READ Famous People From Kansas City

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List of famous people from Kansas City, including photos when available. The people below are listed by their popularity, so the most recognizable names are at the top of the list. Some of the people below are celebrities born in Kansas City, while others are simply notable locals. If you're from Kansas City you might already know that these prominent figures are also from your hometown, but some of the names below may really surprise you. This list includes people who were born and raised in Kansas City, as well as those who were born there but moved away at a young age.

People here include everything from Evan S. Connell to Frank S. Land.

If you want to answer the questions, "Which famous people are from Kansas City?" or "Which celebrities were born in Kansas City?" then this list is a great resource for you.

Earl Cole is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 46 Earl Cole was the $1,000,000 winner of the reality television series Survivor: Fiji. He is an entrepreneur, producer, philanthropist and former California advertising executive.

Ed Asner is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 88 Edward "Ed" Asner is an American film, television, and stage actor, voice actor, and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is primarily known for his Emmy Award-winning ...more

Jean Harlow is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 26 (1911-1937) Jean Harlow was an American film actress of the 1930s. After being signed by director Howard Hughes, Harlow's first major appearance was in Hell's Angels, followed by a series of critically ...more

Don Cheadle is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 53 Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American actor. Cheadle had an early role in Picket Fences and followed it with performances in Devil in a Blue Dress, Rosewood and Boogie Nights. ...more

Robert Altman is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 81 (1925-2006) Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. A five time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, ...more

Chely Wright is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 47 Richell Rene "Chely" Wright is an American country music singer and gay rights activist. On the strength of her debut album in 1994, the Academy of Country Music named her Top New ...more

Eric Stonestreet is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 46 Eric Allen Stonestreet is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Cameron Tucker on the ABC comedy Modern Family. Stonestreet has received critical acclaim for his performance on ...more

Chris Cooper is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 66 Christopher W. "Chris" Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s. He has appeared in supporting performances in several major ...more

David Catania is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 50 David A. Catania is an American independent politician and lawyer from Washington, D.C. He was formerly an at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia, which he gave up to pursue ...more

Dan Piraro is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 60 Daniel Charles Piraro is a painter, illustrator and cartoonist best known for his award-winning syndicated cartoon panel Bizarro. Piraro's cartoons have been reprinted in 16 book collections. He ...more

Casey Stengel is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 85 (1890-1975) Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel, nicknamed "The Old Perfessor", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in ...more

Ub Iwerks is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 70 (1901-1971) Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician, who co-created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Mickey Mouse with Walt Disney. ...more

Mancow Muller is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 49 Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller is an American radio and television personality, actor, and former child model. Considered a shock jock, his career has been well known for controversy ...more

Tom Watson is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 68 Thomas Sturges Watson is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and now plays mostly on the Champions Tour. In the 1970s and 1980s, Watson was one of the leading players ...more

Charlie Parker is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 35 (1920-1955) Charles Parker, Jr., also known as "Yardbird" and "Bird", was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in ...more

Kate Spade is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 55 Kate Brosnahan Spade is the co-founder and namesake of the designer brand, Kate Spade New York.

Harry Harris is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 87 (1922-2009) Harry Harris was an American television and film director. Harris moved to Los Angeles in 1937 and got a mailroom job at Columbia Studios. After attending UCLA, he became an apprentice sound ...more

Dianne Wiest is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 70 Dianne Evelyn Wiest is an American actress on stage, television and film. She has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA

Bill Gulick is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Bill Gulick age 102 Grover C. "Bill" Gulick was an American author and historian living near Walla Walla, Washington.

Matt Wertz is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 39 Matt Wertz is a film producer.

Theresa Sparks is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 68 Theresa Sparks is the Executive Director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and was a candidate for San Francisco Supervisor for District 6 in the November 2010 election. She is a ...more

T.J. Perkins is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 33 Teddy James Perkins is an American professional wrestler of Filipino descent, better known as T.J. Perkins. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he is a former TNA X Division ...more

Hal Boyle is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Hal Boyle Dec. at 63 (1911-1974) Harold Vincent Boyle (1911-1974) was an American journalist who was a correspondent and columnist for the Associated Press.

Lyle Waggoner is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 82 Lyle Waggoner is an actor.

Michael Massee is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 62 Michael Massee is an American actor who has worked in film and television.

James E. Stowers is listed (or ranked) 26 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 90 (1924-2014) James E. "Jim" Stowers, Jr. was the founder of American Century Investments and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.

Elaine Joyce is listed (or ranked) 27 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 72 Elaine Joyce is an American actress.

Curtis Hughes is listed (or ranked) 28 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 53 Curtis Hughes is an American professional wrestler, better known under the ring name Mr. Hughes. He is best known for his stints in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling ...more

Ed Sanders is listed (or ranked) 29 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 78 Edward Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author, publisher and longtime member of the band The Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie ...more

Stephen Hunter is listed (or ranked) 30 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 72 Stephen Hunter is an American novelist, essayist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic.

Basil Poledouris is listed (or ranked) 31 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 61 (1945-2006) Basil Poledouris was a Greek-American music composer who concentrated on the scores for films and television shows. Poledouris won the Emmy Award for Best Musical Score for work on part four of ...more

William Pawley is listed (or ranked) 32 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 47 (1905-1952) William Pawley was an actor.

James Tate is listed (or ranked) 33 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 74 James Tate is an American poet whose work has earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of ...more

Craig Kilborn is listed (or ranked) 34 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 55 Craig Anthony Marcus Kilborn is an American actor, political satirist, media critic, writer, producer, comedian, and television host. He was the original host of The Daily Show, a former anchor ...more

Sandahl Bergman is listed (or ranked) 35 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 66 Sandahl Bergman is an American dancer, stuntwoman, and actress.

Edward Tufte is listed (or ranked) 36 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 76 Edward Rolf Tufte is an American statistician and professor emeritus of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale University. He is noted for his writings on information design ...more

Alice Joyce is listed (or ranked) 37 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 65 (1890-1955) Alice Joyce was an American actress, who appeared in more than 200 films during the 1910s and 1920s. She is known for her roles in the 1923 film The Green Goddess and its 1930 remake also called ...more

Dorothy B. Hughes is listed (or ranked) 38 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 89 (1904-1993) Dorothy B. Hughes was an American crime writer and literary critic. Hughes wrote fourteen crime and detective novels, primarily in the hardboiled and noir styles, and is best known for the ...more

John D. Hancock is listed (or ranked) 39 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 79 John D. Hancock is an American stage and film director, producer and writer. He is perhaps best known for his work on Bang the Drum Slowly. Hancock's theatrical work includes direction of both ...more

Bennie Moten is listed (or ranked) 40 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 41 (1894-1935) Bennie Moten was an American jazz pianist and band leader born in Kansas City, Missouri. He led the Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchestras active in ...more

Bob Brookmeyer is listed (or ranked) 41 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 82 (1929-2011) Robert Edward Brookmeyer was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of ...more

Gene Gauntier is listed (or ranked) 42 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 81 (1885-1966) Gene Gauntier was an American screenwriter and actress who was one of the pioneers of the motion picture industry. A writer, director and actress in films from early 1906 to 1920, she wrote ...more

Evan S. Connell is listed (or ranked) 43 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
Dec. at 89 (1924-2013) Evan Shelby Connell, Jr. was an American novelist, poet, and short story-writer. He also published under the name Evan S. Connell, Jr. His writing covered a variety of genres, although he has ...more

Carol A. Beier is listed (or ranked) 44 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 60 Carol A. Beier is a Kansas Supreme Court Justice appointed by Governor Kathleen Sebelius. She took office September 5, 2003 to replace retiring Justice Bob Abbott.

Harrison Ford is listed (or ranked) 45 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 75 Harrison Ford is an American actor and film producer. He gained worldwide fame for his starring roles as Han Solo in the original Star Wars epic space opera trilogy and the title character of ...more

Angus Scrimm is listed (or ranked) 46 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 91 Angus Scrimm is an American actor and Grammy-winning author, best known for playing the Tall Man in the 1979 horror movie Phantasm and its sequels.

Thomas Frank is listed (or ranked) 47 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 53 Thomas Carr Frank is an American political analyst, historian, journalist and columnist for Harper's Magazine. He wrote "The Tilting Yard" column in the Wall Street Journal from 2008 ...more

Richard Rhodes is listed (or ranked) 48 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 80 Richard Lee Rhodes is an American historian, journalist and author of both fiction and non-fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Making of the Atomic Bomb, and most recently, The ...more

Jane Dee Hull is listed (or ranked) 49 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 82 Jane Dee Hull was the Governor of Arizona from 1997 to 2003. She was the second woman to serve as Governor of Arizona, the first female Republican governor of the state, and the first woman to ...more

Robert L. Park is listed (or ranked) 50 on the list Famous People From Kansas City
age 87 Robert Lee Park is an emeritus professor of physics at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a former director of public information at the Washington office of the American Physical ...more