It is never too late to be successful in life. In this day and age of start-ups and millennials, it is good to be reminded that success can be a combination of good timing, luck, and ability. Therefore, one’s age may not have anything to do it with it much.
Check out these 24 people who started reaping the rewards of their hard work at the ripe age of 40, according to the Business Insider.
Life Starts At 40
The Business Insider list includes several celebrities and those working in the entertainment industry.
Stand-up comedian Rodney Dangerfield made his big break into the business at 46, when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in March 1967. It was a chance opportunity that Dangerfield took because the original act could not make it. After that, he began to make regular appearances in the show, and also headlined his own shows in Las Vegas. He, later on, found a comedy club that became the stepping stone for many comedians that followed.
Samuel L. Jackson is most recently known for his work in the Avengers movies among others. But did you know that his first role that got him noticed was in Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever. He was 43 then.
Betty White is an American comedic actress who has many awards in her name. She became known in Hollywood when she played the role of Susan Ann Nivens in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, at the age of 51. She became a household name playing Rose Nylund in hit sitcom The Golden Girls.
Stan Lee started out as a prolific comic book writer, and his first hit comic The Fantastic Four came out right before he turned 40. What followed was his creation of a whole universe of characters now known as the Marvel Universe. He did not stop at comic book publishing however, and expanded Marvel Comics into the multimedia publishing giant it is now.
Creative Minds At 40
Vera Wang is a world-renowned designer. But before she entered the fashion industry, she tried her hand in professional figure skating but did not make the cut to the US team. She then became an editor at Vogue where she worked for 17 years before quitting and setting up her own line of wedding gowns.
In the culinary front, Julia Child, celebrated chef and host brought French cooking into American homes. After living and travelling around France with her husband, she published her first cookbook Master The Art of French Cooking in 1961, when she was 49 years old.
Husband and wife Tim and Nina Zagat were successful in their law practice when they thought of creating the first platform for “user-generated content” in the area of food and restaurant reviews. From printed copies, the Zagats now have a full-blown website that is known for reliable first-hand reviews.
Profilic artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, also known as Grandma Moses, bravely started her art career at the age of 78. Her folk art reflects rural country life in America, and one painting The Sugaring Off sold for a whopping US$ 1.2 million in 2006.
Two writers join the list: Harry Bernstein and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Bernstein was a freelance writer for magazines but he became known very late in his life when he published his memoir The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers in 2007, when Bernstein was 96. Wilder on the other hand, authored the well-known “Little House” series of books which became the basis for the popular TV series. She published the first book when she was 65.
Scientists And Inventors
Leading the pack of scientists and inventors in the list is Charles Darwin. At 50, Darwin published his treatise on Origin of the Species, which became the basis for the science of evolution. Henry Ford, industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company, is also known for inventing the first automobile widely bought by Americans. Ford was 45 years old.
On the culinary front, Japanese inventor Momofoku Ando is credited for coming up with the first instant chicken ramen, at the age of 48. This led him to establish Nissin Foods, which later on also invented the first cup noodles. Physicist John “Jack” Cover, Jr. on the other hand invented the Taser stun gun. He was 50 years old when he set up the company Taser Systems.
Making It Big In Business
The final set of people on the list come from the business sector. All of them made a name for themselves after they reached 40 years of age. They are Sam Walton of Walmart, one of the biggest store chains in the U.S., Ray Kroc of McDonald’s and Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Wally Blume also makes to the list, having established Denali Flavors, an ice cream company. Jack Weil founded what became a well-known Western clothing line, Rockmount Ranch Wear. He also became the oldest working CEO until his death in 2008.
Taikichiro Mori made it big in the real estate industry in Japan, establishing the Mori Building Company in 1955, when he was already over 50 years old. Mori was named the Richest Man in the world in 1991 and 1992. Start up entrepreneur Robin Chase also made it to the over 40 list. She founded the car sharing company Zipcar and is now a member of the World Economic Forum’s transportation council.