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Arts & Letters
Novelists, poets, musicians, actors, directors and designers who made the country's culture.
Role:
Any
Actor 58
Novelist 46
Singer 39
Songwriter 31
Musician 30
Filmmaker 26
Painter 26
Composer 18
Poet 14
Author 11
Photographer 11
Comedian 10
Activist 9
Founder 8
Playwright 8
Sculptor 8
Educator 7
Broadcaster 6
Journalist 6
Rapper 6
Designer 5
Illustrator 5
Producer 5
Choreographer 4
Executive 4
6 people
Orson Welles 1915–1985Film, Television & ComedyDirector, actor, and broadcaster whose innovations in film, radio, and theater reshaped American visual and dramatic storytelling.
Groucho Marx 1890–1977Film, Television & ComedyComedian who turned the verbal insult into the engine of American comedy, from vaudeville and the Marx Brothers pictures to 14 years of You Bet Your Life.
Johnny Carson 1925–2005Film, Television & ComedyHost of The Tonight Show for thirty years and the model for American late-night television.
Nat King Cole 1919–1965MusicJazz pianist and singer of "Mona Lisa", "Unforgettable" and "The Christmas Song"
Joan Rivers 1933–2014Film, Television & ComedyComedian and the first woman to host a late-night network talk show
Studs Terkel 1912–2008Literature & DramaOral historian and Chicago broadcaster who recorded working Americans in book-length interview collections.