I know of 2, there are probably more:
Peter Jennings
Richard Branson
I am looking for fairly recent people , say the last 100 years or so.
James H. Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape, never recieved his high school diploma. But he did go on to college:
County singer and sausage magnate Jimmy Dean.
Sir Alan Sugar of the BBC show The Apprentice left school when 16.
A few years ago I heard Richard Branson interviewed on the radio and he mentioned a string of his friends who are all in business and all left school early. He explained that, by the time someone left university with a business degree, they were looking to settle down, while people like him had 10 years of trying to make money behind them.
Jerry Garcia.
Jamie Oliver the TV chef and restauranter left school at 16 with no academic qualifications. He makes a point of telling us this in each episode of “Jamie’s Dream School” a UK TV series following his attempt to give other young people who failed at school a second chance using “experts” from outside education as the teachers - so far, without much success!
John Travolta, who grew up literally four blocks from where I now live.
Billionaire British publishing mogul and member of Parliment Robert Maxwell.
Justin Beiber?
Justin Bieber
Actually I don’t know, he’s 17 so maybe he has some kind of high school degree by now. There are probably a number of child stars who never got an official high school diploma, or only gained an equivalent based on questionable standards. I guess the OP is really about people succeeding after reaching adulthood.
There are many in show business. Canadian actor Cory Monteith from the cast of GLEE only finished 9th grade.
The Wright Brothers. (Wilbur actually completed the course work but due to moving never received a diploma; Orville dropped out in his junior year.)
Of course it’s worth remembering in any field these are the exceptions. Most people who did not finish high school do not succeed.
I know a guy who is a really good pro motocross racer , his parents made him finish high school before racing full time. He could have gone pro at 16 or 17.
Colonel Sanders (Wikipedia) dropped out of 7th grade about 110 years ago, and lived on until December 1980.
Some show business people who acted as kids got their GED while others finished at a regular high school.
I don’t think there’s an important distinction between those who graduate from high school and those who don’t. A high school degree generically only represents minimal achievement in literacy. Where used as a job requirement, a GED is an acceptable alternative, and unlike college degrees, I don’t think there much checking on the validity of a claim to have graduated or obtained a GED. I wouldn’t distinquish this much from successful people who have not graduated from college.
Another thing to note, not all people earn a high school diploma before entering college. I know someone who left high school in the 11th grade to start college because of a change to SS survivor benefits that required him to be enrolled in college before the change took place. He never graduated from high school, or college, but has been gainfully employed for many years.
Thomas Edison:
Kirk Kerkorian, a businessman worth over $10 billion, is an eighth-grade dropout.
From the TV show Hazel