• Business

23 People Who Became Highly Successful After Age 40

5 minute read

For the more neurotic among us, a birthday can be a reminder of how another year has passed and our loftiest aspirations have faded further into the distance.

There are plenty of examples, however, of successful people across many industries who prove that you don’t need to have it all figured out by the time you turn 30.

We’ll take a look at some of them, from renowned fashion designer Vera Wang, who didn’t design her first dress until she was 40, to writer Harry Bernstein, who authored countless rejected books before getting his first hit at age 96.

Get inspired by those who show it’s never too late.

  • Stan Lee created his first hit comic, “The Fantastic Four,” just shy of his 39th birthday in 1961. In the next few years, he created the legendary Marvel Universe, whose characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men became American cultural icons.
  • Donald Fisher was 40 and had no experience in retail when he and his wife, Doris, opened the first Gap store in San Francisco in 1969. The Gap’s clothes quickly became fashionable, and today the company is one of the world’s largest clothing chains.
  • Vera Wang was a figure skater and journalist before entering the fashion industry at age 40. Today she’s one of the world’s premier women’s designers.
  • Gary Heavin was 40 when he opened the first Curves fitness center in 1992, which ended up becoming one of the fastest-growing franchises of the ’90s.
  • Robin Chase cofounded Zipcar at age 42 in 2000. She left the company in 2011 and continues to build and advise startups, as well as serve as a member of the World Economic Forum.
  • Samuel L. Jackson has been a Hollywood staple for years now, but he’d had only bit parts before landing an award-winning role at age 43 in Spike Lee’s film “Jungle Fever” in 1991.
  • Sam Walton had a fairly successful retail-management career in his 20s and 30s, but his path to astronomical success began at age 44, when he founded the first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.
  • Henry Ford was 45 when he created the revolutionary Model T car in 1908.
  • Jack Weil was 45 when he founded what became the most popular cowboy-wear brand, Rockmount Ranch Wear. He remained its CEO until he died at the ripe old age of 107 in 2008.
  • Rodney Dangerfield is remembered as a legendary comedian, but he didn’t catch a break until he made a hit appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” at age 46.
  • Momofuku Ando cemented his spot in junk-food history when he invented instant ramen at age 48 in 1958.
  • Charles Darwin spent most of his life as a naturalist who kept to himself, but in 1859 at age 50 his “On the Origin of Species” changed the scientific community forever.
  • Julia Child worked in advertising and media before writing her first cookbook when she was 50, launching her career as a celebrity chef in 1961.
  • Jack Cover worked as a scientist for institutions including NASA and IBM before he became a successful entrepreneur at 50 for inventing the Taser stun gun in 1970.
  • Betty White is one of the most award-winning comedic actresses in history, but she didn’t become an icon until she joined the cast of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1973 at age 51.
  • Tim and Nina Zagat were both 51-year-old lawyers when they published their first collection of restaurant reviews under the Zagat name in 1979. It eventually became a mark of culinary authority.
  • Taikichiro Mori was an academic who became a real-estate investor at age 51 when he founded Mori Building Company. His brilliant investments made him the richest man in the world in 1992, when he had a net worth of $13 billion.
  • Ray Kroc spent his career as a milkshake-device salesman before buying McDonald’s at age 52 in 1954. He grew it into the world’s biggest fast-food franchise.
  • Wally Blume had a long career in the dairy business before starting his own ice cream company, Denali Flavors, at age 57 in 1995. The company reported revenue of $80 million in 2009.
  • Laura Ingalls Wilder spent her later years writing semi-autobiographical stories using her educated daughter, Rose, as an editor. She published the first in the “Little House” books at age 65 in 1932. They soon became children’s literary classics and the basis for the TV show “Little House on the Prairie.”
  • Harland Sanders, better known as Colonel Sanders, was 62 when he franchised Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952. He sold the franchise business for $2 million 12 years later.
  • Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, began her prolific painting career at 78. In 2006, one of her paintings sold for $1.2 million.
  • Harry Bernstein spent a long life writing in obscurity but finally achieved fame at age 96 for his 2007 memoir, “The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers.”
  • This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

    More from Business Insider:

  • 8 Things People Decide Within Seconds of Meeting You
  • 5 Signs You’re Going to Be Extraordinarily Successful
  • Mark Zuckerberg Wants Everyone to Read a Book by Bill Gates’ Favorite Author
  • 8 Small Things You Do That People Use to Judge Your Personality
  • 25 Super-successful People Share Their Best Career Advice for 20-somethings
  • Photographing a Kiss: Long Time Love Affairs

    The Lovers
    Joseph and Dorothy Bolotin Sharon, Pennsylvania Married on June 16, 1938. Dorothy, "I never think of it in terms of years. I think of it in terms of good years. In love, hot romance doesn’t last forever. So I would say that yes, I think love changes. I would say we’re still in love. It’s focusing, doing little things. He’s an amazing man."Lauren Fleishman
    John and Sherma CampbellStar Valley, WyomingMarried on May 13, 1955Sherma When you start out, you think you love each other as much as you possibly can,but lovegrows—just like your inner self grows as time goes by and you have experiences.And now at thisstage of the game, I love him even more. I can’t even imagine life without him.
    John and Sherma Campbell Star Valley, Wyoming Married on May 13, 1955. Sherma, "When you start out, you think you love each other as much as you possibly can,but love grows—just like your inner self grows as time goes by and you have experiences.And now at this stage of the game, I love him even more. I can’t even imagine life without him."Lauren Fleishman
    Jin Lin and Lai Mei ChenBrooklyn, New York Married on February 4, 1961Jin Lin We had so many things in common it was like our hearts were the same.
    Jin Lin and Lai Mei Chen Brooklyn, New York Married on February 4, 1961. Jin Lin, "We had so many things in common it was like our hearts were the same."Lauren Fleishman
    The Lovers
    de'Spagnolis Aldo de’Spagnolis and Maria Filiozzi Itri, Italy Married on October 23, 1949. Aldo, "When I first saw her, she was 14 and I was 22.Was there a concern that she was too young for me? No! Even now I look like a young child! Yes, even now I’m still young."Lauren Fleishman
    The Lovers
    Jake and Mary Jacobs Solihull, England Married on April 27, 1948. Mary,"Jake said to me,'Would it ever be possible for me to marry you?' And I said,'Possible but not probable!' And that’s how it was. It wasn’t likely that I would ever marry him, and he knew that. So when he went home to Trinidad, my mother and father breathed a sigh of relief. But he used to write, and he said, 'I’m thinking I might come back to England.'"Lauren Fleishman
    The Lovers
    Kissin Yevgeniy and Lyubov Kissin Brooklyn, New York Married on June 29, 1941. Yevgeniy, "We met at a dancing party. It was in January 1938. My friend invited me to the party, he said there would be a lot of beautiful young girls. Another cadet with high boots had approached her, but she didn’t like high boots and so she said no to him. I was the second one to approach her. I had a different uniform, but I’m still not sure if it was my uniform or my face that attracted her to me."Lauren Fleishman
    The Lovers
    Itig and Golda Pollac Brooklyn, New York Married on August 13, 1946. Golda, "I would say love came little by little. Not right away.We were young.And he was older, but I liked him. He spoke to me in a very nice way."Lauren Fleishman
    The Lovers
    Yaakov and Mariya Shapirshetyn Brooklyn, New York Married on July 6, 1949. Yaakov, "What is the secret to love? A secret is a secret, and I don’t reveal my secrets."Lauren Fleishman
    The Lovers
    Gino and Angie Terranova Staten Island. New York Married on September 27, 1947. Angie, "You really don’t think about getting older. First of all, you’re aging together, and when you see a person constantly,you don’t notice big changes. Like you don’t notice, oh you’re getting a little wrinkle here and tomorrow you say it’s a little deeper. No, those are things that just happen."Lauren Fleishman

    More Must-Reads From TIME

    Contact us at letters@time.com