List of United States Navy people

This article contains a list of notable people (officers and sailors) of the United States Navy.

Officers

• Andrew Baldwin – doctor and the bachelor for Season 10 of The Bachelor
• Commodore John Barry – "Father of the American Navy"
• W.W. Behrens, Jr. – earth-sciences futurist
• Jeremy Michael Boorda – admiral, former Chief of Naval Operations
• Henry L. Brandon – naval aviator and oil executive
• Bill Branon – captain and naval medical officer, novelist
• Bruce Bromley – associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals, prominent trial lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore
• Don Brown – former US Navy JAG officer, author of the Navy Justice Series
• Arleigh Burke – destroyer captain
• George H.W. Bush – naval aviator, former U.S. President; former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
• Richard Evelyn Byrd – polar explorer
• James F. Cahill – one of the first scuba divers and first Navy SEALs
• Jimmy Carter – former U.S. President; Cold War submariner and Peace Prize laureate
• Cesar Chavez – civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers
• Vern Clark – former Chief of Naval Operations
• Donnie Cochran – first African-American aviator assigned to the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron (Blue Angels)
• William Cooper – after the navy he worked for Naval Intelligence. After the Kennedy assassination he became a "conspiracy theorists" and wrote the book "Behold the Pale Horse".
• Duke Cunningham – naval aviator, former member of the US House of Representatives
• Glenn Robert Davis – former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Stephen Decatur – hero of Tripoli
• Terry Deitz – naval aviator, TV presenter and former Survivor contestant
• Robert Dennison – retired admiral, presidential aide
• Jeremiah Denton – American politician and naval aviator who while being held captive in a North Vietnamese POW camp participated in a 1966 televised propaganda interview in which he blinked his eyes in Morse code, spelling the word "torture" and confirming for the first time to U.S. Naval Intelligence that American POWs were being tortured.
• P.T. Deutermann – author, former United States Navy captain
• George Dewey – hero of the Battle of Manila Bay in Spanish–American War; first and only Admiral of the Navy
• Hunter Ellis – naval aviator, TV presenter and former Survivor contestant
• David Farragut – American Civil War admiral, first officer to become an admiral
• Lillian E. Fishburne – first African-American female to hold the rank of rear admiral
• Wilson Flagg – retired admiral, killed in the September 11 attack
• Eugene B. Fluckey – rear admiral who received the Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses during his service as a submarine commander in World War II
• Gerald Ford – former U.S. President; served aboard carrier during World War II
• Edmund Giambastiani – 7th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Leroy Gilbert – former officer in the United States Navy and Chaplain of the United States Coast Guard.
• Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. – first African-American to be promoted to flag rank
• William Halsey, Jr. – Third Fleet commander, won battles off Guadalcanal and the Solomons; Fleet Admiral (5 stars)
• Owen P. Honors, Jr. – captain, former CO of USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
• Esek Hopkins – first Commander in Chief of the Navy during the Revolutionary War
• Grace Hopper – futurist, early computing pioneer, rear admiral in the Navy Reserve
• George Howard, Jr. – first African-American federal judge in Arkansas history; served in World War II.
• Isaac Hull – captain of USS Constitution
• Lyndon B. Johnson – former U.S. President; worked as a bomb observer with the Army during World War II
• John Paul Jones – commander during the American Revolutionary War, considered to be the founder of the American naval tradition
• Charles Keating – naval aviator, real estate developer and banker.
• John F. Kennedy – former U.S. President; decorated PT Boat commander in World War II
• Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. – naval aviator, elder brother of future President John F. Kennedy, killed in World War II.
• Robert Kerrey – former U.S. Senator; Navy SEAL commander during the Vietnam War and first SEAL officer to win the Medal of Honor for classified raid in which he lost his lower leg by a Viet Cong grenade.
• John Kerry – former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 election against President George W. Bush; Navy SWCC officer who, while commanding a Swift boat during the Vietnam War, sustained three wounds in combat with the Viet Cong, for which he earned three Purple Heart medals. Was also awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star Medal for valorous conduct in separate military engagements.
• Ernest King – fleet admiral; former Chief of Naval Operations
• Nile Kinnick – naval aviator, Heisman Trophy winner
• William D. Leahy – first fleet admiral; first head of the Chiefs of Staff (before the post was renamed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff); former Chief of Naval Operations; former Governor of Puerto Rico; former U.S. ambassador to France
• Merle Macbain – public information officer whom Mount Macbain is named after
• Alfred Thayer Mahan – military strategist
• Richard Marcinko – author, founder and commander of SEAL Team Six
• J.W. Marriott, Jr. – chairman and CEO of Marriott International
• John McCain – senior U.S. Senator from Arizona and Republican presidential candidate in 2008; former naval aviator and POW
• Thomas McClelland – captain; served as commander, Amphibious Squadron FIVE, conducting advance force operations with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit against the Iraqi Army during Desert Storm
• Homer A. McCrerey – earth sciences futurist, Fleet Meteorologist and oceanographer
• Harvey Milk – first openly gay San Francisco supervisor. Assassinated November 27, 1978. Subject of the Academy Award-winning and National Film Registry documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk, as well as the bestselling book The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk
• Michael Mullen – 28th Chief of Naval Operations; 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Chester Nimitz – fleet admiral; former Chief of Naval Operations; signed for the U.S. when Japan formally surrendered on board USS Missouri (BB-63); class of carriers named after him
• Richard M. Nixon – former U.S. President; supply officer in World War II
• Rear Admiral William S. "Deak" Parsons, USN, assistant chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, known for assembling (in flight) the triggering mechanism of the atomic bomb "Little Boy" aboard the Enola Gay.
• Matthew Perry – commodore who forced the opening of Japan
• Oliver Hazard Perry – commanded the Battle of Lake Erie
• John Poindexter – served as National Security Advisor
• John D. Price – admiral who, early in his career, set many records as a naval aviator
• Eli Thomas Reich – vice admiral, only submariner to sink a Japanese battleship unaided during WW2
• Jamila Reinhardt – naval aviator, current player on the USA Rugby women's national team
• Hyman G. Rickover – admiral, "Father of the Nuclear Navy"
• David Robinson – former NBA star (San Antonio Spurs), commonly nicknamed "The Admiral"
• George Lincoln Rockwell – U.S. Navy commander and founder of the American Nazi Party
• Theodore Roosevelt IV – Special Warfare, great grandson of President Theodore Roosevelt and a prominent conservationist and environmentalist
• Donald Rumsfeld – naval aviator, served two times as Secretary of Defense
• Larry Seaquist – current Democratic member in the Washington House of Representatives; former captain of the Battleship USS Iowa (BB-61)
• Rodger W. Simpson – distinguished himself during World War II, recipient of 2 Navy Crosses
• John Philip Sousa – composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches including "The Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Semper Fidelis" (official march of the Marine Corps)
• Paul Spangler – naval surgeon, senior long distance runner
• Raymond A. Spruance – commander at the Battle of Midway, led the Fifth Fleet in the Central Pacific and Okinawa. Rebuilt the Naval War College after World War II
• Jackson T. Stephens – investment banker
• James Stockdale – one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the navy
• Blake Wayne Van Leer, Commander and Captain in the U.S. Navy. Lead SeaBee program and managed the nuclear research and power unit at McMurdo Station during Operation Deep Freeze.
• Patrick M. Walsh – admiral, Vice Chief of Naval Operations
• Robert F. Willard – admiral, former Vice Chief of Naval Operations
• John Wooden – famous college basketball coach

Astronauts

• Neil Armstrong – naval aviator (Korean War), X-15 pilot, astronaut Gemini 8 and Apollo 11, first man on the moon
• Alan Bean – naval aviator and astronaut (Apollo 12 and Skylab 3)
• Scott Carpenter – naval aviator, astronaut, Mercury 7
• Christopher Cassidy – Navy SEAL, astronaut STS-127, Soyuz TMA-08M (Expedition 35/36), Soyuz MS-16 (Expedition 62/63)
• Gene Cernan – naval aviator, astronaut (Gemini 9), Lunar Module Pilot (Apollo 10), Commander of Apollo 17 (last man on moon)
• Roger Chaffee – naval aviator and astronaut who perished in the Apollo 1 fire
• Laurel Clark – astronaut (STS-107)
• Pete Conrad – naval aviator, astronaut (Gemini 5 and 11, Apollo 12 and Skylab 2)
• Robert Crippen – naval aviator, astronaut (STS-1, STS-7, STS-41-C and STS-41-G)
• Walter Cunningham – naval aviator and astronaut (Apollo 7)
• Ronald Evans – naval aviator, astronaut (Apollo 17)
• Owen Garriott – astronaut (Skylab 3)
• Robert L. Gibson – naval aviator and astronaut (STS-41-B, STS-61-C, STS-27, STS-47, STS-71)
• John Glenn – naval aviator, astronaut, U.S. Senator from Ohio, and first American to orbit the Earth (Mercury-Atlas 6)
• Richard F. Gordon, Jr. – naval aviator, astronaut (Gemini 11 and Apollo 12)
• Mark Kelly – naval aviator, astronaut (STS-108, STS-121, STS-124, STS-134)
• Scott Kelly – naval aviator, astronaut (STS-103, STS-118)
• Joseph Kerwin – astronaut (Skylab 2)
• Susan Kilrain – astronaut (STS-83 and STS-94)
• Wendy Lawrence – naval aviator, astronaut (STS-67, STS-86, STS-91, STS-114)
• Jim Lovell – naval aviator, astronaut (Gemini 7 and 12, Apollo 8 and 13)
• Ken Mattingly – naval aviator, astronaut (Apollo 16)
• Bruce McCandless II – naval aviator, astronaut who completed the first untethered spacewalk by using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (STS-41-B, STS-31)
• William C. McCool – naval aviator, astronaut, pilot of Columbia mission STS-107
• Edgar Mitchell – naval aviator and astronaut (Apollo 14)
• Lisa Nowak – naval aviator and astronaut (STS-121)
• Alan G. Poindexter – naval aviator, son of John Poindexter and astronaut (STS-122, STS-131)
• Wally Schirra – naval aviator, astronaut (Mercury 8, Gemini 6A and Apollo 7)
• Alan Shepard – naval aviator and flag officer (Rear Admiral), first American in space (Mercury-Redstone 3) and Apollo 14 commander
• William Shepherd – Navy SEAL, astronaut (STS-27, STS-41, STS-52)
• Thomas P. Stafford – aviator and astronaut (Gemini 6A, Gemini 9A, Apollo 10)
• Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper – astronaut (STS-115, STS-126)
• Richard Truly – naval aviator and flag officer (Vice Admiral), Manned Orbiting Laboratory and Space Shuttle astronaut, serving as pilot for both Space Shuttle Enterprise landing tests and on second orbital test flight (STS-2). Later became first astronaut to serve as NASA Administrator under President George H.W. Bush.
• Paul J. Weitz – astronaut (Skylab 2)
• John Young – naval aviator, astronaut (Gemini 3 and 10, Apollo 10 and 16, Shuttle flight STS-1 and STS-9)

Others

• Ralph Ahn – actor and brother of Susan Ahn Cuddy (The Golden Girls, New Girl)
• Susan Ahn – first female gunnery officer and Asian-American woman to join the U.S. Navy, sister of actor Ralph Ahn
• Eddie Albert – Academy Award-nominated actor (Roman Holiday)
• Kirk Alyn – first actor to play Superman in live-action (Superman)
• Bobby Anderson – child actor and television producer (It's a Wonderful Life)
• Jake Angeli – activist and conspiracy theorist who was convicted for his participation in the 2021 U.S. Capitol riots, also known as the "QAnon Shaman"
• Robert Arthur – actor (Ace in the Hole, Twelve O'Clock High)
• James Avery – actor (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air)
• Lloyd Bacon – actor and film director (42nd Street)
• Russell Baker – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, satirical writer, author (Growing Up)
• Bob Barker – naval aviator, Emmy Award-winning host of The Price is Right
• John Drew Barrymore – actor, enlisted in the Navy during WWII at age 13 (The Big Night, Rawhide)
• Ed Begley, Sr. – Academy Award-winning actor (12 Angry Men)
• Harry Belafonte – Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award-winning singer and actor (BlacKkKlansman)
• Tex Beneke – saxophonist, singer and bandleader
• Bruce Bennett – Olympic athlete and actor (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre)
• Jack Benny – Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor (The Jack Benny Program)
• Shelley Berman – Emmy-nominated and Grammy Award-winning actor (Curb Your Enthusiasm)
• Yogi Berra – baseball Hall of Famer, catcher for the New York Yankees
• Charles Bickford – Academy Award-nominated actor (A Star Is Born)
• Hunter Biden – attorney, hedge fund investor and son of U.S. President Joe Biden
• John Boehner – 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, served 8 weeks in the Navy before being medically discharged
• Rudy Boesch – Navy SEAL, competitor on Survivor
• Humphrey Bogart – Academy Award-winning actor (Casablanca)
• Tommy Bond – actor (Superman)
• Richard Boone – actor (The Shootist)
• Ernest Borgnine – Academy Award-winning actor (Marty)
• Tom Bosley – Emmy Award-nominated and Tony Award-winning actor (Happy Days)
• Peter Boyle – Emmy Award-winning actor (Young Frankenstein)
• Christopher "Big Black" Boykin – Star of MTV's Rob & Big television series
• Ben Bradlee – managing editor of The Washington Post known for his role in exposing the Watergate scandal
• John Bradley – navy hospital corpsman known for raising the first U.S. flag during the Battle of Iwo Jima
• Carl Brashear – first African American master diver
• Peter Breck – actor (Maverick, Benji)
• Richard L. Breen – Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Titanic, Captain Newman, M.D.)
• James Broderick – Emmy-nominated actor (Family)
• Lenny Bruce – stand-up comedian, social critic and satirist
• Eugene Burdick – political scientist, novelist (Fail-Safe, The Ugly American)
• Pete Buttigieg – United States Secretary of Transportation and 32nd mayor of South Bend, Indiana
• Adolph Caesar – Academy Award-nominated actor (A Soldier's Story, The Color Purple)
• Joseph Campanella – Emmy and Tony Award-nominated actor (Mannix, The Bold and the Beautiful)
• Vincent Canby – film critic for The New York Times
• Harry Carey Jr. – actor (The Searchers)
• Carleton Carpenter – actor (Father of the Bride, Take the High Ground!)
• Johnny Carson – Emmy and Peabody Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated host of The Tonight Show
• Seymour Cassel – Academy Award-nominated actor (Faces)
• James H. Clark – American entrepreneur, founder of Netscape
• Lee Van Cleef – actor (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
• Preston Cloud – American scientist
• Jerry Clower – country comedian
• Junior Coghlan – actor, career naval officer (Our Gang comedies, Men of Boys Town)
• Nicholas Colasanto – Emmy Award-nominated actor (Cheers)
• John Coltrane – Grammy and Pulitzer Prize-winning jazz musician
• O'Neal Compton – actor (Seinfeld)
• Jackie Cooper – Academy Award-nominated actor who retired as a Captain (Skippy, The Champ)
• James Fenimore Cooper – author (The Last of the Mohicans)
• Glenn Corbett – actor (Route 66)
• Jeff Corey – actor (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
• Roger Corman – film director, producer, actor, trailblazer in independent film (House of Usher)
• Bill Cosby – Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, comedian, educational philanthropist (The Cosby Show)
• Tim Credeur – mixed martial artist and cast member of The Ultimate Fighter 7
• Dan Crenshaw – American politician and former Navy SEAL officer
• Tony Curtis – Academy Award-nominated actor (Some Like It Hot)
• Ron DeSantis – 46th governor of Florida
• Bill Dickey – baseball Hall of Famer, manager and catcher for the New York Yankees
• Larry Doby – second black player to break baseball's color barrier and first black player in the American League
• Lou Donaldson – jazz alto saxophonist
• Richard Donner – Emmy Award-nominated director and producer (Superman)
• Paul Dooley – Emmy Award-nominated actor and comedian (Breaking Away)
• Kirk Douglas – Academy Award-nominated actor and producer (Spartacus)
• George Duning – musician and film composer (From Here to Eternity, 3:10 to Yuma)
• Fred Durst – rapper, frontman and lyricist of Limp Bizkit, and director (The Fanatic)
• Louis Edmonds – Emmy-nominated actor (Dark Shadows, All My Children)
• Anthony Eisley – actor and TV writer (Hawaiian Eye)
• Dana Elcar – actor (The Sting)
• Tom Ewell – Emmy-nominated, Tony Award-winning and Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer (The Seven Year Itch)
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. – Hollywood Golden Age actor (Little Caesar)
• Gordy Falk – legendary pumpkin carver, nicknamed the "Pumpkin Man", and former naval intelligence officer
• Bob Feller – baseball Hall of Famer, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians
• John Fiedler – actor and voice actor (12 Angry Men, voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh franchise)
• Antwone Fisher – author and film producer, subject of 2002 feature film Antwone Fisher
• Paul Fix – actor (The Rifleman)
• Eric Fleming – actor (Rawhide)
• Larry Flynt – publisher of Hustler
• Henry Fonda – Academy Award-winning actor and producer (The Grapes of Wrath, 12 Angry Men)
• Glenn Ford – Golden Globe-winning actor (Blackboard Jungle)
• Henry Ford II – former CEO of Ford Motor Company, grandson of Henry Ford
• John Ford – Rear Admiral, Academy Award-winning director (The Searchers)
• Bob Fosse – Academy Award-winning director (Cabaret)
• Douglas Fowley – actor (Singin' in the Rain)
• William A. Fraker – Academy Award-winning cinematographer (Bullitt, Rosemary's Baby)
• Warren Frost – actor (Twin Peaks, Seinfeld)
• Chris Gardner – self-made millionaire, philanthropist who previously struggled with homelessness, subject of feature film The Pursuit of Happyness
• Dick Gautier – actor, comedian and singer (Get Smart)
• John Gavin – Golden Globe-winning actor (Psycho)
• Arthur Hill Gilbert – impressionist painter
• Art Gilmore – actor and TV and radio announcer (Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Nutty Professor)
• Russ Goetz – professional baseball umpire
• Don Gordon – Emmy Award-nominated actor (Bullitt)
• Freeman Gosden – radio comedian, actor and sitcom pioneer (Amos 'n' Andy)
• Calvin Graham – At age 12, Graham became the youngest U.S. serviceman to serve and fight in WWII.
• Farley Granger – Emmy Award-nominated actor (Strangers on a Train)
• James Gregory – actor (The Manchurian Candidate)
• Elliadria "Persuasian" Griffin – reality TV star (Bad Girls Club: Season 16)
• Raymond Griffith – silent film actor and comedian (All Quiet on the Western Front)
• Alfred Grossman – writer and novelist
• Harry Guardino – actor (Dirty Harry)
• Fred Gwynne – actor (The Munsters, Pet Sematary, My Cousin Vinny)
• Hard Boiled Haggerty – professional wrestler, football player and actor (Foxy Brown, Earthquake)
• H.R. Haldeman – White House Chief of Staff known for his involvement in the Watergate scandal
• Pete Hamill – journalist, novelist, essayist and editor (New York Post)
• MC Hammer – Grammy Award-winning rap artist
• Richard Benjamin Harrison – businessman, reality television personality (Pawn Stars)
• Gary Hart – former U.S. Senator from Colorado
• Herk Harvey – director, screenwriter, actor, film producer (Carnival of Souls)
• Bill Hayes – actor and recording artist who also served in the U.S. Marine Corps (The Cardinal, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett")
• Thomas Heggen – Tony Award-winning author and playwright (Mister Roberts)
• Robert A. Heinlein – science fiction author (Starship Troopers)
• Lance Henriksen – actor (Aliens)
• Frank Herbert – science fiction author (Dune)
• James Leo Herlihy – actor, playwright and novelist (All Fall Down, Midnight Cowboy)
• Don Hewitt – television news producer, executive and creator of 60 Minutes on CBS
• Chuck Hicks – actor and stuntman (Raging Bull)
• Steven Hill – Emmy Award-nominated actor (Law & Order)
• Barron Hilton – heir and co-chairman of Hilton Hotels
• Pat Hingle – actor (Splendor in the Grass, Norma Rae)
• Winton C. Hoch – Academy Award-winning cinematographer (The Searchers, The Quiet Man)
• Earl Holliman – Golden Globe-winning actor, singer and animal-rights activist (Giant)
• William Hopper – Navy UDT, son of Hedda Hopper, Emmy Award-nominated actor (The Bad Seed, Perry Mason)
• L. Ron Hubbard – science fiction author and founder of the Church of Scientology
• Rock Hudson – Academy Award-nominated actor (Giant)
• William Bradford Huie – author (The Americanization of Emily)
• E. Howard Hunt – intelligence officer and author known for his involvement in the Watergate scandal
• Evan Hunter – author (The Blackboard Jungle, Last Summer, King's Ransom)
• Jeffrey Hunter – actor (The Searchers)
• Rick James – Grammy Award-winning musician, singer-songwriter and record producer
• L.Q. Jones – actor, director and screenwriter (A Boy and His Dog, The Wild Bunch)
• Buck Kartalian – actor and professional wrestler (Cool Hand Luke, Planet of the Apes)
• Bill Kaysing – founder of the moon landing conspiracy movement
• Ray Kellogg – special effects artist and film director (The Green Berets)
• Gene Kelly – Academy Award-nominated actor, filmmaker, dancer, singer (Singin' in the Rain)
• Robert F. Kennedy – lawyer and politician, 64th United States Attorney General, U.S. Senator from New York, brother of fellow sailor President John F. Kennedy
• Jack Kerouac – novelist, poet and pioneer of the Beat Generation (On the Road)
• Richard Kiley – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor (Blackboard Jungle)
• Carl Kimmons – first person to rise through the ranks from mess attendant to commissioned officer
• Richard H. Kline – Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (Soylent Green, King Kong)
• Fletcher Knebel – author (Seven Days in May)
• Fred J. Koenekamp – Academy Award-winning cinematographer (Patton, Papillon)
• Harvey Korman – Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor and comedian (Blazing Saddles)
• Nancy Kulp – Emmy and Grammy Award-nominated actress (The Beverly Hillbillies)
• Bill Kurtis – television journalist and narrator (Cold Case Files, American Justice)
• Chris Kyle – Navy SEAL sniper and author of American Sniper
• Bert Lahr – actor (The Wizard of Oz)
• Archie Lang – actor (Blow Out)
• Robert LaSardo – actor (Nip/Tuck)
• Paul Le Mat – Golden Globe-winning actor (American Graffiti)
• Jack Lemmon – Academy Award-winning actor, director and musician (The Apartment)
• Raymond Lisle (1910-1994) - attorney, officer in the United States Foreign Service, and Dean of Brooklyn Law School
• John Lodge – actor and 79th Governor of Connecticut (Little Women)
• Marcus Luttrell – Navy SEAL, Navy Cross and Purple Heart for Operation Red Wings, author of Lone Survivor
• Tyler MacDuff – actor (Gunsmoke, Maverick)
• Richard Machowicz – Navy SEAL and host of Future Weapons
• Daniel P. Mannix – author (The Fox and the Hound, Those About to Die)
• James Margolis – Olympic fencer
• Jennifer Marshall – actress (Stranger Things)
• Dewey Martin – naval aviator held as a prisoner of war until Japan's surrender, actor (The Thing from Another World, Battleground)
• Strother Martin – Golden Globe-nominated actor (Cool Hand Luke)
• Tony Martin – Emmy Award-nominated singer and actor (The Big Store)
• Al Martino – actor and singer (The Godfather)
• Armistead Maupin – author and gay rights activist
• Donald May – actor (Colt .45, The Edge of Night)
• Napoleon McCallum – NFL running back (Los Angeles Raiders)
• Country Joe McDonald – musician and lead singer of the 1960s psychedelic rock group Country Joe and the Fish
• Bill McKinney – actor (The Outlaw Josey Wales)
• Ralph Meeker – actor (Kiss Me Deadly)
• Herman Melville – novelist, short story writer and poet of the American Renaissance period (Moby-Dick)
• Jan Merlin – actor, television writer and author (Take the Money and Run, Them!)
• Dick Miller – actor (Gremlins)
• J.P. Miller – playwright, novelist and screenwriter (Days of Wine and Roses)
• Guy Mitchell – pop singer and actor (Whispering Smith)
• Ray Montgomery – actor (White Heat, Johnny Belinda)
• Robert Montgomery – WWII Lt Commander on USS Barton (DD-722), Academy Award-nominated actor (Here Comes Mr. Jordan)
• Ronald D. Moore – Peabody and Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and television producer (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica)
• Wayne Morris – naval aviator and actor (Paths of Glory)
• Vic Morrow – Emmy Award-nominated actor (The Bad News Bears)
• George Moscone – 37th mayor of San Francisco who, along with fellow sailor Harvey Milk, was assassinated by Dan White
• Richard Mulligan – Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor (Empty Nest)
• Robert Mulligan – Academy Award-nominated filmmaker (To Kill a Mockingbird)
• Charlie Murphy – entertainer and brother of comedian Eddie Murphy (Chappelle's Show)
• Paul Newman – Academy Award-winning actor, director, producer and race car driver (The Hustler)
• George O'Brien – silent era actor (Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans)
• Pat O'Brien – Emmy Award-winning actor (Knute Rockne, All American)
• Frank O'Hara – writer, poet and art critic
• Robert J. O'Neill – Navy SEAL, participated in Operation Neptune Spear
• Jerry Paris – Emmy Award-winning actor (The Dick Van Dyke Show)
• Fess Parker – Emmy-nominated film and TV actor (Old Yeller, Davy Crockett)
• Vincent Pastore – actor (The Sopranos)
• Dick Peabody – actor (Combat!, Support Your Local Sheriff!)
• D.A. Pennebaker – documentary filmmaker (Primary, Monterey Pop)
• Jack Pennick – actor (Mister Roberts, The Searchers)
• Tom Peters – bestselling author (In Search of Excellence)
• Regis Philbin – Emmy Award-winning talk show host (Regis and Kelly)
• John Pickard – actor (True Grit)
• Bella Poarch – social media personality, singer and songwriter
• Darryl Ponicsan – Golden Globe-nominated screenwriter and novelist (The Last Detail, Cinderella Liberty)
• Gordon Prange – author and historian (Tora! Tora! Tora!)
• Tito Puente – Grammy Award-winning musician, songwriter, record producer and bandleader (The Simpsons: Who Shot Mr. Burns?)
• Denver Pyle – actor (The Dukes of Hazzard)
• Ernie Pyle – Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist and war correspondent best known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II
• Thomas Pynchon – writer and novelist (Inherent Vice)
• Paul Raci – Academy Award-nominated actor and sign-language interpreter for the California court system (Sound of Metal)
• John Bennett Ramsey – businessman, author and father of murder victim JonBenét Ramsey
• Aldo Ray – actor (Pat and Mike)
• Bert Remsen – actor and casting director (Nashville, Maverick)
• Gene Reynolds – Emmy Award-winning television producer, writer, director and actor (Boys Town, M*A*S*H)
• Don Rickles – Emmy Award-winning stand-up comedian, actor and author (Kelly's Heroes)
• Bobby Riggs – pro tennis champion
• Phil Rizzuto – baseball Hall of Famer and shortstop for the New York Yankees
• Jason Robards – Academy Award-winning actor (All the President's Men)
• Marty Robbins – Grammy-winning musician, singer, songwriter, actor and NASCAR driver (Honkytonk Man)
• Edward G. Robinson – Hollywood Golden Age actor and Honorary Oscar recipient (Double Indemnity)
• Charles "Buddy" Rogers – naval aviator, actor and musician (Wings)
• Ronnie Rondell Jr. – actor and stuntman (Speed, They Live)
• Theodore Isaac Rubin – psychiatrist and author (David and Lisa)
• Mitchell Ryan – actor (Lethal Weapon)
• Gene Saks – Tony Award-winning director and actor (The Odd Couple, Cactus Flower)
• Soupy Sales – comedian (The Soupy Sales Show)
• Franklin J. Schaffner – Academy Award-winning director (Planet of the Apes, Patton)
• Budd Schulberg – Academy Award-winning screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer (On the Waterfront, A Face in the Crowd)
• Rick Scott – U.S. senator and 45th governor of Florida
• Willard Scott – Emmy Award-winning weather presenter, actor, clown, creator and original portrayer of Ronald McDonald
• Vin Scully – American sportscaster
• Bill Sharman – member of the Basketball Hall of Fame (Boston Celtics)
• Frank Silvera – Tony Award-nominated actor (Viva Zapata!)
• Mickey Simpson – actor (Giant)
• Dick Sisler – baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals)
• Sam Snead – professional golfer
• Robert Stack – host of Unsolved Mysteries and Academy Award-nominated actor (Airplane!)
• Harry Dean Stanton – actor, musician and singer (Alien)
• Roger Staubach – Vietnam veteran, football Hall of Famer (Dallas Cowboys)
• Rod Steiger – Academy Award-winning actor (On the Waterfront, In the Heat of the Night)
• Adlai Stevenson II – 31st Governor of Illinois and two-time Presidential nominee
• McLean Stevenson – Emmy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actor, writer and comedian (M*A*S*H)
• Donald Ogden Stewart – Academy Award-winning screenwriter and author (The Philadelphia Story)
• Larry Storch – Emmy Award-nominated actor and comedian (The Great Race)
• Dirk Wayne Summers – actor, producer, screenwriter, director (Kojak)
• David Susskind – film and TV producer, talk show host (A Raisin in the Sun)
• William Sylvester – actor (2001: A Space Odyssey)
• Buck Taylor – actor and artist (Gunsmoke)
• Robert Taylor – naval aviator and Hollywood Golden Age actor (Quo Vadis)
• Walter Tevis – novelist (The Hustler, The Color of Money, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Queen’s Gambit)
• Russell Thacher – author and film producer (Soylent Green, Once Bitten)
• Bill Thompson – voice actor (Fibber McGee and Molly)
• Claude Thornhill – pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader
• Charles Tilly – sociologist, political scientist and historian
• Gregg Toland – Academy Award-winning cinematographer (Citizen Kane, The Grapes of Wrath)
• Spencer Tracy – Academy Award-winning actor (Judgment at Nuremberg)
• Tom Tryon – Golden Globe-nominated actor (The Cardinal) and novelist (The Other)
• Jerry Tucker – child actor (Our Gang short subjects)
• Tom Tully – Academy Award-nominated actor (The Caine Mutiny)
• Rudy Vallée – singer, musician, actor and radio host (The Palm Beach Story)
• Norm Van Brocklin – NFL quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles
• Craig Venter – biologist instrumental in mapping the human genome
• Jesse Ventura – former Navy UDT, professional wrestler, 38th Governor of Minnesota and actor (Predator)
• Richard Venture – actor (Scent of a Woman)
• Mickey Vernon – baseball player, first baseman for the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox
• Mike Wallace – Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning journalist, game show host and media personality (60 Minutes)
• Jack Warden – Academy Award-nominated actor (12 Angry Men, Shampoo)
• John Warner – former Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia and U.S. Secretary of the Navy who later served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps; former husband of movie star Elizabeth Taylor
• Dennis Weaver – naval aviator and Emmy Award-winning actor (Touch of Evil)
• George Westinghouse – entrepreneur, engineer who created the railway air brake, and pioneer of the electrical industry
• Charles F. Wheeler – Academy Award-nominated cinematographer (Tora! Tora! Tora!, Freaky Friday)
• Robb White – naval aviator, screenwriter and novelist (House on Haunted Hill)
• Charles Williams – author of crime fiction (Dead Calm, Hell Hath No Fury)
• Montel Williams – Emmy Award-winning talk show host (The Montel Williams Show)
• Ted Williams – naval aviator and baseball Hall of Famer for the Boston Red Sox, also served in the U.S. Marine Corps
• Walter Winchell – newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator
• Bill Withers – Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and musician
• Bob Woodward – Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, uncovered the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein
• Jeremiah Wright – senior pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ; cardiopulmonary technician (surgery on President Lyndon B. Johnson, also ex-Navy)
• Delmer J. Yoakum – artist, motion picture studio scenic artist
• Howard Zieff – film director (Private Benjamin, My Girl)
• Bill Zuckert – actor (Blazing Saddles, Tora! Tora! Tora!)

Groups

• Golden Thirteen – the thirteen African-American enlisted men who became the first African-American commissioned officers in the United States Navy.
• The Port Chicago 50 – group of 50 African-American Sailors who refused to return to work until changes were made at the U.S. Navy's Port Chicago near San Francisco.