Ernest Hemingway
The quintessential male American writer whose sparse language, landmark books, pipe and adventurous spirit shaped every writer who came after.
Jesus
The Son of Man sure had one perfect beard. No beard oil required!
Colonel Sanders
Not since he who brought us 11 herbs and spices and the family bucket has anyone rocked the Van Dyke so well (named after 17th-century painter Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck).
Fidel Castro
In the company of other famous communist beards (Karl Marx, Che Guevara, et. al.), coupled with the short-brim military hat, Castro’s beard has inspired millions of American hipsters.
Abraham Lincoln
When you’re the Great Emancipator, no mustache required. If not the best U.S. president ever outright, Honest Abe is far and away the best-bearded.
Vincent Van Gogh
If his beard weren’t vibrant flaming orange already, he probably would have made it so for the sake of his paintings. He may have cut his ear off, but thankfully he left the beard alone.
Ambrose Burnside
Meet the Union army general whose greatest gift to man is the popularization of the sideburn. The hair on his face may have been compensation for the lack of it on his head.
Charlton Heston as Moses
He parted the Red Sea, freed the Israelites, fiddled with the 10 Commandments, hung out with a burning bush … and yet Charlton Heston is still the most famous Moses.
Frederick Douglass
Dude escaped slavery, consulted with presidents and was perhaps the most influential person in the 19th century in the fight for abolition and equal rights for African-Americans. And, his salt-and-pepper hair and beard is for the ages.
David Holub
