| Name | School & Location | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abrams, Dan | Riverdale Country Day School, Bronx, NY | Court TV pundit Dan Abrams went to Riverdale and gave a commencement speech once. He was a member of the class of 1984. Other former students include Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell, the former mayor of Philadelphia and the chair of the 2000 Democratic National Committee, singer Carly Simon, and (maybe) Chevy Chase. Riverdale also appears here under the Kennedys' section. Jake Paltrow also attended Riverdale. For more, see Carly Simon's entry. | |
| Adu, Freddy | The Heights School, Potomac, MD | The school is an Opus Dei School for boys, which soccer whiz Freddy Adu attended. He played for the school. Robert Hanssen, a notorious and uniquely vile spy, sent his kids here on an FBI salary, which he augmented with money taken from the Russians. The school's equivalent for girls is Oakcrest. Hanssen's daughters went to Oakcrest. | |
| Agar, John | Pawling School, Pawling, New York (now Trinity Pawling School) | Agar was a leading mean in the golden age of film and for a time was married to Shirley Temple. She was only 16 when she married him. He attended Pawling School, in Duchess County, New York, about 50 miles north of New York City, a correspondent writes. The school is now called Trinity Pawling School. Mo Vaughn went there. For more, see his entry. | |
| Agee, James | St. Andrew's-Sewanee, St. Andrew's, TN and Phillips Exeter, Exeter, NH | Author Agee attended St. Andrew's before it merged with Sewanee. His tenure at the school has been described as erratic, and you can learn more about it from a story he wrote, "The Morning Watch." But he remained close to Fr. James Flye, who was an influence on his life. Someone wrote to tell me Agee spent grades 10-12 at Phillips Exeter and did manage to graduate. (See the entries on these pages for John Knowles and George Plimpton for the full Exeter lineup.) Other Tennessee celeb prep schools are Baylor, where Arthur Golden went, McCallie, where Ted Turner went, and Harpeth Hall, where Reese Witherspoon studied. Others associated with St. Andrews and/or Sewanee are Kix Brooks of Brooks and Dunn (some redneck!) and actress Elisabeth Rohm. | |
| Albee, Edward | Lawrenceville, Lawrenceville, NJ, and Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT | Playwright Albee was expelled from Lawrenceville for poor attendance but received a recommendation to Choate nonetheless, courtesy of the Head. See Choate entries for Lauren Ambrose, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, James Dickey, Robert Chambers, Glenn Close, the Trump family, Peter Jennings, and the Moxleys. Lawrenceville appears several times here. For more, see the entry for James Merrill. | |
| Albright, Madeline | Kent Denver School, Englewood, CO | Former foreign policy architect Albright attended this Colorado school, located in an affluent suburb of Denver. Condoleeza Rice went to another Englewood Schol, St. Mary's Academy. | |
| Ambrose, Lauren | Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT | Ambrose, who appears on Six Feet Under, went to Choate, which is mentioned many times on these pages. See entries for Edward Albee, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Douglas, Paul Giamatti, James Dickey, Robert Chambers, Glenn Close, the Trump family, Peter Jennings, and the Moxleys. | |
| Anderson, Wes | St. John's, Houston, TX | St. John's is where film director Anderson went to school and was his choice of location for much of the film, "Rushmore." The Farish Family, who are the Bush's godchildren, went there, as did Steve Wyatt and John Bryan, two Texas businessmen. St. John's rival Kincaid is where model Lauren Bush went. For more on Kinkaid, see the Bush family entry. | |
| Aniston, Jennifer | Rudolph Steiner School, NYC, NY | "Friends" actress Anniston attended this exclusive NYC school, a Waldorf method school, before transferring to the "Fame" high school of the performing arts. In Spring 2003, the Steiner school announced they would be giving up their present address in a search for bigger quarters. | |
| Arbus, Diane | Fieldston, NYC, NY | Arbus was a famous photographer whose work focused on the bizarre. Fieldston is located in the Bronx and is part of Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Fieldston's program is built around the concept of "ethics in action." Other Fieldston alums include Dreamworks head Jeffrey Katzenberg, J. Robert Oppenheimer, poet Muriel Rukeyser (1930), and Gil Scott Heron, Stephen Sondheim (for elementary school). | |
| Astor Family | Harvey School, Katonah, NY | The August 16, 2006 issue of "New York" magazine reports that Brooke Astor "shipped off her son" to the Harvey School, where the homesick boy "ran his sled into a tree and nearly died, an accident his mother described with intense guilt." | |
| Azaria, Hank | Kew-Forest School, Forest Hills, NY | Donald Trump and MTV's Gideon Yago went to this school, as did actor Azaria of the "Simpson's." | |
| Bacon, Kevin | Kent School, Kent, CT | A correspondent tells me Bacon and his brother (the "Bacon Brothers") attended this school, which is also mentioned on these pages in entries for actors Ted Danson and Treat Williams. Another correspondent writes that the Bacons did not attend the school, but added the fact that Kevin maintains a home in Kent, a fact confirmed by someone else who wrote. And in a separate correction sent to me, only a nephew of Kevin Bacon's came through Kent. Someone else wrote to say they did not go to Kent. That should do it. Because I've gotten so much mail about the Bacons, I'm leaving them on. | |
| Bailey, F. Lee | Kimball Union Academy, Meridien, NH | Celebrated lawyer F. Lee Bailey graduated in 1950 from this academy, located near Dartmouth. | |
| Balaban, Bob | Latin School of Chicago, Chicago, IL | This Chicago school is where actor Balaban went, also Nancy Davis Reagan, Ted Field, Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, and others, including Ike Barinholtz, Amy Laughlin, and Sarah Danielle Madison.. | |
| Barker, Lex | Phillips Exeter, Exeter, NH | Born Alexander Crichlow Barker, Jr., this Tarzan actor caught the acting bug at Exeter. Others to walk through Exeter are James Agee, John Irving, John Knowles, Fred Grandy, Dan Brown, Joyce Maynard, Peter Benchley, George Plimpon, and members of the Dupont, Schlesinger, and Rockefeller families. See the entries on these pages for John Knowles and George Plimpton for the full Exeter lineup. | |
| Barrows, Sydney Biddle | Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Greenfield, MA | The "Mayflower Madam" was in the class of 1971 but did not graduate. She's in the yearbook, though. Must have been the all girl education that inspired her. | |
| Baxter, Meredith | Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI | Other Interlochen alums are Sufjan Stevens, Selma Blair, Linda Hunt, Sean Young, and Jewel. It is also mentioned below under Hulce. The arts-centered school is known for the extreme talents of its students and for the number of presidential scholars it has turned out over the years. | |
| Beach, Michael | Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, MA | Actor Beach went to "Nobles," where Olympic star Sarah Parsons was also a student. | |
| Beale, Edie | Miss Porter's School, Farmington, CT | Edie Beale, Jackie O's less-advertised relation, attended here, and perhaps Spence, too (see separate mention under "Paltrow, Gwyneth"). Miss Porter's is sometimes referred to by the town where it's located, "Farmington." See separate listing for Jackie under the Kennedy Family and a mention in an entry about Oprah. A correspondent writes that Miss Porters is popular with the Bush, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and Bass families and that the Clintons considered it for Chelsea, who ended up at Sidwell Friends in Washington, DC. | |
| Beals, Jennifer | Francis W. Parker School, Chicago, IL | Beals attended this Chicago school, as did Darryl Hannah, David Mamet, Jonathan Alter, Anne Heche, and others. | |
| Beastie Boys | St. Ann's, Brooklyn Heights, NY, Walden, NYC; Friends Seminary, NY; and the McBurney School, also in NYC | Mike D. went to St. Ann's, a progressive school in Brooklyn Heights, a school favored by the arts community. Jennifer Connelly attended St. Ann's. Painter Julien Schnabel sent his daughter there. Designer Zac Posen is a St. Ann's alum, too. Adam Yauch went to Friends, where Amanda Peet also went. And John Berry, the first guitar player, went to Walden, a now defunct school where Matthew Broderick studied. One person wrote to say two of the Boys went to Dalton for awhile. Adam Horovitz attended another defunct city school, McBurney, where JD Salinger, actor Harlan Stone, Morton Downey, and others apparently went (see Salinger's entry for more). | |
| Beiderbecke, Bix | Lake Forest Academy, Lake Forest, IL | Jazz pioneer Beiderbecke disappointed his parents by heading to this suburban Chicago preparatory school in 1921, where he escaped weekends to the nightclubs of Chicago to listen to jazz. | |
| Bell, Lake | Westminster School, Simsbury, CT | Actress Bell, who is also known as Dr. Laura Daughtery in the TV show "Surface" went to this Connecticut prep school, also mentioned in an entry for Andrew Firestone. | |
| Bentley, Dierks | Lawrenceville, Lawrenceville, NJ | Believe it or not, country star Bentley, a Phoenix native, graduated from this legendary New Jersey Prep School, Class of '93. For more, see the entries for James Merrill, the Forbes family, and Edward Albee. Huey Lewis also went there ('67). | |
| Bergen, Candice | Harvard/Westlake School, No. Hollywood | A number of celebs attended this school, including Shirley Temple, Mindy Cohn, Jake Gyllenhaal, Elizabeth Montgomery, Jamie Lee Curtis, Myrna Loy, June Lockhart, the Nixon girls, Tori Spelling, and astronaut Sally Ride. For a complete list, see Bridge Fonda's entry. At one time, it was simply Westlake and merged in 1990 with Harvard, located in Hollywood. The girls' school was located in Bel Air. Now the school uses the two campuses for the upper and lower schools. It also competes with other well known schools, such as Marlborough. | |
| Bernstein, Leonard | Boston Latin, Boston, MA; Dalton School, NYC, NY | Bernstein graduated from Boston Latin but was a big supporter of Daltonl, which is a model for schools around the world. It is known for its arts program and has a reputation for turning out students with an appreciation for the arts. Dalton is also mentioned under Danes, Hiss, Walters, and Vanderbilt. Dalton is also where Chevy Chase, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Tracy Pollan (Michael J. Fox's wife) were students. Tracy's best friend there, I'm told, was Jennifer Gray. Bernstein's fellow Julliard faculty member, Marian Seldes, went to Dalton. Celebrity parents who chose Dalton for their kids also incude Dustin Hoffman, Leslie Stahl, Linda Evans, and Mia Farrow, a correspondent writes. | |
| Bishop, Elizabeth | Walnut Hill School, Natick, MA | Poet Bishop, I'm told, went to this preparatory arts school, which is located in suburban Boston. My source tells me that "Behind Stowe," one of the poet's verses, refers to one of the then-all-girls school's dormitories. Walnut Hill dates back to 1893. General George S. Patton sent his daughters there (see his entry). Others to pass through its halls include comic Christian Finnegan, and family members of Julie Andrews, Howard Stern, and a member of the band Aerosmith. Benjamin Zander directs the music program there. | |
| Blair, Selma | Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, MI | Actress Selma Blair, then Lizzie Beitner, went to this Michigan arts powerhouse, which was largely designed by the noted architect Saarenien. Cranbrook is school that has been declared an historic landmark noted for arts and for hockey. It has been called "one of the greatest campuses ever." Actress Dey Young, the younger sister of actress Leigh-Taylor Young, also went there, as did Massachusetts standout Mitt Romney. Another Cranbrook alum includes theater titan Eric Nederlander and soccer player Alexei Lalas. A correspondent tells me that Love Boat captain Gavin MacLeod has a Cranbrook faculty connection in his family. Someone else wrote to say Selma Blair went to Interlochen, mentioned elsewhere in these pages under Tom Hulce, Jewel, Linda Hunt, and Sean Young. Sufjan Stevens also went to Interlochen. In any event, one person Cranbrook probably wishes it had never admitted is Equatorial Guinea's notorious president Obiang, proof that the admissions policies don't always work. | |
| Bledel, Alexis | St. Agnes Academy, Houston, TX | Actress Bledel of "Gilmore Girls" fame went to this Houston school but was known there by her first name, Kim. | |
| Bleeth, Yasmine | UN International School, NYC, NY | Bleeth, who starred on "Baywatch" and "Nash Bridges," attended this school, located predictably near the UN. Malcolm X's daughter, Attallah Shabazz went there, too. There's a separate entry on these pages for her sister. | |
| Bloomberg, Michael (daughters) | Spence School, NYC, NY | See "Spence School" notation under Paltrow, Gwyneth. | |
| Bogart, Humphrey | Phillips Academy, Andover, MA | Dominick Dunne wrote that Bogey went to Andover and it is confirmed in biographies of the actor. Bogart's father was a stage-struck doctor who was in the class of '88 at the school, known as a school for gentlemen. He got a place for his son, but according to Bogart's biographers, it was "a mismatch from the start" and the would-be actor "faced 138 years of Puritan custom" at the school. He withdrew on probation. Another story about Bogart has him getting booted out for throwing a professor into Rabbit Pond. I have a notation that Bogart also attended Trinity in NYC, where Truman Capote, Sophie B. Hawkins, writer Tracy Kidder (Class of 1963), John McEnroe and Jim Fixx went. Andover is the alma mater of President George Bush both older and younger) plus brother Jeb, Jack Lemmon, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick, actress Dana Delaney, publisher Jane Pratt, Samuel Morse of code fame, members of the Mellon family, scultpor Frank Stella, JFK, Jr., news personality Willow Bay, and drop-out James Spader. For more of the "Andover Who's Who," see the listing below for Jack Lemmon. The school is mentioned several times on these pages. | |
| Bogle, John C. | Blair Academy, Blairstown, NJ | Financial titan Bogle, who founded Vanguard and the mutual fund wave, was educated at this New Jersey school, which was founded by a railroad titan. Blair is the official rival of Peddie, also mentioned here, and has an annual Peddie Day. A correspondent of mine lists other beneficiaries of a Blair education as Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, actor-director John Cassavetes, basketball player Luol Deng, gossip columnist Taki, and rock-and-roll Hall of Famer John Sebastien of the Lovin' Spoonfull. Lesser known Blair graduates include Kennedy White House society band leader Stan Rubin, basketball player Luol Deng, actor Gerald S. O'Loughlin, General John R. Guthrie, late Congressman Samuel S. Stratton, Eisenhower press spokesperson James Haggerty, media magnate Herbert J. Siegel, and Olympic wrestler Robert B. Weaver. | |
| Bolton, John | McDonogh School, Owings Mills, MD | Embattled and combative UN nominee John Bolton grew up in a working class part of Baltimore called "Yale Heights" and attended this all male military school on scholarship. | |
| Bond, Julian | George School, Newtown, PA | Civil rights leader Bond went to this school, mentioned on these pages in entries for Bill Cosby, Blythe Danner, J. Howard Marshall, Jr., Stephen Sondheim, and George Segal. Bond was co-founder of the SNCC and former head of the NAACP. | |
| Boreanz, David | Malvern Prep, Malvern, PA | Boreanz' father is a Philadelphia are television personality. The younger Boreanz went to this Catholic day school, located near Philly. | |
| Boudin, Kathy | Little Red Schoolhouse/Eliz. Irwin HS, NYC, NY | LRS-Irwin is known for an activist tradition and a curriculum steeped in human rights and critical thinking. This school has always been associated with the Left. One write-up said a typical field trip at the school involves going to a steel mining town. Boudin, one of the more infamous members of the 60s counterrevolutionary group, the Weathermen, attended the school, as did Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary. | |
| Bourdain, Anthony | Dwight-Englewood, Englewood, NJ | A host of celebrities to arise up out of the New Jersey suburbs went to this school, including Dick Button, Peter Cyote, Tate Donovan, Lesley Gore, Anne Morrow [Lindbergh], Brooke Shields, and Mira Sorvino. | |
| Bowen, Julie | St. George's School, Newport, RI | Pundit Tucker Carlson attended St. George's, where Ogden Nash went. It is also one of two schools attended by presidential candidate Howard Dean. Other St. George's attendees include former Senator Prescott Bush and his grandson, E! correspondent Billy Bush. When Bowen went there, she was Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer, Class of 87. | |
| Bremer, L. Paul | Phillips Academy, Andover, MA | Iraq viceroy Bremer was educated at New Canaan Country Day School and Andover, where Bogart went. For more of the Andover Who's Who, see the entry for Jack Lemmon. The school is mentioned many times on these pages. | |
| Brill, Steven | Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA | Media watchdog and journalist Brill went to this school, where Nelson Doubleday, John McPhee, and members of the Rockefeller family all went. Other notables associated with Deerfield include King Hussein of Jordan (see mention under Jordanian royal family), Matt Fox of "Party of Five," and John McPhee. The Brill family members either attend or have graduated from a number of powerhouse NYC schools, including Nightingale Bamford, Dalton, Collegiate School, Brearley, Trinity. Others have attended Deerfield, too. | |
| Broderick, Matthew | Walden School, NY | Walden went the way of many progressive schools: it is now defunct. | |
| Brown, Dan | Phillips Exeter, Exeter, NH | DaVinci Code author Brown attended Exeter, a school mentioned many times on these pages. For more, see the entires for John Knowles and George Plimpton. | |
| Buckley, Christopher | Portsmouth Abbey School, Portsmouth, RI | Portsmouth Abbey is located on Narragansett Bay, where Benedictine monks serve on the faculty. Students have access to libraries containing 50,000 volumes (but may head into Boston or go skiing instead). A Catholic tradition is strongly encouraged and Christian doctrine is very much in the curriculum. It's all about Latin, Great Books, and golf. One correspondent tells me that in addition to writer Buckley, who is the son of another famous Buckley, others passing through the Abbey's walls include: Bobby and Teddy Kennedy, who attended for a few years between them; Chris Farley's brother; a South American leader's son; the heirs to a well-known rum fortune (starts with a B, ends with an I); Nion McEvoy of Chronicle Books; EJ Dionne; Representative Phil English (PA); Peter Flanigan; Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale's sons; Senator Fitzgerald from Illinois; screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald ("The Passion"); John Gregory Dunne; at least one Hemingway; and members of the the Burden, Ford, and Hearst families. California Governor Gray Davis went there. | |
| Buckley, William F., Jr. | Millbrook, Millbrook, NY | Uber-right columnist Buckley went to school here (Class of 1943), which is also mentioned in an entry for the Johnson Family. The school features a zoo with its own bird-banding station. | |
| Buffet, Jimmy | Academy of the Palm Beaches, Palm Beach, FL | Buffet is an Academy parent and resides in Palm Beach, where he shows up at benefits for the school. Buffet himself is not prep. He first attended a Catholic school in Mobile, Alabama and later a public school. | |
| Bull, Bartle | Brooks School, North Andover, MA | Bull is a writer associated with the Village Voice (in its 1970s phase). Brooks is also the alma mater of Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Jr., also known as Steve Forbes, photographer William Eggleston, Parker Stevenson, who graduated from the class of 1971 under the name Richard Parker, Michael Rockefeller, Cosima von Bulow, Henry Luce, III, and Jamie Auchincloss (a relative of Jackie Kennedy). | |
| Bush Family | Kinkaid School, Houston, TX; Hockaday, Dallas, TX; Gulliver Prep, Miami, FL; St. Albans School, Washington, DC; Miss Porter's in Farmington, CT, and Phillips Academy, Andover, MA. Also, St. George's School, Newport, RI | The twins, Barbara and Jenna, attended Dallas' Hockaday, where Lisa Loeb went. One correspondent tells me that model Lauren Bush attended uber-tony prep school Kinkaid in Houston. The school is so exclusive it's hard to find information about it. It is mentioned above in an entry for Wes Anderson. My correspondent tells me the school has a $100 million endowment. (By the way, Kincaid's rival, St. John's, is where film director Wes Anderson went to school and was his choice of location for much of the film, "Rushmore.") Gulliver is a popular choice for kids of Florida-based celebrities such as Jeb Bush, Gloria Estefan, and OJ Simpson. One reader wrote me to say that Bush advisor Karen Hughes sent her son to St. Alban's before her family left DC to return to Texas. The school is popular with the Washington political elite. Past Alban's graduates reportedly include Dan Quayle's son, Senator Evan Bayh and Congressmen Harold Ford (Class of 1988), Rodney Frelinghuysen, PGA golfer Olin Browne (1975), Harvard law professor and author Randall Kennedy (1973), journalist David Ignatius (1968), astronaut Michael Collins (1948), and Charlie Bass. Other St. Albans connections, according to my sources: the Roosevelts, NFL player Jonathan Ogden (Class of 1991), "Simpsons" producers Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley, "Motley Fools" David and Tom Gardner, former FCC head Reed Hunt, Marriott head Bill Marriott, the Fords of Ford Modeling fame, and reportedly the Frists. Just to annoy you, for more on the school, see the section for the Gores. I have another note saying that Jeb and Neal Bush attended St. Alban's, but a number of people have written me to say that Jeb was a 1971 graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, where (both senior and younger) President Bush also graduated. Bush the Younger also attended Kinkaid for a bit but is more associate with Andover, where he was a cheerleader, coming out of the school in 1964, I'm told. Jack Lemmon, Humphrey Bogart, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick, Dana Delaney, writer Tracy Kidder, Samuel Morse, JFK, Jr., and news anchor Willow Bay, were Andover graduates. For more of the "Andover Who's Who," see the listing for Jack Lemmon. Another correspondent tells me that Marvin Bush is listed in a mid-70s yearbook for Woodberry Forest, one of several schools attended by writer and book expert Jonathan Yardley. For Bush family girls, a popular choice is Miss Porter's in Farmington, CT, mentioned here in entries for Edie Beale, Chelsea Clinton, the Kennedy Family, and Gwyneth Paltrow. And another correspondent writes that Billy Bush of E! went to St. George's, where Tucker Carlson went. St. George's is also where Billy Bush's gradfather, former Senator Prescott Bush went and where Howard Dean went. | |
| Button, Dick | Dwight-Englewood, Englewood, NJ | A host of celebrities to arise up out of the New Jersey suburbs went to this school, including Button, Anthony Bourdain, Peter Cyote, Tate Donovan, Lesley Gore, Anne Morrow [Lindbergh], Brooke Shields, Mira Sorvino, and others. | |
| Caan, James | Rhodes Prep, NYC, NY | Caan attended the school, where Robert DeNiro was also a student. DeNiro's father was a painter of considerable renown. Alice Barrett-Mitchell of "Another World" also went to Rhodes and graduated in the class of 1974. Another Rhodes student was contemporary playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, who went there on scholarship. Clinton pardon recipient Marc Rich came through Rhodes, too, as did legal scholar Alan Mayor Sokobin, "Dark Shadows" actess Denise Nickerson, singer Jane Olivor, journalist Mark Kellner, "Combat" actor Rick Jason, and the late Ron Brown. | |
| Canadians | Ridley College, St. Catharines, Ont; Lakefield College, Ontario; Trinity College School, Ontario; Upper Canada College, Toronto; etc. | Ridley is a sports rival of Upper Canada College and is the school where the late great actor Hume Cronyn went. It is described as a crew powerhouse where British aristocrats headed during both world wars. Two members of Our Lady Peace (Maida and Couts) went there. There is an entry elsewhere on these pages for Brendon Fraser, who went to Upper Canada College in Toronto. One correspondent writes that it is known as the "Eton of Canada." Others to pass through the school's walls include authors Robertson Davies and Stephan Leacock, artist Michael Snow, newspaper mogul Conrad Black (Lord Black of Corssharbour), as well as others. Lord Black apparently attended a number of prep schools in Canada. Richard Siklos' "Shads of Black" chronicles some of his excursions (or expulsions). There is a mention of Lakefield College under the section here called "Royals," because several royals from Britain and Spain went there. Peter Jennings went to Trinity College School in Ontario. | |
| Capote, Truman | Trinity School, NYC, NY | Another attendee was Oliver Stone (see separate entry). Trinity has been called the "Princeton of prep schools." Other Trinity alums are Sophie B. Hawkins, John McEnroe, Jim Fixx, Humphrey Bogart, and it is also the choice of school for several younger members of the Rockefeller family, I'm told. Another alum is Katrina Vanden Heuvel. Vanden Heuvel, now the editor of Nation, is the granddaughter of Hollywood great Jules Stein and his wife Doris. Stein founded MCA and lived on an estate named "Misty Mountain." It was later bought by Rupert and Anna Murdoch who lied there before their divorce. For a separate mention of Van den Heuvel, see the entry for Matthew Perry. | |
| Carlson, Tucker | St. George's School, Newport, RI | CNN Pundit Carlson attended St. George's, where Ogden Nash went. It is also one of two schools attended by presidential candidate Howard Dean. Other St. George's attendees include actress Julie Bowen and former Senator Prescott Bush and his grandson, E! correspondent Billy Bush. | |
| Carpenter, Mary Chapin | Taft School, Watertown, CT | Carpenter is an alumna of the school and attended Taft before heading off to Brown. Taft, I'm told, is where Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz spent time and where Phish singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio went as well as ballplayer Darren Bragg. (For more, see the Phish mention later on this site.) Other smooth foxes to come through Taft are Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of both Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers and his fellow Doobie, Michael McDonald. One person wrote to say Mary Chapin Carpenter went to Princeton Day School, where Christopher Reeve went and where the Menendez Brothers were schooled. | |
| Carell, Steve | Middlesex School, Concord, MA | Before attending Middlesex, actor Carell attended the elite junior prep school Fenn. At Middlesex, he "was a band geek" and played baritone horn. | |
| Carroll, Jim | Trinity School, NYC, NY | Carroll was the author of the "Basketball Diaries," now a cult book. For more on Trinity see the entries for Bogart and Truman Capote, for example, who went there. Carroll started there in 1964 on a scholarship. Other Trinity alums are Sophie B. Hawkins, John McEnroe, Jim Fixx, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. Another alum is Katrina Vanden Heuvel, now the editor of The Nation and the granddaughter of Hollywood great Jules Stein and his wife Doris. Katrina is mentioned under Matthew Perry's entry. | |
| Casablancas, Julian | Institut Le Rosey, Switzerland; Dwight, NY, NY | See the entry for the Hilton sisters for more on Dwight, where this "Strokes" member went, as well as the entry for Sean Lennon, who also attended uber-exclusive Le Rosey in Switzerland. | |
| Cassavetes, John | Blair Academy, Blairstown, NJ | The late great actor-director attended this New Jersey School, which is Peddie's rival. More about the school can be found in entries for John Bogle, Bob Guccione, and John Sebastian. | |
| Castro, Fidel | Fidel Castro Prep School/Belen Jesuit Prep School, Havana, Cuba and Miami, FL | Interesting story. Belen Jesuit Prep was located in Havana. Enter Fidel, and out go the Jesuit priests. In come the military barracks. Now, the prep school is in Miami and serves the Cuban exile community | |
| Cawley, Charles M. | St. Benedict's Preparatory, Newark, NJ | Former MBNA bank president Charles M. Cawley is the primary benefactor of this Newark prep school, which he attended. | |
| Cerveris, Michael | Phillips Exeter, Exeter, NH | Broadway and film star Cerveris went to Exeter. For more on the school and its lineup, see the entries on this page for Lex Barker and later on for for John Knowles and George Plimpton. | |
| Chambers, Robert | St. David's, Choate Rosemary Hall, Browning, and York | Chambers, like his victim, Jennifer Levin, was one of two principals in the preppie murder scandal. He attended St. David's on E. 89th as well as several prep schools, including St. David's, Choate, Browning, and York. He graduated from York Prep. By the way, a correspondent tells me that candidate Howard Dean went to Browning (and St. George's, where Tucker Carlson went). Browning is mentioned more in depth in the entry for the Rockefellers, and is also associated with the Hilton sister's brother and with members of the Sulzberger and Luce families. Choate Rosemary Hall is mentioned several times on these pages. Glenn Close went there. It is the choice of the royal family of Bhutan and the Hearst and Kluge families for their kids. Other Choate former students and alums include Lauren Ambrose, Edward Albee, JFK, John Moxley, the daughter of James Dickey, Edward Albee, Michael Douglas, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Dos Passos, Alan Jay Lerner, and Adlai Stevenson. | |
| Channing, Stockard | The Madeira School, McLean, VA | Actress Channing, with her patrician voice, started out at tony Madeira in suburban Washington, D.C. For more, see the entry for the school's former headmistrss, murderess Jean Harris. | |
| Chapman, Tracy | Wooster, Danbury, CT | Singer Tracy Chapman went to this Episcopal church school, located in a rural Connecticut setting. Other luminaries to come through Wooster's halls include the Rudenstine brothers and a few CEOs, I'm told, including the head of the Campbell's soup company and the head of Shearson Lehman. Tripod founder Ethan Zuckerman is another Wooster graduate. The school only graduates 40 students a year! | |
| Chase, Chevy | Dalton School, NYC, NY; Riverdale Country Day School, Riverdale, the Bronx; Lawrenceville, Lawrenceville, NJ | Chase was reportedly a prankster at Dalton and got the boot for it, but the whole thing may be an urban legend, according to one correspondent. Others to pass through Dalton include Marian Seldes, Sean Lennon, Claire Danes, Mary Stuart Masterson, Julie Warner, Alger Hiss' son, Tony, Barbara Walters' daughter, and others. Jennifer Gray and Michael J. Fox's wife, Tracy Pollan, were friends there. Leonard Bernstein was a big supporter of the school. Celebrity parents who chose Dalton for their kids also incude Dustin Hoffman, Leslie Stahl, Linda Evans, and Mia Farrow, a correspondent writes. Chevy Chase also attended Riverdale, where JFK, Carly Simon, and others went (see her entry for more). Another correspondent writes that several family members of Chevy's, including his father, went to Lawrenceville. For more on that school, see the entry for poet James Merrill. | |
| Cher | Montclair Prep, Van Nuys, CA; Rumsey Hall School, Washington, CT | Cher dropped out of Montclair to pursue a music career. Someone recently wrote to say Michael Jackson went there for a few years. Other celebs to go through Montclair include Brady girl Eve Plumb, Randy Spelling, Stephen Dorff, Nicole Richie, Ashley Kafagna, Vanessa Carlton, and skater Mike Kuluva. Daughter Chastity went for a time to Rumsey Hall, a Connecticut school. | |
| Chokaci, David | Tabor Academy, Marion, MA | "Baywatch" regular Chokaci cut his skills at this prep school, famous for oceanography courses which take advantage of Buzzard's Bay. Another person to graduate from Tabor is actor Bobby Hanson -- and more than a few celebrity kids. See the entry for Paul Fireman for more on Tabor. | |
| Cianci, Jr., Vincent/"Buddy" Cianci | Moses Brown School, Providence, RI | This colorful, charismatic mayor of Providence went to Moses Brown, a Quaker School, and graduated in 1966. Unfortunately, it did not prepare him for scandal. | |
| Clancy, Tom | Loyola-Blakefield, Baltimore, MD | Novelist Clancy attended this school, which also turned out sports great Jim McKay. | |
| Clinton, Chelsea | Sidwell Friends School, Washington, DC | Chelsea went there along with many other children of Washington politicians, including the Nixon daughters, Teddy Roosevelt's son, Al Gore III, and Nancy Davis Reagan. SNL cast member Ana Gasteyer and aviator Charles Lindbergh also attended Sidwell Friends. The school is associated with the Quaker Church. A correspondent writes me saying Chelsea applied to the Republican stronghold Miss Porter's in Farmington, CT, where the Bush, Bass, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller families send many of their girls. Miss Porter's is also where Jackie Kennedy and her cousin Edie Beale, of "Gray Gardens" fame, went. | |
| Close, Glenn | Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT and St. George's School, Switzerland | Close's father, like Reese Witherspoon's and Humphrey Bogart's fathers, was a doctor who chose prep schools for his children's education. Close attended prep schools all her life, including a start at Rosemary Hall (now Choate Rosemary) and later St. George's, a school based on the British system but based in Switzerland. Other Choate alums include JFK, John Moxley, the daughter of James Dickey, Edward Albee, Michael Douglas, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Dos Passos, Alan Jay Lerner, Adlai Stevenson, and members of the Hearst family and the royal family of Bhutan, plus Six Feet Under actress Lauren Ambrose, actor Paul Giamatti. Other "Choaties" include Martha Stewart's daughter, at least for a time, and others. | |
| Cohn, Mindy | Harvard-Westlake School, No. Hollywood, CA | Cohn, a star from "Facts of Life," was discovered here. For more on the school, see Bridget Fonda's entry. | |
| Cohn, Roy | Horace Mann School, Riverdale, NY | Cohn attended Horace Mann, as did Elliot Spitzer, Jack Kerouac, poet William Carlos Williams and "Rosemary's Baby" author Ira Levin. For info about this school, including more alums, see entries for Pope, Rafelson, and Salter. | |
| Colbert, Stephen | Porter-Gaud School, Charleston, SC | Political wit Colbert went to this Charleston school. | |
| Cole, Natalie | Northfield Mount Hermon School, Northfield, MA | When Cole attended, the school was an all girls school. Over the years, it has been preferred by successful African-Americans as a racially tolerant prep school choice known for its liberalism. Writer Christopher Wren's kids also attended Northfield Mount Hermon during his travels as a foreign correspondent writing for the New York Times. Others with a connection to Northfield Mount Herman include Uma Thurman, Laura Linny, and scholar Edward Said. As a footnote, one person wrote to say Kelly Cole went to Kent, mentioned earlier here in entries for the Bacons, Ted Danson, and Treat Williams. | |
| Combs, Sean John/Puffy/P Diddy/Puff Daddyr | Mount Saint Michael Academy, Bronx, NY | I like him so I'm adding him. He lived in Mount Vernon, NY and attended this school. Editor's choice. | |
| Connelly, Jennifer | St. Ann's, Brooklyn Heights, NY | Connelly attended the artsy, progressive school. Other St. Ann's alums include members of the Beastie Boys, designer Zac Posen, and Lola Schnabel. | |
| Cooper, Anderson | Dalton, New York, NY | Newscaster Cooper's name joins a long list of names associated with Dalton, either people who graduated, attended the school, or chose it for their kids. Sean Lennon is a graduate. Tracy Pollan went there and with husband Michael J. Fox, picked it for their kids. Claire Danes went there, at least for awhile. It shows up here in sections for Barbara Walters, Leonard Bernstein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Alger and Tony Hiss, Chevy Chase, Marian Seldes, Lennon, Walters -- on and on it goes. I get more mail from Dalton people than from anyone else. | |
| Cosby, Bill | Peddie School, Hightstown, NJ | Peddie alum Walter Annenberg gave $100 million dollars to the school, one of the largest gifts ever made to a private school. John "Beautiful Mind" Nash, Jr. attended Peddie, as did John Nash the elder. John Jr. didn't graduate but got his PhD anyway. Bill Cosby is also associated with the spectacularly endowed school, which is located in Highstown, NJ. A correspondent writes that Cosby sent his kids to the George School in Newton, PA, mentioned further below in entries for Stephen Sondheim and Gwyneth Paltrow (Paltrow's mom went there). Ennis, who was in the Class of 1987 at George, also went to junior boarding school Eaglebrook. His sister gradulated from George in 1985. Others associated with George: actress Donzaleigh Abernathy (daughter of civil rights icon Ralph Abernathy); actor Stephen Lang and his son, Dan; some members of the Berenstain Bears' clan; J. Howard Marshall (see separate entry); Eldridge Cleaver's daughter, Joju; and Benno Schmidt, Jr.. | |
| Couric, Katie | Spence School, New York, NY | See entry for Paltrow, Gwyneth. |