Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and was responsible for abolishing slavery in the United States through the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. He also held the dubious honour of being the first president to be assassinated.
This photo was taken by one of Lincoln’s best-known photographers, Alexander Gardner. Date: Nov. 8 1863. Photographer: Alexander Gardner.



Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock was a director responsible for practically inventing the thriller. Classics such as “Rear Window” and “Vertigo” used advanced cinematography techniques to shock and scare his audiences. This image was taken on the set of Psycho, widely considered to be the greatest horror movie of all time. Date: Jan 29, 1960. Photographer: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.



Audrey Hepburn

This press shot from Breakfast at Tiffany’s is probably the most famous photo of Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn was plucked from a ballet lineup to play the leading role in Gigi on Broadway in 1951. She became only the third actor to be paid $1 million for her role in My Fair Lady. Date: 1961. Photographer: John Kobal.



Bob Marley

Bob Marley and the Wailers are the best known performers of reggae music. Marley was also a key proponent of the Rastafarian movement, bringing it into popular culture. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Bruce Lee

Scenes involving Bruce Lee’s fists and legs actually had to be slowed down through the process of shooting the film at a higher framerate in order for audiences to be able to watch him fight in some of his movies. Lee was an icon of the Chinese martial arts, particularly Kung Fu and Wing Chun. Date: Unknown. Artist: Columbia Pictures.



Buddy Holly

A pioneer of rock and roll and an inspiration to the legends who came after him such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, Buddy Holly’s death was even turned into a hit song; “American Pie” by Don McLean. Date: 1950’s. Photographer: Associated Press.



Demi Moore

Demi Moore was the first actress to command a $10 million salary. She has been married to actor Bruce Willis and is currently married to Ashton Kutcher, who some of you may know as aplusk on Twitter. This Vanity Fair cover was pulled from some shelves and only sold off others in a brown paper bag. Moore intended to show an “anti-glitz” attitude in shooting the cover. Date: 1991. Photographer: Annie Leibovitz.



Freddie Mercury

Born Farrokh Bulsara, this icon fronted one of the great “supergroups” of the 1970’s, Queen. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Grace Kelly

Kelly was one of the most prolific actresses of her day. A favourite of Hitchock, she appeared in a few of his films including “To Catch a Thief” and “Rear Window”. She became Princess Grace upon her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco, and retired from professional acting after her marriage. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Loomis Dean.



Heath Ledger

Ledger was a film actor that died of a deadly combination of drugs prescribed by his doctors in 2008, shortly after completing his iconic role as The Joker in “The Dark Knight”. His works included 19 films, including many awards for some of his roles. This insightful painted portrait of Heath Ledger won the People’s Choice Archibald Prize for 2008. The artist and Ledger were friends for a number of years. Date: 2008. Artist: Vincent Fantauzzo.



Helen Keller

Helen Keller was not born blind and deaf; it was not until she was nineteen months old that she contracted an illness described by doctors as “an acute congestion of the stomach and the brain,” which could possibly have been scarlet fever or meningitis. The illness did not last for a particularly long time, but it left her deaf and blind. She was a prolific author and tireless advocate for humanitarian causes. Also the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor’s degree. This image depicts a young Helen Keller. Date: 1904. Photographer: Unknown.



Houdini

A Hungarian-American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer, as well as a skeptic and investigator of spiritualists. He became world-renowned for his stunts and feats of escapology even more than for his magical illusions. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson was in over 70 movies, including a number of comedies with Doris Day. He was one of the first celebrities to die from an AIDS-related illness. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Jack Nicholson

Nicholson is best known for portraying psychopathic characters in various movies throughout his career, including “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “The Shining”. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Arthur Schatz.



Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Jacqueline Kennedy was America’s best-loved first lady, wife of John F. Kennedy. After JFK’s death, she married shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis to the shock of the entire nation. While many photos were taken of Jacqueline Kennedy, this was her first official portrait as First Lady and the one most will remember. Date: 1961. Photographer: Mark Shaw.



Janis Joplin

An American singer, songwriter, and music arranger, from Port Arthur, Texas. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.



John F. Kennedy

The 35th President of the United States. JFK presided over the Cuban Missile Crisis and established NASA to put America on the moon. His assassination was controversial and untimely. Date: 1961. Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt.



John Lennon

The lead singer for the Beatles enjoyed a successful solo career after the Beatles disbanded before his untimely assassination. He campaigned for the end of the Vietnam War and for peace between the US and Russia during the Cold War. Date: Unknown. Photographer: Andy Warhol



Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was a screen actress who died under mysterious circumstances that were officially ruled as a suicide. Widely considered to be one of the most beautiful actresses ever, Monroe was married to a few husbands, including baseball player Joe DiMaggio, and is widely rumoured to have had an affair with JFK during his presidency.

This was a scene from the movie “The Seven Year Itch”. The location shot in front of the Trans-Lux theatre in New York City had to be redone in the studio due to excessive crowd noise, but it yielded this picture. Date: 1954. Photographer: Matty Zimmerman.



Martin Luther King

King was famous for his civil rights actions to bring about equality for African-Americans, including his famous “I Have a Dream” speech delivered at the March on Washington in 1963. Date: 1960. Photographer: Howard Sochure.



Michael Jordan

Jordan is known as one of the best defensive players in basketball. He helped to popularize the NBA through the 1980’s and 1990’s through his participation in various marketing campaigns both for the NBA and for various corporations. Date: 2006. Photographer: Joshua Massel.



Michelangelo

An Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival and fellow Italian Leonardo da Vinci. Date: 16th Century
Artist: Jacopo del Conte



Mick Jagger

A Golden Globe and Grammy Award winning English singer, songwriter and occasional actor, best known for his work as lead vocalist of The Rolling Stones. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was elected the first African President of South Africa in 1994, officially ending a long tradition of apartheid in South Africa. Mandela had been jailed for speaking out against apartheid until it was abolished in 1990. Date: 1994
Photographer: African National Congress.



Paul Newman

Before he put his name on salad dressing, Newman was an Academy Award-winning actor that appeared in dozens of movies. His food company, Newman’s Own, is famous for donating all of their profits to charity. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Robert De Niro

De Niro has been a critically acclaimed actor since the 1970’s, appearing in a wide range of movies. Known principally for his method acting. DeNiro has also tried his hand at directing successfully with such films as “The Good Shepherd”. Date: 2008. Photographer: Petr Novák, Wikipedia.



Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton is considered, amongst other things, to be one of the fathers of modern science. Universal gravitation and the three laws of motion are just two of his many theories. He also invented the first reflecting telescope. Date: 15th/16th Century. Artist: Sir Godfrey Kneller.



Sophia Loren

Loren’s career has spanned film, television, and even music. One of the most successful Italian actresses of all time. Date: 1986. Photographer: Anne Clifford.



Stanley Kubrick

Kubrick was one of the greatest directors of the 20th Century. A perfectionist when it came to lighting, sound, acting and all other aspects of his movies, his triumphs included movies on diverse subject matter such as “Spartacus”, “2001: A Space Odyssey”, and “A Clockwork Orange”. Date: Late 1940’s for LOOK Magazine. Photographer: Stanley Kubrick.



Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs founded Apple, left it to start NEXT, and returned to catapult Apple into superstardom with the iMac, iBook, iPod and iPhone. Jobs will always be best remembered visually for making his historic announcements about the next Apple milestone at Macworld conferences. Date and photographer: Unknown.



Of course this is not the end of the list, will continue with a series of galleries.