Francis is one of the world's most popular and influential figures, with a public persona that blends humility with boldness.
At about the same time, Cassius Clay probably had little idea that as Muhammad Ali his public persona would be so enduring and influential.
It's just the kind of lethal gossip that has made Staines, as his blogging persona Guido Fawkes, one of the most feared and influential forces in British public life.
Jarret Brachman, author of "Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice" and a consultant to the United States government about terrorism, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Mohammed had used the online persona Abu Dujana al-Khorasani and was an influential jihadi voice on the Web.
It's unclear why Young would need a pseudonym, but the vagueness of his identity has likely been conducive to building his poetry-world persona, a persona that's both marketable and disproportionately influential in this niche genre.
Despite being at the helm of one of the most influential companies in the world, he always held on to his outsider persona.
The short-statured Blain resembled James Dean in looks and persona, and became the favourite of young critics on the influential magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, who decided, in their battle against the "cinéma du papa", to make films themselves.
Through many films and two influential television series, Maverick and The Rockford Files, James Garner, who has died aged 86, developed a persona with a subtly different appeal.
By contrast, Sweden seemed for decades to be one of the very epicenters of cinematic art (the north pole to Paris's equator and Rome's south pole), thanks mainly to the colossal and influential artistry of one filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman — and, above all, to the shattering power of such films as "Persona," from 1966, which Bergman discusses in this interview.
While almost no one will say anything negative about him on the record — perhaps a sign of how influential he has become — some of his fellow Hollywood scions in particular grouse that Mr. Wasserman's nice-guy persona is a well-practiced shtick.
Richard Bove, an influential US banking analyst, has forecast Blankfein's departure, suggesting that "someone must fall on their sword for the devastating decline in this company's persona".
