List of bow tie wearers

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This list of bow tie wearers includes famous people and fictional characters associated with bow ties.

A man's wearing of bow ties is often noticed and commented upon. Men's clothier Jack Freedman told the New York Times that wearing a bow tie "is a statement maker" that identifies a person as an individual because "it's not generally in fashion."^[1] Some well-known men are commonly described as having a bow tie as a "trademark." Well-known people who become associated in the public mind with wearing bow ties can have a powerful positive or negative effect on the popularity of this type of neckwear, according to numerous observers, including writers and bow tie sellers.^[2][3]

Contents 1 Attention to famous bow tie wearers in commerce and fashion commentary 1.1 Celebrities affecting bow tie wearing 1.2 Commercial interests using famous wearers to encourage sales 2 Bow tie wearers of the nineteenth century 3 Bow tie wearers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries 3.1 Architects 3.2 Educators 3.2.1 College and university presidents 3.2.2 Other educators 3.3 Entertainers and media personalities 3.3.1 Comedians 3.3.2 Journalists and commentators 3.3.3 Other television personalities 3.4 Psychiatrists and psychologists 3.5 Lawyers 3.6 Politicians 3.7 Other 20th-/21st-century people associated with wearing bow ties 4 Fictional characters 4.1 For comic effect 4.2 Comics and cartoon characters 4.2.1 Hanna-Barbera 4.3 Other fictional characters 5 Notes

[edit] Attention to famous bow tie wearers in commerce and fashion commentary

Those who write about bow ties often mention famous people who wear them in the present, and often in the past. These writers often make the point that the image conveyed to others by a bow tie can be affected by associations with celebrities and famous people in the past.

For example, answering a question about why bow ties aren't more popular, the "Style Guy" feature at Men's Style.com Web site commented that a bow tie "can be a badge of courage", as personified by the World War II "bow-tie alliance of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill," or the "mark of the urbane, independent, devil-may-care or rakish personality" such as characters portrayed by Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra. However, the article observed that in the 1970s the bow tie became associated with nerds and geeks, such as the nutty characters played by Jerry Lewis and Andy Griffith's fictional deputy sheriff, Barney Fife. Further, it noted that the stereotype had been reinforced by more recent associations with figures such as Pee-wee Herman and U.S. Senator Paul Simon.^[4]

Author and academic Joseph Epstein used a list of famous bow tie wearers to try to counteract the negative traits that authors David Foster Wallace and Nicholson Baker attributed to bow tie wearing. In a half-serious article published in 2001, Epstein cited several famous bow-tie wearers in order to show that there is no strong connection between bow ties and nefarious traits:^[5]

First, though, let me organize a lineup of bow tie wearers to establish a variety. The most distinguished of all, of course, was Winston Churchill, whose favorite was a fine floppy blue job with white polka dots. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a tall man, often adds a giant butterfly to his getup, which gives his appearance a light and rakish air. Saul Bellow has taken to wearing bow ties late in life. Former Sen. Paul Simon is a habitual bow tie wearer, though, oddly, he seems never to have learned to tie them properly, for the right side of his ties never quite make it to full bow form. For diversity's sake, it would be good to have an NFL linebacker instead of Louis Farrakhan to round off this roster, but Churchill, Moynihan, Bellow, Simon and Farrakhan (a clip-on man, I surmise) perhaps provide sufficient diversity in themselves.

[edit] Celebrities affecting bow tie wearing

According to an article in the Eastern Pennsylvania Business Journal, when a celebrity is noticed wearing bow ties, it can affect bow tie sales:^[2]

Bow ties are often thought of as an older man's fashion choice, but more and more younger men are turning to them thanks to some celebrities such as local NBC meteorologist Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz, MSNBC talk show host and commentator Tucker Carlson and Eagles football star Dhani Jones. [...] Jones' image, particularly in an Eagles-frenzied area such as the Lehigh Valley and Berks County, has had an impact on the bow tie business, says Greg Weitzenkorn, co-owner of Weitzenkorn's men's clothing store in Pottstown.

According to the article, "Celebrity-wearers of the bow tie have certainly helped businesses", especially the example of one of the contestants on the second season of the NBC television show, The Apprentice. Raj Bhakta's fashion accessory helped boost sales at the Bow Tie Club, a Web-based tie store, according to owner Kirk Hinkley:^[2]

"He was suave, a good dresser," Hinkley says. "He's someone who is successful and it's a positive image for bow ties. We had tons of people who would send us Raj's picture and say they want a bow tie like his."

[edit] Commercial interests using famous wearers to encourage sales

Bow tie sellers often cite famous people who have worn the neckwear as a way of encouraging more customers. Jack Cutone, co-founder of Boston Bow Tie, offered an example in a news release announcing the opening of his online store:^[6]

Cutone noted that there is ample evidence to support the uniqueness and stature of those who wear bow ties. In the past, famous bow tie wearers included Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, in addition to many other notable figures.

Beau Ties Ltd., an online bow tie seller, has featured a "C. Everett Koop" bow tie complete with an endorsement by Koop, U.S. surgeon general in the Reagan administration.^[7] Carott & Gibbs, another bow tie seller, lists several famous wearers on its bow tie web page.^[8]

[edit] Bow tie wearers of the nineteenth century

Bow ties were common in the nineteenth century. For example, portraits of U.S. presidents from Van Buren through McKinley commonly show them in bow ties. Wearing of a bow tie was seldom commented upon and did not form part of the public perception of figures such as the American inventor Thomas Edison or Communist theorist Karl Marx^[4].

[edit] Bow tie wearers in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

[edit] Architects

• Le Corbusier (1887-1965), famous architect, wore "his trademark bow tie"^[9]
• Peter Eisenman,^[10] noted architect and academic
• Walter Gropius (1883-1969), famous architect, six of whose bow ties are kept by Harvard^[11]

[edit] Educators

[edit] College and university presidents

• Sandy D'Alemberte, former president of Florida State University^[12]
• William Durden, president of Dickinson College^[13]
• E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University and former president of Vanderbilt University, Brown University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and West Virginia University: "When E. Gordon Gee was fifteen years old, he made a defining sartorial decision. He began wearing a bow tie."^[14]
• Michael C. Maxey, 11th president of Roanoke College^[15]
• Philip Cushing, 5th President of Ambassador University, TX, was noted for his large red bow tie that he wore every day until his retirement in 1956.^{[citation needed]}
• Dr. Andrew Sorenson, president of the University of South Carolina, capitalizes on his reputation for a "trademark bow tie" by calling his travels around the state "Bow Tie Bus Tours" ^[16]
• Dr. Gary Weedman,^[17] 6th president of Johnson Bible College
• Victor Wilson, ^[18], College of Charleston, Executive Vice President for Student Affairs at the College of Charleston, Charleston SC.

[edit] Other educators

• Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004), U.S. historian, professor, attorney, and writer who was the U.S. Librarian of Congress from 1975 until 1987.^[19]
• Eric R. Kandel, neurobiology professor and Nobel Prize winner with a "trademark bow tie"^[20]
• David M. Lee^[21], a Nobel Prize-winning American physicist
• Michel Maffesoli, professor of sociology and founder of the Centre d'étude sur l'actuel et le quotidien at the Université de Paris V – Sorbonne.^{[citation needed]}
• Bill Nye, television science program host, is a "gangly guy in the blue lab coat and bow tie"^[22]. On why he wears bow ties: "If you're working with liquid nitrogen and your tie falls into it, it's funny in a way to the audience but it's also — pun intended — a little bit of a pain in the neck."^[23]
• Ron Penn, ethnomusicologist, writer, and University of Kentucky professor known for wearing a bow tie and flip-flops year-round.^{[citation needed]}
• Murray Rothbard "always wore a conservative suit and bow tie."^[24]
• Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., "famed for his trademark bow ties"^[25][26]
• Chris Whittle, founder of Channel One News and Edison Schools^[27]

[edit] Entertainers and media personalities

[edit] Comedians

• Fred Allen, American radio and TV comedian ^[28]
• Fyvush Finkel, comedic actor best known for roles on TV series produced by David E. Kelley
• Pee Wee Herman, played by Paul Reubens^[29]
• Stan Laurel comedian, typically wore a bow tie when in character^[30]
• Jerry Lewis ("in nutty character")^[4]
• Groucho Marx American comedian^{[citation needed]}
• Frank Muir, British comedy writer and broadcast personality "famous for his pink bow tie and mispronunciation", according to the BBC^[31]

[edit] Journalists and commentators

• Tucker Carlson American conservative commentator^[2][32]. In 2005 he told the New York Times he had consistently worn bow ties since childhood, but he acknowledged that bow ties often provoke negative reactions, "like a middle finger protruding from your neck."^[1] (He now wears long ties on his MSNBC program.)^{[citation needed]}
• Sir Robin Day (1923-2000), British television commentator and interviewer; his BBC News obituary said "With his thick horn-rimmed spectacles and trade mark polka-dot bow tie, he was the great inquisitor"^[33]
• Troy Dungan, retired chief weather anchor for WFAA-TV (ABC) in Dallas-Fort Worth. Owns approximately 220 bow ties.^[34]
• Dave Garroway, U.S. broadcaster, first host of the Today show.^[35]
• Roger Kimball, U.S. art critic and social commentator, co-editor and co-publisher of The New Criterion and publisher of Encounter Books.
• Janusz Korwin-Mikke, Polish liberal conservative publisher and politician^[36]
• Irving R. Levine^[37][38][39], the former economics reporter for NBC television, known for his "trademark bow tie", appeared for the first time in public wearing a necktie for the Brown University commencement in 1994. "I needed help in tying it," he later said.^[40]
• Russell Lynes, American art historian, photographer, author and editor of Harper's Magazine^[41]
• Charles Osgood, American broadcast journalist, described as having a "trademark bow tie"^{[42] [43]}
• Gene Shalit, U.S. movie critic and regular commentator on the Today show^[44]
• Harry Smith, TV journalist, wore a "trademark" bow tie during his early career at a Denver station, but stopped wearing them when he joined CBS in 1987, when a network official told him that Charles Osgood was CBS' bow-tie-wearing personality and "We can't have two guys wearing bow ties." ^[45]
• George F. Will, American conservative syndicated columnist and regular on the This Week Sunday morning program on ABC television. He sometimes appears with a bow tie, sometimes with a long tie, as can be seen on the covers of his books. In 2005, he told the New York Times that whenever he wore a regular necktie, people commented on the absence of his bow tie.^[1]

[edit] Other television personalities

• Raj Bhakta^[2], 2005 contestant on The Apprentice television program, later ran for Congress and lost
• Bud Collyer, American television game show host in the 1950s and early 1960s, typically wore a bow tie^[46]
• Christopher Kimball, cooking writer and TV host frequently wears them^{[citation needed]}
• Matthew Lesko, American author and late-night television personality whose customary garish outfits include bowties ^[47]

[edit] Psychiatrists and psychologists

• Aaron T. Beck, the psychiatrist known as "the father of cognitive therapy" dresses in "his signature bow tie"^[48]
• Alfred Kinsey, the influential sex researcher, wore a "trademark bow tie"^[49]

[edit] Lawyers

• Archibald Cox^[37] the Watergate special prosecutor, constantly wore "his trademark bow tie, neatly knotted as always"^[50]
• John Paul Stevens, U.S. Supreme Court Justice who "rarely, if ever, wears any other neckwear on the bench"^[51]
• Joseph Welch, head attorney for the U.S. Army in the Army-McCarthy hearings of the 1950s^[52]

[edit] Politicians

The regular wearing of bow ties by a politician is often the subject of comment — from friends, foes and journalists:

• Earl Blumenauer, U.S. Representative from Oregon, wears "his trademark bow tie"^[53]
• Winston Churchill^[5][6][54]

• Elio di Rupo, Belgian politician, described by a reporter as "the bow tie wearing Socialist"^[55]
• Toomas Hendrik Ilves, president of Estonia, is "well-known for always sporting his trademark bow tie"; has even been "dubbed an 'American in a bow tie' by his opponents".^[56]

• Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York, who Hillary Clinton remembered in a speech as having had "three signature items: his horn rimmed glasses, a bow tie, and a great idea"^[5][57]
• Lester B. Pearson, Canadian leader, "with his trademark blue polka dot blue" bow tie^[54]
• Paul Simon^[5], U.S. senator from Illinois
• Donald Tsang, Hong Kong leader — "The bow tie is such an integral part of Tsang's identity that he is nicknamed "bow tie Tsang," according to an Associated Press story^[58]
• Julio Cesar Turbay Ayala, president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982. ^[59]
• Daniel Turp, Canadian Parti Québécois politician (no longer usually seen wearing a bow tie since his election at the National Assembly of Quebec)
• Anthony A. Williams, former mayor of Washington, D.C. and nicknamed "Mr. Bow Tie"^[60]
• Woodrow Wyatt, a British Labour politician, published author, journalist and broadcaster^[61]

[edit] Other 20th-/21st-century people associated with wearing bow ties

• Saul Bellow, late in life he often wore one^[5]
• Big Boi, hip hop artist^{[citation needed]}
• Manolo Blahnik, shoe designer, sports a "signature bow tie"^[62]
• Frank Cashen, longtime Major League Baseball executive with the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets.^[63]
• Aleister Crowley, notorious English occultist, often wore extravagant bowties^{[citation needed]}
• Robert Denning, interior designer, wore bow ties exclusively the last fourteen years of his life.^{[citation needed]}
• Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam organization^[5]
• Vladimir Horowitz wore his "trademark bow tie"^[64]
• Steve Jobs, Apple Computer founder, wore bow ties in the 1980s^[65]
• Mercury Seven astronauts John Glenn^[66] and Deke Slayton^{[citation needed]} often wore bowties during the early days of NASA's Project Mercury.^[67] Both later switch to wearing the narrow-width neckties commonly worn by NASA Mission Controllers.
• Howard Philips, spokesman for Nintendo as well as first editor of Nintendo Power magazine from the early 1980s until 1991^{[citation needed]}
• Dhani Jones,professional football player, sports one^[2]
• C. Everett Koop, former U.S. Surgeon General known for his "omnipresent red bow tie"^[68][32]
• Orville Redenbacher, owner of an American popcorn business who appeared in commercials for it and had his image on the boxes — always wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a bow tie^[32]
• Jimmy Rogers, author^[69]
• George P. Schultz, at least in the early 1970s^[37]
• Timothy White, American rock journalist and "debonair dandy who prided himself in his jaunty bow tie and white buckskin shoes" according to his obituary in The Independent^[70]

[edit] Fictional characters

[edit] For comic effect

Some fictional characters always sport bow ties, never any other kind of neckwear. In some cases this may be meant to confer a certain fussiness, pomposity or prissiness:

• Richard Gilmore, fictional character in The Gilmore Girls comedy TV program, played by Edward Herrmann^[71]
• Hercule Poirot, fictional detective^[72]
• Les Nessman, character in WKRP in Cincinnati television sitcom^{[citation needed]}
• Lurch, the butler, as portrayed by Ted Cassidy in the TV series The Addams Family^[73]
• Gomez Addams wore such a tie in the film versions of The Addams Family.^[74]

[edit] Comics and cartoon characters

Bow ties are often put on characters in comics and cartoons perhaps to convey a sense of outlandish fun or humor:

• Mickey Mouse, at Disney theme parks.^{[citation needed]}
• Dagwood Bumstead, character in Blondie comic strip^[75]
• The Cat in the Hat^[76]
• Donald Duck, Disney cartoon character^[77][8][54]
• Harvey, in the play and movie of the same name, the invisible, bow-tied, 6-foot rabbit whose portrait was shown in the play and movie with him wearing a bow tie^[78]
• Krusty the Klown (cartoon character in The Simpsons^[79]
• Opus the Penguin, character in Bloom County comic strip^[80]
• The Penguin, in Batman comics, movies and television program, except for the 1992 Batman Returns in which he wore a jabot^[81]
• Jack Point, character in Judge Dredd comic books.^[82] The bow tie is part of his clown-like clothing.
• Waylon Smithers, cartoon character in The Simpsons^[83]
• Count Duckula always wore a red bow tie as part of his ensemble.^{[citation needed]}
• Franklin "Foggy" Nelson. In the Marvel Daredevil comics, Nelson is a lawyer, best friend and longtime business partner of blind lawyer Matthew M. Murdock (a.k.a. the masked vigilante Daredevil. Even though Foggy Nelson occasionally wears standard neckties, he is partial to bowties.^{[citation needed]}
• Leopold the Cat, the namesake of a Russian cartoon series, wears a bow tie, even when he goes swimming.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Hanna-Barbera

Many Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters wear them:

Boo Boo Bear Dixie Magilla Gorilla[84]

Huckleberry Hound[85] Jerry, the mouse in Tom and Jerry (1975-1977)[86]

Mr. Jinks Pixie

Snagglepuss[87] Hokey Wolf[88]

[edit] Other fictional characters

These other fictional characters also sport bow ties, but don't appear to fall into any of the categories above:

• James Bond wears them on glamorous occasions such as at parties or in certain casinos.^{[citation needed]}
• Conan Edogawa, alias of character Jimmy Kudo in "Detective Conan" manga and anime comics^[89]
• Judge Doom of the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit wears a black bow tie as part of his dark ensemble.^{[citation needed]}
• Bernard Bernoulli of the Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle computer games.^{[citation needed]}
• Brother Mouzone, the enforcer who appears in the The Wire television series.

[edit] Notes