- Christina Hendricks: The actress known for her role as Joan Harris in AMC’s “Mad Men” was born in Knoxville on May 3, 1975. Inspired by the novel “Anne of Green Gables,” Hendricks began dying her hair its signature red color at age 10. Nominated for five Emmys, Hendricks has been credited with bringing back the hourglass figure as a feminine ideal.
- Nikki Giovanni: The poet grew up in Ohio but returned to her birthplace of Knoxville in 1958 to attend Austin High School. Her experiences in the southern education system provided fuel for her works centered on the civil rights movement. Giovanni currently claims the Rosa L. Parks Women of Courage Award and is a Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.
- Frances Hodgson Burnett: This English immigrant moved to Knoxville in 1865 where she began her writing career at age 19, publishing stories in magazines to help support her family. Burnett went on to craft novels that endure today as children’s literature classics, like “The Secret Garden” and “The Little Princess.”
- Kurt Vonnegut: This celebrated counterculture author and intellectual was sent to the University of Tennessee by the U.S. Army to study mechanical engineering during WWII. Vonnegut went on to master thought-provoking, satirical science fiction with the publication of “Cat’s Cradle” and “Slaughterhouse-Five,” among others.
- Mary Costa: The singer and actress who gave a voice to the beloved Disney princess Aurora, better known as Sleeping Beauty, first gave a voice to her hometown’s church choir in Knoxville. Costa went on to shine in the Knoxville High School chorus before relocating to Los Angeles in her early teens, where she lived happily ever after.
- Adolph Ochs: Ochs and his family relocated to Knoxville after the Civil War where he began studying under the then-editor of the Knoxville Chronicle at age 11. By age 19, Ochs had his sights set on higher goals and became publisher of the Chattanooga Times starting a career that would carry him all the way to New York as publisher of The New York Times.
- Mary Boyce Temple: As one of Knoxville’s most influential philanthropists and socialites, Temple gave a voice to countless social and cultural movements. She launched Knoxville’s historic preservationist movement with her fight to preserve Blount Mansion in the 1920s and established the Tennessee Women’s Press and the Knox County chapter of the League of Women Voters.
- Jake Butcher: This financial tycoon cultivated a crooked banking empire throughout East Tennessee before running as the Democratic candidate for governor in 1978. Butcher helped to bring the 1982 World’s Fair to Knoxville and built the Plaza Tower, which remains Knoxville’s highest building, before being charged and convicted with bank fraud in 1985.
- Rodney Atkins: This country music superstar was born in Knoxville and grew up in neighboring Claiborne County, where he played his guitar at local festivals and events throughout his time at Powell Valley High School from 1983-1987. Atkins has since produced six No. 1 hits and won Top New Male Vocalist in 2006 from the Academy of Country Music.
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Nine people you probably didn’t know lived in Knoxville
April 9, 2015
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