Awesome lives

[BigPoppa]

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While I would hardly call him "awesome," Hitler's transformation from wannabe artist to war vet to vagrant to living embodiment of Germany is pretty fascinating.

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Almost anyone who rises from humble beginnings to great power can fall under whatever category Hitler is in (Mao, Stalin, et al). Castro went from minor league basesball player to El Presidente, but also not "awesome".

[Rococo]

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McNamara had an interesting life, sure, but I wouldn't call it awesome.

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Right. McNamara was one of the most arrogant and abysmal U.S. public servants of the post-WW2 era.

Oscar Goodman (former mob lawyer and current Las Vegas mayor) has led an extremely interesting life.

[Rococo]

Although the Segway is incredibly dorky, I think that it would be extremely fun to be a wildly successul, modern day inventor like Dean Kamen.

Dean Kamen

[BigPoppa]

He's younger than me, but Jack Johnson has been doing great so far. Professional surfer who got hurt and became world famous musician instead.

[invisibleleadsoup]

the first person i thought of when i saw the thread title was orson welles.

when he was 16 he moved to dublin, and convinced the people at the gate,probably ireland's most respected theatre,that he was a well known (and much older) broadway actor.he bluffed his way into a several parts in their productions which were met with great acclaim.

when he moved back to america,he took over a theatre group in harlem and directed an all black version of macbeth in what was one of the most acclaimed perfomances of the play.

then he got into radio,which he was hugely successful in,even aside from the famous "war of the worlds" stunt.

then at the age of 23 he wrote,directed,produced and starred in citizen kane,to this day universally considered of the best films in the history of the art form.

he went on to become of the most popular film stars in history,as well as continuing to direct and broadcast.(my favourite movie opening of all time is "touch of evil",you can see it here on youtube,you need to skip the first minute or so which is the text that precedes the film on DVD.)
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=0nn1VO1HIPk

although his later works were far from commercial successes,he continued to be involved in a wide range of interesting projects in various mediums until his death.

i also think that his last film,"f for fake" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F_for_Fake ) is one of the most interesting and original films i have ever seen,and in it welles seemed to have invented a new genre,somewhere between documentary,essay and fiction,which sadly died with him.

on top of that he seems to have been one of the most interesting conversationalists in history.

check out this interview from parkinson,a british chat show:
http://www.dailymotion.com/Tomsutpen...interview-1974

i recently watched a much lenghtier interview he did with the bbc shortly before his death,its about two and a half hours long but is absolutely fascinating.

its all up on youtube,the first part is here

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Ni0c5-a5c.

oh,and he was married to rita hayworth.

[KotOD]

Fitzroy Maclean

His book, Eastern Approaches tells his story

He was in the British Diplomatic service out of university, posted to Paris, and transferred to the Soviet Union.
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"While in Moscow, MacLean ventured by train and by foot into often remote regions of the Soviet Union, which were off limits to foreigners, and was pursued by the NKVD as he did so."

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"When war broke out, Maclean was prevented from enlisting at first because of his position as a diplomat. He eventually managed to sign up in 1941 by running for the House of Commons, one of the few possible reasons for resigning the Diplomatic Corps. Only entering in order to quit the foreign service, he actually won election to Parliament as the Conservative MP from Lancaster and immediately joined the Cameron Highlanders as a private, but was quickly promoted to lieutenant."

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"In North Africa in 1942, he distinguished himself in the early actions of the newly formed SAS. Amongst his accomplishments was the famed kidnapping of the German Consul from Axis-controlled Iraq, an incident that soon led to Hitler's government to withdraw its support of the military junta in that country. Maclean was a brilliant practitioner in the T.E. Lawrence brand of fighting, and he reported directly to Churchill in Cairo. "

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"Dropped into Jugoslavia by parachute, Maclean meets up with Tito and his Partisans. Maclean spends the rest of the war fighting against the Germans with the Partisans, between trips to Italy and Cairo to meet up with superiors."

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"He served briefly as a junior Minister at the War Office from 1954 to 1957. In the 1959 general election he switched constituencies to Bute and North Ayrshire where he was re-elected until he retired at the February 1974 general election. In his last two years, he was appointed as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Western European Union."

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Cliffnotes: Junior diplomatic envoy in Paris and Moscow, surreptitiously sees the farthest reaches of the Soviet Empire while being pursued by the forerunner to the KGB; runs for parliament so he can quit the diplomatic service to enlist, wins a spot as an MP; enlists and ends up in the SAS; pulls off raids and kidnappings in Persian, fights Nazis in North Africa; learns to Parachute and drops into Yugoslavia to fight with Tito; retires as an MP.

[RUFFNECK]

Jacques Cousteau

He only had great adventure in one category, but as a ocean lover this guy was the king.

[Innocent Kitty]

Ben Franklin is my all-time hero. Gifted writer, scientist, inventor, politician, womanizer.

[KotOD]

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Ben Franklin is my all-time hero. Gifted writer, scientist, inventor, politician, womanizer.

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You forgot businessman.

[quirkasaurus]

Audie Murphy -- most decorated US soldier of WWII becomes Hollywood movie star.

Ronald Reagan -- Actor, Governor, President.

Jose Capablanca -- world chess champion, Cuban ambassador

One of my relatives had an awesome life:

Ezekiel Evans -- pioneer who literally built 2 cities in Nebraska.
during 2 major snowstorms in the late 1800's, his was the only
cattle herd to survive because of his barns and hay stores.

From his herd, then, the rest of the city owed their lives,
and their livelihood for years to come. Twice!

His son, Charlie Evans, was a gambler, successful hotel
owner, race horse entrepreneur, bootlegger and even a US Senator.