20 Historical Figures Who Failed Completely Until the Age of 40

Before becoming the face of a global fried chicken empire, this man was a true jack-of-all-trades who seemed unable to make a lasting mark in anything. He lost several jobs, failed in his career as a lawyer, and saw his first restaurant go bankrupt when a new highway was built around its location. It wasn’t until he was 65 that he finally found success by franchising his secret recipe.

Although she is now recognized for her expertise in French cuisine, Julia Child began her career in advertising and with the intelligence services of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). She didn’t learn to cook until after she moved to France in the late 1930s, when she took classes at Le Cordon Bleu. She published The Art of French Cooking at the age of 49.

His early career was, so to speak, a real learning experience in dealing with constant rejection and professional setbacks. He suffered setbacks in the business world and lost several election campaigns before suffering a nervous breakdown well before taking office. He did not become president until he was 50 years old.

Contrary to popular belief, Vera Wang did not grow up dreaming of becoming a fashion icon. In fact, she was first a figure skater, then editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine, before launching her design career. It wasn’t until she was 40, when she opened her first bridal boutique, that she began designing dresses professionally.

This legendary actor perfectly embodies the story of someone who found success later in life in an industry that generally idolizes teenagers. He battled drug addiction and spent years playing minor, insignificant roles in small-scale theater productions throughout his twenties and thirties. Everything changed when he finally broke through in his mid-forties, and since then, he has been one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars.

Ray Kroc spent most of his life going door-to-door selling milkshake mixers before discovering McDonald’s. It wasn’t until he was 52 that he discovered this fast-food chain and convinced its founders to sell him the business. He has since passed away, but he amassed millions thanks to this booming fast-food chain.

Anna Mary Robertson Moses did not begin painting until she was in her late 70s. Before embarking on a career that would make her one of the most famous folk artists the United States has ever known, she worked as a farm laborer and a housekeeper. She considered herself a “talentless” person who enjoyed painting.

Darwin was a poor student who dropped out of medical school before going on to become one of the most famous scientists in history. It wasn’t until he was 50 that he published On the Origin of Species, after spending years developing a passion for barnacles and collecting data.

The creator of Spider-Man once nearly gave up on comics because he felt like a failure. At age 39, Stan Lee was writing comics that held little interest for him and wanted to quit. Fortunately, he created The Fantastic Four instead, thereby giving birth to the universe we know today.

Henry Ford’s first automobile companies went bankrupt because he was unable to streamline production. He was too determined to build the perfect car and refused to compromise. It wasn’t until he was 45 that he finally achieved success with the Ford Model T.

Before becoming America’s leading home decor guru, Martha Stewart was a stockbroker on Wall Street. She then ran a home catering business for more than ten years before publishing her first book at the age of 41. That book was a huge success and helped her become the figure everyone knows today.

Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, worked as a theater director and personal assistant for most of his life. He published several novels that did not achieve the success he had hoped for, and was nearly 50 years old when he published Dracula. He never knew, before his death, just how successful his work would become.

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison did not publish her first novel until she was 39. She worked as an editor by day while raising her two children on her own. She found time to write at irregular hours until her career took off in the 1940s and 1950s.

The inventor of instant ramen didn’t come up with the idea until he was 48 years old. He had already run several successful companies and had been imprisoned for tax fraud following the bankruptcy of a bank. He lived for a year in a warehouse that served as a laboratory for experimenting with ramen before perfecting the process for making dried noodles.

Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, didn’t launch this social media giant until he was 35. A few years earlier, he had tried to create a similar social network called SocialNet, but his project failed because the public wasn’t ready for it yet. It wasn’t until he was nearing 40 that he became a billionaire.

Most people know him for his role as Tony Soprano in the groundbreaking TV series of the same name. What many may not know is that it took Gandolfini 37 years to land that role. Before becoming an actor, he worked as a bouncer, a bartender, and a nightclub manager.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is the author of the famous “Little House on the Prairie” series. But before she began writing these best-selling children’s books, she was a homemaker. It was at the age of 60, encouraged by her daughter, that Wilder began writing.

Best known for films such as Life of Pi and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee was a stay-at-home dad for six years. After college, he felt like a failure because he couldn’t secure funding for his films. He found success in his early 40s and has since won several Oscars.

He is famous for saying that he “had no respect,” which was indeed the case during the first few decades of his life. In fact, he left the entertainment industry in his thirties to sell aluminum siding because he couldn’t make a living as a comedian. It wasn’t until he returned to the spotlight in his late forties that he became the comedy icon we remember today.

Morgan Freeman didn’t become famous until he was approaching 60. He had worked in theater for years and had a recurring role on the children’s show The Electric Company. It wasn’t until the release of the 1987 film Street Smart that he had his first major success.