Who were among the earliest globally famous celebrities?

[astorian]

Maybe Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi belong on that list, too.

[A_Dodgy_Dude]

That rabble-rouser that got himself nailed to a cross a couple millenia ago seems to be known just about everywhere.

More recently, I’d say there are few places on this planet where you’d find someone who doesn’t recognize Elvis Presley.

[Sampiro]

@astorian

To be a “global” celebrity, I think you’d have to pass this test: if I went up to a random stranger in Paris, Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Mumbai, Chicago, or Lagos and did a bad imitation of you, or drew a bad caricature of you, would that stranger instantly know who I meant?

I don’t know about Lagos or Cairo, but people in Asia and Europe and the Americas and Australia would have recognized references to the Siamese Twins (who would have been easy to caricaturize). There were several books based on them as well, most famous being Mark Twain’s.

Florence Lawrence, a Canadian actress, is generally considered the first real movie star (as far as name and face recognition) but I’ve no idea how well known she was outside of North America.

Evelyn Nesbit was already famous for being what we’d today call a “supermodel” before everyone in the English speaking world and big inroads beyond knew of her by name and as “the girl on the red velvet swing” during her husband’s murder trial. (In 1906 a story that involved nudity, S&M, millionaires, and murder spread fast.)

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Benjamin Franklin was certainly visually recognizable. When he was in Paris a sizable industry sprang up putting his likeness onto hundreds of items that were wildly popular faddish collectibles. He was also well known in London. He wore a coonskin cap before Davy Crockett and probably institutionalized its popularity.

Good example. He also recognized George Washington’s popularity on both sides of the Atlantic, writing to him from Paris in 1780, “Here you would know, and enjoy, what prosperity will say of Washington. For a thousand leagues have nearly the same effect as a thousand years.”

[Sampiro]

@A_Dodgy_Dude

That rabble-rouser that got himself nailed to a cross a couple millenia ago seems to be known just about everywhere.

Spartacus? I don’t think he’s that famous outside of Italy and Kirk Douglas retrospectives these days.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@astorian

To be a truly global celebrity, one would have to have lived in the modern era. Before the 20th century, only a tiny percentage of the population had the opportunity to see or hear even the most famous actors and singers perform. That changed with the advent of movies and recorded music.

To be a “global” celebrity, I think you’d have to pass this test: if I went up to a random stranger in Paris, Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Mumbai, Chicago, or Lagos and did a bad imitation of you, or drew a bad caricature of you, would that stranger instantly know who I meant?

Using that test, among the few “global” stars I can think of are:

Charlie Chaplin
Humphrey Bogart
John Wayne
Elvis Presley
Pele
Muhammad Ali

While Pele is unquestionably a global celebrity, I doubt a random stranger in Chicago could pick him out of a lineup.

And I would add Michael Jackson, Jackie Chan and Dolly Parton to that list. Maybe WC Fields and Groucho Marx, too.

[PunditLisa]

Adam - everyone in the entire world knew him and even lusted after him.

[Polycarp]

Figures who were famous according to the Middle Ages included the Nine Worthies

Pagan:
[ul][li]Hector[/li][li]Alexander the Great[/li][li]Julius Caesar[/ul][/li]
Jewish:
[ul][li]Joshua[/li][li]David[/li][li]Judas Maccabeus[/ul][/li]
Christian:
[ul][li]King Arthur[/li][li]Charlemagne[/li][li]Godfrey of Bouillon[/ul][/li]
Whether these qualify on the standard set by the OP is of course highly debatable. But that they were ‘celebrities’ prior to 1492 is worth noting.

[twickster]

@JohnT

If you need somebody living at the time, Napoleon. Or Robespierre. Of course, they were much more than celebrities, but they were known world-wide, especially Napoleon.

Not so much in Asia, I don’t think.

[MovieMogul]

@astorian

To be a “global” celebrity, I think you’d have to pass this test: if I went up to a random stranger in Paris, Cairo, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Mumbai, Chicago, or Lagos and did a bad imitation of you, or drew a bad caricature of you, would that stranger instantly know who I meant?

Given the span of the British Empire in the 19th century, and given that Queen Victoria was on virtually all of the postage stamps from any of the colonial possessions at the time (not to mention the UK itself) through 1900, I’d wager that millions of people knew what she looked like back then.

[Fish]

I think it would have to be Herbert Glob, inventor of the globe.

[JohnT]

@twickster

Not so much in Asia, I don’t think.

Well, in European colonies and areas of settlement, he was, which was why I linked to the map.