Babe Ruth

[Ken Gargett]

the soccer players are the ones that have real resonance around the world. and jordan certainly did. michael jackson, i suspect quite possibly during his time. princess di? certainly the west. 

beethoven? no disrespect (and yes, not an american) but not within cooee. einstein ditto. i honestly doubt these guys would feature in the top ten. 

guys, we are looking at this largely from our own western perspective. think about the billions of people on the planet in africa/asia et al, and levels of education, access to western news (better with the internet but still), interest and so on. that is why it is people like jordan, maradona, messi, ronaldo, ali. pele is probably less so these days. for the sub-continent, insert cricketers. 

how many kids in china or central africa or the middle east are going to recognise beethoven's fifth? how many would have even heard it, let alone know who wrote it, even if they might have heard the name beethoven? then think how many will know the names of messi and so on. 

[Fosgate]

I'm going to say Michael Jackson for #1, Obama for #2. The rest just guess. Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Al Capone, Franklin  D. Roosevelt, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey. 

[Jeremy Festa]

It's Justin Beiber

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CaptainQuintero]

23 minutes ago, Fosgate said:

I'm going to say Michael Jackson for #1, Obama for #2. The rest just guess. Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Al Capone, Franklin  D. Roosevelt, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, Bob Hope, Beyonce, Oprah Winfrey. 

 

Hitchcock was English 

[Fosgate]

40 minutes ago, CaptainQuintero said:

 

Hitchcock was English 

WAS. He moved to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. Citizen in 1956. (his peak years were the 1950's). So he was an American when "The Birds" and "Psycho" were made. So, he was also an American. 

[planetary]

I slept on the problem, and have reached the conclusion that the most famous American known abroad must be Darth Vader.

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, Fosgate said:

WAS. He moved to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. Citizen in 1956. (his peak years were the 1950's). So he was an American when "The Birds" and "Psycho" were made. So, he was also an American. 

and either way, we are all still looking at this from an older generation and very western perspective. not a chance.

think of the % of the world's population, especially outside the west, which is under 20 or 25 or even 30. think of their lives. how many people in china/india/south america/africa are sitting down and watching hitchcock movies and then rule out all those that have no idea he made them and less interest. and even if they know that, it would be a tiny imprint on the consciousness soon forgotten. 

[jpnyc]

The most recognizable people around the world will always be in the entertainment industry. At this point everyone around the world know what a Kardashian is, sad fact of our current culture, but most wouldn't know Steph Curry who is all that everyone talks a bout in the US now. If you asked people outside of the US who Joe Dimaggio is, many would say he was Marilyn Monroe's husband. Soccer and tennis players are probably the most recognized athletes in the world. Before I moved to the US from Europe as a little kid almost 3 decades ago, I knew Pele, Maradonna, Andre Agassi, Monica Seles, and many of the famous basketball players. I had no clue who Babe Ruth or Mantle were. Baseball and American Football players are pretty much unknown to the rest of the world. That's just my humble opinion.

[Mattygukas]

Actually we are all wrong!  Mickey Mouse is the most famous and recognizable for sure!! 

[CaptainQuintero]

18 hours ago, Fosgate said:

WAS. He moved to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. Citizen in 1956. (his peak years were the 1950's). So he was an American when "The Birds" and "Psycho" were made. So, he was also an American. 

That's kind of stretching it to the limits of elasticity! 

I've never heard anyone make any claim for Hitchcock to be anything other than England's greatest filmmaker, it's pretty bizarre to see it mentioned otherwise

You're not going to claim Charlie Chaplin too are you? 

 

[perkinke]

The discussion has focused almost solely on men, but where would Madonna fall? She's done several world tours and at her peak Mia Hamm was fairly widely known. I am trying to remember who several Vietnamese people asked me about when I was there a couple of years ago, it was a person I was surprised anyone knew outside the US. Hmm....

But the baseball references would be hard to pick up even in the US these days, it's just not very relevant to a growing part of the population.