Who is the most influential celebrity in America? Steven Spielberg, according to Forbes. And why? “Spielberg’s amazing storytelling abilities,” is the answer.
And boy, the stories he’s told! A fedora-wearing archaeologist in search of lost artifacts. A menacing shark in coastal waters. A little boy who befriends a lonely alien. A park where dinosaurs rule the earth once again.
But if his adventure stories or sci-fi films aren’t your thing, he has also given us tales based on real life: “Amistad,” The Sugarland Express,” “Catch Me if You Can,” and most recently “Lincoln.”
Spielberg’s score for influence is 47, which translates to 47% of the American public considering him to be influential. I know he certainly has been influential to me. His movies have inspired me for the majority of my life, and they are largely to blame for making me consider being an archaeologist or a paleontologist. Briefly. I also owned a brown leather jacket in high school that was ridiculously too large for me, but it reminded me of Indy’s. I cried when he accepted the Academy Awards for “Schindler’s List,” because I knew how important making that film was to him. I am, like many others, a fan of his films.
And his reach doesn’t end with just movies. He’s producer on “Falling Skies,” “Under the Dome,” and the upcoming “Halo” series based on the popular game franchise and “Extant,” starring Halle Berry and scheduled to debut this summer.
His lifetime average gross total for films he’s directed is $4,155,901,520. Billions and billions of movie dollars.
He ousts Oprah Winfrey, last year’s highest ranking celebrity, from the top of the list. She now occupies the #2 slot. Now that she is mostly working behind the scenes at her OWN cable network, her influence has declined a bit. Still, she found time to appear in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” a film that has earned critical acclaim.
In third place is George Lucas, a name very familiar to all of us, I think. Although Disney now owns Lucasfilm and, with it, “Star Wars,” Lucas’ name is still the one getting the attention. The saga about Jedi and the Force is more in the news now than it has been in years, in light of the upcoming Episode VII directed by J.J. Abrams. However, Lucas is the man who created the story that begins a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, and it’s that foundation that future films will be built upon. Whether fans like it or not, Lucas will always be a part of “Star Wars.”
Who is your most influential celebrity?
(via Forbes)