Graham started dancing in 1916 with the Denishawn company. She began her independent career in 1926 in New York City, teaching at the Eastman School of Rochester, and gave her first recital on April 18, at the 48th Street Theatre, in New York. Graham opened the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance in 1927. During this time, her pieces, including Immigrant, Vision of Apocalypse, Lamentation, and Revolt, often dealt with social problems. In 1929, she choreographed her first non-solo ballet, Heretic. During the 1930s, because of the Depression, her ballets had no sets, and she made most of the costumes herself. Her last dance was in Cortege of Eagles when she was 76 years old. She did, however, continue to create new work, such as Lucifer and The Scarlet Letter, works for Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn.

The second of six children, Hepburn was reared by rather unorthodox parents who granted their children complete freedom. By the time she entered Bryn Mawr in 1924, she was determined to be an actress. Four years later she made her Broadway debut at the Cort Theatre in These Days. The play closed after eight performances, but she was immediately cast as the star's understudy in Phillip Barry's Holiday. In 1932, she made her screen debut in A Bill of Divorcement. One film later she won her first Oscar for Morning Glory. She became the all-time Oscar champion, having been nominated a record-breaking 12 times. She's the only four-time winner in an acting category: Morning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond.

Blind since birth, Wonder sang like a seasoned veteran even as a toddler, and at age 7 he had mastered the harmonica and drums. At 11, he had a contract with Motown. Wonder and his label hit the jackpot in 1963 with "Fingertips-Pt. 2." In two years he became one of Motown's finest artists, recording a series of brilliant singles including "Uptight," "Castles in the Sand," and "My Cherie Amour," and also writing for many other Motown artists. In 1971, Wonder recorded two albums and used them as a bargaining tool with Motown. The record label gave him total artistic control of his albums and the rights to his songs. After that Wonder released seven classic albums: Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life, The Secret Life of Plants, and Hotter Than July.

Klemperer studied music in Frankfurt, Germany, and later in Berlin. In 1905 he met Gustav Mahler, while conducting the off-stage orchestra at a performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, and the two became friends. On Mahler's recommendation, Klemperer became conductor at the German Opera in 1907. He later held a conducting post in Berlin in 1910. Five years later, he was appointed conductor of the Cologne Opera. He became conductor of the Kroll Opera, in Berlin, in 1927. Klemperer left Germany in 1933 and moved to the United States. He became conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Following World War II, he conducted the Budapest Opera, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra . He moved to London in 1959, where he became conductor of the Philharmonia. Though less well-known as a composer, Klemperer wrote a number of pieces, including six symphonies, nine string quartets and the opera Das Ziel.

Avedon took up photography while serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II, and went on to study photography at the New School for Social Research. In 1945, Alexey Brodovitch hired Avedon as a contributor to Harper's Bazaar. Avedon became known for his photographs of fashion models in outdoor settings, in action poses. In 1966, Avedon began working for Vogue. By this time he switched techniques, focusing on portraits shot indoors, and known for their stark realism. In Avedon's portraits, subjects are typically shot against a plain white background, and the details and textures of the skin are highlighted. In 1964, Avedon published, Nothing Personal, which presented photographs of people ranging from patients in mental institutions to members of elite society. In 1978 and 2002, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York exhibited Avedon's work. In 1993, Avedon published his autobiography.

Fonda attended the University of Minnesota, and majored in journalism. He flunked out after trying to hold down two jobs. He started as a stage actor at the Community Playhouse in Omaha in 1925. His big break came in 1934, when he was cast in New Faces on Broadway. In 1935, Fonda moved to Hollywood, where he would go on to make more than 80 films. Some of his most memorable films include The Grapes of Wrath, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Ox-Bow Incident, My Darling Clementine, Mister Roberts.

This member of the woodwind family was developed by Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker in Paris, during the mid-1840s. Sax began making his own instruments at an early age, and studied flute and clarinet at the Royal Academy of Singing. Sax experimented with new instrument designs, achieving his first important work at 20, with a patent for an improvement on the design of the bass clarinet. Sax relocated to Paris in 1841, where he worked on a new set of instruments—keyed bugles— which he exhibited in Paris in 1844. He was also working on the instrument for which he is best known, the saxophone. Composer Hector Berlioz wrote praises of the instrument in 1842, but it was not patented until 1846. By then Sax had invented a full range of saxophones. The instruments established his reputation and earned him a teaching position at the Paris Conservatoire.