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30 Times Facts About Famous People from the Past Made Us Question Everything

Et tu, Brute?

30 Times Facts About Famous People from the Past Made Us Question Everything

September 21, 2023

Sometimes we learn something new that makes us question everything that came before. The stories of these 30 famous historical figures certainly made us question everything we thought we knew about them. Read on for true tales that completely rocked our worldview…

30

CRACKED.COM Otis Redding had his greatest hit after his death. Redding's song (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay reached the #1 spot in the Billboard charts in 1968. He never knew it, as he had just died in a plane crash — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

29

CRACKED.COM Modigliani's art wasn't understood during his lifetime. Amedeo Modigliani's art was too unconventional to be appreciated in the early 20th century. Today, one of his paintings or sculptures can be sold for over $100 million. — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

28

Eva Cassidy

Eva Cassidy was known only in Washington, D.C. when she died. A couple years after her death from cancer in 1996, Cassidy became a sensation in the U.K. when a radio host played her songs, leading to more widespread fame. CRACKED.COM — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

27

CRACKED.COM Jonathan Larson never got to see Rent on stage. Larson wrote and composed the musical Rent, which went on to win pretty much all the awards. Sadly, Larson died the day before its first preview performance. — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

26

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe became a legend thanks to a spiteful rival. Poe never made much money from his writing while living. But sales of his books skyrocketed after his death, WHEN his long- time enemy Rufus Griswold published a slanderous biography describing him as a drunken maniac. CRACKED.COM — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

25

Emily Dickinson published only ten poems while alive. Dickinson was very reclusive and ambivalent about publication. After she died, her sister Lavinia found her stash of 800 poems, and worked to get them published. CRACKED.COM — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

24

Franz Kafka wanted his work destroved. Kafka burned many of his writings, and asked his friend Max Brod to burn the rest after his death. Brod ignored this request, ,publishing everything to great acclaim instead. CRACKED.COM — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

23

Gregor Mendel's work was overlooked in his time. Mendel's experiments with peas were taken to be applicable only to peas, even by himself. Today he's considered the father of genetics. CRACKED.COM — Source: 25 Famous People Who Were Total Nobodies While They Were Alive

22

CRACKED.COM Recognize this cute 14 year old? Bet you do now. — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

21

Judi Dench

This actress' husky voice probably cost her a shot at being a Bond Girl. So naturally she went on to play... James Bond's boss 27 years later. This is Dame Judi Dench. CRACKED.COM — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

20

CRACKED.COM Don't be fooled by the rocks that she got. She's still, she's still Jenny from the block. — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

19

Pre Malone Post Malone Marie From OS pood CRACKED.COM — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

18

Yowza! Who is this pouty-lipped CRAOM heartthrob? One of our greatest modern movie villains CHRISTOPH WALTZ — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

17

CRACKED.COM Guess who this kid grew up to become? Henry Cavill, aka freaking Superman, — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

16

You've probably seen many pictures of Fidel Castro with a cigar. How many have you seen of him with a lollipop? CRACKED.COM — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

15

CRACKED Who is this 52 handsome football jock? Fascinating. — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

14

BEFORE HE BECAME THE ROCK, DWAYNE JOHNSON WAS JUST A PEBBLE COMPARED TO HIS DAD. CRACKED.COM — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

13

CRACKED.com I find it ironic how Sia is more incognito with her face in plain view. TISTS ATORS otify SONGWRITERS — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

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12

CRACKED.COM Engage. — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

11

This scrawny kid with glasses is... BERNARD ST. 34 the super sexy actor Joe Manganiello. CRACKED.COM — Source: 34 (Unrecognizable) Famous People

10

00/0000/000000 GLADYS BENTLEY 00/0000/000000 0000/0000000000 SHOEPES Gladys Bentley was a bawdy nightclub performer who unapologetically wore men's clothing, and was openly attracted to women... IN THE 1930s. A forgotten figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Bentley was a powerful singer and pianist who lived her life on her own terms, even when her lifestyle was illegal. CRACKED.COM — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

9

Deborah CRACKEDO Sampson COM son Enlisted in the Continental Army in 1782 during The Revolutionary War disguised as a man. In an effort to not be exposed as a woman, she removed shrapnel from her own leg after being shot in combat. Part of the musket ball was never recovered and she carried it in her leg for 45 years (until her death in 1827.) — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

8

Ruth Law CRACKED.co one of the very first woman pilots in the US. Mainly flying in an open air biplane, Law smashed long distance records, was a stunt pilot performing dangerous maneuvers and wing walks, four years prior to Amelia Earhart. She also once described wearing a seatbelt as a bit cowardly. — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

7

Diabetes

Eva Saxi, a diabetic, taught herself how to synthesize insulin from water buffaloes when legal insulin became unavailable in the Shanghai Ghetto where she was living during the WWII. She helped over 400 diabetic individuals, and became the first spokesperson for juvenile diabetes. CRACKED.COM — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

6

Trans computer scientist Lynn Conway is largely to thank for the device you're reading this on. Modern silicon chip design is mainly based on her ideas, and the textbook she co-wrote taught most of today's microchip designers. Plus, processors from the '90s onward were sped up with innovations she came up with in the '60s. And she achieved everything despite being fired by IBM in 1968, when she transitioned, and having to start her life over while hiding her past. CRACKED.COM — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

5

CRACKED.COM USA Track and field athete Wilma Rudolph had polio as an infant, required a leg brace until age nine, and was unable to walk properly until she was 12. Eight years later, she went on to win three Olympic gold medals in 1960, the first American woman to do sO. — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

4

Helen Gibson

Helen Gibson (1891-1977) was ONE BADASS WOMAN. Back when men would dress in drag to perform female stunts, Gibson became the first Hollywood stunt woman. One of her most harrowing stunts involved jumping a motorcycle onto a speeding train. CRACKED — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

3

Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach the summits of the tallest mountains ON EVERY CONTINENT. CRACKED.COM — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

2

Lucretia Mott was an outspoken abolitionist back in the 1800s. She actively participated in public speeches against slavery despite her exclusion from the American Anti-Slavery Society due to her gender. Instead of letting this stop her, she found another cause to fight for: women's civil rights. CRACKED.COM — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

1

CRACKEDo COM Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the first woman awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her work as a surgeon during the Civil War. She was also arrested for wearing men's clothing because she found women's garments too oppressive. — Source: 31 Amazing Women Who Deserve To Be Way More Famous

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