Businessman Claus Von Bulow was twice accused of attempting to kill his socialite wife, a diabetic, with doses of insulin, and was defended by Alan Dershowitz.
Wernher von Braun was a German engineer who worked on rocket technology, first for Germany and then for the United States.
Film Actor Christopher Walken often plays the bad guy, but he has also proved himself in comic roles and has been a repeat guest on Saturday Night Live.
Sam Walton was an American businessman best known for founding the retail chain Wal-Mart, which grew to be the world’s largest corporation.
Educator Booker T. Washington was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founding the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University.
Harold Washington became the first African-American mayor of Chicago in 1983.
American singer and guitarist Muddy Waters may have been born in Mississippi, but he defined Chicago blues with songs like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man."
Emma Watson is best known for playing the character of Hermione, the best friend of Harry Potter in the Harry Potter film franchise.
James D. Watson is a Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist and researcher credited with co-discovering the double-helix structure of DNA.
Hugo Weaving is best known for playing Agent Smith in the Matrix film trilogy and Elrond in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Composer. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an English composer known for such musical theater hits as Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Phantom of the Opera.
Jazz musician Ben Webster (1909–1973) played tenor saxophone with jazz greats like Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and Art Tatum.
William Westmoreland was a U.S. Army general who made a name for himself as commander of American troops in Vietnam.
Edward Weston's photography captured organic forms and texture. Portraits of his family taken in the 1940s are some of his best work.
Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood helped set the style for modern punk and New Wave music.
Thornton Wilder is a multiple Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and playwright known for works like The Bridge of San Luis Rey, The Ides of March and Our Town.
William I is best known for ruling Prussia as regent, and king, and later as German emperor.
Tennessee Williams was an American writer, whose signature works include A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Glass Menagerie.
Sonny Boy Williamson, originally John Lee Curtis Williamson, was a blues singer and harmonica player. He was the first musician to use the nickname Sonny Boy.
Reese Witherspoon was introduced to the world of acting at a young age. She has since won numerous awards and worldwide recognition for her film performances.
James Woods is an award-winning actor of stage and screen, known for his versatility in fare like Salvador, My Name Is Bill W. and Ghosts of Mississippi.
Bob Woodward is an American journalist and author who reported on the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post. His coverage greatly contributed to the Post's 1973 Pulitzer Prize.
Robin Wright was born in Dallas, Texas on April 8, 1966 but grew up in San Diego, California. The daughter of a pharmaceutical executive and an independent executive sales director for Mary Kay cosmetics, Wright was a natural beauty and began modeling
Wilbur Wright is best known for developing the first successful airplane with his brother, Orville.
Ian Ziering is an actor known for his role on the teen soap opera Beverly Hills 90210, and for appearing on TV's Dancing with the Stars.
Émile Zola was the most prominent French novelist of the late 19th century. He was noted for his theories of naturalism as expressed in Les Rougon-Macquart.
Jacob Zuma was elected president of South Africa in 2009. In 2007, he won the presidency of the African National Congress, the country's leading political party.