I think a lot of the debate here is over the defintion of fame. I think there’s two distinct kinds of fame: contemporary fame and historical fame. Contemporary fame is when you’re in People magazine. Historical fame is when you’re in schoolbooks.
Liberace
How about Laura Ingalls Wilder for Wisconsin?
Don’t forget Jim Morrison.
I don’t think more people have heard of Capote/Cole/Cox/Parks than Helen Keller. That’s my point. For instance, I’d imagine that you get a lot less name recognition of Courtney Cox in people over 60. And a lot less of Nat King Cole in people under 40. The name recognition of Helen Keller (indeed, anyone who’s been dead for a century or so) is cross-generational. That’s why she gets more points from me. The only other truly cross-generational fame on that list of four above would be Rosa Parks, and hers is more US-specific fame (IMNSHO - feel free to disagree)
The three most famous people born in th town I currently live in, Englewood, New Jersey, are Anne Morrow Lindbergh, John Travolta and Bruce Harper. I’m very good friend with Bruce and met Travolta once.
I would so loved to have talked with Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
I think it’s impossible to pick one person unless your state is only 10 years old. There is no way to pick only one person unless they single handily stopped the destruction of Earth.
Except for a recent U.S. president. I doubt that that there’s anyone born in Connecticut who is more famous than George W. Bush, or anyone born in Arkansas is more famous than Bill Clinton or anyone born in Hawaii is more famous than Barack Obama.
I think Helen Keller is the winner for Alabama for world-wide and historical purposes (although Forrest Gump has to be up there as well).
I don’t necessarily disagree that Brando is the most famous Nebraska-born person, but I do think that Gerald Ford should probably rate a place in Arnold’s “Disputed” list.
John Maynard Keynes
Oliver Cromwell
William Paley
Richard Attenborough
Hereward the Wake
I’m also from Pennsylvania, and I’d say the most famous living person from there, at least for the present moment would be Vice-President Joe Biden. There are scores of others, but I’d say some of the other best-known Pennsylvanians would include Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, Andrew Wyeth, Andy Warhol, and Benjamin Franklin.
Ben Franklin would be way up there for most states but he is originally from Massachusetts, not Pennsylvania and was born in Boston. As a matter of fact, he could proabably give JFK himself a run for the most famous person born in Massachusetts.
Oh, good, I was drawing a blank on my current “home state” of Oregon. 
(BTW, EVERYONE who’s ANYONE knows that Springfield is in OREGON (just like many character names come from Portland area streets or places…this link left out (Rev.) Lovejoy):
As for my actual home state of Texas, if the standard is the person most likely to be recognized by the most people around the world, I doubt LBJ would cut the mustard, esp. at this late date. :dubious:
I’d go with one of the below or one of the other many actors or musicians who’ve sprung from the region: (in no particular order):
Buddy Holly
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Janis Joplin
Beyonce
Renee Zellweger
Farrah Fawcett
Forrest Whitaker
Joan Crawford
I just think that given the standard of worldwide recognition, it is much more likely that a person on the street in say, Zimbawe, would be more likely to recognize Beyonce or even Farrah Fawcett than LBJ. We live in a pop culture world.
D’oh! :smack: You’re right. I knew that, too. I learned it in elementary school, somewhere in about the 5th grade. I’m embarrased I didn’t retain that knowledge.
Not a state but a country–I think it’s probably pretty safe to say that the most famous person born in Ecuador (to non-Ecuadorians, that is) is Mike Judge (of Office Space and Beavis & Butthead fame).
For Rhode Island, how about Ambrose Burnside - not for his military prowess, but his contribution to facial fashion.
We haven’t done my current state of Arizona, yet. I’ll start.
Senator and Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, born in Phoenix. In 1909, yet, when Arizona was still a territory.
Singers Stevie Nicks, from Phoenix, and Linda Ronstadt, from Tucson.
Lynda Carter, aka Wonder Woman, Phoenix.
“I Dream of Jeannie” star Barbara Eden, from Tucson.
Names included up to post 178.
List one: my choices for US States (reflecting my biases - e.g. I don’t follow sports). Also I usually give preference to movie personalities vs. TV personalities because movie personalities are usually more known internationally.
List two: US territories since Colibri brought it up.
List three: candidates that have been brought up and might, IMHO, be defensible.
I’ve omitted a bunch of names that don’t come close.
The toughest states for me so far have been Delaware, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Texas, Utah. Can’t make up my mind.
List 1
State / Most famous person born in that state
Alabama / Helen Keller or James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens
Alaska / Curtis Montague Schilling
Arkansas / William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton or John R. “Johnny” Cash
Arizona / Linda Ronstadt or Stephanie Lynn “Stevie” Nicks
California / Norma Jeane Baker aka Marilyn Monroe or Richard Milhous Nixon
Colorado / William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey
Connecticut / George Walker Bush
Delaware / George Thorogood or Judge Reinhold
Florida / James Douglas “Jim” Morrison
Georgia / Martin Luther King or James Earl “Jimmy” Carter
Hawaii / Barack Hussein Obama
Idaho / Sarah Louise Palin
Illinois / Ronald Wilson Reagan or Miles Dewey Davis
Indiana / Michael Joseph Jackson (trumps Mellencamp because of MJ’s extreme worldwide fame)
Iowa / Marion Mitchell Morrison aka John Wayne
Kansas / Amelia Earhart
Kentucky / Abraham Lincoln
Louisiana / Louis Daniel Armstrong
Maine / Stephen Edwin King
Maryland / Frank Vincent Zappa or George Herman Ruth aka “Babe” Ruth
Massachussetts / John Fitzgerald Kennedy or Benjamin Franklin
Michigan / Henry Ford or Madonna Louise Ciccone
Minnesota / Robert Allen Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan
Mississippi / Elvis Aaron Presley
Missouri / Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain (Walt Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois!)
Montana / Frank James “Gary” Cooper
Nebraska / Marlon Brando
New Hampshire / Franklin Pierce or Dan Brown or Ronald James Padavona aka Ronnie James Dio
New Jersey / Francis Albert “Frank” Sinatra
New Mexico / John Denver or Demi Gene Guynes aka Demi Moore or Geronimo or Alfred “Al” Unser
New York / Franklin Delano Roosevelt aka FDR
North Carolina / Andy Samuel Griffith or William Franklin “Billy” Graham
North Dakota / Warren Minor Christopher or Angie Dickinson
Ohio / Thomas Alva Edison or Steven Allan Spielberg
Oklahoma / William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers or William Bradley “Brad” Pitt
Oregon / Matthew Abram “Matt” Groening or Linus Carl Pauling or Raymond Clevie Carver
Pennsylvania / Grace Patricia Kelly or Andrew Warhola aka Andy Warhol
South Dakota / Sitting Bull or Thomas John “Tom” Brokaw
Tennessee / Dolly Rebecca Parton or David Crockett
Texas / Lyndon Baines Johnson aka LBJ or Howard Robard Hughes or Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower
Utah / Roseanne Cherie Barr or Butch Cassidy or Jewel Kilcher
Vermont / Joseph Smith
Virginia/ George Washington (I’ll accept him even though the state didn’t exist yet)
Washington / William Henry “Bill” Gates III (beats Jimi Hendrix)
Washington, DC / Albert Arnold “Al” Gore (being a political figure, he deserves to be the most famous native)
West Virginia / Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager
Wisconsin / George Orson Welles or Frank Lloyd Wright
Wyoming / Paul Jackson Pollock
List 2
Territories
American Samoa
Canal Zone - John Sidney McCain
Puerto Rico / José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón aka José Ferrer or Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez aka Benicio del Toro
List 3
Other suggestions that don’t quite make the cut IMHO
Arizona / Barry Morris Goldwater
Delaware / Elisabeth Judson Shue
Florida / Thomas Earl Petty aka Tom Petty
Kentucky / John Christopher “Johnny” Depp
Maryland / Michael Fred Phelps
Nebraska / Gerald Rudolph Ford
New Hampshire / Sarah Kate Silverman
New Mexico / Jeffrey Preston “Jeff” Bezos or William Henry “Bill” Mauldin
New York / Michael Jeffrey Jordan
North Dakota / Louis Dearborn L’Amour or Philip Douglas “Phil” Jackson or Lawrence Welk
Ohio / LeBron Raymone James
Oklahoma / Troyal Garth Brooks or Mickey Charles Mantle
South Dakota / Thomas Andrew Daschle
Tennessee / Aretha Louise Franklin or Morgan Porterfield Freeman
Texas /
Vermont / Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy
Wisconsin / Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder
Puerto Rico / Rita Moreno or Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay aka Raúl Juliá or Roberto Clemente Walker
Roger Maris was not born in North Dakota according to Wikipedia. I chose Warren Christopher or Angie Dickinson (amarone voted for Angie Dickinson).
Well, I assume you know that he was a Native American that fought against the US government, right? That counts as name recognition in my book. But thanks a lot for the non-US perspective, that really helps a lot! I’m going to use non-US perspectives to settle what I consider to be the tie-breakers.
For Alabama:
Well, I didn’t compare her to all those others! In most cases, I am letting other posters do the research. But IMHO, Helen Keller still wins because every child going to school in the US (and many children in other countries) will be taught about her story, as far as I know. Guaranteeing that almost everyone will know who she is. Which is not the case for any of those other people.
Born in California, according to Wikipedia.
Actually, my definition of fame is “who has the most name recognition today, if you do a representative poll of people worldwide”. It just so happens that most People magazine hall-of-famers will top the list today and be gone in five years, whereas someone like Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great is in for the long haul.
Beyonce, maybe, but not Farrah Fawcett. And I think there would be a generation gap there, younger people (30 or less) might recognize Beyonce, but older people likely have no idea who that is.
:dubious: Would someone care to weed out the nobodies from Wikipedia’s list of famous Rhode Islanders and present some good choices?