Famous Arkansans
These are just a few of the famous people who were either born in Arkansas or spent some important time in Arkansas.
Joey Lauren Adams, actress
Julie Adams, actress
John Hanks Alexander, first African-American to graduate from West Point
Catherine Tharp Altvater, painter
Lance Alworth, football player
G. M. “Bronco Billy” Anderson, actor
Maya Angelou, poet and novelist
Harry S. Ashmore, editor
Hubert “Geese” Ausbie, basketball player, Harlem Globetrotters
Daisy Bates, black activist
James Black, knife maker
Lisa Blount, actress
Frank Bonner, actor and director
Gretha Boston, actress
Beth Brickell, actress
James Bridges, filmmaker
Elton Britt, country singer
Maurice “Footsie” Britt, football player and politician
Lou Brock, baseball player
Bonnie Brown, country singer
Dee Brown, author and historian
Helen Gurley Brown, editor
Jim Ed Brown, country singer
Maxine Brown, country singer
Paul “Bear” Bryant, football coach
Dale Bumpers, Arkansas governor and U.S. senator
Chester Arthur “Howlin' Wolf” Burnett, blues singer
Bob Burns, comic musician
Sarah Caldwell, opera conductor
Glen Campbell, singer
Hattie Caraway, U.S. senator and first woman to be elected to the Senate
Thad Caraway, U.S. senator
Bill Carr, track star
Johnny Cash, country singer
Eldridge Cleaver, black activist
Hilary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator
William Jefferson Clinton, Arkansas governor and U.S. president
Mike Conley, Olympic triple jumper
Floyd Cramer, piano player
John Daly, golfer
William Orlando Darby, general
Gail Davis, actress
Jay Hanna “Dizzy” Dean, baseball player
Bill Dickey, baseball player and manager
William Dillard, founder of Dillards Department stores
Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, created Father's Day
Bill Doolin, outlaw
Jimmy Driftwood, folk singer and songwriter
Ronnie Dunn, country singer, Brooks & Dunn
Melvin Endsley, country songwriter
Orval Faubus, Arkansas governor
Sanford Faulkner, songwriter and planter
John Gould Fletcher, poet
William Fulbright, U.S. senator
Ellen Gilchrist, author
Norris Goff, actor
Randy Goodrum, songwriter
Fred Graham, author and journalist
Al Green, singer
Paul Greenberg, journalist
John Grisham, novelist
Tess Harper, actress
Brook Hays, U.S. representative and president of Southern Baptist Convention
Levon Helm, musician, The Band
Barbara Hendricks, opera singer
Joan Hess, mystery novelist
Al Hibbler, singer
Wayland Holyfield, songwriter
J. B. Hunt, trucking tycoon
John H. Johnson, publisher
E. Fay Jones, architect
Jerry Jones, football team owner
Scott Joplin, composer and musician
Louis Jordan, songwriter
George Kell, baseball player
Albert King, blues guitarist
Paul Klipsch, inventor of Klipsch speakers
Alan Ladd, actor
Chester Lauck, actor
Tracy Lawrence, country singer
Jimmy Lile, knifemaker
Laurence Luckinbill, actor
Douglas MacArthur, general
Mark Martin, racecar driver
John McClellan, U.S. senator
Skeets McDonald, singer and songwriter
Wilbur Mills, U.S. representative
Martha Mitchell, Watergate figure
Sidney Moncrief, basketball player
Patsy Montana, country singer
Wally Wade Moon, baseball player
George Newbern, actor
Walter Norris, jazz pianist
K. T. Oslin, country singer
Freeman Harrison Owens, camera inventor and cinematographer
Frank Pace Jr., U.S. secretary of the army
Twila Paris, gospel singer and songwriter, author
Isaac C. Parker, the Hanging Judge
Albert Pike, soldier, poet, Freemason
Scottie Pippen, basketball player
Art Porter Jr., saxophonist
Art Porter Sr., jazz pianist
Charles Portis, novelist
Dick Powell, actor
Florence Beatrice Price, symphonic composer
David Hampton Pryor, Arkansas governor and U.S. senator
Vance Randolph, folklorist
Collin Raye, country singer
Bass Reeves, first black U.S. deputy marshall west of the Mississippi
Charlie Rich, country singer and songwriter
Brooks Robinson, baseball player
Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas governor and U.S. senator
Winthrop Rockefeller, Arkansas governor
Pharoah Sanders, jazz musician
Sarasen, Quapaw chief
Clyde Scott, football player and Olympic hurdler
Mary Steenburgen, actress
Jack Stephens, investor, Stephens Inc.
Steve Stephens, TV host
W. R. Stephens, investor, Stephens Inc.
William Grant Still, violinist and composer
Edward Durell Stone, architect
Barry Switzer, football player and coach
John Michael Talbot, rockabilly and Christian singer
Reese “Goose” Tatum, basketball player, Harlem Globetrotters
Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor, boxer
Harry Thomason, producer
Billy Bob Thornton, actor
Conway Twitty, country singer
T. Texas Tyler, country singer
Don Tyson, chairman, Tyson Foods
Jerry Van Dyke, actor
Hazel Walker, basketball player
Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart
William Warfield, singer
Sonny Boy Williamson, country musician
Kemmons Wilson, founder of Holiday Inns
Forrest Wood, founder of Wood Manufacturing and designer of the Ranger Boat
C. Vann Woodward, historian
Mark Wright, country singer, writer, and producer
