Curated playlist

American people of Dutch descent

Humphrey BogartHumphrey Bogart's ashes were buried with a small gold whistle from a bracelet he gave Lauren Bacall.
Herman MelvilleHerman Melville's death notice misspelled his great novel as "Mobie Dick."
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt was paralyzed from the waist down, and he was careful never to be seen in his wheelchair.
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was shot in the chest, then gave a 90-minute speech. It happened in Milwaukee in October 1912.
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen threw the first acetate of his own album Born to Run into the swimming pool of his hotel in 1975. The record was being mastered while the band toured, and he was furious at what he heard. He briefly considered scrapping…
George LucasGeorge Lucas turned down a higher directing fee for Star Wars. He asked for toy and merchandise rights instead.
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando sold back his Godfather profit points for $100,000, a sum that cost him an estimated $11 million.
Roger EbertRoger Ebert typed his last blog post two days before he died. He signed off with "I'll see you at the movies."
Clint EastwoodPresident Reagan quoted Clint Eastwood's line "Go ahead, make my day" to Congress.
Michael DouglasMichael Douglas won a Best Picture Oscar before he was a star. He produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Elizabeth Cady StantonElizabeth Cady Stanton's father once told her he wished she were a boy. She spent decades answering him.
Angelina JolieAngelina Jolie has appeared in films that grossed more than $6.9 billion worldwide, and Hollywood has named her its highest-paid actress several times. As a teenager, though, she took at-home courses on embalming because she hoped to…
Michelle PfeifferMichelle Pfeiffer was born on the 29th of April 1958 in Santa Ana, California, and by the early 1990s she ranked among the best-paid actresses in the world. Her start was far less certain. After her first leading role, in the 1982 musical…
Thomas EdisonThomas Edison clamped his teeth into a piano to hear it. He was deaf in one ear and barely heard from the other.
Brian WilsonOn a flight to Houston in 1964, Brian Wilson broke down sobbing. He then quit touring with the Beach Boys.
Kim KardashianIn November 2025, Kim Kardashian announced that she had failed her first attempt at the California Bar Exam. The news travelled quickly, because she is the eighth-most-followed individual on Instagram and the thirteenth-most-followed on…
Jane FondaJane Fonda sat on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun during a 1972 visit to Hanoi, and a photograph of that moment outraged a large number of Americans. It earned her a nickname that has followed her for decades: Hanoi Jane. For many…
Ron HowardRon Howard, age five, had to cry while holding a toy turtle. Andy Griffith coached him through it in 1960.
Walter CronkiteWalter Cronkite took off his glasses and told America President Kennedy had died.
Wright brothersThe Wright brothers' 1903 patent did not claim an airplane. It claimed a system for controlling one.
Timothy OlyphantTimothy Olyphant once turned down the lead in a film that its studio was ready to approve if he said yes. The producer Neal H. Moritz recalled the studio's position this way: "If you can get Timothy Olyphant to play that role we will…
Charlize TheronCharlize Theron landed in Los Angeles in 1994 on a one-way ticket her mother had bought, carrying a budget of $300. She lived in a motel and went from paycheck to paycheck. At one point she took bread from a restaurant basket to get by.…
Kurt CobainKurt Cobain turned 14 on the 20th of February 1981, and his uncle put a choice in front of him. He could have a bicycle or a used guitar. Kurt took the guitar. Soon afterward he was attempting Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," then…
Anthony KiedisAnthony Kiedis was born on the 1st of November 1962, and as a young man he walked on stage with a band that existed to play one song, one time. The group called itself Tony Flow and the Miraculously Majestic Masters of Mayhem. Its only…
John Bell HoodJohn Bell Hood's amputated leg rode with him in the ambulance. The surgeon assumed they would be buried together.
Ace FrehleyAce Frehley showed up to an audition above the Live Bait Bar in New York City wearing one red sneaker and one orange sneaker. Waiting for him were Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, who needed a lead guitarist. Frehley was born in…
John Brown (abolitionist)John Brown rode to his own execution on the 2nd of December 1859, sitting on his coffin in the back of a furniture wagon. The wagon carried him from the county jail, through a crowd of 2,000 soldiers, to a small field where the gallows…
W. E. B. Du BoisW. E. B. Du Bois died in Ghana the day before the March on Washington. He was 95 and had renounced his U.S. citizenship.
James LongstreetAt Gettysburg, Confederate General James Longstreet could not speak the order for Pickett's Charge and only nodded.
Earl Van DornConfederate general Earl Van Dorn was shot at his own desk by a doctor. The doctor accused him of seducing his wife.
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…
Eddie VedderEddie Vedder was born Edward Louis Severson III on the 23rd of December 1964 in Evanston, Illinois. The surname the world knows him by was not the one he was born with. He grew up to become the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and one of…
Rasmus B. AndersonRasmus B. Anderson started the push to give Leif Erikson a day on the American calendar.
John HouboltWhen Apollo 11 landed, Wernher von Braun turned to John Houbolt and said, "Thank you, John."
Erik PrinceErik Prince, the founder of the private military contractor Blackwater, once defended his company with a line that has followed him ever since. "No one under our care was ever killed or injured. We kept them safe, all the while we had 30…
William RosecransGeneral William Rosecrans lost his command after one badly worded order at Chickamauga.
Grace HopperGrace Hopper hung a clock on her office wall that ran counterclockwise. She wanted code in plain English.
Linda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt sings harmony on Under African Skies, a track on Paul Simon's album Graceland, and its second verse contains a line written for her. The line reads, "Take this child, Lord, from Tucson, Arizona...." Simon's tribute suits a…