Cole Porter.

Raised on a 750-acre fruit ranch in Peru, Indiana, Cole Porter began piano at eight and composed his first song, Song of the Birds, by age ten. His mother Kate introduced him to music; his grandfather J.G. Cole, a coal and timber millionaire, funded his education.

After Worcester Academy, where he was valedictorian in 1909, Porter attended Yale University and wrote fight songs like Bingo Eli Yale. At Yale, he lived in the same dorm as Dean Acheson, who later became U.S. Secretary of State.

Porter’s first Broadway show featured Clifton Webb; by 1928 he had written Let’s Do It. In 1930, Love for Sale was introduced but banned by radio. Four years later, Anything Goes became a hit, its title suggested by a stage doorman.

A horseback riding fall in 1937 crushed his legs, leading to 33 operations and eventual amputation in 1958. Despite the pain, he wrote Kiss Me, Kate in 1948, winning two Tony Awards.

Later songs include I Love Paris 1953 and film compositions. He composed for movies such as Born to Dance 1936 and The Omega Man 1971.

On December 18, 1919, Porter married Linda Lee Thomas, a wealthy Kentucky divorcée, at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. The marriage was a professional arrangement; Porter was gay, and Linda was a wealthy Kentucky divorcée and hostess.

They lived on Rue Monsieur in Paris, hosted lavish parties, and later moved to Venice’s Rezzonico Palace, building a floating nightclub. After Linda’s death from cancer in 1954 and his leg amputation in 1958, Porter became a recluse at the Waldorf-Astoria.

In 1991, Porter was featured on a 29-cent U.S. postage stamp for the centenary of his birth. British composer Howard Goodall ranked Porter among the four greatest 20th-century composers, alongside Leonard Bernstein and John Lennon/Paul McCartney.

The annual Cole Porter Festival in Peru, Indiana, continues to celebrate his work. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His catalog of witty, sophisticated songs remains a cornerstone of the American musical canon.