Famous Illinoisans

Famous Illinoisans

Click on the person's name to find biographies in the Youth Services Department.
Click on the *A* to find to find information in the Adult Department.
Click on *CCS* to find information at other CCS libraries. If the book is available at one of these libraries you may request it be sent to our library for checkout by placing a hold on the book. Books take about two business days to be delivered.

Franklin Pierce Adams	author	Chicago
Jane Addams A	social worker	Cedarville
John Peter Altgeld A	governor	Chicago
Gillian Anderson	actress	Chicago
Philip Danforth Armour CCS	businessman	Chicago
Patricia Arquette	actress	Chicago
Mary Astor CCS	actress	Quincy
Ernie Banks A CCS	baseball player	Chicago
Arnold O. Beckman	inventor	Cullom
Edward Beecher	college president	Jacksonville
Ralph Bellamy CCS	actor	Chicago
John Belushi CCS	actor	Chicago
Jack Benny A CCS	comedian	Chicago
Mother Mary Ann Ball Bickerdyke CCS	nurse
Black Hawk CCS	Sauk Indian chief
Harry A. Blackmun A CCS	jurist	Nashville
Rod R. Blagojevich A	governor	Chicago
Bonnie Blair CCS	skater	Champaign
William E. Borah	public official	Fairfield
Bruce Boxleitner	actor	Mt. Prospect
Ray Bradbury A CCS	author	Waukegan
Marlon Brando A CCS	actor	Evanston
Gwendolyn Brooks A	poet	Chicago
William Jennings Bryan A CCS	orator, politician	Salem
Daniel Hudson Burnham A CCS	architect	Chicago
Edgar Rice Burroughs CCS	author	Chicago
Jane Margaret Byrne A CCS	mayor	Chicago
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini CCS	saint	Chicago
Marvin Camras	inventor	Chicago
Al Capone A CCS	gangster	Chicago
Peter Cartwright	politician
Gower Champion A	choreographer	Geneva
John Chancellor	TV commentator	Chicago
Raymond Chandler A	writer	Chicago
George Rogers Clark A CCS	explorer
Hillary Rodham Clinton A	first lady, politician	Park Ridge
Nat King Cole A CCS	musician	Chicago
Jimmy Connors A	tennis champion	Belleville
Cindy Crawford	model	DeKalb
Michael Crichton A	writer	Chicago
Richard J. Daley A CCS	mayor	Chicago
Richard M. Daley	mayor	Chicago
Clarence Darrow A	lawyer	Chicago
Miles Davis A CCS	musician	Alton
Charles Gates Dawes CCS	vice president, nobel winner	Chicago
John Deere CCS	inventor	Grand Detour
Bruce Dern CCS	actor	Chicago
Everett Dirksen CCS	politician	Pekin
Walt Disney A CCS	film animator, producer	Chicago
Mike Ditka A CCS	football coach	Chicago
John Dos Passos A CCS	author	Chicago
Stephen A. Douglas CCS	politician	Jacksonville
Joseph Duncan CCS	governor	Elm Grove
Wyatt Earp A CCS	sheriff	Monmouth
Roger Ebert A	film critic	Urbana
Jim Edgar	governor	Charleston
James T. Farrell CCS	author	Chicago
Marshall Field A	businessman	Chicago
Betty Ford A CCS	first lady	Chicago
Harrison Ford A CCS	actor	Chicago
Robert Lewis "Bob" Fosse A CCS	showman	Chicago
Dennis Franz	actor	Chicago
Betty Friedan A CCS	feminist	Peoria
Jennie Garth	actress	Urbana
Joseph Glidden	inventor	DeKalb
Arthur Goldberg CCS	judge, ambassador	Chicago
Benny Goodman A	musician	Chicago
Edward Gorey A	artist/author	Chicago
Ulysses S. Grant A	president	Galena
John Gunther A	author	Chicago
Gene Hackman CCS	actor	Danville
George E. Hale A	astronomer	Chicago
Dorothy Hamill A CCS	ice skater	Chicago
John M. Harlan CCS	jurist	Chicago
John Hay A	secretary of state
Hugh M. Hefner CCS	publisher	Chicago
Ernest Hemingway A	author	Oak Park
Charlton Heston CCS	actor	Evanston
Wild Bill Hickok CCS	scout	Troy Grove
William Holden CCS	actor	O'Fallon
Rock Hudson CCS	actor	Winnetka
Bobby Hull CCS	hockey player	Chicago
Bonnie Hunt	actress	Chicago
Burl Ives	singer	Hunt City
Jesse Jackson A CCS	politician	Chicago
Jens Jensen A	landscape architect	Highland Park
Louis Joliet CCS	explorer
James Jones CCS	author	Robinson
Quincy Jones A	composer	Chicago
Michael Jordan A	basketball player	Highland Park
Jackie Joyner-Kersee A CCS	runner	East St. Louis
R. Kelly CCS	musician	Chicago
Walter Kerr	drama critic	Evanston
Walter Koenig	actor	Chicago
Harvey Korman	comedian	Chicago
Alison Krauss	musician	Urbana
Ray Kroc CCS	businessman	Oak Park
Robert Cavelier de La Salle A	explorer
Michael Kelly Lawler	soldier
Abraham Lincoln A	president	Springfield
Mary Todd Lincoln A	first lady	Springfield
John A. Logan A	general	Murphysboro
Bernie Mac A CCS	actor	Chicago
Archibald MacLeish A	poet	Glencoe
James E. MacMurray	senator
David Mamet A	playwright	Chicago
Homer Z. Martin	inventor	Chicago
Stanley Mazor	inventor	Chicago
John A. McClernand	general
Cyrus McCormick A CCS	inventor	Chicago
Joseph M. McCormick	senator	Chicago
Robert McCormick A CCS	publisher	Chicago
Joseph Medill A	publisher, mayor	Chicago
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe A	architect	Chicago
Robert Millikan	physicist	Morrison
Sherrill Milnes CCS	baritone	Downers Grove
Dwight Lyman Moody CCS	religious leader	Chicago
Carol Moseley-Braun CCS	senator	Chicago
Bill Murray A	actor	Wilmette
John G. Neihardt CCS	poet	Sharpsburg
Walter Loomis Newberry	banker	Chicago
Bob Newhart A CCS	actor, comedian	Chicago
Barack Obama A	senator, president	Chicago
Michelle Obama A	first lady	Chicago
Malia Obama	president's daughter	Chicago
Sasha Obama	president's daughter	Chicago
Donald O'Connor	actor	Chicago
Richard J. Oglesby	governor
William S. Paley CCS	broadcasting executive	Chicago
Potter Palmer	businessman	Chicago
Walter Payton A	football player	Chicago
Drew Pearson CCS	columnist	Evanston
Allan Pinkerton A	detective	Chicago
Richard Pryor A CCS	comedian, actor	Peoria
George Pullman A	businessman	Chicago
Ronald Reagan A	president, actor	Tampico
Jason Robards	actor	Chicago
Julius Rosenwald A	businessman	Springfield
George H. Ryan A	governor	Kankakee
Pat Sajak	game show host	Chicago
Carl Sandburg A	poet	Galesburg
Lewis Hastings Sarett	inventor	Champaign
Fred Savage CCS	actor	Chicago
Gale Sayers A CCS	football player	Chicago
Phyllis Schlafly A CCS	antifeminist	Alton
John McAllister Schofield	general
Garry Shandling	comedian	Chicago
Sam Shepard A	playwright	Fort Sheridan
William L. Shirer A CCS	historian	Chicago
Shel Silverstein A CCS	writer	Chicago
Gene Siskel	film critic	Chicago
Grace Slick CCS	musician	Chicago
Adlai Ewing Stevenson A CCS	politician	Chicago
McLean Stevenson	actor	Bloomington
David Ogden Stiers	actor	Urbana
Preston Sturges CCS	director	Chicago
Louis Sullivan A CCS	architect	Chicago
Gloria Swanson CCS	actress	Chicago
Gustavus Swift CCS	businessman	Chicago
Maria Tallchief CCS	ballerina	Highland Park
James R. Thompson CCS	governor	Chicago
Clyde W. Tombaugh	astronomer	Streator
Mel Torme A CCS	musician	Chicago
Carl Van Doren	educator	Hope
Dick Van Dyke A	actor	Danville
Jerry Van Dyke	actor	Danville
Melvin Van Peebles	playwright	Chicago
Charles Rudolph Walgreen	businessman	Galesburg
Irving Wallace	author	Chicago
Alfred Wallenstein	conductor	Chicago
Aaron Montgomery Ward	businessman	Chicago
Harold Washington A CCS	mayor	Chicago
Raquel Welch A	actress	Chicago
Orson Welles A CCS	actor	Highland Park
George Wendt	actor	Chicago
Arland Williams	hero	Mattoon
Robin Williams CCS	comedian	Chicago
Robert L. Wilson	lawyer
Robert "Bob" Woodward CCS	investigative reporter	Geneva
Frank Lloyd Wright A	architect	Oak Park
William Wrigley Jr CCS	businessman	Chicago
Richard Yates CCS	governor
Brigham Young CCS	religious leader	Quincy
Robert Young	actor	Chicago
Billy Zane	actor	Chicago
Warren Zevon A	musician	Chicago
Florenz Ziegfeld A CCS	theatrical producer	Chicago