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

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.

  1. Politician 482 0.7×
  2. Actor 414 1.4×
  3. Baseball 383 6.0×
  4. Basket 260 3.7×
  5. Football 251 0.4×
  6. Music 206 2.6×
  7. Lawyer 185 1.9×
  8. Singer 161 1.4×
  1. Baseball 383 6.0×
  2. Basket 260 3.7×
  3. Boxer 72 3.3×
  4. Rower 57 2.8×
  5. Music 206 2.6×
  6. Officer 84 2.3×
  7. Lawyer 185 1.9×
  8. Film 113 1.6×
  1. Football 251 0.4×

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.

1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Art & Design
  • Other
All5,575
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Showing 343 of 5,575 notable people

5136 BASEBALL

Eddie Silber

1914 - 1976

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5153 POLITICIAN

Dominick DeJoseph

1915 - 2000

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5154 ROWER

Charles Drueding

1913 - 1970

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5160 BASEBALL

Hal Marnie

1918 - 2002

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5172 BASEBALL

Joe Kracher

1913 - 1981

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5175 BASEBALL

Eddie Feinberg

1917 - 1986

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5176 POLITICIAN

Charles G. Nicholson

1919 - 2003

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5178 ROWER

Bill Dugan (rower)

1913 - 1996

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5199 ROWER

George Dahm

1916 - 1980

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5202 ARMY

Thomas Rienzi

1919 - 2010

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5206 ROWER

Francis English

1910 - 1984

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5207 ROWER

Vincent Deeney

1915 - 1999

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5210 BASEBALL

Bill Hoffman (baseball)

1918 - 2004

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5219 ROWER

Tom Curran (rower)

1910 - 1990

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5222 ROWER

John McCosker (rower)

1910 - 1965

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5224 WORKER

Frances Feldman

1912 - 2008

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5231 ROWER

Harry Sharkey

1916 - 2002

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5243 DANCER

LeRoy Myers

1919 - 2004

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5248 POLITICIAN

Eugene Gelfand

1919 - 1987

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5250 MILITAR

Henry J. Muller

Born 1917

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5295 SPORT

Willy Renz

1916 - 1981

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5298 COACH

Devone Payne

1913 - 1958

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5350 BASEBALL

Benny Culp

1914 - 2000

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5355 PAINTER

Wilhelmina McAlpin Godfrey

1914 - 1994

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5367 ACTOR

Larry Douglas

1914 - 1996

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5368 POET

Ree Dragonette

1918 - 1979

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5380 HISTORIAN

George B. Cooper (historian)

1916 - 1995

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5387 BASEBALL

Harry Shuman

1915 - 1996

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5394 POLITICIAN

Johann Wagner (Politiker, 1916)

1916 - 1976

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5421 APOSTOLISCHER

Edward Francis Joseph Schlotterback

1912 - 1994

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5455 BISHOP

J. Brooke Mosley

1915 - 1988

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5463 SPORT

Ike Richman

1913 - 1965

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5490 BASEBALL

Elmer Burkart

1917 - 1995

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5508 SPORT

Thomas Johnson (American football coach)

1917 - 2007

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5519 ACTOR

Tommy Conlon

1917 - 2000

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5531 PLAYER

Joseph Carpenter

Born 1910

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5532 PUBLISHER

John Geoghegan (publisher)

1917 - 1999

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5533 ACTOR

Rosemary Carr

1910 - 1987

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5546 POLITICIAN

John F. Byrne Sr.

1911 - 1965

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5550 ACTOR

Maxine Reiner

1916 - 2003

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5552 ACTOR

Maybeth Carr

1912 - 1996

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5555 OFFICER

Martin H. Ray Jr.

1913 - 1942

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5564 POLITICIAN

Eugene Raymond III

1916 - 2014

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