Look here for famous or notable Seattle area celebrities, personages, and characters.
Paul Allen: Co-founder of Microsoft along with Bill Gates, with whom he was a schoolmate at the exclusive private school, Lakeside High School, in Seattle. He is the owner of the Seattle Seahawks and a principal mover and shaker behind the redevelopment of South Lake Union, through his company, Vulcan, Inc., which is a major property owner in the area (dating back to the failed Commons proposal, of which he was also a major backer.
Arrogant Aaron: An insider-term among local TV news people for Aaron Brown when he was a local news anchor for one of the local stations a few years back.
Batman: Most noted part played by Adam West, on the Batman television series from the mid-60s. Born in Walla Walla.
Callahan: Kenneth Callahan, famous Northwest artist.
Jumbo Cantwell: Frank P. Cantwell, who led Tacoma's contingent, or battalion, in the Commonweal Army that marched on Washington D.C. in 1894. Also was known as General Cantwell, his self-appointed rank in the Commonweal Army, it must be assumed. Not sure if he is any relation to Maria Cantwell, the current U.S. Senator for the state of Washington.
Brandi Carlile: Brandi M. Carlile, singer-songwriter, born in 1981 in Ravensdale, Washington, a small town southeast of Seattle (east of Maple Valley, north of Black Diamond).
Carol Channing: Carol Elaine Channing, actress, singer, dancer, and comedian, born in 1921 in Seattle. Best known for her longtime starring role in the Broadway musical, Hello Dolly, as well as for numerous other musicals and movies.
Chihuly: Dale Chihuly, northwest glass artist. One of the very few Northwesterners who are immediately recognizable on the basis of their last name alone.
Judy Collins: Judith Marjorie Collins, folk singer and songwriter, born in 1939 in Seattle. Her family moved to Denver in 1949.
General Coxey: Jacob S. Coxey. An organizer and leader of the Commonweal Army of Christ that marched on Washington D.C. in 1894, with Coxey at its head as its "general," demanding legislative action to alleviate high unemployment and depression-like economic conditions in the Pacific Northwest.
Dixie: Dixie Lee Ray, the only woman to be elected governor in the state of Washington, and a very colorful, outspoken, and controversial personality. Definitely wins the prize as the least politic of politicians.
The Dean of Northwest Historians: Murray Morgan, best known for his book, Skid Road, chronicling Seattle's colorful and rambunctious historical past. For a reminiscence of Morgan by Paul Dorpat, see The Historic Murray Morgan: A Remembrance by Paul Dorpat.
The Duke of Tacoma: Clinton P. (C.P.) Ferry, who pioneered development of South Tacoma in the 1880's and 1890's. For a story, see Murray's People: Clinton P. Ferry, Duke of Tacoma.
Francis Farmer: Francis Elena Farmer, actress, born in 1913 in Seattle. Attended West Seattle High School, where she won $100 in a writing contest held by Scholastic Magazine, for an essay, "God Dies", in which, influenced by her readings of Nietzsche, in which she argued, while it could not be assumed that there was no God, "I could find no evidence in my life that He existed or that He had ever shown any particular interest in me." She studied drama at the University of Washington. She was signed by Paramount Pictures in 1935, appearing or starring in a number of B- and A-grade movies. She rebelled against the Hollywood system, refusing to attend Hollywood parties or cooperate with publicists. In 1942, Paramount dropped her after she refused a movie role. Her marriage to the actor Leif Erickson also ended in divorce. In 1944, she was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital, Western State Hospital, in Steilacoom, Washington, being released three months later, and then later from 1945 to 1950. In her autobiography, published after her death in 1970 from esophageal cancer, she claimed she was sexually abused and brutalized by male orderlies and doctors. She later revived her career as a stage actress and television host, and even served as actor-in-residence at Purdue University.
Kenny G: Kenneth Bruce Gorelick, jazz musician/sax player, born in 1956 in Seattle to Jewish parents, growing up in the Seward Park neighborhood. Attended Franklin High School and the University of Washington.
Goof Gardner: What Booth Gardner, former Governor of the State of Washington, was sometimes called.
Gates: Bill Gates, of course.
George and Pansy: George and Pansy Kotolaris. For a town known for its lovable weirdos, George and Pansy have to rank at the top of the list. Pansy was George's mother, and both were more than just a little bit loopy. Until Pansy went into a nursing home, they were inseparable, purportedly even slept together. They became known in Seattle by crashing just about any notable civic event, whether ground breaking ceremonies, funerals of prominent citizens, weddings, store openings, or election rallies. And with George dressed in an ill-fitting crumpled dark suit that was at least two sizes too small and a dirty white yachting cap, and Pansy festooned in one or two oversized overcoats and topped off with one of her flowery bonnets (one of her more than 100 hats), they were hardly unnoticeable. Eventually, Pansy went into a nursing home, then later died. George, however, had discovered another way to keep himself in the public eye, or at least the eye of posterity. Since the 60's he'd been buying worthless scraps of real estate, then recording their deeds at the court house. Except, George discovered that, as long as you paid your $2, you could record whatever you wanted along with your deed, and he began using this loop-hole as a pretext for recording much of his life history, in the form of jottings, drawings, photos, newspaper clippings, etc. Eventually, he recorded nearly 100,000 pages of material. Anyway, if you want to find out more about George and Pansy, see Love and Afferications: The George Kotolaris Story.
Graves: Morris Graves, famous Northwest artist.
The Green River Killer: The most famous serial killer in a state known for its serial killers (Ted Bundy, the Hillside Strangler, etc.). The moniker came from the fact that most of his victims' remains were found dumped along the Green River. After many, many years, due to recently discovered DNA evidence, the authorities have finally arrested and charged a suspect, Gary Leon Ridgway. See Highway 99: A boulevard full of ghosts.
Hendrix: Jimmi Hendrix. The most famous rock musician to emerge from Seattle. Named by his mother, Lucille (Jeter), as John Allen Hendrix when born in Seattle in 1943. When his father, James Allen Hendrix (known as "Al" Hendrix), returned from WWII in 1945, he divorced his wife, took custody of his son, and renamed him as James Marshall Hendrix. His mother, who was 17 at the time of his birth and had suffered from tuberculosis and alcoholism, died in 1958. He dropped out of Garfield High School in 1959, joining the U.S. Army in 1961, but was honorably discharged after breaking his ankle, before going to New York City. At that time, he went by the name of "Jimmy James", which combined his nickname (Jimmy, later "Jimi") with his real first name (James). After playing as a sideman for Curtis Knight, he formed his own band in New York, variously said to be named "Jimmy James and the Blue Flames", "The Blue Flame", or "The Rainfflowers". As it turned out, there was another American funk group headed by a "Jimmy James" playing in Europe at the time, which could be why, when he went to England, he formed the group he was later to become famous for, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience". Here's a remastered recording of "Jimmy James" Hendrix before he became famous:
Kato: Part played by Bruce Lee in the Green Lantern television series in 1966-67.
Kato: Part played by Bruce Lee in the Green Lantern television series in 1966-67.
Kennewick Man: The remains of an individual who lived some 9,000 years ago that were found along the Columbia River in a riverside park in Kennewick, Washington. A legal tug-a-war ensued between local Native American tribes who claimed him as an ancestor and anthropologists and archeologists who wanted to study him. Clouding the issue was the claim by some scientists that the skeleton was Caucasoid, more closely resembling the skeletons of Europeans than those of Native Americans. True or not, doubts as to whether Kennewick Man was an ancestor to modern day Native Americans in the area were strong enough to manage to keep the remains in the hands of the scientists who wished to study them and out of the hands of the Native American tribes who wished to claim him as an ancestor. For more details, see Kennewick Man at HistoryLink.org.
Kenny G: Kenny Gorelick, who learned how to play jazz at Garfield and from hanging out in the Jackson Street jazz scene (along with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, and others).
Lewis and Clark: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, leaders of the expedition that first explored the Northwest from the east.
Maggie: Warren G. Magnuson, long-time senator for Washington state.
Mike Mailway: Trivia columnist L.M. Boyd, who until just recently published his column of trivia facts for many years as "Mike Mailway" in the Seattle P-I, starting in 1963. In other parts of the country, the column was syndicated under his real name, L.M. Boyd. Boyd, now 73, is apparently retiring. For a story on Mike Mailway, see 'Mike Mailway' signs off from the Seattle P-I.
Doc Maynard: Dr. David S. Maynard, one of the earliest settlers in Seattle (1852). He filed the original plat for what became Skid Road (the area south of Yesler Avenue, the original "skid road"), today's Pioneer Square, most of which he freely deeded away to anyone who he felt could help the future growth of Seattle. For most of Seattle's early history, somewhat reflecting Maynard's personality, the Skid Road area was Seattle's hurdy-gurdy distict, with a full complement of saloons and bawdy houses. For part of the full story, see Murray's People: Doc Maynard and the Indians, 1852-1873. Today, a local nightspot, Doc Maynard's, commemorates his role in fostering Seattle's early growth. It is also the starting point for the Underground Tour.
The Municipal Housekeeper: Bertha Knight Landes, who ran under the campaign slogan that what Seattle needed was "municipal housekeeping," resulting in her being elected as mayor of Seattle in 1926, and the very first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States. While reformers have periodically gotten elected to office in Seattle, they tend not to last very long -- Landes was voted out of office after only two years of rather uneventful, if scandal-free, municipal housekeeping. Lasting monuments from her administration are the municipal ownership of public utilities (City Light), which she advocated, and the Civic Auditorium (which later became the Opera House). Other Seattle "first women" include the first woman governor (Dixie Lee Ray) and the first woman conductor of a big city symphony orchestra (Madame Mary Davenport-Engberg, who conducted the Seattle Symphony in Bellingham in 1921).
The Queen of Kitsch: Ruby Montana, who until recently ran a "kitch boutique" (I suppose one might call it), Ruby Montana's Pinto Pony, in Pioneer Square and was the guiding spirit behind the world famous Spam Carving contest that was the pivotal event of Seattle's Fat Tuesday celebration. Fat Tuesday has since morphed into Seattle's Mardi Gras celebration (very original) last year and even featured a revived Spam Carving Contest sponsored by Ruby and judged by Tom Robbins. Ruby has since closed up shop and has moved to Palm Springs, most likely in search of more kitsch. The future continuance of the Spam Carving Contest, without Ruby, is highly doubtful. For a story on Ruby's move to Palm Springs, see Montana leaves Washington for California". See also Pinto Pony saddles up for the desert. Ruby also has her own site: http://www.rubymontana.com/.
Warren Littlejohn: Was the first African American teacher hired by the Seattle School District, at Lincoln High School in 1953. I had him for Language Arts at Lincoln. He uniquely placed his desk at the back of the class, appointing a student each day to lead discussions, in which he would participate, but didn't direct. He was by far the best teacher I ever had.
Dorothy Provine: Movie and television actress. Although born in Deadwood, South Dakota, in 1935, she attended Lincoln High School in Seattle and studied drama at the University of Washington.
Rossellini: Albert D. Rossellini, former governor of Washington State. Tied with Dixie Lee Ray as Washington's most colorful governor.
Scoop: Henry Jackson, long-time senator for Washington state and unsuccessful candidate for President.
Sir Mix-A-Lot: Anthony Ray, the most important rap artist to emerge from Seattle. His first hit, "Posse on Broadway," was thought by many to be in reference to Broadway in New York City, but was really in reference to Broadway Avenue on Capitol Hill in Seattle.
Jean Smart: Jean Elizabeth Smart, television and movie actress, born in 1951 in Seattle. My first cousin (daughter of my mother's sister). Attended Ballard High School and studied drama at the University of Washington. Best known for her role as Charlene on the long-running series, Designing Women.
Subculture Joe: Jason Sprinkle, a guerilla artist, reknowned for a lunch hour art prank turned bomb scare at Westlake Mall that closed downtown in July of 1996, due to perhaps overly jittery officials following the Oklahoma City bombing, as well as leader of Fabricators of the Attachment, which attached a 700-lb. ball and chain to the leg of the Hammering Man scupture at the Seattle Art Museum. He died May 16, 2005, at age 35, when he was struck by a train in Long Beach, Mississippi.
Sylvester the Mummy: The star curiosity of the Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, along with a mate, Sylvia the Mummy, down on the Waterfront. Sylvester was, supposedly, mummified in the Arizona desert over a hundred years ago, after being shot. Click here for a picture of Sylvester (and Sylvia).
Tex Johnston: Alvin M. Johnston, who, during a flyover of the the Seafair Gold Cup race on Lake Washington in 1955, twice barrel-rolled the Dash-80 (the prototype for the Boeing 707) while flying only about 400 feet above the water, stunning not only several hundred thousand spectators, but also a large number of representatives of potential customers that Boeing had brought to the race. Not sure that anyone has barrel-rolled a modern passenger jet since, at least where it could be publicly seen.
Tobey: Mark Tobey, famous Northwest artist.
Wildman of the Wynoochee: John Tornow, a former mental patient who, after killing two teenage boys (his own nephews, his sister's sons), disappeared into the wilderness of the Wynoochee Valley, and then later killed a deputy sheriff and a game warden who were trying to track him with a bloodhound. He was finally killed in a gun battle with the police in 1913. For the full story, see Wild Man of the Wynoochee at HistoryLink.org.
William the Doorman: For years, the doorman at Frederick & Nelson's, until it closed. Now Nordstroms, which has taken over and renovated the F & N building, is planning on bringing him back, now in his mid-70's, for their grand opening.
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