Famous Polio Survivors

Eleanor Abbott: designed the game CandyLand

Ann Adams (1937-1992): artist (using a mouthstick)

Tenley Albright: doctor and olympic gold medalist for figure skating

Alan Alda: actor, writer, director

Elmer L. Andersen (1910-2005): former Minnesota Governor, businessman

Ida Louise Anderson (1900-1941): broadcast radio pioneer

Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954): actor

Kim Beazley: Australian Labor leader

Charles E. Bennett (1911-2003): longtime US Congressman, Florida

Ethelda Blaibtrey (1902-1978): olympic gold medalist for swimming

Julius (Julie) Bort (1922-1996): boxer

Ben Bradlee: former editor for the Washington Post

Harold Brooks-Baker (1933-2005): publisher

Dick Cabela: outdoorsman and founder of "Cabela's"

Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar: Cricket Champion from India

Wah Ming Chang: sculptor, artist, master of special effects

Jean Chrétien: former Prime Minister of Canada

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008): author

Georgia Coleman (1912-1940): olympic diver

Francis Ford Coppola: director

Sir Julian Critchley (1930-2000): journalist, author and member of the House of Commons

Bill Cullen (1920-1990): game show host

Claudius (10 B.C. to 54 A.D.): Emperor of Rome

Marion Davies (1897-1961): actress

CeDell Davis: Jazz Guitarist

Walter "Buddy" Davis: Broad Jump Olympic Champion, Basketball

Justin Dart: activist

James DePriest: musician, composer, arranger and conductor

James Drury: actor, "The Virginian"

Ian Dury (1942-2000): British Rock Star

John East (1931-1986): US Senator

Ray Ewry (1873-1937): Track & Field Olympic Champion

Mia Farrow: actress

Jerome Solon Felder (1925-1991): songwriter, Doc Pomus

Mel Ferrar: actor

William Alexander Gadsby: NHL, Hall of Fame (1970)

Hugh Gregory Gallagher: author

Tony Gould: author (UK)

Arthur Guyton (1919-2003): doctor

John Hager: Lieutenant Governor, Virginia

Lauro Halstead: doctor (physiatrist)

Steve Harley: British musician

Lis Hartel: Danish equestrian

Oscar G. Heirlihy: Radio and TV Pioneer, Newfoundland

Judith E. Heumann: pioneer in Independent Living Movement

Elizabeth Twistington Higgins (1923-1990): MBE, English ballet dancer and artist

Henry Holden: actor, comedian, athlete, activist

Henrietta Wyeth Hurd (1907-1997): artist

Walter Jackson (1938-1983): lead singer of the "Velvetones"

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954): Mexican painter

Hildegard Knef (1925-2002): German actress, singer, writer

Dorothea Lange (1895-1965): photographer

Marjorie Lawrence (1908-1979): world famous opera singer

John Laws: Australian radio personality

Tanaquil Le Clercq (1929-2000): ballet dancer

Ida Lupino (1917-1995): London-born actress, director, screenwriter

Shelley Mann: Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer

Frank Mars (1883-1933): founded M&M Mars chocolate company

Lois Catherine Marshall (1924-1997): Canadian singer in the 50s and 60s

Paul Martin: Prime Minister of Canada

Martin Milner: actor

Joni Mitchell: singer

Edna Marie Moore (1930-1989): Texas artist

Jack Nicklaus: golfer

J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967): physicist and teacher

Kerry Packer: Australian billionaire

Horace Parlan: pianist

Ray Peterson: singer

Itzhak Perlman: internationally acclaimed violinist

Margaret "Peg" Phillips (1918-2002): actress (Ruth-Anne on "Northern Exposure")

Peter Preston: British writer and Guardian editor, 1975 through 1995

John Prestwich (1938-2006): MBE, longest respirator user (Guinness Book of World Records)

Robert Redford: actor, director

Ed Roberts (1939-1995): Father of the Independent Living Movement

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945): US president

Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994): athlete, olympic gold medalist

Ruma: ancient Syrian

Owen Roizman: cinematographer, 5 Oscar nominations
and Lifetime Achievement Award

David Sanborn: saxophonist

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): father of historical fiction

Siptah: Egyptian Pharaoh (lived 20 years around 1200 BC)

Sir John Cotesworth Slessor (1897-1979): British Marshall in the RAF in World War II

Dinah Shore (1916-1994): singer

Lord Snowden: photographer, UK (Princess Margaret's former husband)

Margarete Steiff (1847-1909): German seamstress who founded Steiff Bears

Brooks Stevens (1911-1995): "creative genius" at Harley Davidson

Donald Sutherland: actor, from Canada

Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi: Italian Opera Singer

Christopher Templeton: actress

Alan Toy: actor/activist/writer

Nyla Thompson: mouth artist

Joseph (Joey) Velez (1925-2002): Golden Gloves Boxer

Egbert Hamilton Walker (1899-1991): Smithsonian Institute Botanist

Dennis Washington: businessman and entrepreneur

Paul Winchell: ventriloquist and inventor

Victor Woodrow Wertz (1925-1983): Baseball All-Star

Neil Young: 1970s and 1980s Canadian rock singer

...plus connections through relatives of the famous...

Jim Thorpe's son, died from Polio

Mark McGwire's father had polio at age 7

Laura Innes (ER's Dr. Weaver) has a sister who had Polio

Helen Gurley Brown, supported her sister who had Polio

Mary MacArthur, daughter of Helen Hayes, had Polio

Peter Falk's closest boyhood friend, Mike Holohan, was a Polio survivor.

John W. Nordstrom's wife had Polio.

Marlene Dietrich's daughter, Maria Riva, had Polio.

Cathy Rigby's mother had Polio.

Mary Francis (1924-2000) wife of author Dick Francis had Polio.

Bob Dylan's father had Polio in 1946.

Gini Laurie (1913-1989) "Grandmother" of the Independent Living Movement: several siblings had Polio.

Katie Eastman, sister of George Eastman, photography pioneer died from Polio in the 1870s.