14. ED SULLIVAN
The dour, Nixonian host of the hugely influential Ed Sullivan Show personally preferred comics, opera singers, and puppet mice to rock & roll. But what made him a TV icon is that he knew what America wanted to see — often before we did. He was one of the first to book Elvis Presley, and when he reached out to the Beatles, they hadn't even hit the U.S. charts. When they finally made their Sullivan debut on Feb. 9, 1964, they attracted a Fab-tastic 73 million viewers.

Get This! The Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring the Beatles