Ian McKellen
Ian McKellen won acclaim as a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theater Company in the 1960s and later as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. On film his best-known appearances have included the title role in Richard III (1995, with Annette Bening) and as Magneto in X-Men (2000, with Hugh Jackman). He won a 1981 Tony Award as Salieri in the Broadway production of Amadeus. He played Gandalf the wizard in director Peter Jackson's 2001-03 feature film trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Lord of the Rings. He landed another high-profile role in 2006, as the Holy Grail-obsessed historian Sir Leigh Teabing in the movie version of Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code.

Extra credit: He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1991 for his services to the arts... In 1988 McKellen announced publicly that he was gay, and he has since been an outspoken advocate for gay rights.

Both Sir Ian and Gandalf appear in our loop on The Lord of the Rings.

Willy Messerschmitt

Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer whose fighter plane, the Bf-109, was the pride of the Nazis during World War II. Messerschmitt built model ... more

Michelle Yeoh

Named Miss Malaysia in 1983, Michelle Yeoh went on to become one of Asia's top film stars. Known for action films -- and for performing many of her own stunts ... more

Amy Ryan

Amy Ryan had been on the New York stage for fifteen years when she "broke out" in films as the wretched mother from the 2007 thriller Gone Baby Gone. She began her professional career right ... more

Gene Kelly

Screen legend Gene Kelly is best known for dancing through movie musicals of the 1940s and '50s, especially An American in Paris (1951) and ... more

John Cage

John Cage is the 20th century conceptual artist who famously "composed" the piano piece titled 4' 33" (1952), which consists of the pianist(s) sitting at a piano and not playing for ... more