Famous bankrupts, past & present

I thought I'd post this to remind us that we're not social outcasts


King Edward II - 14th century English king. His 14th century attempt to conquer France led to the Hundred Years' War, and the cost of this scheme put him £30 (approx. $60) in debt - over $7,000,000 in today's cash.) :eek:

Rembrandt 1606-1669 - the famous Dutch painter. He filed for bankruptcy at the age of 50 in 1656. Many of Rembrandt's paintings and his house were sold at an auction. After the bankruptcy, he continued to paint but was not allowed to sell his works directly to customers. He was able to circumvent this law by having his son take over his business and sell his paintings.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756 - 1791, composer. He fell heavily into debt in his early 30s and when he died at age 35, was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.

Thomas Jefferson - when Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, his large estate and all his possessions, including 130 slaves, were auctioned off to pay his creditors.

Milton Hershey - founder of Hershey’s chocolate, his first four companies failed, his fifth is now one of the worlds largest chocolate manufacturers.

Walt Disney – Disney founded his first company (the Laugh-O-Gram Corp) in 1921 with $15,000 from investors, went bankrupt two years later when his investors pulled out due to distribution problems. His next company did rather better.

L. Frank Baum - he ran a store into bankruptcy in Aberdeen, SD, before he turned to writing. He wrote the “Wizard of Oz”.
Immanuel Nobel (father of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Peace Prize) - bankrupt twice.
Henry John Heinz - condiment manufacturer.
James Abbot McNeil Whistler - Artist
Abraham Lincoln - American president
Mark Twain - American author
Oscar Wilde - poet and author
Henry Ford – first two automobile companies failed.
William Fox - co-founder of 20th Century Fox
Charles Goodyear - inventor and tyre manufacturer
Mickey Rooney - actor
Lionel Bart - British composer
Harry Saltzman - film producer of James Bond
Isaac Hayes – Songwriter, composer, singer Soul Ltd.
Larry King - talk-show host
Tom Petty - rock star
Cyndi Lauper - rock star
Meat Loaf - rock star
Mick Fleetwood - rock star
Marvin Gaye - singer
Andy Gibb - rock star
Jerry Lee Lewis - Rock n’ Roll star
Tammy Wynette - country music star
Willie Nelson - rock star
Kim Basinger - actress
Gary Coleman - star of "Diff'rent Strokes"
Burt Reynolds - actor
Debbie Reynolds - actress
MC Hammer - musician
Natalie Cole - singer
Toni Braxton - rock star
Chaka Kahn - rock star
Mike Tyson - boxer
Chris Eubank - boxer
Anna-Nicole Smith - Playboy centrefold
Natalie Cole - singer
Lynne Spears - mother of Britney
Don Johnson - actor-producer
Eddie "The Eagle" - ski jumper
Heidi Fleiss
Members of the Jackson family - first Michael's parents with debts of $45m :eek:, then some of the children - Tito, Jermaine, Randy and Rebbie. Apparently, Michael and his songbird sisters Janet and LaToya did nothing, saying they had no part of the family firm. La Toya Jackson then went bankrupt herself, & Michael is rumoured to be heading for bankruptcy himself. At one point, he'd managed to reduce his spending to £1m a month. :eek:


See, there is life after bankruptcy. It doesn't mark you as a failure for the rest of your life. For many people, the challenge of rising again after it made them that much more determined to succeed in the future. There's no reason why that can't be the case for any of us as well.

[threadbanner]box[/threadbanner]