• H.G. Wells.......best-selling British author (dropped out to help family earn income; later returned and went on to college)

     • Jim Clark........self-made billionaire  American businessman; founder of "Netscape"; first Internet billionaire (17, U.S. Navy)

     • Jimmy Dean..........singer-songwriter-actor; self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder of the "Jimmy Dean

     • Leon Uris..........best-selling American author (Exodus, etc.) (17, U.S. Marines)

     • Walter L. Smith.....former president of Florida A&M University (equivalency diploma, at age 23)

     • W. Clement Stone....self-made multimillionaire (some sources indicate billionaire) American businessman-author; founder of "Success" magazine (elementary school dropout; later attended high-school night courses and then some college)

     • Jack London.......best-selling American author (dropped out at 14 to work; later gained admission to the University of California; left after one semester)

     • Arthur Ernest Morgan....American flood-control engineer; college  president-author; appointed by President Roosevelt to be director of the Tennessee Valley Authority public works project (left high school after three years; later attended the University of Colorado for six weeks)

     • Ray Charles.........singer-pianist; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee

     • Cher......Oscar-winning actress-singer

     • Maurice Chevalier.... Oscar-winning actor-singer; French Legion of Honor inductee/Medal recipient (note: rank bestowed in 1938

     • Pierce Brosnan......actor

     • Ellen Burnstyn......Oscar-winning actress

     • Raymond Burr.......actor

     • Sammy Cahn.......... Oscar-winning American songwriter-composer

     • Michael Caine.......Oscar-winning actor; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Michael Caine)

     • Glen Campbell.......country music star

     • Daniel Gilbert......Harvard University psychology professor (equivalency diploma)

     • Dizzy Gillespie.....musician-composer (received honorary diploma from high school he attended)

     • Patrick Henry.......American Revolutionary War era politician; Virginia's first governor; famous quote: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" (little formal education; home schooling/life experience; later studied on his own and earned a law degree)

     • Peter Jennings......Canadian-born American television journalist; evening news anchorman

     • Ansel Adams.........American wilderness photographer; photography book author; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

     • Julie Andrews.......Oscar-winning actress-singer

     • Louis Armstrong.....singer-musician

     • Brooke Astor........wealthy American socialite-philanthropist-author; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

     • Pearl Bailey........singer-actress; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

     • Lucille Ball........actress-comedienne-producer; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

     • Bill Bartman........self-made billionaire American businessman

     • Count Basie.........bandleader-pianist

     • Jack Benny.......... comedian-actor-violinist

     • Humphrey Bogart.....Oscar-winning actor

     • Peter Bogdanovich....Oscar-nominated American film director-screenwriter (The Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, Mask, etc.)

     • Whoopie Goldberg....Oscar-winning actress-comedienne

     • Benny Goodman.....bandleader-clarinetist

     • Lew Grade.........British film/TV producer (TV: The Avengers, The Saint, Secret Agent, The Prisoner, The Muppet Show, etc.); knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Lew Grade)

     • Philip Emeagwali....supercomputer scientist; one of the pioneers of the Internet (high-IQ high-school dropout; left school in native Nigeria due to war conditions and lack of tuition money; continued to study on his own and earned an equivalency diploma; later won a scholarship to Oregon College of Education in the United States; transferred after one year to Oregon State University)

     • Danny Thomas........actor-producer-humanitarian (actor: Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show; co-producer: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, etc.); Congressional Gold Medal recipient

     • Peter Ustinov.......Oscar-winning actor

     • Hiram Stevens.......American-born engineering inventor; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Hiram Stevens)

     • Patrick Stewart..... actor-writer-producer-director; former captain of the Enterprise on TV's Star Trek: The Next Generation and in films.

     • Kemmons Wilson.......self-made multimillionaire American businessman; founder of the "Holiday Inn" hotel chain

     • Kjell Inge Rokke.....self-made billionaire Norwegian businessman

     • David Puttnam.......Oscar-winning British film producer (Chariots of Fire, Midnight Express, etc.); knighted (United Kingdom: Sir David Puttnam)

     • Anthony Quinn.......Oscar-winning actor

     • Julie London....... singer-actress

     • Sophia Loren.......Oscar-winning actress; best-selling Italian-born author; former model (elementary school dropout)

     • Joe Louis..........boxer; Congressional Gold Medal recipient

     • Roy Rogers..........actor-singer-guitarist

     • Walter Nash.......New Zealand Prime Minister 1957-1960; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Walter Nash)

     • Olivia Newton-John.... singer-actress; British-born Australian author

     • Rosa Parks.........U.S. civil rights activist-pioneer; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; Congressional Gold Medal recipient

     • Mary Pickford......Oscar-winning actress; early Hollywood pioneer; co-founder of "United Artists Corporation" (little formal education [six months]; home schooling/life experience)

     • Sydney Poitier.....Oscar-winning actor (elementary school dropout)

     • Frederick "Freddy" Laker.... self-made multimillionaire British businessman; airline entrepreneur; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Frederick [or Freddy] Laker)

     • Tommy Lasorda...... baseball team manager; National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee

     • David Lean.........Oscar-winning British film director (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr .Zhivago, etc.); knighted (United Kingdom: Sir David Lean)

     • Anton van Leeuwenhoek....Dutch microscope maker; world's first microbiologist; discoverer of bacteria, blood cells, and sperm cells)

     • Richard Branson.....self-made billionaire British businessman; founder of "Virgin Atlantic Airways," "Virgin Records," etc.; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Richard Branson)

     • Isaac Merrit Singer....American sewing machine inventor; self-made multimillionaire founder of "Singer Industries," "I.M. Singer and Company," etc. (elementary school dropout)

     • Alfred E. Smith.....New York Governor; 1928 Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate (elementary school dropout)

     • Charles Chaplin.....Oscar-winning actor-writer-director-producer; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Charles [or Charlie] Chaplin) (elementary school dropout)

     • Sean Connery........Oscar-winning actor; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Sean Connery)

     • Jack Kent Cooke.....self-made billionaire Canadian-born American media businessman

     • Noel Coward.........Oscar-winning actor-director-producer-playwright-composer; knighted (United Kingdom: Sir Noel Coward) (elementary school dropout)

     • Joan Crawford....... Oscar-winning actress; former dancer

     • Charles E. Culpeper....self-made multimillionaire American businessman; early 1900s' owner and head of "The Coca Cola Bottling Company"

     • Robert De Niro......Oscar-winning actor-producer; knighted (France: Chevalier [Knight] of the Legion of Honor; Chevalier [or Chev.] Robert De Niro)

     • Gerard Depardieu....Oscar-nominated actor; knighted (France: Chevalier [or Chev.] Gerard Depardieu) (elementary school dropout)

     • Richard Desmond.....self-made billionaire British publisher

     • Thomas Dolby........ musician-composer; music producer

     • Joe Lewis........self-made billionaire British businessman

     • Carl Lindner.......self-made billionaire American businessman

     • John Llewellyn.....U.S. Labor leader pioneer; for 40 years until his retirement, president of the United Mine Workers' Union

     • Marcus Loew........self-made multimillionaire American businessman; early Hollywood pioneer; founder of the "Loews" movie-theater chain; co-founder of "MGM" studios (elementary school dropout)

     • Mary Lyon.........American women's education pioneer; early American teacher; founder of Mount Holyoke College (America's first women's college)

     • Sonny Bono...........singer-songwriter-actor; U.S. Congressman (California U.S. Representative)

     • Duke Ellington......Oscar-nominated American composer-bandleader; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

     • Ella Fitzgerald.....singer; Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient

     • Aretha Franklin....singer; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee

     • Horace Greeley.... American newspaper publisher-editor; U.S. Congressman; 1872 U.S. Presidential candidate; co-founder of the Republican party in the United States

     • Thomas Haffa......self-made double-digit billionaire German media businessman

     • J.R. Simplot.......self-made billionaire American agricultural businessman

     • Robert Maxwell.....self-made billionaire British publisher

     • Rod McKuen.........best-selling American poet (elementary school dropout)

Source: http://angelfire.com/stars4/lists/dropouts.html