List of Choate Rosemary Hall alumni

The following is a list of notable alumni of Choate Rosemary Hall, also known informally simply as Choate. A private, college-preparatory, boarding school located in Wallingford, Connecticut, it took its present name and began a coeducational system with the merger in 1971 of two single-sex establishments: the Choate School (founded in 1896 in Wallingford) and Rosemary Hall (founded in 1890 in Wallingford, moved later to Greenwich, Connecticut).

A

Edward Albee '46, Pulitzer-winning playwright^[1]
Lauren Ambrose (did not graduate), film and TV actress
William Attwood '37, diplomat and journalist

B

William Sims Bainbridge '58, sociologist
Felix Barker (exchange student), British historian, theatre and film critic, president of The Critics' Circle
David N. Barkhausen, Illinois state legislator and lawyer^[2]
Florieda Batson '21, hurdler, 1922 Olympian
Nat Benchley '64, writer, actor, producer
Joseph Beninati, real estate developer and private equity investor
Stephen Bogardus '72, Obie-winning stage actor
Chester Bowles '19, governor of Connecticut, US ambassador to India

C

Arne H. Carlson '53, governor of Minnesota
Dov Charney '87, head of American Apparel
Noah Charney '98, novelist and art historian
Tanay Chheda 2014, film actor
Julie Chu 2001, Olympic hockey player
Kristen Clarke '93, Civil Rights lawyer^[3]
Glenn Close '65, actress
Jeff Coby '13, Haitian-American basketball player
Lewis Augustus Coffin 1908, architect
Geoffrey Cowan '60, American lawyer, professor, author, and non-profit executive.
Cason Crane 2011, mountain climber
Caresse Crosby 1910 (Mary Phelps Jacob, Mrs. Harry Crosby), socialite, poet
Jamie Lee Curtis '76, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar-winning actress

D

John Danilovich '68, diplomat, U.S. ambassador to Brazil and Costa Rica, CEO of Millennium Challenge Corporation
Mathieu Darche '96, NHL ice hockey player
Chris Denorfia '98, MLB baseball player^[4]
Bruce Dern (did not graduate), actor
Tom Dey '83, film director
Lorenzo di Bonaventura '76, film producer, president of Warner Brothers
Donna Dickenson '63, philosopher, medical ethicist
John Dos Passos 1911, novelist^[5]
Michael Douglas '63, two-time Oscar-winning actor
John T. Downey '47, spy, prisoner of war, judge
Paul Draper '54, winemaker
Andres Duany '67, architect, urban planner, founder of the New Urbanism movement
Avery Dulles '36, educator, philosopher, Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
Matt Dunne '88, Vermont state senator and state representative

E

James R. Eddy '49, veteran, lawyer, politician, judge
Walter D. Edmonds '21, historical novelist

F

Caterina Fake '86, founder of Flickr
Jonathan Fanton '61, academic and foundation president
Robert Fitzgerald '29, poet, critic, classicist, translator
Geoffrey S. Fletcher '88, Oscar-winning screenwriter and film director
Katherine B. Forrest '82, U.S. federal judge

G

Oliver M. Gale '27, advertising and public relations pioneer
Bruce Gelb '45, president of Clairol, U.S. ambassador to Belgium
Paul Giamatti '85, Emmy- and SAG-winning actor
Philip Gourevitch '79, journalist, author
James Griffin '51, philosopher
Roy Richard Grinker '79, anthropologist

H

Jin Ha 2008, American actor known for his roles in the TV series Devs, Love Life, and Pachinko in addition to the musical Hamilton
William O. Harbach '40, Emmy- and Peabody-winner, founding producer of The Tonight Show and The Steve Allen Show
Amanda Hearst 2002, heiress, journalist, philanthropist
Buck Henry '48, comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter
Hong Jung-wook '89, Korean entrepreneur and ex-politician
Brian Hartzer '85, chairman, BeyondPay

I

Kim Insalaco '99, Olympic hockey player
Brett Icahn businessman

J

Dora Jarkowski '15, American bedroom pop musician, known professionally as Dora Jar^[6]
Eric M. Javits '48, American ambassador, nephew of Senator Jacob Javits
Hardy Jones '61, conservationist filmmaker, author

K

Bob Kasten '60, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
William Kaufmann '35, Cold War strategist
John F. Kennedy '35, 35th President of the United States
Joseph Kennedy Jr. '33, naval pilot
Sarah Kernochan '65, novelist, screenwriter, songwriter, and Oscar-winning director
Whitman Knapp '27, U.S. federal judge
Hilary Knight 2007, Olympic hockey player
John K. Koelsch '41, Medal of Honor recipient
Herbert Kohler, Jr. '57, president of the Kohler Company
Ben Kurland (did not graduate), film and TV actor

L

James Laughlin '32, poet and founder of New Directions Publishing
Alan Jay Lerner '36, creator of My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Gigi, winner of three Oscars and three Tonys
Elad Levy '89, leader, researcher, innovator, for the treatment of stroke in neurosurgery
Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg (did not graduate), stage and television director, actor, writer
Alan Lomax '30, pioneering ethnomusicologist, folklorist, oral historian

M

Robert McCallum Jr. '64, U.S. ambassador to Australia
Douglas McGrath '76, actor, director, screenwriter
Ali MacGraw '56, Golden Globe-winning actress
George J. Mead 1911, aircraft engineer, co-founder of Pratt & Whitney
Paul Mellon '25, philanthropist, art collector, donor of the Yale Center for British Art and the National Gallery of Art East Wing
Peter Rodgers Melnick '76, film, theater, and television composer
Tift Merritt '93, singer-songwriter
Helen Stevenson Meyner '46, U.S. Congresswoman from New Jersey
Rebecca Miller '80, actress, screenwriter, director, novelist
William T. Monroe '68, diplomat, U.S. ambassador to Bahrain
Emil "Bus" Mosbacher '39, yachtsman, America's Cup winner, U.S. Chief of Protocol
Robert Mosbacher '44, U.S. Secretary of Commerce
Robert Mosbacher Jr. '69, Republican Politician and Former President and CEO of Overseas Private Investment Corporation

N

Abdi Nazemian '94, Iranian-American writer, recipient of the 2017 Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction
Nicholas Negroponte '61, founder of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop per Child
Philip Nel '88, scholar of children's literature
Bruce Nelson '58, history professor
Douglass North '38, Nobel Laureate in Economics
Victoria Nuland '79, U.S. ambassador to NATO, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs

O

Terry O'Neill '70, feminist, president of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
Emily Oster '98, economist and author
Ifeoma Ozoma 2011, technology policy researcher

P

Laurie L. Patton '79, 17th president of Middlebury College and president of American Academy of Religion in 2019
James Peck '32, World War II pacifist, Freedom Rider during the Civil Rights Movement
Stacey Plaskett '84, U. S. Virgin Islands delegate to the United States House of Representatives
Josephine Pucci 2009, U.S. Women's National Hockey Team member
Jim Pyne '90, NFL player

R

Prince Anthony Stanislas Radziwill '78, Emmy- and Peabody-winning producer of Primetime Live
Luis Armando Roche '57, Venezuelan film director
Rick Rosenthal '66, award-winning film and TV director
Angela Ruggiero '98, Olympic hockey player, U.S. member of the International Olympic Committee
Anne Ramsey (1929–1988), Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe nominated actress

S

Nicholas Schaffner '70, author, journalist
Jamie Schroeder '99, American rower, Olympic gold-medalist, Oxford Blue, winner of The Boat Race
John Burnham Schwartz '83, novelist
Martha Schwendener '85, lead singer and songwriter of Bowery Electric
Maria Semple '82, novelist and screenwriter
Frederick Charles Shrady '28, sculptor, painter, awarded the Légion d'honneur
Michael David Shulman (did not graduate), writer, artist, philanthropist
Bill Simmons '88, sportswriter
Hedrick Smith '51, New York Times editor, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Emmy-winning PBS producer
Lee Smith '80, journalist
Window Snyder '93, digital security innovator
Gustaf Sobin '53, poet, novelist, and belle-lettrist
Khari Stephenson 2000, MLS soccer player and member of the Jamaica national football team
Roger L. Stevens '28, theatrical producer, founding chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kennedy Center
Adlai Stevenson '18, two-time Democratic presidential candidate, governor of Illinois, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
James Surowiecki '84, author, New Yorker staff writer

T

Ivanka Trump 2000, heiress, fashion model, entrepreneur, and presidential advisor

U

Ian Underwood '59, multi instrumentalist, member of the Mothers of Invention.

V

Chris Vlasto '84, Emmy-winning producer of Good Morning America and 20/20

W

Prince Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuk 2003, heir presumptive to the throne of Bhutan
Frank "Muddy" Waters '43, American college football coach
Katharine Way '20, Manhattan Project nuclear physicist
H. Bradford Westerfield '44, political scientist
George Whipple III '73, lawyer and society reporter for NY1^[7]
James Whitmore '40, Tony- and Emmy-winning actor
David Williams '86, NHL ice hockey player
Geoffrey Wolff '55, novelist and belle-lettrist

X

Y

Alexander Morgan Young '88, president of production at 20th Century Fox
Philip Young '27, Dean of the Columbia Business School and U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands

Z

Paul Zaloom '70, puppeteer, actor, and educator

References

^ Graduation years of alumni are taken from the Alumni Directory (online login), supplemented by "Notable Alumni" at www.choate.edu/about/history/notable-alumni, and the Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin
^ 'Illinois Blue Book 1995-1996,' Biographical Sketch of David N. Barkhausen, pg. 95
^ "Two alumnae nominated to key roles in Biden administration". Choate News. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
^ Borges, David (June 20, 2011). "Southington native Chris Denorfia making a name for himself with Padres". New Haven Register. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
^ Jean-Paul Sartre, "John Dos Passos and 1919," in Literary Essays, transl. Annette Michelson (New York, 1957), p. 90
^ Belak, Dagny (April 3, 2015). "Pratt Packard Finalists Seize the Day" (PDF). The Choate News. p. 2. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
^ "Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin | Winter '16 by Choate Rosemary Hall - Issuu". issuu.com. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 2022-06-03.

[1] Graduation years of alumni are taken from the Alumni Directory (online login), supplemented by "Notable Alumni" at www.choate.edu/about/history/notable-alumni, and the Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin

[2] 'Illinois Blue Book 1995-1996,' Biographical Sketch of David N. Barkhausen, pg. 95

[3] "Two alumnae nominated to key roles in Biden administration". Choate News. 22 January 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2021.

[4] Borges, David (June 20, 2011). "Southington native Chris Denorfia making a name for himself with Padres". New Haven Register. Retrieved February 26, 2014.

[5] Jean-Paul Sartre, "John Dos Passos and 1919," in Literary Essays, transl. Annette Michelson (New York, 1957), p. 90

[6] Belak, Dagny (April 3, 2015). "Pratt Packard Finalists Seize the Day" (PDF). The Choate News. p. 2. Retrieved September 4, 2024.

[7] "Choate Rosemary Hall Bulletin | Winter '16 by Choate Rosemary Hall - Issuu". issuu.com. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 2022-06-03.

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