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Gone With the Wind, the 1939 film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, has a complicated and even contradictory legacy. It is a towering achievement of Old Hollywood, as well as an overly long melodrama of more than three and a half hours; a faithful re-creation of the ways of the antebellum South and a whitewashed representation of the horrors of slavery. But regardless of one’s views, Gone With the Wind was undeniably a seismic force in Depression-era America, and it remains a cultural touchstone even now. Here are eight facts about this famous book and even more famous movie.

Its Author Was Reluctant To Share the Story

In 1926, Mitchell began work on her sweeping Civil War-era novel as she recovered from a badly sprained ankle. Featuring a main character named Pansy O’Hara, under a title that swayed between options including Bugles Sang True and Tote the Weary Load, the story was largely written in secret over the following decade. After a friend tipped off Macmillan Publishers editor Harold Latham to the manuscript’s existence, Mitchell declined his initial offer to read the story during his trip to Atlanta in 1935, only to hand it over shortly before his departure. Latham sensed a bestseller within the yellowed, scribbled-out pages, and his instinct bore fruit when Gone With the Wind sold 1 million copies in the first six months after its 1936 release.

Some Arm-Twisting Was Required To Get Clark Gable on Board

Having already garnered acclaim for his starring roles in It Happened One Night (1934) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), Clark Gable was the preferred choice of producer David O. Selznick for the screen version of Rhett Butler. However, because Gable was under contract with MGM (which was run by Selznick’s father-in-law, Louis Mayer), the star was made available only after a profit-sharing agreement that also gave the film’s distribution rights to MGM’s parent company. Gable himself nearly torpedoed the arrangement, as he was unsure of his ability to handle the demanding role, although he reportedly acquiesced for financial reasons because of his looming divorce from Maria Langham.

Shooting Began Before the Film Had its Scarlett O’Hara

After a nationwide search for Scarlett O’Hara failed to yield anyone promising, and a deal for would-be star Paulette Goddard was scrapped, the film was still lacking a female lead when shooting commenced with the burning of Atlanta sequence in December 1938. That same evening, Selznick’s agent brother Myron was dining with a group that included English actress Vivien Leigh, who coveted the part of the Southern belle. When Myron arrived to the set with his dinner party, his brother was struck by the intensity of Leigh’s gaze, which seemed to echo Mitchell’s very description: “The green eyes in the carefully sweet face were turbulent, willful, lusty with life, distinctly at variance with her decorous demeanor.” A hastily arranged screen test revealed that Leigh possessed a plucky attitude to match her appearance, and the film had its long-awaited leading lady.

Only One Screenwriter Was Credited for the Work of Many

Although Sidney Howard is the sole credited screenwriter for the movie, some 15 different people contributed to the script. After Howard completed his long-winded draft, Oliver H. P. Garrett, John Van Druten, Jo Swerling, and F. Scott Fitzgerald all took their turns at meeting Selznick’s exacting standards. Ben Hecht later worked on an intensive weeklong rewrite alongside Selznick and director Victor Fleming, with 20-hour days fueled by peanuts, bananas, and Dexedrine, a drug used to treat ADHD. Ultimately, however, much of these efforts were undone by Selznick, who claimed 80% of the shooting script as his own work.

There Were Nearly Two Dozen Alternate Choices for the Film’s Riskiest Line

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a hoot!” That was one of the proposed alternate choices for Butler’s memorable final line, as Selznick was unsure whether “damn” would make it past the censors of the Motion Picture Production Code (more popularly known as the Hays Code). Although it’s been reported that the producer was fined $5,000 for electing to go ahead with the line as is, an amendment to Production Code rules enacted before the film’s release actually permitted the use of mild swearing in “proper historical context” or in “a quotation from a literary work.” Thus, “I don’t give a damn” was given the green light, sparing the audience from decidedly less juicy put-downs such as “the whole thing is a stench in my nostrils” or “it makes my gorge rise.”

Hattie McDaniel Accepted Her Landmark Academy Award in a Segregated Venue

While Hattie McDaniel made history as the first Black actor to win an Academy Award, for her performance as Mammy, her victory was clouded by the attitudes of a society that in some ways hadn’t changed much since the Reconstruction era. With the awards ceremony set to be held in February 1940 at the segregated Ambassador Hotel’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Selznick reportedly had to make a special request to have McDaniel admitted — and even then, she was seated at a back table separate from the film’s other stars. This came two months after McDaniel and other Black cast members were told not to show up for the film’s lavish premiere in Atlanta, an act that nearly pushed an angered Gable into boycotting the event.

It Is the Highest-Grossing Film Ever When Adjusted for Inflation

Made for the then-whopping cost of around $4 million (estimates vary), Selznick’s opus proved worth the investment when audiences flocked to theaters to watch Scarlett and Rhett match wits on screen. Gone With the Wind took home $189 million during its initial domestic release, a jaw-dropping sum at a time when movie tickets cost around a quarter. Worldwide, the feature grossed approximately $393 million, translating to about $3.44 billion in 2014 dollars, which puts the Hollywood classic above more recent blockbusters such as Avatar (2009) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) on the list of the highest-grossing films when accounting for inflation.

Multiple Prequels and Sequels Have Appeared in Print

Although Mitchell had no intention of delivering a sequel, the heirs to her intellectual property had different ideas, resulting in the 1991 publication of Alexandra Ripley’s Scarlett: The Sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Featuring a story line that brings its heroine to Ireland, Scarlett drew plenty of criticism but nevertheless sold well enough to be adapted into a 1994 TV miniseries starring Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Timothy Dalton. Two more authorized novels by Donald McCaig followed: Rhett Butler’s People (2007), which expands on the original book from the title character’s point of view, and Ruth’s Journey (2014), which tells Mammy’s backstory. Meanwhile, the Mitchell estate attempted to block the 2001 release of Alice Randall’s The Wind Done Gone, about Scarlett’s enslaved half-sister, before publication was permitted with an “unauthorized parody” label on the cover.

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Decades ago, the world didn’t just look different; it sounded different, too. We communicated, watched our favorite movies, and did mundane tasks using different devices, and as technology has progressed, so has the noise we hear every day. A smartphone buzzing on a table would have been an unfamiliar noise 20 years ago — and a lot of stuff we used back then has fallen silent today.

Take a listen down memory lane with these eight sounds that we don’t hear much anymore, from old-timey internet accessories to vintage AV equipment.

Dial-Up Modem

Back in the early days of the internet, your connection worked through your landline phone. Instead of having your internet on most of the time, you had to deliberately connect by asking your computer to dial in. That started a telltale series of intense-sounding noises, beginning with a dialing sound and escalating into bouncing beep-boops and several pitches of static. This song-and-dance served a purpose: The sounds were the various complicated steps of computers trying to talk to one another using borrowed infrastructure.

Because the connection tied up your phone line, if you didn’t have a second line and somebody tried to call you, they’d get another sound you don’t hear too often nowadays …

Busy Signal

It’s now really easy to put someone on hold to answer another call. But back when nearly everyone had a landline, it was common to call someone and hear a series of beeps indicating that they were on another call. Call waiting eventually became available for nonbusiness landlines, but it still wasn’t as easy to switch over as it is on a smartphone, since there wasn’t any visual interface to guide you.

“You’ve Got Mail!”

America Online, better known as AOL, used to be America’s biggest internet provider, and was so ubiquitous in everyday culture that you didn’t have to be a subscriber to know what it sounded like to get an email via the service. A male voice semi-enthusiastically stating, “You’ve got mail!” was so well known that it even lent its name to an A-list rom-com.

“Accidentally Called a Fax Machine” Sound

Having to key in a number every time you called someone — as opposed to just finding someone in your contact list or making Siri call someone for you — meant that mistakes were inevitably made. Sometimes you’d read the wrong line of a business card, dial the wrong number, or just catch someone at the wrong time and get a screeching ringing sound, indicating that there was a fax machine on the other end.

TV Test Pattern Beep

If you still have TV service, there’s something on 24/7, even if it’s infomercials. Years ago, however, channels would eventually pack it in for the night and display a test pattern — a series of colorful bars designed for calibrating a color TV or, on the other end, a camera. (Before color TVs, they looked much different.) This was often accompanied by an obnoxious long beep for calibrating audio.

Rewinding Tape Noise

From the 1970s until DVDs took over, most home video was on VHS tapes, which used a length of magnetic tape to store audio and video. Tape moved from one spool to the other as the video played, so if you wanted to go back to the beginning, you’d have to rewind it, which made a distinct whirring sound. The same thing applied to audiocassettes, although you could flip those over and play the other side to get back to square one.

Rotary Telephone Dials

When you dial a phone — even a landline — you’re typically pressing buttons, not actually dialing. Rotary telephones predate the touch-tone models most people are used to, and had an actual round dial, with different points corresponding to different numbers. To call someone, you had to turn the dial from each number, let go, and wait for the dial to return to the starting point before putting in the next digit. The rotation of the dial made a kind of rapid clicking sound.

Adding Machine Typing and Tape Sounds

If you needed to crunch some numbers on a calculator and required a record of your work, you used to need an adding machine — a calculator that printed out each equation and sum as you typed. Then you could use it as a receipt or go back and check your work. It made a distinct series of sounds: an electric typewriter-esque tapping as you entered the numbers, then a big crunch when you told it to add or subtract and it went to the next line.

It was a pretty common sight (and sound), especially in stores, in banks, and around tax time, until everybody had a computer in their pocket that could do the same thing.

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He was an irresistibly compelling actor who exploded from the stage in A Streetcar Named Desire and the screen in On the Waterfront and The Godfather, before seemingly rejecting the ability and beauty that had made him so famous. But even in a career marked by as many disappointments as triumphs, Marlon Brando was never anything less than an original character. Here are nine facts about the life of a Hollywood icon who raised the bar for all the leading men who followed.

A Teenage Brando Was Expelled From Military School

The youngest child of a strict father and an alcoholic mother, and hamstrung by dyslexia, Brando acted out in school. According to Peter Manso’s biography, Brando orchestrated an endless series of pranks while accumulating just six of 15 possible credits over three years at Libertyville (Illinois) High School, forcing his dad to arrange a transfer to Minnesota’s Shattuck Military Academy. But the disruptions continued in Shattuck’s hallways, with Brando at one point hiding the dining room silverware before he was kicked out at the end of his second year. Amazingly, the cadets who were often the butt of his jokes threatened to boycott classes over what they felt was an unfair expulsion, and Brando later framed the letter of support they wrote to him.

He Nearly Blew the Opportunity for His Breakout Stage Role

After witnessing Brando’s impressive audition for A Streetcar Named Desire in August 1947, director Elia Kazan gave the magnetic young actor money to take a bus to Massachusetts for a further tryout with playwright Tennessee Williams. Brando instead spent the cash on party supplies, before hitchhiking his way to Massachusetts a week later. Upon reaching Williams’ home, Brando smoothed over any bad feelings about his late arrival by fixing a blown fuse and broken toilet. A quick read for the part sealed the deal, and Brando was on his way to revealing his preternatural talent to the world.

He Directed One Feature Film

Taking on an outsized role in the production of One-Eyed Jacks (1961), Brando drove out original helmer Stanley Kubrick and took over double duty as director and star of the Western. That worked out fine for his artistic sensibilities, but Brando’s habit of letting the camera endlessly roll as characters improvised their way through scenes took its toll on time and budget constraints. After viewing the costly, 4.5-hour director’s cut, producer Frank P. Rosenberg complained, “That’s not a picture. That’s just an assemblage of footage.” One-Eyed Jacks was whittled down to 141 minutes, and while the still-meandering final product has its admirers, the experience was apparently off-putting enough to discourage its star from returning to the director’s chair.

Brando Owned an Atoll in French Polynesia

After frolicking in the tropical locale of Tahiti during the filming of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Brando decided to take a slice of paradise for himself by buying the nearby atoll of Tetiaroa in 1966. Although the initial plan was to build a hotel as part of what would become a self-sustaining community, Brando preferred using the property as a private retreat for himself, family, and friends, though he neglected to put in the time and money needed for its upkeep. He steered clear of Tetiaroa following a tragedy involving his son and a daughter’s boyfriend in the early 1990s, and a section of the atoll was leased to a developer after the actor’s death in 2004. That area now boasts the Brando Resort, the sort of exclusive vacation destination its namesake was reluctant to develop while still alive.

He Spontaneously Created Vito Corleone’s Persona During a Screen Test

Although Paramount Studio executives were loath to cast Brando in The Godfather (1972) following his string of poorly received films, director Francis Ford Coppola convinced them to at least consider a screen test. He subsequently brought a camera to Brando’s home, upon which the just-awakened host, realizing this was his audition, quickly slipped into his interpretation of Mafia boss Vito Corleone. Suggesting that Corleone should “look like a bulldog” and talk in a peculiar way, Brando stuffed tissues into his mouth and began acting out the character, even delivering that now-famous mumbling when answering a phone call. The once-leery execs were floored by the footage, paving the way for Brando’s highly celebrated comeback.

Brando Surprised Sacheen Littlefeather With His Plan for the 1973 Oscars

In one of the more infamous moments of his career, Brando sent actress and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to the 1973 Academy Awards to decline his Best Actor Oscar over “treatment of American Indians today by the film industry.” Littlefeather, who had struck up a friendship with the actor via their shared passion for Native American rights, reportedly wasn’t aware of the full scope of Brando’s plan until the afternoon of the Oscars telecast. She then waited as Brando worked on a lengthy speech, leaving her barely enough time to make it to the ceremony, and endured harassment in the parking lot before making it back to the safety of the actor’s home. According to Manso’s biography, Brando was happy with her effort, although he later noted that he’d “probably handle it differently” were he to do it all over again.

He Was Close Friends With Fellow Star Jack Nicholson

While Brando and Jack Nicholson made for a fun pairing in the 1976 Western The Missouri Breaks, the two were far closer than your typical co-stars. The actors shared a driveway as Los Angeles-area neighbors for about 30 years, and at one point even lived together while Nicholson was going through a divorce. Nicholson helped care for Brando toward the end of his life, after which he penned a heartfelt obituary in Rolling Stone magazine. He also purchased the late actor’s mansion with the hope of making it available to Brando’s children, but reportedly turned it into a garden when none of them showed any interest in the property.

Brando Received Four Patents for a Drum Tuner

An enthusiastic percussionist with an ear for Afro-Cuban music and an innovative mind, Brando devoted much of his final years to developing a new and improved conga drum. Collaborating with a custom drum parts maker and a patent attorney, Brando obtained four patents for his drum tuner, a single lever and linkage system designed to replace the five or six bolts normally used for the purpose. He even produced a few working prototypes, but was unable to get the design licensed before his passing.

More Than 300 Hours of Confessional Audio Tapes Were Found After His Death

Although Brando published an autobiography in 1994, that book provided only a partial reveal of a celebrity who increasingly shunned the spotlight. Additional insights arrived around 20 years later, when a production team gained access to more than 300 hours of audio footage of the actor waxing on his troubled upbringing, his own struggles as a father, his relationship with fame, and much more. Producers also found rudimentary 3D scans of Brando’s head, and used updated technology to match some of the audio with his animated, talking face. The result was the 2015 documentary Listen to Me Marlon, a life story narrated solely by the enigmatic star, between old film and interview clips, that marked one final posthumous screen performance.

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Most of us are familiar with holiday-themed movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story, whether they’re remembered from childhood or part of an annual tradition today. But even the die-hard enthusiasts who’ve committed the dialogue to heart may not know the behind-the-scenes stories that helped bring these heartwarming films to life. Here are nine facts about some of the classics that regularly show up on our TVs in November and December, but of course can be enjoyed at any time of year.

A New Kind of Fake Snow Was Created for “It’s a Wonderful Life”

The problem that plagues many holiday movies is how to create convincing snow when there isn’t any, and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) director Frank Capra wasn’t satisfied with the bleached cornflakes that had been used to middling effect in other Hollywood features. Fortunately, RKO special-effects man Russell Shearman found a solution by mixing the carbon dioxide foam found in fire extinguishers with soap, sugar, and water. The resulting mix not only looked the part (and was much less noisy than cornflakes), but it also held up through fan-controlled applications that could be sped up to simulate a blizzard. More than enough of this “snow” was created to give the fictional Bedford Falls a wintry backdrop despite the film’s summertime shoot, and Shearman later received a technical achievement Oscar for his contribution to movie magic.

The Thanksgiving Day Parade in “Miracle on 34th Street” Was Real

Staging a parade in a movie can be an arduous undertaking with all the performers, set pieces, and choreography involved, but the creators of Miracle on 34th Street (1947) were fortunate to gain permission to hitch their wagons to New York City’s annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1946. As co-star Maureen O’Hara recalled in her memoir, the experience of working around the event’s schedule was stressful for everyone involved: “They weren’t going to run the parade more than once on our account … It was a mad scramble to get all the shots we needed and we got to do each scene only once.” Nevertheless, the cameras got enough footage of Edmund Gwenn’s Kris Kringle waving to fans as he rode through Manhattan in Santa’s sleigh, and the authenticity of the scene set the tone for what became a true holiday classic of Hollywood’s golden age.

“White Christmas” Was Supposed To Pair Fred Astaire With Bing Crosby

Following the success of 1942’s Holiday Inn and 1946’s Blue Skies, 1954’s White Christmas was meant to once again pair the singing and dancing talents of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. When Astaire declined to participate over his dissatisfaction with the script, the role of Phil was offered to Donald O’Connor. When he was stricken with illness before production began, the casting merry-go-round ended with Danny Kaye stepping in. Crosby at one point also backed out of the movie following the death of his wife in 1952, before returning to play the part of Bob the following year.

A Pioneering Japanese Stop-Motion Animator Was Behind “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Tadahito Mochinaga created China’s first stop-motion puppet animation with a 1940s propaganda film mocking nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, and he created Japan’s first stop-motion puppet animation the following decade for a beer company. Those pioneering efforts caught the attention of American TV producers Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, who tapped the Tokyo-based filmmaker to animate an adaptation of a Depression-era Christmas story turned hit holiday tune. Mochinaga brought his trademark detail to the project, even spending time in a Japanese deer sanctuary to better render the distinct features of the main characters. The mesmerizing result can still be witnessed many years later, as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) became the first in a string of popular Rankin/Bass seasonal holiday programs, en route to becoming the longest-running Christmas special in TV history.

Head Animator Bill Melendez Voiced Snoopy in “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) marked the Peanuts gang’s first major entry into the world of animated television. This brought numerous questions about how to translate the popular comic strip to the screen, among which was what to do about the voice of Snoopy. Although Peanuts creator Charles Schulz wanted to downplay Snoopy’s role, head animator Bill Melendez insisted on enhancing the beagle’s personality through his voice, and set about recording a series of noises that he hoped could be replicated by a trained voice actor. With time running out to finish the special, Melendez went with the sped-up, higher-pitched recordings he had been tinkering with instead of hiring another actor. Schulz was amused by Snoopy’s nonsensical ramblings, and Melendez was rewarded with the responsibility of voicing Charlie Brown’s pet for subsequent TV specials and animated features.

Flick’s Tongue Wasn’t Really Stuck to the Flagpole in “A Christmas Story”

You may have already figured there was nothing approaching actual danger for the actor in this enduring scene of A Christmas Story (1983), although clever set design ensured that the visual of a tongue stuck to a frozen flagpole seemed real enough. According to actor Scott Schwartz, the pole was wrapped with a layer of plastic, through which a clear tube ran down to a motorized vacuum buried in the snow. When Schwartz’s Flick plugged his tongue into a tiny hole in the plastic, the tube’s suction was strong enough to keep his organ in place, but mild enough to be easily withdrawn. All in all, it was painless enough for Schwartz to shoot the entire scene twice — after the first round of footage was damaged by underdeveloped film.

“Planes, Trains and Automobiles” Was Based on a True Story

Back when acclaimed screenwriter and director John Hughes was an unknown advertising copy man, he regularly traveled from Chicago to New York City on behalf of a client. During one blustery winter day, strong winds nixed the return flight to Chicago and forced him to find a hotel for the night. More cancellations awaited the following day due to deteriorating weather in the Midwest, and Hughes wound up on a flight that was rerouted to Des Moines, Iowa, and then Denver, Colorado, before he decided to remain on board for the sunnier destination of Phoenix, Arizona. Hughes eventually made it to Chicago five days later than originally planned, the torturous experience leaving a lasting imprint that became the basis of his 1987 Thanksgiving travel comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Macaulay Culkin’s Iconic Facial Gesture in “Home Alone” Was Improvised

Even fans who haven’t seen Home Alone (1990) in eons can recall the image of Macaulay Culkin, as the abandoned Kevin McCallister, slapping aftershave on his face and screaming into the mirror. However, that scene didn’t quite go according to plan; most people would move their hands after creating a burning sensation on their face, and director Chris Columbus instructed his young star to do so. Instead, Culkin kept his hands glued to his face as he screamed at his reflection, prompting everyone else to break up in laughter. Although different reactions were tried in subsequent takes, it was that first one that stuck and became a defining moment of the immensely successful comedy despite encompassing a tiny fraction of the 103-minute running time.

The Shower-Duet Scene in “Elf” Was Written for Actress Zooey Deschanel

While Elf (2003) was built around the physical comedic chops and man-child persona of star Will Ferrell, the endearing scene of Ferrell’s Buddy discovering Jovie singing in the shower didn’t take shape until Zooey Deschanel joined the production. According to Deschanel, the scene was initially a fluid one that would showcase the individual talent of the actress cast as Jovie; once her crooning abilities became apparent, the specifics of Buddy naively wandering into the women’s changing room fell into place. An added bonus was Ferrell’s surprisingly solid pipes, which brings a layer of sweetness to the building tension until Jovie inevitably realizes Buddy’s presence and orders him out.

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When you think of vampires, what thoughts come to mind? Do you think of Dracula or Count von Count from Sesame Street? Or perhaps you think of more recent books, television series, and movies such as Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Blade? Once known as terrifying beings that would suck the lifeblood from people, these creatures somehow made the shift to become romantic and appealing. So what’s up with our collective fascination with vampires, and why do vampires keep appearing in pop culture?

Origins of the Vampire

Long before Brad Pitt made vampires look sexy, tales of the creatures had been around for centuries, but they were feared. Vampires have popped up in mythology as far back as the ancient Egyptians. But most historians agree that the vampire as we know it today got its start in Europe sometime during the 17th and 18th centuries. According to scholars, Bram Stoker's Dracula novel was inspired by the real Romanian Prince Vlad Tepes, who lived during the 15th century around Transylvania.

While Romania sometimes looks fondly on his legacy, he was known to be very cruel to those he conquered, earning himself the nickname “Vlad the Impaler.” Some stories go so far as to say that he even dined with his dying victims, dipping his bread in their blood. Tales of vampire-like creatures also come from Asia; in Chinese mythology they’re known as jiangshi (pronounced chong-shee, and meaning “stiff corpse”).

Vampires in Literature

One of the best-known works about vampires — and the one that is credited with propelling vampires into the realm of popular culture — is the 1897 book Dracula. Stoker’s version of vampirism — a blood-sucking ghoul who preys on the innocent in order to prolong its own immortal life — was burned into the collective psyche. Notably, it also kept with the then-common belief that vampires were dangerous and unholy, although there’s a case to be made that the Victorian-era novel is full of innuendo and is, in fact, a heavily sexual piece.

But through this novel, we get several characters who continually pop up in future works by other authors and television and movie directors. You might be familiar with names like Van Helsing, the vampire slayer who is the central character portrayed by Hugh Jackman in a 2004 action movie, or Mina Murray, a love interest who features prominently in Dracula romance novel spin-offs.

Vampires Get a Makeover

It wasn’t until 1931 that the vampire transitioned from being a vicious-looking monster into a handsome rogue who just so happened to also suck people’s blood. You can thank the film Dracula that was released that year, and actor Bela Lugosi for playing the titular role in a suave manner. Through the decades, vampires stayed attractive yet fearsome, until Sesame Street’s fourth season in 1972.

Best known as the Count von Count who likes to count, the friendly character manages to straddle popular vampire tropes such as wearing a cape, living in a decrepit castle, and laughing dramatically with a Transylvanian accent, while also delighting small children and teaching them how to count their numbers. He’s probably the only family-friendly vampire most people can name, though Disney’s Vampirina also proves that Transylvania’s most famous cultural export can be for kids.

But vampires didn’t take a decidedly sexy turn until the 1970s when Anne Rice began writing her Vampire Chronicles novel series that centered around the handsome French vampire Lestat. The most famous book in the series was Interview With the Vampire, which in 1993 was turned into a movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. It’s safe to say that after this movie was released, the interest in vampires in pop culture experienced a rebirth, and there were plenty of people who were open to the idea of literally being bitten by love.

In the Art House

Arguably the most influential vampire movie ever made is 1922's Nosferatu, F.W. Murnau's silent fantasia, which belongs to the German Expressionist movement. Max Schreck stars as Count Orlock in the loose (and unofficial) adaptation of Stoker's novel, with a number of names and other details being changed for legal reasons. Its legacy is massive, so much so that none other than Werner Herzog remade it as Nosferatu the Vampyre in 1979. The filmmaker's frequent collaborator Klaus Kinski starred in that version, which is even stranger than its source material and just as worthwhile — not least because of Isabelle Adjani's performance.

Both films are part of a proud tradition of avant garde vampire movies that continues today. French auteur Claire Denis threw her proverbial hat in the ring with 2001’s Trouble Every Day, in which American newlyweds find themselves among many tantalizing necks in Paris; Jim Jarmusch did likewise with Only Lovers Left Alive, a romantic drama starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as a bloodsucking couple whose centuries-long affair has made them as prone to waxing philosophical as they are to sucking blood. Similarly artful films are made all over the world, from Let the Right One In (Sweden) and The Transfiguration (America) to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Iran) and Thirst (South Korea), all of them demonstrating how many different approaches there are to depicting these creatures of the night.

Vampires Go Mainstream

Although Interview With the Vampire was a racy novel and movie, a more family-friendly version of vampire relations also hit the big screen a year earlier with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The 1992 movie centered on a cheerleader who discovers that she’s a vampire hunter and was successful enough to be adapted into a beloved television series five years later. The “Buffyverse” is home to one of the most dedicated fan-bases around, not least because of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s inspired performance in the title role — she even received a Golden Globe nomination. Buffy proved both that bloodsuckers can draw ratings and that a strong female lead could be accepted by a diverse audience. It also paved the way for the likes of True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, both of which spawned devoted followings of their own and suggest that, like the creatures themselves, this genre refuses to die.

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Everybody knows the stories of Cinderella, Aladdin, and Sleeping Beauty. These centuries-old fairy tales have been immortalized in every art form imaginable, from books and ballets to musicals and movies. What’s often forgotten, however, is where these stories came from — and who was responsible for writing them down. Here’s a look at eight of history’s most important fairy-tale tellers.

Aesop: A (Literal) Legend

If you’ve ever taken “the lion’s share” or claimed that “necessity is the mother of invention,” then thank Aesop. The Greek fabulist — purportedly born around 620 BC — is responsible for some of our most famous phrases and fables, including The Hare and the Tortoise. Greek authors like Herodotus and Plutarch claim that Aesop was a slave who became an adviser to Croesus, the King of Lydia. The accuracy of their accounts, however, is disputed, and it’s possible that Aesop was never a real person.

Marie-Catherine le Jumel de Barneville: Pioneer of the Fairy Tale

Countess d’Aulnoy’s life is like a folktale — difficult to parse fact from fiction. A French author who lived during the 17th century, de Barneville may have been a spy who accused her husband of high treason. True or not, she established a literary salon later in life and published at least two collections of tall tales. Her works, like “The White Cat,” were famously conversational in style and were lauded for being popular with adults and children alike. In fact, she even coined the term “fairy tale.”

Hanna Diyab: The Man who Conjured Aladdin

The brain behind Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Diyab was a Syrian storyteller who lived during the early 18th century. When Diyab was young, he bumped into a French collector of antiquities who hired him to become his traveling assistant. Diyab visited Paris and met the folklorist Antoine Galland, who he entertained with folktales from home. Years later, Galland published some of Diyab’s tales in his famous translation of The Thousand and One Nights. Diyab wouldn’t receive credit until centuries later.

Jean de la Fontaine: The Editor Who Turned Fairy Tales into an Art Form

In 1668, Frenchman Fontaine released the first volume of Fables, a literary landmark that would lay out a formula for centuries of European folk and fairy tales. Born to a well-to-do family, de la Fontaine became interested in writing upon being inspired by the work of the French poet Malherbe. Between 1668 to 1694, he released six volumes of fables — a total of 239 stories — that drew from diverse sources, from the Roman fabulist Phaedrus to the Panchatantra, an Indian book of fables. De la Fontaine’s fresh and artful retellings of stories such as “The Grasshopper and the Ant” and “The Raven and the Fox” turned Fables into an instant classic.

Charles Perrault: The Original Mother Goose

A major influence on the Brothers Grimm, Perrault — hailing from France as well — helped transform tales like “Puss in Boots,” “Cinderella,” “Blue Beard,” “Sleeping Beauty,” and “Little Red Riding-Hood” into cultural touchstones. His 1697 book Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe — better known as The Tales of Mother Goose — was an unexpected departure from his life’s work. Perrault had spent decades working as a government official, but when political bickering forced him to change careers, he turned to writing literary fairy tales for aristocratic literary salons. The career change at age 67 is what made him famous.

The Brothers Grimm: Disney before Disney

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm didn’t write “Rapunzel” or “Snow White,” but they did popularize the tales among the masses. The German-born brothers attended college with the intention of becoming civil servants, but a pair of influential teachers changed their minds — and inspired a love of folk poetry (or naturpoesie) and the arts. The duo gave up any hopes of a law career and began collecting literature that, they believed, emphasized the character of German culture and people. The brothers didn’t view themselves as writers, but as preservationists and historians who were saving common tales from extinction. Published in 1812, their first edition contained 156 fairy tales, including “Hansel and Gretel,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” and “The Fisherman and His Wife.”.

Hans Christian Andersen: The Original Ugly Duckling

The Danish writer of over 150 fairy tales — including “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “The Little Mermaid,” “The Princess and the Pea,” and “Thumbelina” — Andersen, born in 1805, came from humble beginnings. His mother was illiterate and his father only had an elementary school education. And when his dad died, Andersen started working at a factory at the age of 11. But he always had an artistic side, and he tried to express his struggles through his work. As a teenager, for example, Andersen was routinely harassed by other boys because he had a high voice, and that abuse inspired him to write “The Ugly Duckling.” “The story is, of course, a reflection of my own life,” he once wrote.

Alexander Afanasyev: From Bureaucrat to Bard

Russia’s answer to the Brothers Grimm, Afanasyev was a 19th century Slavic folklorist who published nearly 600 folk and fairy tales. (His works include “The Firebird,” which was famously transformed into a ballet by composer Igor Stravinsky in 1910, and “Vasilisa the Beautiful and Baba Yaga.”) Much like Charles Perrault, Afanasyev spent decades clocking in at a normal day-job for the government. But while working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, he developed an obsession with collecting and preserving local fairy tales. Unlike many of the other folklorists on this list, Afanasyev regularly cited his sources and often tried to pinpoint where the tale originated.