Curated playlist

American people of English descent

Matt DamonMatt Damon once turned down 10 percent of the profits from Avatar, a film that went on to become the most successful of all time. Director James Cameron made the offer while Damon was still working on the Bourne films, and Damon did not…
Mark TwainMark Twain predicted he would die with Halley's Comet, and he did. He died the day after it passed closest to the Sun.
F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott Fitzgerald died in 1940 believing his work was forgotten. The Great Gatsby later sold millions.
Cameron DiazCameron Diaz had never acted a day in her life when she auditioned for The Mask at the age of 21. The part was Tina Carlyle, a jazz singer, and she won it. Only after the casting did she begin taking acting lessons. Diaz was born in 1972,…
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe's executor used forged letters to paint him as a drunken madman.
Humphrey BogartHumphrey Bogart's ashes were buried with a small gold whistle from a bracelet he gave Lauren Bacall.
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln is the only U.S. president to hold a patent. In 1849 he patented a way to lift riverboats.
Barack ObamaObama rejected a plan to bomb a compound in Pakistan and sent Navy SEALs instead. The 2011 raid killed Osama bin Laden.
Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams wanted to be sewn into a canvas sack and dropped into the sea.
T. S. EliotT. S. Eliot compared an evening sky to a patient on a surgical table.
Buddy HollyBuddy Holly was back on tour in 1959 because his royalties were frozen in a lawsuit. He died in a plane crash at 22.
H. P. LovecraftH. P. Lovecraft died in 1937 virtually unknown to readers. His monsters later became global touchstones.
Wes AndersonWes Anderson has said his first ambition was to be a writer, not a director. He grew up making silent films.
John Wilkes BoothJohn Wilkes Booth first plotted to kidnap Lincoln, not kill him. The plan failed when Lincoln changed his plans.
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley won the presidency in 1896 campaigning from his front porch. Crowds came by train to Canton, Ohio.
Anne HathawayAnne Hathaway is an American actress whose films have grossed over $6.8 billion worldwide. In 2015 she ranked among the highest-paid actresses in the world. Yet that same year she said, "I always assume that every film is my last, and I…
George LucasGeorge Lucas turned down a higher directing fee for Star Wars. He asked for toy and merchandise rights instead.
Meryl StreepDino De Laurentiis insulted Meryl Streep in Italian, not knowing she spoke it. She answered him in Italian too.
Nicole KidmanNicole Kidman was born on the 20th of June 1967 in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was given the Hawaiian name Hōkūlani, which means heavenly star. The inspiration for the name was a baby elephant born around the same time at the Honolulu Zoo. Since…
Julia RobertsJulia Roberts was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on the 28th of October 1967. Her hospital bill was paid by Coretta King, whose children attended an acting school run by Julia's parents. The Roberts family was struggling with money at the time.…
John SteinbeckJohn Steinbeck once stole bacon from a produce market to survive. He later won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando sold back his Godfather profit points for $100,000, a sum that cost him an estimated $11 million.
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.
Stephen ColbertAt a 2006 dinner, Stephen Colbert roasted President Bush to a cold room. His show's ratings jumped 37% the next week.
Raymond ChandlerRaymond Chandler sold his first story for $180 after losing his oil job at forty-four.
Jerry WestThe NBA logo is a silhouette of Jerry West, and he was never paid for it.
Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow won the lead in Emma with a perfect Texas accent. The director said it sold him.
Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson improvised one line in the 1980 horror film The Shining, and it was not in the script.
Benjamin HarrisonBenjamin Harrison beat Grover Cleveland, then lost the White House back to him.
James A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield won his party's nomination after arriving to nominate someone else.
Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton was still a teenager in 1771 when the owner of Beekman and Cruger, an import-export firm on the island of Saint Croix, sailed away and left him running the place for five months. The young man had been born out of…
Robert DuvallRobert Duvall died at his farm in Middleburg, Virginia, on the 15th of February 2026, at the age of 95. His wife, Luciana Pedraza, announced his death in a public statement. He had worked for seven decades, and on screen he rarely seemed…
Clint EastwoodPresident Reagan quoted Clint Eastwood's line "Go ahead, make my day" to Congress.
Ginger RogersGinger Rogers and Fred Astaire were only supporting players in Flying Down to Rio, a film meant for other stars.
John WayneJohn Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison and got his new name from a dog.
Fergie (singer)Fergie, born Stacy Ann Ferguson, sang on a song that held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 straight weeks in 2009. That song, "I Gotta Feeling," stayed at number one longer than any other song that year. By then her records had…
Johnny DeppJohnny Depp, the American actor, musician and filmmaker, saw his film Jeanne du Barry open the 2023 Cannes Film Festival to a standing ovation that lasted seven minutes. Playing King Louis XV, he was acting in French for the first time.…
Jim MorrisonOn live TV in 1967, Jim Morrison sang a lyric censors had told him to change. Ed Sullivan then banned the Doors.
Michael DouglasMichael Douglas won a Best Picture Oscar before he was a star. He produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Tom HanksTom Hanks lost 35 pounds to play a dying lawyer in Philadelphia. He thinned his hair and learned to walk differently.
Ezra PoundEzra Pound cut T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land by about half. Eliot called the edits proof of Pound's critical genius.
Bing CrosbyBing Crosby had to re-record "White Christmas" in 1947 because the 1942 master had worn out.
Bruce LeeBruce Lee appeared in his first film as a baby. By 18, he had been in 20 films in Hong Kong.
Jack LondonJack London lost four front teeth to scurvy in the Klondike. It also gave him the wolf dog of The Call of the Wild.
Johnny CashJohnny Cash never served a prison sentence. He was jailed seven times, one night each.
Lucille BallLucille Ball's real-life pregnancy became an I Love Lucy episode, and CBS banned the word "pregnant."
Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Warren began her bankruptcy research thinking most filers were gaming the system. She found abuse was rare.
Meghan, Duchess of SussexMeghan, Duchess of Sussex, was eleven years old when she first tried to change how a major company addressed the public. She and her classmates wrote a letter to Procter & Gamble. They urged the company to make a dishwashing-soap…
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…