Russian-American writer and theorist Ayn Rand was BOTD in 1905. Born Alissa Zinovievna Rosenbaum in St Petersburg, Russia, her family shop was confiscated by the Communist government after the Russian Revolution. She studied at Leningrad State University and the State Institute for Cinematography, hoping to become a screenwriter. Emigrating to the United States in 1926, she moved to Hollywood, working as a movie extra, screenwriter and costumier for RKO. After some success as a playwright, she became nationally famous with her 1946 novel The Fountainhead, a didactic drama about a renegade architect. In this and subsequent novels, Rand advanced her theory of Objectivism, arguing for the supremacy of individualism and self-interest over collectivism and altruism. Rand wrote the screenplay for the 1949 film of The Fountainhead, which was a critical and box-office flop. Undeterred, she spent the next decade writing Atlas Shrugged, a gargantuan novel imagining a futurist state in which innovation is crushed by bureaucracy. An immediate bestseller, it was especially well-received by businessmen (who approved of Rand’s moral justification of capitalism) and young people (who responded to Rand’s utopian ideals). Rand spent the rest of her life writing and lecturing about Objectivism, and arguing with critics over the interpretation of her ideas. Married to actor Frank O’Connor from 1929 to her death, she had an extended affair with her acolyte Nathan Blumenthal, with the knowledge of both their spouses. Intriguingly, Rand called homosexuality “immoral” and “disgusting”, while insisting on the repeal of all laws criminalising consensual sex between adults. She died in 1982, aged 77. Her novels continue to be bestsellers, and her theories have been hugely influential on right-wing and libertarian political movements. The 1999 television biopic The Passion of Ayn Rand, starring Helen Mirren, portrayed Rand as a nymphomaniac, obsessed with sexually submitting to her uber-mensch boyfriend.