Notable People from Tennessee

Besse Cooper

American supercentenarian (1896–2012)

Machine Gun Kelly

American gangster (1895/1900–1954)

Kitty Wells

American country music singer (1919–2012)

Horace McCoy

American writer (1897–1955)

Roy Acuff

American country music singer and fiddler (1903-1992)

Hattie Caraway

United States Senator from Arkansas and first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, first woman to preside over the senate, first woman to chair a senate committee, and first woman to preside over a senate hearing (1878–1950)

Howard Baker

American politician and diplomat (1925–2014)

Elizabeth Bolden

American supercentenarian (1890–2006)

Memphis Slim

American recording artist; blues pianist, singer, and composer (1915–1988)

Jobyna Ralston

American actress (1899-1967)

Lane Smith

American actor (1936-2005)

Peter Hardeman Burnett

American judge, governor of California, slave owner (1807–1895)

Hal Needham

American stunt performer and film director (1931-2013)

Lucille La Verne

American actress (1872–1945)

Christopher Jones

American actor (1941–2014)

William Wilson Morgan

American astronomer (1906–1994)

Eddy Arnold

American country music singer, songwriter (1918–2008)

Randall Jarrell

poet, critic, novelist, essayist (1914–1965)

Brent Renaud

American documentary filmmaker and journalist (1971–2022)

Jack Daniel

American distiller and founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey distillery. (1850–1911)

Leroy Carr

American blues singer, songwriter and pianist (1905–1935)

John B. Calhoun

American ethologist and behavioral researcher (1917–1995)

Walter Lang

American film director (1896–1972)

Bill Byrge

American actor (1932–2025)

Bruce Fairchild Barton

American author, politician and advertising executive (1886-1967)

Claude Jarman, Jr.

American actor (1934–2025)

Sam Rayburn

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1955-1961), American politician (1882–1961)

Wink Martindale

American disc jockey, radio personality, game show host, and television producer

John Crowe Ransom

American poet (1888–1974)

Estes Kefauver

American politician (1903–1963)

Katherine Rawls

American swimmer, diver, Olympic silver medalist, aviator (1917-1982)

John Seigenthaler

American journalist, writer, and political figure (1927-2014)

Alex Chilton

American musician (1950–2010)

Pat Summitt

American basketball player and coach (1952–2016)

Mary Katharine Brandegee

American botanist (1844-1920)

Mary Engle Pennington

American bacteriological chemist and refrigeration engineer (1872-1952)

Josiah McCracken

American football player, athlete and professor of medicine (1874-1962)

Alberta Hunter

American blues singer, songwriter, and nurse (1895-1984)

Sonny Boy Williamson I

American blues musician (1914–1948)

Edwin Starr

American singer and songwriter (1942–2003)

Olivia Cole

American actress (1942–2018)

John Ross

1st principal chief of the Cherokee Nation

John Bell

American lawyer and politician (1796–1869)

John Rogan

second tallest person ever recorded (1868–1905)

Maude Fealy

American actress (1883–1971)

Lil Hardin Armstrong

American jazz musician (1898-1971)

Albert Gore Sr.

American politician from Tennessee (1907–1998)

Fred McDowell

American blues musician (1904–1972)

Cornelia Fort

American aviator