Fictional Characters Who Call Kentucky Home

Off the top of my head, I'll give you Chris Stapleton, Jennifer Lawrence, and Colonel Harland Sanders in the category of famous Kentuckians. When you search, you will find several more. But what about those who hail from Kentucky who don't exist?

Sure enough, I found some fictional characters who also "call Kentucky home."

The Grimes Family (The Walking Dead)

If the iconic television series The Walking Dead had been adapted exactly as Robert Kirkman conceived it, it would have been set in Kentucky. As we all know, of course, it was set in Georgia, and the rest is TV history. But Kirkman is a native of Cynthiana, KY, and his Grimes family (Sheriff Rick, Lori, Carl, and Judith) is too, in the graphic novel. Still, there's no other American town that claims this brainchild, and Cynthiana is mighty proud of it. This downtown mural tells the tale.

Dave Spencer

Daisy Buchanan (The Great Gatsby)

I'll be honest; I did not enjoy all the books I was made to read in school. (Neither did you.) Did I read them? Yes, of course. But some were just a slog. I am not a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I have always appreciated his making the wealthy socialite, Daisy Buchanan, a Louisville native.

Darrell Cartrip (Cars)

I howled when I saw this in Cars back in 2006. Folks NOT from Owensboro or Kentucky would still appreciate the spoof name, but Darrell Waltrip is one of Owensboro's most famous native sons, so it hit a little different around here.

(Good luck trying to find a decent clip featuring Darrell Cartrip; I couldn't.)

However, if you're a collector, check this out:

Cannonball (Marvel)

I was an avid Marvel Comics reader. My favorites were Spider-Man, the Avengers, and the X-Men. In the early 1980s, a few years before I stopped buying comics, Marvel introduced Cannonball. He's a mutant who can fly at jet speed and create an impenetrable force field. He is also the eldest member of a Kentucky coal mining family. In the film The New Mutants, Cannonball was played by Charlie Heaton.

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The next step is for one of our great animators to come up with a movie or series SET in Kentucky.

Maybe something about a thoroughbred who runs a distillery and loves basketball. Just a thought. (I think it would work.)