39.2868° N, 76.6201° W

BALTIMORE

Most Famous People Born in Baltimore, United States

Notable people
2,329
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1939
Most distinctive
Baseball 7.0×

A port city whose distinctive professions are baseball at seven times the global rate, basketball, and an unusually thick column of officers, novelists, and lawyers — the shape of a Mid-Atlantic city that has always sat at the meeting point of the Navy yard, the courts, and the literary establishment. Frank Zappa, Babe Ruth, Michael Phelps, and Edgar Allan Poe (who died here, not born) all belong to this bench, and the 19th-century tail is heavier than in most American cities its size.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Baltimore during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 245 notable births.

What Baltimore Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Baltimore's biggest profession — 11% of all notables (255).

Baltimore over-indexes on baseball7.0× the global rate.

Baltimore under-produces painter — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Politician255
  2. Actor189
  3. Baseball186
  4. Football149
  5. Basket102
  6. Lawyer88
  7. Writer66
  8. Music54
  1. Baseball1867.0×
  2. Basket1023.5×
  3. Officer422.7×
  4. Novelist232.5×
  5. Lawyer882.2×
  6. Music541.6×
  7. Actor1891.5×
  1. Painter350.6×
  2. Football1490.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Baltimore's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All2,329
Sort By

Showing 108 of 2,329 notable people

0002 BASEBALL

Babe Ruth

1895 - 1948

Preview
0011 WRITER

Dashiell Hammett

1894 - 1961

Preview
0059 SCREENWRITER

Charley Chase

1893 - 1940

Preview
0108 ACTOR

Miriam Cooper

1891 - 1976

Preview
0133 FILM

James Parrott

1897 - 1939

Preview
0135 DRIVER

Henry Segrave

1896 - 1930

Preview
0170 ACTOR

Minna Gombell

1892 - 1973

Preview
0177 SOCIOLOGIST

E. Franklin Frazier

1894 - 1962

Preview
0178 ACTOR

Russell Hicks

1895 - 1957

Preview
0195 LAWYER

David K. E. Bruce

1898 - 1977

Preview
0203 NOVELIST

Fulton Oursler

1893 - 1952

Preview
0219 PRIEST

Lawrence Shehan

1898 - 1984

Preview
0268 FILM

Frank McDonald (director)

1899 - 1980

Preview
0275 POLITICIAN

Herbert O'Conor

1896 - 1960

Preview
0293 ACTOR

Mignon Anderson

1892 - 1983

Preview
0315 LAWYER

Philip Perlman

1890 - 1960

Preview
0317 ACADEMIC

Abel Wolman

1892 - 1989

Preview
0369 POLITICIAN

John Marshall Butler

1897 - 1978

Preview
0379 LAWYER

Sarah T. Hughes

1896 - 1985

Preview
0382 MILITAR

Willis D. Crittenberger

1890 - 1980

Preview
0402 FILM

Lewis D. Collins

1899 - 1954

Preview
0422 SOCIOLOGIST

Dorothy Swaine Thomas

1899 - 1977

Preview
0445 MUSIC

Clarence Holiday

1898 - 1937

Preview
0453 PRIEST

Sam Shoemaker

1893 - 1963

Preview
0516 COMPOSER

Adolph Weiss

1891 - 1971

Preview
0587 INDOLOGIST

W. Norman Brown

1892 - 1975

Preview
0592 JUDGE

Simon Sobeloff

1894 - 1973

Preview
0593 COXSWAIN

Sherm Clark

1899 - 1980

Preview
0619 SOLDIER

Henry Gunther

1895 - 1918

Preview
0655 SONGWRITER

Abel Baer

1893 - 1976

Preview
0689 SPORT

Karel Lotsy

1893 - 1959

Preview
0694 TRADE UNION

Leo Wolman

1890 - 1961

Preview
0718 ACTOR

Hilda Vaughn

1898 - 1957

Preview
0729 ACTOR

Catherine Calvert

1890 - 1971

Preview
0749 POLITICIAN

Ambrose Jerome Kennedy

1893 - 1950

Preview
0758 BOXER

George Chaney

1892 - 1958

Preview
0763 PHYSIOLOGIST

Anna Baetjer

1899 - 1984

Preview
0791 DIPLOMAT

Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr.

1899 - 1990

Preview
0804 ENDOCRINOLOGIST

Lawson Wilkins

1894 - 1963

Preview
0837 LAWYER

John Ambrose Meyer

1899 - 1969

Preview
0845 PSYCHOLOGIST

Rosalie Rayner

1898 - 1935

Preview
0944 FILM

M. C. Levee

1891 - 1972

Preview
0947 PHYSICIAN

Alan Frank Guttmacher

1898 - 1974

Preview
0958 MATHEMATICIAN

Marguerite Lehr

1898 - 1987

Preview
0959 DIPLOMAT

H. Freeman Matthews

1899 - 1986

Preview
0976 BASEBALL

Eddie Rommel

1897 - 1970

Preview
1000 PRIEST

John Joyce Russell

1897 - 1993

Preview
1013 LAWYER

John Ries Bartels

1897 - 1997

Preview
1037 SCIENTIST

Calvin Hooker Goddard

1891 - 1955

Preview
1069 WRITER

Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

1892 - 1958

Preview
1089 MANUFACTURER

Edgar S. Gorrell

1891 - 1945

Preview
1111 HISTORIAN

Adelyn Dohme Breeskin

1896 - 1986

Preview
1135 OFFICER

Edward Orrick McDonnell

1891 - 1960

Preview
1144 ARCHITECT

Alfred Easton Poor

1899 - 1988

Preview
1156 WRITER

E. Merrill Root

1895 - 1973

Preview
1167 MILITAR

F. Clever Bald

1897 - 1970

Preview
1168 ENTERTAINER

Karyl Norman

1897 - 1947

Preview
1174 PSYCHIATRIST

Manfred Guttmacher

1898 - 1966

Preview
1190 BASEBALL

Allen Russell

1893 - 1972

Preview
1197 BUSINESS

James Cabell Bruce

1892 - 1980

Preview
1209 ATHLETIC

Harry Worthington

1891 - 1990

Preview
1245 OFFICER

Francis Warrington Gillet

1895 - 1969

Preview
1270 BUSINESS

Kay Kamen

1893 - 1949

Preview
1279 ARTIST

Lawrence Lebduska

1894 - 1966

Preview
1313 MATHEMATICIAN

Teresa Cohen

1892 - 1992

Preview
1402 SPORT

Louis Harant

1895 - 1986

Preview
1409 ATHLETIC

Wesley Oler

1891 - 1980

Preview
1422 ECOLOGIST

Bessie Moses

1893 - 1965

Preview
1437 BASEBALL

Chick Fewster

1895 - 1945

Preview
1468 PLAYWRIGHT

Manuel Seff

1895 - 1969

Preview
1526 OFFICER

Charles Hammann

1892 - 1919

Preview
1534 BASEBALL

Tommy Thomas (baseball)

1899 - 1988

Preview
1543 RADIO

G. E. Lowman

1897 - 1965

Preview
1577 BASEBALL

Lew Malone

1897 - 1972

Preview
1639 BASEBALL

Bill Stumpf (baseball)

1892 - 1966

Preview
1690 BASEBALL

Harry Biemiller

1897 - 1965

Preview
1694 BUSINESS

William Hallam Tuck

1890 - 1966

Preview
1735 LACROSSE

F. Morris Touchstone

1897 - 1957

Preview
1742 BASEBALL

Bill Dalrymple

1891 - 1967

Preview
1750 MATHEMATICIAN

Anna Mullikin

1893 - 1975

Preview
1757 ILLUSTRATOR

William Didusch

1895 - 1981

Preview
1778 MILITAR

Henry Gilbert Costin

1898 - 1918

Preview
1810 ACTOR

Norma Phillips

1893 - 1931

Preview
1811 EPISCOPAL

William W. Edel

1894 - 1996

Preview
1818 ACADEMIC

Frederick Courtney Tarr

1896 - 1939

Preview
1870 BASEBALL

Chuck Wortman

1892 - 1977

Preview
1871 BASEBALL

Harry Smith (1910s catcher)

1890 - 1922

Preview
1904 WRITER

Katherine Butler Hathaway

1890 - 1942

Preview
1916 BASEBALL

Jake Miller (outfielder)

1895 - 1974

Preview
1922 BASEBALL

Desmond Beatty

1893 - 1969

Preview
1987 BASEBALL

Fred Ostendorf

1892 - 1965

Preview
1995 BASEBALL

Tommy Vereker

1893 - 1974

Preview
2021 BASEBALL

Dutch Ulrich

1899 - 1929

Preview
2029 MILITAR

Berrie H. Jarrett

1894 - 1927

Preview
2074 BASEBALL

Ferd Eunick

1892 - 1959

Preview
2075 BASEBALL

Rudy Kneisch

1899 - 1965

Preview
2083 EXECUTIVE

Arthur Ehlers

1897 - 1977

Preview
2090 BASEBALL

Ben Mallonee

1894 - 1978

Preview
2098 JESUIT

Edward B. Bunn

1896 - 1972

Preview
2099 BASEBALL

Lefty Russell

1890 - 1962

Preview
2137 BASEBALL

Joe Matthews (baseball)

1898 - 1968

Preview
2139 OFFICER

E. K. Jett

1893 - 1965

Preview
2140 ARCHITECT

James R. Edmunds Jr.

1890 - 1953

Preview
2219 PAINTER

Selma L. Oppenheimer

1898 - 1988

Preview
2258 ENGINEER

Robert L. Sumwalt (academic)

Born 1895

Preview
2274 AUTHOR

Bertram Benedict

1892 - 1978

Preview
2297 ACADEMIC

Anna G. Krause

1895 - 1968

Preview
2303 SCIENTIST

Louise L. Sloan

1898 - 1982

Preview