I won't list all 24 people here, but I'll include some of my favorites below.

We'll take a look at some of them, from renowned fashion designer Vera Wang, who didn't design her first dress until she was 40, to writer Harry Bernstein, who authored countless rejected books before getting his first hit at age 96.

Get inspired by those who show it's never too late.

Vera Wang was a figure skater and journalist before entering the fashion industry at age 40. Today she's one of the world's premier women's designers.

Samuel L. Jackson has been a Hollywood staple for years now, but he'd had only bit parts before landing an award-winning role at age 43 in Spike Lee's film "Jungle Fever" in 1991.

Sam Walton had a fairly successful retail-management career in his 20s and 30s, but his path to astronomical success began at age 44, when he founded the first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. 

Henry Ford was 45 when he created the revolutionary Model T car in 1908.

Momofuku Ando cemented his spot in junk-food history when he invented instant ramen at age 48 in 1958.

Charles Darwin spent most of his life as a naturalist who kept to himself, but in 1859 at age 50 his "On the Origin of Species" changed the scientific community forever. 

Julia Child worked in advertising and media before writing her first cookbook when she was 50, launching her career as a celebrity chef in 1961.

Ray Kroc spent his career as a milkshake-device salesman before buying McDonald's at age 52 in 1954. He grew it into the world's biggest fast-food franchise.

Laura Ingalls Wilder spent her later years writing semi-autobiographical stories using her educated daughter, Rose, as an editor. She published the first in the "Little House" books at age 65 in 1932. They soon became children's literary classics and the basis for the TV show "Little House on the Prairie."

Anna Mary Robertson Moses, better known as Grandma Moses, began her prolific painting career at 78. In 2006, one of her paintings sold for $1.2 million.

Harry Bernstein spent a long life writing in obscurity but finally achieved fame at age 96 for his 2007 memoir, "The Invisible Wall: A Love Story That Broke Barriers."

Here are the rest of the late bloomers in this article:

http://businessinsider.com/24-people-who-became-highly-successful-after-age-40-2015-6

The most powerful people in the world at every age:

http://businessinsider.com/most-powerful-person-at-every-age-2015-5

This country is obsessed with early achievement for some reason... but in my family we have after many years come to understand that being happy and productive towards the END of life is by far the sweeter and rarer thing.

Well said, Joyce. We don't need to be ultra successful to be happy and productive.

And yes it's better to be happy and productive towards the end of life. 

Great to see!  Not really surprising since so much wisdom is gained along the way. Come to think of it, early bloomers are more surprising.

Early bloomers benefit from a confidence that stems from not knowing they can fail. 

Late bloomers are much more aware of what can go wrong... Which stops some from starting!

True true.

And lest we forget that early bloomers have more energy, can eat and drink crap and not feel the effects, process things a little quicker and remember where they left things!

Those are all good points. 

I guess a consequence of having more energy is that it is not always spent wisely.

Happiness is never measured by how you felt an experience, but more by how you ended it. If late bloomers have had a spectacular run in the twilight of their lives, their closing memories will be the happiest. 

We should all hope for success later in life then!