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 1930s Clear ×
Clint Eastwood
Born 1930
Natalie Wood
1938 - 1981
Dian Fossey
1932 - 1985
Jerry Brown
Born 1938
Dianne Feinstein
Born 1933
Bill Bixby
1934 - 1993
Stephen Breyer
Born 1938
Richard Serra
Born 1939
John Young (astronaut)
1930 - 2018
Gary Snyder
Born 1930
Bradford Dillman
1930 - 2018
Mala Powers
1931 - 2007
Yvonne Rainer
Born 1934
Joan Blackman
Born 1938
Ken Venturi
1931 - 2013
Charles Webb (author)
1939 - 2020
Paul Mantee
1931 - 2013
Craig Barrett (chief executive)
Born 1939
Will Ryan
Born 1939
Burny Mattinson
Born 1935
Joan Weldon
Born 1930
Dale Russell
1937 - 2019
Barre Phillips
Born 1934
Talus Taylor
1933 - 2015
Noël Burch
Born 1932
Melinda Gebbie
Born 1937
Joan Brown
1938 - 1990
Timothy Gallwey
Born 1938
John Brodie
Born 1935
Lewis H. Lapham
Born 1935
Robert Bechtle
1932 - 2020
Cliff Bole
1937 - 2014
Ted Dabney
1937 - 2018
Don Friedman
1935 - 2016
James J. Sheehan
Born 1937
Kenneth Ring
Born 1936
Jim Loscutoff
1930 - 2015
Nan Kempner
1930 - 2005
Joseph S. Nelson
1937 - 2011
Bruce Brown
1937 - 2017
John L. Heilbron
Born 1934
Bob St. Clair
1931 - 2015
George Archer
1939 - 2005
Dick Clair
1931 - 1988
Dave Toschi
1931 - 2018
Peter Saul
Born 1934
Jim Walsh (basketball)
1930 - 1976
Dave Guard
1934 - 1991
Dick Berk
1939 - 2014
Earl B. Hunt
1933 - 2016
Bill Raymond
Born 1938
Joan Brady (American-British writer)
Born 1939
Roger Leir
1935 - 2014
David Herlihy
1930 - 1991
Michael Greene
1933 - 2020
Martin Cohan
1932 - 2010
John Patrick Diggins
1935 - 2009
Robin Wagner (designer)
Born 1933
Pat Sheehan (model)
1931 - 2006
Claire Kelly
1934 - 1998
Barney Glaser
Born 1930
Frank Jordan
Born 1935
Carson Smith
1931 - 1997
Jim Gentile
Born 1934
Lawrence H. Cohn
1937 - 2016
Warren Hinckle
1938 - 2016
A. D. Winans
Born 1936
Richard Ashcraft
1938 - 1995
Tod Brown
Born 1936
Laurence Guittard
Born 1939
James D. Houston
1933 - 2009
Bernice Bing
1936 - 1998
Chick Strand
1931 - 2009
Sandra Church
Born 1933
Edward J. Lakso
1932 - 2009
Yuji Ichioka
1936 - 2002
Gus Triandos
1930 - 2013
Lloyd J. Old
1933 - 2011
Daniel F. Walsh
Born 1937
Donald Gutierrez
1932 - 2013
Susan Brown (American actress)
1932 - 2018
Jerry Dexter
1938 - 2013
Rachel Elkind-Tourre
Born 1939
Robert Murase
1938 - 2005
Robert Nelson (filmmaker)
1930 - 2012
Fred LaCour
1938 - 1972
E. Pierce Marshall
1939 - 2006
Peter Elkus
Born 1939
David Carpenter
Born 1930
Ray Barra
Born 1930
Carlos Arthur Sevilla
Born 1935
Marsden Wagner
1930 - 2014
Ted Sorel
1936 - 2010
Ron Feinberg
1932 - 2005
George Edgar Slusser
1939 - 2014
C. Daniel Mote Jr.
Born 1937
Bill Porter (salesman)
1932 - 2013
June Blair
Born 1933
Russell Chatham
1939 - 2019
Stephen Herrero
Born 1939
Albert R. Jonsen
1931 - 2020
Richard C. Blum
Born 1935
Mary Stallings
Born 1939
Dorothy Bryant
1930 - 2017
Eugene F. Lynch
Born 1931
John Jay O'Connor
1930 - 2009
Jimmy Stewart (musician)
Born 1937
Merla Zellerbach
1930 - 2014
Keith Charles (actor)
1934 - 2008
Beano Cook
1931 - 2012
Al Robles
1930 - 2009
Robert Phalen
Born 1937
John Nisby
1936 - 2011
Guy Ullens
Born 1935
Ed Mayer (pitcher)
1931 - 2015
Skip Young (actor)
1930 - 1993
Sam Baker (halfback)
1930 - 2007
Kathryn Werdegar
Born 1936
Princeton Lyman
1935 - 2018
Jack Linkletter
1937 - 2007
Terence Hallinan
1936 - 2020
David Rosen (musicologist)
Born 1938
Alex Bennett (broadcaster)
Born 1939
Van Snowden
1939 - 2010
Michael Caffey
1930 - 2017
Mel Arrighi
1933 - 1986
Keith Fowler
Born 1939
Fern M. Smith
Born 1933
Pete Gross
1936 - 1992
Frank Zupo
1939 - 2005
J. Howard Marshall III
Born 1936
Paul Oglesby
1939 - 1994
Douglas James Scalapino
Born 1933
John A. Sobrato
Born 1939
Ron Pelosi
Born 1934
Thomas H. Barland
Born 1930
N. A. Diaman
Born 1936
Win Ng
1936 - 1991
Jot D. Carpenter
1938 - 2000
Charles A. Legge
Born 1930
Hugh Cassidy
Born 1935
William Newsom
1934 - 2018
Jerry Kennealy
Born 1938
Sharon Baker
1938 - 1991
Mike Baxes
Born 1930
Tony Serra
Born 1934
Dino Natali
Born 1931
Arlen F. Gregorio
Born 1931
Jess Stonestreet Jackson Jr.
1930 - 2011
Don Potts
Born 1936
William R. Hutchison
1930 - 2005
David P. Dahl
Born 1937
Don Whitt
1930 - 2013
Mary Norbert Körte
Born 1934
Joe Scudero
1930 - 2019
Carlos Villa
1938 - 2014
Lefty Hayden
1935 - 2003
Lorraine Rothman
1932 - 2007
Carl E. Thoresen
Born 1933
Joe Kirrene
1931 - 2016
Pamela Kurrell
Born 1939
Charles Nuetzel
Born 1934
Ron Larrieu
1937 - 2020
Pat Malley
1931 - 1985
Mack Burton
Born 1939
Fred Miller (American football, born 1931)
Born 1931
Richard O. Culver Jr.
1936 - 2014
David L. Hewitt
Born 1939
Tony Van Vliet (American politician)
Born 1930
LaRoy Doss
1936 - 2004
Bob Marshall (California politician)
1934 - 2012
Jack Lilja
1930 - 2016
Bob Cline
1933 - 2020
Frank E. Speizer
Born 1934
Thierry Thys
1931 - 2009
Eugene A. Brown
1937 - 2020
Bob Roselli
1931 - 2009
Bob Kirkwood
Born 1939
Albert Baciocco
1931 - 2015
Mary Estill Buchanan
Born 1934
Phyllis Theroux
Born 1939