Famous People of Virginia

Arlen is best known for his role as a pilot in the Academy Award-winning Wings (1927) with Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, and his future first wife Jobyna Ralston. • Richard Arlen Books • Richard Arlen Movies

“Success is a journey, not an outcome. The doing is often more important than the outcome. Sharing Arthur Ashes words and the way he conducted his life is a better model for students than they see in many contemporary tennis pros, whose short tempers and bad manners are often highlighted in the media. Ashes protests against injustice and apartheid and his efforts to raise awareness of AIDS demonstrate his humanitarianism....• Arthur Ashe Books

Baker has also edited the anthologies The Norton Book of Light Verse (1986) and Russell Baker's Book of American Humor (1993). In 1993, he became the regular host of the PBS television series, Masterpiece Theatre. Baker is a regular contributor to national periodicals such as The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Saturday Evening Post, and McCalls. • Russell Baker Books

His mother, Kathlyn Corinne (nιe MacLean), was a Nova Scotia–born drama teacher, and his father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a professor of psychology, a public school administrator, and a real estate agent. Beatty's grandparents were also teachers. The family was Baptist. His father moved the family from Richmond to Norfolk, Virginia, and then to Arlington, Virginia, where he became a middle school principal. The family also lived in Waverly, Virginia, in the 1930s. Beatty's sister, three years his senior, is the multi-award winning actress and writer Shirley MacLaine. • Warren Beatty Books • Warren Beatty Movies

George Caleb Bingham is one of the major American genre painters of the 19th century. Nicknamed "The Missouri Artist," he left behind a vivid panorama of his state and its people which incorporated such social traumas as the Civil War and Reconstruction. While Bingham is now most famous for his riverboat paintings, he was also an active participant in Missouri politics throughout his life, holding public office for 30 years. Rash demonstrates that Bingham's political thought and activity deeply informed his art. Resting on the premise that one must understand the political thinking and context behind the works before attempting to appreciate them, Rash's study examines Bingham's major paintings in the light of his stance on issues such as slavery reform, Union causes, and civil liberties. • George Bingham Books

He was a descendant of one of the First Families of Virginia. His ancestors included planter John Rolfe and his wife Pocahontas, William Byrd II of Westover Plantation, who established Richmond, and Robert "King" Carter, a colonial governor. He was the brother of Virginia Governor and U.S. Senator Harry Flood Byrd, a dominant figure in Virginia Democratic Party between the 1920s and 1960s.By the time he died, he had amassed twenty-two citations and special commendations, nine of which were for bravery and two for extraordinary heroism in saving the lives of others. In addition, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Congressional Life Saving Medal, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Navy Cross, and had three ticker-tape parades. He preferred to dwell on the substance of his global adventures, and the stories of those that had gone awry as lessons learned. • Admiral Richard E. Byrd Books

During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw. Clark is highly regarded as both a guitarist and banjo player, and is also skilled in classical guitar as well as playing several other instruments. While he has had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., "Yesterday, When I Was Young" and "Thank God And Greyhound"), his instrumental skill has had an enormous effect on succeeding generations of both bluegrass and country musicians. He is a member of the Grand Ole Opry and The Country Music Hall of Fame. • Roy Clark Books • Roy Clark Films • Roy Clark Discography

Cotten first achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original productions of The Philadelphia Story and Sabrina Fair. He became a recognizable Hollywood star in his own right with films such as Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Portrait of Jennie (1948).

Cotten was born in Petersburg, Virginia, the son of Sallie Bartlett (nιe Wilson) and Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Sr., who was an assistant postmaster. Cotten worked as an advertising agent after attending the Washington, D.C., Hickman School of Speech and Expression, where he studied acting. His work as a theatre critic inspired him to become more involved in theatre productions, first in Virginia, and later in New York. Cotten made his Broadway debut in 1930, and soon befriended up-and-coming actor/director/producer Orson Welles. In 1937, he joined Welles' Mercury Theatre Company, starring in productions of Julius Caesar and Shoemaker's Holiday. • Joseph Cotten Books • Joseph Cotten Movies

She is widely considered one of the supreme interpreters of the Great American Songbook.  Over a recording career that lasted 59 years, she was the winner of 13 Grammy Awards, and was awarded the National Medal of Art by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia, the child of a common-law marriage between William and Temperance "Tempie" Fitzgerald. The pair separated soon after her birth and she and her mother moved to Yonkers, New York, with Tempie's boyfriend, Joseph Da Silva. Fitzgerald's half-sister, Frances Da Silva, was born in 1923. As a child, Fitzgerald was placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, the Bronx. • Ella Fitzgerald Books • Ella Fitzgerald Films • Ella Fitzgerald Discography