Notable Rhode Islanders

Notable Rhode Islanders

From Amazing Royal Crowns to Eddie Zack, Rhode Islanders flavor the world!

Hollywood Walk of Fame Star inscribed 'Rhode Island'
(Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Generator).

We'll claim 'em as one of our own if they 1) were born in Rhode Island, 2) spent a significant portion of their lives in Rhode Island, or 3) made or enhanced their reputations in Rhode Island. Beyond that, we have our own obscure and arbitrary criteria that embraces murderers, embezzlers, and rogues as much as doctors, philanthropists, and heroes.

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Last Edited
2022-02-04

Pasquale "Pat"/"Doc" J. Abbruzzi

b. August 29, 1932, Warren
d. June 3, 1998, Boston, Massachusetts

Pat Abbruzzi in Montreal Alouettes uniform
(Wikipedia).

Abbruzzi was an American college and professional Canadian football running back, and a successful high school football coach at his alma mater, Warren High School.

Abbruzzi earned an impressive list of awards and honors during his lifetime and after, including:

  • 1952-'54, New England All-Star
  • 1955, Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player
  • 1972, University of Rhode Island Athletic Hall of Fame
  • 1976, Rhode Island Football Coaches Hall of Fame
  • 1998, Warren Athletic Hall of Fame
  • 2002, Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame
  • 2005, Rhode Island Interscholastic League Hall of Fame
  • Sons of Italy Athletic Hall of Fame

Last Edited
2020-11-06

Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich

b. November 6, 1841, Foster
d. April 16, 1915, New York, New York

Engraving of Nelson W. Aldrich
(The Providence Plantations for 250 Years by Welcome Arnold Greene (1886)).

Republican U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (1881-1911) who earned the honorary title "General Manager of the Nation" for substantial contributions to national tariff and monetary policies during his tenure.

Aldrich was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1972.

Last Edited
2020-03-17

George B. Allen Sr.

b. August 16, 1939, Quincy, Massachusetts
d. November 16, 2010, Barrington

George Allen headshot
(newbedfordguide.com).

Allen was a radio and TV personality best known for hosting "Dialing for Dollars" from 1979 to 1993 on WLNE out of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Last Edited
2022-11-16

James K. and Ezra Allen

b. 1824 and 1840
d. 1897 and 1917

Ezra and James Allen photo
Ezra (left) and James (right). The center man is unidentified. (riahof.org).

These Barrington brothers were pioneers of balloon aviation. James undertook the first balloon ascension in Rhode Island in 1856, and both brothers served with distinction as aeronauts in the Civil War. James and Ezra were inducted into the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame in 2003, and James was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2006.

Last Edited
2020-04-18

Amazing Royal Crowns

aka Amazing Crowns
formed 1993, Providence

Amazing Royal Crowns album cover, 1997
Cover of ARC's self-titled 1997 album. (discogs.com).

A locally-famous punkabilly outfit.

Last Edited
2020-05-08

American Burying Beetle aka Nicrophorus americanus

American Burying Beetle, (Andrew Butko/Wikipedia).
A specimen on display in Saint Petersburg Zoology Museum, Russia. (Andrew Butko/Wikipedia).

Although it once ranged from Nova Scotia to Florida, the American Burying Beetle's last native population east of the Mississippi is now found only on Block Island. The inch-long insect was added to the Endangered Species list in 1989, and in the early 1990s a successful program to breed and reintroduce the beetles to selected habitats was initiated at Roger Williams Park Zoo.

Last Edited
2020-05-23

Gianna Amore

b. April 5, 1968, Warwick

Gianna Amore, (listal.com).
(listal.com).

This Warwick native was Playboy's Miss August 1989.

Last Edited
2020-06-18

Peter Anders

b. Peter Andreoni, April 28, 1941, Providence

Anders and Poncia, (peteranders.net).
Anders and Poncia, (peteranders.net).

Anders was one-half of the Providence-based songwriting team of Anders and Poncia. They had minor hits with "Mr. Lonely" (The Vidals, #73, 1960), "New York's a Lonely Town" (The Trade Winds, #32, 1965), "Mind Excursion" (The Trade Winds, #51, 1966), "There's Got to Be a Word!" (The Innocence, #34, 1966), and "Mairzy Doats" (The Innocence, #75, 1967). The pair, who broke up in 1969, also wrote songs for The Ronettes and The Crystals.

Anders was inducted into the Rhode Island Songwriters Association Hall of Fame in 1997, and Anders and Poncia were inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Last Edited
2020-08-03

Harry Laverne Anderson

b. October 14, 1952, Newport
d. April 16, 2018, Asheville, North Carolina

Harry Anderson, (sitcomsonline.com).
(sitcomsonline.com).

Magician turned actor (Night Court (1984-'92), Dave's World (1993-'97)). Anderson lived in at least a dozen states by the time he was seventeen, so his connection to Rhode Island is basically restricted to a brief period following his birth.

Last Edited
2020-06-30

David Lawrence Angell

b. April 10, 1946, Providence
d. September 11, 2001, New York City

David Angell, (Wikipedia).
(Wikipedia).

Barrington-raised Angell penned scripts for Archie Bunker's Place and Cheers and, with his producing partners, created shows like Wings and Frasier. Together the team won twenty-four Emmy Awards from a total of thirty-seven nominations. David Angell and his wife, Lynn, died when their Los Angeles-bound plane was flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

David Angell was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2003.

Last Edited
2020-07-10

James Burrill Angell

b. January 7, 1829, Scituate
d. April 1, 1916, Ann Arbor, Michigan

James Burrill Angell, 100 Years of the Providence Journal, 1929.
(100 Years of the Providence Journal, July 23, 1929).

Editor of the Providence Journal, 1860-'66; President of the University of Vermont, 1866-'71; President of the University of Michigan, 1871-1909; U.S. Minister to China, 1880-'81; U.S. Minister to Turkey, 1897-'98.

Angell was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2008.

Last Edited
2020-08-14

James Newell Arnold

b. August 3, 1844, Cranston
d. September 18, 1927, Providence

James Newell Arnold, Providence Public Library, undated.
(James N. Arnold Collection, Rhode Island Collection, Providence Public Library).

Arnold was a collector of historical and genealogical data, and by the time of his death had published twenty-one volumes of The Vital Record of Rhode Island (1636-1850). His transcriptions of gravestones from 1,500 cemeteries are the basis of the Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Database.

Arnold was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2007.

Last Edited
2020-11-06

Avi

b. Edward Irving Wortis, December 23, 1937, New York City, New York.

Avi, (knowledgequest.aasl.org/Katherine Ward).
(knowledgequest.aasl.org/Katherine Ward).

Avi is the popular author of more than seventy-five books for children and young adults, including Something Upstairs and Finding Providence: the Story of Roger Williams. Avi lived in Providence from 1987 to 1997.

Last Edited
2020-07-18

Natalie Babbitt

b. July 28, 1932, Dayton, Ohio
d. November 1, 2016, Hamden, Connecticut, of lung cancer.

Natalie Babbitt headshot.
(Wikipedia).

Babbitt was an author and illustrator of children's books, most notably Tuck Everlasting (1975), which has twice been made into a movie. She and her husband, Sam, lived for a time just off Benefit Street in Providence.

Last Edited
2021-03-10

Rocco Dan Baldelli

b. September 25, 1981, Woonsocket

Rocco Baldelli baseball card.
(alchetron.com).

Baldelli was an outfielder and designated hitter for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Boston Red Sox from 2001 to 2010, when medical problems forced his early retirement at age 29. Early in his career, he earned the nickname "The Woonsocket Rocket" because of his size and speed.

Baldelli was inducted into the Rhode Island Italian-American Hall of Fame in 2004.

Last Edited
2021-06-14

Sullivan Ballou

b. March 28, 1829, in "the outlands of Providence" (Smithfield)
d. July 29, 1861, Manassas, Virginia, of a wound from a cannonball

Sullivan Ballou engraving.
(The Providence Plantations for 250 Years by Welcome Arnold Greene (1886)).

Ballou was a major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers during the Civil War. He is perhaps best known today for his moving battlefield letter to his wife, Sarah, used to good effect in Ken Burns' documentary, The Civil War.

Last Edited
2021-09-14

George Bancroft

b. October 3, 1800, Worcester, Massachusetts
d. January 17, 1891, Washington, D.C.

George Bancroft photo.
(Wikipedia).

Historian (The History of the United States (1834–'74)) and statesman (United States Secretary of the Navy, 1845-'46; United States Minister to the United Kingdom, 1846-'49). In the later years of his life he summered at Rose Cliff, forerunner of the current Rosecliff mansion, in Newport. The property was named for the American Beauty roses that Bancroft was fond of cultivating.

Bancroft was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1984.

Last Edited
2022-04-28

Joseph Michael Banigan

b. June 7, 1839, County Monaghan, Ireland
d. July 28, 1898, Providence

Joseph Banigan portrait
(Brown University portrait collection).

Irish-born businessman and industrialist, co-founder of the U.S. Rubber Company and its president from 1893 to 1896, and a prime benefactor of Rhode Island's Catholic churches.

Banigan was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2005.

Last Edited
2022-05-18

Edward Mitchell Bannister

b. November 1828, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
d. January, 9, 1901, Providence, of a heart attack

Edward Bannister photo
(Wikipedia).

Bannister was a black painter of mostly pastoral subjects who, in 1870, moved to Providence, where he was one of the founders of the Providence Art Club and served on the board of the Rhode Island School of Design. Largely forgotten after his death, his legacy was resurrected during the civil rights movement of the 1970s.

Edward Bannister was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1976.

Last Edited
2022-05-19

Marvin Jerome "Bad News" Barnes

b. July 27, 1952, Providence
d. September 8, 2014, Providence

Marvin Barnes photo
(nasljerseys.com).

Barnes was a tremendously talented basketball player who played for Central High School and Providence College before going on to a professional career with several teams from 1974 to 1986. He co-holds (with MarShon Brooks) PC's single-game scoring record of fifty-two points, and was named American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1975. His nickname, "Bad News," stems from his numerous violations of the law, including attempted robbery of a bus (while wearing a state championship jacket with his name on it), and assault of a teammate with a tire iron.

Last Edited
2022-05-19

Michael Ray "Mike" Barrowman

b. December 4, 1968, Asunción, Paraguay

Michael Barrowman photo
(Team USA, U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), 1988).

This former member of the Cumberland-Lincoln Boys Club (where he set several Rhode Island and New England youth records), earned a gold medal for the 200-meter breaststroke in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. He broke the world record for that event six times, holding the record for more than thirteen years.

Barrowman was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1997, the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame in 2000, and the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2004.

Last Edited
2022-05-20

William Barton

b. May 26, 1748, Warren
d. October 22, 1831

William Barton engraving
(The Providence Plantations for 250 Years by Welcome Arnold Greene (1886)).

William Barton was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. On the night of July 10-11, 1777, Major Barton led a raid on British headquarters at Overing Farm in Portsmouth, during which he captured British Major General Richard Prescott.

Barton was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1999.

Last Edited
2022-05-24

Elizabeth Lyon Beisel

b. August 18, 1992, South Kingstown

Elizabeth Beisel photo
(Facebook, October 1, 2021).

Olympic swimmer from Saunderstown who took home silver in the 400-meter individual medley, and bronze in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Between 2009 and 2014 Beisel won a total of nine medals in major international competition.

On September 25, 2021, Beisel completed a swim from Matunuck to Block Island in about five-and-a-half hours. She's thought to be the first woman to perform the feat.

Last Edited
2022-05-26

Brenda Bennett, nee Brenda Mosher

b. 1952, Warwick

Apollonia 6 photo
Apollonia 6; Apollonia Kotero, Brenda Bennett, and Susan Moonsie, circa 1984. (discogs.org).

Brenda Bennett began her recording career in 1973 singing with Rhode Island band Ken Lyon and Tombstone. In the early '80s she was a member of the Prince protegé bands Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6, and appeared in the movie Purple Rain. It's her voice singing the "Oh-ooo-woh"s in the chorus of the Bangles hit "Manic Monday." More recently, she released solo albums in 2011, (A Capella), and 2020, (Once Again). She resides in Jamestown.

Bennett was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

Official website

Last Edited
2022-05-26

Robert Howard "Bob" Bennett

b. August 9, 1919, Providence
d. December 13, 1974

Robert Bennett photo
(olympedia.org).

Olympian. Graduated from Brown University in 1948, and the same year won a bronze medal in the hammer throw at the London Olympics. He returned to Brown in 1954 as assistant track coach.

Bennett was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968.

Last Edited
2022-05-27

George Berkeley

b. March 12, 1685, County Kilkenny, Ireland
d. January 14, 1753, Oxford, England

Berkeley portrait by Smybert, 1727
Portrait of Bishop George Berkeley by John Smybert (1727). (Wikipedia Commons).

Berkeley was an Anglican Bishop and a philosopher. He lived in Middletown (then part of Newport) from 1729 to 1731 at a plantation he called Whitehall, the main house of which still stands and is open to the public. During his brief sojourn in Rhode Island, he wrote a book (Alciphron), gave sermons at Trinity and St Paul's Churches, and founded the Philosophical Society in Newport, a precursor to the Redwood Library.

Berkeley was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1998.

Last Edited
2022-05-30

Maximilian Delhinus Berlitz

b. David Berlizheimer, April 14, 1852, Muhringen, Germany
d. April 6, 1921, New York City, New York

Portrait of Maximilian Berlitz
(Wikimedia)

Linguist and founder of the Berlitz Language Schools, the first of which he established in Providence in 1878. The Berlitz Method teaches language through immersion rather than focusing on grammar or strict translation.

Berlitz was Inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2007.

Last Edited
2019-07-30

Joseph Anthony "Joe B" Bevilacqua, Sr.

b. December 1, 1918, Providence
d. June 21, 1989, Boston, Massachusetts

Headshot of Joseph Bevilacqua Sr., 1976
(Rhode Island Report on the Judiciary, 1976/Wikipedia).

Bevilacqua entered political life in 1955, serving as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. He rose to the positions of majority leader in 1966 and Speaker in 1969, then was elected Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court in 1976. But then a 1984 Providence Journal investigation brought to light Bevilacqua's deep and long-standing ties to organized crime, which lead to impeachment proceedings and his resignation in 1986.

Last Edited
2020-06-01

Nadia Alexandra Bjorlin

b. August 2, 1980, Newport

Nadia Bjorlin photo
(IMDB).

Actress, singer, and model; has played Chloe Lane on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives since 1999.

Last Edited
2022-06-20

William Blackstone aka William Blaxton

b. March 5, 1595, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England
d. May 26, 1675, Lonsdale, Lincoln/Cumberland

William Blackstone depiction
(IMDB).

Clergyman; first European settler in what is now Boston (1623), and later, he became Rhode Island's first settler as well (1635).

Blackstone was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1995.

Last Edited
2022-06-20

Wesoly Bolek

b. William J. Borek, July 19, 1941, Woonsocket
d. May 13, 2006, Hollywood, Florida, after a long battle with cancer

Wesoly Bolek Wild Polkas album cover
(rateyourmusic.com).

Rhode Island's "Polka Clown" formed the Wesoly Bolek band in 1958 and toured the United States, Canada, and Poland for the next five decades. During that time the band recorded ten albums of full-tilt polka music. Bolek was inducted into the International Polka Hall of Fame in 2008.

Last Edited
2022-06-27

Augustus Osborn Bourn

b. October 1, 1834, Providence
d. January 28, 1925, Bristol

Augustus Bourne photo
(History of Providence County, Rhode Island, edited by Richard M. Bayles, 1920).

Bourne was a pioneer in the manufacture of rubber goods and founder of the National Rubber Company in Bristol, a state representative (1876-'83, 1886-'88), governor (1885-'87), and U.S. consul general to Italy (1889-'93). Bourne was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2005.

Last Edited
2022-06-28

E. Doris Brennan

married name E. Doris Weir
b. May 10, 1921, Providence
d. October 13, 1988, Warwick

E. Doris Brennan photo
(goterriers.com).

According to the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, Brennan "held twenty national or world records in swimming during the late 1930s and early 1940s. She was named to the U.S. Olympic Team in 1940 [the first all-female Olympic swim team], but the Games, scheduled to be held in London, were canceled because of the outbreak of World War II." She was a native of Providence, and later in life taught at Classical High School and the University of New Hampshire. As Building Committee Chairperson, she was instrumental in the construction of McDermott Pool in Warwick.

Brennan was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968, and was a charter member of the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1981.

Last Edited
2022-07-02

Salty Brine

b. Walter Leslie Brian, August 8, 1918, Boston, Massachusetts
d. November 2, 2004, Narragansett

Salty Brine headshot
(original source not known).

For over half a century, Brine was a cheerful and comforting presence on local radio and television. He helmed WPRO's morning show from 1942 to 1993 and was the popular host of Channel 12's children's show, Salty's Shack, from 1958 to 1968.

Brine was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1979; Galilee State Beach was re-named for him in 1990; and he was inducted into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame in 2008.

Related link: Flogging the Collective Memory: Salty Brine

Last Edited
2022-07-03

Ellison Myers "Tarzan" Brown

aka Deerfoot
b. September 22, 1913, Westerly
d. August 23, 1975, fatally struck by a van in the parking lot of the Wreck Bar, Misquamicut, Westerly

Tarzan Brown photo
(runningpast.com).

Narragansett marathoner; two-time winner of the Boston Marathon (1936 and 1939), participant in the 1936 Olympics. The Boston Marathon's "Heartbreak Hill" is named for an incident in which Brown left a competitor in the dust.

Brown was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968.

Last Edited
2022-07-04

Joseph Brown

b. December 3, 1733, Providence
d. December 3, 1785, Providence

Joseph Brown's transit of Venus telescope
Telescope purchased by Joseph Brown in 1765 in anticipation of the 1769 transit of venus. (Collection of Brown University).

Second of the four surviving sons of James Brown II, and the most intellectually curious. In 1769 he took part in observations of the transit of Venus across the sun. Transit Street in Providence is named for the event.

Brown was the architect of several of Providence's landmark buildings, including Brown University's University Hall, Market House, the First Baptist Meeting House, and John Brown House.

The private residence he designed in 1774 still stands at 50 South Main Street in Providence. From 1801-1926 it housed the Providence National Bank.

Brown was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1999.

Last Edited
2022-11-13

Moses Brown

b. September 23, 1738, Providence
d. September 6, 1836, Providence

Moses Brown portrait
(Wikipedia).

Youngest of the four surviving sons of James Brown II. He and his brothers co-founded the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, later known as Brown University in 1764. He also founded the New England Yearly Meeting School in 1784, which later became known as the Moses Brown School.

Like his father and brothers, Moses spent the beginning of his adult life engaging in the economic and political life of the Colony, but following a disasterous 1764 slaving expedition, in which more than half of enslaved Africans perished, he began to withdraw from business in general and the slave trade in particular. In 1774 he became a Quaker and directed a great deal of his energies toward the abolition of slavery.

Brown was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1999.

Last Edited
2022-11-16

Claus von Bulow

b. Claus Cecil Borberg, August 11, 1926, Copenhagen, Denmark
d. May 25, 2019, London, England

Claus von Bulow headshot
(IMDB).

Bulow was one of the world's most famous and cultured accused murderers. He was tried in 1982 for the attempted murder of his wife, Sunny, and found guilty. A second trial in 1985 came to the opposite conclusion. Bulow lived at Clarendon Court in Newport from around 1970 to 1987, when he returned to Europe.

Last Edited
2022-06-27

Michael Buonanno

b. late twentieth century, Warwick

Michael Buonanno screenshot
(IMDB).

Buonanno had his butt waxed in episode 5 (aired November 6, 2007) of A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila, only to be eliminated and sent back home to Warwick.

But don't feel too bad for him, because although he's described on Shot of Love as a "pizza delivery guy," Buonanno has since gone on to a career as a location manager, working on such local film and television productions as Brotherhood, Moonrise Kingdom, and NOS4A2.

Last Edited
2022-07-06

The Burke Family Singers

formed 1959, Peacedale, South Kingstown

Burke Family on Ed Sullivan, 1963
The Burke Family Singers on The Ed Sullivan Show, December 1963. (sarahjoburke.com).

"America's answer to Austria's Von Trapp Family," this mother, father, and their ten children performed in every state in the union and every province in Canada between 1959 and 1972. The wholesome act also appeared on several television variety programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and Jack Paar.

Youngest daughter Sarah Jo Burke reads from her 2004 book about the Family, Don't Think it Hasn't Been Fun:

Last Edited
2022-07-06

Robert "Bob" Sherwin Burnett

b. February 7, 1940, Providence
d. December 7, 2011, East Providence, of brain cancer

Highwaymen ad, c1963
Circa 1963 Highwaymen ad. (45cat.com).

Burnett was second tenor with the 1960s folk group The Highwaymen. Their biggest hit was "Michael," a version of "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore," which went to number one in 1961.

Last Edited
2022-07-07

Ambrose Everett Burnside

b. May 23, 1824, Liberty, Indiana (moved to Rhode Island c1852)
d. September 13, 1881, Bristol, of a heart attack

Ambrose Burnside headshot
(Matthew Brady/Wikipedia).

Civil War general, Rhode Island governor (1866-'69), and United States senator (1875-'81). It is from his bushy side-whiskers that we get the word "sideburns".

Burnside was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2003.

Last Edited
2022-07-07

Ruth Ann Buzzi

b. July 24, 1936, Westerly

Buzzi as Gladys Ormphby
Buzzi as her iconic Laugh In character, Gladys Ormphby. (mubi.com).

Actress (That Girl, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, The Lost Saucer, You Can't Do That on Television) and vocal personality (Pound Puppies, Cro). A park bench in Westerly's Wilcox Park is dedicated to her in homage to Gladys Ormphby, her bag lady character from Laugh In.

Buzzi was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1971.

Last Edited
2022-07-08

John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band

formed 1972, Narragansett

On the Dark Side 45 label
(45cat.com).

The band reached the height of their popularity in 1983 with the release of the movie Eddie and the Cruisers, to which they contributed several Bruce Springsteen sound-alike tunes, including "On the Dark Side" and "Tender Years." They were still touring as of 2022.

Lead singer John Cafferty is the cousin of Danny Smith, executive producer and head writer for Family Guy.

The band was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Last Edited
2022-07-08

Jon Campbell

b. March 4, 1951, Providence
d. January 9, 2022, Charlestown

Jon Campbell headshot
(Facebook).

Multi-instrumentalist Campbell was a prolific composer of humorous and poignant songs about life on the ocean and in the Ocean State. Tunes include "The Palatine" (covered prominently by the Blackstone Valley band Pendragon), "The Providence Waltz," "Frederick's of Galilee," "Federal Hillbillies," "Roomful of Quahogs," and "One Clam Cake."

Campbell was recognized as a Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Folk Artist in 1982, and inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall Of Fame in 2019.

Winnebacome, Winnebago

Last Edited
2022-07-11

Robert B. Capron, Jr.

b. July 9, 1998, Providence

Robert Capron headshot
(IMDB).

Scituate resident Capron began his acting career at age eight, when he enrolled in an after school drama program sponsored by Trinity Rep. That led almost immediately into a role in that year's production of A Christmas Carol, as the boy who fetches the turkey "as big as me."

He has since appeared as Rowley Jefferson in three Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, had a bit part in Hachi: A Dog's Tale, played young Curly in the Farrelly Brothers' The Three Stooges, and was Jack Black's son in The Polka King.

Last Edited
2022-07-14

Frankie Carle

b. Francis Nunzio Carlone, March 25, 1903, Providence
d. March 7, 2001, Yuma, Arizona

Let's Do It album cover, 1969
Let's Do It, 1969. (45worlds.com).

Carle was a big band orchestra leader whose career spanned an astonishing seven decades. He performed from the age of thirteen (when he played with his uncle's orchestra for one dollar a day), right up until the 1980s. He is best known for the tune "Sunrise Serenade," which he composed.

Carle was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1968, and into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

Last Edited
2022-07-14

Wendy Carlos

b. Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939, Pawtucket

Wendy Carlos headshot, charcoalized
(discogs).

Carlos is a composer who popularized the synthesizer with her albums Switched-On Bach (1968), The Well-Tempered Synthesizer (1969), and the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange (1972). Following gender reassignment surgery in 1972 she continued her career with soundtracks for The Shining (1980) and Tron (1982) and a comedic version of Peter and the Wolf with "Weird" Al Yankovic (1988).

Last Edited
2022-07-15

JoAnne Carner

b. JoAnne Gunderson, April 4, 1939, Kirkland, Washington

Carner with trophy
(USGA Archives).

Known before her marriage as "The Great Gundy," Carner is a former professional golfer with an impressive forty-three LPGA Tour wins between 1969 and 1985, as well as numerous other tournament victories, awards, and honors garnered during her long career. Carner's Rhode Island bona fides date from six years that she and her husband, Don, spent in the state, during which time they owned and operated the Firefly Golf Course in Seekonk, Massachusetts.

Carner was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1969, and into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1982.

Last Edited
2022-07-17

John Lester Hubbard Chafee

b. October 22, 1922, Providence
d. October 24, 1999, of heart failure

John Chafee headshot, late 1970s
(Quahog Museum Collection, circa late 1970s).

John Chafee was Rhode Island governor, 1963-'69; United States Secretary of the Navy, 1969-1972; United States senator from 1976-1999. Much beloved by his constituents, politicians can't name enough places after this guy.

Chafee was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1971. A bronze statue of him was erected in Colt State Park in Bristol in 2003.

Last Edited
2022-08-03

Marilyn Chambers

b. Marilyn Ann Briggs, April 22, 1952, Providence
d. April 12, 2009, Canyon Country, California

Marilyn Chambers Ivory Snow box cover
(flickr.com).

Chambers was a one-time Ivory Snow girl and star of such classics of adult cimena as Behind the Green Door and Insatiable. One of her last films was a mainstream independent production called Solitaire that was shot in Rhode Island. In 2004 she was a vice-presidential candidate for the Personal Choice Party.

Last Edited
2022-07-02

Viola Davis

b. August 11, 1965, Saint Matthews, South Carolina

Viola Davis headshot, circa 2004
Davis circa 2004. (eBay).

An award-winning actress equally at home on stage (Intimate Apparel), screen (Fences), or television (How to Get Away with Murder), Davis grew up in Central Falls and graduated from Rhode Island College. Summer Street in Central Falls was honorarily renamed Viola Davis Way in 2016. As of 2023 she was one of only eighteen persons to have achieved EGOT status, and the first from Rhode Island.

Last Edited
2023-02-02

Charlie Peckham Day

b: February 9, 1976, New York, New York

Charlie Day yearbook photo, 1994
Day's 1994 Portsmouth Abbey yearbook photo.

Actor (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Horrible Bosses, Pacific Rim, The Lego Movie). Day spent most of his childhood in Middletown. His father was a professor of music history at Salve Regina College/University and his mother was a piano teacher at The Pennfield School. Day attended the Pennfield School and the Portsmouth Abbey School.

Last Edited
2022-04-26

Ann Hood

b. December 9, 1956, West Warwick

Ann Hood headshot
(annhood.us).

Hood is a writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction essays and memoirs. Several of her works use Rhode Island as a setting, including Waiting to Vanish (1988), The Properties of Water (1995), Ruby (1999), The Knitting Circle (2007), The Red Thread (2010), How I Saved My Father's Life (And Ruined Everything Else) (2008), and She Loves You (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah) (2018).

Hood attended West Warwick High School and earned a B.A. in English from URI. As a teen she worked at Jordan Marsh and was the Rhode Island rep for Seventeen magazine.

Last Edited
2022-11-15

Jacqueline Nolis

b. Jonathan Adler, 1987

Jacqueline Nolis headshot (jnolis.com)
(jnolis.com)

Mathematician, third season winner on the TBS series King of the Nerds. Jacqueline is a great-grandchild of Adler's Hardware founder Fred Adler. She grew up in Barrington and graduated from Barrington High School.

Last Edited
2020-06-18

Kali Reis

b. August 24, 1986, Providence

Kali Reis headshot
(Instagram, June 8, 2023).

Former world boxing champion and actor (True Detective: Night Country). She resides in East Providence and is a member of the Seaconke Pokanoket Wampanoag Tribe.

Last Edited
2024-02-19

Tavares

formed 1964, New Bedford, Massachusetts

Tavares group shot
(tavares-brothers.com).

The Tavares brothers—Ralph, Butch, Tiny, Pooch, and Chubby—grew up in Fox Point in Providence. In the mid-seventies they scored twelve top-15 rhythm and blues hits in a row, including "Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got," "Free Ride," and "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel (Part 1)." Prior to their fame, they were once arrested for singing on a Providence street corner.

Tavares were inducted into the Cape Verdean Heritage Hall Of Fame in 2006, and the Rhode Island Music Hall Of Fame in 2014.

Last Edited
2022-07-11