39.9292° N, 75.2300° W
PHILADELPHIA
Most Famous People Born in Philadelphia, USA
- Notable people
- 5,575
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1928
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 6.0×
The original American capital, then the capital of nothing in particular, then a sports town. Philadelphia's notables run thick through the 18th century — lawyers, philanthropists, financiers — and then settle into a long, steady output of baseball players, basketball players, jazz bandleaders, and character actors. The city has one of the highest shares of notables in organized labor of the early 20th century and one of the deepest benches of soul singers of the late 20th.
Standouts
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 556 notable births.
What Philadelphia Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Philadelphia's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (482).
Philadelphia over-indexes on baseball — 6.0× the global rate.
Philadelphia under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Philadelphia's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Art & Design
- Other
- Filtered to 1900s Clear ×
Margaret Mead
1901 - 1978
Janet Gaynor
1906 - 1984
Jeanette MacDonald
1903 - 1965
Clifford Odets
1906 - 1963
Whittaker Chambers
1901 - 1961
James Bond (ornithologist)
1900 - 1989
Imogene Coca
1908 - 2001
I. F. Stone
1907 - 1989
Paul Douglas (actor)
1907 - 1959
Mildred Davis
1901 - 1969
David Riesman
1909 - 2002
Penny Singleton
1908 - 2003
Marc Blitzstein
1905 - 1964
Eddie Lang
1902 - 1933
Eddie Quillan
1907 - 1990
Joe DeRita
1909 - 1993
Joe Venuti
1903 - 1978
Robert Serber
1909 - 1997
Herbert Biberman
1900 - 1971
Rex Stewart
1907 - 1967
John Heysham Gibbon
1903 - 1973
Malcolm Atterbury
1907 - 1992
Elizabeth Gray Vining
1902 - 1999
Gladys Bentley
1907 - 1960
Cyrus H. Gordon
1908 - 2001
Vittorio Giannini
1903 - 1966
Marion Martin
1909 - 1985
Jane Winton
1905 - 1959
Tommy Loughran
1902 - 1982
Joseph S. Clark Jr.
1901 - 1990
Betty Garde
1905 - 1989
Thomas Carr (director)
1907 - 1997
Mark Clifton
1906 - 1963
Hortense Powdermaker
1900 - 1970
Richard P. Powell
1908 - 1999
Charles Goren
1901 - 1991
Marge (cartoonist)
1904 - 1993
Robert Foulk
1908 - 1989
Antonio Guiteras
1906 - 1935
William H. Ziegler
1909 - 1977
Edward Colman (cinematographer)
1905 - 1995
Dusolina Giannini
1902 - 1986
Francis J. Myers
1901 - 1956
Sydney Boehm
1908 - 1990
Abraham Sinkov
1907 - 1998
Paul Nordoff
1909 - 1977
John Gallaudet
1903 - 1983
William Goetz
1903 - 1969
Lester Lanin
1907 - 2004
Walter Diemer
1904 - 1998
Horace Winchell Magoun
1907 - 1991
Jessica Dragonette
1900 - 1980
John Tileston Edsall
1902 - 2002
Bucky Walters
1909 - 1991
John C. Allen
1907 - 1979
Dorothy Burr Thompson
1900 - 2001
Robert Leslie Bellem
1902 - 1968
Francis Ryan
1908 - 1977
John W. Wells
1907 - 1994
Earle K. Bergey
1901 - 1952
Leonard Carlitz
1907 - 1999
Mary Rockefeller
1907 - 1999
Milton Frome
1909 - 1989
Irene Guest
1900 - 1970
Elizabeth Becker-Pinkston
1903 - 1989
Francis Henry Taylor
1903 - 1957
Leon Kelly
1901 - 1982
Christiane Delyne
1902 - 1966
J. Scott Smart
1902 - 1960
Geoffrey Mason
1902 - 1987
Joseph Kramm
1907 - 1992
Virginia M. Alexander
1900 - 1949
Orlando Cole
1908 - 2010
Evelyn Berckman
1900 - 1978
Joseph Dubin
1900 - 1961
Joseph Andorfer Ewan
1909 - 1999
James A. Byrne
1906 - 1980
Alfred Harbage
1901 - 1976
Bill Holland
1907 - 1984
Al Bates
1905 - 1999
Dorothy Bar-Adon
1907 - 1950
Joseph Schauers
1909 - 1987
August E. Johansen
1905 - 1995
Edwin Rolfe
1909 - 1954
William Miller (rower)
1905 - 1985
John Cecil Holm
1904 - 1981
B. Jay Becker
1904 - 1987
Helen Sobel Smith
1909 - 1969
Horace Disston
1906 - 1982
Charles McIlvaine (rower)
1903 - 1975
Dorothy Norman
1905 - 1997
Kelly Petillo
1903 - 1970
Brooke Dolan II
1908 - 1945
Charlie Gaines
1900 - 1986
James S. Allen
1906 - 1986
Ruth Malcomson
1906 - 1988
W. Arthur Winstead
1904 - 1995
Johnny Jadick
1908 - 1970
Peggy Solomon
1909 - 1995
Carl Bridenbaugh
1903 - 1992
George W. Taylor (professor)
1901 - 1972
Samuel H. Caldwell
1904 - 1960
P. Jackson Darlington, Jr.
1904 - 1983
Justin Herman
1907 - 1983
Buster West
1901 - 1966
Alexander H. Leighton
1908 - 2007
Earl Chudoff
1907 - 1993
Emerson Treacy
1900 - 1967
Mildred Walker
1905 - 1998
Edward Biberman
1904 - 1986
Leon Sacks
1902 - 1972
Roscoe Drummond
1902 - 1983
Emlen Etting
1905 - 1993
Frederick Moosbrugger
1900 - 1974
Francis Edward Hyland
1901 - 1968
Josselyn Van Tyne
1902 - 1957
Lorenzo Tucker
1907 - 1986
Frank Gasparro
1909 - 2001
Barney Berlinger
1908 - 2002
Amos Deacon
1904 - 1982
Johnny Lange
1905 - 2006
Mae Virginia Cowdery
1909 - 1953
Ed Mitchell (rower)
1901 - 1970
Herbert J. McGlinchey
1904 - 1992
J. Carroll McCormick
1907 - 1996
David Harris Willson
1901 - 1973
Joe Brown (sculptor)
1909 - 1985
Katharine Elizabeth McBride
1904 - 1976
William Beecher Scoville
1906 - 1984
Robert B. Heilman
1906 - 2004
Jimmie Wilson (baseball)
1900 - 1947
Anthony F. DePalma
1904 - 2005
Ernest Bayer
1904 - 1997
Truesdell Sparhawk Brown
1906 - 1992
Florence Bird
1908 - 1998
Jim Hayward
1900 - 1981
George Healis
1906 - 1990
Gilroy Roberts
1905 - 1992
Harry Shoulberg
1903 - 1995
Betty Broadbent
1909 - 1983
Sam Dalrymple
1901 - 1981
Benton Murdoch Spruance
1904 - 1967
Laura Barney Harding
1902 - 1994
John Kennedy (rowing)
1900 - 1971
Andrea Heinemann Simon
1909 - 1994
Joe Cascarella
1907 - 2002
John Schmitt (rower)
1901 - 1991
Henry Farrell (footballer)
1902 - 1980
Catherine Littlefield
1905 - 1951
Lewis Jacobs
1904 - 1997
Francis Elliott Drouet
1907 - 1982
Howard Baker (poet)
1905 - 1990
Wilton Blancké
1908 - 1971
Lawrence Frederik Schott
1907 - 1963
E Boyd
1903 - 1974
Paul McDowell (rower)
1905 - 1962
Eleanor Uhl
1902 - 1981
Chappie Willett
1907 - 1976
John W. Lord Jr.
1901 - 1972
Alexander M. Phillips
1907 - 1991
Benny Payne
1907 - 1986
Stephen Carr (attore)
1906 - 1986
Benjamin H. Oehlert Jr.
1909 - 1985
Charles Goldhamer
1903 - 1985
Marty Brill (American football)
1906 - 1973
Harp Vaughan
1903 - 1978
Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt
1901 - 1978
Florence Kirk
1909 - 1999
Charles D. Griffin
1906 - 1996
George F. Good Jr.
1901 - 1991
W. Wilson White
1906 - 1964
Charlie Bates (baseball)
1907 - 1980
Marguerite McBey
1905 - 1999
Al Spohrer
1902 - 1972
Nat Bonx
1900 - 1950
George T. Faust
1908 - 1985
Alice Lord (diver)
1902 - 2000
Dick Wilson (golf course architect)
1904 - 1965
Alan Strange
1906 - 1994
Margaret Ralston Gest
1900 - 1965
William Creighton (bishop)
1909 - 1987
A.B. Magil
1905 - 2003
John Deal (soccer)
1905 - 1983
Jim Peterson (baseball)
1908 - 1975
Carlton Lord
1900 - 1947
Lefty Weinert
1900 - 1973
Irwin Boyd
1908 - 1979
Marie McPhedran
1904 - 1974
Roy Simmons Sr.
1901 - 1994
Louis Silverman
1909 - 1992
Ed Gallagher (American football, born 1903)
1903 - 1963
Horace Hodes
1907 - 1989
Joe Dougherty (rower)
1901 - 1981
Cy Malis
1907 - 1971
Edward Marshall (rower)
Born 1908
William Steel Creighton
1902 - 1973
Norman Sussman
1905 - 1969
Grace Gemberling
1903 - 1997
Freddy Winnai
1905 - 1977
William Culbertson III
1905 - 1971
Harold Kaese
1909 - 1975
Augustus Goetz
1904 - 1976
Edgar Johnson
1905 - 1977
Mae Kernaghan
1901 - 1980
C. Clement French
1901 - 1988
Peter E. Perry
1901 - 1993
John Jackson (baseball)
1909 - 1956
Nelson Greene (baseball)
1900 - 1983
Ed Roetz
1905 - 1965
Roderick Edwards
1909 - 1987
Bill Yancey
1902 - 1971
Andrew Ponzi
1903 - 1950
Joe O'Rourke
1904 - 1990
John Houser (rower)
1909 - 1991
Mitchell Harry Cohen
1904 - 1991
George Mattson (rower)
1908 - 1997
Stuart B. Carter
1906 - 1983
May Beenken
1901 - 1988
Merritt Hulburd
1903 - 1939
Warner Norton Grubb
1900 - 1947
Emmett McCann
1902 - 1937
William G. Piper
1906 - 1976
Margaret Lowengrund
1902 - 1957
Edward Hagen
1908 - 1963
Rob Denton
1907 - 1997
Ernestine Bayer
1909 - 2006
A. Grove Day
1904 - 1994
Joe Scott (businessman)
1908 - 2002
Austin M. Purves Jr.
1900 - 1977
Vince McNally
1902 - 1997
Thomas M. Madden
1907 - 1976
Anne Mary Lawler
1908 - 1980
Charles William Kraft Jr.
1903 - 2002
Harry Connaughton
1905 - 1969
George Thayer
1905 - 1952
Johnny Berger
1901 - 1979
Marcus Goldstein
1906 - 1997
Edwin DeHaven Steel Jr.
1904 - 1986
Wilbur H. Hamilton
1909 - 1964
Hoot Haines
1907 - 1968