Famous Osage

Famous Osage Chiefs and Leaders

Scott BigHorse, Osage Principal Chief (January to June 2014); previously elected to the Oklahoma House; served (2006-2008); elected in 2010 to the State Senate.[62]

Monte Blue (1887-1963), American actor of the silent and sound eras.

Louis F. Burns (1920-2012), historian and author, a leading expert on Osage history, customs, and mythology. Author of thirteen books, including A History of the Osage People.

Charles Curtis, Vice-president of the United States under Herbert Hoover, 1/8 Kaw, 1/8 Osage, and 1/8 Potawatomi ancestry, a descendant of Osage chief Pawhuska.

Cody Deal (b. 1986), television and film actor, best known for his role in the Syfy Original Movie, Almighty Thor[63]

Black Dog, Chief

Guy Erwin (b. 1958), first openly gay bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (elected 31 May 2013).

Hard Rope, chief

David Holt (politician), serves in the Oklahoma State Senate; he is the first Osage elected to state office since 2006.[62]

Dennis McAuliffe, journalist and writer, assistant foreign editor of the Washington Post. Since investigating the 1925 death of his Osage grandmother during the “Reign of Terror” and publishing Bloodland: A Family Story of Oil, Greed and Murder on the Osage Reservation (1994), he has become an enrolled Osage member; and been active in teaching Native American students in journalism.

From 2003-2009, he led “Reznet,” a website he founded to teach and mentor journalism online to Native American students at a variety of universities;[64] he also teaches at the University of Montana and in the summer American Indian Journalism Institute.

John Joseph Mathews (c. 1894–1979), author and historian; World War I veteran who became one of the Nation’s most important spokesmen and writers. After study at the universities of Oklahoma and Oxford, he wrote classic histories of the Osage. He also published a 1934 novel portraying the social breakdown due to the early 20th-century oil boom.

Todd Nance, first Osage Roman Catholic priest, ordained May 25, 2013 at Holy Family Cathedral in Tulsa.[66]

Elise Paschen, poet and daughter of Maria Tallchief.

Maria Tallchief, Professional Ballerina born in Fairfax, Oklahoma. She contributed greatly to the success of ballet in the United States. She danced with the New York City Ballet as it created a new American dance style. Its director George Balanchine choreographed ballets just for her.

Marjorie Tallchief, sister and professional ballerina. Both sisters were prima ballerinas who performed in many countries throughout the 20th century.
Major General Clarence L. Tinker (1887–1942), US Army aviation officer who died during World War II while on a Pacific combat mission during the Japanese attack on Midway Island in June 1942. Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is named for him. He was the highest-ranking Native American in the US Army and the first American general killed in World War II.

Carter Revard, poet, author, and Rhodes Scholar, also specialist in medieval British literature

Larry Sellers, healer, actor, linguistic mentor.

William Least Heat-Moon (b. 1939), professor of English and best-selling author. In his autobiographical Blue Highways, Heat-Moon occasionally refers to his Osage ancestry.

Osage Tribes:

Osage Nation – See Onondaga Nation of New York (F) (New York)
The Osage Nation(F) (Oklahoma)
Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, (F) (Oklahoma)