Kagan, Daryn

Lived in Phoenix

TV Reporter on KTVK, Phoenix

(1963.01.26-    )  Television reporter, anchor, host.

For five years starting in the late 1980's Daryn Kagan was a general assignment news reporter at KTVK-TV in Phoenix. Her work did not go unnoticed.  She received three local Emmy Award nominations and was named top reporter in the seven-state Rocky Mountain region.  She also received an offer from CNN.

In 1994 Daryn headed to Atlanta to join CNN.  Her first assignment was as a sportscaster, but later she anchored Live This Morning, and then hosted CNN Live Today.  She left CNN in 2006.

In September, 2004, the Washington Post reported that ultraconservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was dating Daryn, a figure of "the liberal media axis." Rush Limbaugh, who had a shorter and less publicized visit to Arizona courtesy of his OxyContin addiction, had announced his separation from his third wife in June, 2004. The left-meets-right romance was reported to have ended in February 2006.

Kardashian, Kourtney

Graduated from the University of Arizona

Kourtney Kardashian, 2009. Photo by Glenn Francis, PacificProDigital.com

(1979.04.18-    )  Entrepreneur, socialite, model, and reality television personality.

Kourtney graduated from the University of Arizona earning a degree in Theatre Arts with a minor in Spanish.  Classmates at U of A included Nicole Richie and Luke Walton. 

Like a number of other Hollywood socialites, Kourtney is famous primarily for being famous.  In her case, fame got repeated jump starts from the reality television shows Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive(2005), Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2007), Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami (2009), and Kourtney and Kim Take New York (2011).

Caution--pedigree follows:  Kourtney is the oldest child of Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner.  The late Robert Kardashian, a member of an upper class LA family, was best known as one of the "dream team" attorneys for O. J. Simpson in the infamous LA murder trial.  Kris Jenner used to be married to Robert but divorced him and married to Bruce Jenner, the 1976 Summer Olympics Champion.  

Keane, Bil

Lived in Paradise Valley

Bil Keane in 1990. Photo by Christopher Keane

(1922.10.05-2011.11.08)  Cartoonist.

Since 1960 Bil has penned the popular syndicated cartoon "Family Circus" from his home in Paradise Valley. Prior to the circus, he created "Channel Chuckles" which was carried in papers across the nation from 1954 until 1977.

Kennedy, John F.

Toughened up, recuperated in Arizona

(John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1917.05.29-1963.11.22)  35th President of the United States.

In the spring and summer of 1936, JFK and his brother older brother, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., were hired ranch hands of John G. F. Speiden.  Speiden left his Wall Street banking job in 1932 and moved to Arizona for his health.  In Arizona he operated the 40,000 acre Jay-Six Ranch outside Benson.  In addition to cattle, the ranch became known for graciously entertaining guests such as author Thornton Wilder.

Killebrew, Harmon

Lived in Scottdale.

Died in Scottdale.

(Harmon Clayton Killebrew, 1936.06.29-2011.05.17)  Professional baseball player.

Six days before his 18th birthday, Killabrew became the youngest player in the majors at the time when made his debut appearance on the diamond for the Washington Senators.  He stayed on the diamond for 22 years playing for the Washington Senators (1954-1961) staying with them when they became the Minnesota Twins (1962-1974), then moving to the Kansas City Royals (1974-1975).

He was inducted into the Baseball hall of Fame in 1984.  He moved to Scottsdale in 1990 where he chaired the Harmon Killebrew Foundation.  He died at his home in Scottsdale of esophageal cancer.

Kimmel, Jimmy

Lived in Phoenix, Tucson

Attended ASU

Phoenix, Tucson radio writer & performer

Jimmy Kimmel in 2007. Photo by Ken Conley

(James Christian Kimmel, 1967.11.13-    )  Talk show host.

Born in Brooklyn, raised in Las Vegas, this host of late night talk got into broadcasting in Phoenix.  He would not been in Phoenix had he not transferred from the University of Nevada Las Vegas to ASU where he promptly dropped out. 

According to an interview with Maxim magazine, Jimmy began his broadcast career when he walked into a station announcing, "I'm here to learn."  Jimmy's radio career in Phoenix began with him writing bits for Power 92's (KKFR 92.3 FM) morning team, Mike Elliot and Kent Voss.  A few radio stints later, and Jimmy became the second banana to Mike Elliott on Tucson's KRQ 93.7 FM in 1993-1994.

King, Larry

Likeness carved in corn in Queen Creek

Larry King in 2010. Photo by Angela George

(Lawrence Harvey Zeiger, 1933.11.19-    )  Interviewer.

If you happened to be flying over Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek during the fall of 2003, you might have seen the image of CNN's longtime talk show host Larry King carved in a ten acre corn maze. The maze image was cooked up by Larry's seventh wife (sixth if you don't count repeat marriages), Shawn Southwick, and the Schnepfs to kick off the celebration of his 70th birthday.

King, Wayne

Lived in Scottsdale

Died in Scottsdale

(Wayne Harold King "The Waltz King", 1901.02.16-1985.07.16)  Band leader.

In his sophomore year saxophonist and business major Wayne King dropped out of Valparaisio University in Indiana to pursue a music career.  His Wayne King Orchestra became hugely popular in the early years of the big band era.  For seven consecutive years from 1934 to 1940, they received the Radio Guide Trophy for radio's most popular dance orchestra.

The orchestra was disbanded in 1942 when King joined the army.  The 41 year old bandleader was made captain in the Army Specialists Corps as a music officer.  In 1946, the orchestra was reformed and returned to radio.  King brought his live dance music to NBC television with The Wayne King Show (1949-1952), which the Chicago Federation of Advertising Clubs chose as the best musical show on television.  Wayne King and Orchestra played at President Eisenhower's Inaugural Ball 1953. 

Although the orchestra continued to tour through 1983, King's celebrity had faded enough by the late 1950's that he could be a contestant on the first incarnation of the television game show To Tell the Truth (1956-1968).  In the Goodson-Todman game show the story of one of three contestants is told to a celebrity panel.  The remaining two contestants attempt to impersonate the contestant whose story has been told as the panel asks questions of the contestants.  In his appearance, after successfully fooling most panel members, William King mentioned some of his business interests which included the Greyhound Car Rental in Phoenix.

Wayne King retired to Scottsdale, Arizona, where he died in 1985.

Kinnear, Greg

Graduate of University of Arizona

(1963.06.17-    )  Actor.

Greg Kinnear, 2006. Photo by Angel Schatz

Greg Kinnear enrolled at the University of Arizona as a drama major, but switched to broadcast journalism after the first semester.  He graduated in 1985 with a degree in journalism.

He headed directly to Los Angeles where he landed a job in 1987as an on-air reporter for Movietime, a local cable station.  The budget was so tight that they operated out of an old porno studio.

Things changed when Movietime was sold and became E! Entertainment Television:  Kinnear was fired.  Then he was re-hired to become the first host of "Talk Soup" (1991-1994) for which he received an Emmy Award.  He moved on to host the modestly rated late-night NBC network talk show, "Later With Greg Kinnear" (1994-1996).

After appearing in Sydney Pollack's 1995 remake of Sabrina, he decided to devote full time to acting.  He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in As Good As It Gets (1997), in which he played Simon Bishop, the homosexual neighbor of bigoted, cranky, obsessive-compulsive writer Melvin Udall (Jack Nicolson).

Kinnear returned to Arizona, if only in spirit and the last reel, to play Bob Crane in Autofocus (2002), a film about Crane's career, obsessions, and death in Scottsdale.

Kleindienst, Richard

Born near Winslow

Attended of University of Arizona

Lived in Phoenix and Prescott

Died in Prescott

(1923.08.05-2000.02.03)  U.S. Attorney General, Lawyer.

Richard Kleindienst assisted in Richard Nixon's 1968 presidential campaign.  He was rewarded for his efforts by appointment as Nixon's Deputy Attorney General.  When Attorney General John Mitchell resigned in 1972 to head the ill-fated Committee to Re-elect the President, Kleindienst succeeded as Attorney General.

Knotts, Don

Attended the University of Arizona

(Jesse Donald Knotts, 1924.07.21-2006.02.24)  Actor, comedian.

Don Knotts, 1961.

Long before Don Knotts won an Emmy for portraying Barney Fife, the nervous deputy to Sheriff Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith), on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-1968), he attended the University of Arizona.  Although the university offered him a teaching fellowship, he left for New York where he landed a role in the Broadway play No Time For Sergeants with Andy Griffith.  This role and his friendship with Andy lead to him being cast in the movie version of the play and Andy's television show.

While in New York, Don made television appearances as a "man on the street" being interviewed by a former undergraduate at a rival Arizona school, Steve Allen.

Korbut, Olga

Teaches gymnastics in Scottsdale

Olga Korbut on a Azerbaijan Republic postage stamp commemorating her 1972 Olympic victory.

(1955.05.16-    )  Olympic athlete, child actress, gymnastics instructor.

Olga Korbut was a champion Olympic athlete for the Soviet Union when there was still a cold war.  Three decades later she was the main attraction for a strip mall gymnastics school in Scottsdale.  Not surprisingly, she took a circuitous path to make it from her native Grodno, Byelorussia, to the Arizona desert. 

Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth

Lived in Scottsdale

Died in Scottsdale

(1926.07.08-2004.09.24)  Psychiatrist, author.

In 1999 Time magazine listed Elisabeth Kubler-Ross as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the past century.  This recognition was due in part to her groundbreaking 1969 book, On Death and Dying which popularized the theory that the dying go through five stages of grief:  denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.