Mining may have earned Montana its nickname as the Treasure State, but Montana’s greatest treasure is its people—men and women who have shaped the state and made it a place we’re proud to call home. We could never hope to name everyone who has made an impact, but here are a handful of famous folks who we feel are worth mentioning:
Country singer Charley Pride was discovered in Helena in 1963. At the time, he was a smelting plant worker and semi-pro baseball player, but when he sang Lovesick Blues for Red Foley and Red Sovine at the Helena Civic Center, they encouraged him to pursue a career in music.
In 1969, Dave Wilson began his radio career on KMON in Great Falls. He started the popular radio program “Grassroots Gold” in 1972. His deep gravelly voice made him one of Montana’s most beloved radio announcers.
Sitting Bull, the Hunkpapa Lakota leader, is perhaps most famous for his role in Custer’s Defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Throughout his life, he spent significant portions of time in southeastern Montana.
Janette Rankin was born near Missoula in 1880, nine years before Montana became a state. She was the first woman to hold federal office in the country, elected to the House of Representatives in 1916, and again in 1940.
Myrna Loy was born in Radersburg in 1905 and acted in more than 100 films between 1925 and 1981. She was honored in 1991 with the opening of the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts in Helena.
Burton K. Wheeler settled in Butte after losing his belongings in a poker game. He was a United States Senator from 1923 to 1947, beloved in the Treasure State and abroad. There was even a large movement to “Draft Wheeler” into the 1940 presidential race, possibly as a third-party candidate.
Alice Greenough Orr of Red Lodge was the first inductee into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1975. Widely considered the original rodeo queen, she won three national titles in the 1930s and 1940s and occasionally did stunt work in films.
Chet Huntley of the evening news program The Huntley- Brinkley Report spent a great deal of time in Montana. He was born in Cardwell in 1911 and died in Big Sky in 1974.
In 1913, author Dorothy Johnson moved to Whitefish. Three of her stories—The Hanging Tree, A Man Called Horse, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence—were made into films.
Stan Lynde is famous for his globally syndicated comic strip Rick O’Shay, which he created in 1958. He was originally from Billings, born in 1931.
Ivan Doig is an author best known for his memoir, This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind, which chronicles his early life in Montana. He was born in White Sulphur Springs in 1939 and later lived near Choteau.
In 1935, Robert Marshall founded the Wilderness Society, a non-profit land conservation organization that is dedicated to protecting natural areas and federal public lands in the United States. In 1964, Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness was named in his honor.
From 1993 to 1995 and 1997 to 1998, Dan Mortensen was the World Saddle Bronc Riding Champion. The Billings native was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1997.