Mental Floss

CELEBRITIES

Virginia Woolf.

With flowing prose and a courageous pen, Virginia Woolf wasn't afraid to dissect any topic, whether it was the idiocy of warfare or the joys of sex.

Mark Mancini
Brendon Thorne, Getty Images

Dolly Parton is loved, lauded, and larger than life, and she might just be the most charitable celebrity on the planet.

Kristy Puchko, Erika Wolf








Alan Rickman and Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988).

What do you get when you mix one part action movie with one part holiday flick and add in a dash of sweaty tank top? Why, 'Die Hard,' of course.

Jennifer M Wood








Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Richard Pryor is considered by many to be the greatest stand-up comedian of all time. Yet the indelible mark Pryor made on the world of comedy only tells part of his story.

Colin Patrick
Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

Having a statue erected in your likeness sounds like it would be an honor. But when the end result leaves you looking disfigured, soulless, or otherwise terrifying for all eternity, it's worth considering that sometimes it's not the thought that counts.

Hannah Keyser






MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images

"Optimism means better than reality; pessimism means worse than reality," 'The Handmaid's Tale' author Margaret Atwood said. "I'm a realist."

Beth Anne Macaluso