|
Edited on Sun Jan-16-11 01:52 PM by Cetacea
List of famous creatives with bi-polar disorder from MentalHealthToday.com: There are similar lists for depression, schizophrenia, etc.
Actors & Actresses
Ned Beatty Maurice Bernard, soap opera Jeremy Brett Jim Carey Lisa Nicole Carson Rosemary Clooney, singer Lindsay Crosby Eric Douglas Robert Downey Jr. Patty Duke Carrie Fisher Connie Francis, singer and actress Shecky Greene, comedian Linda Hamilton Moss Hart, actor, director, playright Mariette Hartley Margot Kidder Vivien Leigh Kevin McDonald, comedian Kristy McNichols Burgess Meredith, actor, director Spike Milligan, actor, writer Spike Mulligan, comic actor and writer Nicola Pagett Ben Stiller, actor, director, writer David Strickland Lili Taylor Tracy Ullman Jean-Claude Van Damme Robin Williams Jonathon Winters, comedian
Artists
Alvin Alley, dancer, choreogapher Ludwig Von Beethoven Tim Burton, artist, director Francis Ford Coppola, director George Fredrick Handel, composer Bill Lichtenstein, producer Joshua Logan, broadway director, producer Vincent Van Gogh, painter Gustav Mahier, composer Francesco Scavullo, artist, photographer Robert Schumann, composer Don Simpson, movie producer Norman Wexler, screenwriter, playwright
Entrepreneurs
Robert Campeau Pierre Peladeau Heinz C. Prechter Ted Turner, media giant
Financiers
John Mulheren Murray Pezim
Miscellaneous
Buzz Aldrin, astronaut Clifford Beers, humanitarian Garnet Coleman, legislator (Texas) Larry Flynt, publisher and activist Kit Gingrich, Newt's mom Phil Graham, owner of Washington Post Peter Gregg, team owner and manager, race car driver Susan Panico (Susan Dime-Meenan), business executive Sol Wachtier, former New York State Chief Judge
Musicians
Ludwig van Beethoven, composer Alohe Jean Burke, musician, vocalist Rosemary Clooney, singer DMX Earl Simmons, rapper and actor Ray Davies Lenny Dee Gaetano Donizetti, opera singer Peter Gabriel Jimi Hendrix Kristen Hersh (Throwing Muses) Phyllis Hyman Jack Irons Daniel Johnston Otto Klemperer, musician, conductor Oscar Levant, pianist, composer, television Phil Ochs, musician, political activist, poet John Ogden, composer, musician Jaco Pastorius Charley Pride Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) Jeannie C. Riley Alys Robi, vocalist in Canada Axl Rose Nick Traina Del Shannon Phil Spector, musician and producer Sting, Gordon Sumner, musician, composer Tom Waits, musician, composer Brian Wilson, musician, composer, arranger Townes Van Zandt, musician, composer
Poets
John Berryman C.E. Chaffin, writer, poet Hart Crane Randall Jarrell Jane Kenyon Robert Lowell Sylvia Plath Robert Schumann Delmore Schwartz
Political
Robert Boorstin, special assistant to President Clinton L. Brent Bozell, political scientist, attorney, writer Bob Bullock, ex secretary of state, state comptroller and lieutenant governer Winston Churchill Kitty Dukasis, former First Lady of Massachusetts Thomas Eagleton, lawyer, former U.S. Senator Lynne Rivers, U.S. Congress Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
Scholars
John Strugnell, biblical scholar
Scientists
Karl Paul Link, chemist Dimitri Mihalas
Sports
Shelley Beattie, bodybuilding, sailing John Daly, golf Muffin Spencer-Devlin, pro golf Ilie Nastase, tennis Jimmy Piersail, baseball player, Boston Red Sox, sports announcer Barret Robbins, football Wyatt Sexton, football Alonzo Spellman, football Darryl Strawberry, baseball Dimitrius Underwood, football Luther Wright, basketball Bert Yancey, athlete
TV & Radio
Dick Cavett Jay Marvin, radio, writer Jane Pauley
Writers
Louis Althusser, philosopher, writer Honors de Balzac Art Buchwald, writer, humorist Neal Cassady Patricia Cornwell Margot Early Kaye Gibbons Johann Goethe Graham Greene Abbie Hoffman, writer, political activist Kay Redfield Jamison, writer, psychologist
Monica Kennedy, Gather Author and soon to be published novelist (okay I am not really on their list but should be since I am bipolar and a writer. One day I will be nationally known!) Peter Nolan Lawrence Frances Lear, writer, editor, women's rights activist Rika Lesser, writer, translator Kate Millet Robert Munsch Margo Orum Edgar Allen Poe Theodore Roethke Lori Schiller, writer, educator Frances Sherwood Scott Simmie, writer, journalist August Strindberg Mark Twain Joseph Vasquez, writer, movie director Mark Vonnegut, doctor, writer Sol Wachtler, writer, judge Mary Jane Ward Virginia Woolf
Imagine the world without the works of those on that list. No Tom Sawyer. No Beethoven's Fifth. No Starry Night (No Gather Café – Okay, I know the world could go on without the Gather Café). I guess there are a few things we can be thankful for when it comes to mental illness. I would love for these people to have the creativity without the pain, but as a writer who is also bipolar, I can say it is worth it for me. Mental illness does not equal weakness. In fact, I think most who suffer from it are the strongest people ever. The average person would crumble under such strain. The fact that we seek treatment and continue to contribute to the world is amazing. And look what the world has gotten from people with mental illness!
What's up with the link between mental illness and creativity? I have a bit of an idea, as I have expressed here. Mainly I am thankful for it, for the creativity and insight it has given me, and for the treasures it has brought to the world.
|