37.7775° N, 122.4165° W
SAN FRANCISCO
Most Famous People Born in San Francisco, United States
- Notable people
- 2,619
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1943
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 6.1×
A city of restless reinventions. San Francisco's notables are heavily literary and athletic in the 19th century, then heavily technological and countercultural in the 20th — the same town gave the world Jack London and Steve Jobs, Ansel Adams and Bruce Lee, the Beats and the venture capitalists. The dataset doesn't show the tech industry as a category, but you can see its silhouette in the unusually high share of entrepreneurs, engineers, and screenwriters with day jobs in software.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in San Francisco during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 295 notable births.
What San Francisco Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is San Francisco's biggest profession — 15% of all notables (385).
San Francisco over-indexes on baseball — 6.1× the global rate.
San Francisco under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of San Francisco's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Music
- Politics & Law
- Writing
- Art & Design
- Other
- Filtered to 1910s Clear ×
Robert McNamara
1916 - 2009
Shirley Jackson
1916 - 1965
Luis Walter Alvarez
1911 - 1988
Jack Vance
1916 - 2013
Barry Nelson
1917 - 2007
Caspar Weinberger
1917 - 2006
Tony Martin (American singer)
1913 - 2012
Jack LaLanne
1914 - 2011
Jocelyn Brando
1919 - 2005
Frederick Seitz
1911 - 2008
Victor Sen Yung
1915 - 1980
Edith Massey
1918 - 1984
Marjorie Lord
1918 - 2015
Vito Scotti
1918 - 1996
Stafford Repp
1918 - 1974
Dom DiMaggio
1917 - 2009
Jule Gregory Charney
1917 - 1981
Joseph Alioto
1916 - 1998
Denham Harman
1916 - 2014
Bill Goodwin
1910 - 1958
Hank Luisetti
1916 - 2002
Benay Venuta
1911 - 1995
Joe Hunt
1919 - 1945
Pat Welsh (actress)
1915 - 1995
Robert Lees
1912 - 2004
Dorian Shainin
1914 - 2000
James S. Ackerman
1919 - 2016
Frankie Crosetti
1910 - 2002
John DeCuir
1918 - 1991
Richard Edmund Lyng
1918 - 2003
Fred Apostoli
1913 - 1973
Peter Lind Hayes
1915 - 1998
Bob Sweeney (actor and director)
1918 - 1992
Bob Schiller
1918 - 2017
Jess Oppenheimer
1913 - 1988
Paul B. Fay
1918 - 2009
Charis Wilson
1914 - 2009
Phyllis Kaberry
1910 - 1977
Bob Elliott (baseball)
1916 - 1966
Vance Colvig
1918 - 1991
June Gale
1911 - 1996
Michael S. Davison
1917 - 2006
Claude Coats
1913 - 1992
Douglas Fitzgerald Dowd
1919 - 2017
Carroll Borland
1914 - 1994
William M. Roth
1916 - 2014
Maxine Doyle
1915 - 1973
Jean Gale
1912 - 1974
Verne Grant
1917 - 2007
Eddie Joost
1916 - 2011
Peter M. Bowers
1918 - 2003
Gypsy Boots
1914 - 2004
Burton Jastram
1910 - 1995
Larry Lansburgh
1911 - 2001
Walter Shenson
1919 - 2000
Jeffery Cohelan
1914 - 1999
Herm Fuetsch
1918 - 2010
Alice Reinheart
1910 - 1993
Oliver Jesse Carter
1911 - 1976
Mark Joseph Hurley
1919 - 2001
Esther Eng
1914 - 1970
Don McDougall (director)
1917 - 1991
Sam Ruben
1913 - 1943
Irwin Abrams
1914 - 2010
John R. Deane Jr.
1919 - 2013
Vincent DeDomenico
1915 - 2007
Bob Drake (racing driver)
1919 - 1990
Jack Mullin
1913 - 1999
Cliff Carpenter
1915 - 2014
Franc Joubin
1911 - 1997
John H. Michaelis
1912 - 1985
Charles Hoffman (screenwriter)
1911 - 1972
Lawrence Calcagno
1913 - 1993
Marty Passaglia
1919 - 2004
Walter A. Haas Jr.
1916 - 1995
Mary Tsukamoto
1915 - 1998
Richard Purvis
1913 - 1994
Karl Kasten
1916 - 2010
Babe Dahlgren
1912 - 1996
James Nolan (acteur)
1915 - 1985
James D. Hart
1911 - 1990
Marcel Vogel
1917 - 1991
Beatrice Sandström
1910 - 1995
Norman Livermore
1911 - 2006
Peter Stackpole
1913 - 1997
Eddie Erdelatz
1913 - 1966
Jay Meuser
1911 - 1963
Elizabeth Charleston
1910 - 1997
George Albert Harris
1913 - 1991
Peer de Silva
1917 - 1978
Shirley Deane
1913 - 1983
James Joseph Sweeney
1913 - 1968
Johnny Holiday
1912 - 2009
Sister Jean
Born 1919
Raymond Dasmann
1919 - 2002
Larry Siemering
1910 - 2009
Jack Hayes (composer)
1919 - 2011
Jane Bissell Grabhorn
1911 - 1973
Noel Toy
1918 - 2003
Verne Chute
1917 - 1986
Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson
1918 - 2005
Peter E. Haas
1918 - 2005
Ralph Cheli
1919 - 1944
Chris Hartje
1915 - 1946
William H. Orrick Jr.
1915 - 2003
Frederick E. Olmsted
1911 - 1990
Ken Mayer
1918 - 1985
Virginia Coffman
1914 - 2005
Andrew Downey Orrick
1917 - 2008
Nick Carter (tennis)
1918 - 1989
Carel B. Germain
1916 - 1995
Wally Judnich
1917 - 1971
Edith Motridge
1913 - 2007
Larry Rhine
1910 - 2000
Ira La Rivers
1915 - 1977
Joe Gonzales (baseball)
1915 - 1996
John Schiechl
1917 - 1964
Marion Feducha
1911 - 1976
John Livermore
1918 - 2013
Dario Lodigiani
1916 - 2008
Phil Ford (comedian)
1919 - 2005
Billy Naylor
1916 - 2011
Raymond V. Moore
1915 - 2003
Anne Saporetti
1914 - 1984
Jack Leonard
1913 - 1954
Johnny Aguirre
1919 - 2007
Louis Macouillard
1917 - 1987
Joe Orengo
1914 - 1988
Warren Eugene Brandon
1916 - 1977
Al Wright (second baseman)
1912 - 1998
William Alexander Hewitt
1914 - 1998
Jack Woolams
1917 - 1946
Bert Delmas
1911 - 1979
James F. Boccardo
1911 - 2003
John F. Henning
1915 - 2009
Thomas Patrick Collins
1915 - 1973
Mervin King
1914 - 2008
Phil Dougherty
1912 - 2000
Joyce Bryant
1916 - 2004
Andy Marefos
1917 - 1996
Bill Corbus
1911 - 1998
Bob Uhl
1913 - 1990
Italo Chelini
1914 - 1972
Daniel Van Meter
1913 - 2000
Frankie Kelleher
1916 - 1979
Ernie Sulik
1910 - 1963
Clarence Fieber
1913 - 1985
Joe Chamberlain (baseball)
1910 - 1983
Adele Stimmel Chase
1917 - 2000
John R. Beckett
1918 - 2010
Thomas H. Carroll
1914 - 1964
J. Eugene McAteer
1916 - 1967
Robert W. Brown
1917 - 2009
John C. Houlihan
1910 - 1986
Don Burness
1919 - 1987
Robert Howard Schnacke
1913 - 1994
Scott Newhall
1914 - 1992
William S. Gillies
1911 - 2000
William A. Enemark
1913 - 2016
Joe Gantenbein
1915 - 1993
Harry J. Aleo
1919 - 2008
Eddie Kearse
1916 - 1968
Lanette Scheeline
1910 - 2001
Charles Drain (politician)
1913 - 1991
Verdi Boyer
1911 - 2003