Greatest/Most Influential New Yorkers of All Time.?

Question

In your humble opinions, who are the greatest, most controversial, and/or influential movers and shakers in the history of New York City? I'd love to see all of you submit at least ten suggestions (I hate top ten lists, ha!). Feel free to offer any names from any realm: sports, politics, humanities, finance, entertainment, et al, but try to make it a mixed bag. I don't want to see a list of your top ten Yankees. And please try to think historically. I seriously doubt there are any truly landmark individuals from the last 25 years, excluding Rudy Giuliani, Al Sharpton, Joe Torre and Bernie Goetz. Thanks, and send in those submissions!

Answer 1

Aaliyah - (1979-2001), R&B singer, Dancer, Fashion Model and Actress
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - basketball player
George Abernethy - (1807-1877), first provisional governor of Oregon
Bella Abzug - feminist activist and politician
Garnett Adrain, (1815-1878), member of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey
Cornelius Rea Agnew, (1830-1888), noted ophthamologist
Eliza Agnew, (1807-1883), noted American Presbyterian missionary
Christina Aguilera - singer
Danny Aiello - actor
Marv Albert - sports announcer
Anne Revere Aldrich - (1866-1892), noted poet and author
Ira Aldridge - (1805-1867), stage actor
William Alexander (aka Lord Stirling), (1726-1783), American major general in the American Revolutionary War
Andrew Jackson Allan, (1776-1853), noted actor, theatre director, and costumer
Woody Allen - film director
Alexander Anderson - illustrator
Charles Anthon, classical scholar
Carmelo Anthony - basketball player
Diane Arbus
Kenneth J. Arrow - economist; Nobel laureate (Economics, 1972)
Beatrice Arthur - actress
William H. Aspinwall - railroad promoter
William Backhouse Astor, Sr. - businessman and member of the Astor family
Red Auerbach - basketball coach
Hank Azaria - actor
William Bliss Baker - painter
Anne Bancroft - actress
Jeff Barry - songwriter and record producer
Harry Belafonte - actor and singer
Pat Benatar - singer
Moe Berg - baseball player and spy
Des Bishop - comedian
David Blaine - magician
Yasmine Bleeth - actress
Humphrey Bogart - film actor
Margaret Bourke-White - photographer
Clara Bow - actress
Riddick Bowe - boxer
Barbara Boxer - Senator from California
James J. Braddock - boxer (aka 'Cinderella Man')
Matthew Broderick - actor
Mel Brooks - film director
Julia Brown - madam and prostitute
Larry Brown - basketball player and coach
William F. Buckley, Jr. - author and conservative commentator
Steve Buscemi - actor
Lloyd Banks - rap artist
James Caan - actor
Joseph A. Califano - former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
Maria Callas - opera singer
Al Capone - gangster
Benjamin Cardozo - Supreme Court Justice
Hugh Carey - governor of New York
George Carlin - comedian
John Cassavetes - actor
Jeff Chandler - actor
Frank Chanfrau - actor
Paddy Chayefsky - author
Julie Chen - anchorwoman
Edmund A. Chester - television executive & journalist
Shirley Chisholm - politician
Ebony Claxton - person
Schuyler Colfax - Vice President of the United States
Anderson Cooper - CNN anchorman
Peter Cooper - inventor
Aaron Copland - composer
Bob Costas - sports announcer
Bob Cousy - basketball player
Ann Coulter - political pundit
James Creighton, major league baseball player
George Cukor - film director
Mario Cuomo - governor of New York
Tony Curtis - actor
Claire Danes - actress
Ron Dante - singer, songwriter, and record producer
Bobby Darin - singer, entertainer, actor, songwriter
Marion Davies - actress
Sammy Davis, Jr. - singer and entertainer
Rosario Dawson - actress
Al D'Amato - politician
Dorothy Day - Catholic social activist
Robert De Niro - actor
Eamon de Valera - Prime Minister of Ireland
Samuel R. Delany - author and critic
Don DeLillo - author
Jerry Denny, major league baseball player
Neil Diamond - singer and composer
P. Diddy - rap artist
Vin Diesel - actor
Phoebe Doty - prostitute and madam
Joseph Dunninger - mentalist
Richard Dreyfuss - actor
Gertrude Ederle - swimmer
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - actor
Louis Farrakhan - Leader of the nation of islam
Morton Feldman - Composer
Richard Feynman - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
50 Cent - rap artist
Harvey Fierstein - actor
Hamilton Fish - governor of New York and Secretary of State
Jane Fonda - actress
Peter Fonda - actor
Malcolm Forbes - publisher
Davy Force - major league baseball player
Anthony Franciosa - actor
Al Franken - comedian and radio host, (actually born in New Jersey)
Milton Friedman - economist
John Frusciante - musician, artist
Bobby Flay - Chef
John Garfield - actor
Art Garfunkel - songwriter
Lou Gehrig - baseball player
George Gershwin - composer
Ira Gershwin - lyricist
Vitas Gerulaitis - tennis player
Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Supreme Court Justice
Rudolph Giuliani - mayor of New York
Jackie Gleason - comedian
Whoopi Goldberg - comedian and actress
Daniel S. Goldin - NASA director
Cuba Gooding Jr. - actor
Doris Kearns Goodwin - author
Victor Gotbaum - labor leader
Elliott Gould - actor
Rocky Graziano - boxer (real name Thomas Rocco Barbella)
Hank Greenberg - baseball player
Alan Greenspan - economist, former Federal Reserve Chairman
Melanie Griffith - actress
Bob Guccione - publisher
Peggy Guggenheim - art collector
Maggie Gyllenhaal - actress
Armand Hammer - industrialist and philanthropist
Oscar Hammerstein II - composer
Frank Hankinson - major league baseball player
W. Averell Harriman - diplomat and governor of New York
Francis L. Hawks, reverend
Susan Hayward - actress
Rita Hayworth - actress
Anthony Hecht - poet
Carol Heiss - Olympic figure skater (silver 1956, gold 1960)
Joseph Heller - author
Jim Hellwig - (Warrior) pro wrestler
Lance Henriksen - actor
Peter Cooper Hewitt - inventor
Hildegarde - American cabaret singer
Gregory Hines - dancer and actor
Judd Hirsch - actor
Lena Horne - singer
Edward Everett Horton - actor
Tab Hunter - actor
Moe, Curly and Shemp Howard - the Three Stooges
Washington Irving - author
Wolfman Jack - radio personality
Henry James - author
William James - philosopher
John Jay - governor of New York and Supreme Court Chief Justice
Jay-Z - rap artist
Billy Joel - singer
David Johansen - singer, songwriter, actor
Scarlett Johansson - actress
Kimberly Denise Jones "Lil Kim" - rapper
Nasir Jones - rap artist
Norah Jones - singer
Michael Jordan - basketball player
William Joyce - Nazi broadcaster (Lord Haw-Haw)
Philip Mayer Kaiser -U.S. Diplomat
Danny Kaye - actor and comedian
Thomas Kean - governor of New Jersey
Harvey Keitel - actor
Jerome Kern - composer
Alicia Keys - R&B singer
Calvin Klein - fashion designer
Ed Koch - mayor of New York City
E. L. Konigsburg - author
C. Everett Koop - physician
Lenny Kravitz - singer
Stanley Kubrick - film director
William Kunstler - lawyer
Tony Kushner - playwright
Fiorello LaGuardia - mayor of New York
Veronica Lake - actress
Andrew Lalka - politician
Jake LaMotta - boxer
Martin Landau - actor
Diane Lane - actress
Cyndi Lauper - singer
Ralph Lauren - fashion designer
Emma Lazarus - author and poet
Steve Lawrence - singer
Madeleine L'Engle - author
Joe E. Lewis - comedian
Roy Lichtenstein - artist
John Lindsay - mayor of New York
Peggy Lipton - actress
Robert R. Livingston - Founding Father and diplomat
Vince Lombardi - football coach
Lindsay Lohan - actress and singer
Jennifer Lopez - singer and actress
Lucky Luciano - gangster
Sid Luckman - football player and coach
Frankie Lyman - Singer
Derek Lee - baseball player
Frank McCourt - author
Bernard Malamud - author
Melissa Manchester - singer
Barry Manilow - singer, songwriter, musician
Mike Mansfield - Senator from Montana
Stephon Marbury - professional basketball player
Constantine Maroulis - American Idol finalist
Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo Marx - the Marx Brothers
Walter Matthau - actor
Herman Melville - author
Yehudi Menuhin - violinist
Ethel Merman - singer and actress
Adeline Miller - prostitute and madam
Arthur Miller - playwright
Sienna Miller - actress
Sal Mineo - actor
John Joseph Mitty - Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco
Isaac Mizrahi - fashion designer
Mary Tyler Moore - actress and producer
Tom Morello - guitarist
Gouverneur Morris - Founding Father and Senator
Zero Mostel - actor and comedian
Charlie and Eddie Murphy - actors and comedians
Nordstrom Sisters - American sister act, international cabaret singers
Dagmar Nordstrom - American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters
Eugene O'Neill - playwright
Robert Oppenheimer - physicist; 'father of the atomic bomb'
Bill O'Reilly - Fox News anchor and journalist
Al Pacino - actor
Joe Paterno - football coach
James Patterson - novelist
Amanda Peet - actress
Richard Pelham - blackface performer
Claiborne Pell - Senator from Rhode Island
Sam Perkins - basketball player
John Petrucci- Guitarist, Dream Theater
Lip Pike - major league baseball player
Mike Portnoy- Drummer, Dream Theater
Chaim Potok - author
Bud Powell - jazz pianist
Colin Powell - army general and Secretary of State
Priscilla Presley - actress
Tito Puente - band leader
Mario Puzo - author
Joey Ramone and Marky Ramone - punk rock musicians
Lou Reed - rock musician, songwriter
Christopher Reeve - actor
Paul Reiser - actor
Buddy Rich - jazz drummer
Burton Richter - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Thelma Ritter - actress
Laurance Rockefeller - conservationist and philanthropist
Winthrop Rockefeller - governor of Arkansas
Norman Rockwell - artist
Alex Rodriguez - baseball player
Sonny Rollins - jazz saxophonist
Ray Romano - actor
Mickey Rooney - actor
Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady and human rights activist
Theodore Roosevelt - President of the United States
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg - convicted spy
Julius Rosenberg - convicted spy
Mercedes Ruehl - actress
Louis Rukeyser - business columnist; economic commentator
Carl Sagan - physicist and astronomer
J. D. Salinger - author
Jonas Salk - medical researcher
John Salley - basketball player
Adam Sandler- actor, comedian
Francesco Scavullo - photographer
Dick Schaap - journalist
Vincent Schiavelli - actor
Sandra Schnur - Disability rights activist
Rick Schroder - actor
Charles Schumer - Senator
Julius Schwartz - comic book editor
Martin Scorsese - film director
Vin Scully - sports radio announcer
Jerry Seinfeld - comedian
Maurice Sendak - author and illustrator
Elizabeth Ann Seton - first American Catholic saint
Tupac Shakur - rap artist
Artie Shaw - band leader
Judith Sheindlin - judge (aka 'Judge Judy')
Daniel Sickles - Civil War general
Bugsy Siegel - gangster
Beverly Sills - opera singer
Robert Silverberg - author
Carly Simon - singer, songwriter
Neil Simon - playwright
John Slidell - Senator from Louisiana and Confederate diplomat
Al Smith - governor of New York and presidential candidate
Phoebe Snow - singer, songwriter
Stephen Sondheim - songwriter
Mickey Spillane - author
Eliot Spitzer - governor of New York State
Sylvester Stallone - actor
Barbara Stanwyck - actress
Joe Start - major league baseball player
Julia Stiles - actress
Henry L. Stimson - politician and diplomat
Oliver Stone - film director
Susan Strasberg - actress
Barbra Streisand - singer and actress
Studs Terkel - author
Irving Thalberg - film producer
Johnny Thunders - rock musician
Louis Comfort Tiffany - artist
Joe Torre - baseball player and coach
Donald Trump - businessman
Barbara Tuchman - historian; author
Gene Tunney - 1926-28 heavyweight boxing champion
John V. Tunney - former U.S. Senator
John Turturro - actor
William Tweed - politician
Mike Tyson - professional boxer
Leslie Uggams - singer; actress
Hikaru Utada - musician
Andrew Vachss - lawyer and author
Cornelius Vanderbilt - businessman
Luther Vandross - singer
Christopher Walken - actor
Jimmy Walker - mayor of New York City
Christopher Wallace - rapper
Eli Wallach - actor
Fats Waller - jazz pianist
Vera Wang - fashion designer
Sigourney Weaver - actor
Steven Weinberg - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Eric West - actor, pop singer
Leslie West - rock musician
Nathanael West - author
Edith Wharton - author
Billy Whitlock - blackface performer
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney - sculptor and art patron
Vanessa Lynn Williams - singer and actress
Tony Yayo - rap artist

Answer 2

Milton Berle
Humphrey Bogart
James Cagney
Eugene O'Neill
Norman Rockwell
Jonas Salk
Lou Gehrig
George Gershwin
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Jackie Gleason
Washington Irving
John Jay
Roy Liechtenstein
the Marx Brothers
Arthur Miller
Robert Oppenheimer
Theodore Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
William Tweed
Cornelius Vanderbilt

Answer 3

The Ramones The conflict The intercourse Pistols The lifeless Kennedys green Day all of those Are Inspirations To different Generations The lifeless Kennedys Are All nevertheless Alive The conflict Has Made It Into video games in case you Ask A highway guy What Punk Is, He'd in all probability Say Ramones Or intercourse Pistols And green Day Had The Radios enjoying American fool To dying For The previous Years

Answer 4

Andy Warhol
Donna Karan
George Steinbriener (Spelling ?)
Lou Reed
Mike Piazza
Keith Harring (Artist(Spelling ?)
John Lennon, Jackie Onasis & JFK, Jr. (Lived there before they died)
Mayor Ed Koch
Donald Trump
Edie Segdwick

Answer 5

Ron Jeremy

Answer 6

People born in New York City I heard of here in Europe :

Bella Abzug - feminist activist and politician
Danny Aiello - actor
Woody Allen - film director
Diane Arbus - photographer
Beatrice Arthur - actress
Hank Azaria - actor
Anne Bancroft - actress
Harry Belafonte - actor and singer
Pat Benatar - singer
Humphrey Bogart - film actor
Margaret Bourke-White - photographer
Clara Bow - actress
Barbara Boxer - Senator from California
Matthew Broderick - actor
Mel Brooks - film director
William F. Buckley, Jr. - author and conservative commentator
Steve Buscemi - actor
James Caan - actor
Maria Callas - opera singer
Al Capone - gangster
John Cassavetes - actor
Jeff Chandler - actor
Paddy Chayefsky - author
Aaron Copland - composer
Bob Costas - sports announcer
Ann Coulter - political pundit
George Cukor - film director
Mario Cuomo - governor of New York
Tony Curtis - actor
Bobby Darin - singer, entertainer, actor, songwriter
Marion Davies - actress
Sammy Davis, Jr. - singer and entertainer
Dorothy Day - Catholic social activist
Robert De Niro - actor
Eamon de Valera - Prime Minister of Ireland
Samuel R. Delany - author and critic
Don DeLillo - author
Neil Diamond - singer and composer
P. Diddy - rap artist
Vin Diesel - actor
Richard Dreyfuss - actor
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - actor
Louis Farrakhan - Leader of the nation of islam
Richard Feynman - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
50 Cent - rap artist
Harvey Fierstein - actor
Jane Fonda - actress
Peter Fonda - actor
Malcolm Forbes - publisher
Milton Friedman - economist
Art Garfunkel - songwriter
Lou Gehrig - baseball player
George Gershwin - composer
Ira Gershwin - lyricist
Vitas Gerulaitis - tennis player
Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Supreme Court Justice
Rudolph Giuliani - mayor of New York
Jackie Gleason - comedian
Whoopi Goldberg - comedian and actress
Daniel S. Goldin - NASA director
Cuba Gooding Jr. - actor
Elliott Gould - actor
Rocky Graziano - boxer (real name Thomas Rocco Barbella)
Alan Greenspan - economist, former Federal Reserve Chairman
Melanie Griffith - actress
Bob Guccione - publisher
Peggy Guggenheim - art collector
Armand Hammer - industrialist and philanthropist
Oscar Hammerstein II - composer
W. Averell Harriman - diplomat and governor of New York
Susan Hayward - actress
Rita Hayworth - actress
Joseph Heller - author
Peter Cooper Hewitt - inventor
Judd Hirsch - actor
Lena Horne - singer
Tab Hunter - actor
Moe, Curly and Shemp Howard - the Three Stooges
Washington Irving - author
Wolfman Jack - radio personality
Henry James - author
Billy Joel - singer
Scarlett Johansson - actress
Kimberly Denise Jones "Lil Kim" - rapper
Norah Jones - singer
Michael Jordan - basketball player
William Joyce - Nazi broadcaster (Lord Haw-Haw)
Danny Kaye - actor and comedian
Harvey Keitel - actor
Jerome Kern - composer
Calvin Klein - fashion designer
Ed Koch - mayor of New York City
C. Everett Koop - physician
Lenny Kravitz - singer
Stanley Kubrick - film director
Fiorella LaGuardia, Mayor
Veronica Lake - actress
Jake LaMotta - boxer
Martin Landau - actor
Diane Lane - actress
Cyndi Lauper - singer
Ralph Lauren - fashion designer
Roy Lichtenstein - artist
Vince Lombardi - football coach
Lindsay Lohan - actress and singer
Jennifer Lopez - singer and actress
Lucky Luciano - gangster
Bernard Malamud - author
Barry Manilow - singer, songwriter, musician
Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo Marx - the Marx Brothers
Walter Matthau - actor
Herman Melville - author
Yehudi Menuhin - violinist
Ethel Merman - singer and actress
Arthur Miller - playwright
Sal Mineo - actor
Mary Tyler Moore - actress and producer
Zero Mostel - actor and comedian
Eddie Murphy - actor and comedian
Nordstrom Sisters - American sister act, international cabaret singers
Eugene O'Neill - playwright
Robert Oppenheimer - physicist; 'father of the atomic bomb'
Al Pacino - actor
Chaim Potok - author
Bud Powell - jazz pianist
Colin Powell - army general and Secretary of State
Priscilla Presley - actress
Tito Puente - band leader
Mario Puzo - author
Joey Ramone and Marky Ramone - punk rock musicians
Lou Reed - rock musician, songwriter
Christopher Reeve - actor
Paul Reiser - actor
Norman Rockwell - artist
Mickey Rooney - actor
Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady and human rights activist
Theodore Roosevelt - President of the United States
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg - convicted spy
Julius Rosenberg - convicted spy
Carl Sagan - physicist and astronomer
J. D. Salinger - author
Jonas Salk - medical researcher
Martin Scorsese - film director
Jerry Seinfeld - comedian
Maurice Sendak - author and illustrator
Tupac Shakur - rap artist
Artie Shaw - band leader
Bugsy Siegel - gangster
Beverly Sills - opera singer
Robert Silverberg - author
Carly Simon - singer, songwriter
Neil Simon - playwright
Mickey Spillane - author
Sylvester Stallone - actor
Barbara Stanwyck - actress
Oliver Stone - film director
Susan Strasberg - actress
Barbra Streisand - singer and actress
Studs Terkel - author
Irving Thalberg - film producer
Johnny Thunders - rock musician
Louis Comfort Tiffany - artist
Donald Trump - businessman
Barbara Tuchman - historian; author
John Turturro - actor
William Tweed - politician
Mike Tyson - professional boxer
Cornelius Vanderbilt - businessman
Luther Vandross - singer
Christopher Walken - actor
Jimmy Walker - mayor of New York City
Eli Wallach - actor
Fats Waller - jazz pianist
Sigourney Weaver - actor
Nathanael West - author
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney - sculptor and art patron
Vanessa Lynn Williams - singer and actress