Lithuanian American - Contribution

Contribution

Many famous people in the United States are or have been aware of their Lithuanian ancestry, including famous anarchist Emma Goldman, movie directors Robert Zemeckis and John Milius, actors Ruta Lee, Blackie Dammett, John C. Reilly, Charles Bronson, Brendon Small and Daniel Jason Sudeikis, rock stars Anthony Kiedis, Brandon Flowers, Michael Gira and Thalia Zedek, model Jurgita Valts, notorious criminal Alvin Karpis, radio host Tom Leykis, scientist Marija Gimbutas, and Bishop Louis Vezelis, OFM. Current Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin is half-Lithuanian. Famous skateboarder Natas Kaupas, one of the innovators of street skating in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is of Lithuanian heritage. Others, such as J. D. Salinger, Sean Penn, Moe Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard and Pink, had their Jewish ancestors come from Lithuanian lands.

Many American sport celebrities have Lithuanian heritage: Eleanor Dapkus, Johnny Unitas, Vitas Gerulaitis, Frank Lubin, Dick Butkus, Joe Jurevicius, Jack Sharkey and James Laurinaitis to mention a few. Lithuanian Americans have also distinguished themselves in the arts such as stained glass artist and painter Adolfas Valeška as well as modern artists such as Jonas Mekas, the avant-garde filmmaker and George Maciunas, founder of the Fluxus movement.

Several fictional characters of Lithuanian birth who immigrated to the United States have prominently captured the American imagination. The first is Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant around whom Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle chronicles the life of the Lithuanian community in Chicago and the treatment of workers in the Chicago Stockyards. The second, Hannibal Lecter, is the fictional villain from The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal was born in Lithuania but later moved to the United States and took US citizenship. Marko Ramius, the Soviet submarine captain in The Hunt for Red October, is also described as "Lithuanian by birth" and as the "Vilnius Schoolmaster".