Quickly accessible, concise information about each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia!
Indiana
People
Every state of the Union has given birth to people who have left a lasting impression on our history and culture. The following native Indianans have played distinctive roles.
Born in Indiana
| Famous Indianans | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Born / Died | Place | ||||
| George Ade
Writer, columnist, playwright |
Born: | February 9, 1866 | Kentland | |||
| Died: | May 16, 1944 | Brook | ||||
| Leon Ames
(Leon Wycoff) Actor |
Born: | January 20, 1902 | Portland | |||
| Died: | October 12, 1993 | Laguna Beach, Calif. | ||||
| Anne Baxter
Actress |
Born: | May 7, 1923 | Michigan City | |||
| Died: | December 12, 1985 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Charles Austin Beard
Historian |
Born: | November 27, 1874 | Knightstown | |||
| Died: | September 1, 1948 | New Haven, Conn. | ||||
| Larry Joe Bird
Basketball player, coach |
Born: | December 7, 1956 | West Baden Springs | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| William Ralph "Bill" Blass
Fashion designer |
Born: | June 22, 1922 | Fort Wayne | |||
| Died: | June 12, 2002 | New Preston | ||||
| Ambrose Everett Burnside
Civil War General, railroad executive, inventor, industrialist, politician |
Born: | May 23, 1824 | Liberty | |||
| Died: | September 13, 1881 | Bristol, R.I. | ||||
| Hoagland Howard "Hoagy" Carmichael
Composer, pianist, singer, actor, bandleader |
Born: | November 22, 1899 | Bloomington | |||
| Died: | December 27, 1981 | Rancho Mirage, Calif. | ||||
| James Byron Dean
Actor |
Born: | February 8, 1931 | Marion | |||
| Died: | September 30, 1955 | Cholame, Calif. | ||||
| Eugene Victor Debs
Labor and political leader |
Born: | November 5, 1855 | Terre Haute | |||
| Died: | October 20, 1926 | Elmhurst, Ill. | ||||
| Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser
Novelist |
Born: | August 27, 1871 | Terre Haute | |||
| Died: | December 28, 1945 | Hollywood, Calif. | ||||
| Edward Eggleston
Historian, novelist |
Born: | December 10, 1837 | Vevay | |||
| Died: | September 4, 1902 | Lake George, N.Y. | ||||
| Bernard F. Gimbel
Businessman, retailer |
Born: | April 10, 1885 | Vincennes | |||
| Died: | September 29, 1966 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom
PROFESSION |
Born: | April 3, 1926 | Mitchell | |||
| Died: | 27, 1967 | Kennedy Space Center, Fla. | ||||
| Alfred Bertram "Bud" Guthrie, Jr.
Pulitzer prize-winning author, historian |
Born: | January 13, 1901 | Bedford | |||
| Died: | April 26, 1991 | Choteau, Mont. | ||||
| Wonga Philip "Phil" Harris
Singer, songwriter, jazz musician, comedian |
Born: | June 24, 1904 | Linton | |||
| Died: | August 11, 1995 | Palm Springs, Calif. | ||||
| John Milton Hay
Statesman, diplomat, author, private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln |
Born: | October 8, 1838 | Salem | |||
| Died: | July 1, 1905 | Newbury, N.H. | ||||
| Elwood Haynes
Inventor, metallurgist, automotive pioneer |
Born: | October 14, 1857 | Portland | |||
| Died: | April 13, 1925 | Kokomo | ||||
| James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa
Labor leader |
Born: | February 14, 1913 | Brazil | |||
| Died: | Unknown | disappeared March 25, 1975
declared legally dead on July 30, 1982 |
||||
| Michael Joseph Jackson
Singer, entertainer |
Born: | August 29, 1958 | Gary | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Buck Jones
(Charles Gebhart) Actor |
Born: | December 4, 1889 | Vincennes | |||
| Died: | November 30, 1942 | Boston, Mass. | ||||
| David Michael Letterman
Comedian, talk show host, producer, philanthropist |
Born: | April 12, 1947 | Indianapolis | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Robert Staughton Lind
Sociologist |
Born: | 1892 | New Albany | |||
| Died: | 1970 | |||||
| Carole Lombard
(Jane Alice Peters) Actress |
Born: | October 6, 1908 | Fort Wayne | |||
| Died: | January 16, 1942 | Mount Potosi, near Las Vegas, Nev. | ||||
| Shelley Lee Long
Actress, commedienne |
Born: | August 23, 1949 | Fort Wayne | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Marjorie Main
(born Mary Tomlinson) Actress |
Born: | February 24, 1890 | Acton | |||
| Died: | April 10, 1975 | Los Angeles, Calif. | ||||
| Thomas Riley Marshall
Politician, Vice President, lawyer |
Born: | March 14, 1854 | North Manchester | |||
| Died: | June 1, 1925 | Washington, D.C. | ||||
| John Tinney McCutcheon
Cartoonist |
Born: | May 6, 1870 | South Raub | |||
| Died: | June 10, 1949 | Lake Forest, Ill. | ||||
| James McCracken
Tenor |
Born: | December 16, 1926 | Gary | |||
| Died: | April 29, 1988 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Terence Steven "Steve" McQueen
Actor |
Born: | March 24, 1930 | Beech Grove | |||
| Died: | November 7, 1980 | Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico | ||||
| John Cougar Mellencamp
Singer, songwriter |
Born: | October 7, 1951 | Seymour | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Joaquin Miller
Cincinnatus or Hiner Miller Poet, essayist, lawyer, horse theif, newspaperman, cook, pony express rider, poseur |
Born: | September 8, 1837 | Liberty | |||
| Died: | February 1913 | Oakland, Calif. | ||||
| Oliver Perry Morton
Politician, Governor of Indiana, lawyer |
Born: | August 4, 1823 | Salisbury | |||
| Died: | November 1, 1877 | Indianapolis | ||||
| Andrew Jackson Moyer
Microbiologist, Inventor |
Born: | November 30, 1899 | Star City | |||
| Died: | February 17, 1959 | Bay Pines, Fla. | ||||
| Paul Osborn
Playwright, screenwriter, director |
Born: | September 4, 1901 | Evansville | |||
| Died: | May 12, 1988 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Margaret Jane Pauley
Television show host, television journalist |
Born: | October 31, 1950 | Indianapolis | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Cole Albert Porter
Composer, songwriter |
Born: | June 9, 1891 | Peru | |||
| Died: | October 15, 1964 | Santa Monica, Calif. | ||||
| Gene Stratton-Porter
(born Geneva Grace Stratton) Author, wildlife photographer |
Born: | August 17, 1863 | Near Wabash | |||
| Died: | December 6, 1924 | Los Angeles, Calif. | ||||
| Ernest Taylor "Ernie" Pyle
Journalist |
Born: | August 3, 1900 | Near Dana | |||
| Died: | April 18, 1945 | Iejima, an island off Okinawa Honto | ||||
| James Danforth "Dan" Quayle
Politician, Vice President |
Born: | February 4, 1947 | Indianapolis | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Orville Redenbacher
Businessman |
Born: | July 16, 1907 | Brazil | |||
| Died: | September 19, 1995 | Coronado, Calif. | ||||
| James Whitcomb Riley
Writer, poet |
Born: | October 7, 1849 | Greenfield | |||
| Died: | July 22, 1916 | Indianapolis | ||||
| Ned Rorem
Composer, diarist |
Born: | October 23, 1923 | Richmond | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Harland David "Colonel" Sanders
Restauranteur |
Born: | September 9, 1890 | Henryville | |||
| Died: | December 16, 1980 | Louisville, Ky. | ||||
| Richard Bernard "Red" Skelton
Comedian, circus clown |
Born: | July 18, 1913 | Vincennes | |||
| Died: | September 17, 1997 | Palm Springs, Calif. | ||||
| Rex Todhunter Stout
Writer |
Born: | December 1, 1886 | Noblesville | |||
| Died: | October 27, 1975 | Danbury, Conn. | ||||
| Newton Booth Tarkington
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, playwright |
Born: | July 29, 1869 | Indianapolis | |||
| Died: | May 19, 1946 | Indianapolis | ||||
| Twyla Tharp
(born Twila Thornburg) Dancer, choreographer |
Born: | July 1, 1941 | Portland | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Forrest Meredith Tucker
Actor |
Born: | February 12, 1919 | Plainfield | |||
| Died: | October 25, 1986 | Woodland Hills, Calif. | ||||
| Harold Clayton Urey
Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist |
Born: | April 29, 1893 | Walkerton | |||
| Died: | January 5, 1981 | La Jolla, Calif. | ||||
| Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Novelist, essayist |
Born: | November 11, 1922 | BIRTHPLACE | |||
| Died: | April 11, 2007 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Willis Van Devanter
Lawyer, Supreme Court Justice |
Born: | April 17, 1859 | Marion | |||
| Died: | February 8, 1941 | Washington, D.C. | ||||
| Lewis "Lew" Wallace
Lawyer, Civil War General, governor, author |
Born: | April 10, 1827 | Brookeville | |||
| Died: | February 15, 1905 | Crawfordsville | ||||
| Mary Jessamyn West
Writer |
Born: | July 18, 1902 | Vernon | |||
| Died: | February 23, 1984 | Napa, Calif. | ||||
| Wendell Lewis Willkie
Lawyer |
Born: | February 18, 1892 | Elwood | |||
| Died: | October 8, 1944 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Wilbur Wright
Inventor, shop-keeper |
Born: | April 16, 1867 | Near Millville | |||
| Died: | May 30, 1912 | Dayton, Ohio | ||||
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