Hugh Hefner By Chris Colin
The 20th century's indefatigable swinger is still mixing martinis, cavorting with naked women, encouraging men to play indoors and reinventing himself.
(12/28/99)

Gary Larson By Susan McCarthy
He created a world entirely populated by the lumpy, the big-nosed, the bespectacled, the bug-eyed and the foofy-haired. Welcome to "The Far Side."
(12/21/99)

Nick Nolte By Steve Vineberg
An actor of extraordinary range and physical presence, he shines in roles where the tough-guy hero is strung up by the depth of his own feelings.
(12/14/99)

David Hare By Susan Emerling
By transforming the collision of people and ideas into provocative stories, Britain's hottest dramatist has reinvigorated the theater with plays that are not only compelling and enigmatic, but successful at the box office.
(12/07/99)

David Cronenberg By Steve Burgess
For more than three decades, his films have been taking you to the weirdest of worlds. Lucky for you, you can always walk out -- unless you're too terrified to move.
(11/30/99)

Jim Clark By Larry Kanter
In Silicon Valley -- where newness is next to godliness -- the smart money still bets on capitalism's most successful conceptual artist.
(11/24/99)

Alice Waters By Leslie Crawford
America's high priestess of chow has shown a nation raised on meatloaf that fresh, nourishing food, organically grown and simply prepared, ranks right up there next to godliness.
(11/16/99)

Patti Smith By Greg Villepique
A punk icon in jeans and leather jacket, she added ecstasy and spiritual exaltation to the poet-songwriter equation.
(11/09/99)

Garry Trudeau By David Rubien
The most powerful voice for truth and justice in American journalism is the junkyard dog of editorial cartooning -- and the creator of "Doonesbury."
(11/02/99)

George Jones By Stephanie Zacharek
His voice weathered and mellowed, this country legend still sings about living -- and he's got plenty of it under his belt.
(10/26/99)

Emmylou Harris By Ernest McLeod
She may have given over her country crown, but she will always remain the diva of loss.
(10/21/99)

Francis Ford Coppola By Michael Sragow
At his best, his formidable creative energy has shaken up American movies and reinvigorated cinema both as art and popular culture.
(10/19/99)

Vin Scully By Gary Kaufman
For 50 years, Vin Scully has been the gold standard for radio announcers
(10/12/99)

Frank Gehry By Karen Templer
His titanium masterpiece in Bilbao, Spain, has put "the other Frank," architect of "the other Guggenheim" museum, on the map.
(10/05/99)

Elmore Leonard By Sean Elder
The world's coolest crime writer has an uncanny ear for wry dialogue and a deep belief in lives with second acts.
(09/28/99)

Elvis Costello By Bill Wyman
The king of the unforgiving is the rock star who never was.
(09/21/99)

Diana Rigg By Robin Dougherty
As an icon of cool in "The Avengers," she was a good girl who hit back. Three decades later, one of the world's most elegant actresses is still knockin' 'em dead.
(09/14/99)

William Eggleston By Stanley Booth
The man who reinvented color photography is famous for pictures that some banal, and others call extraordinary. He says his subjects are the very stuff of life.
(09/07/99)

Warren Buffett By Larry Kanter
The Oracle of Omaha -- the world's greatest stock market investor -- lives in a house he bought for $31,500, dines on burgers and quotes Mae West. He's worth $36 billion ... give or take a few mil.
(08/31/99)

Randy Newman By Sean Elder
For decades, he has pulled us in two directions at once by expressing sentiments we don't want to hear in songs we never tire of hearing.
(08/24/99)

Stan Lee By Frank Houston
The father of Spider-Man and the Silver Surfer invented the modern superhero, revived a dying industry and created a mythology.
(08/17/99)

Fred Rogers By Joyce Millman
For three decades, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" has been an oasis of peace and calm, familiarity and safety in a kid-unfriendly world.
(08/10/99)

Aretha Franklin By Al Young
A poet and novelist who knew the Queen of Soul as a teenager looks back at the forces and influences that shaped one of the world's greatest singers.
(08/03/99)

Marcel Marceau By Leslie Crawford
He remains the unquestioned master of the art that dare not speak its name. That's his strength and the art's weakness.
(07/27/99)

David Letterman By Ken Tucker
He's dumped the dulled weapon of irony and become the Leon Trotsky of Talk: The Last Late-Night Revolutionary.
(07/20/99)

Willie Mays By Joan Walsh
In the mid-'60s, whites weren't ready for the best baseball player to be black, and blacks weren't ready for him to be black like Mays.
(07/13/99)

Russell Simmons By Jeff Stark
The founder of Def Jam Records brought hip-hop culture into the American mainstream, and his empire is growing.
(07/06/99)

Arthur Mitchell By Nancy Hawley
Still going strong after 50 years of dancing, the founder of the Dance Theater of Harlem did for ballet what Jackie Robinson did for baseball.
(06/29/99)

Germaine Greer By Laura Miller
The impulsive, fatally naive diva of feminism made the world a better place in spite of herself.
(06/22/99)

Take this longing from my tongue By Sean Elder
With his songs of love and God and unspeakable yearning, Leonard Cohen occupies his own place in the musical cosmos.
(06/15/99)

Stealth on ice By Steve Burgess
Dubbed the Great One by his legion of fans, hockey phenom Wayne Gretzky wreaked havoc on the record books before hanging up his skates.
(06/08/99)

The midwife of modern midwifery By Katie Allison Granju
From her Tennessee commune, Ina May Gaskin almost single-handedly inspired the rebirth of midwifery in the United States.
(06/01/99)

The dazzling versatility of Michelle Pfeiffer By Charles Taylor
With roles as diverse as Catwoman and Madame de Tourvel, she has racked up one critically acclaimed performance after another.
(05/25/99)

The medieval mind of George Lucas By Jim Paul
Though he draws on our century's pop culture for his raw material, his vision arises from the Middle Ages.
(05/18/99)

Northern exposure By Steve Burgess
Farley Mowat may be a Canadian national treasure, but that hasn't stopped his critics from savaging his credibility.
(05/11/99)

She's all chat By Mary Elizabeth Williams
Oprah Winfrey spent 20 years becoming the most powerful woman in broadcasting. Then she told her viewers to turn off their televisions and pick up a book.
(05/04/99)

Mad humanist By Frank Houston
In Kurt Vonnegut's world, free will is an open question, life is poignant and pointless and kindness is appreciated above all else.
(04/27/99)

Wenner's world By David Weir
The evolution of Jann Wenner: How the ultimate '60s rock groupie built his fantasy into a media empire.
(04/20/99)

Happy birthday, Miss Welty By Kate Moses
America's greatest living short story writer turns 90.
(04/13/99)

The great Pretender By Joyce Millman
A walking contradiction of tough talk and tender gestures, Chrissie Hynde inspired a generation of female rockers and fans.
(04/06/99)

All-American diva By Jamie James
Equally at home with Mozart and Gershwin, Dawn Upshaw is a rarity among classical singers.
(03/30/99)

If she could talk to the animals By Douglas Cruickshank
Before Jane Goodall went to Africa, almost nothing was known about chimpanzees. Sitting alone in the wilds day in and day out, she won their trust -- and taught mankind about its closest relatives.
(03/23/99)

The madness of love By Sean Elder
Richard Thompson's songs reflect the dark passion of an unclassifiable musical genius.
(03/16/99)

Nature girl By David Bowman
For all her words about shrews and muskrats, at heart Annie Dillard's work is a record of her search for God.
(03/09/99)

Confidence man By Charles Taylor
From gorgeous smartass to dependable old pro, Paul Newman has always known the score.
(03/02/99)

The Baron of Bakersfield By Gary Kaufman
With his unmistakable honky-tonk sound and 15 No. 1 hits in a row, Buck Owens owned country music.
(02/23/99)

She's Martha and you're not By Mary Elizabeth Williams
Martha Stewart made home cooking and flea market scavenging chic. Then she took it to the extreme
(02/16/99)

A gift for effrontery By Ken Tucker
Brash, jazzy and passionately idiosyncratic, Pauline Kael set the standard for American movie criticism.
(02/09/99)

Mann among men By Michael Sragow
Always an unpredictable individualist, writer-director Michael Mann continues to bring his unique brand of macho melodrama to both the big and little screens
(02/02/99)

Citizen Nader By Karen Croft
Air bags. Clean air. The Freedom of Information Act. He has never had much of a personal life, but Ralph Nader has deeply affected American public life.
(01/26/99)

The bull in the black-intelligentsia china shop By Amy Alexander
He calls Toni Morrison a fraud, Afrocentrists "lost" and gangsta rappers "the scum of the earth." But actually, critic Stanley Crouch is a sweetheart.
(01/19/99)

American Amazon By Cynthia Joyce
For 20 years, Sigourney Weaver has defined the take-no-prisoners heroine.
(01/12/99)

Machine dreams By Scott Rosenberg
In an industry of clones, Steve Jobs put his smart, stylish, stubborn stamp on our computers.
(01/05/99)

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Brilliant Careers archives for: 1998