Paul Robeson was an acclaimed 20th-century performer known for productions like "The Emperor Jones" and "Othello." He was also an international activist.

Actor, singer and activist Harry Belafonte has achieved lasting fame for such songs as "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)," and for his humanitarian work.

Actor Eddie Albert starred in films like The Sun Also Rises and Roman Holiday as well as the TV show Green Acres.

Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in the film 'Citizen Kane,' among others, which remains one of the most influential films ever made.

Actress and singer Lena Horne was one of the most popular performers of her time, known for films such as 'Cabin in the Sky' and 'The Wiz' as well as her trademark song, "Stormy Weather."

Charlie Chaplin was a comedic British actor who became one of the biggest stars of the 20th century's silent-film era.

Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, and playwright whose African-American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Artie Shaw was known for his role as a 1930's and 1940's jazz bandleader and clarinetist, known as the "King of the Clarinet".

Actor Burgess Meredith appeared on stage, film and TV. Memorable roles included George in the 1939 film 'Of Mice and Men' and Mickey Goldmill in 'Rocky.'

Pete Seeger was an iconic singer-songwriter best known for his contributions to the American folk music revival and his political activism.

Actress Judy Holliday was know for playing dumb but good-natured characters. She won an Academy Award for best actress in the film Born Yesterday.

American film and television actor Lloyd Bridges was best known for the role of underwater investigator Mike Nelson in the TV series ‘Sea Hunt.’

Dalton Trumbo was an award-winning author and screenwriter who was blacklisted from the film industry from 1947 until the early 1960s due to his Communist ties.

Dorothy Parker was the sharpest wit of the Algonquin Round Table, as well as a master of short fiction and a blacklisted screenwriter.

Stage, television and screen actor Zero Mostel won a Tony Award playing Tevye in Jerome Robbins' Fiddler on the Roof, and starred in Mel Brooks' film The Producers.

Gypsy Rose Lee rose from an early life in vaudeville to America's most famed burlesque performers, becoming the subject of the Broadway show Gypsy.

Garson Kanin directed Hollywood films for RKO studios, but is best known for the freelance projects he collaborated with his wife, actress Ruth Gordon.

Actor and singer Burl Ives recorded more than 100 albums during his lifetime. His hits include “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Blue Tail Fly.”

Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled crime fiction, including the novels The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man.

For nearly four decades, American composer Aaron Copland achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style. He is known for works like Appalachian Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man, among many others.

Luis Buñuel was a Spanish filmmaker known for his personal obsessions magnified in his work and his Surreal approach.

Bertolt Brecht is best known for his plays and poems, in which he embraced anti-bourgeois themes and being forced from his native Germany.

Leonard Bernstein was one of the first American-born conductors to receive worldwide fame. He composed the score for the Broadway musical West Side Story.

Composer Elmer Bernstein wrote over 100 major film scores, including the music behind The Ten Commandments and Ghostbusters.