Fred Astaire (b. Fred Austerlitz, 1899-1987) Famous dancer and film star. Born Omaha, Nebraska.
Marlon Brando (b. 1924) Actor, starred in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, and other major Hollywood films. Born Omaha, Nebraska.
William Jennings Bryan, (b. IL 1860-1925) U.S. Representative from Nebraska, Secretary of State, and 3-time unsuccessful democratic candidate for President of the United States He was also the prosecuting attorney who faced Clarence Darrow in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.
Willa Cather (b. VA 1873-1947) Author. She used the Nebraska frontier as the setting of many of her writings. She won the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for literature.
Dick Cavett (b. 1936) TV personality.
Chief Red Cloud (1822-1909) Chief of the Ogallala Sioux in Nebraska.
Father Edward Joseph Flanagan (b. Ireland 1886-1948) founder of Boys Town, a non-profit home for underprivileged youth which is located in Nebraska.
Henry Fonda (1905-1982) Famed actor, starred in The Grapes of Wrath. Born Grand Island, Nebraska.
Rollin Kirby (1875-1952) Won three Pulitzer Prizes for his political cartooning.
J. Sterling Morton (b. NY 1832-1902) Secretary of Agriculture Originator of Arbor Day.
Fascinating Fact
Nebraska is the only state with a non-partisan, one-house (or unicameral) legislature, and was the first to use a visible, automated voting board to record a legislative action.
Nebraska adopted its state flag in 1925. The flag is blue and features the state seal which includes the Rocky Mountains, the Missouri River, wheat and corn, a farmer's cabin, a train, a steamboat, and a blacksmith using his hammer and anvil.
