OK, OK, let’s make it US only. I really want to come up with a real person here, not “Jesus”. Someone that could be in my foursome and I wouldn’t know it. “Next up: Dooku twosome joined by Greenspan single and His Holiness single…”
US only, huh?
I’m going to second Paul Harvey, I don’t know if it’s as high as 95%, but I’ll a hell of a lot of people in the US would know who he is, but not recognize him.
Would most people recognize Marilyn Manson in a supermarket, with no contacts, and no makeup, in normal street clothes and a pony-tail? I think he’s been in the news enough to have his name be recognizeable to a majority of Americans, but maybe not 95%.
On the other hand for only 95% of Americans to recognize a person, there would have to be more than 12,000,000 people who didn’t recognize him or her.
There does not exist a portrait of Jane Austen. She is extremely famous, but no one today knows what she looked like.
The same could be said of Abraham, Moses, and other such figures, but given the time period in which they lived, such a lack of accurate portraiture isn’t surprising. Portraits were common in Austen’s day, though, so not having any reproduction of her seems odd.
I was gonna say the Dalai Lama (who hasn’t heard of him? but would many people recognize him?), but since it’s in the US . . . I guess Paul Harvey sounds about right.
BTW, on a sort of related note, I understand that there is no “real” portrait of George Washington out there and that the faces on the dollar bill and in the halls at school and stuff are just guesswork. True?
Alan Greenspan.
False, I’ve heard of at least portrait for which Washington posed. It’s famous because the artist refused to complete the painting.
But Columbus was a famous person of whom there is no authentic potrait painted in his lifetime.
Lizard–I remember seeing a poll showing that a full 7% of Britons did not know who Jesus was. This isn’t GD, so I’m not going to waste an hour looking for a cite, but it’s somewhere on www.religioustolerance.org.
The guy who played Wilson on Home Improvement is Earl Hindman. Alas, he doesn’t have a photo on IMDB.com, nor does he have his own website. I suggest renting Silverado, a mediocre western from the mid '80’s. He’s in it, clean-shaven and everything.
The AOL “You’ve Got Mail!” guy.
Muhammad?
Awww, Dijon stole (one of my) answers. But he/she is on the right track. Can you put a face to these phrases?
“You’ve Got Mail!”
“At the tone, the time will be…”
“Coming soon to a theater near you.”
“D’oh!”
“Don’t have a cow, man!”
“They’re Grrrreat!”
I assume from your examples that you are looking for nominees that are currently alive. Otherwise I’d say Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, etc. I’ll bet 95% of the US population know who George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are, but couldn’t pick them out of a lineup of similar looking thugs. How about (in)famous hackers like Kevin Mitnick or Robert Morris? I’ll bet even I can’t pick out the Supreme Court Justices from a Top Ten Mosted Wanted list.
You’ve got an age/generational problem with your OP as well. How many 5-year-olds can name the same famous face that a 35-year-old can?
Now I wish I didn’t know what Paul Harvey looked like.
The Residents have sold millions of records, have a huge fanbase, yet have never been seen.
Chris W
I would recognize Stephen king! When I lived in Maine we saw him all the time- just a regular joe in his red sports car LOL
Henri Paul
I can’t speak for Americans, but the most famous name (still living) that I would fail to recognise in the street is Neil Armstrong.
I have no clue what he looks like, but his name is one that will be long remembered.
Yes, there is. I’m re-reading “Emma” at the moment and my Penguin paperback edition has a reproduction of a sketch done by, I think, her sister. I’ll check out the details when I get home tonight.
And here it is, on the biggest and best Jane Austen fan site:
What a lovely thread when I get to say “Andrew Lloyd Webber.” Threatre composers have name recognition, but most people have no idea what they look like. Even in Footlight Records, which specializes in show music, famous threatre people often aren’t recognized till they hand over their credit cards.
Earl Hindman played Bob Reid on the soap “Ryan’s Hope” for years. I 'd know him anywhere.
Deep Throat.