Curated playlist
Writers from Los Angeles
- Matthew Robinson (writer)Matthew Robinson was born on the 26th of May 1978, and by his early thirties he had managed to co-create a film that asked one of the stranger philosophical questions in modern comedy: what would the world look like if no one had ever…
- Orson WellesOrson Welles was born on the 6th of May 1915, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and died on the 10th of October 1985. In between those dates, he directed what is consistently ranked as one of the greatest films ever made, terrified radio listeners…
- Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg was born on the 18th of December 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and by the time he was twelve years old, he had already staged and filmed a train wreck with his Lionel set. That eight-millimeter camera, borrowed from his…
- David LynchDavid Lynch was born on the 20th of January 1946 at St. Patrick's Hospital in Missoula, Montana, the son of a USDA research scientist and an English-language tutor. He died on the 16th of January 2025, four days before what would have been…
- Elizabeth TaylorElizabeth Taylor was born on the 27th of February 1932 in Hampstead Garden Suburb, northwest London, in a family home called Heathwood. She died on the 23rd of March 2011 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Between those two…
- Raymond ChandlerRaymond Thornton Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and died in 1959, having spent much of the intervening years doing almost everything except what he would become famous for. He was a civil servant, a tennis racket stringer, a fruit…
- Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow was born on the 27th of September 1972 into a family already at home in Hollywood: her mother, Blythe Danner, was a stage and screen actress; her father, Bruce Paltrow, a film producer and director. By the time she was…
- Tom HanksTom Hanks lost 35 pounds for a single role. He thinned his hair, learned to walk differently, and prepared to play a dying man on screen. The film was Philadelphia, released in 1993, and when it was over, Hanks stood at the Academy Award…
- Guillermo del ToroGuillermo del Toro was born on the 9th of October 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and grew up in a house his father once described as "an enchanted castle." When del Toro was about eight years old, he started making short films with a Super…
- Edgar Rice BurroughsEdgar Rice Burroughs was born on the 1st of September, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois, the fourth son of Major George Tyler Burroughs, a Civil War veteran and businessman. By the time he died on the 19th of March, 1950, he had written almost…
- Arnold SchwarzeneggerArnold Alois Schwarzenegger arrived in the United States in October 1968 at age 21, speaking little English and carrying little money. He had already won the Mr. Universe title once, and he would go on to win it three more times. What…
- Frank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was born on the 21st of December, 1940, in Baltimore, Maryland, into a household where Italian was spoken by his grandparents and gas masks hung by the door. His father, a chemist and mathematician who worked in the…
- Sally RideSally Kristen Ride was born on the 26th of May, 1951, in Santa Monica, California, and died on the 23rd of July, 2012, having spent more than 343 hours in space and nearly three decades of her private life hidden from the world. She was…
- Kareem Abdul-JabbarOn the road against Utah on the 5th of April 1984, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar caught a pass from Magic Johnson and rose into his skyhook from 15 feet. The ball arced over Mark Eaton, a 7 foot 4 inch shot-blocking specialist, and dropped through…
- Leigh BrackettLeigh Brackett was born on the 7th of December 1915 in Los Angeles, California, and by the time she died in March 1978, she had left her mark on science fiction, crime fiction, Hollywood Westerns, and the Star Wars franchise. She earned…
- Brown MeggsBrown Meggs heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand" for the first time in early November 1963. Beatles manager Brian Epstein played him a demo of the recording in New York. Capitol's reviewer Dave Dexter Jr. had twice passed on earlier Beatles…
- Olivia HarrisonOlivia Harrison was already being described in newspaper headlines as the woman who saved a former Beatle's life before most readers could place her name. On the 30th of December 1999, a man broke into Friar Park, the Henley-on-Thames home…