As we all know there are many famous and notable people who were born in California. However, there are many that I never realized were from California. Those are the notables you will be reading about here. I was completely amazed, shocked, and saddened by the life of Robert Frost who I did a bit of research on. Though he was extremely successful professionally, he lived through much sadness and death. I am amazed at people like that who can pull through regardless of how sad life can get. There are many extremely successful people who were born in California. Here are the most notable ones.
Robert Frost
One of the best poets to ever exist! Robert Lee Frost was born March 26, 1874, in San Francisco. During his lifetime he received not one, but 4 Pulitzer Prizes. He lived one of the most interesting and painful lives I have ever seen. He lost his father when he was only 11, his mother in 1900, and in 1920 he had to commit his younger sister to a mental hospital where she died nine years later. Both Robert and his mother suffered from depression. His daughter Irma, was committed to a mental hospital in 1947. He had six children. His son Carol committed suicide (1902-1940), and daughter Marjorie (1905-1934) died after childbirth of puerperal fever. And daughter Elinor Bettina died three days after birth in 1907. Only Lesley and Irma outlived their father. And yet, with all that he lived through he will still a great success. Isn’t that amazing?!
Joe DiMaggio
The famous baseball center fielder was born in Martinez, California, in 1914. He made his Major Leagure Baseball debut for the New York Yankees on the 30the of September in 1936. He was also a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and was a 3-time MVP winner and 13-time All Star. He was also the only player to be selected for the All-Star Game in every season he played. His record from 1941 still stands, and he was best known for his 56-game hitting streak. In 1969, he was named baseball’s greatest living player. He died in Hollywood, on the 8th of March in 1999, he was 84.
The famous singer and guitarist was born in San Francisco in 1942. He died in Forest Knolls, California. He was extremely famous especially with his psychedelic rock band the Grateful Dead. He was viewed as the leader of the band though he often disavowed the role. He also released solo albums and contributed to other artists as a session musician. Music was a major success for him as he could play guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and could sing vocals. At various times in his life he was also a member of the bands the Black Mountain Boys, Legions of Mary, Reconstruction, and the Jerry Garcia Band.
Robert Redford
This famous actor was born in Santa Monica, California, in 1936. He even attended Van Nuys High School on Los Angeles, where he met Natalie Wood. He graduated in 1954, and received a baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado. Laste he studied painting and took theatrical classes in New York. He has worked on stage and on television. He is laregely successful having appeared in films like The Great Gatsby, War Hunt, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Jeremiah Johnson, The Candidate, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, The Hot Rock, The Sting, Ordinary People, and many other films. He has been both star and director behind the camera. He has won awards like Oscar, and holds many other achievements that have occurred in his career. He even founded the Sundance Festival, Sundance Institute, Sundance Cinemas, Sundance Catalog, and the Sundance channel, all around Utah. He also owns a restaurant called Zoom, located in a former mining town of Park City. He is deeply involved in independent films. In his personal life he has three children and one who he lost in 1959. He also has five grandchildren. He has also made many political contributions to the Democrats or other special interest groups.
Jeff Gordon.
This very famous race car driver was born in Vallejo. He has received endless achievements in his racing career. He has also won awards including being listed as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers. He will be inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, in 2009. By the age of 6 he had already won 35 main events and set five track records. his family moved to Indiana in order to help support his career. Since then, he has been very successful.
Shirley Temple Black
This famous child actress was born in Santa Monica, California. Her birth name is Shirley Jane Temple and she was born on the 23rd of April in 1928. She was a huge icon and star and had an active career from 1932-1961. During the Great Depression she became the top grossing star at the box-office. Her fame bursted to amazing levels when she was just six years old. Isn’t that amazing? She was working as early as the age of 5! She has three children. Shirley is an Academy Award winning actress who became a United States ambassador and diplomat, as an adult. The world would have been a very different place without Shirley. She has made endless films and had an extremely successful career. She performed in films with the likes of Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Grover Cleveland, John Wayne, Buddy Epsen, Lionel Barrymore, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, James Dunn, and many others.
There are so many other famous people from California, but I could not include them all in the detailed list.
Other notable California folks include Tiger Woods, John Steinbeck, George S. Patton, Jr., Mark McGwire, Isadora Duncan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Coolio, Juila Child, William Saroyan, Serena and Venus Williams, Myra Wilson, William Randolph Hurst, Charles P. Ginsburg, Richard M. Nixon, Sidney Howard, John Fremont, George Lucas, Theodore Harold Maiman. Famous Californians have had amazing jobs as Astronaut, Golfer, Author, Actor, Inventor, President, sports star, Publisher, Explorer, Playwright, Singer, Musician, Journalist, and many other professions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost
www.wikipedia.com – All additional research was found here.
