# What Famous People Come From Your Home Town? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 1, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259 "2007-05-01T03:43:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/1 "2007-05-01T03:43:55Z")
No Google help allowed! Guess my home town; and then comprise your own list of people who have come from your own home town. Max Webster - 70s - 80s rock band Dino Ciccarelli - 80s - 90s hockey player Mike Weir - Current pro golfer James Doohan - Beam me up, Scotty! Kerry Fraser - NHL Referee Chris Hadfield - Astronaut Tony McKegney - 70s -80s hockey player Harry Neale - CBC Hockey Commentator Pat Verbeek - 80s -90s hockey player ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/2 "2007-05-01T03:57:33Z")
John Mellencamp lives in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana (although he was born in nearby Seymour.) I know Mellencamp personally. Due to my parents’ involvement in various community things, they got to know him. In fact, I just saw him on the road today in his yellow Viper, which he drives around town all the time. I also ran into him at a steakhouse about two months ago. I appear rather prominently in the music video for _Your Life is Now_ [(video here)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHr9y1Kg5hQ) along with my mother and sister. My sister appears right at the beginning, holding up the bride’s wedding gown, and then a few seconds later, holding up some kind of plate. I am first seen at 0:54, holding up a painting, then at 0:59 holding up a cross and wearing a Russian style hat. Then I’m shown again at 1:25 with my mother, with a very bored expression on my face. (She is holding a little dog.) That video was shot at an abandoned quarry on a very foggy and dreary day. It was a crazy experience. We had to do a million takes for the parade scene because the director wanted to get the smoke blowing over the people marching perfectly. It’s actually one of my favorite Mellencamp songs, and one of my favorite music videos of all time, aside from the fact that I’m in it. John is a great guy. I like to think of him as the Bruce Springsteen of the Midwest. He really has stayed true to his roots despite his great success. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/3 "2007-05-01T04:00:22Z")
Oddly enough, all three famous people are in the movie/TV industry. Ethan Hawke, Christopher McQuarrie, and Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns, House) all went to my high school. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/4 "2007-05-01T04:06:33Z")
Not born here, but went to high school here was Frank Zappa. He and my uncle attended HS concurrently, FZ was a few years older though. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/5 "2007-05-01T04:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] John Mellencamp lives in my hometown of Bloomington, Indiana (although he was born in nearby Seymour.) I know Mellencamp personally. Due to my parents’ involvement in various community things, they got to know him. In fact, I just saw him on the road today in his yellow Viper, which he drives around town all the time. I also ran into him at a steakhouse about two months ago. I appear rather prominently in the music video for _Your Life is Now_ [(video here)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHr9y1Kg5hQ) along with my mother and sister. My sister appears right at the beginning, holding up the bride’s wedding gown, and then a few seconds later, holding up some kind of plate. I am first seen at 0:54, holding up a painting, then at 0:59 holding up a cross and wearing a Russian style hat. Then I’m shown again at 1:25 with my mother, with a very bored expression on my face. (She is holding a little dog.) That video was shot at an abandoned quarry on a very foggy and dreary day. It was a crazy experience. We had to do a million takes for the parade scene because the director wanted to get the smoke blowing over the people marching perfectly. It’s actually one of my favorite Mellencamp songs, and one of my favorite music videos of all time, aside from the fact that I’m in it. John is a great guy. I like to think of him as the Bruce Springsteen of the Midwest. He really has stayed true to his roots despite his great success. [/QUOTE] Cool! I saw John back in ohhhhhh late 80s maybe, Paper In Fire tour. I was very impressed, although to be honest I thought it would suck. (Jack and Diane is the most contrived piece of shit I’ve ever heard - but he redeemed himself on the PIF album - whatever it was called.) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/6 "2007-05-01T04:11:43Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] Cool! I saw John back in ohhhhhh late 80s maybe, Paper In Fire tour. I was very impressed, although to be honest I thought it would suck. (Jack and Diane is the most contrived piece of shit I’ve ever heard - but he redeemed himself on the PIF album - whatever it was called.) [/QUOTE] Also, his favorite acoustic guitar has “FUCK FASCISM” carved into it. I love that little punk-esque touch. When he was asked to use a different guitar for some MTV special appearance, he put a sticker over it that said “censorship is un-American.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/7 "2007-05-01T04:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] Not born here, but went to high school here was Frank Zappa. He and my uncle attended HS concurrently, FZ was a few years older though. [/QUOTE] Another one of my music idols! RIP Frank! ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/8 "2007-05-01T04:14:34Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] Another one of my music idols! RIP Frank! [/QUOTE] “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” was one of my favorite childhood ditties. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/9 "2007-05-01T04:17:42Z")
Other famous people from my hometown: Violinist [Joshua Bell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Bell) Race car driver [Steve Kinser](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Kinser) (great guy - his kids went to my Montessori school. My first crush was on his very pretty, part-Native American daughter.) [Meg Cabot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Cabot) - author of the Princess Diaries books. [Hoagie Carmichael](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoagy_Carmichael) - inspiration for James Bond’s appearance (note that he does NOT look like Daniel Craig!) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/10 "2007-05-01T04:21:44Z")
If we stick to my old neighborhood, rather than the entire city of New York… Tony Bennett Robert Davi Whitey Ford George Maharis Patrick McGoohan (born in Astoria, but his Irish parents took him back abroad when he was little) Melanie Ethel Merman Al Oerter, discus champion David Schwimmer Christopher Walken (I never met him, far as I remember, but his father ran the best bakery around) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/11 "2007-05-01T04:23:26Z")
Quentin Tarantino Cormac McCarthy James Agee (Knoxville, TN) ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/12 "2007-05-01T04:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] Christopher Walken (I never met him, far as I remember, but his father ran the best bakery around) [/QUOTE] My parents lived right next to Walken’s parents when they were first married. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/13 "2007-05-01T04:32:32Z")
Since no one’s guessing, my home town is … Bah Bahhh Bahhhhhh!!! Sarnia, Ontario. (Pretty exciting, I know) (I was born in Motherwell, Scotland, but grew up in Sarnia.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/14 "2007-05-01T05:36:15Z")
[QUOTE=Queen Bruin] “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” was one of my favorite childhood ditties. 😃 [/QUOTE] Oh, me too! I got nothin’ except this one girl from my hometown who became a Laker Girl. She would come back and give motivational speeches about staying in school. Pathetic, I know. Also, the Michael Jackson trial was in my hometown (and they weren’t all that pleased about it). ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/15 "2007-05-01T06:11:23Z")
Born here Barack Obama Nicole Kidman Bette Midler Tia Carrera Hiram Bingham and a bunch of Hawaiian nobility. With the military presense here I guess we have a lot of born here but raised elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/16 "2007-05-01T06:12:55Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] I appear rather prominently in the music video for _Your Life is Now_ [(video here)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHr9y1Kg5hQ) along with my mother and sister. My sister appears right at the beginning, holding up the bride’s wedding gown, and then a few seconds later, holding up some kind of plate. I am first seen at 0:54, holding up a painting, then at 0:59 holding up a cross and wearing a Russian style hat. Then I’m shown again at 1:25 with my mother, with a very bored expression on my face. (She is holding a little dog.) [/QUOTE] OK, big mistake, it’s NOT me holding the painting at 0:54, it’s obviously a much smaller kid. I think it might have been one of Mellencamp’s sons. Just wanted to address that because I was just watching the video again out of nostalgia. Sorry if this comes across as pompous self-promotion. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/17 "2007-05-01T06:18:45Z")
No Google? Okay then, Benjamin Franklin. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/18 "2007-05-01T06:32:04Z")
Jazz singer Nancy Wilson was born and raised in my hometown. Any guesses? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/19 "2007-05-01T06:35:35Z")
Ummm…none of them? Seriously, no one famous that I know of has ever been born, or even lived in, my hometown. Hell, the closest thing to a celebrity my hometown has ever had is either my dad, who was on the cover of the Boston Sunday Globe once, or the city garbage men, who were featured in a NY Times article and were on one of those morning shows (I _think_ it was Good Morning America.) ---
**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2007, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259/20 "2007-05-01T06:36:29Z")
George Lucas Scott Peterson [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-people-come-from-your-home-town/402259.md?page=2)