they say that legends never die but
these historical figures passed away not
knowing their work would live forever
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're
counting down our picks for the top ten
people who became famous after they died
before we begin we publish new videos
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content for this list we're looking at
individuals throughout history who died
in relative obscurity but whose works
accomplishments or feats went on to earn
them significant Fame after their deaths
we're not considering anyone who only
became famous as a result of their
demise like victims of high-profile
murders or sensational deaths also some
measure of success during their lifetime
is acceptable as long as their
popularity after death clearly and
substantially eclipses any name
recognition they had in their lifetime
number 10 Herman Melville long before
Bear Grylls turned the idea of man vs.
wild into a freak show than involves
sleeping inside camels this 19th century
American writer was exploring man's
attempt to best nature in his novel
moby-dick I live and breathe
he's wrong herman melville briefly
flirted with success as a writer after
publishing his first book type he a
highly dramatized account of his time
living among the Polynesians
but his subsequently published books
including Moby Dick were increasingly
less well received resulting in
financial failure his shift into poetry
proved equally disastrous by 1876 none
of his books remained in print and he
died in 1891 as little more than a
footnote in American literature Herman
Melville wrote Moby Dick and he was so
poor and forgotten by the time he died
that in his obituary they called him
Henry Melville in the early 1900's
however his work resurfaced two
retrospective acclaim earning him a spot
among America's great authors it will be
a work of fiction mr. Nickerson number 9
Gregor Mendel science and religion are
often portrayed as being in direct
conflict with each other
but for proof of potential harmony
between the two one need look no further
than Gregor Mendel this 19th century
European scientist and friar studied
plants and animals and through
crossbreeding established early concepts
of heredity Mendel is now considered to
be the father of modern genetics his
work was largely dismissed by the
scientific community in his own time
however as it did not fit with current
models but by the early 1900's a number
of researchers revisited or rediscovered
his works and Mendel's laws went on to
lay the foundation for what we now know
as genetics number 8 Oscar Wilde similar
to Melville Oscar Wilde experienced some
success and recognition during his
lifetime in the 1890s after years spent
as a journalist editor and author of
essays short stories poetry and fiction
he wrote a number of successful plays
including The Importance of Being
Earnest an instant hit I realized for
the first time in my life of vital
importance being honest despite his late
career success legal battles over his
homosexuality resulted in him serving a
two-year prison sentence after which he
spent his final years as a penniless
exile in France much of his work went
unappreciated upon initial publishing
most
notably the Picture of Dorian Gray which
was dismissed as immoral homoeroticism
but his collected works life story and
poetically tragic death earned him
significantly greater Fame posthumously
a Fame that grew exponentially in later
decades patriotism is the virtue of the
vicious
according to Oscar Wilde number seven HP
Lovecraft aside from Stephen King
there's likely no bigger name in horror
than Lovecraft but in his lifetime the
reclusive self-conscious author never
earned so much as a modest living from
his written works which were relegated
to the pages of pulp magazines his work
was recognized within small circles of
writers however and over the years an
appreciation of his writing by other
authors in the genre went on to
establish him as a father figure in
horror culture his influence has grown
so great since his death that
Lovecraftian horror is a sub-genre of
its very own things much older than
Earth are gazing upon us with
indifference his creations and mythos
such as Cthulhu have worked their way
into the very fabric of pop culture and
are now seen in anime film television
tabletop games music and video games
the rise of Cthulhu from another
dimension brings about 3,000 years of
Darkness top number 6 Edgar Allan Poe
unappreciated though he was Lovecraft
often cited Poe as one of his major
influences Poe's work is particularly
notable for being at once terrifying and
yet undeniably beautiful a rare quality
in contemporary horror he spent most of
his adult life in relative poverty
supplementing his income by writing for
journals and periodicals this work
earned him a reputation as a respected
literary critic but these circles were
small his only truly successful work in
his own lifetime was the Raven and my
soul not that shadow that lies floating
on the floor
shall be lifted posthumously his poetry
and short fiction work was translated
into French where it became quite
popular before spreading across the
globe
additionally Poe is also credited with
having invented the detective fiction
genre without ever naming it number 5
Galileo Galilei the Inquisition what a
time to be alive Galileo is a household
name nowadays but in his own lifetime he
was repeatedly subjected to censorship
and forced to recant his scientific
statements spending the better part of
his final decade under house arrest got
email a doubt his theories about the
earth revolving around the Sun gregor
mendel might have been the father of
modern genetics but galileo has been
called the father of science by the
likes of Stephen Hawking and Albert
Einstein yes science his contributions
to the fields of astronomy engineering
and physics were immeasurable sadly
during his own lifetime the church
suppressed much of his work deeming it
heresy in the years after his death
however his band works were steadily
released allowing the full impact of his
discoveries to be felt by the scientific
world number four Emily Dickinson
although a few of Emily Dickinson's
poems were published during her lifetime
they were heavily edited and in some
cases were even published anonymously
she was a prolific writer until her
death at the age of 55 but kept the
majority of her writings to herself I
hear Robbins a great way off and waggons
a great way off after her death her
sister Lavinia discovered some
18-hundred poems and made it her
personal mission to see them published a
number of factors prevented this goal
from being fully realized in the ensuing
decades but from 1890 to 1945 various
edited volumes of her poetry were
released capturing the attention of
critics in 1955 her completed works were
finally published since her death Emily
Dickinson has been recognized as one of
the most important poets in American
history Graham Greene
she was sometimes Emily Dickinson number
three Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Bach
was certainly relatively well known in
his own time but not as a composer
Bach was a highly and widely respected
professional organ player he didn't keep
his compositions a secret they were
simply considered too complex and too
challenging for listeners of the musical
arts interest in his music was limited
to peers or contemporaries equally
focused on pushing the boundaries of
musical experimentation eventually
however the world caught up to him the
early 19th century saw Bach rise in
prominence as a composer and with an
1829 performance of a sacred oratorio
st. Matthew Passion he quickly grew into
his current status as one of the
greatest composers in history
[Music]
number two Vincent van Gogh in his
lifetime Vincent van Gogh was a prolific
painter creating around 2100 works in
just over 10 years but he only succeeded
in selling a single painting in his own
lifetime considered to be insane and a
failure of an artist partly because of
that whole ear thing he took his own
life at the age of 37
it was truly post death in addition to
his substantial contributions to modern
art as we know it his dramatic life and
death have helped shape the romanticized
depiction of the tortured artist and the
notion that one should suffer for their
art before we unveil our number one pick
here are some honorable mentions
well walden is antithetical to just
about everything we think in the world
now you know Franz Kafka's stories do
indeed deal with many mundane and absurd
aspects of modern bureaucracy are the
creations of Stieg Larsson a Swedish
journalist and first-time novelist who
didn't live to see the phenomenon his
books would become number one Anne Frank
even on this list Anne Frank is truly
unique she died at the tender age of 15
in a German concentration camp and yet
her writing a simple diary has gone on
to become one of the most famous
publications ever written between 1942
and 1944 it chronicles Anne's time in
hiding with her family before their
capture and transportation to Auschwitz
in her diary which was recovered by her
father the only surviving member of her
family after World War two she wrote
about her dreams of becoming a
journalist
although atrocious acts of genocide kept
her from realizing that dream the one
piece of writing she did pen in her
short life has made her one of the most
famous nonfiction writers in history do
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