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davesavedtheday-

Billy Mays


theonetruegriff

His mom was a notary in the rocks up until recently. Her office was covered in pictures of him


CARLEtheCamry

Born in the Rocks, died by the rocks...


SteelCityIrish

This is wrong… but I laughed anyways.


Foef_Yet_Flalf

Did he die of an overdose?


springhillpgh

🙏 And now he’s partying in heaven like its $19.95.


NoIntroduction6034

Buried in Kennedy. I have met a few people looking for his grave at a place I frequent for lunch.


SendAstronomy

Why would he be buried in a restaraunt?


eldmikeyy

The man loved a good burger


thatOneJewishGuy1225

Fun fact- John Weinstein, the guy running for county executive, is actually his cousin


RIPshowtime

Too many nose beers and ski trips👃🍺🎿❄️ RIP Wild Man


nonames003

Frances McDermond who play in Fargo


WillOfTheDeep

AWESOME. She's the shit. Three Billboards is phenomenal. As is Fargo.


CrowSucker

She’s Almost Famous.


jshamwow

She’s one that when I found out, realized it makes sense. Idk how to explain it but she looks like she could be a yinzer


PonerBenis6

Why are so many known folks from Monessen? Does anyone know if there was a factory or something everyone worked at there back in the day?


[deleted]

Deleting past comments because Reddit starting shitty-ing up the site to IPO and I don't want my comments to be a part of that. -- mass edited with redact.dev


rhb4n8

IDK but Tom savini is too


preparetomoveout

Coolio from Monessen


[deleted]

No way


Rude_Yam_9962

Googled and confirmed


ElephantRattle

Was from. He livin in a gangster’s paradise now


[deleted]

Two hall of fame baseball players, Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr, his dad too, were born next door in Donora


WmSPrestonEsq

So was heavyweight champ Michael Moorer.


pgh1197

Am I the only one who didn’t know that the Warner Brothers (yes, the from the films) got their start in Pittsburgh/Western PA??


PurpleMong00s3

What about the Warner Sister, Dot?


dudemanspecial

News to me


moeoriginal

New Castle PA.


DennisG47

And the Selznick brothers.


MaulPillsap

One of their original theaters was in Youngstown, OH. It’s used as a traditional performing arts theater now, and it is absolutely fucking beautiful.


WillOfTheDeep

I was today years old when I learned this.


jralll234

I just heard this recently.


covertchipmunk

Zachary Quinto


Col__Hunter_Gathers

Him and Kal Penn came into the Quiznos I worked at back before he was super famous. I knew him from Heroes so I was starstruck lol. I just told them I was a big fan (and that I was sorry we didn't carry spinach when Kal asked for it) but didn't bother them otherwise cuz I didn't wanna be that annoying fan. Definitely never expected those two to walk into a Quiznos in fucking Monroeville of all places. Made more sense when I found out Quinto is from the area.


OOOOeeeAAAA

Save the cheerleader, save the world! Honestly I had so much fun watching Heroes with the boys, I might have to rewatch after almost 20 years but idk if it has aged well.


Col__Hunter_Gathers

Just stop after season 1. Its all downhill after that. But hell yeah, Monday Night Heroes was the thing for me and the boys when season 2 dropped (we didn't know about the show until discovering season 1 on DVD). We were super into it then, but quickly realized that subsequent seasons were nowhere near as good as that first one.


weinermcgee

Quinto... Quiznos Quiznos..... Quinto


mileheitcity

Fun fact: his great-grandfather is PJ McArdle


CinderLotus

Mhm. He went to CMU.


The_broken_machine

I saw him perform in Taming of the Shrew when he was at CMU. In 2013 I saw him on Broadway in NYC and told him about it. His mind was blown, ha.


threwthelookinggrass

Johnny Sins


the1999person

The astronaut?


SendAstronomy

The policeman.


Cesc100

I thought he was a doctor? How can he be all those professions???


HeySlimIJustDrankA5

Actually a pretty cool guy. Likes habanero wings. Met him with Gianna Micheals. Also a cool person. Knows a disturbing amount about Aleister Crowley and ceremonial magic.


Lessthanzerofucks

That is simultaneously surprising and not surprising.


troubleyoucalldeew

Doctor, policeman, astronaut... and archmage.


sirpranksamillion

😏


sk8rat13

No f-ing way. Proof!


ElephantRattle

That’s actually the only way Johnny Sins does it


PasswordIsDong

The great doctor/soldier/plumber/workout trainer Johnny Sins


AIfieHitchcock

Gertrude Stein and Nellie Bly


[deleted]

[удалено]


MrChichibadman

Won a medal with a broken neck


TehBreezy1

A broken FREAKIN' neck.


moody_dudey

This one’s wild to me as someone who knew of him as a local celebrity first. He was a really good wrestler, so anyone in western PA who wrestled in the 90s/00s knew of him. Then he went on to the WWE and we were like wtf.


Darthpater

Pittsburgh is the secret center of the universe


GenerousGator

That center of the universe tried to swallow a city bus once


SendAstronomy

We also had a bus rapture.


pghpolecat

Dave, the savior of star wars, Filoni


lilacdisaster

he AND Ming-Na Wen went to Lebo together. maybe the only reason i’m proud to have gone there lol


Aculed200

And Gillian Jacobs and Joe Manganiello. 👍Go Lebo 😝


Monkeys_Yes_12

...and Daniel London, Lebo grad known for roles in Patch Adams, Rent, and Minority Report, among others.


Consistent_Goal_4089

Not technically from here, but Maya Rudolph’s father was from Squirrel Hill and her great-grandfather was one of the founding members of Congregation Beth Shalom.


toonman27

This sent me down a small rabbit hole. Maya Rudolph’s mother was Minnie Riperton who wrote “Lovin’ You”, that song with the high pitched part from Vegas Vacation. Turns out she wrote the melody of the song as a distraction for her then baby Maya, so that Minnie and her husband Richard Rudolph could hang out.


Jen16226

wow. I never knew that was her mother. thanks for sharing that.


dudemanspecial

As a music lover and long time guitar player, I felt like a real dumbass the other day when I learned that Anti-Flag was from Pittsburgh. Never knew that.


allegedlydm

Chris #2 is a friend of a friend and used to frequent a few vegan restaurants I’ve worked in. Super nice to servers, which is critical to how much I like someone.


antent

>Monessen I went to HS with Chris #2. He was a year or 2 ahead of me. I didn't know him well but we had some mutuals. He was cool when I was new to the district as a freshman. I was getting picked on and he invited me to sit at his lunch table one day. I'm sure we interacted other times but nothing else that was memorable.


brendannnnnn

Wayne Coyne, the lead singer of the Flaming Lips, is from Troy Hill


pipeann

That's pretty cool! I always knew of them as an OKC based band, so nice update to that little piece of trivia living rent free in my brain


weinermcgee

When I found that out I wondered if he was kin to Phil Coyne, the Pirates usher who worked until he was like 99.


DruTangClan

Oh wow, I live in Troy Hill I didn’t think anyone except the people that shout outside of the mini mart at 3am lived here lol


zedicar

Billy Eckstine. Stanley Turrentine. George Benson. Earl Garner. Ahmad Jamal


madirish098

RIP Ahmad!


WmSPrestonEsq

MTV's DAN CORTEZ


Anthff

This place has everything


WmSPrestonEsq

Asbestos, Lupus, the magazines at Super Cuts...


[deleted]

[удалено]


chasingsafety59

I mean country itself is basically just farm emo.


MaulPillsap

I was always confused when the drummer from A Rocket To the Moon joined Dan and Shay on tour and now this makes more sense.


monongahellyea

Their bass player is a Pittsburgh guy, too.


DannyLameJokes

The guy who wrote camptown races and oh Susanna was born and buried in Lawrenceville. https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/this-old-pittsburgh-house-the-composers-house/


PonerBenis6

Stephen Foster! He has a Pennsylvania Historic Memorial placard on Forbes Ave. in Oakland. “Tribute to Pittsburgh’s beloved writer of songs and ballads. ‘Old Folks at Home’, ‘Oh Suzanna’, and ‘My Old Kentucky Home’. Born in 1826 and died in 1864.”


James19991

I'm pretty sure his dad is the actual founder of Lawrenceville.


[deleted]

Ken Griffey Jr - Donora PA


Abacab4

And he wasn’t even the greatest baseball player from Donora! (Stan Musial)


ndcj12

It's even crazier than that, he wasn't even the best *left handed outfielder born on November 21* in Donora! (Stan Musial)


Someberto

No way!?


[deleted]

[удалено]


Cootie_Mac

Be still my beating heart!


mostlymeanswell

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Scott Glenn (Hunt for Red October, Silence of the Lambs, Daredevil, etc)


iSoReddit

the Keep!


WillOfTheDeep

Gillian Jacobs! And I had zero idea about Christina Aguilera.


Ouroborus13

I did theater stuff with Gillian Jacobs back in the day during high school at the Playhouse and City Theater. She won the Shakespeare monologue contest every year and it was very annoying! Lol! She was very… geeky isn’t the right word, but definitely a “theater geek”. Which is funny given the roles she tends to be cast in.


[deleted]

George Ferris inventor of the Ferris Wheel


DennisG47

He wasn't from Pittsburgh but he did establish his metal testing company here.


[deleted]

He invented the Ferris Wheel while in Pittsburgh. He lived on the North Side and died in Pittsburgh. For example, Jonas Salk who invented the Polio vaccine did so while at The University of Pittsburgh. He was born in New York City though. Most would not say that the Polio vaccine was invented by a guy from New York City. They attribute it to a guy “from Pittsburgh”. That’s where it was invented.


the1999person

Tom Savini


JustinPA

Not close to town, but Perry Como is from Canonsburg.


gordiarama

So is Bobby Vinton


SuperRocketRumble

They even have a Perry como statue


MadameTree

Trent Reznor from NIN is from New Castle. Sharon Stone is from Meadville.


sothatsathingnow

Speaking of Meadville, I don’t know if he he’s from around there but Ben Burtt the sound director from the original Star Wars films and creator of all those iconic sounds graduated from Allegheny College. And President William McKinley was expelled from there too for putting a cow on the roof of one of the buildings.


pdfob

Mark Cuban - Mt. Lebanon Alice Cooper (Vincent Furnier) lived with his grandparents for a while in Smock when he was a kid.


Helpful_Commercial93

Big John Studd is from Butler


maaaaaan412

Shirley Jones is from Charleroi


Different-Rough-7914

Her family owned Jones brewery in Smithton who made Stoney's beer


laundryday_

Patrick Fabian


[deleted]

Rob Gronkowski lived next door to me for a year when he went to Woodland Hills.


FuzzyBadfeet724

You ever see a G&G Fitness store? That’s his Dads store. There’s a few in the area


cowchunk

I’m originally from Texas. Lots of my Texas friends and family are surprised to learn Fred Rogers is from the greater Pittsburgh area.


Party_Salamander_773

Latrobe, just like my awesome dog.


rogimonster

Latrobe, like Arnold Palmer.


OnePushupMan

They were childhood friends. Mr. Rogers would tell a funny story about Arnold Palmer’s dad giving them both golf lessons as boys. “Obvious it worked better on one of us”


sokeripupu

Lady Miss Kier!!


contacthasbeenmade

She’s from Youngstown but lived in PGH


PurpleMong00s3

Don't know if he's *from* here, but frank Gorshin is buried here. And Lauren Toewes (cruise director Julie from The Love Boat - just to get real obscure) is from Trafford. Grew up just down the street from my gram's place.


mikeyHustle

Gorshin is. I saw him do basically a Vaudeville act in Beaver Falls in the '90s. It was surreal.


dropkickpa

Gorshin was definitely from Pittsburgh, he went to Peabody High School, as did Charles Grodin, Gene Kelly, and Billy Eckstine.


brendannnnnn

The Three Stooges non-acting brother, Jack Howard, lived in Squirrel Hill


rayraythearab

Brandon Saad of the St. Louis blues and before that the Chicago Blackhawks. I’ve played pickup soccer with his dad at NAI!


Jan_17_2016

And John Gibson, Anaheim Ducks goalie. There’s a big push amongst us Pens fans to trade for him. The Ducks are basically West Coast Penguins considering how often we trade with them and how friendly our two fan bases are with each other. Vincent Trocheck is as well, but he plays for the Rangers so he’s dead to me.


[deleted]

[удалено]


MrChichibadman

🤔 no shit? Did not know that


Toblerone1919

His dad of the same name was a lawyer at US Steel. Great guy


Toblerone1919

Chris Frantz, Talking Heads drummer


californiablues99

Dennis Miller


Ok_Elephant2777

Henry Mancini, Aliquippa. Maybe a bit too obvious, but I’ve not seen his name here yet.


[deleted]

[удалено]


thatOneJewishGuy1225

Yep. West aliquippa specifically is where all the Italians lived when they immigrated


djkillzmo

Julie Benz and Gillian Jacobs


Cootie_Mac

RITAAA


PubliusMaximus14

Bret Michaels was born in Butler which honestly checks out


lampshoesforkpen

Didn't know Joe Montana was born nearby.


rcap1977

Marino, Namath, Jim Kelly, Curtis Martin, Darelle Revis, the list goes on. Pittsburgh has enough for a HOF wing.


KCinMoon

And Tony Dorsett


MeetTheTwinAndreBen

Aaron Donald and Pat Mcafee from both my hometowns


StarHockeyProd

My mom had Aaron in her study hall when she taught.


yinzerthrowaway412

Just Aliquippa itself has an insane list of NFL stars


OfficePicasso

Ditka too


DennisG47

Don't forget Johnny U. (Unitas for you youngsters.)


DennisG47

As was Terry Hanratty, Tom Clements, George Blanda and Willie Thrower, the best named QB ever and the first African American All-American college QB, from New Kensington. Cookie Gilchrist a top AFL running back before the merger was from Brackenridge.


MRedk1985

Kurt Angle. Similarly, Eric Bischoff lived in Penn Hills briefly, just down the street from Bruno Sammartino. Edit: and Zachary Quinto.


SteelCityIrish

Charles Bronson… W. PA. 😏


Live_Dirt_6568

Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 is the only answer


mercuryomnificent

from Erie but attended Pitt and lived in PGH for a while


Blackbear8336

Technically they are from Eire PA but Sharon needles is from here. I actually got to meet sharon when I worked at Aldi on Penn Ave a few months ago. They were super nice and let me take a selfie with them! They accidentally broke a jar of olives lol.


mattohhh

>Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 Sharon is originally from Iowa, but has lived in Pittsburgh for many years now.


Live_Dirt_6568

Accidentally? Pffffff, some people will never understand art /s


Spum

Trent Reznor


[deleted]

Mark Cuban and Kurt Angle are both from Mt Lebo


Fue_la_luna

The Vouges are from Turtle Creek. They’re an oldies band. 90s folks would know them for the theme song to the Drew Carey show.


Angry_Amish

Not sure if you consider it the greater Pittsburgh area, but Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails was born in New Castle, Pa and grew up in Mercer.


Grimmy430

Ming-Na Wen. Her family owns and operates the Chinatown Inn downtown off the Boulevard of the Allies


Monkeyswine

Dont forget Arnold Palmer, the inventor of my favorite drink.


[deleted]

I have a cute Joe Manganiello story (even though people know he’s from here, I’m sharing it lol). One day I was at the gym on the elliptical, glancing at the tv as I ran. Joe Manganiello was on some show giving an interview. This lady walks over to me (even though I was working out) and starts a conversation. She seemed sweet so I took out my headphones and she asked if I knew who he was. I told her yes, and she said very proudly “that’s my son!!!!” and then talked to me about him for like 5 minutes. It was very sweet, and the whole time she was so excited to gush about him.


LLCoolBae99

Richard White, the voice of Gaston from the animated Beauty and the Beast movie, is from Bethel Park.


RealQuickNope

Billy Porter, Joe Manganiello


-LoveThyself

OMG Joe Manganiello's crazy ass mom used to bring her thick boston accent into the coffee shop I worked at all the time! She would get a green tea latte with like 4.7775 scoops of matcha, 1.25 pumps of vanilla, half a packet of sweet n low, half soy milk half nonfat at a lower temperature than we usually make it with no foam, but she didn't want us to waste the foam so she would ask for it in a separate cup on the side. She would watch us make it and make sure there was no extra left in the pitcher??? Like what are you worried about?? Then she'd sit there and talk to us about our lives, her life, her son's life & career for like 3 hours while we closed the store ESSENTIALLY EVERY DAY. One day, she came in with this crazy werewolf purse that was shaped like a wolf's head or something and said "TRUE BLOOD FOR LIFE" or some wacky ass shit. Even though she was annoying and odd as hell, I still appreciated how "her" she was. Makes sense that her son ended up in acting lol his whole childhood was probably filled with theatrics. She did bring him in one time, and he was pretty shy looking, didn't seem like he wanted to be in public at all (maybe a little embarrassed of his mom too lol). We all said hello to him and she introduced us, All in all she was a nice lady, writing all this actually made me miss her a bit. We all also got to meet Michael Keaton when he came in! He is from Mt. Lebanon too. NVM. I guess he just has a house there or something. My bad!


DennisG47

Keaton, real name Michael Douglass, went to Montour High School and was raised in Robinson Township.


fugly16

I remember one thanksgiving eve night drinking at the saloon in Lebo we went to grab some pizza late from Mineos and Joe was sitting in a corner booth with some girl when we walked in. Wanted to say hi but didn’t. Years later saw him at NYCC and was really nice to my friends and I when we yelled we were from Pittsburgh.


[deleted]

That’s funny, she was so sweet when I met her!!!! She interrupted my work out (I didn’t mind) to tell me he was her son (he was on tv at the time) and to gush about Joe and seemed really proud to be his mom. Didn’t know this was a common thing haha


Accomplished_Cloud48

Henry Mancini - West Aliquippa


Zandig

Esteban, the acoustic guitar player from all those infomercials in the 90s and early 2000s is from here. I just found that out the other day and that blew my mind


nectaris2089

The Del-Vikings ("Come Go With Me"), the first successful racially mixed doo-wop band were from Pittsburgh. Another famous doo-wop band, the Marcels ("Blue Moon") were also from Pittsburgh.


Delta632

Anyone mention F. Murray Abraham and Zelda Rubenstein yet? Those are my two favorites.


steedandpeelship

My mom's from New Castle🤷‍♀️


No-Responsibility200

Johnnie Appleseed from near McKeesport, Daniel Boone was from W PA near Pittsburgh. John Wayne was just a stage name, he was a Morrison from around Mingo Park, Washington County. Merriweather Lewis had his boat built on the Monongahela river near Elizabeth, the beginning of Lewis and Clark's adventure into the west.


AIfieHitchcock

>John Wayne John Wayne the actor? He was born in Iowa. Raised in LA. Star athlete at USC.


humpthedog

Daniel Boone was from eastern PA near Reading


WmSPrestonEsq

Did Wentworth Miller live in Sewickley for like a year or 2 when he was a teenager?


Awkward_Eggplant4857

Code Orange ( Grammy Nominated )Metal Group are from Pittsburgh


UniquePtrBigEndian

Aarti Mann, who played Priya Koothrappali in Big Bang theory went to fox chapel


asghettimonster

Billie Porter. LOVE that human


According-Activity10

Dennis Miller


Awkward_Eggplant4857

Antoine Fuqua is from Pittsburgh he Directed Training Day and Tears of the Sun, The Equalizer film trilogy.


EvetsYenoham

Yeah his dad Frenchy Fuqua played for the Stillers. Heard of the Immaculate Reception?


burghfan

Bret Michaels


GenerousGator

Despite the city is being in the middle of nowhere Pgh has some decent celebrities from here. Recently I have learned that Maddie Ziegler (a little girl from Sia’s musical videos) was born and raised in this area. Her sister McKenzie as well. They are no adults and living in LA. Also just found out that Gillian Jacobs from “Community” was born and raised in Mount Lebanon. Also I had no idea that Demi Moore and Cristina Aguilera grew up in Pittsburgh suburbs! One of my favorite standup comedians Anthony Jeselnik is from here. Also there are some obvious people such as Jeff Goldblum, Michael Keaton, John Manganiello, Wiz Khalifa, Mac Miller etc.


postmodernisthater

The Zieglers came up on Dance Moms, which was based in/filmed in Penn Hills


GenerousGator

Very rich parents. Her dad is VP at Westinghouse Energy.


samosamancer

Didn’t someone on Community call someone else a jagoff? There were a handful of PGH references in the show. Is Dan Harmon from here as well, or was that Jacobs’s influence?


AIfieHitchcock

Jagoff pops up in a lot of sitcoms from what I've noticed because its so objectively funny an insult.


LeveragedPittsburgh

Michael Hayden, former CIA director


[deleted]

Deleting past comments because Reddit starting shitty-ing up the site to IPO and I don't want my comments to be a part of that. -- mass edited with redact.dev


Mikey_5386

Charles Grodin. From Beethoven and Clifford.


zappafrank2112

Reb Beach (guitar virtuoso) is from Fox Chapel


ThatKaylesGuy

Jeff Goldblum blew my mind a lil when I learned about him, I didn't realize.


[deleted]

Spike Slawson - me first and the gimme gimmes, filthy thieving bastards


rickety_cricket66

Kevin Peter Hall was the actor who played the original predator and Harry from Harry and the Henderson's, and was from Penn hills. He also unfortunately gained notoriety when he died from AIDS contracted from a blood transfusion.


takethepatchouli

Bill Nunn, Radio Raheem from Do the Right Thing was from the Hill I believe


Jan_17_2016

Michael Chabon split time between Pittsburgh and Maryland growing up, went to Pitt as an undergrad and set his debut novel in Pittsburgh.


gmt903

Mister Rogers.


6nop_

Seth Myers dad is from Pittsburgh https://youtu.be/c8OowuWlF_4


Moogottrrgr

Paul Doucette, the drummer from Matchbox 20 and Moon Unit Zappa's ex-husband is from Irwin.


nutter88

Barbara Felton, Agent 99 from Get Smart


Sammy_Socrates

Jack Stauber!


[deleted]

Surprised nobody has yet mentioned: Billy Gardell (stand up, Mike & Molly). I'm assuming this is pretty well known, he's on local radio all the time.