Curated playlist

California Democrats

Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
LeBron JamesLeBron James led Cleveland back from a 3-1 Finals deficit, a first in NBA history. It ended a 52-year title wait.
Humphrey BogartHumphrey Bogart's ashes were buried with a small gold whistle from a bracelet he gave Lauren Bacall.
Orson WellesOrson Welles burned ten reels of his own Don Quixote film. He felt the 1969 Moon landings made its ending obsolete.
Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
David LynchDavid Lynch began as a painter who just wanted his canvases to move. That wish led him to film.
Katharine HepburnKatharine Hepburn bought out her own studio contract after theater owners called her box office poison.
Marilyn MonroeAn unimpressed studio head signed Marilyn Monroe specifically to keep her away from a rival studio.
Harrison FordHarrison Ford got Han Solo after reading lines for other actors' auditions. George Lucas slowly decided he wanted Ford.
Ben StillerBen Stiller's films have grossed more than $2.6 billion in Canada and the United States, an average of $79 million per film. Behind that figure stands Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller, an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known…
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.
Judy GarlandMGM fired Judy Garland in 1950, and Bing Crosby invited her onto his radio show. The audience gave her an ovation.
Bette DavisBette Davis's tombstone reads, "She did it the hard way." A director suggested the epitaph after All About Eve.
Mila KunisMila Kunis was seven years old when she started school in Los Angeles without knowing a word of English. She has described how fast it all happened. "We arrived in New York on a Wednesday and by Friday morning my brother and I were at…
Martin SheenMartin Sheen was born Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez. In a 2009 speech at Oxford University, he said he had been arrested 66 times. The human rights activist Craig Kielburger gave that tally a memorable comparison. He said Sheen had "a rap…
Tom HanksTom Hanks lost 35 pounds to play a dying lawyer in Philadelphia. He thinned his hair and learned to walk differently.
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…
Robert Downey Jr.Robert Downey Jr. was too big an insurance risk to hire until Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond.
Jennifer GarnerIn August 2018, Jennifer Garner received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Variety praised her "radiant likability" and said she was second only to Tom Hanks. Garner is an American actress, and that honor capped a career with an…
Sammy Davis Jr.Sammy Davis Jr. once answered a simple golf question with a line that became his signature. Playing a round with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. Davis replied, "Handicap?" and then went on: "Talk about handicap. I'm a…
Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
George ClooneyIn 1977, a teenage George Clooney tried out for the Cincinnati Reds and did not make it past the first round of player cuts. No contract was offered. Clooney, an American actor and filmmaker, would go on to collect two Academy Awards, a…
Conan O'BrienConan O'Brien went from writing The Simpsons to hosting late night, and critics said he would fail.
Jack KirbyJack Kirby was drafted in 1943 and became a scout who drew reconnaissance maps in towns.
Jaan PuhvelAt twelve, Jaan Puhvel fled Estonia with his family in April 1944.
Magic JohnsonMagic Johnson told the world he had HIV from the free throw line in 1991. He was 32 and a five-time NBA champion.
Bryan CranstonIn 1968, a 12-year-old Bryan Cranston was riding horses with his cousin at Spahn Ranch when he met Charles Manson. About a year later, Manson ordered the Tate-LaBianca murders. Cranston grew up to become an American actor and filmmaker…
Jon HammJon Hamm was once judged too handsome for the role that made him famous. Alan Taylor and Matthew Weiner, the creator of Mad Men, first thought exactly that when they considered the American actor from St. Louis, Missouri. The part was Don…
Janet YellenJanet Yellen is the only person to have led the Fed, the White House economic advisers and the Treasury.
Upton SinclairUpton Sinclair aimed his novel The Jungle at the public's heart and hit its stomach instead. Meat sales fell by half.
Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand once filed a lawsuit that sent a crowd of strangers to look at a single photograph. In 2003 she claimed that a website documenting coastal erosion had invaded her privacy. Among its more than 12,000 images, one happened to…
Julia Louis-DreyfusElaine Benes on Seinfeld was not part of the original show. NBC executives found the pilot too male-centric.
Rob ReinerRob Reiner, the American filmmaker, actor and political activist, once joked about how firmly a sitcom nickname had attached itself to him. "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize.'" The remark came…
Mark HamillMark Hamill voiced Ukraine's air raid alert app as Luke Skywalker. Each alert ended with "May the Force be with you".
John C. FrémontJohn C. Frémont served just 175 days as a U.S. senator. He was in Washington for only twenty-one working days.