Randal Kleiser, who graduated from Radnor High School in the 1960's, was the director of some of the most memorable motion pictures of the past few decades. Though his most well-known directorial work is 1978's "Grease," Kleiser also directed "The Blue Lagoon," "White Fang," and "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid," among many other films.

Kleiser wrote about how his time directing "Grease" related to his own experiences at Radnor High School here. He also provided insight to how his Radnor High experiences contributed to "Grease" for the 2004 Radnor-Lower Merion pep rally.

McMahon is a man who hardly needs an introduction. He gained incredible fame as Johnny Carson's sidekick on The Tonight Show, was host of the long-running Star Search, and is recognizable for a multitude of other appearances.

McMahon lived in Wayne in the 1950's, the same time that he hosted a late-night interview show in Philadelphia for WCAU-TV. He had to move from the area to work on the Tonight Show, though he never forgot the Main Line and still comes back frequently.

The photograph is from when McMahon worked for WCAU in Philadelphia.

Gary Papa is one of the most well-recognized current residents of Wayne. He joined as an anchor of WPVI's Action News on April 15, 1981 and continues as sports anchor to this day.

Papa is also well known locally as being master of ceremonies for various local events, such as the Christmas Tree lighting at Wayne Station. Papa was also a contributor for the Station's restoration in the early 2000s.

Thomas F. Wilson, who attended Radnor High, became an actor in Hollywood. His breakthrough role is considered to be that of Biff Tannen, the villian in the three "Back to the Future" movies. Though he starred in a few lesser-known films, Wilson has lately been working as a voice actor. His first role as a voice actor was as "Biff" in the "Back to the Future" cartoon; it could be that this role inspired him to do more voice acting. He has provided his voice for such shows as "Gargoyles" and "The Pink Panther," as well as the upcoming "Spongebob Squarepants Movie" and video games such as "Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force."

Wilson appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson in the 1980s, doing a standup comedy routine with a Tuba. Near the end he talkes about some of his experiences at Radnor High School. Click on the icon to view the skit in Quicktime! (15 MB .mov)

Quita Brodhead, an abstract painter with Main Line roots, gained notable status in the contemporary art world. She was born Marie Waggaman Berl in Wilmington, DE and attended the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She married Truxtun Read Brodhead in 1927 and thus moved to Wayne. In 1930 she and a friend began the Wayne Art Center.

As Quita gained notoriety, she moved to Europe, where she stayed for many decades. Her work is displayed in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among many other museums. In March, 2001 a retrospective of her work opened at the Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York, to commemorate her 100th birthday.

Quita Brodhead died at Bryn Mawr Hospital in September 2002 of colon cancer. She was 101.

Charles Cajori, a Wayne native and Radnor High School Graduate, has become a nationally known contemporary artist. He graduated from Radnor in 1939. His yearbook states that his nickname was "Corky" and he added the caption: "Great thoughts, great feelings came to him, Like instincts, unawares." Cajori was already a noted artist by the time he graduated from High School. He painted a series of large murals for the Radnor High School auditorium while still attending the school. The paintings were somewhat odd in subject matter, and about a decade later they were replaced by the work of a different student.

Cajori's work became more and more well known throughout the art world. His work is now in the collections of many major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He has also received many awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001.

Local controversy began in 2001 when Cajori revisited Wayne and mentioned his RHS auditorium murals. A frenzy ensued, because Cajori's murals (which would be worth a fortune today) had been forgotten for years. The school district admitted that the murals were lost, but soon afterwards a few photographs of the murals surfaced.

A series of photographs showing fragments of the infamous lost mural were discovered in the archives of the Radnor Township School District. They were rephotographed and appear exclusively on this website. Click on the links at left to get a rare peak at the lost artwork.

Arthur B. Frost is considered one of the finest American illustrators. At one point in his life, he lived in Wayne. His illustrations, which still remain popular today, appeared in many turn of the 20th century magazines, including Life and Harper's Weekly, and he even illustrated Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus stories.

Interestingly, Frost is now considered a forgotten master of the comic strip. The humorous nature of his illustrations transferred perfectly to the comics pages, and strangely, little attention is given to his comics today.

Jane Barkman was a class of 1969 Radnor High School graduate. In 1968 (before graduating from Radnor), Jane represented the United States in the 1968 Mexico City Summer Olympics for swimming. She won both gold and bronze medals at the event. In the 1972 Munich, Germany Summer Olympics she won yet another gold medal.

Emlen Tunnel was in the Radnor High class of 1942. He began playing football at Radnor and continued football at the University of Toledo. His attempts to join the army and navy were denied because Tunnell broke his neck early in his college career. This injury almost ended his football days forever.

From 1948-58 Tunnell played professionally for the New York Giants. He was the first post-war African-American on the team and one of the first defense-only players. He earned the nickname "Emlen the Gremlin." Tunnell then played for the Green Bay Packers from 1959-61.

Emlen Tunnell was selected for nine Pro Bowls. He became the first African-American to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. He also became the first black assistant coach in the NFL when he was assistant to Vince Lombardi at Green Bay.

Emlen Tunnell died on July 22, 1975.