“A late bloomer is a person who does not discover his or her talents until later in life.” (Wikipedia)

Late bloomers appear in every aspect of life, excelling in sports, the arts, writing, politics, business, music and dance. The reasons why some people do not realize their talents until late in life are varied. In several cases a person may have been disadvantaged or isolated in their earlier years and therefore unable to fulfill their potential. In other cases issues of sexism or family necessity may have kept a woman from pursuing her goal in her younger years. Or maybe a person never uncovered their true hidden talent. But at some point a long-buried dream begins to surface again and the question is presented: “Can I really do that at my age? Am I too old to start another career? Will anyone hire me if I start a new career at 40? 50? 60? At Late Bloomer, Inc., we believe that answer to all those questions is a resounding “Yes!”

The following are just a few examples of historical late bloomers who have made tremendous contributions in different fields. Their success is truly inspiring.
Art
- Grandma Moses started her painting career in her seventies because of arthritis. Grandma Moses achieved real fame in her 100’s.
- Alfred Wallis began painting in his 60s after his wife's death.
Acting/Performing
- Richard Farnsworth became an actor after 40 years as a stunt man
- Rodney Dangerfield, actor/comedian, didn't really start his career until 42. He performed at a few clubs when he was young but then became a salesman.
- F. Murray Abraham got his first decent acting role at age 45 (Amadeus, for which he won an Oscar)
Games and Sports
- Joshua Millner of Britain was 61 when he won his Olympic gold medal in Free Rifle 1000 Yards.
- Oscar Swahn, Swedish marksman, won two Olympic gold medals in the running deer, single shot event at the age of 60. He won his last medal, silver, at 72 making him the oldest medalist.
- Australian Cliff Young was 58 when he beat a field of relative youngsters to win the Westfield Sydney to Melbourne marathon.
Writing
- Laura Ingalls Wilder became a columnist in her forties, but did not publish her first novel until her sixties.
- Anthony Burgess, the novelist best known for A Clockwork Orange, didn't publish his first novel until he was 39.
- Henry Miller published his first novel Tropic of Cancer when he was 44.
- Charles Perrault, who wrote Cinderella and Tom Thumb, was first published in 1697 at the age of 69.
Politics
- Silas C. Swallow was a minister who became a Prohibition Party activist in his sixties.
- Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s first environmental work of note occurred when she was almost 60, and at 78 she founded "Friends of the Everglades", and she continued until she was over age 100.
Business
- Irene Wells Pennington became best known in her nineties when she helped straighten out irregularities in her husband's oil business after he went senile in his own 90s.
- Colonel Sanders began his Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchise in his sixties.
- Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald’s in 1954 at the age of 52.
Medicine
- Albert Schweitzer, who left his job as a theologian, and studied medicine to work for humanity at the age of 38.
- William Griffith Wilson, known to millions as Bill W, who was a drunk at 40 and wrote the book, Alcoholics Anonymous at age 43. He was middle-aged when he built the organization known as AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) that became a world-wide movement that brought the miracle of sobriety and sanity to millions of people.
Others
- Joseph Farwell Glidden received a patent for the first commercial barbed wire in 1874 when he was 61 years old. He became one of America’s wealthiest men.
- Granny Haddock walked across the Continental USA in 1999 at age 89 to advocate campaign finance reform and five years later began a campaign to become a Democratic candidate for the US Senate.
- Nancy Maltin, the founder and President of Late Bloomer, Inc. became a lawyer at 50 and started Late Bloomer Inc. at the age of 55.
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