Hafez al-Assad served as president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He is widely criticized for his brutal tactics but also praised for stabilizing the country.
American television personality Steve Allen is best known as the first host of The Tonight Show. He also starred on The Benny Goodman Show, and was an accomplished musician, composer, author and actor.
Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan political leader, becoming the world’s first woman prime minister in 1960.
Big Pun was a Latino hip-hop artist whose album Capital Punishment went to No. 1 on the R&B/hip-hop charts. He died in 2000 from obesity related heart failure.
Gwendolyn Brooks was a postwar poet best known as the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her 1949 book Annie Allen.
Hortense Ellis, younger sister of the "Godfather of Rock Steady" Alton Ellis, was a pop singer who was regarded as Jamaica’s first locally based female singing star.
John Gielgud was a prolific Shakespearean actor known for his varied film and TV work as well, including Arthur and Prospero’s Books.
Edward Gorey was an American illustrator best known for his cartoons of Edwardian children coming to macabre ends. He work can be seen in the animated credits of PBS' Masterpiece Mystery.
Alec Guinness is an Oscar-winning British actor known for his roles in films like Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago and Star Wars.
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a blues/soul singer known for his over-the-top theatricality and the hit “I Put a Spell on You.”
Randolph A. Hearst was born a billionaire, but he helped transform the vast Hearst newspaper empire built by his father from a flagging company to a profitable private media company. However, the media melee over his daughter, Patty Hearst's abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army overshadowed other aspects of his life.
Doug Henning was a magician known the world over for his tricks performed on TV and Broadway and in Las Vegas.
Extraordinarily beautiful, Hedy Lamarr was a Austrian-American actress during MGM's "Golden Age."
Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Landry played gridiron football for the New York Giants and was the first ever head coach of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
Jacob Lawrence was an American painter, and the most widely acclaimed African-American artist of the 20th century. He is best known for his Migration Series.
John Lindsay was a U.S. congressman and was the mayor of New York City during the 1960s. He is known for his "ghetto walks" and clashes with labor groups.
Walter Matthau was an actor known for his gruff on-screen demeanor in such films as The Odd Couple and Grumpy Old Men.
Tito Puente was a musical pioneer, mixing musical styles with Latin sounds and experimenting in fusing Latin music with jazz.
Jason Robards Jr. was an intense stage and film actor, and a frequent interpreter of Eugene O'Neill's work. He starred in the 1960 television production The Iceman Cometh, and later starred in films like Philadelphia and Magnolia.
Charles Schulz was a cartoonist best known for creating the one of the world's most successful comic strips, Peanuts.
Pierre Trudeau was the 15th prime minister of Canada, famous for his youthful energy, his stance against a separate Quebec and suppressing violent revolt.
Comedic actor Jim Varney played his signature character Ernest P. Worrell in hundreds of commercials and five Disney films including Ernest goes to Camp (1987).
Loretta young was a child actor who became one of Hollywood's leading ladies in the 1930s and 1940s.