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Kansas
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 Kansans have played distinctive roles.
Born in Kansas
| Famous Kansans | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Born / Died | Place | ||||
| Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle
Comedian, actor |
Born: | March 24, 1887 | Smith Center | |||
| Died: | June 29, 1933 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Edward Asner
Actor |
Born: | November 15, 1929 | Kansas City | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Clarence Daniel Batchelor
Editorial cartoonist, painter, sculptor |
Born: | April 1,1888 | Osage City | |||
| Died: | September 5, 1977 | Deep River, Conn. | ||||
| Eugene Hugh Beaumont
Actor, director, minister, Christmas-tree farmer |
Born: | February 16, 1909 | Lawrence | |||
| Died: | May 14, 1982 | Munich, Germany | ||||
| Annette Carol Bening
Actress |
Born: | May 29, 1958 | Topeka | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Erin Brockovich-Ellis
(born Erin L. E. Pattee) Director of Research, Law office clerk |
Born: | June 22, 1960 | Lawrence | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, poet |
Born: | June 17, 1917 | Topeka | |||
| Died: | December 3, 2000 | Chicago, Ill. | ||||
| Walter Percy Chrysler
Automobile pioneer |
Born: | April 2, 1875 | Wamego | |||
| Died: | August 18, 1940 | Great Neck, N.Y. | ||||
| Clark McAdams Clifford
Lawyer, Secretary of Defense |
Born: | December 25, 1906 | Fort Scott | |||
| Died: | October 10, 1998 | Bethesda, Md. | ||||
| John Steuart Curry
Painter |
Born: | November 14, 1897 | near Dunavant | |||
| Died: | August 29, 1946 | Madison, Wis. | ||||
| Charles Curtis
Politician, Vice-President |
Born: | January 25, 1860 | Topeka | |||
| Died: | February 8, 1936 | Washington, D.C. | ||||
| Dorothy DeLay Newhouse
Violin instructor |
Born: | March 31, 1917 | Medicine Lodge | |||
| Died: | March 24, 2002 | Upper Nyack, N.Y. | ||||
| Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole
Politician |
Born: | July 22, 1923 | Russell | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Amelia Mary Earhart
Aviator, Women's rights advocate |
Born: | July 24, 1897 | Atchison | |||
| Died: | missing July 2, 1937 declared deceased January 5, 1939 |
en route from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island | ||||
| Milton Stover Eisenhower
Educator, Diplomat |
Born: | September 15, 1899 | Abilene | |||
| Died: | May 2, 1985 | Baltimore, Md. | ||||
| Joseph Henry Engle
Astronaut, Pilot |
Born: | August 26, 1932 | Chapman | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Melissa Lou Etheridge
Musician, Singer |
Born: | May 29, 1961 | Leavenworth | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Ronald Ellwin Evans, Jr.
Astronaut, Engineer |
Born: | November 10, 1933 | St. Francis | |||
| Died: | April 7, 1990 | Scottsdale, Ariz. | ||||
| Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Novelist, Magazine writer, Educator |
Born: | February 17, 1879 | Lawrence | |||
| Died: | November 9, 1958 | Vermont | ||||
| Robert Michael Gates
Secretary of Defense, College President, Director of Central Intelligence |
Born: | September 25, 1943 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Carl Atwood Hatch
Politician, Judge, Lawyer |
Born: | November 27, 1889 | Kirwin | |||
| Died: | September 15, 1963 | Albuquerque, N.M. | ||||
| Steven Alan Hawley
Mission-specialist Astronaut, Astrophysicist |
Born: | December 12, 1951 | Ottawa | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| Dennis Lee Hopper
Actor, Film-maker |
Born: | May 17, 1936 | Dodge City | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| William Motter Inge
Pulitzer Prize-winning Playwright |
Born: | May 3, 1913 | Independence | |||
| Died: | June 11, 1973 | Hollywood Hills, Calif. | ||||
| Walter Perry Johnson
(nickname "The Big Train") Baseball player |
Born: | November 6, 1887 | Humboldt | |||
| Died: | December 10, 1946 | Washington, D.C. | ||||
| Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton
Actor, film maker |
Born: | October 4, 1895 | Piqua | |||
| Died: | February 1, 1966 | Woodland Hills, Calif. | ||||
| Emmett Kelly, Sr.
Clown, Trapeze artist, Cartoonist |
Born: | December 9, 1898 | Sedan | |||
| Died: | March 28, 1979 | Sarasota, Fla. | ||||
| Stanley Newcomb Kenton
Band leader, Pianist |
Born: | December 15, 1911 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | August 25, 1979 | Hollywood, Calif. | ||||
| Edgar Lee Masters
Poet, Biographer, Dramatist, Lawyer |
Born: | August 23, 1868 | Garnett | |||
| Died: | March 5, 1950 | Melrose Park, Penn. | ||||
| Hattie McDaniel
Actress |
Born: | June 10, 1895 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | October 26, 1952 | Woodland Hills, Calif. | ||||
| Karl Augustus Menninger
Psychiatrist, Founder: Menninger Foundation, Memminger Clinic |
Born: | July 22, 1893 | Topeka | |||
| Died: | July 18, 1990 | Topeka | ||||
| William Claire Menninger
Physician, Founder: Menninger Foundation |
Born: | October 15, 1899 | Topeka | |||
| Died: | September 6, 1966 | Topeka | ||||
| Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr.
Jazz Saxaphonist, Composer |
Born: | August 29, 1920 | Kansas City | |||
| Died: | March 12, 1955 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Gordon Roger Alexander Buchannan Parks
Photographer, Film maker, Writer, Composer |
Born: | November 30, 1912 | Fort Scott | |||
| Died: | March 7, 2006 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Zasu Pitts
Actress |
Born: | January 3, 1894 | Parsons | |||
| Died: | June 7, 1963 | Hollywood, Calif. | ||||
| Charles "Buddy" Rogers
Actor, Musician |
Born: | August 13, 1904 | Olathe | |||
| Died: | April 21, 1999 | Rancho Mirage, Calif. | ||||
| Alfred Damon Runyan
Writer, Newspaperman |
Born: | October 4, 1884 | Manhattan | |||
| Died: | December 10, 1946 | New York, N.Y. | ||||
| Barry Sanders
Football player |
Born: | July 16, 1968 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| William Eugene Smith
Photojournalist |
Born: | December 20, 1918 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | October 15, 1978 | Tucson, Ariz. | ||||
| Vernon Lomax Smith
Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Educator |
Born: | January 1, 1927 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | ||||||
| William Edgar Stafford
Poet, Educator |
Born: | January 17, 1914 | Hutchinson | |||
| Died: | August 28, 1993 | Lake Oswego, Ore. | ||||
| Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr.
Nobel Prize-winning Physiologist, Educator |
Born: | November 19, 1915 | Burlingame | |||
| Died: | March 9, 1974 | Miami, Fla. | ||||
| John Cameron Swayze
Television news anchor, Television pitchman |
Born: | April 4, 1906 | Wichita | |||
| Died: | August 15, 1995 | Sarasota, Fla. | ||||
| Vivian Vance
(born Vivian Roberta Jones) Actress, Singer |
Born: | July 26, 1909 | Cherryvale | |||
| Died: | August 17, 1979 | Belevedere, Calif. | ||||
| William Allen White
Pulitzer Prize-winning Newspaper editor, Writer |
Born: | February 10, 1868 | Emporia | |||
| Died: | January 31, 1944 | Emporia | ||||
| Charles Evans Whittaker
Supreme Court justice, Lawyer |
Born: | February 22, 1901 | near Troy | |||
| Died: | November 26, 1973 | Kansas City, Mo. | ||||
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