Patrick Stewart was a Shakespearean actor before 'Star Trek' and was discovered by one of the show's producers during a UCLA class.

Throughout his life, he appeared in numerous pop culture moments—from "The Simpsons" to "The Big Bang Theory"—showing his talent for comedy and his love of science outreach. He was the only person to play himself on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," even writing some of his own lines.

Shakespeare's works have been used to interpret moments in US history, from the Astor Place Riot in 1849 and Lincoln's frequent quotations of "Macbeth," to the use of Shakespeare in nationwide classrooms today.

Redmond O’Hanlon was a police officer living on Staten Island, New York, when he competed on “The $64,000 Question.” His knowledge of Shakespeare earned him $16,000, which was four times his annual salary. After appearing on the show, he became a minor celebrity, and created a Shakespeare-themed set of playing cards and established the O'Hanlon Shakespeare Service, a consultancy on the Bard, all while continuing to work for the NYPD.

Dr. King praised the show’s vision of an integrated future and convinced African-American actress Nichelle Nichols to remain on the show, arguing her role offered a rare, powerful image of racial equality on American television.

- "Star Trek" actor George Takei (1937-present)

The Guardian worked through the Bard's plays, from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to "The Winter's Tale," evaluating what distinguishes the mediocre from the truly excellent.

Rehabilitation of convicted violent criminals in Missouri’s Eastern Correctional Center included performances of “Hamlet,” one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays.

Robert Greene was a respected writer during Shakespeare’s time as an actor-playwright who famously dismissed the young upstart, accusing him of plagiarism and criticizing his ability to write blank verse.

Actors playing in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”—a story filled with ghosts, witches, and magic—call it the “Scottish play” out of superstition, a tradition since the play’s first production.

Hal Holbrook toured in the one-man show “Mark Twain Tonight!” for over six decades. In the performances, Holbrook wore Twain’s iconic white suit and offered witticisms similar to Twain’s famous lectures. Holbrook won a Tony Award in 1966 for a Broadway run of the show.

Bernhardt was a popular 19th- and 20th-century actress with a knack for self-promotion. Case in point: When she took over the Théâtre de Ville in Paris, she renamed it Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. Her production of "Hamlet" at the theater starred her, naturally, as the titular character. A recording of the performance is believed to be the first woman to play Hamlet caught on film.

According to one professor, readers return to Shakespeare's plays, not for his storylines, but to learn how things unfold. In the process, they often use his plays to understand why humans act the way they do.

The show follows a 1970s rock band while they're in the studio, tracking a new album, and mirrors many of the internal conflicts that led to Fleetwood Mac's 1977 record, "Rumours." The play was a massive hit, earning 13 Tony nominations (the most ever for a play). It won five, including best play.

Between 1600 and 1610, he produced some of his best-known works, including “Hamlet,“ “Othello,“ “King Lear,“ and “Macbeth.“

Calling something “Shakespearean” often denotes a high-quality work of art or a story that recalls one of the Bard’s plays.

Although surprisingly little is known about the actual man, William Shakespeare holds an unrivalled place in English letters. His characters, from Hamlet to Hermione, have inspired countless imitators, responses, and caricatures, and this list gathers a few of the best for the modern reader, including Richard Adams' adaptation of King Lear through a story about dogs.

Most of his plays were written for the stage, so it took his admirers to compile the play texts posthumously in 1623. This became the famous “First Folio,” the basis of Shakespeare’s literary posterity.

The Bard's dad was Stratford-upon-Avon's official "conner," the title reserved for those who tested the strength and quality of locally brewed ale. The job was not as easy as it might sound: He was expected to see if the ale had spoiled, meaning he sometimes had to drink bad beer.

Birth in 1564 in the small town of Stratford-upon-Avon; marriage to Anne Hathaway in 1582; and the appearance of his first born (1583) and first printed play (1594): If you’ve ever doubted the Bard’s existence, here are his life’s milestones backed by historical documents.

Major contemporaries of Shakespeare have been proposed as the real writer of his plays and poems, including Anne Hathaway, Ben Jonson, and Sir Walter Raleigh.

As the show became a pop culture sensation in the late '80s, it began attracting celebrities eager to get in on the fun. This list ranks some of the best of those appearances, including Meryl Streep, Paul McCartney, and Dustin Hoffman.

Based in the small hamlet of Ashland, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival produces works both by the Bard and more contemporary writers, attracting thousands to the town's three theaters.

Michaels was a costar on "The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour," a popular show on the Canadian network CBC. As these clips show, it was a standard variety show, something Michaels would intentionally react against with "SNL."

His clever wordsmithery infiltrated English, from “Neither rhyme nor reason” to “In my heart of hearts.” This article lists nearly two dozen of his best-known phrases.

Before gaining fame as a physicist, Hawking was a coxswain at Oxford, where the sport helped him find his social footing and develop leadership skills, even as his motor neuron disease began to emerge.

Although William Shakespeare is widely considered to be the authentic author of the plays attributed to him, there are still dozens of theories suggesting that others are responsible for the classic works. Was it actually his contemporary, Christopher Marlowe? Or maybe his wife, Anne Hathaway? This list explains the 10 most popular theories that have been proposed, much to more than a few Shakespeare scholars' chagrin.

The directors of the many "Hamlet" film adaptations have used setting, context, and tone to reframe the "To be, or not to be" monologue. Laurence Olivier's 1948 version presents it as a meditation on suicide; Kenneth Branagh's 1996 version interrogates surveillance. Lucy Zhao's 2025 film "Hamnet," although not a true adaptation of the play, utilizes the soliloquy twice to illustrate how characters grapple with grief.

Yale critic Harold Bloom believed the Bard transformed the way humanity understood itself, a thesis laid out in his book "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human."

Stephen Hawking relied on a voice synthesizer after losing the ability to speak due to complications with ALS. Despite technological advances, he refused to change the "Perfect Paul" voice, making it a cornerstone of his public identity.

When NBC decided to adapt "The Office" for American audiences, they auditioned in several comic character actors, including Seth Rogen, Bob Odenkirk, Kathryn Hahn, and Adam Scott. Though those actors didn't land the parts, they did end up with major roles in other critically-acclaimed movies and TV shows, including "Knocked Up," "Abigail All Along," "Better Call Saul," and "Severance."

Structured verse signals formality, often used by high-ranking characters; in contrast, unstructured prose is typically used in informal, more witty situations by lower-status characters.

Beyond his famous plays, Shakespeare penned 154 sonnets, including the well-known romantic ode “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” He also wrote two long poems as well as several minor pieces.

Some believe Shakespeare helped write the King James Bible—and left his name hidden in Psalm 46. The evidence seems uncanny… but the truth is much less dramatic.

In the 19th century, pre-Raphaelites like Millais sought to showcase life and nature honestly, using common references like the Bible, ordinary people and Shakespeare. Explore some of Millais' better known paintings inspired by the Bard here, including his world-renowned "Ophelia."

Lucy Hawking details what it was like to be the daughter of the famed cosmologist and what his life looked like from her eyes. Among the anecdotes was Stephen's enjoyment of being on "The Simpsons" because production gave him a wheelchair with helicopter blades.

New ideas in math were transforming Europe at the time Shakespeare penned his plays, including newly popular conceptions of zero via philosophers Descartes and Leibniz.

As the producer and director of iconic shows like "West Side Story," "Sweeney Todd," and "Evita," Hal Prince made a huge impression on Broadway history. This episode of the "Anything Goes" podcast is part of a three-part series that highlights the songs that defined Prince's career.

Regional theaters like the La Jolla Playhouse often act as testing grounds for Broadway, allowing audiences to witness groundbreaking world premieres before they hit the Great White Way.

Arthur Brooke's "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" was first published in 1562 and shares many details with Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." Shakespeare wasn't alone in his borrowing; Brooke's poem was based on other earlier Italian stories. None of this writing was considered fan fiction—copyright law didn't exist, and stories were regularly cribbed from preexisting sources.