It's likely some of these films inspire interest in the originals. Fortunately, most of these famous lives are well documented. If you're looking for something to spend that holiday cash on, you might want to know more about:

• "Ray," check out the fabulous new DVD, "O Genio: Ray Charles Live in Brazil 1963," a Ray Charles concert performance from Rhino Home Video. It's '63, and Charles is at the peak of his powers, in the period depicted near the end of the film. Two other key figures portrayed in the movie — saxophonist Fathead Newman and the electrifying backup singer (and mistress) Margie Hendricks — are also prominent in the concert.

• "Brother Ray: Ray Charles' Own Story," co-written with David Ritz, has also just been published in an updated paperback edition (De Capo Press, $16.95). Beyond Charles' autobiography, the book features Ritz's touching article on Charles' last days before his death. And, of course, there's all that great music, including his last album, "Genius Loves Company,' just nominated for seven Grammys.

• "The Aviator," Martin Scorsese's depiction of Howard Hughes, filmmaker, flyer, and eccentric playboy is superb. You can read more about Hughes in Donald L. Barlett's "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" (W. W. Norton & Company; $19.95) or "Howard Hughes: The Secret Life" (St. Martin's Press; $13.95) by Charles Higham, billed as the basis for Scorsese's film.

If you happen to travel to the Portland, Ore., area, head an hour west on Highway 18 to McMinnville, where a giant hanger houses the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Its most important artifact — and one you can't miss — is Hughes' infamous Spruce Goose, the gigantic troop carrier that Hughes built and flew only once. The plane stars in the final reel of "The Aviator."

• Kinsey, the controversial researcher's famous books, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" and "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" are still in print, as are several biographies. For a more casual option, try "Kinsey: Public and Private," a paperback written by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy ($19.95) that combines the film's shooting script with a well-written 60-page biographical essay, and nearly a hundred pages with various articles and opinions reacting to Kinsey and his work.

More detailed background is also available at the official site of the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University.