Just something interesting...

[Scanty]

This is a list I found of some famous people who have or have had bipolar disorder (manic depression). For anyone who’s interested… There were a few surprises in there for me.


Buzz Aldrin - astronaut
Lionel Aldridge - athlete
Hans Christian Andersen - writer
Ned Beatty - actor
Robert Boorstin - writer, assistant to Pres. Clinton
Arthur Benson - writer
E F Benson - writer
William Blake - poet
Ralph Blakelock - artist
Napoleon Bonaparte - general
Tadeusz Borowski - writer
Art Buchwald - writer, humorist
Tim Burton - artist, movie director
Robert Campeau - financier (Canada)
Drew Carey - actor
Jim Carrey - actor
Dick Cavett - writer, media personality
C.E. Chaffin - writer, poet
Agatha Christie - writer
Winston Churchill - British Prime Minister
John Clare - poet
Rosemary Clooney - singer
Garnet Coleman - legislator (Texas)
Francis Ford Coppola – director
Patricia Cornwell - writer
Richard Dadd - painter
John Daly - athlete (golf)
John Davidson - poet
Edward Dayes - artist
Ray Davies - musician
Emily Dickinson - writer
Kitty Dukakis - former First Lady of Massachusetts
Patty Duke (Anna Duke Pearce) - actor, writer
Thomas Eagleton - lawyer, former U.S. Senator
T S Eliot - poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson - essayist
Robert Evans - film producer
Carrie Fisher - writer, actor
Edward FitzGerald - poet
Robert Frost - poet
F Scott Fitzgerald - author
Larry Flynt - magazine publisher
Connie Francis - actor, musician
Sigmund Freud - psychologist
Cary Grant - actor
Kaye Gibbons - writer
Shecky Greene - comedian, actor
Linda Hamilton - actor
Kristin Hersh - musician
Victor Hugo - poet
Jack London - author
Robert Lowell - poet
Marilyn Monroe - actress
Mozart - composer
Jay Marvin - radio personality, writer
Kevin McDonald - comedian, actor
Kristy McNichol - actor
Dimitri Mihalas - scientist
Kate Millett - writer, artist
Spike Milligan - comic actor, writer
John Mulheren - financier (U.S.)
Robert Munsch - writer
Napoleon - general
Ilie Nastase - athlete (tennis), politician
Isaac Newton - scientist
Margo Orum - writer
Nicola Pagett - actor
Plato - philosopher
Edgar Allen Poe - author
Jimmie Piersall - athlete, sports announcer
Charley Pride - musician
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) - musician
Jeannie C. Riley - musician
Phil Graham - owner, Washington Post
Graham Greene - writer
Peter Gregg - team owner and manager, race car driver
Abbie Hoffman - writer, political activist
Lynn Rivers - U.S. Congress
Francesco Scavullo - artist, photographer
Lori Schiller - writer, educator
Frances Sherwood - writer
Scott Simmie - writer, journalist
Alonzo Spellman - athlete (football)
Muffin Spencer-Devlin - athlete (pro golf)
Sting - musician, composer
St Francis
St John
St Theresa
Rod Steiger - film maker
Robert Louis Stevenson - writer
Liz Taylor - actor
J.M.W. Turner – painter
Mark Twain - author
Alfred, Lord Tennyson - poet
Ted Turner - entrepreneur, media giant
Jean-Claude Van Damme - athlete, actor
Vincent van Gogh - painter
Mark Vonnegut - doctor, writer
Sol Wachtler - judge, writer
Tom Waits - musician, composer
Walt Whitman - poet
Tennessee Williams - author
Brian Wilson - musician, composer, arranger
Jonathan Winters - comedian, actor, writer, artist
Luther Wright - athlete (basketball)
Margot Kidder - actor
Robert E Lee - soldier
Bill Liechtenstein - producer (TV & radio)
Abraham Lincoln - US President
Daniel Johnston - musician
Samuel Johnson - poet
Burgess Meredith - actor, director
Kay Redfield Jamison - psychologist, writer



Just for a little extra something…out of the above list: -

41.1% are writers of some sort.

10.7% are musicians.

67.9% of the above list are in the ‘arts’ category. And of those people - 61% are writers.

…

 

[Professur]

Notice how many of the rest are politicians, or associated with politics?

 

[Scanty]

Yeah....I can't work out whether that's a good thing or a bad thing...

 

[Squiggy]

I can tell you its no fun.....

 

[PT]

Me too. It's not hard to live with once you know you have it, it's a real bitch before you figure it out though.

 

[Shadowfax]

for quite a few it wasn't a big surprise, i already knew...but some...damn. interesting

 

[Scanty]

Yeah....I never knew that Jim Carrey was...or Coppola...or Linda Hamilton...or Tim Burton...or even Newton. And why weren't we ever told that Freud actually had bipolar when I studied him for two years???

 

[Shadowfax]

but i did know from buzz aldrin (he landed on the bloody moon, not sure he had it back then already) and van gogh (who would have never made such abstract paintings without it)...


patricia cornwell and isaac newton weren't people i would have thought they'd have that though freud neither btw