"Hoosiers in Hollywood" by David L. Smith

MediaPhile@evpl — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:08:00 GMT

David Smith, professor emeritus of telecommunications at Ball State University, wrote this coffee-table tome about Hoosiers who found fame in Hollywood. Here are some you may or may not know about:

Alice Terry (born on a farm near Vincennes, she was a silent film star)
Clifton Webb (born in Indianapolis, he made his opera debut in Tosca at the Boston Opera House at age 17)
Red Skelton (grew up in a poor section of Vincennes called "Oklahoma," in the north end of town)
William Marshall (born in Gary, he starred in the movie Blacula)
Steve McQueen (born in Beech Grove as "an unwanted child who was virtually abandoned by his teen mother")
James Dean (born in Marion and given the first name of his attending physician)
Fred Williamson (born in Gary, he graduated from Northwestern in architecture, was drafted by the NFL, and played in Super Bowl 1 - he later directed or starred in 40 films)
Greg Kinnear (born in Logansport and lived there until he was nine)
Marilyn Miller (born in Evansville in 1898, she became the "Queen of Musical Comedy")
Louise Dresser (born in Evansville in 1878, Dresser lived here until her teens and went on to star in both Vaudeville and silent films)
Carole Lombard (born in Fort Wayne, her family moved to San Francisco when she was six)
Marjorie Main (born near the small town of Acton in 1890, her most famous role was "Ma Kettle")
Anne Baxter (born in Michigan City, she was the granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright)
Betsy Palmer (lived in Hammond and East Chicago, then attended secretarial school, followed by the IU extension in Gary before becoming a theatre major at DePaul U in Chicago)
Florence Henderson (the youngest of 10 children born to a poor farming family in Dale)
Shelley Long (born and raised in Fort Wayne; both parents were school teachers)
Vivica Fox (born in Indianapolis, she graduated from Arlington High School and later found fame as an actress and singer)
Richard, Barbara, Constance, Joan Bennett (Richard, who grew up in Bennett's Switch, near Logansport, became an actor and producer and father to three actresses)
Jackson Five (born and raised in Gary)
Elmo Lincoln (born in Rochester and the first Tarzan -- in the 1918 Tarzan of the Apes)
Buck Jones (born in Vincennes, he grew up in Indianapolis and later became a leading movie cowboy)
Roberta Wise (born and raised in Connorsville, he later directed Citizen Kane and many other movies)
Sydney Pollack (born in Lafayette, he moved to South Bend while in elementary school)

Many many more Hoosiers are covered in this heavily illustrated compendium.

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"Hoosiers in Hollywood" by David L. Smith