Curated category
20th-century American writers
- T. S. EliotT. S. Eliot wrote the opening of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" when he was twenty-two years old. The lines compared an evening sky to "a patient…
- Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan does not own a smartphone, and he has no email address. He hand-delivers his scripts to the actors he wants, and his wife handles the rest…
- Kevin SmithKevin Patrick Smith was born on the 2nd of August 1970, in Red Bank, New Jersey. He grew up in the nearby clamming town of Highlands as the son of Grace and…
- Al GoreAl Gore won more votes than his opponent on Election Day 2000, yet still lost the presidency. That outcome, decided by a Supreme Court ruling of 5-4 in Bush…
- Walt DisneyWalt Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards won by an individual, with 22 wins from 59 nominations. Yet the man behind that record was, in private…
- Jack KirbyJack Kirby drew at least 20,318 pages of published art and another 1,385 covers across his career. In 1962 alone he published 1,158 pages.
- William JamesWilliam James was born at the Astor House in New York City on the 11th of January 1842, and by the time he died in Chocorua, New Hampshire on the 26th of…
- Steve DitkoSteve Ditko drew the first costume for Spider-Man because he worried the character's face looked too young. Covering it entirely, he reasoned, would add…
- Paul TillichPaul Tillich arrived in the United States in 1933 at age 47, without fluent English, his university post stripped by the Nazi regime, his first marriage long…
- James TobinJames Tobin was born on the 5th of March, 1918, in Champaign, Illinois, the son of a journalist credited with inventing "Homecoming" at the University of…
- Herbert A. SimonHerbert Alexander Simon was born on the 15th of June 1916 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of an electrical engineer who had crossed the Atlantic from…
- George GamowGeorgiy Antonovich Gamow was born in Odessa, Russian Empire, now Odesa, Ukraine. His father taught Russian language and literature while his mother taught…
- Mark HamillMark Richard Hamill was born on the 25th of September 1951, in Oakland, California, the son of a U.S. Navy captain who dismissed his son's passion for movies…
- Harold BloomHarold Bloom was, by the time he died in 2019, probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world. He grew up at 1410 Grand Concourse in…
- André WinkAndré Wink was born in 1953, in Hollandia, Netherlands New Guinea. This location is now known as Jayapura, Indonesia. He studied at Leiden University and…
- Wernher von BraunWernher von Braun helped carry humanity to the Moon, yet more people died building his most famous weapon than were ever killed by it.
- Billy Dee WilliamsWilliam December Williams Jr. was born on the 6th of April 1937 in New York City. He grew up on 110th Street between Lenox and 5th Avenue, right next to the…
- Donald F. GlutDonald Frank Glut began making films in 1953 at the age of nine. He continued this hobby until 1969, creating a total of 41 amateur movies during that span.
- Jim ShooterJim Shooter was born on the 27th of September 1951, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He grew up with parents Ken and Eleanor Shooter who were of Polish descent.
- Samantha SmithSamantha Reed Smith was ten years old when she looked at the cover of Time magazine and asked a question that would change her life. It was November 1982.