41.7866° N, 71.5578° W

PROVIDENCE

Most Famous People Born in Providence, United States

Notable people
736
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1927
Most distinctive
Bank 5.8×

Providence's Bank bench is what's left of the old Rhode Island mercantile and textile fortunes that built Federal Hill and the Brown family empire, with a Lawyer class drawn from the same patrician pipeline. The Baseball count reaches back to the Providence Grays of the 1880s, while a modern RISD-and-Brown creative vein runs through the Music and Screenwriter lines — Damien Chazelle and a thick seam of film composers.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 86 notable births.

What Providence Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Providence's biggest profession — 16% of all notables (116).

Providence over-indexes on bank5.8× the global rate.

Providence under-produces football — only 0.3× the global rate.

  1. Politician116
  2. Lawyer54
  3. Actor50
  4. Baseball39
  5. Football22
  6. Music20
  7. Writer17
  8. Painter17
  1. Bank75.8×
  2. Baseball394.7×
  3. Lawyer544.2×
  4. Boxer82.7×
  5. Officer112.3×
  6. Screenwriter72.2×
  7. Diplomat92.1×
  8. Music201.9×
  1. Football220.3×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1700175018001850190019502000
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Science
  • Other
All736
Sort By

Showing 24 of 736 notable people

0167 POLITICIAN

Norman S. Case

1888 - 1967

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0231 LAWYER

Zechariah Chafee

1885 - 1957

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0241 ACTOR

Marcia Harris

1880 - 1947

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0252 DIPLOMAT

Winthrop W. Aldrich

1885 - 1974

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0270 WRITER

Bob Olsen

1884 - 1956

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0276 POLITICIAN

Harry Sandager

1887 - 1955

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0310 OFFICER

Harold G. Bowen Sr.

1883 - 1965

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0311 POLITICIAN

William S. Flynn

1885 - 1966

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0339 LAWYER

George B. Francis

1883 - 1967

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0344 POLITICIAN

Clarence G. Burton

1886 - 1982

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0383 ACADEMIC

Harvey N. Davis

1881 - 1952

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0407 OFFICER

Godfrey Chevalier

1889 - 1922

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0426 BASEBALL

Andy Coakley

1882 - 1963

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0434 PAINTER

John Edward Costigan

1888 - 1972

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0523 COMPOSER

Henry Lodge (musicien)

1885 - 1933

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0542 BASEBALL

John Flynn (baseball)

1883 - 1935

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0546 RADIO

George Lovejoy Rockwell

1889 - 1978

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0578 MYCOLOGIST

Margaret Church

1889 - 1976

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0623 MAYOR

James E. Dunne

1882 - 1942

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0640 EXECUTIVE

John Shepard III

1886 - 1950

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0641 EDITOR

Edward A. Batchelor

1883 - 1968

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0659 BASEBALL

Al Kellogg

1886 - 1953

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0678 LAWYER

John Patrick Hartigan

1887 - 1968

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0725 BASEBALL

Jim Hanley

1885 - 1961

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