Famous Lamar High School Alumni

HOUSTON, TX — Lamar High School could have a Who's Who book published just on the famous alumni who walked the halls. The list includes a Nobel Prize winner, a former Texas Governor, a member of Destiny's Child, professional athletes ,an actor who turned down the role of J.R. Ewing and there's an original member of Charlie's Angels.

It's definitely hard to rank them in any particular order, so here's a brief rundown of some of the most famous Lamar Texans alumni, in alphabetical order, of course.

Lauren Anderson — She was a former principal dancer with the Houston Ballet. In 1990, she was one of the first African American ballerinas to become a principal for a major dance company, an important milestone in American ballet.

Herring Burl "H. B." Bailey — He drove the #36 Pontiac part-time on the NASCAR circuit as an independent driver in the Grand National/Winston Cup series from 1962 to 1993 with 85 races in his career.

Bill Bentley — Bill is an American music industry executive who produced tribute albums of the music of Roky Erickson (1990), Skip Spence (1999), Doug Sahm (2009) and Lou Reed (2013), and worked on various other projects.

Jack S. Blanton — He rose the ranks to become CEO of Scurlock Oil Company. He was also a philanthropist and civic leader.

John Abney Culberson — He is a lawyer and the U.S. Representative for Texas's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001.

David Dewhurst — Dewhurst is a rancher who served as the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Texas, serving from 2003 to 2015.

Linda Ellerbee — Linda is most known for several jobs at NBC News, including Washington, D.C. correspondent and NBC Overnight. She also hosted Nickelodeon network's Nick News with Linda Ellerbee.

James H. Fields — Fields was a United States Army captain who received the Congressional Medal of Honor in WWII.

Robert Foxworth — Foxworth was offered the role of J.R. Ewing for the TV show Dallas, but turned it down, thus paving the way for Larry Hagman into the role. Fox worth later starred in Falcon Crest and Six Feet Under.

A. J. Foyt — "Super Tex" is the only race car driver to win all of the following: Indianapolis 500 (which he won four times), the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He's been inducted into several motorsports halls of fame.

Carlin Glynn — This actress played the mother to Molly Ringwald's character in Sixteen Candles and on Broadway portrayed "Mona Stangley" in the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Michael Godwin — Godwin is an attorney and author. He was the first staff counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and he created the Internet adage Godwin's law and the notion of Internet meme.

Ty Hardin (born Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr.) — Hardin was best known as the star of the TV western show Bronco from 1958 to 1962.

Lisa Hartman Black — Married to country music star Clint Black, Lisa played roles in Knots Landing and the remake of Valley of the Dolls and Tabitha, a spinoff of Bewitched. She's also recorded several albums as a singer.

Ronald "Ron" Henley — He's a Grandmaster at chess.

Fred Hofheinz — Houston Mayor from 1974-78.

Brandon LaFell — Football wide receiver was a national champion at LSU in 2007 and has played on NFL rosters with Carolina, New England and Cincinnati.

Brian Orakpo — Defensive lineman at University of Texas was a first-round draft pick by the Redskins in 2009. He currently plays for the Tennessee Titans.

Paula Prentiss — This actress is best known for her film roles in Where the Boys Are, Man's Favorite Sport?, The Stepford Wives, What's New Pussycat?, In Harm's Way, The Black Marble and The Parallax View.

Kelly Rowland — Singer, actress, philanthropist and TV personality who won four Grammy awards while singing with Destiny's Child. She was the second lead singer behind Beyonce Knowles.

Jacquelyn Ellen "Jaclyn" Smith — She's best known for her role as Kelly Garrett on the popular TV show Charlie's Angels — the original, of course. She also starred in 20 different other shows over time.

Tommy Tune — He was an actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer and choreographer who won 10 Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.

Mark White — White was the 43rd Governor of Texas from 1983 to 1987. He was also the Secretary of State of Texas (1973–77) and Texas Attorney General (1979–83).

Robert Woodrow Wilson — This scientist was astronomer who 1978 Nobel laureate in physics, who with Arno Allan Penzias discovered in 1964 the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB).

Marvin Zindler — He was a former news reporter for KTRK-TV in Houston.

Caption: Singer Kelly Rowland, a Houston native and Lamar High alum, poses during a photo shoot in Sydney, New South Wales. She was the second lead singer for Destiny's Child.

Photo by Sam Ruttyn/Newspix/Getty Images