Great Lives

City skylines of tower blocks, motorway networks, urban plazas - everywhere you look today there are traces of the Swiss-French architect

Individually their fates were an immeasurable tragedy for two families, together they were a cause

The Italian's driving walked the line between skill and recklessness but never crossed it

Celebrated as one of Europe’s leading fashion writers, the Italian was better known for her sheer presence on the scene

The Frenchman was no newshound but had a knack of witnessing some of the 20th century’s key episodes

The Dutch actor brought depth at a time when the industry expected little more from roles than grunting henchmen, murderous Nazis or ring fodder for Rocky Balboa

The Austrian-American composer was convinced atonality was the future of music. Sadly, his fear of the number 13 led to his death before this day could arrive

The presenter managed to stay at the top for six decades, winning hearts whether baring her monochrome midriff to a startled nation or holding that same nation’s politicians to account in full colour

One of the greatest portrait photographers of all time, Halsman was able to easily win the trust of some of the greatest figures in modern cultural and political history

The 1954 West Germany captain will always be remembered for the Miracle of Bern but an earlier game was far more important

A self-confessed “unleashed exhibitionist, chasing headlines”, Collin Dufresne lived the life but on her terms

The early leader of the Dadaist movement blurred the boundaries of style and genre, writing poetry as good as his art, making sculptures as good as his collages

He is underrated today compared to the likes of Mozart and Beethoven, but Haydn’s impact on European classical music is immense

The French daredevil whose luck ran out in front of two young future Beatles

She may have been at least as gifted, if not more so than her illustrious brother but Fanny was a woman, making any kind of career in music off limits

Guru or phoney, even in death Helena Blavatsky's spiritual teachings continued to attract admirers

What appears to be the inevitable tragedy of Inger Stevens began long before she arrived in Hollywood and long before she left Sweden for the US

Even inside his own monogrammed funeral casket the writer of Don Quixote remains an enigma

His polymathic attitude to genres and prolific output mean he is rarely spoken of in the same awed tones as a Hitchcock or Capra, but Curtiz was as much of a craftsman as any Hollywood great

Her posthumous reputation dictated by centuries of almost exclusively male gatekeepers, history has not been kind to the queen of both France and England

With more than 100m albums sold, the Anglo-Italian could afford to be sanguine about critical coolness towards his work

Lili Damita began her life as a revue star, ended it as a broken-hearted recluse and married Errol Flynn in between

Few nations can boast a cultural figure so enmeshed with the very essence of their national identity as Taras Shevchenko, writes CHARLIE CONNELLY

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a charming and bewitchingly charismatic medical practitioner whose methods were declared hokum after long keeping the elite mesmerised

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a French cinema legend who always made something extraordinary out of the ordinary

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the actor behind the most terrifying cinematic performance of all time

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the committed revolutionary behind a scene which endures as one of the major turning points in the history of film

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the Viennese artist who shocked the laissez-faire populace of his native city

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a Jewish actress who considered a kick in the behind from Hitler the luck of her life

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a stick-up merchant whose victims were often left feeling almost flattered

CHARLIE CONNELLY on the chat show staple often described as the closest thing Munich had to royalty.

CHARLIE CONNELLY on arguably the most enigmatic figure to orbit the strange world of The Beatles