Matt Groening- creator of The Simpsons and Futurama

American cartoonist, script writer, screen writer, producer, animator, voice actor, author, musician and comedian

NET WORTH : $500 million

CAREER

Groening’s first peek into the world of professional cartooning began with the cartoon sale of his comic Life in Hell to Wet magazine in 1978. The cartoon’s popularity peaked and soon it was being carried in over 250 weekly newspapers in the USA. The main focal point of Groening’s Life in Hell comic was anthropomorphic rabbits and a gay couple. Using these, characters, Groening took the liberty of exploring a wide range of topics including love, sex, life, work and death. The comics have dark streaks of expressions of angst, gloom, loathing, and fear of inevitable doom.

It caught the attention of James. L. Brooks who contacted Groening with a proposition- one that would involve him working in animation for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman show. Though his initial idea was to adapt the characters from his Life in Hell comic strip, he changed his mind and came up with an idea of a cartoon family.

The Tracey Ullman show

The Tracey Ullman show was an American variety television show that was hosted by the British comedian and pop singer- Tracey Ullman. The show premiered on April 5, 1987 as the Fox network’s second prime time series after Married… with children. The show had a glorious run till May 26, 1990. The show was produced by Gracie Films and 20^th century Fox for television. The show was famous for blending some of its sketch comedy shots along with various musical numbers; featuring choreography by Paula Abdul, American singer, choreographer, songwriter, dancer, actress and television personality.

Yes folks, you guessed it. This cartoon family was none other than The Simpsons. The Simpsons were originally part of the Tracey Ullman show when they debuted. Three seasons of this later, owing to the popularity of the cartoon family, Fox started broadcasting The Simpsons as a show of its own. Groening named The Simpsons family members after his own and the name of Bart Simpson alone was said to be an anagram of the word Brat-befitting to the role and character of Bart Simpson on the show. The show is said to be set in Springfield, a fictitious American town; with Homer, a safety inspector at Springfield nuclear plant being the head of the household. He’s married to Marge Simpson; the stereotypical all American housewife. They have three children; 10 year old Bart who is a typical rebellious troublemaker, Lisa, a 10 year old activist, and Maggie- a baby who barely speaks at all, but communicates effectively by sucking on her pacifier. The family owns two pets- a greyhound dog named Santa’s little helper and a Cat named Snowball. The highly successful satirical show on American lifestyle debuted on December 17,1989 and since then, 541 episodes have been aired.

J.K. Rowling as seen on The Simpsons

Lady Gaga on The Simpsons

Stephen Hawking on an episode of The Simpsons

The entire cast and crew of Sherlock on The Simpsons

Another unique aspect of The Simpsons is that it is probably the only cartoon based TV show to actually incorporate real celebrities into their sketched, cartoon world. Some examples of celebrities who have starred in The Simpsons include J.K. Rowling, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Martin, Lisa Kudrow, Neil Patrick Harris, Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor, Dustin Hoffman, The Who, Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays Sherlock Holmes on the popular television series Sherlock) and even The Beatles! The Simpsons became so wildly popular that the makers decided to come out with a Simpsons Movie in 2007. The film was directed by David Silverman and Groening’s idea was eventually developed into a full blown movie plot.

Futurama- created by Matt Groening

In the year 1999, Matt Groening and David. X. Cohen came up with an idea for yet another animated series. The series was called Futurama and it spoke about life in the year 3000. Fry, a pizza delivery boy accidentally becomes cryogenically frozen and finally thaws in the year 3000, where he finds himself in New New York city. Fry finds that he has ended up at Pizza Express, a small intergalactic package delivery company that is run by his distantly descended nephew. Again, he is hired as a delivery boy. The series explores the life and adventures of Fry and his friends as they travel through the universe, making deliveries on behalf of Pizza Express.

The series became wildly successful and aired between March 28 1999 to August 20, 2003. When Comedy Central entered into an agreement with 20^th century Fox, Comedy Central commissioned 16 new episodes. Later, in June 2009, Comedy Central ordered a new season of Futurama, consisting of 26 new episodes that would be aired over two seasons.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

In 1990, Groening won the award for Outstanding animated program for an episode of The Simpsons titled Life in the fast lane. Groening went on to win awards for Outstanding Animated program for the Simpsons in the years 1991,1995, 197, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and 2008. In 2011 was when Futurama won an award for Outstanding animated show for its episode “The late Phillip. J. Fry.” The latest award Groening received was when The Teen choice award for animated series was won by The Simpsons.

PERSONAL LIFE

Matt Groening married Deborah Caplan in 1986 and they had two sons together; Homer and Abe. The couple got divorced in 1999 after 13 years of marriage. In 2011, Groening remarried an Argentinian artist named Augustina Picasso after a 4 year relationship and courting. This made him Picasso’s daughter’s stepfather. Currently, Matt is the brother-in-law of Hey Arnold! (a popular children’s cartoon show) creator, Craig Barlett who is married to Groening’s sister, Lisa.

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PROFESSION: Actress, Social Activist

This violet eyed beauty is still famous all over the world because of her beauty, acting and obviously, her very much glamorous lifestyle. She is one of the greatest actresses of the golden age of Hollywood. This sultry actress has starred in a lot of movies. Her career stretches over decades! Some of the many films in her bag include National Velvet, Father of the Bride, A Place in the Sun, Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer. and Butterfield 8.

CHILDHOOD

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in a northwestern suburb in London, in the year 1932, to the proud parents Francis Lenn Taylor and Sara Sothern. Her parents were both born in Kansas. Victor Cazalet was Elizabeth Taylor’s godfather. She started taking ballet classes at the tender age of three. The family shifted to LA, California as a result of the World War II. Her beautiful violet eyes and double eyelashes made her beauty really obvious.

CAREER

Shifting to LA was quite informative in the sense that now Taylor’s mother knew that in Hollywood, every pretty face was seen as a future movie star! A lot of people urged her to take Taylor for auditions as a child actor, but the mother was alien to the practicality of the idea. Universal Pictures was the first to sign Taylor for a seven year contract, that too without taking a single screen shot. Her first movie came out when she was only nine years old and it was titled “There’s One Born Every Minute.” This was also her only film for Universal Pictures. She was fired because of some unknown reason but people speculate that this was because she failed to impress anyone after her screenshot. After that, she signed a film for MGM because she felt that the people who worked over there was much nicer. That movie was titled Lassie Come Home. She did several other films in this phase like Jane Eyre, The White Cliffs of Dover and so on. When she was only 12, she did this amazing movie called National Velvet. The movie was a great success.

By the age of 16, Taylor was fed up of this life. She requested her parents to let her quit but her mother remarked her as being ungrateful. So, she continued. Following this, she made a lot of movies, some of which included Conspirator, which was not really a success but brought her a lot of critical appreciation. Some other movies include The Big Hangover, The Father of the Bride, Father’s Little Dividend, A Place in the Sun, Callaway Went Thataway, Love Is Better Than Ever, Ivanhoe, and The Girl Who Had Everything.

Taylor’s career was a really long one and she did a lot of movies. Her career spans from the year 1943 to 1994. After that, there were times when she appeared on the television in series like General Hospital, All My Children and These Old Broads. She relocated to Bel Air, Los Angeles, which was her home till the day she died. In 2007, Taylor appeared onstage only to raise $1 million for an AIDS foundation that had been laid down by Taylor herself.

PERSONAL LIFE

Taylor has been married eight times to seven husbands. When asked, she would say that her parents taught her to marry the man she fell in love with. Taylor’s husbands were Conrad “Nicky” Hilton, Michael Wilding, Mike Todd, Eddie Fisher, Richard Burtin, John Warner and Larry Fortensky. Apart from the marriages, she had many romantic relationships outside her marriages as well. Taylor had two lovely sons, Michael Howard, and Christopher Edward, with her then-husband Michael Wilding. She also bore a daughter, Elizabeth Frances “Liza”, with her then-husband Michael Todd. She became a grandmother when she was only 39 years old!

Taylor had a health problem. This started due to the many personal problems that she had to face. She had at least 20 operations in her entire life. She died in 2011, at the age of 79.

PASSION FOR JEWELRY

Taylor was in love with jewelry. When she died, the worth of her marvelous jewelry collection was announced to be around $15o million. The most famous among the items were two particular pieces. One, Krupp Diamond which was 33.19 carat diamond and other was Taylor-Burton Diamond which was 69.42 carat. She also was the proud owner of La Peregrina Pearl which was a 50 carat piece.

Apart from the jewelry, Taylor was known for her fashion style. She was a very active film star. All of her clothes emphasized on her chest and waist. Taylor’s eyes were always an inspiration.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Taylor, with a lot of movies in her entire career, managed to win the Academy Awards for Best Actress twice. She was known for her work related to fighting AIDS in the society and because of this, she was bestowed with the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Academy Award. Taylor’s name was inducted into the Hall of Fame, California, in the year 2007.

ASSETS

- Bel Air Mansion

- Art Collection. The combined money earned by the three paintings that she owned was around 9 billion pounds.

- Krupp Diamond

- La Peregrina Necklace

- Taylor-Burton Diamond

This legend will keep on living in the hearts of people all over the world. No picture can do her beauty enough justice. Taylor’s contribution to the world of cinema is invaluable. She was a beautiful lady, a brilliant actor, and was always wild at heart. She is sincerely missed.

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Once a famous sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe was an American model, Singer and Actress With an Estimated net worth of over $27 million.

Early life And Career

Born on June 1, 1926 in California, USA as Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn spent much of her childhood in foster homes. Monroe started her career at a very young age as a model which let to film contracts and eventually led to becoming the famous sex symbol of Hollywood of that time. Marilyn signed her first film career in 1946, with Twentieth Century- Fox. Her early film appearance were small but her performance in ” The Asphalt Jungle” and ” All About Eve” drew attention. Within 2 years after the release of the films she had her first leading role in 1952, ” Dont Bother to Knowck” and 1953 “Niagra” a film that dwelt her seductiveness. Her dumb blonde persona was used in many films such as ” How to Marry a Milllionaire”, ” The seven year Itch”, and ” Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. In 1956 she learned acting at the Actors Studio to broaden her range. The same year her performance in ” Bus Stop” was critically acclaimed and also got her her first Golden Globe Nomination. The Same year She opened a production company Marilyn Monroe productions and released ” The Prince and the showgirl”. For this performance she got nominated for BAFTA Awards and also won David di Donatello award. Throughout her career, Marilyn Monroe appeared in more than 20 movies, and the most famous ones were “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, “How to Marry a Millionaire”, “There’s No Business Like Show Business”, “River of No Return”, “Seven Year Itch”, “Bus Stop”, “The Prince and the Showgirl”, and “Some Like It Hot”.One of Marilyn Monroe’s most memorable performances took place in 1962. She sang the “Happy Birthday” song to President John F. Kennedy in a breathless and sensual way at the Madison Square Garden. This resulted in rumors that she was romantically linked to the president. A few months after the performance, she overdosed on pills and passed away.In 2009, she was named by TV Guide Network as #1 on its list of Film’s Sexiest Women of All Time. Furthermore, she was named by the American Film Institute as its sixth greatest film of all time.

Wealth

Marilyn Monroe Rendezvoused With Jack Kennedy in a $12 million mansion.They occupied the 10,000-square foot area , four bedroom main house, which touts 16 foot walls of glass curtains and a 50 foot swimming pool just outside.The estate also boasts a 1,000-square foot, one bedroom guest house with a small pool of its own.
In 2013 Marilyn Monroes vacation home sold for $14.8 Million.The 3.85 acre 15,000 square-foot waterfront estate located at the Lake Arrowhead’s “Hilltop” was built in 1927 and was formerly owned by late Music Corporation of America (MCA) co-founder Jules Stein. Several Hollywood icons have also frequented the vacation home such as Cary Grant and Rock Hudson.It has 10 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a conservatory and a study caretaker’s quarters, car-collector’s showroom, tennis court and dock house.
Marilyn was relatively poorly paid. Jane Russell was paid around 10 times as much as Marilyn when they co-starred in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Her salary for her final unfinished film, Something’s Got to Give, was $100,000. Compare that with Elizabeth Taylor, who was getting a million dollars for Cleopatra; or even Marilyn’s co-star in the film, Dean Martin, who was on $500,000. Today, her estate makes around $5 million a year.
she was Playboy’s first Sweetheart of the Month, in 1953. Marilyn had been paid $50 to model for the picture in 1949; Hugh Hefner bought it for $500.
Several of the burial vaults near to Marilyn’s have been put on sale. When Elsie Poncher, the widow of the man in the vault above Marilyn’s, put his space up for sale on eBay, she received dozens of bids, including one for more than $4 million.

Relationships

Monroe had three marriages, all of which ended in divorce. The first was to James Dougherty, the second to Joe DiMaggio, and lastly to Arthur Miller. It is claimed she was briefly married to writer Robert “Bob” Slatzer. She is alleged to have had affairs with both John and Robert Kennedy. Marlon Brando, in his autobiography Songs My Mother Taught Me, claimed that he had had a relationship with her, and that they remained friends until her death. She also suffered two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy during her three marriages.Monroe was in love with President Kennedy and wanted to marry him; she called the White House frequently in 1962; and that, when the married president ended their affair, Monroe became even more depressed, and turned to Robert Kennedy, who reportedly visited Monroe in Los Angeles the day that she died.

Death

Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood home by her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson after he was called by Monroe’s housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. The funeral arrangements for Monroe were made by her former husband, baseball player, Joe DiMaggio.Many questions remain unanswered regarding the circumstances and timeline of Monroe’s death after her body was found. Many elements of this timeline have often been brought into question. Most notable are the discrepancies in exactly what time Monroe either made or received her last phone call and at what time during the late night and early morning hours of August 4 and 5 her body was discovered.[4] It was also discovered that on August 3, Marilyn had filed a prescription for twenty-five Nembutal tablets which is a strong barbiturate which was prescribed to her for the purpose of inducing sleep on many of her sleepless nights prescribed to her by her personal physician, Dr. Engleburg. This pill bottle is found empty at the scene of death when the police arrived in the early hours of August 5.

Quote: I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I’m out of control, and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.
Marilyn Monroe

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