FERRIDAY &8212; The small town of Ferriday has churned out many well-known and well-respected people, from television anchors to a rock &8216;n&8217; roll superstar.

Howard K. Smith

Television anchor Howard K. Smith was born in Ferriday in 1914.

Renowned for his World War II reporting for CBS, Smith interviewed many prominent Nazis including leader Heinrich Himmler, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler himself.

In December 1941, Smith was one of the last reporters to leave Berlin before the United States and Germany went to war.

Smith was also known as one of the Murrow boys, after Edward R. Murrow, a group of reporters who made CBS news the leading news organization of the era.

In 1962 Smith left CBS after he caused a dispute about a documentary on Civil Rights reporting called &8220;Who Speaks for Birmingham,&8221; when his commentary at the end of the broadcast alarmed CBS management.

Smith went to ABC and in 1969 became the co-anchor for the evening news.

Smith remained co-anchor for ABC until 1976.

Almadale Campbell Brown

Today, Ferriday is represented by another famous network news anchor.

Almadale Campbell Brown began reporting for an NBC affiliate in Topeka, Kan., then went to work as a reporter for WRC-TV in Washington, D.C.

In 1996 Brown joined NBC National News and covered the Bill Clinton impeachment trial as her first story.

She was later assigned to the Pentagon to cover the war in Kosovo.

Brown&8217;s work at NBC has included being the anchor for the &8220;Weekend Today&8221; show, a replacement anchor on the &8220;Today&8221; show and a correspondent for &8220;NBC Nightly News.&8221;

Jerry Lee Lewis

Rock &8216;n&8217; Roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis, also known as &8220;The Killer,&8221; was influenced by an older piano-playing cousin and by listening to black musicians perform at Haney&8217;s Big House, a black juke joint across the railroad tracks in Ferriday.

In 1956 Lewis&8217;s piano-playing talent and voice was discovered by Sun Records producer and engineer Jack Clement, when Lewis cut his own version of a Ray Price song, &8220;Crazy Arms.&8221;

In 1957, Lewis was made internationally famous when he cut the song &8220;Whole Lotta Shakin&8217; Goin&8217; On,&8221; and soon followed it with &8220;Great Balls of Fire.&8221;

At this time, Lewis became part of what was called the Million Dollar Quartet of Sun Studios, which featured himself, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley.

In 1958 Lewis&8217;s career spiraled after it was learned by the British media, while he was on a tour in England, that Lewis&8217;s third wife, 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, was also his cousin.

Further tragedies followed Lewis including the death of his 19-year-old son Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. in 1973, and the accidental shooting of his bass player, Butch Owens, at Lewis&8217;s 41st birthday party in 1976.

Lewis began to make a comeback this year when he released his new album entitled &8220;Last Man Standing,&8221; featuring rock &8216;n&8217; roll stars like Mick Jagger from the Rolling Stones and guitarist Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin.

Jimmy Lee Swaggart

Jimmy Lee Swaggart was born in Ferriday in 1935 and grew up to become one of the most popular televangelist during the 1970s and 80s.

Swaggart established his lucrative ministry under the Assemblies of God, and made an estimated $150 million per year.

But Swaggart is perhaps most famous for his highly publicized prostitution sex scandal in 1988.

In 1987, Swaggart was caught by a rival televangelist, Marvin Gorman, with prostitute Debra Murphree in Metairie at the Texas Hotel on Airline Highway.

On Feb. 21, 1988, on his taped television show in Baton Rouge, Swaggart confessed to being guilty to an unspecified sin and was later revoked of his ordination by the Assemblies of God.

Mickey Leroy Gilley

Mickey Leroy Gilley was born March 9, 1936, in Natchez but grew up in Ferriday with his two piano-playing cousins, rock &8216;n&8217; roll hall-of-famer Jerry Lee Lewis and televangelist Jimmy Swaggart.

Gilley had 39 country music Top 10 hits, of which 16 went number one, including &8220;Room Full of Roses&8221; and &8220;Don&8217;t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time.&8221;

In 1976, Gilley was voted as Top Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music.

Gilley is most known for his popular nightclub, Gilley&8217;s, in Pasadena,Texas when it was featured in the movie &8220;Urban Cowboy.&8221;

Gilley closed the club in 1989 and in the same year opened another in Branson, Mo.

The club is still open today.