38.8725° N, 84.5861° W

CINCINNATI

Most Famous People Born in Cincinnati, United States

Notable people
1,772
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1938
Most distinctive
Baseball 12.5×

Cincinnati's bench is German-American old money and mid-century entertainment — the Lawyer class is the same Queen City bar that built the Taft political dynasty, the Novelist thread runs through the Over-the-Rhine literary generation, and a smaller Music vein traces from King Records and James Brown through the city's early rock-and-roll scene. The Basket cohort is the University of Cincinnati pipeline that sent Oscar Robertson north and kept sending players ever since.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 168 notable births.

What Cincinnati Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Baseball is Cincinnati's biggest profession — 14% of all notables (251).

Cincinnati over-indexes on baseball12.5× the global rate.

Cincinnati under-produces writer — only 0.7× the global rate.

  1. Baseball251
  2. Football203
  3. Politician152
  4. Actor135
  5. Basket72
  6. Lawyer54
  7. Painter42
  8. Writer40
  1. Baseball25112.5×
  2. Novelist273.9×
  3. Basket723.2×
  4. Lawyer541.8×
  5. Music391.5×
  1. Writer400.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

18001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All1,772
Sort By

Showing 117 of 1,772 notable people

0003 ACTOR

Doris Day

1922 - 2019

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0006 PHILOSOPHER

Thomas Kuhn

1922 - 1996

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0038 ACTOR

Mitchell Ryan

Born 1928

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0043 PIANIST

George Russell (composer)

1923 - 2009

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0063 BIBLE

Raymond Franz

1922 - 2010

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0071 NOVELIST

Thomas Berger (novelist)

1924 - 2014

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0076 ASTRONOMER

Karl Gordon Henize

1926 - 1993

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0087 POET

Kenneth Koch

1925 - 2002

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0095 COMPOSER

Frank Foster (musician)

1928 - 2011

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0101 FILM

Charles Guggenheim

1924 - 2002

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0129 BUSINESS

Marge Schott

1928 - 2004

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0143 POLITICIAN

John J. Gilligan

1921 - 2013

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0150 ASTRONOMER

Donald Edward Osterbrock

1924 - 2007

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0155 ACTOR

Ruth Foster

1920 - 2012

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0159 POLITICIAN

Phillip Burton

1926 - 1983

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0170 BANK

Charles Keating

1923 - 2014

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0174 NOVELIST

Chad Oliver

1928 - 1993

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0225 ILLUSTRATOR

Robert McGinnis

Born 1926

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0230 MATHEMATICIAN

Paul Garabedian

1927 - 2010

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0244 SONGWRITER

Henry Glover

1921 - 1991

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0260 POLITICIAN

Bill Gradison

Born 1928

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0269 ARTIST

Lillian Schwartz

Born 1927

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0284 MATHEMATICIAN

Jack Kiefer (statistician)

1924 - 1981

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0289 POLITICIAN

Tom Luken

1925 - 2018

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0304 ZOOLOGIST

Albert Schwartz (zoologist)

1923 - 1992

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0362 POLITICIAN

John T. Myers (congressman)

1927 - 2015

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0364 BASKET

Paul Walther

1927 - 2014

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0399 BASEBALL

Jim Brosnan

1929 - 2014

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0401 ACADEMIC

John W. Miles

1920 - 2008

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0424 POLITICIAN

Dawn Clark Netsch

1926 - 2013

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0465 POLITICIAN

William J. Keating

1927 - 2020

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0481 ACTOR

Leigh Snowden

1929 - 1982

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0489 POLITICIAN

Donald D. Clancy

1921 - 2007

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0497 PSYCHIATRIST

William Fry

1924 - 2014

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0516 BOXER

Wallace Smith (boxer)

1924 - 1973

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0541 MATHEMATICIAN

Robert Creighton Buck

1920 - 1998

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0554 BASKET

Charles Wolf (basketball)

Born 1926

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0555 FILM

Charles Fries (producer)

Born 1928

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0564 SINGER

Werly Fairburn

1924 - 1985

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0581 MINISTR

Jule Sugarman

1927 - 2010

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0589 BASEBALL

Jim Lemon

1928 - 2006

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0624 WRITER

Caroline Benn

1926 - 2000

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0625 FOOTBALL

Robert Hoernschemeyer

1925 - 1980

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0630 MATHEMATICIAN

William Boone (mathematician)

1920 - 1983

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0642 RELIGIOUS

Father Yod

1922 - 1975

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0660 BASEBALL

Bob Nieman

1927 - 1985

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0661 NEUROSCIENTIST

Joseph Bogen

1926 - 2005

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0683 JOURNALIST

Oscar Treadwell

1926 - 2006

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0687 ART DEALER

Richard Bellamy (art dealer)

1927 - 1998

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0715 BASKET

Tom King (basketball)

1924 - 2015

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0733 THEOLOGIAN

Schubert M. Ogden

1928 - 2019

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0742 ENTREPRENEUR

Roger Horchow

1928 - 2020

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0757 SLAVICIST

Irwin Weil

Born 1928

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0817 MUSIC

Curtis Peagler

1929 - 1992

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0841 BASEBALL

Betsy Jochum

Born 1921

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0880 BUSINESS

Raymond V. Haysbert

1920 - 2010

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0887 JOURNALIST

Bob Young (news anchor)

1923 - 2011

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0917 BASKET

Bob Naber

1929 - 1998

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0924 ART HISTORIAN

Bates Lowry

1923 - 2004

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0926 FOOTBALL

George Ratterman

1926 - 2007

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0936 BASEBALL

Herm Wehmeier

1927 - 1973

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0966 ACTOR

Noah Keen

1920 - 2019

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0982 COMPOSER

Elizabeth Bell (composer)

1928 - 2016

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1002 HISTORIAN

Charles W. Moorman III

1925 - 1996

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1026 BASEBALL

Clyde Vollmer

1921 - 2006

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1032 COACH

Frank Lauterbur

1925 - 2013

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1051 POLITICIAN

Seth Taft

1922 - 2013

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1054 POLITICAL

Donald Matthews (political scientist)

1925 - 2007

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1066 JUDGE

S. Arthur Spiegel

1920 - 2014

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1067 FOOTBALL

Tom O'Malley (American football)

1925 - 2011

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1077 LAWYER

Carl Bernard Rubin

1920 - 1995

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1090 ARCHITECT

Janet Meakin Poor

Born 1929

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1108 MATHEMATICIAN

Stanley Tennenbaum

1927 - 2005

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1118 BASEBALL

Ralph Beard (baseball)

1929 - 2003

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1136 FOOTBALL

Al Brosky

1928 - 2010

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1143 PAINTER

John A. Ruthven

1924 - 2020

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1179 BASEBALL

Ralph Brickner

1925 - 1994

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1225 ACTOR

James G. Snitzer

1926 - 1945

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1235 GOLF

Tom Nieporte

1928 - 2014

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1240 JUDGE

Louis J. Schneider Jr.

1921 - 1999

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1263 SOCIOLOGIST

J. Richard Udry

1929 - 2012

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1265 ANCHOR

Al Schottelkotte

1927 - 1996

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1299 PHILOLOGIST

Myra L. Uhlfelder

1923 - 2011

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1305 CARTOGRAPHER

Kit Kapp

1926 - 2013

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1333 PHOTOGRAPHER

Carroll Seghers II

1924 - 2004

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1367 COACH

Ralph Staub (American football)

Born 1928

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1372 PAINTER

Harry Reeks

1920 - 1982

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1373 MATHEMATICIAN

Carl Faith

1927 - 2014

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1386 JUDGE

Robert F. Stephens

1927 - 2002

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1434 BASEBALL

Moe Burtschy

1922 - 2004

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1440 LAWYER

Eugene P. Ruehlmann

1925 - 2013

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1446 OFFICER

John J. Voll

1922 - 1987

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1555 POLITICIAN

Bill Bowen

1929 - 1999

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1574 WEATHERMAN

Jule Huffman

1924 - 2015

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1588 BASEBALL

Marie Wegman

1925 - 2004

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1594 ANNOUNCER

Bill Wolff (announcer)

Born 1927

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1602 EDITOR

Bea Mahaffey

1926 - 1987

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1616 ACTOR

Miriam Snitzer

1922 - 1966

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1631 BASEBALL

Ray Shore

1921 - 1996

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1641 LIEUTENANT

George E. Schafer

Born 1922

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1668 DIPLOMAT

Leonardo Neher

1922 - 2015

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1675 COLLECTOR

Julius Rosenthal Wolf

1929 - 1976

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1676 ECONOMIST

Cynthia Taft Morris

1928 - 2013

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1678 BASEBALL

Nelson Burbrink

1921 - 2001

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1689 SCIENCE

Paul Nathaniel Temple Jr.

1923 - 2016

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1705 BASEBALL

George Schmees

1924 - 1998

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1707 BASEBALL

Pat Scott

1929 - 2016

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1717 JUDGE

Andrew D. Christie

1922 - 1993

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1735 HORSE TRAINER

Loyd Gentry Jr.

1925 - 2012

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1736 DIPLOMAT

David T. Schneider

1922 - 2008

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1739 BASEBALL

Margie Lang

1924 - 2007

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1742 BASEBALL

Martha Haines

1923 - 2011

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1749 POLITICIAN

Don Ballard

1927 - 2019

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1753 LAWYER

Robert O. Lukowsky

1927 - 1981

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1755 LAWYER

Roscoe B. Stephenson Jr.

1922 - 2011

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1758 FOOTBALL

Carl K. Benhase

1929 - 2018

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1761 OFFICER

James P. Stewart

1924 - 2019

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