How many famous Pennsylvanians can YOU name?

[Penndems]

O.K., here goes . . . I'll start:

Pink (Upper Darby)
Eve (Philadelphia)
Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing") (Philly)
George Benson (jazz guitar virtuoso) (Pittsburgh)
Fred Rogers, "Mister Rogers" (Pittsburgh)
Jimmy Stewart (Indiana)
Sharon Stone (Meadville)
W.C. Fields (Philly)
Charles Bronson
Perry Como (Canonsburg)
Shirley Jones
Mike "Moose" Mussina (Yankees pitcher) (Williamsport)
Will Smith ("in West Philadelphia, born and raised")
Lee Iacocca (former president of Chrysler) (Allentown)
"Broadway" Joe Namath (Beaver)

[smiley_glad_hands]

1. Ben Franklin eom

[Penndems]

2. But of course!

Loved Walter Isaacson's biography on him.

[DieboldMustDie]

4. Actually, Ben Franklin was from Boston.

He arrived in Philly at the age of 17. :shrug:

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/facts/

[Penndems]

14. True, but he spent the better part of his life and acheived his

greatest accomplishments in Pennsylvania.

[tmooses]

3. Isn't Joe Montana from Pennsylvania?

n/t

[pres2032]

17. yeah

[bleedingheart]

5. Gene Kelly

born on the South Side if I recall...

[DieboldMustDie]

7. Which reminds me, Grace Kelly -- a.k.a. Princess Grace -- was from Philly.

;)

[DieboldMustDie]

6. Composer Samual Barber was from West Chester...

Artist Andrew Wyeth was born in Chadds Ford.

[Kire]

8. Bill Cosby - eom

[Paul Hood]

9. Milton Hershey. n/t

[gauguin57]

23. Didja know that Milton Hershey had a ticket on the Titanic, but came back

from Europe some other way/time.

As a chocolate lover ... THANK GOD!

[Gardeaux08]

10. How about

Patti LaBelle
Michael Keaton
Jack Palance - from my hometown, Hazleton

[Penndems]

15. Absolutely!

Patti LaBelle is from Philly. Michael Keaton is from Pittsburgh. :)

[rogerashton]

11. President James Buchanan

Still the worst president in American history, despite GWB's hot pursuit of the title.

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. Robert Fulton (Lancaster County)

http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/fulton.htm

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Larry Holmes

Easton

[pres2032]

16. Mario and Michael Andretti

from Nazareth


Mario: probably the world's greatest racecar driver, only driver to win in USAC, NASCAR, and Formula 1.

Michael: Mario's son, 1991 Indy Car Champion, winner of 50+ races

[JM]

18. Mike Ditka (Aliquippa)...

Tony Dorsett (I think Aliquippa)
Jim Brady?
Jeff Hostetler?
Dennis Miller
Ming Na Wen (ER, other TV)
Dan Marino

[Bunny]

31. Hostetler is from Somerset. Jim Brady - do you mean Jim Kelly from

East Brady? QB for the Bills?

Also, Johnny Unitas was from W. PA.

[gauguin57]

19. Both Ming-Na and Michael Keaton were on Misterogers show

... Michael Keaton as the trolley operator (before he got into film) and Ming-Na as one of King Friday's trumpeters (before she got on ER).

[gauguin57]

20. Bobby Vinton,

also from Canonsburg.

[gauguin57]

21. Opera singer Marilyn Horne (Bradford) ...

.... and ALL THESE (I cheated!)

http://www.50states.com/bio/penn.htm

Famous Pennsylvanians

Edward Goodrich Acheson inventor, Washington
Louisa May Alcott author, Germantown
Maxwell Anderson playwright, Atlantic
Samuel Barber composer, West Chester
John Barrymore actor, Philadelphia
Donald Barthelme author, Philadelphia
Stephen Vincent Benet poet, story writer, Bethlehem
Daniel Boone frontiersman, Reading
James Buchanan U.S. president, Mercersburg
Alexander Calder sculptor, Philadelphia
Rachel Carson biologist, author, Springdale
Mary Cassatt painter, Allegheny
George Catlin indian expert, poet, Wilkes-Barre
Henry Steele Commager historian, Pittsburgh
Bill Cosby actor, Philadelphia
Stuart Davis painter, Philadelphia
Walter E. Diemer inventor, Philadelphia
Jimmy Dorsey band leader, Shenandoah
Tommy Dorsey band leader, Mahanoy Plane
Oliver Evans inventor, Philadelphia
W. C. Fields comedian, Philadelphia
Stephen Foster composer, Pittsburgh
Robert Fulton inventor, Lancaster County
Henry George economist, Philadelphia
Martha Graham choreographer, Pittsburgh
Alexander Haig secretary of state, Bala-Cynwyd
William Edward Hanford inventor, Bristol
Marilyn Horne mezzo-soprano, Bradford
Lee Iacocca auto executive, Allentown
Reggie Jackson baseball player, Wyncote
Robinson Jeffers poet, Pittsburgh
Gene Kelly dancer, actor, Pittsburgh
Jim Kelly football player, East Brady
Gelsey Kirkland ballerina, Bethlehem
Stephanie Louise Kwolek inventor, New Kensington
S. S. Kresge merchant, Bald Mount
Mario Lanza actor, singer, Philadelphia
Tara Lipinski figure skater, Philadelphia
George C. Marshall five-star general, Uniontown
George McClellan general, Philadelphia
Margaret Mead anthropologist, Philadelphia
Andrew Mellon financier, Pittsburgh
Tom Mix actor, Mix Run
Hezekiah Niles journalist, Jeffers Ford
Arnold Palmer golfer, Youngstown
Robert E. Peary explorer, Cresson
Man Ray painter, photographer, Philadelphia
Mary Roberts Rinehart author, Pittsburgh
Betsy Griscom Ross flagmaker, Philadelphia
B. F. Skinner psychologist, Susquehanna
John Sloan painter, Loch Haven
Gertrude Stein author, Allegheny
James Stewart actor, Indiana
George R. Stibitz inventor, York
John Updike author, Shillington
Honus Wagner baseball player, Carnegie
Fred Waring band leader, Tyrone
Ethel Waters singer, actress, Chester
Anthony Wayne military officer, Waynesboro
Andrew Wyeth painter, Chadds Ford

[gauguin57]

22. Julius Epstein, who wrote "Casablanca," script, went to Penn State

(though he was born in New York).

[UrbScotty]

24. My grandma was born in Wilkes-Barre in 1924.

Now she lives with us in West Michigan.

[Penndems]

26. Bet Grandma has some wonderful stories to tell!

I know my grandma did. I miss her more and more each day since she passed away in July 1989.

:cry:

[UrbScotty]

28. Grandpa was the story-teller.

He lived in the Detroit area all his life until he and Grandma moved to West Michigan in 1995.

He passed away almost six months ago. :-(

[Penndems]

29. I'm so sorry to hear that

We only have our grandparents with us for such a short period of time, so we have to enjoy them while we can.

[Penndems]

25. Wow! Y'all are on a roll here, LOL!

Here's some more:

Henry John Heinz (philanthropist and businessman) - Born in Pittsburgh, October 11, 1844.

Alan Freed (the DJ who coined the phrase "Rock and Roll") - Born in Winder, Pennsylvania on December 21, 1921.

Ken Griffey, Jr. (baseball great) - Born in Donora, PA on November 21, 1969.

Stan "The Man" Musial (baseball legend) - Born in Donora, PA on November 21, 1920.

Johnny Unitas (football legend) - Born in Pittsburgh on May 7, 1933.

Dan Marino (former Dolphins AND Central Catholic High School QB) - Born in Pittsburgh on September 15, 1961.

Jeff Goldblum (actor) - Born in Pittsburgh on October 22, 1952.

Kevin Bacon (actor) - Born in Philly, July 8th, 1958.

Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain (basketball great) - Born in Philly.

Noam Chomsky (author) - Born in Philly, December 7th, 1928.

Homus Wagner (former Yankees manager) - Born in Carnegie, PA on December 24, 1874.

Andy Warhol (artist) - Born in Pittsburgh, August 6, 1928.

August Wilson (black playwright) - Born in Pittsburgh, 1945.

Stephen Foster (composer) - Born in Pittsburgh, July 4, 1826.

Richard Gere (actor) - Born in Philly on August 31, 1949.

Daniel Boone (frontiersman) - Born near Reading, PA on November 7, 1734.

John Oates (of "Hall and Oates") - Born in Philly, October 11, 1946.

Fabian (Forte) - (50's/60's rock & roll singer) - Born in Philadelphia, February 6th, 1943. (AND he's married to Andrea Patrick, a former Miss Pennsylvania.) ;)

Alexander Calder (artist) - Born in Philly, July 22, 1898.

Oscar Goodman (Mayor of Las Vegas) - Born in Philly, July 26, 1939.

M. Night Shyamalan (movie director) - Born in Philly, August 6, 1970.

Stanley Clarke (bassist) - Born in Philly, June 30, 1951.

Larry Fine (of "Three Stooges" fame), October 5, 1902, another Philadelphian.

Sherman Hemsley ("The Jeffersons") - Born in Philadelphia, February 1, 1938.

Boyz II Men (singing group) - All born in Philly.

Kobe Bryant (basketball great) - Born in Philadelphia, August 23, 1978.

Marian Anderson (opera legend), Born in Philly on February 27, 1897.

Paul Robeson (actor/activist), Born in Philadelphia, April 9, 1898.

(BTW, Michael Keaton was actually born in Coraopolis, PA on September 9, 1951.)

[The Zanti Regent]

27. Joseph Stefano

Born in Philly, screenwriter (PSYCHO) and TV (Outer Limits)

[AlinPA]

30. Stan "The Man" Musial - Donora.

[Kire]

32. Andy Warhol

[DieboldMustDie]

33. Tommy Lasorda is from Norristown.

[Kire]

34. Bayard Rustin

A master strategist and tireless activist, Bayard Rustin is best remembered as the organizer of the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States. He brought Gandhi’s protest techniques to the American civil rights movement, and helped mold Martin Luther King, Jr. into an international symbol of peace and nonviolence.

Despite these achievements, Rustin was silenced, threatened, arrested, beaten, imprisoned and fired from important leadership positions, largely because he was an openly gay man in a fiercely homophobic era. Five years in the making and the winner of numerous awards, BROTHER OUTSIDER presents a feature-length documentary portrait, focusing on Rustin’s activism for peace, racial equality, economic justice and human rights.

<snip>

In February 1956, when Bayard Rustin arrived in Montgomery to assist with the nascent bus boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr. had not personally embraced nonviolence. In fact, there were guns inside King’s house, and armed guards posted at his doors. Rustin persuaded boycott leaders to adopt complete nonviolence, teaching them Gandhian nonviolent direct protest.



http://www.rustin.org/