Harry Lewis(1920-2013)

When Harry, an aspiring actor at the time, met future wife Marilyn Lewis, he confessed to her that he had two goals: to play Hamlet and to start a restaurant called Hamburger Hamlet as a hangout for the stars. They spent their first date looking for a location. A few days later she found the perfect spot for the original Hamlet on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood. Neither could cook, but they opened their first Hamburger Hamlet in October of 1950 with their savings of $3500. By the mid-'80s, there were more than a dozen Hamlets, one in nearly every part of Los Angeles. They sold the chain in 1997 for $33 million.