Karl Lagerfeld: Fashion Legend Who Loved Starting Anew
Karl Lagerfeld, one of the most prolific and widely popular designers of the 20th and 21st centuries, was creative director of Chanel, the French house founded by Gabrielle Chanel, for…
Aretha Franklin: The Indomitable ‘Queen of Soul
Universally acclaimed as the “Queen of Soul”, Aretha Franklin was one of America’s greatest vocalists of all-time and a virtuoso of almost singing style. In her indelible late-1960s hits, Ms.…
Stephen Hawking: Mind Over Matter
The image of Stephen Hawking in his motorized wheelchair, with head contorted slightly to one side and hands crossed over to work the controls, caught the public imagination, as a…
Margot Kidder: Superman’s ‘Lois Lane’
“You’ll believe a man can fly,” promised the advertising campaign for the 1978 blockbuster Superman: The Movie. None of that technical razzle-dazzle would have counted for much, though, without the…
Sridevi: Indian Cinema Queen Who Balanced Grit With Humor
Throughout the 1980s, the Bollywood film star Sridevi was the undisputed queen of Indian cinema, often eclipsing the male actors she starred with. In breaking through this glass ceiling, she…
David Cassidy: The Teen Idol Who Never Wanted To Be Superstar
“Girls are following me around – they’re ruining my whole life!” cried Keith Partridge in a fraught moment on the 1970s sitcom The Partridge Family. Keith, played by David Cassidy,…
Hugh Hefner: The Playboy Who Changed The Worldview of Sex
Hugh Hefner, the pipe-smoking hedonist who revved up the sexual revolution in the 1950s, built a multimedia empire under the Playboy brand featuring girly magazine, clubs, mansions, movies and television…
Vinod Khanna: The Maverick Bollywood Hero
Vinod Khanna belonged to the second wave of Punjabi heroes who ruled Bollywood - known as "Partition Punjabis". His family hailed from Peshawar in Pakistan and had moved to India…
John Hurt: The ‘Elephant Man’ Known For Shape-Shifting Movie Roles
Sir John Hurt was an unprepossessing British character actor who vanished inside dozens of roles, from Shakespeare to science fiction, including John Merrick, the hideously deformed title character in the…
Om Puri: The Bollywood Face Of The West
As an actor, Om Puri exuded reassuring warmth and gravitas over a long career divided between Bollywood and Hollywood. At home, his Hindi hits included the political comedy Jaane Bhi…
Carrie Fisher: Star Wars’ Down-to-Earth Princess Leia
Carrie Fisher, the actress whose role as Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy inspired millions of fans worldwide, helped George Lucas’ space-fantasy epic redefine Hollywood blockbusters for a…
King Bhumibol Adulyadej: Defender of Thai Democracy
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was the constitutional monarch of Thailand for 70 years, played a crucial role early in his reign in nurturing and defending democracy at the expense of…
George Michael: The Wham! Part That Became UK’s Biggest Solo Act
George Michael was Britain's biggest pop star who sold more than 100 million albums and was an inspirational icon for a generation of gay youth who came of age in…
Gene Wilder: The Neurotic Comic Who Wanted To “Act, Not Clown”
Gene Wilder established himself as one of America’s foremost comic actors with his delightfully neurotic performances in three films directed by Mel Brooks; his eccentric star turn in the family…
Muhammad Ali: Simply “The Greatest”
Muhammad Ali was a the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion, a feat that helped define his turbulent times as the most charismatic and controversial sports figure of the 20th century.…
Prince: The Artist Who Defied Genre
Prince was a songwriter, singer, producer, one-man studio band and consummate showman. Bursting with music — he was also a wildly prolific songwriter, virtuoso on guitars, keyboards and drums and…
George Kennedy: Jailbird, Avionics Expert Or Bumbling Cop? It’s All An Act For Him
George Kennedy was known mainly for three movie roles, each of which represented a different aspect of his career: as heavy, hero and clown. They were the bullying convict Dragline…
David Bowie: A Star Who Transcended Music, Art and Fashion
David Bowie was an infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas. Bowie wrote songs, above all, about being an…
Joan Rivers: The Acid-Tongued Comic
Joan Rivers was a raspy loudmouth who pounced on America’s obsessions with flab, face-lifts, body hair and other blemishes of neurotic life, including her own, in five decades of caustic…
Robin Williams: One of the Greatest Comedians of the Past Century
Robin Williams’s August 2014 suicide was devastating to those who knew him best—and it also came at the end of a long and difficult decline, as this excerpt from New…