USA Famous People of Minnesota

Minnesota (MN) 

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  Prince Rogers Nelson singer, Minneapolis (born June 7, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He is known under the mononym Prince and the unpronounceable symbol , which he used between 1993 and 2000. This name change invoked controversy and many referred to him as The artist formerly known as Prince. According to Robert Larsen in his book History of Rock and Roll, Prince is "one of the most talented and commercially successful pop musicians of the last twenty years" producing ten Platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career.Prince founded his own recording studio and label, writing, self-producing and playing most or all of the instruments on his recordings. Prince has also been a "talent promoter" in the careers of Sheila E, Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6.

Prince has written more than one thousand songs.[citation needed] Most have been released under his own name, some have been released under pseudonyms and pen names, while others have been recorded and released by other artists. Prince reportedly has hundreds of unreleased songs in his "vault". He has won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in 2004. In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time • Prince Rogers Nelson Books • Prince Discography

  Lauris Norstad commander of NATO forces, Minneapolis  (March 24, 1907–September 12, 1988) was an American General in the United States Army Air Forces and United States Air Force.

Lauris Norstad was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1907. He graduated from the United States Military Academy June 12, 1930 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Cavalry. In September 1930, he entered Primary Flying School at March Field, California, and graduated from Advanced Flying School and was transferred to the Air Corps in June 1931. Going to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in January 1932, he was assigned to the 18th Pursuit Group, assuming command of it in July 1933. In March 1936 he was named adjutant of the Ninth Bomb Group there. Entering the "short course" the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, in September 1939, he graduated three months later and returned to Mitchel Field as officer in charge of the 9th Bomb Group Navigation School.

Moving to Langley Field, Virginia, in July 1940, General Norstad was Adjutant of the 25th Bomb Group, and the following November he was named Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence of General Headquarters Air Force there. In February 1942 he was appointed a member of the Advisory Council to the commanding general of the Army Air Forces at Washington, D.C. • Lauris Norstad Books

  Westbrook Pegler columnist, Minneapolis • Westbrook Pegler Books
  John S. Pillsbury (1827 - 1901) A leader in flour milling, he helped found the family company in Minneapolis in 1872; three-time Republican governor of Minnesota (1876 - 1882). • John S. Pillsbury Books
  Jane Russell actress, Bemidji (born June 21, 1921) is an American film actress. Born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell in Bemidji, Minnesota, she was the only daughter of Roy William Russell (January 5, 1890 – July 18, 1937) and Geraldine Jacobi (January 2, 1891 – December 26, 1986). Her four younger brothers are Thomas Ferris Russell (born April 16, 1924), Kenneth Steven Russell (born September 2, 1925), James Hyatt Russell (born February 9, 1927) and Wallace Jay Russell (born January 31, 1929).

Her parents were both born in North Dakota. Three of her grandparents were born in Canada, while her paternal grandmother was born in Germany. Her parents married in 1917. Her father was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and her mother was a former actress with a road troupe. Her parents spent the early years of their marriage in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. For her birth her mother temporarily moved back to the U.S. to ensure she was born a U.S. citizen. Later the family moved to the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. They lived in Burbank in 1930 and her father worked as an office manager at a soap manufacturing plant. • Jane Russell Books • Jane Russell Movies

  Winona Ryder Actress named after her birthplace, Winona, known in movies The Age of Innocence and The Crucible. Winona Laura Horowitz (born October 29, 1971), better known under her professional name Winona Ryder, is an American actress who has appeared in film genres ranging from drama and comedy to science fiction. Her first significant role was as a goth teen in the 1988 Tim Burton film Beetlejuice, which won her critical and commercial recognition. After making various appearances in film and television, Ryder continued her career with the cult film Heathers (1989), a satire of teenage life. Ryder won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination in the same category for her role in The Age of Innocence. In 2000, Ryder received a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. A 2001 shoplifting incident led to a hiatus from acting. In 2006, she returned to the screen in what several media outlets called "a remarkable comeback".

Born Winona Laura Horowitz in Olmsted County, Minnesota, she was named after the nearby city of Winona. She was given her middle name, Laura, because of her parents' friendship with Aldous Huxley's wife, Laura Huxley. Her mother, Cynthia Palmer (nιe Istas), is an author, as well as a video producer and editor. Her father, Michael Horowitz, is an author, editor, publisher and antiquarian bookseller. Ryder's mother is a Buddhist and her father is an atheist • Winona Ryder Books • Winona Ryder Movies

  Harrison E. Salisbury journalist, Minneapolis • Harrison E. Salisbury Books
  Charles Schulz (1922 - 2000) Cartoonist that created the comic strip Peanuts about Charlie Brown; born in Minneapolis. Charles Monroe Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist best known worldwide for his Peanuts comic strip.

Charles Monroe Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in Saint Paul. He was the only child of Carl Schulz, who was German, and Dena Halverson, who was Norwegian. His uncle nicknamed him "Sparky" after the horse Spark Plug in the Barney Google comic strip. Schulz loved drawing and sometimes drew his family dog, Spike. Spike ate unusual things, like pins and tacks. Schulz drew a picture of Spike and sent it to Ripley's Believe It or Not! His drawing appeared in the comic published by Robert Ripley, captioned "A hunting dog that eats pins, tacks, and razor blades is owned by C. F. Schulz, St. Paul, Minn." and "Drawn by 'Sparky'" (C.F. was his father, Carl Fred Schulz.)

Schulz attended St. Paul's Richard Gordon Elementary School, where he skipped two half-grades. When he was in first grade, his mother helped him get valentines for everybody in his class, so that nobody would be offended by not getting one; but he felt too shy to put them in the box at the front of the classroom, so he took them all home again to his mother. • Charles Schulz Books • Charles Schulz Films

  Richard W. Sears (1863 - 1914) Founder of the Sears, Roebuck and Company; born in Stewartville. • Richard W. Sears Books
  Kevin Sorbo actor, Mound - Kevin David Sorbo (born September 24, 1958) is an American actor best known for the roles of Hercules on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Captain Dylan Hunt on Andromeda.

Sorbo was born in Mound, Minnesota, where he attended Mound Westonka High School. He is the son of Ardis, a nurse, and Lynn Sorbo, a junior high school mathematics and biology teacher. He is of Norwegian descent and was raised in a Lutheran family. Sorbo attended at Minnesota State University Moorhead and worked as a model for print and television advertising in the 1980s.

Sorbo started his acting career in the late 1980s making guest appearances in several television series such as 1st & Ten, Murder She Wrote and The Commish. He was considered for and lost out to Dean Cain as Superman in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and was a possible contender for the role of Agent Mulder in The X Files which went to David Duchovny. • Kevin Sorbo Books • Kevin Sorbo Movies

  Maurice H. Stans secretary of commerce, Shakopee • Maurice H. Stans Books
  Harold Edward Stassen government official, Saint Paul • Harold Edward Stassen Books
  Michael Todd producer, Minneapolis • Michael Todd Books
  Jesse Ventura politician, entertainer, Minneapolis • Jesse Ventura Books
  DeWitt Wallace (1889 - 1981) Founder of the Reader’s Digest magazine; born in St. Paul. DeWitt Wallace (November 12, 1889 – March 30, 1981), also known as William Roy (full name: William Roy DeWitt Wallace) was a United States magazine publisher. He co-founded Reader's Digest with his wife Lila Wallace and published the first issue in 1922.

Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, where his father was on the faculty (and later president) of Macalester College, he attended Mount Hermon School as a youth (now Northfield Mount Hermon). Wallace attended college at Macalester from 1907 to 1909 but transferred to the University of California, Berkeley for two years. He returned to St. Paul in 1912 and was hired by a publishing firm specializing in farming literature. His degree was questioned in later years due to his association with Skull & Bones, a super-secret society based within Yale University in Connecticut.

Returning to the U.S., Wallace spent every day of the next six months at the Minneapolis Public Library researching and condensing magazine articles. He wanted to create a magazine with articles on a wide variety of subjects, abridged so that each could be easily read. Wallace showed his sample magazine to Lila Bell Acheson, sister of an old college friend, who responded enthusiastically. He proposed to her and on October 15, 1921, they were married. The Wallaces decided to publish the magazine themselves and market it by direct mail. The first issue appeared on February 5, 1922. Reader's Digest soon became one of the most widely circulated periodicals in the world. Wallace was a supporter of the Republican Party with strong anti-communist views, and the magazine reflected these beliefs • DeWitt Wallace Books

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