Rich, famous and from your neighborhood

James Dean
Marion
Before starring in movies such as “East of Eden,” “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant,” the King of Cool was born and raised in Marion. Dean died in a car accident Sept. 30, 1955, at the age of 24 in California.

(1) Michael Jackson
Gary
Michael, along with the rest of the Jackson family, grew up in Gary. The Jackson 5 got its start by touring the Midwest in the early days of Motown.

(2) David Letterman
Indianapolis
Late night talk show king David Letterman grew up on the north side of Indianapolis and attended Broad Ripple High School before going to Ball State in Muncie. The David Letterman Communication and Media Building on the Ball State campus has a dedication plaque signed by Letterman that reads “Dedicated to all ‘C’ students before and after me!”

Orville Redenbacher
Brazil, Ind.
Redenbacher grew up on a farm in Brazil, Ind., where he would sell popcorn by the side of the road. He went to Purdue but became famous for selling popcorn with his unusual name and wholesome likeness.

Abraham Lincoln
Ill., Ind., Ky.
Many places in the Midwest claim our 16th president. Indiana has the Lincoln Boyhood Home just off U.S. 231, Kentucky has the Lincoln birthplace about 45 miles south of Louisville and Illinois has his home and law offices in Springfield.

Ronald Reagan
Tampico, Ill.
Reagan was born and raised in rural Illinois. He attended Eureka College outside of Peoria, Ill. The 40th president started his career as an announcer for the University of Iowa football team, a radio station in Des Moines, Iowa, and eventually the Chicago Cubs.

(3) John Wayne
Winterset, Iowa
Born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907, The Duke’s family moved to California when he was very young. As a teenager he shod horses for Hollywood movies.

Ringling Bros.
Baraboo, Wis.
Albert, August, Otto, Alfred, Charles, John and Henry Ringling founded a circus in 1884 in Barbaboo, Wis. They began traveling around the country by the late 1880s and soon became known as “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

(4) Bob Seger
Dearborn, Mich.
Bob Seger grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he became a local favorite both in the Ann Arbor and Detroit music scenes. Seger still lives in the suburbs of Detroit.

(5) Jerry Springer
Cincinnati
Daytime TV host Jerry Springer was born in England but moved to New York after World War II. He worked for a law firm in Cincinnati after graduating from Northwestern University and served one year as mayor of Cincinnati in 1977.

Amelia Earhart
Atchison, Kan.
The famed female pilot was born and raised in Kansas but went to school at Columbia University in New York City. Earhart became a member of the Purdue University aviation department in 1935, where she planned her fateful round-the-world attempt of 1937.

Rush Limbaugh
Cape Girardeau, Mo.
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh hails from southeastern Missouri. He attended Southeastern Missouri State University and got his start on local radio in Cape Girardeau, Mo.