List of people from Worcester, Massachusetts

The following is a list of notable people from Worcester, Massachusetts:

Born in Worcester

MUSICIANS

• John Coolidge Adams, popular living composer
• Duncan Arsenault, musician
• S. N. Behrman, playwright and author of a memoir, The Worcester Account
• Jaki Byard, jazz pianist and composer
• Frank Capp, jazz drummer and bandleader
• Don Fagerquist, jazz trumpeter
• Georgia Gibbs, 1950s Pop singer
• Jordan Knight, member of the boy band "New Kids On The Block"
• Andy Ross, guitarist for rock band OK Go

ARTISTS & WRITERS

• John Wolcott Adams (1874–1925), artist
• Jane G. Austin, writer
• Norman Bailey, big band trumpet player from The Lawrence Welk Show
• Robert Benchley, writer and member of the Algonquin Round Table
• Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and writer
• John Dufresne, American Novelist and screenwriter
• Samuel Fuller, producer and director
• John Michael Hayes, writer of the Alfred Hitchcock films Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, and The Man Who Knew Too Much
• Jarrett J. Krosoczka, children's book author/illustrator; his book Punk Farm optioned by DreamWorks Animation
• Stanley Kunitz, American Poet Laureate
• Charles Olson, American modernist poet
• Joseph Skinger, Silversmith/Sculptor
• Isaiah Thomas, publisher of the Massachusetts Spy

POLITICANS

• Charles Allen, (1797–1869), United States Congressman from Massachusetts
• George Bancroft, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy, founder of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, author of the first comprehensive history of the United States
• Abbie Hoffman, radical activist
• Kenneth P. O'Donnell, Appointments Secretary and Political Adviser to President John F. Kennedy
• Charles F. Sullivan, Mayor of Worcester and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1949–1953

ACADEMICS & INVENTORS

• Richard T. Antoun, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Binghamton University; stabbed to death by student in 2009
• Ronald Dworkin, American and English legal and political philosopher
• Robert Goddard, father of modern rocketry

ACTORS

• H. Jon Benjamin, actor best known as the voice of Coach McGuirk on the cartoon Home Movies
• Jean Louisa Kelly, actress from Yes, Dear
• Arthur Kennedy, actor
• Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski, actresses and models best known as the 'Coors Light Twins'
• Denis Leary, actor and comedian
• John Lurie, actor, musician, and composer
• Eddie Mekka, actor best known for playing Carmine on Laverne and Shirley
• Alisan Porter, actress and singer
• Renee Sands, actress/singer from Kids Incorporated and Wild Orchid
• Sam Seder, Air America Radio host Break Room Live, actor, writer and director
• Erik Per Sullivan, actor from Malcolm in the Middle
• Alicia Witt, actress, singer/songwriter

ATHLETES

• Jerry Azumah, former defensive back for the Chicago Bears (since retired)
• Frank Carroll, US ice skater, figure skater and figure skating coach, 1960 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, actor
• Tim Collins, relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals
• Ken Doane, professional wrestler
• Rich Gedman, former Boston Red Sox catcher, now manager of the Worcester Tornadoes
• Bill Guerin, Pittsburgh Penguins Right Winger
• Tom Poti, Washington Capitals Defenseman
• J.P. Ricciardi, general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
• José Antonio Rivera, former WBA light middleweight champion
• Tanyon Sturtze, Atlanta Braves Relief Pitcher

OTHER

• Lillian Asplund, Last survivor of the RMS Titanic who remembered the actual sinking
• Harvey Ball, inventor of the Smiley face
• William Austin Burt, 19th century explorer and surveyor in Michigan
• Richard B. Sellars (1915-2010), Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson.

Other residents

• Alexander H. Bullock, Governor of Massachusetts (1866–1868)
• Bob Cousy, Hall of Fame Basketball player, attended the College of the Holy Cross and currently lives in Worcester
• Milton Erickson, famed therapist and hypnotist
• Emma Goldman, Legendary Lithuanian-American anarchist. Owned ice cream parlor in Worcester
• Abby Kelley Foster, abolitionist, suffragette
• Thomas Wentworth Higginson, abolitionist, literary mentor to Emily Dickinson
• Gordon Lockbaum, attended Holy Cross College; twice finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
• Chris Matthews, TV news personality, attended the College of the Holy Cross
• Frank O'Hara, American poet
• Charley Parkhurst, Legendary stagecoach driver and horseman
• Cole Porter, Broadway composer, student at Worcester Academy ca. 1912
• Francis E. Reed, Inventor & Industrialist, who founded the F.E. Reed & Co.
• Major Taylor, track cycling champion
• Ryan Idol, adult film actor
• Ernest Lawrence Thayer, poet, "Casey at the Bat"