Who Were Some of the Famous People in the 1920's?

The era of bob haircuts, flappers and silent films was filled with famous entertainers and news-makers. Famous people of the 1920s include Charlie Chaplin, Irving Berlin, Albert Einstein, Babe Ruth, and Charles Lindbergh. 

Of the people who were famous in the 1920s, many of them were entertainers:

• Louise Brooks was an actress, dancer, and fashion designer, and was responsible for the “bob” haircut of the 1920s. 
• Gloria Swanson was a movie star who was known best for her roles in silent movies.
• Josephine Baker was a singer and actress who was the first African-American to star in a major motion picture and refused to perform to a segregated audience. 
• Charlie Chaplin was a comedian, musician, and actor who will be remembered for his movie The Tramp.
• Greta Garbo was an actress in silent films and is known for The Temptress and Love.   

In the roaring twenties, people were willing to break with traditions and try new things.  Anything modern was embraced and appreciated, like cars and talking motion pictures, and new styles of music, dancing and fashion were energetically followed.  Sandwiched between World War I and the Great Depression, it was a period of time to have fun and enjoy life.

1920's Musicians

There were also musicians who were some of the famous people of the 1920's.

Some people who were famous in the 1920s that were musicians were:

• Al Jolson was a singer, comedian, and actor who is remembered for the Jazz Singer, the first full length talking movie, during which he performed in blackface makeup. 
• Louis Armstrong was a jazz trumpeter and singer who was adept at scat singing and influenced the shift in jazz from group to solo performances.
• Irving Berlin was a prolific songwriter and composer, whose first hit song, “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” was a worldwide hit in 1911, and was followed by other hits like: "What'll I Do?," "Always," Blue Skies" and "Marie." 
• Cole Porter was also a songwriter and composer whose hits of the 1920s include: “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love),” “You Do Something to Me,” "You've Got That Thing," "The Tale of the Oyster" and “What is This Thing Called Love?” 
• Duke Ellington was a famous musician and the band leader at the Cotton Club, who wrote over 1000 songs in his career, including “It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing).”

1920's Scientists

In the 1920s, there were also famous scientists.

• Albert Einstein was a German theoretical physicist who is considered the father of modern physics. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 mainly because he discovered the law of photoelectric effect.
• Sigmund Freud is known for his theories about the unconscious and repression, and for defining the id, ego, and super-ego. 
• Nikola Tesla was a brilliant engineer and inventor whose work with electricity and electromagnetism paved the way for the Second Industrial Revolution.

Sports in the 1920's

Three people stand out in sports in the 1920s:

• Jack Dempsey was the world champion heavyweight boxer from 1919 to 1926 and was one of the most popular boxers of all time.
• Babe Ruth was a baseball player who, in 1927, hit 60 home runs, and this record was not broken until 1961.
• Johnny Weissmuller was a swimmer who broke the record for swimming 100 metres in under one minute with a time of 58.6 seconds in 1922.       

Other Famous People of the 1920's

Other people who were famous in the 1920s include:

• F. Scott Fitzgerald was the author of The Great Gatsby.  After the success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, he and his wife, Zelda Sayre, became celebrities.  They were examples of the spirit of the Roaring Twenties: rich, energetic, good-looking, and fun-loving.
• Al Capone was a well-known gangster who engaged in many illegal activities during Prohibition, like smuggling, selling liquor, and prostitution.  
• Coco Chanel was a very famous fashion designer who made durable, comfortable clothes for the modern woman. 
• Marcus Garvey was an influential civil rights activist and founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica. 
• Charles Lindbergh was an aviator and adventurer who made a non-stop solo flight in his plane called The Spirit of St. Louis, from Garden City, New York to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France.  

Writers, inventors, entertainers and more are all part of the list of famous people in the 1920's.