Famous people's places / Bloomfield Hills
Cranbrook School
George Gough Booth's 1927 boarding school for boys, whose students included Mitt Romney, Daniel Ellsberg and novelist Edmund White.
01 / The story of this place
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George Gough Booth opened Cranbrook School as a private preparatory school for boys in 1927, part of the educational community he and his wife Ellen built around their Bloomfield Hills estate. Future Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney boarded and studied here from 1959 to 1965, and Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg attended in the 1940s before going on to Harvard. Actor Michael Moriarty attended middle school on the campus in the 1950s, and novelist Edmund White, an honors student from 1955 to 1958, wrote his first two novels while still a Cranbrook student. The school became coeducational in the 1980s as part of the wider Cranbrook Schools and continues to operate today as a college-preparatory day and boarding school.
- Opened in 1927 by George Gough Booth
- Mitt Romney boarded here from 1959 to 1965
- Daniel Ellsberg attended before Harvard, in the 1940s
- Novelist Edmund White wrote his first two novels here
- Now coeducational, part of the wider Cranbrook Schools
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 12
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Mitt Romney born 1947 · politician, businessman
Studied here
The private boys' preparatory school he attended from seventh grade, later boarding there.
- Elizabeth Berkley born 1972 · actress, dancer
Studied here
She took acting and singing classes here and made her stage debut as Snoopy in a Cranbrook Theatre production.
- Daniel Ellsberg 1931–2023 · military analyst, whistleblower, activist
Studied here
The private preparatory school he attended before going to Harvard.
- Edmund White 1940–2025 · novelist, memoirist, biographer, essayist
Studied here
The boarding school where he was an honors student and wrote his first two novels.
- Michael Moriarty born 1941 · actor, jazz pianist, composer
Studied here
Private school on the Cranbrook campus where he attended middle school.
- Bill Prady born 1960 · television writer and producer
Studied here
Prady graduated from the Cranbrook prep school in Bloomfield Hills.
- Scott McNealy born 1954 · technology executive, co-founder of Sun Microsystems
Studied here
He graduated from this private school on the Cranbrook campus designed by Eliel Saarinen.
- Chase Sui Wonders born 1996 · actress, director, screenwriter
Studied here
The private schools on the Cranbrook Educational Community campus, a National Historic Landmark, which Wonders attended.
- William Talman 1915–1968 · actor
Studied here
Boys' school on the Cranbrook campus designed by Eliel Saarinen; Talman founded its drama club.
- Charles Bigelow born 1945 · type designer, type historian
Studied here
The Saarinen-designed boys' school he attended.
- Thomas McGuane born 1939 · novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter
Studied here
The boarding school he attended as a teenager.
- Michael Kinsley born 1951 · political journalist, editor, commentator
Studied here
The private school he attended before Harvard.
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Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
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