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15 Famous People You Need to Know That Are One-Eyed

Famous people with one eye:

Introduction

Have you ever watched the movie A Christmas Story?

If you haven’t long story short, there is a kid that wants a BB-gun for Christmas, but everyone keeps telling him that he’ll shoot his eye out if he had one.

Eventually, he finally gets the BB-gun, and sure enough, he just about shoots his eye out with it while doing target practice in his backyard as he imagines himself as a wild west cowboy in a gunfight with outlaws.

Even though that was a fictional story told in an old classic movie, anytime you meet someone or read about someone that has lost an eye or got pretty close to losing an eye, that person instantly becomes more interesting and has a story that you feel you need to hear.

So, we’ve made a list of 10 famous people that you need to know about that are/were one-eyed.

List Of Famous People With One Eye:

#1 Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

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Love him or hate him, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, definitely deserves to be at the top of this list.

President Roosevelt had a love for boxing, specifically as a boxer himself.

When he was 50 years old, during what would be his last boxing match, his opponent knocked him square in the left eye leading to horrible hemorrhaging, which would result in his left eye being completely and permanently blind.

#2 Leo Fender

The founder of the Fender guitar brand had a glass left eye.

When he was eight years old, Leo, unfortunately, developed a tumor that resulted in him losing his left eye and having it replaced with a glass eye.

Although it may have been a tragic event, the loss of his eye due to cancer is what made him ineligible to be drafted for World War II, which gave him an abundance of time to develop and create one of the most popular guitar brands in the world.

#3 Bushwick Bill

Bushwick Bill

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Bushwick Bill was a well-known and famous Jamaican-American rapper, that shot his eye out.

He had been having an argument with his girlfriend at the time while under the heavy influence of alcohol and had attempted to shoot himself, but luckily enough, he survived the shot but lost his right eye as a result.

Bushwick Bill claimed that he had died and come back to life after the whole thing had happened.

#4 Johnny Depp

Whose name did actor Johnny Depp have tattooed on his arm in 1990

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While it may not be as interesting a story as the others, he remains on the list as he is an overall interesting famous person that technically only has one working eye.

In an interview with Rolling Stone back in 2003, Johnny Depp shared that ever since birth, he has been blind in his left eye, and his right eye is near-sighted. So, without glasses to aid him, he is blind to anything and everything that is nearly inches from his face.

#5 Alice Walker

Alice Walker

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Alice Walker’s story is almost the same as that of young Ralphie in A Christmas Story.

When young little Alice Walker was only eight years old, her brother, who had a BB gun, shot it, which just about shot her eye out.

Her right eye received severe damage due to the BB gunshot, which caused her to become completely blind in her right eye.

That eye-blinding injury though led her to read and write, which led her to become a famous novelist.

#6 Thom Yorke

Thom Yorke

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Thom Yorke is the lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Radiohead. Yorke was born with a paralyzed left eye, he had multiple surgeries on the eye, attempting to restore the functionality of the eye.

Yorke put a stop to the surgeries after the last one caused him to have a drooping eyelid. 

#7 Peter Falk

Peter Falk

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The famous four Emmy Award-winning actor for his role of homicide detective Lt. Columbo had a glass right eye. Falk had to have his right eye removed as a child due to retinoblastoma.

The glass eye replacement he used caused the famous detective actor to develop an eye squint that became a trademark look for the actor and his acclaimed role as Lt. Columbo.

#8 Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sammy Davis, Jr.

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When Sammy Davis Jr. was 29 years old, he was in a horrible car accident that left his face badly damaged.

After being rushed to the hospital, the surgeons had to remove his eye because of the extensive damage he had received. Until he could be outfitted with a glass eye, he wore an eye patch.

#9 Alan Moore

A famous and well-known writer in the comic book industry, Alan Moore is full of interesting life stories as an occultist, ceremonial magician, and anarchist.

He is blind in one eye and deaf in one ear.

Neither of these has stopped him from dreaming up comic book dystopian worlds like the world of the Watchmen, a comic book world filled with psychotic superheroes in a dystopian chaotic future.

Having one functioning eye hasn’t stopped him from envisioning worlds upon worlds full of interesting characters.

#10 James Joyce

James Joyce

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James Joyce was a literary writer that had his first piece published when he was only nine years old.

Although he was a well-known writer, his life was a bit discomforting.

He had anterior uveitis, an irritating medical condition that caused Joyce to have upward of 12 eye surgeries. However, due to the lack of medical progression during his life, he decided to stop the surgeries and ignore his doctors altogether.

This left him having to wear an eye patch and write with red crayons on large sheets of paper.

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#11 Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas

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Edgar Degas was a famous artist whose paintings and art have been sold anywhere from $4 up to millions and millions of dollars.

In 2008, a Degas painting was sold for a record $37,042,500. Edgar also produced prints, bronze sculptures, and drawings.

While his paintings are sought after throughout the world, during his life, he suffered from a retinal disease that continued to degrade his eyesight until he was almost completely blind, unable to decipher basic shapes.

Here’s a quick recap of the 11 famous people with one eye:

  1. Theodore Roosevelt
  2. Leo Fender
  3. Bushwick Bill
  4. Johnny Depp
  5. Alice Walker
  6. Thom Yorke
  7. Peter Falk
  8. Sammy Davis, Jr.
  9. Alan Moore
  10. James Joyce
  11. Edgar Degas

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