10 Famous People Who Received Reputed Awards in More Than One Field

10 Famous People Who Received Reputed Awards In More Than One Field

I have compiled this list consisting of people from all around the world who received reputed awards in more than one field. This is to showcase their talent and contribution to the society and the world

Most people struggle in their entire life to become famous. Those who become famous, receive awards or recognition. But, there are only a few who go on to win reputed awards (Nobel, Pulitzer, Academy, Grammy, National awards etc.) in more than one field of endeavor. I have compiled this list consisting of such people from all around the world, to showcase talent and contribution to the society and the world.

1. Linus Pauling: He was born in Portland, Oregon, on February 28, 1901. From an early age, he had an interest in mathematics and pondering over the way the world worked. He was curious and adventurous by nature.

   He liked to roam in the woods and collect insects and minerals. He was a voracious reader. He created the field of molecular biology. For his scientific work, Pauling was awarded the ‘Nobel Prize in Chemistry’ in 1954. For his peace activism, he was awarded the ‘Nobel Peace Prize’ in 1962. He became a controversial figure during the latter part of his life. The American government viewed him as a security risk. He propagated that high doses of vitamin C can cure cancer. Some called him lunatic and some called him quack for his belief. Despite all the accusations, Linus Pauling remains the greatest chemist of the twentieth century. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and of the British Royal Society.

2. Marie Curie: She was born in Warsaw on November 7, 1867. She was an extraordinary student. She received a gold medal upon completing her secondary education in 1883. She studied at Warsaw's Flying University. She discovered radioactivity, and, together with her husband Pierre, the radioactive elements polonium and radium. She paved the way for the development of x-rays in surgery. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only person to win a ‘Nobel Prize’ in two different sciences – chemistry and physics. She was honored with honorary science, medicine and law degrees and honorary memberships of scientific societies throughout the world. Her eldest daughter Irene was herself a scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She overcame various obstacles in her life, due to her gender, to become a world-renowned scientist. Her role as a feminist precursor is greatly emphasized.
3. Arundhati Roy: She was born on November 24, 1961, in India. She studied Architecture but had no interest in design. She began her career with television and movies where she wrote and acted. She wrote the screenplay for the movie “In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones” and received ‘National Film Award’ for Best Screenplay in 1989. She is best known for her novel “The God of Small Things”, which won the ‘Man Booker Prize’ for Fiction in 1997. Roy has championed the cause of various environmental and human rights. In recognition of her outspoken advocacy of human rights, Roy was awarded the ‘Lannan Cultural Freedom Award’ in 2002, the ‘Sydney Peace Prize’ in 2004, and the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ from the Indian Academy of Letters in 2006. She criticizes capitalism and its ill-effects on society.
4. Arnold Schwarzenegger: He was born in Thal, Austria on July 30, 1947. From a very young age, he pursued weightlifting and bodybuilding with a passion. In 1967, Schwarzenegger was youngest ever to win the ‘Mr. Universe’ title (LINK 7). He earned thirteen world bodybuilding championships. Arnold had always dreamed of making it big in Hollywood as an action hero. In his first film, Hercules in New York (1970), he played the lead, but his dialogs were dubbed. Schwarzenegger received a ‘Golden Globe Award’ for ‘Best Newcomer’ for his performance in Stay Hungry (1976). During the 1990s he became increasingly active in politics at both the state and national levels. He was elected governor of California in 2003. ​
5. ​​Bob Dylan: He is one of the most influential singer-songwriters of the 20th century. Born on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, he moved to New York City in 1961. He started out by performing in clubs. In the next few years, he recorded a number of albums which created a huge impact on popular music: Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited in 1965, Blonde on Blonde in 1966 and Blood on the Tracks in 1975. His lyrics were always political or social, reflecting on the state of the world. He won the ‘Academy Award’for Best Original Song Things have changed in 2001. Dylan sold millions of albums and wrote numerous songs recorded by more than 2,000 artists. He set the standard for lyric writing. He received a ‘Nobel Prize’ in Literature for the year 2016. There was a worldwide criticism of him, a lyricist, being given the Nobel following which Salman Rushdie wrote "From Orpheus to Faiz, song & poetry have been closely linked. Dylan is the brilliant inheritor of the bardic tradition. Great choice." ​
6. ​​​​​​George Bernard Shaw: He was born on July 26, 1856, in Dublin, Ireland. He went to the theatre and immersed himself in the poetry of Lord Byron and William Blake. His writing was recognized towards the end of 19th century beginning with Caesar and Cleopatra. He became a leading dramatist of the world by writing Major Barbara (1905), The Doctor's Dilemma (1906), Pygmalion (1912), Androcles and the Lion (1912) and Saint Joan (1923). Many critics consider him the greatest English dramatist since William Shakespeare (1564–1616). In 1925, Shaw was awarded the ‘Nobel Prize’ in Literature. He also won the ‘Academy Award’ for the Best-Adapted Screenplay of his own play ‘Pygmalion’ in 1939. Shaw propounded racial equality and inter-racial marriage. In his obituary, ‘The Times Literary Supplement’ concluded: “He was no originator of ideas. He was an insatiable adopter and adapter, an incomparable prestidigitator with the thoughts of the forerunners. Nietzsche, Samuel Butler (Erewhon), Marx, Shelley, Blake, Dickens, William Morris, Ruskin, Beethoven, and Wagner all had their applications and misapplications. By bending to their service all the faculties of a powerful mind, by inextinguishable wit, and by every artifice of argument, he carried their thoughts as far as they would reach—so far beyond their sources that they came to us with the vitality of the newly created.”
7. Frank Sinatra: Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, he became one of the most famous performers in the entertainment industry. He never learned music but he had a tremendous understanding of music. Between 1943 and 1946, Sinatra's solo career blossomed as the singer charted a slew of hit singles. With three wins he is one of only five artists and groups who have won the ‘Grammy Award’ for Album of the Year more than once as the main credited artist. Sinatra made his movie acting debut in 1943 with the films Reveille with Beverley and Higher and Higher. As an actor, he appeared in fifty-eight films and won an ‘Academy Award’ for his role in the movie From Here to Eternity. In 1983, he was awarded ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’. Famous critic Robert Christgau called him "the greatest singer of the 20th century".
8. Sidney Howard: Sidney Howard was an American playwright, dramatist, and screenwriter. He was born on June 26, 1891. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1915 and went on to Harvard University to study playwriting. He brought psychological and theatrical realism to the American stage. In World War 1, he served with the American ambulance corps and later was a captain in the U.S. Air Corps. In the mid-1920s, he acquired prominence as a dramatist and won the Pulitzer Prize for They Knew What They Wanted. Howard's last screenplay, Gone with the Wind, was an outstanding achievement for which he received ‘Academy Award’. His colleagues at the Playwrights Company founded in his honor the ‘Sidney Howard Memorial Award’, after his death.​​​​​​​
9. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala: She was born on May 7, 1927, in Cologne, Germany. During World War 2, Prawer lived in Hendon in London and began to speak English rather than German. She earned a degree in English Literature at Queen Mary College, London University. She was greatly affected by Charles Dickens' works and Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. She moved to India in 1951 and married Cyrus S. H. Jhabvala, an Indian-Parsi architect. As a writer, she wrote about the ambiguities of human behavior and sensory pleasures in precise, perfect words. She was a writer and screenwriter who won two Oscars, for her adaptations of EM Forster's novels A Room with a View and Howards End, and the Booker Prize for her novel Heat and Dust. She remains the only person to have won an Oscar and the Booker.​​​​​​​
10. Cher: Born on May 20, 1946, she worked in different areas of entertainment – singing, dancing and acting. She started out by taking acting classes and dancing in clubs. She collaborated with her husband Sonny Bono in the 1960s and became quite successful. Cher produced chart-toppers like Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves, Half-Breed and Dark Lady. Cher has sung in various musical genres, including folk rock, pop rock, and power ballads. She then pursued acting in the 1980s, starring in films like Silkwood and Mask and earning an ‘Academy Award’ for her performance in Moonstruck. She also won a ‘Grammy Award’ for Best Dance Recording. She works as a philanthropist in the area of health research and patients' quality of life, anti-poverty initiatives, veteran’s rights, and vulnerable children. Time magazine described Cher as a "cultural phenomenon [who] has forever changed the way we see celebrity fashion”

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