Colonel Sanders, the iconic face on the Kentucky Fried Chicken logo, was actually a real man. If you didn't know that, don't worry you're not alone. A USA Today poll showed that 61% of respondents didn't know who the man in the KFC logo was. Colonoel Sanders was actually the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain. He was not, as many believe, a creation of KFC for marketing purposes. He existed, and he is responsible for supplying America (and later the world) with crispy, heart-unhealthy fried chicken. His full name was Harland David Sanders, and he was essentially a failure for the majority of his life.
He was fired from a number of jobs over the course of his life. Then he started his own restaurant only to have to close it because it wasn't doing well. He would drive around to other restaurants and beg them to use his chicken recipe and give him a 5 cent commission on each chicken. He slept in the back of his car for a while. He was also a lawyer, and once, he assaulted his own client in court. He also once shot and killed a man in a shoot-out. He wasn't convicted though because the other man had started it. Once he started KFC and it took off, he started wearing his trademark white suit as a marketing ploy. For the last twenty years of his life, he was never seen in public without his suit. An odd character perhaps, but the Colonel, who yes, was a real person, finally succeeded. And he brought chicken to the masses.