What does it take to hear from all of Hollywood at age 25 that you're a washed-up, worthless actress who "can't even speak properly"? This photo was taken in 1975 on the streets of New York. The man holding the umbrella is Martin Scorsese. She's Cybill Shepherd. They're just shooting Taxi Driver a film that in a few years will be hailed as one of the greatest masterpieces of American cinema. In this photo, she looks calm, even cheerful. She's holding a chocolate ice cream cone in her hand. She doesn't yet know that this role will be her last chance in Hollywood. Before that happened, Cybill was one of the most recognizable faces in America. A model from Memphis. Eight times on the cover of *Glamour* in a single year. The face of L'Oréal. And at age 20 discovered by director Peter Bogdanovich in a grocery store. He saw her photo on a magazine cover, held it up, and said, "That's Jacy." He meant the character in his new film *The Last Picture Show*. Cybill had never acted before. She got the role. The film became a masterpiece. Eight Oscar nominations. She a nomination as a debutante. At 21, she became the critical discovery of the year. Then she got involved with Bogdanovich. He divorced for her. And she starred in two more of his films. Both were flops. Critics who had praised her just yesterday suddenly wrote: "Cybill can't just not act or sing she can't even speak." The press called her "Bogdanovich's limited girl." Hollywood decided her film career was over. She was 25. And then Scorsese called. He was looking for someone to play Betsy in *Taxi Driver*. He needed a "Cybill Shepherd type." And then he thought: Why not take her herself? She arrived on set in the summer of 1975 as an actress the world had already written off. And she performed so well that no one could deny her recognition. The film won the Palme d'Or, four Oscar nominations, and went down in history. And Cybill's reviews were good again. Quiet, but good. But that wasn't enough. Hollywood had already made its decision. De Niro became a legend. Scorsese an icon. Jodie Foster a 13-year-old Oscar nominee. And Cybill went back to Memphis. How is it possible that the same woman a critic once dismissed as someone who "can't even speak" went on, a dozen years later, to earn seven Golden Globe nominations, write a bestselling autobiography, and receive a plaque from the Civil Rights Museum for "breaking the chain of oppression." She then earned seven more Golden Globe nominations, and museums awarded her an honorary plaque for triumphing over the Hollywood establishment. from Traces of the Past

Life. You need to know when to walk away, know when to run and when to hold steady. On July 26, 1977, in a New Orleans hotel room, Robert Plant answered a phone call that would tear his life in two He was twenty-eight years old, leading the most powerful band on the planet, living among private jets, packed stadiums, and seemingly limitless success. Then he heard the voice of his wife, Maureen. And in an instant, everything fell apart. Karac, their five-year-old son, was dead. A stomach virus, swift and merciless. No warning, no chance to intervene. While Robert sang on the other side of the ocean, his "little mountain man" was gone. The tour stopped immediately. Plant flew to England in a state of shock that no amount of fame could allay. He found his son in the quiet of the Midlands, surrounded by a grief beyond words. That day, he looked for his bandmates. John Bonham was there, as devastated as he was. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones were not. They did not show up at the funeral. Years later, they would talk about "respecting space," but for Robert, it was an absence that left a deep scar. Something inside him cracked. He returned to his farm, stopped drinking, stopped taking drugs, stopped living like a rock star. He said he didn't want to be in Led Zeppelin anymore, that he just wanted to be with his family. He even applied for a job at a teachers' college, ready to leave music forever. The only one who managed to bring him back was Bonham. Not with pressure, but with friendship. He'd show up at the farm driving a limousine, wearing a chauffeur's hat to make him laugh, and take him out for a quiet drink. He'd remind him that they were friends first, and musicians second. So Robert agreed to give it one last try. In Through the Out Door was born, an album marked by an undisguised pain. Inside was All My Love, the most intimate tribute Plant ever wrote for his son. In 1980, they were about to go back on tour. But tragedy wasn't over. On September 24th, during rehearsals, Bonham began drinking like never before. Forty shots of vodka in twelve hours. The next morning, he was dead. He was thirty-two years old. Led Zeppelin issued a brief, almost terse statement: without Bonham, they couldn't continue. And they kept their word. No farewell tour, no replacement, no nostalgic outing. The biggest band in the world simply stopped. For the next forty years, promoters from half the planet offered Plant astronomical sums for a reunion. Hundreds of millions for a single tour. Each time, he refused. Fans accused him of selfishness, of stubbornness. But Plant knew something they didn't: the "Golden God" had died in 1977, along with Karac. Since then, he has built a new musical life. He explored folk, bluegrass, North African rhythms, sang with Alison Krauss, lowered his voice, let go of the cry that had made him immortal. He said he could no longer be that man, because that man no longer existed. His story overturns the common idea of strength. It's not about moving forward at all costs. It's about knowing when to stop, when to protect what remains of truth. Plant chose his humanity over legend, life over myth. Today he's seventy-six. He still plays, still creates, tours small venues. But he's never looked back. And perhaps this is his greatest lesson: you can buy everything except the past. And sometimes the bravest thing is to let go of what made you famous to save what made you human.

The Man Who Tried to Erase Himself Completely, And Almost Succeeded In June 2009, a well-dressed man checked into a hotel in Sligo, Ireland. He paid in cash, spoke with a slight German accent, and gave his name as Peter Bergmann. Over the next three days he acted strangely. CCTV captured him making multiple trips in and out of the hotel carrying a purple bag. Each time he returned, the bag looked noticeably lighter. He was seen tearing up documents and throwing small pieces into bins around town. He bought a train ticket, visited a hospital briefly, and walked the streets as if trying to disappear. On 16 June, his body was found on a quiet beach just outside Sligo. He had no wallet, no phone, no identification. The labels had been carefully cut from all his clothes. His dental work and fingerprints didn’t match any missing person reports in Europe. The purple bag was gone. The torn pieces of paper he had thrown away were never fully recovered. Autopsy showed he had advanced prostate cancer and kidney disease. He had eaten a light meal before walking into the water. Toxicology was clean. There were no signs of foul play. Investigators pieced together what they could: he had arrived by train from Dublin, stayed only a short time, and methodically destroyed anything that could identify him. He even removed the tags from his underwear. Despite extensive international efforts, no one ever came forward to claim him. His real name, nationality, and reason for coming to that exact beach remain unknown.

Back in 1961, Denny and Karen Vinar were just two high school lovebirds. Life, however, had other plans. They were expecting a baby, and the circumstances led them to make the heart-wrenching decision to give their newborn daughter up for adoption. This painful event drove them apart, and they lost contact. Years turned into decades, but in 2014, Denny felt a pull towards his past. He decided to look for Karen online and managed to find her. He left a message at her workplace, and when they finally met again, it was as if no time had passed at all. Karen's joyous greeting to Denny was, "babe, you're home," and she leapt into his arms. Their love for each other was still as strong as ever, and they decided to get married just a day and a half later. However, there was still a piece of their love story missing - their daughter. They yearned to find her, and with the assistance of Lutheran Social Services, they began their search. After a period of anxious waiting, they were finally able to locate their long-lost daughter. The reunion was filled with emotion - tears of joy, laughter, and the overwhelming happiness of a family reunited. Their story is a beautiful example of how love endures and the power of family ties.

The Blue Diamond Affair: The Heist That Broke Two Nations. In 1989, a Thai janitor working in a Saudi royal palace in Riyadh stole hundreds of pounds of jewelry, including a rare 50-carat blue diamond. He smuggled the loot back to Thailand inside vacuum cleaner bags sent through DHL. When Saudi Arabia demanded the jewels back, Thai police claimed they had recovered them. But when the items were returned, many of the most valuable pieces, including the famous blue diamond, were missing or replaced with fakes. The scandal turned deadly. Three Saudi diplomats investigating in Bangkok were assassinated in one night. A Saudi businessman linked to the case also disappeared. Furious at what they saw as a cover-up, Saudi Arabia cut all diplomatic ties with Thailand for more than 30 years. They banned Thai workers and imposed economic sanctions that cost Thailand billions. One man’s theft, combined with high-level corruption, created one of the strangest and most damaging diplomatic crises in modern history.

In 1955, when Kirk Douglas and Natalie Wood was 16, he reportedly sexually assaulted her. Natalie confided in her sister, Lana Wood, who has since talked about the story. First during Douglas’ life and then again, in greater detail, after his passing. According to Lana Wood, the attack on her sister Natalie was so gruesome and brutal that it left her permanently scarred. It resulted in a lifelong habit of heavy barbituate use in order to cope with the trauma… in 1949, Kirk Douglas was interviewed in the case of a missing woman, the young actress Jean Spangler. In her purse, which was found after her disappearence, she carried a note: “Kirk: Can't wait any longer, Going to see Dr. Scott. It will work best this way while mother is away.” Kirk Douglas called the police and said he didn’t know the girl, and that he had been in Palm Springs at the time of her disappearance. But it is rather odd — they recently strred in a film together, “Young Man With A Horn”. There seems to be a trail of mystery surrounding Douglas’ life. And Jean Spangler was said to resemble the victim of the Black Dahlia case of 1947 to a great degree… The real story of Kirk Douglas may never be known. And we can’t ask the man, as he died in 2020, aged 103 and Natalie Wood herself drowned under mysterious circumstances. But of all the great names of Old Hollywood, Douglas has some pretty sinister things following him around. I’m not saying he’s a serial killer but if any star was one, my money is on him.

Doug Pitt, who is three years younger than Brad, is a very successful businessman, who started his first company in 1991, when he was 24. But it's not his business savvy that makes him so cool — it's his philanthropy. Doug is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Republic of Tanzania, where he works with the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Water, agriculture, education and wildlife, and has also worked with both government and non-government organizations on anti-poaching projects. He's also a board member of WorldServe International, an organization that works to provide clean water in Africa, and which in Tanzania alone has brought clean drinking water to over 2,000,000 people since 2005. Here in the States, he founded Care to Learn, which funds health, hygiene, and hunger-related aid for impoverished children in his home state of Missouri, and since the mid-1990s, he has served on the boards of numerous charities, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, Easter Seals, The Make-a-Wish Foundation, and the Red Cross. That’s not even all of what Doug Pitt has done; he has also been involved in many charitable organizations and events at the community level. He might not be a movie star like his brother, but he is a hero to many people around the world.

The leading men of the 1930s and '40s look so much more mature and "lived in" than today's crop of younger stars… It was 99% the result of their lifestyle. Humphrey Bogart famously never worked out, and he hated it — he felt it was unmasculine to go to the gym. He consumed each day only the following: French toast, several Scotch and sodas, an omelette, milk, coffee, countless cigarettes and cigars and a glass of brandy before bed. Despite Bogart’s not very healthy lifestyle, he weighed no more than 150 pounds for most of his adult life, which is a decent weight for a man who stood 5′8″. The “macho image”, in Bogart’s mind, was primarily the result of a man’s aura, a man’s vibe, a man’s posture and body language. You had to carry yourself a certain way, talk a certain way, address the world and all that’s in it as a real man, and you’d be perceived as such. Rippling muscles and chiseled abs weren’t necessary, you just needed to be a man’s man and live life accordingly. The leading men of Old Hollywood drank heavily, smoked like chimneys and most of them never saw the inside of a gym — it was the stuntmen who worked out and had the type of muscles today’s Marvel superheroes carry. The average leading man was a man selected primarily for his persona and the way he carried himself. He had to say the lines well and make you believe he was the hero, the tough guy. They aged prematurely, and often died young.

Being a stunt-double means earning a lot of money, looking almost as gorgeous as the chief actor, not having to worry about having the paparazzi record your every indiscretion … and getting hurt Here are hunky Chris Hemsworth (on the right)and equally hunky Bobby Holland Hanton, his stunt-double on Avengers: Endgame (April 2019). They wear the same tee-shirts, have the same bedraggled hair, and eat the same lunch. Holland Hanton (aged 34) actually gets to eat a little more lunch (one of his perks), because he is lightly built. This may be what gives him his gymnastic edge.
He has suffered severe injuries in his career: “I’ve snapped my groin, I’ve busted my back. You do take a spank.” —I think he means, “You cop a beating.” He does not tell the press how much he sells his health for, but it would be a lot.
Stand-ins and photo-doubles who belong to SAG-AFTRA (the performers’ union), earn $200 for an 8-hour day day.
Stunt-workers who are unionized earn an average of $980 per day, or $3655 per week. The film before Endgame—Avengers: Infinity War—grossed more than $2 billion world-wide: let us hope Holland Hanton was able to negotiate his salary as a percentage of profits as well. But Marvel probably said no. Here are hunky Chris Hemsworth (on the right)and equally hunky Bobby Holland Hanton, his stunt-double on Avengers: Endgame (April 2019). They wear the same tee-shirts, have the same bedraggled hair, and eat the same lunch. Holland Hanton (aged 34) actually gets to eat a little more lunch (one of his perks), because he is lightly built. This may be what gives him his gymnastic edge.
He has suffered severe injuries in his career: “I’ve snapped my groin, I’ve busted my back. You do take a spank.” —I think he means, “You cop a beating.” He does not tell the press how much he sells his health for, but it would be a lot.
Stand-ins and photo-doubles who belong to SAG-AFTRA (the performers’ union), earn $200 for an 8-hour day day.
Stunt-workers who are unionized earn an average of $980 per day, or $3655 per week. The film before Endgame—Avengers: Infinity War—grossed more than $2 billion world-wide: let us hope Holland Hanton was able to negotiate his salary as a percentage of profits as well. But Marvel probably said no.

It has got to be the accusation against legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. A woman alleged he had sexually abused her when she was just a teenager and Dylan in his early twenties. She gave a time and location for when the assault took place, and people got mighty worked up over the whole thing People were preparing their pitchforks, media got their panties in a bunch, surely some tabloids were smelling blood! Can we still listen to his songs, do we need to petition radio stations to stop playing them? You know, the usual questions one needs to confront when a legendary icon falls out of favor with the world. Do we cancel the man, do we cancel the art of the man, how can we best erase his entire existence from the face of the earth? I was a bit scared for a moment. Like, legit ‘heart jumping up in my chest’ levels of scared, because to see Bob Dylan getting accused of something so heinous is rough. He’s a man I admire. The injustice of it also struck me… why on earth is there anyone alive today who would ‘cancel’ Dylan, in a world that has failed to cancel the likes of Andy Dick? Then, finally, words of relief came! Wisely and in typical Bob Dylan fashion, he did not immediately reply. He likes to leave people guessing a bit; like when he won a Nobel Prize for literature and sort of just… ignored the whole thing, for a while. When he did decide to finally dignify the accusation with a response? The whole story instantly died… because at the time of the supposed assault, Bob Dylan was not in the same country as the alleged victim, who claims the indecent attack happened in her parental home in America. Bob Dylan had been in England, the girl in America. He was filming a documentary, for which he was being filmed pretty much 24/7. Rock solid alibi. Bob Dylan was lucky enough to avoid cancellation, or worse. And the world is a better place for it.

Never been much of a Star Wars fan myself, but Mark Hamill is by almost all acounts a super wholesome dude. Notice I said almost, not all. Because there are two people who may have… a different opinion of ol’ mister Skywalker. In October 2016, a lady by the name of Maegan Chan gave birth to a little girl. That little girl was Mark Hamill’s first — and so far, only — grandchild. The father of the child is Hamill’s eldest son, Nathan. Nathan didn’t plan to have a child with Maegan, so he asked her to abort. She didn’t want to… so he began to pressure her. Told his family about the situation. Then, Mark Hamill himself pressured the woman to abort the child, too: “Mark Hamill told me that I shouldn’t bring a child into the world that nobody wants,” she told a journalist. In October 2016, a lady by the name of Maegan Chan gave birth to a little girl. That little girl was Mark Hamill’s first — and so far, only — grandchild. The father of the child is Hamill’s eldest son, Nathan. Nathan didn’t plan to have a child with Maegan, so he asked her to abort. She didn’t want to… so he began to pressure her. Told his family about the situation. Then, Mark Hamill himself pressured the woman to abort the child, too: “Mark Hamill told me that I shouldn’t bring a child into the world that nobody wants,” she told a journalist. Chen added that when she first told Nathan that she was pregnant, he immediately urged her to get an abortion. Chen said she took two pills to end the pregnancy, but they didn’t work. After that, Nathan said their relationship would be over if she didn’t get an abortion — and told her “my family thinks you are a golddigger”. Maegan Chan said she then met his parents, Mark Hamill and his wife Marilou York, in London. The actor then told her that his son “is not ready to be a father”. His son who was a financially independent, 37(!) year old grown man, might I add. Mark Hamill went ahead and set up an appointment with a specialist in the city to consult on an abortion, but did so under the guise of “a medical checkup”. Chen said that she had been expecting to get an ultrasound and when she realized it was for an abortion, she refused… Maegan Chen broke up with Nathan Hamill, being very creeped out by the way her ex-boyfriend and his father had pressured her to abort her child. She now raises Mark Hamill’s only grandchild as a single mother, with no support from the father and no visits from anyone in the family. Mark Hamill, until this day, has no relationship with his grandchild.

the greatest example of an actor only being in a movie for the money is Michael Caine, one of the best and most prolific actors in the last 40 years, has never turned down a role for quality reasons. He’s been in some great, award-winning movies, and he’s been in some real stinkers. In fact, here’s the story that illustrates how far apart in quality some of his movies are: in 1986 Michael Caine starred in Hannah and Her Sisters, a comedy-drama that starred some other Hollywood heavyweights: Woody Allen, Barbara Hershey, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher.  It was very well-received by critics, and Caine was nominated for an Academy Award. When the award was announced in March 1987, Caine wasn’t in the audience and couldn’t accept the award in person. It’s the REASON he wasn’t there that makes this so hilarious. He was on set re-filming the ending to another movie: Jaws 4: The Revenge This movie was so bad that Rotten Tomatoes gives it a zero. So bad that one reviewer said, “As you’d expect from a third sequel, 'Jaws: The Revenge' is so slapdash in conception and butterfingered in consummation, it almost makes the viewer question the entire series.” So bad that Michael Caine himself claims that he has never bothered to watch it. This is what Caine has to say about that: “Somebody said, 'Have you ever seen Jaws 4?' I said, 'No. But I've seen the house it bought for my mum. It's fantastic!’”

When he was born in 1947, Arnold Schwarzenegger did not have the easiest start in life. His father had been a Nazi soldier. His mother had been war widow, her first husband, another Nazi, killed in the battlefield, Schwarzenegger senior her second husband. There was quite a bit of stigma attached to Arnold’s father’s former profession, needless to say. He wasn’t an only child, either — Arnold had an older brother named Meinhard. And while Arnold was considered homely looking and not-too-bright, his brother was the handsome, movie-star looking firstborn. His parents doted upon Meinhard. The favorite. The golden child. They were very strict, however, to Arnold. His father wasn’t an easy or a pleasant man at all. In may 1971, when Arnold was only 23 years old, his brother got in a car crash. He died at the scene, 24 years old. He left behind an wife and an infant son, named Patrick Not burdened by hard feelings, Arnold took care of his nephew, paying for his education and caring for his brother’s widow as best he could. He tried to be the best uncle and father-figure he could. Later, when Arnold had his first son, he named his Patrick as well, in a hommage to both his brother and his nephew. The two men remain close to this day. Arnold Schwarzenegger overcame a difficult childhood, a quiet mother and an aggressive father. He overcame struggles and hardship and took great responsibility upon himself at an early age to care for his brother’s family, where another man might have passed the opportunity out of a grudge to the ‘favorite child’ who got all the attention… Honestly, the more I hear about the life of Arnold Schwarzenegger the more impressive the man becomes. He really is larger-than-life, and he’s entirely self-made, mind, body and soul.

some people think that celebrities who became famous young often act entitled or out of touch Because they have no childhood, and no time to form their personalities. A lot of celebrities who became famous as children grow up immature, and without impulse control. They don’t know the word “no” and get whatever they want. They’re also worked to the bone, and frequently taken advantage of in a variety of awful ways. Just compare Justin Bieber as a kid to Justin Bieber at 31 — a drugged up, tatted, pale and unhealthy shadow of a man. man.  They’re out of touch, because they’ve been touched. They’re entitled because they were given the keys to the castle… in exchange for their souls. They were diddled by the Diddy’s of this world, the Weinstein’s, the Cosby’s and the thousands of lesser-known producers and agents that would only grant them fame if they were willing to give up their innocense. After they achieve fame, they’re already broken. And paparazzi keep chasing them, scolding the young celebrity for his wild ways and his outrageous behavior, which then causes more such behavior, out of defiance and as a coping mechanism… It’s a toxic and sad cycle that continues to repeat itself. And it isn’t new, either — The Godfather (novel and film) has a scene implying the Hollywood producer Jack Woltz takes advantage of a young actress. I try to give grace to celebrities who broke through young; their early breakthrough came at a heavy price, one the media always ignores while chastising them for their lack of self-control.

Freddie Mercury was so ill when the band recorded the song "The Show Must Go On" in 1990 that Brian May had concerns about whether he was physically capable of singing it. Recalling Freddie's performance, Brian says, "The melody called for some very demanding top notes, and I'd only been able to demo them in falsetto. I said to Freddie, 'I don't want you to strain yourself—this stuff isn't going to be easy in full voice, even for you!' "Freddie told me, 'Don't worry—I'll fucking nail it, darling!' "I said, 'Fred, I don't know if this is going to be possible to sing.' And he went, 'I'll fucking do it, darling,' vodka down, and went in and killed it, completely lacerated that vocal. "Freddie propped himself up against the mixing desk and... delivered one of the most extraordinary performances of his life. In the final mix of 'The Show Must Go On,' when you get to 'On with the show,' you are listening to a man who conquered everything to deliver his finest work."

Dwayne Johnson wasn’t hated before, in fact he was universally well-liked across the political, religious or racial spectrum. On his political leanings, there was only speculation… some speculated The Rock was quiet because he was a “closeted Republican” which might have hurt his career. Others said he simply wasn’t into politics at all. But all that changed in October 2020, when he uploaded an Instagram video of himself endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden… Now the sad thing about America is, that there is a very strong partisan divide, where a person is either “with us or against us”. In or out. Black or white. To a lot of Trump supporters, if you’re left-leaning in any way, you’re a communist baby-killer and to a lot of Democrats, if you’re right-leaning you’re instantly branded some sort of Fascist and surely, you are the next Hitler. Both sides seem to dislike centrists rather strongly as “spineless cretins scared of making a choice”. Well, The Rock made his choice. And he got a LOT of hate for it. Now all he did, really, was exercise his right to vote, and his right of freedom of speech. Like any citizen, we can all speak out. It doesn’t matter if you’re Dwayne Johnson, J.K. Rowling or Kanye West. It doesn’t matter if you’re left, right or center… famous and rich, or a janitor. He has as much right as anyone to speak his mind. I’ve always felt that, as the son of a Black Nova Scotian father and a Hawaiian-born Samoan mother, The Rock was in a sense torn between two worlds, two cultures, two ethnicities. He was neither this, nor that. And in movies he was often cast as ethnically ambiguous. A lot of his success, he owed not only to his enigmatic screen presence, but to the fact that it was so hard to pinpoint him as ‘one thing’. He was a lot of things… and the things he felt, and thought about, he often kept private. He did speak up, about mental illness for example and his struggle with depression. But primarily, he kept his true feelings to himself. It was all about his work ethic and promoting hard work, no pain, no gain — the Schwarzenegger doctrine. The Rock is half Pacific Islander. Half-black. Aware of who he is, eloquent, but private. He seems… thoughtful. Like a person who understands nuance, and sadly, he lives in a nation that does not appreciate nuance very much. Which is why endorsing Joe Biden made people hate The Rock… for all his hard work, he’s now just another baby-killing socialist to millions of the president’s fiercest supporters.

Louise Tracy, wife of Hollywood legend Spencer Tracy, deserves our full respect and more should be known about her. She changed a part of the world for the better and won awards which, I think, were more important than the Oscars of her husband. Also an actress, she married Spencer in 1923 when she was the bigger marquee name. Their first child, John, was born 9 moths later and he was to change her life. When he was about 10 months old and she was with him there was a sudden loud noise as a door banged shut and everyone jumped. Except John, who noticed nothing. Realising something was wrong she brought him to a doctor where she was given the devastating news that he was nerve deaf. From then on the lives of the two parents diverged. Over the years Spencer became a huge star while Louise devoted herself to raising her family. She had been advised to send John to a special school but she fought against this. She had met a deaf woman who was so proficient in lip reading that it was impossible to tell that she was deaf. She was determined to teach her son this gift, and to teach him to talk and to lead a normal life. While Spencer’s star was rising his home life was deteriorating. He was having affairs and his drinking was often out of control. Louise continued to work with John, reading and singing to him every day till, at 3 years old, he said his first word, Mama! In 1932 the couple welcomed another child, Susan.  A happy family? All holding hands except Spencer. Louise went all over the United States learning all she could, talking to everyone she could, of John’s affliction. And learning all the time. She gave speeches all over the country raising awareness of what could be done to help these children. She was asked to open a special school which was done. It started only with teaching parents on how to deal with their children. Then children were enrolled. Louise insisted that it be free. Monies were raised, Spencer, rich by this time donated a small fortune. Well, it was the least he could do while his philandering continued.  The marriage ended in 1967 only when Spencer died. By then the school, now a clinic, was renowned all over the United States while Louise became famous all over the world for her work. She received many honours including the Hearing Advancement Award from the Hearing Foundation, in 1951, and the Woman of the Year award from La Sertoma International in 1953 and she was granted honorary degrees from numerous academic institutions such as the University of Southern California, Lake Erie College, and MacMurray College. She received the 1974 Award of Honour Otolaryngology and in 1977 she was awarded the Humanitarian Award by the National Auxiliary of AMVETS. Finally, after a long illness, she died on November 13, 1983, aged 87 years. The John Tracy Clinic is still active to this day. It is still a private, non profit centre which receives no tax-based funding. Its services are provided free of charge through gifts from individuals, private foundations, and corporations.

Clara Bow was the #1 female star in the country, making 57 feature films in ten years. She romanced Gary Cooper and helped boost his career by getting him into the first “Best Picture” Oscar-winner Wings, then quickly moved on. In rapid succession, she got engaged to actor Gilbert Roland, then to director Victor Fleming, but no marriages transpired. She made the transition to talking pictures easily, starring in eleven sound films, staying as popular in the thirties as she had been in the twenties. Offered the lead role in Red-Headed Woman by M-G-M producer Irving Thalberg, (RHW was the feature that made Jean Harlow a star), she turned the invitation down because the requirement of signing a long-term contract was attached. She then departed Hollywood for a ranching life in Nevada with her new husband, cowboy star Rex Bell. She was all of 28, and never made another motion picture.

Few celebrities are as secretive as Shawshank Redemption lead Tim Robbins. It’s no secret that he was previously married to actress Susan Sarandon, the mother of his two sons. But he never shared to anyone the fact that in 2017, he tied the knot with a gorgeous Romanian lady by the name of Gratiela Brancusi. He never advertised the fact that he got remarried, no big reception, no fanfare, no press. Just a small, intimate ceremony no one outside the family ever knew about, or talked about. The marriage didn’t last, however, and in July 2020 the couple filed for divorce. These divorce papers ended up getting published, which is how the general public found out about Robbins’ marriage… only after this marriage had already ended. I say that’s pretty damn secretive. And pretty damn impressive, too. Always admired people who keep to themselves, but hiding a whole entire wedding and wife for years, in 2010s Hollywood no less? That’s another level. Oh and then there’s another story I heard recently… actress Cicely Tyson died on January 28, 2021. She was 96 years old. She had a daughter at the young age of seventeen, and she kept her daughter out of the limelight, successfully, for almost eight decades(!) until she revealed she was a mother in a memoir published mere days before her death… Tyson dedicated her memoirs to her daughter, the one she “did it all for but who also paid the heaviest price for my success” — she admitted not always having been the best mother to the girl, called Joan. And, girl, I should say lady. Because Joan herself is a 79-year-old grandmother as I write this answer. Hiding a marriage and divorce for three years like Robbins did? Wild. Hiding an entire daughter for your entire life, possibly to protect her from being bothered by your fame? That’s almost like a lifetime movie in itself. You have private people, Tim Robbins, and then you have Cicely Tyson… the Queen of Privacy!

On August 17, 2020, two fathers, Rob Christensen and Patrick Stevens, decided to take their children, Maya, Fisher, and Abigail, on a fishing trip. This was a last hurrah before the start of the school year. They went fishing about 30 miles offshore of the Middle Keys. Their target was swordfish, but they didn’t catch any. Instead, they caught some mahi, some tilefish, and unexpectedly, a duffel bag filled with 10 to 15 bundles of marijuana. This unusual find is often referred to as a “square grouper.” The term “square grouper” is a colloquialism for bales of marijuana, which were often found floating or washed up in the Florida Keys from the drug trade of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Being law-abiding citizens (one of them is a lawyer), they immediately contacted the Coast Guard to retrieve the bag intact. Despite the unusual nature of their catch, the children remained blissfully innocent. One of the little girls even mispronounced the find as “Moana,” like the Disney movie.

In 1976, Sam Elliott was a struggling actor with a thick mustache, a deep voice, and a dream that refused to die. He drove to Carson City, Nevada, not for a job, but for the chance to meet the man he had admired since childhood: John Wayne, who was filming The Shootist, his final movie. Elliott had spent years taking small roles, working construction to pay for acting lessons, and hearing criticism about the very voice that would one day make him unforgettable. He brought Wayne a collection of watercolor prints featuring portraits of director John Ford’s favorite actors and asked for a moment of his time. Wayne agreed, signed the prints, and spoke briefly with the aspiring actor. Elliott later recalled that Wayne didn't know him from Adam but understood he was trying to make it in Hollywood. For the young actor, those few minutes were more than a meeting with a legend. They were a glimpse of the kind of man and performer he hoped to become. What Elliott witnessed through Wayne’s final film left a lasting impression. In The Shootist, Wayne played an aging gunfighter confronting his own mortality, a character who refuses to abandon his principles even when facing the end. Despite his legendary status, Wayne approached the work with discipline, preparation, and an unwavering commitment to the integrity of his character. He refused to let his gunfighter shoot a man in the back, preserving a moral code he had maintained throughout his career. Elliott saw that greatness wasn't simply about fame, a commanding presence, or the ability to dominate a screen. It was about showing up, respecting the craft, and refusing to compromise what mattered. He carried that lesson with him as he continued working, slowly building a career through films like Mask, Road House, Tombstone, and The Big Lebowski. The voice an agent once told him to fix became one of Hollywood's most recognizable, proving that sometimes what makes you different is precisely what makes you extraordinary. Decades later, Elliott reached new heights, earning his first Academy Award nomination at 74 for A Star Is Born and captivating a new generation with 1883. The young man who once stood nervously before John Wayne had become a symbol of the very qualities he admired: strength without cruelty, toughness without arrogance, and tenderness beneath a weathered exterior. Wayne died in 1979, but the standard he represented lived on through performers like Elliott, who understood that a legacy isn't inherited simply by meeting a legend. It's earned through years of patient work, personal integrity, and the courage to remain true to yourself. Real strength doesn't need to be loud, and genuine toughness doesn't require the absence of tenderness. Sometimes, the most powerful thing a man can do is carry himself with dignity, honor his craft, and let his character speak louder than his reputation