List of people from Worcester, Massachusetts
The following is a list of notable people from Worcester, Massachusetts:
Born in Worcester
MUSICIANS
- John Coolidge Adams, popular living composer
- Duncan Arsenault, musician
- S. N. Behrman, playwright and author of a memoir, The Worcester Account
- Jaki Byard, jazz pianist and composer
- Frank Capp, jazz drummer and bandleader
- Don Fagerquist, jazz trumpeter
- Georgia Gibbs, 1950s Pop singer
- Jordan Knight, member of the boy band "New Kids On The Block"
- Andy Ross, guitarist for rock band OK Go
ARTISTS & WRITERS
- John Wolcott Adams (1874–1925), artist
- Jane G. Austin, writer
- Norman Bailey, big band trumpet player from The Lawrence Welk Show
- Robert Benchley, writer and member of the Algonquin Round Table
- Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and writer
- John Dufresne, American Novelist and screenwriter
- Samuel Fuller, producer and director
- John Michael Hayes, writer of the Alfred Hitchcock films Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, and The Man Who Knew Too Much
- Jarrett J. Krosoczka, children's book author/illustrator; his book Punk Farm optioned by DreamWorks Animation
- Stanley Kunitz, American Poet Laureate
- Charles Olson, American modernist poet
- Joseph Skinger, Silversmith/Sculptor
- Isaiah Thomas, publisher of the Massachusetts Spy
POLITICANS
ACADEMICS & INVENTORS
- Richard T. Antoun, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Binghamton University; stabbed to death by student in 2009
- Ronald Dworkin, American and English legal and political philosopher
- Robert Goddard, father of modern rocketry
ACTORS
- H. Jon Benjamin, actor best known as the voice of Coach McGuirk on the cartoon Home Movies
- Jean Louisa Kelly, actress from Yes, Dear
- Arthur Kennedy, actor
- Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski, actresses and models best known as the 'Coors Light Twins'
- Denis Leary, actor and comedian
- John Lurie, actor, musician, and composer
- Eddie Mekka, actor best known for playing Carmine on Laverne and Shirley
- Alisan Porter, actress and singer
- Renee Sands, actress/singer from Kids Incorporated and Wild Orchid
- Sam Seder, Air America Radio host Break Room Live, actor, writer and director
- Erik Per Sullivan, actor from Malcolm in the Middle
- Alicia Witt, actress, singer/songwriter
ATHLETES
- Jerry Azumah, former defensive back for the Chicago Bears (since retired)
- Frank Carroll, US ice skater, figure skater and figure skating coach, 1960 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, actor
- Tim Collins, relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals
- Ken Doane, professional wrestler
- Rich Gedman, former Boston Red Sox catcher, now manager of the Worcester Tornadoes
- Bill Guerin, Pittsburgh Penguins Right Winger
- Tom Poti, Washington Capitals Defenseman
- J.P. Ricciardi, general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
- José Antonio Rivera, former WBA light middleweight champion
- Tanyon Sturtze, Atlanta Braves Relief Pitcher
OTHER
Other residents
- Alexander H. Bullock, Governor of Massachusetts (1866–1868)
- Bob Cousy, Hall of Fame Basketball player, attended the College of the Holy Cross and currently lives in Worcester
- Milton Erickson, famed therapist and hypnotist
- Emma Goldman, Legendary Lithuanian-American anarchist. Owned ice cream parlor in Worcester
- Abby Kelley Foster, abolitionist, suffragette
- Thomas Wentworth Higginson, abolitionist, literary mentor to Emily Dickinson
- Gordon Lockbaum, attended Holy Cross College; twice finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy balloting.[3]
- Chris Matthews, tv news personality, attended the College of the Holy Cross
- Frank O'Hara, American poet
- Charley Parkhurst, Legendary stagecoach driver and horseman
- Cole Porter, Broadway composer, student at Worcester Academy ca. 1912
- Francis E. Reed, Inventor & Industrialist, who founded the F.E. Reed & Co.
- Major Taylor, track cycling champion
- Ryan Idol, adult film actor
- Ernest Lawrence Thayer, poet, "Casey at the Bat"
References
|
|
|
| History |
|
|
|
| Museums |
|
|
| Higher Education |
|
|
| K-12 education |
|
|
| Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
|
|