April 27, 200916 yr Missing from the list is long-forgotten Mt. Gilead born (in 1896; and 1918 graduate of Lake Erie College) novelist/satirist/New Yorker writer Dawn Powell. In the last few years there has been a mini-revival of her works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawn_Powell http://www.loa.org/dawnpowell/ http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
May 6, 200916 yr Where is the Scott Weiland, Cleveland connection? Tecumseh is from Chillicothe, Ohio.... I love it! :laugh: edit- Ray Mancini (boxer), Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr.(former owner of 49er's), Kelly Pavlik (boxer). Youngstown, Ohio.
May 7, 200916 yr Writers/journalists Lowell Thomas, broadcaster, writer -- Greenville area William McGuffey, McGuffey Readers -- Youngstown and Oxford Harriet Beecher Stowe -- Cincinnati Paul Lawrence Dunbar -- Dayton Zane Grey -- Zanesville Sherwood Anderson -- Clyde James Wright -- Martins Ferry Show business Elliott Nugent, actor/producer/playwright/Thurber collaborator -- Dover Roy Rogers -- Portsmouth Sports Branch Rickey -- Portsmouth (I think) and Ohio Wesleyan in Delaware Hopalong Cassady (Howard Cassady of Columbus, the college & pro football star and baseball coach, not William Boyd of Cambridge, who played Hopalong Cassidy in the movies) Frank Howard, followed Hopalong at OSU in the '50s, then played major league baseball Military William T. Sherman -- Lancaster Philip Sheridan -- Somerset Eddie Rickenbacker -- Columbus (WWI flying ace, race car driver, airline executive) Artists Thomas Cole -- Steubenville George Bellows -- Columbus Bill Watterson, cartoonist -- Chagrin Falls and Kenyon College Jim Borgman, cartoonist -- Kenyon College And many more
May 7, 200916 yr Also from Ohio, conceptual artist Jenny Holzer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Holzer, whose current work can be seen at the Whitney Museum through the end of May: http://whitney.org/www/holzer/index.jsp http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
May 8, 200916 yr Child, that gave me a mini headache! what do you know about art?? :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :-P :-P...it's supposed to give you a headache!LOL http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
May 10, 200916 yr i think it's safe to say that without ohio the world would suck. take that, wyoming!
May 11, 200916 yr Already mentioned, but this link say it all: http://www.gbvdb.com/artist.asp?artistsort=Guided%20By%20Voices Tobin Sprout of GBV/indie Rock as well. From Dayton I'm pretty sure. His art work is so well done. So are his songs. Sorry, these are large images. Any Daytonians recognize the Wympee?
June 2, 200916 yr From Conneaut, Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (though he grew up in Indiana--boooo!): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spano http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 2, 200916 yr From Conneaut, Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (though he grew up in Indiana--boooo!): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Spano Yeah, my home town. And I thought the announcer on the Price is Right was the only "famous" person to come out of there! (the hullet ore unloaders dont count as a person)
June 12, 200916 yr Missing from the list, late comedic actress/singer and Columbus native Dody Goodman (longtime Broadway star and regular on talk shows in the 60's) who passed away last year at 93— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dody_Goodman http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 12, 200916 yr Singer/songwriter David Allen Coe ("Long Haired Red Neck" - "Take This Job and Shove It" - "I'm an Ohio Boy") lived in Little Italy as a kid, originally from central Ohio. We're vaguely related. Also born in Little Italy but growing up in Pittsburgh, composer Henry Mancini (Peter Gunn, Pink Panther).
June 12, 200916 yr Greater Cincinnati-Hamilton-Middletown Harlan Ellison (author) not to nitpick, but the original list shows writer Harlan Ellison as hailing from the Cincinnati area. He's from Cleveland (and lived for a while in my little hometown): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 12, 200916 yr Ellison wrote "City on the Edge of Forever," often called the best ever Star Trek episode. Wayne Newton is from Newark. He was the grand marshall of their bicentennial parade.
June 12, 200916 yr Ellison wrote "City on the Edge of Forever," often called the best ever Star Trek episode. Wayne Newton is from Newark. He was the grand marshall of their bicentennial parade. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Wayne Newton was born in Virginia and subsequently moved to Ohio as a child. Which brings us to the question: Should this list include only native-born Buckeyes? And what if you're a famous person only born in Ohio and move away as an infant? Does that really count? http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 12, 200916 yr People move. It is what it is. I spent 2 adult years in Michigan, which I don't think would make me "from" there, so there must be some kind of a clear yes/no line. I would suggest that being born here or spending some developmental years here would qualify. A place you move to once you're grown up and on your own isn't really where you're from, unless of course you stay there, but even then you're still originally from where you're originally from. Thus, I wouldn't count Tom Hanks for Cleveland or Lakewood. He lived there for a while, but only temporarily and for work.
June 12, 200916 yr ^ I run into that problem. Was born and lived in Michigan until I was 12, then moved and lived in Ohio until I was 24. I typically say that I am from Ohio. Really, I 'grew' up there, went to high school and college there, ect. I will never say I am from Maryland, or any other place I may live from here on out, even if it's the same place for the rest of my life.
June 27, 200915 yr Lost in the shuffle of all the celebrity obituaries yesterday I noticed this one, for Betty Allen, a prominent opera singer (and part of a group who broke racial barriers in that artform) from Campbell, OH (who attended Wilberforce College): Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/arts/music/25allen.html Betty Allen, Opera Singer and Educator, Dies at 82 By MARGALIT FOX Published: June 25, 2009 [ http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 27, 200915 yr "The Wright Brothers lived in Dayton??? I had no clue." Naw, they were from somwhere on the east coast. They had a trailer on the beach where they drank and played poker all night with Glenn Curtis, Alexander G. Bell, Octave Chanute and Lilienthal.
July 9, 200915 yr Conspicuously absent :? from the list is "right-wing wacko" :wink: talk show host and native of Dayton Mike Gallagher... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Gallagher http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
December 14, 20186 yr Nancy Wilson, Grammy Winning Jazz Singer, Dies at 81 https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/12/13/arts/ap-us-obit-nancy-wilson.html http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
January 24, 20196 yr Cleveland's own Kaye Ballard dies. Though the obit doesn't mention it, I recall other references to her that she grew up in Lakewood. Kaye Ballard, Indefatigable Comedian and Actress, Dies at 93 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/obituaries/kaye-ballard-dead.html Ms. Ballard was born Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland on Nov. 20, 1925, the second of four children. Her father, Vincenzo, and her mother, Lena (Nacarato) Balotta, had both immigrated from Italy. Her father laid concrete sidewalks for a living. “He used to take me all over Cleveland showing me his work,” Ms. Ballard wrote. http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
March 4, 20196 yr native of Mansfield. Very sad LUKE PERRY DEAD AT 52 Never Recovered from 'Massive' Stroke https://www.tmz.com/2019/03/04/luke-perry-dead-dies-stroke-beverly-hills-90210-riverdale/ http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
March 4, 20196 yr Very sad. By all accounts Perry was a really nice person. He was actually the goofy school mascot of Fredericktown H.S. The "Freddie Bird." https://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/story/news/2019/03/04/luke-perry-central-ohio-connections-mansfield-fredericktown/3057442002/
March 4, 20196 yr thanks. I had to look up Fredericktown. That's really small. There's even a photothread http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
March 28, 20196 yr I didn't realize this guy was a native Ohioan (from Hamilton, and no, this is not former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker) https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/obituaries/scott-walker-dead.html http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 18, 20195 yr notable food writer Molly O'Neill, a Columbus native (and sister to former Yankee Paul O'Neill), dies https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/dining/molly-oneill-dead.html http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
June 27, 20195 yr be sure to find and check out the toni morrison documentary the pieces i am -- it's by famed portrait photographer timothy greenfield sanders and its out now. more: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/06/new-toni-morrison-documentary/592300/
June 27, 20195 yr ^ I went to middle school with Paul O'Neill's son. He came around the school pretty often and was a very nice guy.
December 9, 20195 yr Early Ohio Governor Ethan Allen Brown, in office 1818-1822 ... does anybody know if he was actually related to Ethan Allen, the revolutionary war hero? Brown was born on July 4, 1776, a time before Allen was famous (infamous, some would say). If not is there an active Ohio history forum online or otherwise? Remember: It's the Year of the Snake
February 7, 20214 yr A lot of currently famous Comedians are from Greater Cincinnati. Tom Segura, Nikki Glaser, Gary Owen, Katt Williams, Dave Chappelle-sort of. I feel like I'm missing a couple. I can't believe Dave Chappelle is opening a comedy club in Yellow Springs! I'd love to check that out when it's done. Cleveland has its fair share of famous comedians as well. Bob Hope, Steve Harvey, Drew Carey, Arsenio Hall. I can't think of any famous comedians from Columbus, though. Really strange.
February 7, 20214 yr ^ here's a list of comedians from Ohio. These aren't all standup performers though.
February 7, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, David said: Katt Williams, Dave Chappelle Those two are from Greater Dayton, not Cincinnati. Katt Williams went to my high school (and was expelled). "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
February 7, 20214 yr Katt is from both areas, at least from what I've read. I noticed stand-up comedians tend to sort of be from everywhere and tend to not call any place 'home.' I'm sure that makes a career on the road a lot easier. As far as Chappelle goes, oops, I didn't realize how close Yellow Springs was to Dayton; I'm not that familiar with that area sadly (even though I now only live 32 minutes away from there, lol!) Anyway, part of the reason I thought it would be a good thread to revive is because I'm sure a lot of Ohioans have become famous in the past 13 or 14 years since the thread's inception but I'm struggling to come up with names outside of the comedy world. I know Nikki Glaser grew up in Loveland. I'm not sure where Tom Segura is from in Greater Cincinnati. I guess Guy Fieri became famous since then - and people who get famous for hosting TV shows going around the country trying random food, telling us what's good, are certainly notable. Edited February 7, 20214 yr by David
February 7, 20214 yr Not strictly a "famous Ohioan", but Tiffany Haddish expressed some interest in buying property in West Dayton. James Franco's grandma owned an art gallery in Cleveland before she passed. And doesn't Bill Murray's son coach(ed) Xavier's basketball team? “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.”
February 11, 20214 yr A famous Daytonian...has died. The original UrbanOhioan! Larry Flynt, Who Built a Porn Empire With Hustler, Dies at 78 Larry Flynt, a ninth-grade dropout who built a $400 million empire of raunchy publications, strip clubs and “adult” shops around his sexually explicit magazine Hustler, and spent decades battling obscenity and libel charges as a self-promoting champion of freedom of the press, died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 78. The cause was heart failure, said his brother, Jimmy Flynt. ... Discharged in 1964, he bought a bar in Dayton, Ohio, from his mother for $1,800 and used the profits to buy two more bars, then opened his first Hustler Club, with nude hostess-dancers. In the late 1960s he opened Hustler strip clubs in Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Cincinnati. To promote his businesses, he created a newsletter featuring nude women. In 1974, it became Hustler magazine. More below: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/business/media/larry-flynt-dead-hustler-magazine.html (Now it's a Flying Pizza) "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 17, 20222 yr On 2/7/2021 at 11:14 AM, BigDipper 80 said: Not strictly a "famous Ohioan", but Tiffany Haddish expressed some interest in buying property in West Dayton. James Franco's grandma owned an art gallery in Cleveland before she passed. And doesn't Bill Murray's son coach(ed) Xavier's basketball team? well, since any association w/Ohio can confer "fame" (or infamy) as a Buckeye (however temporarily), who knew that Joan Rivers's grandson (son of Melissa, of course--speaking of infamy) goes to Ohio Wesleyan? lol And is on the lacrosse team. (I really have to stop reading the NY Post) https://battlingbishops.com/sports/mens-lacrosse/roster/cooper-endicott/5727 http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
December 17, 20222 yr 9 minutes ago, eastvillagedon said: well, since any association w/Ohio can confer "fame" (or infamy) as a Buckeye (however temporarily), who knew that Joan Rivers's grandson (son of Melissa, of course--speaking of infamy) goes to Ohio Wesleyan? lol And is on the lacrosse team. (I really have to stop reading the NY Post) https://battlingbishops.com/sports/mens-lacrosse/roster/cooper-endicott/5727 wait, after more research I discovered that he transferred to Berkeley. He was just using Ohio as a stepping stone. That's gratitude! Edited December 17, 20222 yr by eastvillagedon http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/
December 19, 20222 yr The Cars are probably the “Clevelandest” band in the Rock Hall. Ben Orr graduated from Parma Valley Forge, he’s mentioned upthread. Ric Ocasek graduated from Maple Heights. Only a very few people knew this when this thread was posted. He didn’t even confirm it until he “corrected” his biography as the band was about to go into the Rock Hall. Class of ’63 didn’t correspond with a birthdate of 1949. Someone who knew him told me some PR people thought him being over 30 would be detrimental to the band’s success, so the official biography knocked off 5 years. The irony is during the late 70s there was an unofficial competition among area high schools as to who produced the biggest rock star. As the Cars were breaking out everyone knew about Ben, no one knew about Ric. Even though they knew at WMMS (as per Jeff Kinsbach, and Matt the Cat was class of ’67 so I am sure he knew), they kept the secret too.
December 19, 20222 yr 2 hours ago, E Rocc said: The Cars are probably the “Clevelandest” band in the Rock Hall. Ben Orr graduated from Parma Valley Forge, he’s mentioned upthread. Ric Ocasek graduated from Maple Heights. Only a very few people knew this when this thread was posted. He didn’t even confirm it until he “corrected” his biography as the band was about to go into the Rock Hall. Class of ’63 didn’t correspond with a birthdate of 1949. Someone who knew him told me some PR people thought him being over 30 would be detrimental to the band’s success, so the official biography knocked off 5 years. The irony is during the late 70s there was an unofficial competition among area high schools as to who produced the biggest rock star. As the Cars were breaking out everyone knew about Ben, no one knew about Ric. Even though they knew at WMMS (as per Jeff Kinsbach, and Matt the Cat was class of ’67 so I am sure he knew), they kept the secret too. Cleveland had quite the music scene in the 70s and 80s. Besides the Cars, you also had Eric Carmen and the Raspberries who was from Lyndhurst. You also had Richard Marx in the early 80s too. You also had bands like the Waitressess and Chrissy Hynde who were from the area that achieved fame during that period too.
December 19, 20222 yr 3 hours ago, Brutus_buckeye said: Cleveland had quite the music scene in the 70s and 80s. Besides the Cars, you also had Eric Carmen and the Raspberries who was from Lyndhurst. You also had Richard Marx in the early 80s too. You also had bands like the Waitressess and Chrissy Hynde who were from the area that achieved fame during that period too. Richard Marx is from Chicago. Other than the Raspberries, they all had to leave town to break out. Devo was from Akron, they had a pretty decent punk scene at that time. Trent Reznor bopped around various local bands until he hit with NIN. Michael Stanley was as big as any national act here. Jonah Koslen's Breathless and The Heroes and new wave bands like the Generators and Exotic Birds (Reznor played with them for awhile) attracted big local followings but never broke out Cleveland was always a place where national acts (not from here) broke out first. We also did like our local bands. I still suspect the national labels discounted the success of Cleveland bands here while noting that of others.
December 20, 20222 yr On 12/17/2022 at 10:08 PM, vulcana said: Clark Gable from Akron, even worked at B.F. Goodrich a little while. speaking of hollywood -- humphrey bogart and lauren bacall got married at mansfield malabar farms. kinda random, but cool move.
December 20, 20222 yr 14 hours ago, E Rocc said: The Cars are probably the “Clevelandest” band in the Rock Hall. Ben Orr graduated from Parma Valley Forge, he’s mentioned upthread. Ric Ocasek graduated from Maple Heights. Only a very few people knew this when this thread was posted. He didn’t even confirm it until he “corrected” his biography as the band was about to go into the Rock Hall. Class of ’63 didn’t correspond with a birthdate of 1949. Someone who knew him told me some PR people thought him being over 30 would be detrimental to the band’s success, so the official biography knocked off 5 years. The irony is during the late 70s there was an unofficial competition among area high schools as to who produced the biggest rock star. As the Cars were breaking out everyone knew about Ben, no one knew about Ric. Even though they knew at WMMS (as per Jeff Kinsbach, and Matt the Cat was class of ’67 so I am sure he knew), they kept the secret too. ocasek's mother was head or high up in the ohio teachers retirement board for a long time, so not very rock and roll, but a prominent ohioan herself.
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