Hecuba

Hecuba was the wife of King Priam, ruler of Troy in the Greek mythological tale of the Trojan War. She had a son, Troilius, with the Greek god Apollo, and it was foretold that if he lived to the age of twenty, Troy would never fall. However, Achilles killed Troilius in the Trojan War. Tree different versions of Hecuba's fate exist today:
The Achaeans enslaved her;
She was given as a slave to Odysseus, but was turned into a dog by the gods and so escaped him;
She was driven mad by the sight of her dead offspring.

The character of Hecuba can also be seen in writings by Euripides, namely "Hecuba" and "The Trojan Women"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hecuba

Thucydides

Thucydides (c. 460 B.C. - c. 400 B. C.) was a Greek historian and author of the classic History of the Peloponnesian War. This book is considered to be the first accurate historical narrative, following only the work of mortals, and not including any divine intervention. The book follows the Peloponnesian war, which lasted from 431 B.C. - 411 B.C., between Athens and Sparta. Thucydides himself lived in Athens, and his high family connections put him in constant contact with the main people in the war, which would write about.
In 424 B.C. he was appointed General and put in charge of seven ships to help defend the coast. However, this command was short lived, and he was exiled after he failed to save the city of Amphipolis from Spartan attack. Because of his exile, he was able to travel freely between both sides of the war, experiencing battle and meeting soldiers in both armies. This freedom enabled him to write his history far more accurately.
Thucydides narrative ends rather abruptly at the end of the war, in the year 411, leading many people to believe that he was killed before he could finish his book.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides

Balzac

Honore de Balzac (20 May 1799 - 18 August 1850) was a French Novelist and Playwright during the period after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. His work was mostly of satirical nature, and he introduced a new form of writing, where his characters would appear in many different novels, switching between background characters and protagonists, as if their stories were all intertwined and making his novels more realistic. This can be seen in his series of almost 100 works, titled La Comedie Humaine.
Honore was a legendary work-a-holic, oftentimes writing for up to fifteen hours a day, and staying awake by drinking massive amounts of black coffee. His ambition was unending, and he constantly strove to advance farther in life, believing that he could enter politics and continue his writing at the same time. This lifestyle would ultimately prove too strenuous for him, and his health failed him early.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balzac

Richard Burton

Richard Walter Jenkins Jr. (10 November 1925 - 5 August 1984) was a welsh actor. He was born the 12th of 13 children, his mother dying during the final childbirth. Soon after he is sent away and eventually is adopted by a man named Phillip Burton, and later in life takes this last name. He served in the RAF, was nominated for Best Actor seven times, and was best known for his distinguished speaking voice. After training himself to lose his welsh accent, he gained a distinct oratory voice that is still studied and copied by actors today. At one point in time, he is said to have been the highest paid actor in Hollywood.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burton
http://www.jesuslist.com/blog/images/richard-burton.jpeg (image source)

Colonel Kurtz

Colonel Kurtz is a character in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Coppola. He plays the part of an American colonel in the Vietnam War, driven insane by combat to the point that he has gone AWOL and taken command of a group of natives. These native people worship him and fight under him so vehemently that the American and Vietcong forces will not go near his "territory".
In the movie, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is ordered to take down Kurtz by any means necessary. The story follows his trek through Vietnam, as the conflict grows more and more out of hand the farther into the jungle he goes. At the front lines, leadership is almost nonexistent, and battle between forces is chaotic at best. Graphic scenes of war and a few sub-plot elements ensue during his journey, but eventually he reaches the fortress Kurtz has established.
Willard is soon taken captive and his team killed. Kurtz tells him his story of how he became involved in the war, and his steady decline into madness, which he describes as a loss of self-control to the point where he believes that senseless killing and brutality is the only way to win the war. Willard realizes that Kurtz wants to be killed, because he cannot control his own madness.
In the end, Willard kills Kurtz with a machete, and the native forces try to take Willard as their new leader, but he refuses and leaves, which signals the end of the film.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Kurtz

Fronte Del Porto

Fronte Del Porto is the Italian name for the American film "On the Waterfront", directed by Elia Kazan in 1954. The movie is mainly about gang violence, following the story of Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando), a dockworker under local gang boss Johnny Friendly. When Terry becomes romantically involved with the sister of a man who was killed by th mob, she tries to sway him to stand against friendly, with the help of a local priest. Malloy finally does turn against the mob when he is ordered to kill Friendly's brother, and testifies against him in court. Following these events, the other dockworkers turn against him and keep him from having any work. The climax of the story occurs on the docks, when Terry has a brawl with Friendly and comes out the winner, freeing the dockworkers of mob rule and he is once again accepted among his peers.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Waterfront

John Barrymore

John Sidney Blyth Barrymore (14 February 1882 - 29 May 1942) was a famous American actor, and grandfather of film actress Drew Barrymore. Early in life he was nicknamed "The Profile" for his facial features, and was kicked out of school in 1898 for being caught in a Bordello.
In 1906, when "The Big Earthquake" struck San Francisco and reduced the city to rubble, Barrymore created a fake account of things he had seen there and reported them as eyewitness testimony in order to gain publicity. His ploy worked, and his career was boosted higher than ever, so that later when he confessed to his lie, nobody seemed to care.
His early work in the theatre included plays such as Richard III and Hamlet, and he appeared in over 60 films, including Don Juan, Moby Dick, Sherlock Holms, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Barrymore

Christopher Plummer

Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (13 December 1929 - ) Is a Canadian Television, Theatre and Motion Picture Actor. Born in Toronto, he is the great grandson of the former Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John Abbott. He has appeared in over one hundred films, the most notable of which is The Sound of Music, in which he played key character Captain Von Trapp. He became interested in the theatre in high school while studying to be a pianist, and since that time has won various awards for his acting, including Emmys, Tony awards, the Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre, and the Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Plummer

Bloody Henry Starfish

The "Bloody Henry Starfish" (Henricia Oculata) is a type of starfish living largely in the areas around the British Isles. It gets its name from the sometimes blood-red color which is splashed across its surface, often times over other vibrant colors in hues of red, orange, yellow and purple.

Source: http://www.marlin.ac.uk/species/Henriciaoculata.htm

Fragonard's The Swing

The Swing is a painting done by Jean-Honore Fragonard (5 April 1732 - 22 August 1806) in the year 1767. Fragonard is known for his Rococo style, bright colors and exuberant themes. His work is greatluy influenced by the Italian work he studied when he toured the country with his fellow painter Hubert Robert, and has been described as "voluptuous". He is widely considered one of the great French painters of all time.
Though he created a large number of paintings in his time, The Swing is one of only a few dated works, setting it apart from the rest. The painting shows a woman in a large dress swinging highly from a tree branch, being pushed by a character almost hidden in shadow, painted into the background. The woman is lit up brightly from sunlight streaming through the foliage, and a man lies on the ground in front of her, looking up.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragonard