List of people from Duluth, Minnesota
Encyclopedia
The city of Duluth
, overlooking Lake Superior
in the U.S.
state of Minnesota
has produced several notable people:
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, overlooking Lake Superior
Lake Superior
Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
has produced several notable people:
- Greg AndersonGreg Anderson (driver)Greg Anderson is a current NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Pro Stock driver for KB Racing, driving the Summit Racing car. He began his Pro Stock career in 1998. Greg previously served as Crew Chief for current pro stock driver Warren Johnson and tuned Warren to three pro stock championchips...
- three time NHRA Pro StockPro StockPro Stock Drag Racing is a class of drag racing featuring 'Factory Hot-Rods'. The class can be known as "all motor," as the cars cannot use artificial induction such as turbocharging, supercharging, or nitrous oxide, and there are very strict rules governing the modifications allowed to the...
champion - Mason AguirreMason AguirreMason Singer Aguirre is an American snowboarder. He competes in halfpipe, slopestyle and superpipe, but consistently places higher in halfpipe and superpipe competitions.-Career:...
- a 2006 Winter Olympics2006 Winter OlympicsThe 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
snowboarding half-pipe team member - Dorothy Arnold (Olson)Dorothy Arnold (Olson)Dorothy Arnold was an American film actress and the first wife of baseball star Joe DiMaggio. Her 20-year movie career began with 1937’s Freshies and ended with 1957’s Lizzie.-Early life:...
- actress - Maria BamfordMaria BamfordMaria Bamford is an American stand-up comedian and voice actor. She is best known for her portrayal of her dysfunctional family and self-deprecating comedy involving jokes about depression. Her comedy style draws upon surrealism and incorporates voice impressions that good-naturedly mock various...
- comedian and actress - Bill BerryBill BerryWilliam "Bill" Thomas Berry is a retired American musician, multi-instrumentalist, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. In addition to his drumming duties, Berry played many other instruments including guitar, bass guitar, and piano, both for songwriting and on R.E.M....
- former member of the band R.E.M. - Mitch ClemMitch ClemMitch Andrew Clem is an American cartoonist best known for his web comics Nothing Nice To Say, San Antonio Rock City, and My Stupid Life.- Early life:...
- cartoonist; born in Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, but lived in Duluth for a few years - Herbert ClowHerbert ClowHerbert Clow was a fullback in the National Football League. Clow was a member of the Duluth Kelleys during the 1924 NFL season.-References:...
- National Football League 1920s - David DonderoDavid DonderoDavid Dondero is an American songwriter, guitarist, former lead singer of the band Sunbrain. In 2006, NPR's All Songs Considered named David one of the "best living songwriters" alongside Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Tom Waits...
- Indie-folk musician - Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- born in Duluth, but grew up in Hibbing, MinnesotaHibbing, MinnesotaHibbing is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 16,361 at the 2010 census. The city was built on the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Iron Range. At the edge of town is the largest open-pit iron mine in the world. U.S... - Erik SommerErik Sommeris a contemporary artist living in New York. Best known for his cement paintings, his work is about the passing of time, chance, and beauty, and are often compared to abandoned buildings, eroding stone or forgotten structures. His pieces often feature paint peeling off the canvas, and are...
- Artist - Carol DempsterCarol DempsterCarol Dempster was an American film actress of the silent film era.-Biography:Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Dempster got her start in films as a protégé of legendary film director D.W. Griffith alongside other Griffith actresses of the mid-1910s Lillian and Dorothy Gish and Mae Marsh...
- silent movie star - Kara GoucherKara GoucherKara Goucher is an American long-distance runner.-Personal life:Goucher was born in Queens, New York. When she was 4 years old her family moved to Duluth, Minnesota after her father was killed by a drunk driver on the Harlem River Drive...
- long distance runner and 2008 Olympian - Roger GrimsbyRoger GrimsbyRoger Grimsby was an American journalist, television news anchor and actor. Grimsby is known as one of the pioneers of local television broadcast news.-Early life:...
- TV news anchor - Sadik HakimSadik HakimSadik Hakim was an American jazz pianist and composer....
- jazz pianist - Louis JenkinsLouis JenkinsLouis Jenkins is a prose poet from Enid, Oklahoma. He has lived in Duluth, Minnesota, for over 30 years with his wife Ann. His poems have been published in a number of literary magazines and anthologies. Jenkins has been a guest on A Prairie Home Companion numerous times and has also been featured...
- award-winning prose poet - Don LaFontaineDon LaFontaineDonald Leroy "Don" LaFontaine was an American voiceover artist famous for recording more than 5,000 film trailers and hundreds of thousands of television advertisements, network promotions, and video game trailers. His nicknames included "Thunder Throat" and "The Voice of God"...
- movie trailer voice (Known for "In a world/time/place where...") - Lenny LaneLenny LaneLeonard "Lenny" Carlson is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Lenny Lane. During his time tenure in WCW, he was a one time Cruiserweight Champion....
- professional wrestler - Low - slowcore rock band. All three current members live in Duluth (none of the original members were born there, though second bass player Zak Sally was born and grew up there, as did current bass player Matt Livingston)
- Chris MonroeChris MonroeChristine Monroe is an American painter and cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip “Violet Days,” which appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Duluth News Tribune....
- cartoonist and painter - John L. MorrisonJohn L. MorrisonJohn Loyal Morrison founded the controversial Duluth, Minnesota newspaper Ripsaw. His editorial attacks on area politicians were so unrelenting that a state law was passed specifically to shut down his paper...
- newspaper publisher - Lorenzo MusicLorenzo MusicLorenzo Music was an American actor, voice actor, writer, television producer and musician. His best-known roles include voicing the animated cartoon cat Garfield, and Carlton the doorman on the CBS sitcom Rhoda...
- voice of the animated cartoon cat GarfieldGarfieldGarfield is a comic strip created by Jim Davis. Published since June 19, 1978, it chronicles the life of the title character, the cat Garfield ; his owner, Jon Arbuckle; and Arbuckle's dog, Odie... - Gena Lee NolinGena Lee NolinGena Lee Nolin is an American actress and model. She is best known for her television appearances on The Price Is Right and Baywatch in the 1990s.-Career:...
- actress and model born in Duluth but grew up in nearby Proctor - Chris PlysChris PlysChristopher Plys is an American curler. Plys, who started to curl in 1998, used to curl with Aanders Brorson, Matt Perushek, and Matt Hamilton. He has been in six State Curling Championships, taking first in the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009...
, Jason SmithJason Smith (curler)Jason Smith is an American curler from Cape Coral, Florida.He was formerly the third, , of John Shuster's team. His other teammates were Jeff Isaacson and John Benton . As a member of this team, he won the 2009 U.S...
, John ShusterJohn ShusterJohn Shuster is an American curler and Olympic medalist from Chisholm, Minnesota. He received a bronze medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin...
, Jeff IsaacsonJeff IsaacsonJeff Isaacson is an internationally elite curler from the United States. He graduated in 2001 from Mesabi East High School in Aurora, Minnesota....
, and John BentonJohn Benton (curler)John Benton is an American curler from St. Michael, Minnesota. He started curling in 1975 and made his first US Junior National Championships in 1987. In 1998 he qualified for his first Olympic Trials where he was placed fifth...
- Curling team in the 2010 Winter Olympics - David OreckDavid OreckDavid Oreck is an American salesman, entrepreneur, and businessman. He is the founder of the Oreck Corporation, makers of vacuum cleaners and air purifiers, and is known through his appearances as a spokesman in Oreck television commercials and infomercials.-Early life:David Oreck was born close...
- an American salesman and businessman - Luigino (Jeno) PaulucciJeno PaulucciJeno F. Paulucci was an American businessman and entrepreneur famous for starting over seventy companies during his long career. Paulucci's most well-known ventures included his frozen food company, Michelina's Inc., and food products such as Jeno's Pizza Rolls and the Chun King line of Chinese food...
- founder of Jeno's Pizza and Chun King Foods brands - Charlie ParrCharlie ParrCharlie Parr is an American country blues musician, born in Austin, Minnesota, United States. He started his music career in Duluth, Minnesota. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, and Dave Van Ronk. He plays a National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back...
- musician - Joe PoloJoe PoloJoseph Polo is an American curler. Polo was raised in Floodwood, Minnesota before moving to Cass Lake. He learned to curl in nearby Bemidji at the age of 10 in the Bemidji Curling Club's Sunday Night Junior League. Polo participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics as the second for Pete Fenson's U.S....
- a 2006 Winter Olympics2006 Winter OlympicsThe 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being the VII Olympic Winter...
US Curling team member and Olympic bronze medalist, born in Duluth, but grew up in Cass Lake, MinnesotaCass Lake, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 860 people, 331 households, and 192 families residing in the city. The population density was 753.2 people per square mile . There were 384 housing units at an average density of 336.3 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 30.12% White, 64.42%... - Phil Solem - member of the band The RembrandtsThe RembrandtsThe Rembrandts are an American pop-rock duo formed by Phil Solem and Danny Wilde in 1989. They had previously worked together as members of Great Buildings in 1981...
, who perform the theme song to the television show FriendsFriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television... - Telly SavalasTelly SavalasAristotelis "Telly" Savalas was an American film and television actor and singer, whose career spanned four decades. Best known for playing the title role in the 1970s crime drama Kojak, Savalas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman of Alcatraz...
- actor who owned a house on Park Point - Gloria TewGloria TewGloria Tew is an abstract sculptor known for her work in marble, bronze and steel. Tew's sculptors are found in institutions, museums, churches and private collections including, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden...
, abstract sculptor - Trampled By TurtlesTrampled By TurtlesTrampled By Turtles is a progressive bluegrass band from Duluth, Minnesota. The group is most famous for its high-tempo, fast-paced songs but also features lead vocalist Dave Simonett's lyric writing abilities in slower ballads. Their high-energy concerts have attracted an ever-growing,...
- a Duluth-based bluegrassBluegrass musicBluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
band - Darren WardDarren Ward (swimmer)Darren Ward is a former international freestyle swimmer, who was born in the United States and attended Sonora High school in La Habra California, but competed for Canada at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea...
- swimmer who competed for Canada in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics - Rip WilliamsRip WilliamsAlva Mitchell Williams [Buff] was a reserve infielder in Major League Baseball, playing mainly as a catcher or first baseman for three different teams between the and seasons. Listed at 5' 11.5", 187 lb., Williams batted and threw right-handed...
- National Hockey League 1930s - Haley BonarHaley BonarHaley Bonar is an American alternative country singer-songwriter who hails from South Dakota. She has lived in Duluth and St. Paul, Minnesota. In July 2009, she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she spent a year writing songs for her newest album Golder, which is to be released April 19, 2011...
- singer - Tommy WilliamsTommy Williams-1996:-External links:* official TX Senate website* campaign website* profile*Follow the Money - Tommy Williams** campaign contributions...
- 1940-1992 -- 1st U.S. player to play regularly in the National Hockey League after 1950 when he played for the Boston Bruins after his participation on the U.S. Team in the 1960 Olympics. Member U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame