo 1 fire.
- James McDivittOn Gemini 4, James McDivitt had to force a jammed hatch latch back into place with his fingers.
- Ghislaine MaxwellOn the 29th of December 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking of a minor. Maxwell, a British former socialite, had moved for decades through the social circles of London and Manhattan. Her friends…
- Joan CrawfordA 1938 ad called Joan Crawford "box office poison," but Mildred Pierce later won her an Academy Award.
- John D. RockefellerJohn D. Rockefeller, the son of a traveling con artist, became the first billionaire in the United States.
- Louis B. MayerLouis B. Mayer pushed a junk cart as a boy, then became America's highest-paid man.
- Ewart AbnerEwart Abner's label signed the Beatles in January 1963 after Capitol Records passed. The label was Vee-Jay Records.
- Birdman (rapper)Birdman was born without a first name and was called "Baby" for nearly a month. He later built Cash Money Records.
- Al GoreAl Gore won the 2000 popular vote but lost the presidency by 537 Florida votes.
- Stuart RoosaStuart Roosa orbited the Moon 34 times alone while two crewmates walked on it. He also carried tree seeds in his pocket.
- Walter CunninghamWalter Cunningham sat in the lunar module pilot seat on a spacecraft with no lunar module. It was Apollo 7.
- Gene CernanGene Cernan wrote his daughter's initials in the lunar dust before leaving the Moon. He was the last person there.
- Mike LazzoMike Lazzo started in a shipping room and ended up running the studio behind Adult Swim.
- Jack L. WarnerJack Warner once rushed onstage at the Oscars and took a trophy that was not his. The prize was for Casablanca.
- Fred HaiseFred Haise came within days of becoming the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Then Apollo 13's oxygen tank ruptured.
- Irving ThalbergIrving Thalberg ran MGM's production, yet his name never appeared on screen while he lived.
- Lucille BallLucille Ball's real-life pregnancy became an I Love Lucy episode, and CBS banned the word "pregnant."
- William WylerDirector William Wyler once made Henry Fonda do forty takes of one scene. His only note was the word again.
- Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." Years later he was selling used cars.
- Alan ShepardAn inner ear disease grounded astronaut Alan Shepard for years before he walked on the Moon.
- MC HammerMC Hammer started out as an 11-year-old selling baseballs in a parking lot. The Oakland A's owner hired him on the spot.
- Sean CombsSean Combs founded Bad Boy Records, which launched the Notorious B.I.G. He was later sentenced to four years in prison.
- Bob IgerBob Iger began on television sets earning $150 a week and later ran Disney twice.
- Thomas EdisonThomas Edison clamped his teeth into a piano to hear it. He was deaf in one ear and barely heard from the other.
- Harry S. TrumanHarry Truman became president knowing nothing about the atomic bomb. He had been vice president for only 82 days.
- Kathleen Kennedy (producer)Assistant Kathleen Kennedy was supposed to take notes but set her pencil down to pitch ideas.
- Jack SwigertJack Swigert won a seat in Congress but died seven days before he could take it. The Apollo 13 astronaut was 51.
- Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg bought Death Row Records, the label that launched his career, in February 2022. It took nearly three decades.
- Walt DisneyIn 1928, Walt Disney lost his hit cartoon rabbit Oswald to Universal. Only Ub Iwerks stayed, and Mickey Mouse followed.
- Bill GatesBill Gates and Paul Allen wrote software for a computer they did not have. Their Altair demo worked the first time.
- Eric SchmidtEric Schmidt ran Google while taking a base salary of just $1 a year. That pay lasted from 2004 through 2010.
- Frank BormanA stranger's telegram told Apollo 8's Frank Borman, "You saved 1968." He commanded the first crew to orbit the Moon.
- David ScottDavid Scott dropped a hammer and a feather on the Moon. The Apollo 15 commander did it on live television.
- Wally SchirraAstronaut Wally Schirra refused Mission Control's request to wear helmets.
- Allen KleinFormer Beatles manager Allen Klein bought a song company and became the plaintiff suing George Harrison.
- Paul NewmanAt the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona, Paul Newman was 70 years and eight days old, and his team won its class. That made him the oldest driver to date on a winning team in a major sanctioned race. Newman was best known as a film star, and he…
- Fred TrumpFrederick Christ Trump was an American real estate developer who built more than 27,000 apartments in New York. He was born in the Bronx on the 11th of October 1905 to German immigrant parents, and he died in 1999. One of his five children…