# Anyone else famous for being the subject of a biography? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277 "2011-08-11T00:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/1 "2011-08-11T00:47:04Z")
Robert Moses was an important figure in New York politics in the middle of the twentieth century. But he died in 1981 and most likely would be forgotten today except for one thing - in 1974, Robert Caro published a biography of Moses titled _The Power Broker_. The book won a Pulitzer and was so well-written that people are still reading it even though most readers do not otherwise care about Moses. The biography has become more famous than its subject. Can anyone think of any other examples of somebody who is mostly remembered because of a biography that was written about them? I’ll discount autobiographies and cases where a writer intentionally chose to write about an unknown figure. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/2 "2011-08-11T01:04:02Z")
If you lived in New York City or on Long Island, you knew who Moses was long before the bio. Especially if you lived in the path of the Cross Bronx or Brooklyn-Queens Expressways. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/3 "2011-08-11T01:07:40Z")
Henrietta Lacks ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/4 "2011-08-11T02:17:58Z")
Jesus Christ? He went from a only locally known wandering preacher and miracle-worker (1) to the most famous child of man in the world due to his biographies known as the gospels. (1)It’s debateable, but using magician or illusionist would be trolling. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/5 "2011-08-11T02:22:30Z")
Anne Frank? Well, (auto)biography/diary. ETA: didn’t see discount autobiographies. My bad! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/6 "2011-08-11T02:29:09Z")
Not a complete biography, but Joseph Chamberlain was a fairly obscure Civil War commander until Shelby Foote wrote his Civil War history (and Ken Burns made the TV Series). Nathan Bedford Forrest was pretty much forgotten until Foote came along, too. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/7 "2011-08-11T02:34:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not a complete biography, but Joseph Chamberlain was a fairly obscure Civil War commander until Shelby Foote wrote his Civil War history (and Ken Burns made the TV Series). Nathan Bedford Forrest was pretty much forgotten until Foote came along, too. I don’t know about Forrest but I’ll grant you I had never heard of Chamberlain before reading a biography about him. But it was Michael Shaara’s _The Killer Angels_ that I read not Foote. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/8 "2011-08-11T02:36:40Z")
I suspect Samuel Johnson would be a lot less famous without Boswell’s biography. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/9 "2011-08-11T02:40:12Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Henrietta Lacks I’d regard Lacks as an example of what I meant when I mentioned a writer intentionally choosing to write about an unknown figure. Rebecca Skloot was trying to gain public recognition for Lacks. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/10 "2011-08-11T02:46:09Z")
Would Alice Toklas count? Although it was a biography pretending to be an autobiography that really ended up being an autobiography of someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/11 "2011-08-11T02:46:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’d regard Lacks as an example of what I meant when I mentioned a writer intentionally choosing to write about an unknown figure. Rebecca Skloot was trying to gain public recognition for Lacks. There was a spate of articles and documentaries about Lacks in the mid to late 90’s, and I remember her story being mentioned in my HS biology text book in 2000, so I don’t think she was really that unknown, though there’s certainly been a boost in interest due to Skloots recent biography. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/12 "2011-08-11T10:35:27Z")
Chris McCandless in Into The Wild ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/13 "2011-08-11T11:11:45Z")
Not quite in line with the OP, but what about\*\* Neal Cassady \*\*as a character captured by the Beat writers? Would we know about him if he wasn’t Dean Moriarty in On the Road? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/14 "2011-08-11T12:26:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Not quite in line with the OP, but what about\*\* Neal Cassady \*\*as a character captured by the Beat writers? Would we know about him if he wasn’t Dean Moriarty in On the Road? And the bus driver in the road trip immortalized in _Electric Koolaid Acid Test_. (I’ll admit, I want to see the new documentary.) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/15 "2011-08-11T12:28:38Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Jesus Christ? He went from a only locally known wandering preacher and miracle-worker (1) to the most famous child of man in the world due to his biographies known as the gospels. > > (1)It’s debateable, but using magician or illusionist would be trolling. **Namkcalb** , we prefer that people not make slams against religion in the guise of participating in Cafe Society threads. Thanks, **twickster** , Cafe Society moderators ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/16 "2011-08-11T12:30:15Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > And the bus driver in the road trip immortalized in _Electric Koolaid Acid Test_. (I’ll admit, I want to see the new documentary.) Yes, Neal the hammer-tosser. Thought about mentioning that, but then decided that since Kool-Aid would likely not have happened without On the Road first, I backed off. But yeah, that is a huge part of his myth. I can’t remember which Ginsburg works refer to Cassady, but know they exist - other stuff by Kerouac, too… Neal was quite the…muse. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/17 "2011-08-11T14:13:09Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > If you lived in New York City or on Long Island, you knew who Moses was long before the bio. Especially if you lived in the path of the Cross Bronx or Brooklyn-Queens Expressways. I’ll second this. Moses has his name on several City projects, including both the 1939 and the 1964-5 World’s Fairs. I think he’d be pretty well known even without the biography. I certainly knew about him before that. And I didn’t even live in the City. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/18 "2011-08-11T14:18:57Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Not a complete biography, but Joseph Chamberlain was a fairly obscure Civil War commander until Shelby Foote wrote his Civil War history (and Ken Burns made the TV Series). Nathan Bedford Forrest was pretty much forgotten until Foote came along, too. Joshua. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/19 "2011-08-11T14:59:44Z")
How famous would John Nash be without **A Beautiful Mind** or Chuck Yeager with **The Right Stuff**? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277/20 "2011-08-11T15:29:20Z")
Good thread idea. How about the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was the subject of a biography about twenty years ago (“The Man Who Knew Infinity”)? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-famous-for-being-the-subject-of-a-biography/592277.md?page=2)