I suppose any ranked list of the most famous entertainers born or raised in Kentucky would have to be subjective, although I bet a couple of Hollywood superstars would be pretty far up there.

Yep, I do mean George Clooney--born in Lexington, raised in Augusta--and Johnny Depp from right here in Owensboro.

But what about some of the rest of Kentucky's famous natives or famous former residents who went on to become entertainers in some shape, fashion, or form?

Let's start with the great actor, Ned Beatty, who played Lex Luthor's bumbling sidekick, Otis, in 1978's Superman; received an Oscar nomination for his role as a network executive in the great 1976 film Network; and became instantly famous because of one particularly disturbing scene in the particularly disturbing 1972 classic Deliverance.

There's legendary horror director John Carpenter, whose family moved to Bowling Green when he was a kid. It's why you'll hear so many familiar Bowling Green references--like street names and radio station frequencies--in his films Halloween and The Fog.

The late legendary singer and sometimes actress Rosemary Clooney, George's aunt, is from Maysville, which is where she is also buried.

Of course, we can't forget about Florence Henderson, co-grand marshal of the 2015 Owensboro Christmas Parade and a 1951 graduate of St. Francis Academy.

One of today's hottest actresses, Jennifer Lawrence, is from Louisville while her Hunger Games co-star Josh Hutcherson hales from Union, Kentucky. I'd always heard he was from Union County, but I can understand the confusion. Union's up near Cincinnati.

What's funny is that Hutcherson is a big UK fan while Lawrence is a huge U of L fan, so downtimes on set during Hunger Games shoots during basketball season were probably pretty fun.

Did you know the original Six Million Dollar Man (I say that, because a new big screen version is in the works) was raised in Kentucky and is a graduate of Eastern? Yep, that would be Lee Majors.

The actress Annie Potts of Designing Women and Ghostbusters (the original) fame grew up in Franklin, just south of Bowling Green.

And then you have Rumer Willis. And I find her story particularly interesting. Of course, she is the daughter of Hollywood superstars Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

The only reason Rumer is a native Kentuckian--she was born in Paducah--is because, in 1988, her dad, Bruce, was shooting a movie called In Country in the nearby Jackson Purchase area.

And, of course, a host of musicians come from the Bluegrass State including John Conlee, Billy Ray Cyrus, Jackie DeShannon, the Everly Brothers, Crystal Gayle, Tom T. Hall, Grandpa Jones, The Judds, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys, Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, John Michael Montgomery, Montgomery Gentry, Joan Osborne, Ricky Skaggs, Chris Stapleton, Keith Whitley, and Dwight Yoakam.

There are probably some I've forgotten, and there are so many MORE famous Kentuckians OUTSIDE the realm of entertainment, as well...most notably, Muhammad Ali, arguably the most famous sports figure of all time, who passed away this weekend.

 

 

More From WOMI-AM