Not born, but lived:
Brooke Shields and (one town over) Mohamed Ali.
I shook Richard Nixon’s hand in my hometown, although he didn’t live there…but, he used to visit his pal, Beebe Rebozo, at his summer home near my brother (who sat next to Steven Hawking and Ringo Star on the Concord—not at the same time, though that would have been quite a surreal experience)…oh, and Burt Reynolds picked up my mother from the floor at the library after she tripped over his foot…John Travolta told me I looked good in between scenes that he, I and James Gandolfini did while filming one of our major motion pictures together (yeah, we were all in it, so I consider it our film)… Salma Hayak’s dog took a dump right in front of my daughter and I, which I later stepped in…accidentally.
Oh, I thought of another one – the artist Csatari lives in my home town.
You may not have heard of him, but if you have any “Normam Rockwell” paintings that date from just before or from after Rockwell’s death, Csatari almost certainly painted them. He worked with him for a while, and got his commissions after Rockwell died. We’ve got a Rockwell-style Boy Scout painting (replica) in our house that features our neighbors on it.
Wikipedia lists more than this, but these are the only ones I can verify:
Al Hodge (actor, (Captain Video), (The Green Hornet) and director (The Lone Ranger) b.1912)
Don Nottingham (pro football player, b. 1949)
David D. Busch (photographer, author, b. 1947)
Maynard James Keenan (rock singer for Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, b. 1964)
Famous people born in my city (or nearby):[ul][li]Nathan Fillion[/li][li]Michael J. Fox[/li][li]Jill Hennessey[/li][li]Marshall McLuhan[/li][li]W.P. Kinsella[/li][li]Mark Messier[/li][li]Scott Niedermayer[/li]Jarome Iginla[/ul]
Citing my ACTUAL hometown and not Cleveland or Akron…
I was very proud to see that not only did we have an honest-to-goodness astronaut, Ron Sega (I had known about him) but he also has a Wikipedia entry!
But digging further I see we also have Seattle Seahawk Rob Sims and female boxer Vonda Ward!! I never knew that - She is awesome!
I will also give a shout out to my man Dan Letterle who I actually know and actually went to school with. He is not very famous YET but we’d all just feel awful if I left him off this list and he became famous in the future, eh?
I was cleaning out a flower bed once and found a card that said "Good for one free drink at Hopper’s Bar (maybe Hooper’s Bar, I’d have to find the card), Morecroft, Wyoming. This was in a small town in the Texas Panhandle (that has no famous people from it).
James Weldon Johnson - African American activist
Merion C. Cooper - original “King Kong” director
Wanda Hendrix - 1940s actress
Patrika Darbo - soap opera actress
Pat Boone - singer
Gary “US” Bonds - singer
Johnny Tillotson - singer
Limp Bizkit
Leanza Cornett - Miss America 1993
38 Special
Derek Trucks - guitarist
Lynyrd Skynyrd (hello - dead giveaway!)
Noblesville, Indiana is not my home town, but i lived there for quite a few years. in no particular order, these folks were at least born there:
Rex Stout, mystery writer and author of the nearly 70 ‘Nero Wolfe’ books, which i believe are still available.
Steve Wariner, country music singer with 18 consecutive top ten hits dating from the 80s and several gold albums to date.
Colonel Pete Knight USAF retired, politician, and former mayor of Palmdale, CA, who once upon a time ‘the fastest man alive.’ He still holds the world’s speed record for winged powered aircraft.
i met him years ago when i was a print reporter writing for the local rag. fascinating, lovely man, with absolutely the bluest most brilliant eyes i’ve ever seen, before or since. you ***knew * ** he was a pilot the minute you saw him. he passed away just a couple of years ago.
Norman Norell, 50s fashion designer and known as ‘The Dean of American Fashion,’ whose whose designs hold up today with their clean lines and meticulous cut. His perfume is still being made.
and last but not least, there’s Dirty Helen, a local madam, who i’m *pretty * sure was born in noblesville. she also lived in chicago and up in superior, wisconsin, but i can’t better info on her online. too obscure i guess.
without getting to the local historical society archives to verify, i can’t be positive, but Barley Island Brewer, a nifty little pub in downtown Noblesville that does it’s own brewing, carries a beer in her name: Dirty Helen Brown Ale. pretty good reference for me and i can say with experience that it’s a mondo tasty beer.
Johnny Depp (born here, don’t know how long he stayed)
Darrell and Michael Waltrip (from NASCAR)
Jeff, David, and Mark Green (also from NASCAR)
Jeremy Mayfield(also from NASCAR)
Natives:
Billy Sunday, evangelist
Peter Schickele, composer and scholar of P.D.Q. Bach
Jake Johannsen, comedian
Residents:
George Washington Carver, agricultural scientist
Michael Gartner, publisher-broadcasting exec
Bob Bartley, editor-publisher
Nick Nolte, actor
Dan Gable, Olympic wrestler-coach
Jane Smiley, novelist
Stevie Wonder (née Steveland Hardaway Judkins)
Serena Williams (but not Venus)
That’s it. Not a lot of famous people from my home town.
However, oddly enough William Orville ‘Lefty’ Frizzell had a popular song in which he sang that he was born there, but he was born in Corsicana TX. It’s also mentioned in a Simon and Garfunkel song, and it was a big part of a Seinfeld episode.
Bart Starr is my son’s cousin, a few times removed.
Famous Chicagoans (musicians):
Emma Abbott, (1850-1891), born in Chicago, noted soprano[2]
Emilie Autumn, musician. Pioneer of “violindustrial”
Avant, singer
Rachel Barton Pine, violinist
Bob Bryar drummer of My Chemical Romance
Benn Jordan, electronic musician
Paul Butterfield, Blues musician
Marty Casey, frontman of the rock band Lovehammers
Peter Cetera, singer
Jimmy Chamberlin, Smashing Pumpkins drummer
Gene Chandler, singer
Steve Cole, Jazz saxophonist
Sam Cooke, singer
Common, rapper
Billy Corgan, singer and Smashing Pumpkins frontman
James Cotton, Blues musician
Da Brat, rapper
Miles Davis, musician
Jack DeJohnette, drummer/pianist
Disturbed, rock group
Willie Dixon, Blues songwriter and record producer
Do Or Die or D.O.D.
Florence Kirsch Du Brul, classical pianist
Phil Everly, singer
Lupe Fiasco, rapper
Harvey Fuqua, singer/songwriter/producer
Benny Goodman, musician/bandleader
Steve Goodman, singer
Gene Greene, singer
Buddy Guy, Blues guitarist
Herbie Hancock, musician
James Iha, former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist
Quincy Jones, musician/songwriter/producer
Brendan Kelly, musician
R. Kelly, singer
William Kimball, founder of Kimball Piano Company
Gene Krupa, musician
L.O.R.E.N., rapper
Ramsey Lewis, musician
Curtis Mayfield, musician/songwriter/guitarist
Tom Morello, guitarist
Wayne Nelson, lead singer of classic rock’s Little River Band
OK Go Power-pop Band
James Petrillo, musician’s union head
Liz Phair, musician
Rhymefest, rapper
Lou Rawls, singer
Matt Skiba Lead singer of Alkaline Trio
Horatio Spafford, penned the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”
Mavis Staples, singer
Patrick Stump, lead singer/guitarist for Fall Out Boy
Hound Dog Taylor, guitarist
Giorgio Tozzi, basso
Jeff Tweedy, musician
Twista, rapper
Jon Walker, bassist for Panic! at the Disco
Muddy Waters, Blues musician
Peter Wentz, bassist and lyricist for Fall Out Boy
Kanye West, rapper
Tony Williams, jazz drummer
Wesley Willis, musician
Howlin’ Wolf, musician
D’arcy Wretzky, former Smashing Pumpkins bassist
Zim Zum, guitarist/musician, songwriter for The Pop Culture Suicides
Chaka Khan, singer
Other Entertainers (and I don’t think this list is entirely accurate)
Maria Kanellis, wrestler
CM Punk, wrestler
Gillian Anderson, actress
Dominic Armato, voice actor
Reiko Aylesworth, actress
Barney Balaban, mogul, head of Paramount Pictures
Adam Baldwin, actor
Ike Barinholtz, comedian
Ralph Bellamy, actor
James Belushi, actor/comedian
John Belushi, actor/comedian
Jack Benny, actor/comedian
Edgar Bergen, ventriloquist
Shelley Berman, comedian
Carlos Bernard, actor
Michael Ian Black, comedian
Budd Boetticher, film director
Tom Bosley, actor
Buddy Bregman, composer/arranger
Allan Carr, producer
Dan Castellaneta, comedian
Kyle Chavarria, actress
Joan Cusack, actress/comedian
John Cusack, actor
Walt Disney, founder of The Walt Disney Company/mogul
Mike Douglas, talk show host
Michael Clarke Duncan, actor
Dennis Farina, actor
Chris Farley, actor/comedian
Jon Favreau, actor/writer/director
Tina Fey, actress/writer
Michael Flatley, dancer
Harrison Ford, actor
Bob Fosse, director/choreographer
Hugh Hefner, publisher/mogul
Terrance Howard, actor
Jennifer Hudson, actress
John Hughes, film director/writer
Philip Kaufman, film director
Ron Livingston, actor
Lar Lubovitch, choreographer
Bernie Mac, actor/comedian
William H. Macy, actor/producer
John Malkovich, actor
David Mamet, playwright/poet/screenwriter/director
Michael Mann, film director/writer/producer
Jenny McCarthy, actress/model
Frances McDormand, actress
Rick Moranis, actor
Brian Doyle-Murray, actor
Bill Murray, actor/comedian
Bob Newhart, actor/comedian
Melvin Van Peebles, director
Jeff Perry, actor
William L. Petersen, actor
Jeremy Piven, actor
Harold Ramis, actor/director/comedian
Bill Rancic, winner of The Apprentice
John C. Reilly, actor
Lucille Ricksen, actress
Pat Sajak, game show host
Horatio Sanz, actor/comedian
Amy Sedaris, actress
David Sedaris, radio broadcaster & author
Gary Sinise, actor
Gloria Swanson, actress
Mr. T., actor
Jessica Taylor, actress [Forest Park]
Giorgio Tozzi, singer, actor, and ghost singer for Rossano Brazzi in South Pacific
Vince Vaughn, actor
Raquel Welch, actress
Robin Williams, actor/comedian
Billy Zane, actor
Florenz Ziegfeld, empresario
Katie Doyle, castmember of MTV’s Road Rules
Monique Calhoun, model
(hello - dead giveaway!)
