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.

1,743 famous people
96 Detroit places
21 fields

Hungarian ties 21 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →

9 people

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Press & broadcasting · 1948–1982Lester Bangsrock critic, editor, musicianLegendary rock critic who moved to Detroit in 1971 to edit Creem, called the city 'rock's only hope' and spent five wild years there.Moved hereDetroit career

Literature · 1913–2011Lilian Jackson Braunmystery novelist, newspaper editorCreator of The Cat Who… mysteries, who spent 30 years as the Detroit Free Press's Good Living editor and modeled her newspaperman hero on the Detroit press world.Moved hereDetroit career

Press & broadcasting · born 1976Nargiz Birk-Petersenlawyer, television presenter, modelAzerbaijani-American lawyer who co-hosted the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, after studying in Michigan and earning her law degree at Wayne State.Moved hereStudied here

Press & broadcasting · 1864–1949George Gough Boothnewspaper publisher, arts patronDetroit News publisher who, with his wife Ellen Scripps Booth, founded Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills and championed the Arts and Crafts movement in Detroit.Moved hereDetroit career

Press & broadcasting · 1902–1965Brace Beemerradio actor and announcerWXYZ announcer and the best-known radio voice of the Lone Ranger (1941–1954), who lived on a horse ranch in Oakland County and is buried in Troy.Moved hereDetroit career

Press & broadcasting · 1932–2014Bill Bondstelevision news anchor, reporterDetroit-born WXYZ Action News anchor whose blunt editorials, 1967 riot coverage and feud with Mayor Coleman Young made him the city's most famous newsman.Born hereGrew up here

Press & broadcasting · born 1945George Blahasports broadcasterDetroit-born play-by-play voice of the Detroit Pistons since 1976, the longest-serving broadcaster in the team's history.Born hereDetroit career

Press & broadcasting · 1891–1930Jerry Buckleyradio commentatorCorktown-born radio commentator who crusaded against crime and corruption and was shot dead in the LaSalle Hotel lobby hours after Detroit recalled its mayor in 1930.Born hereGrew up here

Film & TV · 1925–2003Rita Belltelevision host, singerDetroit-born host of WXYZ-TV's weekday-morning Prize Movie (1960–1977), billed as the first woman television broadcaster in Michigan.Born hereGrew up here

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 ↗

Famous Detroiters

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