by Lisa Fagan

Created on: April 30, 2008   Last Updated: December 05, 2008

Yes, there were famous people who were born and raised here in the Philadelphia area. Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Chubby Checker, James Darren, Patty LaBelle, and Bill Cosby just to name a few.

When Dick Clark was doing American bandstand, he had an apartment in nearby Drexel Hill and then he bought a house a little further away in Wallingford. Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, James Darren, and Eddie Fisher were all raised in South Philadelphia. In fact, Bobby Rydell and his wife were married at Stella Maris Catholic Church in South Philadelphia in 1968 (his wife was a 1961 graduate of St. Maria Goretti High School; also in South Philadelphia). Fabian got married over in suburban Berlin, New Jersey.

When Bobby Rydell was doing Bye Bye Birdie in Hollywood, he hated California, and preferred to stay right in Philly (and he still lives here today; but sadly, his wife passed away a few years ago.

Suburban Philadelphia has also had its share of famous people. Tina Fey, Todd Rundgren, and 1973 Heisman Trophy winner John Capilletti (who also played for the Los Angeles Rams) were all born and raised in nearby Upper Darby (where I presently live). John Capilletti graduated from Monsignor Bonner High School (my brother also graduated from there in 1978) Both of them went to Upper Darby High School. Jim Croce not only went to Upper Darby, he went to Villanova, and taught junior high school in Chester. When he and his wife first got married, they too lived in Wallingford. Chester not only gave us Ethel Waters, but Martin Luther King did some time in the seminary there as well. And Katherine Hepburn even went to Bryn Mawr.

Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka went to the University of Pennsylvania. So did Candice Bergen and Joan Rivers' daughter Melissa. (Candice Bergen dropped out after only one semester.) Daryl Hall, John Oates, and Bill Cosby went to Temple. Even to this day, Bill Cosby is an avid Temple supporter.

As for me, I grew up in suburban Folcroft, which is also in Delaware County, and I'm already making a name for myself in the writing field.

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