Do all successful or intelligent people start off being gifted or
lucky? Could you please give some examples of any people that fit in
these categories (preferabbly, 'famous' people who are also: people
with power, and intelligent people.) Please give examples of those who
have had hard struggles through life but still came out on top. Or is
it really true that all the powerful, intelligent people in TODAY'S
world (so I don't want people who were born in another century, for
instace, but someone who is still intelligent and powerful TODAY) all
have a good start already? Such as, extremely smart parents, or they
immediately attended a private school, or went to a prestigious
university, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Some of the material in this answer may be of interest to you:

http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=432155

Wow.. that is extremely inspiring.

I am very thankful that you posted this :) Thanks! I'll definitely
read it from beginning to end.

Gary ... You are evidently very smart, as evidenced by your quest for
knowledge and you are also very lucky in that the renowned Pink Lady
has taken up your case.

In years to come when you are Mr Prez please remember that you got
your inspiration HERE.

Greetings,
Is it fair to question the coupling of intelligent and succesful?
I think there are some overly intelligent people who coast along
without much effort and do not realize their potential, while on the
other hand there are many with less native intellect but more drive
who achieve a great deal more in life, greater success in their
career, recognition in their community for their good work, and so on,
and deservedly so.  Rereading Gary's last sentence, I think "having a
leg up", coming from a family that can send one to a good private
school and prestigious college is no guarantee of later success.  But
what is meant by "success"?  If someone wants to be a school teacher
after having had an "elite" education, he or she may be a very good
one, fulfilling his/her goal, but may not appear on anyone's list of
"successful" graduates.

My theory on the subject goes like  this: what's in, comes out. If
there's not much to come out, in the way of talent, desire, goals or
ambition, you can ask questions and spend time and money searching --
until the cows return -- and in my experience, not much is likely to
happen. It looks to me that in any field at any time, there's really
only one or two "household names". They're followed by some number of
folks accomplished in the field. And then, in the greatest numbers, by
the folks who get into the field, but really don't possess the native
skills and talents to really make a go of things. I think this is the
case with just about every endeavour, regardless. So I say you're
either born gifted, or you're not. We can learn lots of skills, like
typing, or html, for example. But how many folks can pull off, or are
drawn to pulling off, daredevil bike riding stunts? I for example, am
proficient in html and css. But this time around, my talent for
designing cool looking, eye-popping websites is practically non
existant. As a corollary to all this, either you're born with it or
you're not stuff, I have a "bump-on-the-head" theory. It goes like
this: every once in a while a life-changing event, usually something
quite dramatic, happens in the lives of some people. But again, these
folks are really few and far between. Example. MADD, as I understand
it, was started by a woman who lost a son to a drunk driver. Had this
event not happened in this family, would MADD as we know it today,
exist? Good question, no? Anyway, where on earth did I come up with my
theories? I'm esssentially laying out for you observations based on my
own life's experience. I'm a pretty bright guy. At least, this is what
I continue to be told across my lifetime. And yet, I am pulled in no
particular direction. I have very few native interests in life, and
certainly no all consuming hobbies. I'm just here. Have I spent lots
of time, money and energy  looking for that special something to do
with myself? You bet I have!! And then one day about eight years ago,
what I've written here just dawned on me. That despite all that I've
done and looked into; all of the jobs an businessees I've ever been
associated with, etc., I, me, personally, am interested in very
little. For me this time around, this is just the way that it is. So
now, I write telling you that if you are not drawn in particular
direction, you may not be, ever. For myself, I'm still open to my
"bump-on-the-head" theory, or that perhaps, maybe, as it did for
Colonel Saunders, I might have to wait until I move into my seventh
decade before my "thing" finally steps up and shows itself. Good luck
however, and don't stop looking. You never know who, or what's coming
just around the next corner.

I interviewed Jean Reynolds, author of Succeeding in College for my
website www.learning-study-skills.com. She said the playing field is
much more level than we think. She told the story of George Shuba,
from the '50's Dodgers, as described in the book The Boys of Summer.
Shuba was famous for his "natural" swing. In the book we find out that
as a teenager, Shuba decided he wanted to be great. He bored out a
baseball bat and poured lead into the hole. He then tied a rope to the
basement rafters and put knots in it to outline the strike zone. Every
day, except when he was playing a major league game, from then until
he finally quit baseball he took 600 cuts at the rope. When the scouts
finally noticed him, in triple A, they marvelled at his natural swing.
Of course, by then he'd swung that weighted bat half a million times.

The last two comments I found interesting because they each hit
different sides of the original question:
Bobit-ga points out that intelligence does not necessarily lead to success;
Puffer50-ga, that success is not necessarily related to intelligence
or being gifted or lucky.
Intelligence, I hope we would agree, is a gift, it's luck if you have
it, which is not saying that you are therefore a luckier person. And
if you don't find or feel a calling to direct it you probably won't be
outstandingly successful.
I would even venture to say that ga is a gathering spot for many such.

Garyking, hi!, wants examples, whereby "bad examples" can help define the subject.