Brazil's courts ruled that ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will remain in jail. Lula was convicted for corruption and money laundering last year & hoped to remain free while appealing a 12-year sentence. His successor was removed from office amid a crippling recession.

• President (non-U.S.)
  (1945–)

Marla Maples is an actress and TV personality who is best known for being the second wife of Donald Trump.

• tv personality, Model, Actress
  (1963–)

Comedian John Cleese is most famous for his work with the comedy group Monty Python, and for the popular British television series Fawlty Towers.

• Actor
  (1939–)

John Gotti, also known as 'The Teflon Don,' was an organized crime leader who became head of the Gambino family.

• Organized Crime
  (1940–2002)

Sylvia Plath was an American poet best known for her novel The Bell Jar, and for her poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel.

• Editor, Author, Academic, Poet
  (1932–1963)

Modernist abstract painter and collage artist Lee Krasner, wife of Jackson Pollock, created the 'Little Image' painting series and the multimedia collage 'Milkweed.'

• Painter
  (1908–1984)

British navigator James Cook discovered and charted New Zealand and Australia's Great Barrier Reef on his ship HMB Endeavour, and later disproved the existence of the fabled southern continent Terra Australis. His voyages provided the first accurate map of the Pacific.

• Military Leader, Explorer
  (1728–1779)

Roberto Benigni is an Italian actor, director and producer best known for his 1997 Oscar winning film La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful).

• Screenwriter, Theater Actor, Television Actor, Director, Producer, Film Actor
  (1952–)

A New York governor who became the 26th U.S. president, Theodore Roosevelt is remembered for his foreign policy, corporate reforms and ecological preservation.

• Military Leader, U.S. President, Governor, Environmental Activist, Warrior
  (1858–1919)

Simon Le Bon was lead singer of the 1980s pop group Duran Duran, known for recording the hit songs “Hungry Like the Wolf,” "Notorious," and "The Reflex," among others.

• Singer
  (1958–)

Erasmus was the dominant figure of the early humanist movement. Neither a radical nor an apologist, he remains one of early Renaissance controversial figures.

• Linguist, Scholar
  (c. 1466–1536)

Writer Dylan Thomas is best known for the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and the play Under Milk Wood. He's also known for his heavy drinking, which led to his untimely death.

• Poet
  (1914–1953)

Oliver Tambo was the acting president of the African National Congress, the South African anti-apartheid political party. Tambo served primarily in exile.

• Activist
  (1917–1993)

Ruby Dee was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter, activist, poet and journalist, perhaps best known for starring in the 1961 film A Raisin in the Sun. She's also known for her civic work with husband Ossie Davis.

• Playwright, Screenwriter, Civil Rights Activist, Poet, Actress
  (1922–2014)

Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Scott Weiland is best known for performing as lead vocalist for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver.

• Songwriter, Singer
  (1967–2015)

Sometimes called "the Devil's Violinist," Niccolò Paganini's virtuoso talent, accompanied by his extraordinary dexterity and flexibility, gave him an almost mythic reputation—he is considered by many to be the greatest violinist of all time.

• Musician, Composer
  (1782–1840)

Actress, singer and fashion designer Kelly Osbourne is the daughter of heavy-metal musician Ozzy Osbourne.

• Singer, Actress
  (1984–)

Isaac Merritt Singer, of Singer Manufacturing Company, invented an affordable sewing machine for use in the home and manufactured it with partner Edward Clark.

• Inventor
  (1811–1875)

Author Emily Post wrote her first book of etiquette in 1922. It went through 10 editions and 90 printings before her death in 1960.

• Writer
  (1872–1960)

Roy Lichtenstein was an American pop artist best known for his boldly-colored parodies of comic strips and advertisements.

• Painter, Illustrator
  (1923–1997)

Marine biologist Alain Louis Bombard crossed the Atlantic without food or water to prove that he could live on just fish, plankton, and rain and sea water.

• Biologist, Scientist, Doctor
  (1924–2005)

Ivan Reitman is a director and producer of film and stage. His box-office hits include Meatballs, Ghostbusters and Kindergarten Cop.

• Producer, Director
  (1946–)

Richard Clarke is best known for being the chief counter-terrorism advisor under George W. Bush for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

• Journalist
  (1951–)

Known as the 'Iron Chancellor', H.R. Haldeman was Nixon's chief of staff and later went to prison for the Watergate scandal and other offenses.

• Government Official
  (1926–1993)