Curated playlist
BAFTA fellows
- Hideo KojimaKonami reportedly barred Hideo Kojima from The Game Awards 2015, where his Metal Gear Solid V won two prizes.
- Alfred HitchcockAt age five, Alfred Hitchcock was sent to a police station with a note and locked in a cell.
- Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese's love of movies began because asthma kept him out of games.
- Woody AllenWoody Allen failed a film production course at New York University, then went on to direct Annie Hall.
- Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
- Charlie ChaplinCharlie Chaplin was in a workhouse twice before he turned nine. By 26 he was among the world's highest-paid people.
- Stanley KubrickAfter copycat crimes and death threats, Stanley Kubrick pulled A Clockwork Orange from release in the United Kingdom.
- Michael CaineMichael Caine took his stage name from a cinema sign he saw while phoning from a Leicester Square telephone box.
- Elizabeth TaylorAfter Rock Hudson said he was dying of AIDS, Elizabeth Taylor helped found a research foundation in 1985.
- John GielgudJohn Gielgud was arrested months after being knighted. Backstage in Liverpool, he feared he could not face an audience.
- Mel BrooksMel Brooks was 14 years old when he climbed onto a diving board at the Butler Lodge, a second-rate hotel in the Borscht Belt. He worked there as a pool-side tummler, an entertainer hired to keep the guests amused. On this day he wore a…
- Anthony HopkinsAnthony Hopkins once delivered a seven-page courtroom speech in a single take on the set of Steven Spielberg's Amistad. The crew was astonished. Spielberg was so overawed that he could not bring himself to call the actor Tony, and he…
- Julie ChristieJulie Christie turned down roles that won other actresses Oscar nominations. She also retreated to a farm in Wales.
- Ingmar BergmanAt nine, Ingmar Bergman traded his tin soldiers for a magic lantern. He soon staged Strindberg puppet plays.
- Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier's 1948 film Hamlet was the first non-American film to win Best Picture.
- Kathleen Kennedy (producer)Assistant Kathleen Kennedy was supposed to take notes but set her pencil down to pitch ideas.
- Judi DenchJudi Dench won an Oscar for a role that lasted about eight minutes. She played Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love.
- Lew GradeLew Grade offered to make The Muppet Show in Britain after American networks turned Jim Henson down.
- Alec GuinnessAlec Guinness privately called Star Wars "fairy-tale rubbish" in letters to friends.
- Rockstar GamesRockstar Games is an American video game publisher based in New York City, and one of its releases has sold over 220 million copies. That game is Grand Theft Auto V, which arrived in September 2013 and became the second-best-selling video…
- David LeanFilm critics spent two hours tearing apart David Lean's Ryan's Daughter to his face at a New York lunch.
- Ridley ScottRidley Scott once ranked 31st out of 31 in his school class. He later kept that report on his office wall.
- Christopher LeeSir Christopher Lee was 91 years and 6 months old when his single "Jingle Hell" entered the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart at number 22. Press attention then pushed it up to number 18, which made him the oldest person to have a top 20…
- Helen MirrenDame Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on the 26th of July 1945, at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in the Hammersmith district of London. Neither the first name nor the surname on that record would last. The woman who…
- Shigeru MiyamotoDonkey Kong began as a way to use up unsold arcade machines.
- Peter MolyneuxPeter Molyneux got ten free Amiga computers after Commodore mistook his baked bean exporter for a software firm.
- Yoko ShimomuraYoko Shimomura turned down a music store job to write video game music. Her family and instructors were dismayed.
- David AttenboroughAt 11, David Attenborough sold newts to a university for three pence each.
- Sean ConnerySir Sean Connery was the first actor to play James Bond in the cinema, and the role followed him for the rest of his life. In 2009, he described a taxi ride during the Edinburgh Film Festival. The driver was amazed that Connery could name…
- Tim SchaferTim Schafer landed his first game job by mailing a comic strip. It showed him getting hired at Lucasfilm Games.
- Gabe NewellGabe Newell, the president and majority owner of Valve Corporation, has lived mostly at sea since the COVID-19 pandemic. He is an American video game developer and businessman, and he co-founded the company he now controls. His path to…
- John BoormanWhen his film got no awards campaign, John Boorman gave Oscar voters free video copies.
- Saul ZaentzSaul Zaentz won three Best Picture Oscars, a feat almost no one else in Hollywood has matched.