It's come to my attention that the National Portrait Gallery will soon be debuting a "Coolest People of the 20th Century" exhibit. If you're like me, you're now wondering "how the heck do you define cool?"
My knee-jerk reaction was to instantly summon up mental images of Audrey Hepburn, Clark Gable and George Clooney. But then I started thinking a little more deeply - surely "cool" has to be more than savoir faire and a good wardrobe, yes? After much mental deliberation (seriously, I thought of almost nothing else the half mile drive to the nearest 7-11 to pick up a pint of Ben & Jerrys) I finally decided that what truly "cool people" have in common is that they are courageous enough to adopt lifestyle decisions that set them apart from what was "normal" at their time, with such confidence and courage that they actually shifted the definition of normal.
In keeping with this definition, I hereby nominate the following as belonging on MY list of coolest people of the 20th century. Have I missed anyone?
- Nikola Tesla
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- T.H. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia")
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Babe Ruth
- Al Capone
- Albert Einstein
- Ernest Hemingway
- Winston Churchill
- The Brat Pack
- The Beatles
- Orson Welles
- General George Patton
- Andy Warhol
- Pablo Picasso
- Frida Kahlo
- Mohammad Ali
- Mother Teresa
- Nelson Mandela
- Mohatama Gandhi
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Malcolm X
- Thurgood Marshall
- Truman Capote
- Little Richard
- George Carlin
- Maya Angelou
- Bob Fosse
- Madonna
- Steve Jobs
- Prince
- Johnny Depp
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