Montana Famous People

Famous Americans: History and Biographies

Montana Famous People: Greeting from MontanaLinks to histories and biographies of the famous people of Montana. Many famous people of Montana have made significant contributions to the history of our nation and the state of Montana. These famous Americans, famous entertainers, famous players, famous scientist, famous singers, famous statesmen, famous women, heroes, great explorers, and others Montana famous Americans have all made Montana their home. This list includes Montana historical figures, celebrities and those individuals of Montana who have influenced the lives of others.

Famous People from Montana

  • Dorothy Baker (April 21, 1907- June 17, 1968) was an American novelist. She was born Dorothy Dodds in Missoula, Montana and raised in California..
  • Dirk Benedict (born Dirk Niewoehner on March 1, 1945) is an American movie, television and stage actor, perhaps best known for playing the characters Lieutenant Templeton "The Faceman" Peck in The A-Team television series and Lieutenant Starbuck in the original Battlestar Galactica film and television series. He was born in Helena, Montana, and grew up in White Sulphur Springs, Montana.
  • Frank James "Gary"Cooper (May 7 1901 - May 13 1961) was born in Helena, Montana. He was an American film actor and iconic star. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made. His career spanned from 1925 until shortly before his death, and comprised more than one hundred films.
  • Marcus Daly (December 5, 1841 - November 12, 1900), was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, U.S. Daly founded his fortune on the Anaconda Copper Mine in Butte, Montana, which he bought with money from various backers, including George Hearst (father of William Randolph Hearst) in 1880. Daly was active in Montana politics throughout the 1890s and also founded the town of Anaconda, Montana, near his smelter.
  • Alfred Bertram Guthrie (January 13, 1901 - April 26, 1991) was an American novelist, historian, and literary historian who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1950 for his The Way West. The author called himself "Bud" because he felt that Alfred Bertram "was a sissy name."
  • Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945 in Deer Lodge, Montana) is a former American professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His reputation was established as head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 through 1998; during his tenure, Chicago won six NBA titles. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won three consecutive NBA titles from 2000-2002. In total, Jackson has won 9 NBA titles as a coach, a record shared with Red Auerbach.
  • Will James (1892 - 1942) artist and writer of the American West, was born Joseph Ernest Nephtali Dufault, June 6, 1892 in Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Quebec, Canada. It was during his creative years everyone grew to know him as Will James. His later years were spent on his ranch at Pryor Creek, Montana and at his Billings, Montana home on Smoky Lane. Will witnessed movies made from his books and his fame grew.
  • Robert James Johnson (born July 22, 1983 in Butte, Montana) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Seattle Mariners. He attended Butte Central Catholic High School (graduated 2001) and played for the local American Legion team (Montana is the only state to not include baseball on a High School level). Johnson attended Saddleback Junior College (CA) and was named MVP of the Orange Empire League in 2003. In 2003, he attended the University of Houston before hew as drafted by the by the Seattle Mariners in 4th round (123rd overall) of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft.
  • Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938 - Friday, November 30, 2007), better known as the Evel Knievel, was an American motorcycle daredevil, an entertainer famous in the United States and elsewhere between the late 1960s and early 1980s. Knievel's nationally televised motorcycle jumps, including his 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls, Idaho, represent four of the twenty most-watched ABC's Wide World of Sports events to date. His achievements and failures, including his record 37 broken bones, earned him several entries in the Guinness Book of World Records.
  • Robert Edward "Kaptain" Knievel (born May 7, 1962 in Butte, Montana) is an American daredevil and son of the legendary daredevil Evel Knievel. Robbie Knievel holds many of the world records for motorcycle jumping. He has actually broke many of his fathers records in regards to motorcycle stunts
  • Gerald Louis "Jerry" Kramer (born January 23, 1936, in Jordan, Montana) is a former professional football player, author and sports commentator, best remembered for his 11-year NFL career with the Green Bay Packers as an offensive lineman. As a 6'3", 250 lb. right guard, #64 was an integral part of the famous "Packer Sweep", a signature play in which both guards rapidly pull out from their normal positions and lead-block for the running back going around the end. Kramer was an All-Pro five times, and a member of the NFL's 50th anniversary team in 1969, but surprisingly, even after appearing on the list of finalists ten times since becoming eligible, has not been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In the Top Ten countdown of the NFL Network he was rated #1 as the top ten players that aren't in the Hall of Fame
  • Chester Robert "Chet" Huntley (1911 - 1974) TV newscaster; born in Cardwell.
  • David Lynch (1946 - ) Filmmaker; born in Missoula.
  • Myrna LoyMyrna Loy - (August 2, 1905 - December 14, 1993) was born Myrna Adele Williams in Radersburg, Montana (near Helena) to Adelle Mae and rancher David Franklin Williams. She was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, but after a few minor roles in silent films, she devoted herself fully to an acting career, and from 1925 gradually established herself as a film actress. Typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp, Loy's career prospects improved following her performance as Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934). Her successful pairing with William Powell resulted in fourteen films together, including subsequent Thin Man films
  • David Arthur "Dave" McNally (October 31, 1942-December 1, 2002) was born in Billings. He was a Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher from 1962 until 1975. He was signed by the Baltimore Orioles and played with them every year but his last one with the Montreal Expos.

    McNally has the unique distinction as the only pitcher in Major League history to have hit a grand slam and thereby win his own game in the World Series (1970). His bat is in the National Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, NY.
  • George Montgomery (August 29, 1916 - December 12, 2000) was an American painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman who is best known as an actor in western style film and television.
  • Jeannette Rankin (1880 - 1973) born in Missoula, Montana, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman to serve in either house of the United States Congress. She was elected in 1916, a time when most states did not even permit women to vote. While serving as a member of Congress, she introduced legislation in support of government sponsored prenatal and child-care education for women. Her decision to vote against US entry into World War I and World II, particularly after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, ended her political career.
  • Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926) Charles Marion Russell was many things: consummate Westerner, historian, advocate of the Northern Plains Indians, cowboy, outdoorsman, writer, philosopher, environmentalist and conservationist, and not least, artist. Moved to the Judith Basin of Montana in 1880.

More Famous People of Montana

Find more more Montana famous people below. You may not even realize many of these famous people were born in Montana or notable associated with Montana, including actors, actresses, explorers, historical figures, inventors, musicians, novelists, professional athletes, important politicians, singers, sport stars and more.

US Famous People
US Famous People
Learn history through the biographies of the famous people from your state.