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)

Christopher Jones

American actor (1941–2014)

Hal Needham

American stunt performer and film director (1931-2013)

Lucille La Verne

American actress (1872–1945)

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