Living Legends

Paul McCartney

Madonna

Deb Messing.

Dont play.

Betty White

Bruce Springsteen

Debbie Harry

Yeah among the younger generation of celebs, Beyonce is a living legend even though a lot of the DL crowd isn't big fan of hers.

Al Pacino

John Travolta

Forces' Sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn.

Ellen Degeneres

Toni Morrison

Elton John

It's funny how most of you name pop music or TV stars. Those are the LEAST likely to be remembered by future generations.

Berry Gordy

Then who else will be remembered living today?

Keith Richards

Boff.

Obama

Nicholson and DeNiro

Steve Jobs

Mick Jagger

Streep, Streisand, Springsteen

Hillary Clinton

Billy Joel

Lebron James

Michael Jordan

Not a fan, but I suspect Britney Spears will be remembered for her influence

Diana Ross

Novelists, poets, film actors, classical singers and musicians, and politicians tend to be remembered much better than pop stars. Who remembers Ruth Etting or Lillian Roth the Ink Spots today? Yet they were among the biggest popular music stars of the 1930s. Who even remembers bing crosby much today, and he was the BIGGEST popular music star of the 1930s.

As for television performers: who will watch reruns of Ellen's TV show after it ends? She will be forgotten, just like Phil Donahue and Mike Douglas are now largely forgotten.

Incredible how many legendary people have died recently

Ellen established legendary status before she had a talk show

Oprah Winfrey

The Pope.

He's been around for EVER. Always cropping up.

Stephen King

Sophia Loren

Brigitte Bardot

Sidney Poitier

David Letterman

Stevie Nicks

R7 You type dumb. The same propaganda-laden news sites that brainwashed you to believe that are the same ones who told us for MONTHS that there was no way Hillary would lose to Trump. Beyonce is a mostly local phenomenon who has never mattered outside of outrage junkies and younger blacks.

There really hasn't been a true legend from recent generations...

Ralph Lauren

Calvin Klein

Karl Lagerfeld

Giorgio Armani

Kurt Cobain

Whitney Houston

Mary Tyler Moore

Michael Stipe

What's truly sad is that I tried to discuss Streisand with some of the Millenials at work. They had absolutely no knowledge of her body of work, but they only heard of her from the "Streisand Effect".

That guy from Risky Business

[quoe] What's truly sad is that I tried to discuss Streisand with some of the Millenials at work.

Yes, that is truly sad.

Andy Cohen. Obviously.

Queen Elizabeth II

Michael Phelps

Usain Bolt

Queen Elizabeth

Meryl Streep

I'm not r7, but r38 is extremely out of touch. Also, he uses the term "young blacks" so you know he's over 50 and has no communication with the outside. Beyoncé is huge. That doesn't mean THEE best, but you have to accept reality.

Bill Gates

Mark Zuckerberg

JK Rowling

OJ Simpson.

Edward Snowden over 99% of these names.

Charles Manson

Aretha Franklin

Steven Hawking

[quote] That guy from Risky Business

Joe Pantoliano?

Cormac McCarthy

Quentin Tarantino

Mick Jagger

Liza Minelli

Why did somebody include Steve Jobs?

Tom Brady

Brad Pitt

John Legend

Shonda Rhimes

Ryan Murphy

Larry King?

Tina Turner

Cher

Boy George

Rupaul

James Franco

Jodie Foster

Burt Reynolds

Kanye West

Johnny Depp

Francis Ford Coppola

George Lucas

Steven Spielberg

The Rock

Mike Tyson

Wow. DL really is entirely America-centric...

Don DeLillo. And Sondheim -- maybe.

R53 makes a very good point.

Miles Cyrus.

^^^ *he* has transitioned! Legendary!

Eminem

Justin Bieber

Martha Stewart

Princess Diana-not living though

Trump-Duh

Hugh Hefner-barely living

R79, as it should be. I'll throw you a bone: Paul McCartney

Billy Corgan

Frank Gehry

Bjork

Julia Roberts

Queen Elizabeth.

I don't think any entertainment celebrity will be remembered for generations. Even Marilyn Monroe's memory is fading. If you talk with millennials, some don't know much about her, some don't even know who she was at all.. Computers and the internet have drastically changed how people relate to the past. It seems younger generations no longer pursue knowledge of the past. It's very different now. And musical tastes are so diverse now and fragmented. I thoughtthe legend of Elvis would last forever, but millennials are showing me that even he is fading. So my list is short. Queen Elizabeth. But only for another hundred years.

Halle Berry

Denzel Washington

Janet Jackson

Serena Williams

r94 u idiot, WTF is that ? Get lost

R88, You're a bit late. See R1.

Man, so many of you are giving bee-zarre answers! THINK of the giants who are already forgotten! Do you think Millennials know who Bob Hope or Bing Crosby were? Or even Marilyn Monroe? Cary Grant? Sinatra? Judy?

And forget about great Opera singers, authors, or raconteurs.

Stars must still shine to be remembered, and not many have their shows, movies, or songs shown or played anymore.

The biggest sports heroes of the past have been eclipsed by the living. An iconic football photo is of Y. A. Tittle kneeling on a snowy field, battered and exhausted. Do YOU know of what I speak?

I know musicians, actors and writers who are familiar and influenced by those who were in those fields from 90-100+ years ago

You do realize "generations" is only two. Our grandchildren would have to know who these people are for them to qualify. It doesn't matter if Marilyn is fading. She made it generations. My grandparents, my parents, and my own generation. The same goes to the moron at r96 who doesn't get it.

Living legends and superlative icons in their respective fields..and no R95, not 'cotton' fields you loathsome POS..

2 Academy Award winners, a top selling female recording artist from a very famous family, and the greatest female tennis player of all time. Any questions?

Great sports stars are always remembered for generations. If you know anything about sports then you would understand that to be true. Sports stars are immortalized by players and fans. Commentators reference athletes from 20, 30, 40 years ago when talking stats.

R97, I believe the topic refers to the collective memory, not the specific knowledge of people in similar fields.

I would expect, say, Tiger Woods to know of Sam Snead and Bobby Jones. You, not so much.

R93 summed it up: Younger people have no interest in history. They are CONSUMED with the now, obsessed with the moment. Their phones give them no time to read, reflect, ponder, digest the deeds of yesterday, let alone yesteryear. Gossip is their lingua franca, celebrities are their role models.

But the warning of Santayana isn't the only flotsam. The young can be easily influenced because they concomitantly have no interest in the future. When they hear of dire predictions for Social Security or Medicare, e.g., IF they hear of them, such comments concern them not.

Teenagers in LA wear Nirvana T-shirts more than any other band - music recorded close to a decade before they were born

R101, stop saying things like that. Each generation says that about the next and it's simply untrue. Stupid people of any generation don't care about history. My 18 year old cousin reads many of the great writers of the early and mid 20th century. This is true for A LOT of young people. In fact, his Christmas gift is a James Baldwin collection.

R98, Exactly how am I being a moron who doesn't get it?

R100, You reference current sportscasters. Yes, you are correct about their allusions.

R103, No offense, but one personal anecdote does not an argument make. You have, frankly, a remarkable cousin. Now, does he know who Langston Hughes was? Make his poetry the next gift.

But that is not the thread topic. Who WILL BE remembered? As r93 aptly described, technology is altering our very ways of regarding the world and our past.

It's not one personal anecdote. I teach students in a high school. I could go on...

Bob Dylan

Jack White

Kim Deal

Robert Smith

Morrissey

Siouxsie Sioux

R105, So did I teach, for thirty years. I, too, taught the writings of the Canon, of the Harlem Renaissance, etc. I hope those writers will be remembered.

But damn, even PAUL says he meets people who don't know of the Beatles!

Thom Yorke

Janet Jackson

Billy Idol

I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't exactly know who John Lennon was when he was murdered.

I remember being mildly perturbed that his death was dominating the news. Silly me.

Mtv really did expose me to different artists and genres of music that I would otherwise have discovered. Adam Ant, Siouxsie Sioux, Billy Idol, without Mtv bringing them into my living room, they'd just be random names to me.

Philip Roth, Tim Berners-Lee.

More regrettably: Kissinger, G W Bush, Blair, Putin, Rupert Murdoch.

Glen Campbell, a real musical genius

R116, the same can be said for me with television. I am only 30 years old, but I grew up watching Bob Newhart, Dick Van Dyke, Patty Duke, Bewitched, Mary Tyler Moore(hated the spin-off Rhoda), and more all thanks to Nickelodeon becoming Nick At Nite after 9 pm(?). My family is not white so there is no chance in hell that I ever would've learned that part of the culture without my trouble sleeping at night. In my household those stars would have never come up in conversation.

[quote] But the warning of Santayana isn't the only flotsam.

Mary!

Loretta Lynn

Obama Armani

R49 Not even close to 50, but okay, Kanye...whatever you say.

R123, little girls being born now will grow up listening to Beyoncé. Not just "the blacks" either. You're a young person speaking that way?

Phil Collins

R124 little girls who arent SJWs or black arent listening to Beyoncé

Donald Trump. Sorry.

That delicate flower of Southern Womanhood:

Al Jolson is universally considered to be the greatest of them all!

You are delusional r126. Stick your head in the sand all you want.

R130 = Kanye

Dolly Parton

Cher

MARIAH CAREY

Carole Carr

Nora Bayes.

She was greater than Garland and though gone is not forgotten.

Kim Deal is a very good one. I think her music will be seen as classic pop music that will transcend into what classical music has become.

Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Obama, Hilary Clinton, Ellen Degeneres, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise (sadly), Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Eminem, Courtney Love, Keith Richards, Robert De Niro, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner, Meryl Streep, Debbie Harry, Diana Ross, Kim Deal, Boy George, Dave Grohl, Adam Ant, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, Phil Collins, Olivia Newton-John, Quentin Tarantino (ick), Billy Idol, Bjork, Billy Corgan, Gene Simmons, Cher, Iggy Pop, Siouxsie Sioux, Robert Smith

Adele

I second R19. Who can argue with that.

Willie Nelson.

Dl fave Catherine Zeta Jones. Only 33 and she has already accomplished so much.

Diana Ross

Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton

Cher

Elton John

Nile Rodgers

Barry Gibb

Smokey Robinson

Sidney Poitier

Dolly Parton

I wholeheartedly agree about Diana Ross and Berry Gordy.

Obama Ruth Bader Ginsberg Bill Gates Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Queen Elizabeth II Frank Gehry IM Pei Edward Snowden Malala Gloria Vanderbilt Warren Buffett Meghan Markle

Heroes: The Queen, Obama, Tim Berners-Lee, Bill Gates, Sondheim, McCartney, Dylan.

Villains: Trump, G W Bush, Murdoch, Blair, Cheney, Kissinger.

If we are talking 200/300 + years from Now Only Us politicians, Obama, the clintons, trump, gw bush Royals - queen elizabeth ll,prince William, prince Gayling, dutchess meg (cause first black)

Entertainment probably no one really. Lets be real beyawnce, hagdonna and lady fugga will All be long forgotten in a 100-150 years..