Curated playlist
Former Roman Catholics
- Pablo PicassoA German officer in occupied Paris asked Picasso if he painted Guernica. "No," Picasso replied. "You did."
- Henry VIIIHenry VIII broke England from Rome after the pope would not annul his first marriage.
- Penélope CruzPenélope Cruz was fifteen years old in 1989 when she won an audition against more than 300 other girls. Only a short time earlier, an agent had sent her away three times because she was too young. Cruz kept coming back anyway, and she says…
- 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…
- Kevin SmithKevin Smith maxed out credit cards and sold his comic books to make Clerks. The film raised $27,575 and won at Sundance.
- 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.…
- Martin HeideggerPhilosopher Martin Heidegger joined the Nazi Party in May 1933. He did so while admired as a leading thinker of being.
- Heinrich HimmlerHeinrich Himmler died by biting a hidden cyanide pill during a British exam. He was dead within 15 minutes.
- Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson improvised one line in the 1980 horror film The Shining, and it was not in the script.
- Roger EbertRoger Ebert typed his last blog post two days before he died. He signed off with "I'll see you at the movies."
- Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was rejected twice by Vienna's art academy. He later became dictator of Germany.
- HergéHergé was arrested the day after Brussels was liberated in 1944. He had drawn Tintin for a Nazi-controlled paper.
- Victor HugoVictor Hugo asked for a pauper's funeral and got the largest in French history.
- Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan Doyle once bowled out the famous cricketer W. G. Grace and wrote a poem about it.
- Michel FoucaultMichel Foucault's surgeon father expected him to become a surgeon too. He became a leading thinker on power instead.
- Guillermo del ToroAt about eight, Guillermo del Toro filmed a serial killer potato with a Super 8 camera. It sought world domination.
- 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…
- Javier BardemIn 1989, the Spanish actor Javier Bardem put on a Superman costume for a sketch on the comedy show El Día Por Delante. The job left him wondering whether he wanted to be an actor at all. That doubt makes sense for a man who never planned…
- Sean CombsSean Combs founded Bad Boy Records, which launched the Notorious B.I.G. He was later sentenced to four years in prison.
- Béla BartókOnly ten people attended composer Béla Bartók's funeral in New York in 1945. He had fled fascism five years earlier.
- François MitterrandFrançois Mitterrand, who ended France's death penalty, once urged rejecting mercy in 80% of cases.
- Marie CurieMarie Curie's cookbooks are still highly radioactive. They are sealed in lead-lined boxes.
- 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…
- Friedrich HayekThree days before the 1929 Wall Street crash, Friedrich Hayek wrote that no sudden collapse was expected.
- Martin LutherMartin Luther married a nun who had been smuggled out of her convent in herring barrels.
- Bob MarleyBob Marley, the Jamaican singer, songwriter and guitarist born Robert Nesta Marley, was buried with a red Gibson Les Paul guitar in his casket. Beside it lay a Bible opened to Psalm 23 and a stalk of cannabis, placed there by his widow,…
- Billy JoelWilliam Martin Joel, better known as Billy Joel, left Hicksville High School in 1967 without a diploma. He had missed a crucial English exam after playing a late-night gig at a piano bar, where he earned money to help support his mother…
- Cillian MurphyCillian Murphy, the Irish actor and film producer born on the 25th of May 1976, once looked back on a single month as the hinge of his life. That month was August 1996. In 2023 he described the sort of domino effect that a handful of…
- 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…
- Simone de BeauvoirSimone de Beauvoir's partnership with Sartre began on a bench outside the Louvre.
- James WatsonJames Watson put his name to a scientific paper that fills just two pages of the journal Nature, pages 737 and 738 of volume 171. Watson, an American molecular biologist, wrote it with Francis Crick in 1953. Its subject was DNA, and its…
- Reinhard HeydrichReinhard Heydrich was riding through the Prague suburb of Libeň on the 27th of May 1942. He was heading for the airport and a planned meeting with Adolf Hitler in Berlin. At a hairpin bend the car had to slow down. Jozef Gabčík stood ready…
- George R. R. MartinA chess craze helped save George R. R. Martin's writing career. Bobby Fischer's 1972 win got him a tournament job.
- Andy SerkisDoes an actor in a suit covered in tracking dots deserve an Oscar? Andy Serkis became that debate's living proof.
- Vanessa HudgensVanessa Hudgens is an American actress and singer, born on the 14th of December 1988. In August 2007, a Disney Channel sequel starring her drew more than 17.2 million viewers in the United States. That made it the most-watched Disney…
- Timothy LearyTimothy Leary escaped prison in September 1970 by climbing a telephone wire over the wall.
- Robert Smith (musician)On the 14th of October 2024, Robert Smith of the Cure said he plans to retire in 2029. His reasoning was tidy. He turns 70 that year, and 2029 marks 50 years since the band's first album, Three Imaginary Boys. Smith added a caveat: he has…
- Jon Bon JoviJon Bon Jovi, born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. on the 2nd of March 1962, has played more than 3,000 concerts with his band in over 50 countries. The crowds added up to more than 35 million fans. He is an American singer, songwriter and…
- Richard KuklinskiRichard Kuklinski, born in 1935 and later known as the Iceman, lived in the New Jersey suburb of Dumont with his wife and children. His wife Barbara described him as a wholesale distributor who employed an accountant. Neighbors saw a…
- Mandy MooreMandy Moore, the American singer and actress, once offered to refund everyone who had bought her first two albums. In 2006 she said she would give her fans their money back if she could. Then, during a radio interview in April of that…
- Hilary MantelHilary Mantel became the first woman to win the Booker Prize twice. Her winners were Wolf Hall and its sequel.
- Roger ZelaznyA story by Roger Zelazny traveled to Mars in 2008. "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" rode on a DVD aboard the Phoenix lander.
- St. Vincent (musician)The musician St. Vincent took her name from a hospital in a Nick Cave song. It is where poet Dylan Thomas died.
- Efraín Ríos MonttEfraín Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years for genocide, and the ruling collapsed within days.
- Kareem Abdul-JabbarKareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain's career scoring record with a skyhook over a 7-foot-4 defender.
- Taylor MomsenTaylor Momsen was on stage in Seville, Spain, on the 31st of May 2024 when a bat bit her. She was performing with her band, the Pretty Reckless, at the time. The bite meant she had to take vaccinations for rabies. Momsen is an American…
- Miguel de UnamunoA famous 1936 speech by Miguel de Unamuno may have been invented. A historian says a 1941 magazine article wrote it.
- Monica BellucciMonica Bellucci was 50 years old when she appeared in the 2015 James Bond film Spectre. That made her the oldest Bond girl in the history of the franchise. She was sceptical of the project at first. Director Sam Mendes argued that casting…