Film & TV · born 1939Francis Ford Coppolafilm director, screenwriter, producerThe director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now was born at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and his middle name honors the city's most famous carmaker.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,912 famous people
- 135 Detroit places
- 8 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
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14 people
Clear filtersFilm & TV · born 1939Francis Ford Coppolafilm director, screenwriter, producerThe director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now was born at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and his middle name honors the city's most famous carmaker.
Film & TV · 1935–2019Seymour CasselactorOscar-nominated star of John Cassavetes's independent films and Wes Anderson favorite, who grew up in Detroit and started out building theater props there.
Music · 1937–2007Alice Coltranejazz pianist, harpist, composer, spiritual leaderDetroit-born pianist and harpist, a Cass Tech product who played the city's jazz clubs before joining and marrying John Coltrane and pioneering spiritual jazz.
Music · born 1937Ron Carterjazz double bassist, cellist, composerBorn in suburban Ferndale and trained at Detroit's Cass Tech, he became the most-recorded bassist in jazz history and anchored Miles Davis's 1960s quintet.
Music · 1935–1969Paul Chambersjazz double bassistHard-bop bassist raised in Detroit, trained at Cass Tech and by a Detroit Symphony bassist, who anchored Miles Davis's first great quintet.
Music · born 1934Aldo CeccatoconductorMilan-born conductor who was music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1973 to 1977 and added more than 45 works to its repertoire.
Politics · 1939–2021Barbara-Rose Collinspolitician, activistDetroit-born single mother turned activist who rose from the school board and City Council to become the first Black woman from Michigan elected to Congress (1991–1997).
Music · 1931–1991James Clevelandgospel singer, composer, arranger, choir directorChicago gospel giant who worked at Detroit's New Bethel Baptist Church under Rev. C. L. Franklin and founded the Gospel Music Workshop of America after a Detroit Sing-A-Rama.
Sports · 1933–1986Norm Cashbaseball player, first basemanFun-loving Tigers first baseman of 1960–1974 who won the 1961 batting title and was the first Tiger to hit a ball over Tiger Stadium's right-field roof.
Civil rights & activism · 1938–1989Kenneth Cockrel Sr.radical lawyer, community organizer, city councilmanMarxist lawyer and co-founder of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers who won landmark courtroom battles for poor Detroiters and sat on the City Council (1978–1982).The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗