Happy Birthday

Pelé turned a childhood of playing soccer in a small Brazilian village into athletic stardom. Known as “The King of Football,” he spent his career breaking records and defying expectations.

A powerful, politically minded and acerbic Nobel Laureate, Britain's Doris Lessing is a treasured social commentator and novelist who has continued her prolific and award-winning career into her 80s.

Novelist, poet and translator Ursula Le Guin is best known for creating worlds of fantasy and of the far future, but that is only part of an acclaimed body of work that incorporates Eastern philosophy, anthropology, linguistics and feminist principles.

Founder of the Favorite Poem Project, former United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky has made waves throughout the literary world as a multifaceted artist: essayist, poet, computer adventure game writer, and one of the most popular translators of Dante’s “Inferno.”

Preeminent secret-agent-turned-spy-novelist, John le Carré depicts the darker side of the lives of secret agents. In honor of his October 19 birthday, findingDulcinea looks at his life and work.

Equally accomplished at jazz and classical music, bandleader and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis was the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize.

Evel Knievel was one of the world’s most famous daredevils. In honor of his birthday, we explore his rise to fame, his bone-breaking stunts and his darker, more violent side.

Noah Webster was a pioneering thinker devoted to books and learning. After the American Revolution, he set out to help the United States develop a distinctly American culture and an educational system all its own, and gave the country some of its most popular dictionaries.

“Nietzsche’s actual thought is a … system, at the beginning of which stands the death of God … the ensuing nihilism, and at its end the self-surmounting of nihilism in eternal recurrence,” Nietzsche scholar Karl Lowith once wrote, capturing the intensity, depth and wildly compelling contradictions inherent in the German philosopher’s oeuvre. To this day, Friedrich Nietzsche is considered one of the most influential Western thinkers.

American poet, novelist and painter E. E. Cummings was one of the best-selling poets of the 20th century, earning fame for his unique approach to punctuation and syntax.

Known as the “Iron Lady,” British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to lead a Western democracy, a position she held for 11 years.

Luciano Pavarotti, the so-called “King of the High Cs,” brought opera to the masses with his clear, pitch-perfect voice. In a life that began with singing on his parents’ porch as a boy in Italy and led to appearing on the world’s most famous stages, Pavarotti was a performer to his very core.

Eleanor Roosevelt was more than just a first lady. She was a politician in her own right, serving on the United Nations, promoting the New Deal and setting off second-wave feminism with her insistence that she—and all other women—be treated as equal to men.

Famous for his sculptures of stick-thin figures with razor-sharp, fine features, Alberto Giacometti was an artist who defied categorization. His work flirted with nearly every major art movement of the 20th century, and eventually evolved into a style that was uniquely his own.

Some people see Aimee Semple McPherson as one of the first feminists, while others believe she is one of the 20th century’s greatest spiritual leaders. Her vivacious personality and strongly held beliefs attracted legions of followers, but the end of McPherson’s life was marred by controversy and legal battles.

Harvey Pekar has made a career out of being an ordinary man. As a comic book writer, he documented the most mundane details of his life. When a Hollywood movie told his story, he continued to work as a file clerk. Even now, when some of the world’s most famous artists have illustrated his tales, he still eschews the spotlight.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the strongest crusaders for peace in the last century, has fought for equality since he was a young man. After helping to end apartheid in South Africa, he brought his vision to the world. As the first black leader of the Anglican Church in Africa, he was able to broadcast his message of peace and equal freedom for all.

Fannie Lou Hamer, uttered the powerful words: “All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." A Mississippi sharecropper, voting rights activist and congressional candidate, she was beaten and nearly killed in her efforts to register African-Americans at the polls.

Norwegian archeologist and anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl made harrowing transoceanic expeditions in reconstructions of ancient vessels to gain evidence for his controversial theories on human migration, gaining popular attention if not wide scientific acceptance.

Václav Havel was a revolutionary, a poet, a playwright and a president. Although he was reluctant to become a public figure, he has been one of the most influential people in Czech history.

One of the biggest stars of the silent film era, actor and director Buster Keaton revolutionized the art of physical comedy. From a childhood spent on the vaudeville stage to besting a struggle with alcoholism, Keaton always found a way to come out on top.

British veterinarian and best-selling author James Herriot earned his fame with the publication of his 1972 book, “All Creatures Great and Small.”

With a far-reaching legacy of peace and equality, Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. In honor of the spiritual leader’s birthday, we explore his life, philosophy and the lasting effects of his work.

Julie Andrews became famous as the star of Broadway’s “My Fair Lady” and “Camelot” and Hollywood’s “Mary Poppins,” “The Sound of Music” and “Victor/Victoria.” Also known as a children’s book author and tireless promoter of good works, her iconic, unforgettable characters and music are a legacy to several generations.

Writer Truman Capote emerged from the small town of Monroeville, Ala., to become one of the most visible writers of the 1950s and ’60s. His book “In Cold Blood” inspired a new form of reporting that came to be called New Journalism, while his short stories and novels, like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” often reflected the cultural landscape of New York City society.

Enrico Fermi’s pioneering work in the field of nuclear fission won him a Nobel Prize, and ushered in the nuclear age. His discoveries led to the creation of the atomic bomb that ended World War II.

Michelangelo Merisi, popularly known as Caravaggio, spearheaded the Baroque movement, and his paintings are acclaimed for their realism and their depiction of the violent, darker side of humanity. The 16th-century painter once said, “All works, no matter what or by whom painted, are nothing but bagatelles and childish trifles ... unless they are made and painted from life.”

As a philosopher, theologian, poet, playwright and essayist working in the early 20th century, T.S. Eliot saw and described the American and European landscape of both World War I and World War II. The writer of such unforgettable poems as “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “The Waste Land” and “The Four Quartets,” Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.

William Faulkner, revered modernist writer, historian and sociologist, is known for capturing the raw beauty of the rural South in all its dark complexity. While his sprawling verse and habit of knotting together past, present and future has overwhelmed some critics, others have responded to the demands of his writing.

Barbara Walters, the first woman news anchor on television, quashed the belief that women had no place in the news industry. Through “Barbara Walters Specials” she has reached out to politicians, media darlings, rock stars and murderers, asking tough questions in sensitive ways and bringing unique insights to the character of the world’s most loved and most hated personalities.