1926

January

January 1

Flooding of the Rhine River struck Cologne; 50,000 were forced to evacuate their homes.

Ireland's first regular radio service, 2RN (later Radio Éireann), began broadcasting.

January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declared himself dictator in Greece.

January 6 – The airline Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded in Berlin.

January 8 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud was crowned King of Hejaz.

January 12 – Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll premiered their radio program Sam 'n' Henry, in which the two white performers portray two black characters from Harlem looking to strike it rich in the big city. It was a precursor to Gosden and Correll's more popular later program, Amos 'n' Andy.

January 16 – A BBC comic radio play broadcast by Ronald Knox about a workers' revolution caused a panic in London.

January 21 – The Belgian Parliament accepted the Locarno Treaties.

January 26 – Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated a mechanical television system for members of the Royal Institution and a reporter from The Times at his London laboratory.

January 29 – Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown opened at the Greenwich Theatre.

January 31 – British and Belgian troops left Cologne.

February

February 1 – Land on Broadway and Wall Street in New York City was sold at a record $7 per sq inch.

February 8 – Seán O'Casey's The Plough and the Stars opened at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

February 9 – Flooding hit London suburbs.

February 12 – The Irish minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, appointed the Committee on Evil Literature.

February 20 – The Berlin International Green Week debuted in Berlin.

February 25 – Francisco Franco became General of Spain.

March

March 6 – The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon was destroyed by fire.

March 16 – Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.

March 23 – Éamon de Valera organized Fianna Fáil in Ireland.

April

April 4 – Greek dictator Theodoros Pangalos won the presidential election with 93.3% of the vote. Turnout was light as the result was considered a foregone conclusion.

April 7 – An assassination attempt against Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini fails.

April 12 – By a vote of 45–41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.

April 17 – Zhang Zuolin's army captured Beijing.

April 24 – Treaty of Berlin: Germany and the Soviet Union each pledged neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.

April 25 – Rezā Khan was crowned Shah of Iran under the name "Pahlevi".

April 30 – African-American pilot Bessie Coleman was killed after falling 500 feet (150 m) from an airplane.

May

May 3 – Coal miners were locked out in Britain.

May 4 – The United Kingdom general strike began at midnight in support of the coal strike.

May 9

Martial law was declared in Britain because of the general strike.

The French navy bombarded Damascus because of the Druze riots.

Explorer Richard E. Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett claimed to be the first to fly over the North Pole in the Josephine Ford monoplane, taking off from Spitsbergen, Norway and returning 15 hours and 44 minutes later. Both men were immediately hailed as national heroes, though some experts have since been skeptical of the claim, believing that the plane was unlikely to have covered the entire distance and back in that short an amount of time. An entry in Byrd's diary discovered in 1996 suggested that the plane actually turned back 150 miles short of the North Pole due to an oil leak.

May 10

Talks between the government and strikers began in the U.K.

Planes piloted by Major Harold Geiger and Horace Meek Hickam, students at the Air Corps Tactical School, collided in mid-air at Langley Field, Virginia. Hickam parachutes to safety.

May 12

Roald Amundsen and his crew flew over the North Pole in the airship Norge.

UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a general strike by trade unions ended (the strike began on May 3).

May 12–May 14 – May Coup: Józef Piłsudski took over in Poland.

May 18 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared while visiting a Venice, California beach.

May 20 – The United States Congress passed the Air Commerce Act, licensing pilots and planes.

May 23 – The first Lebanese constitution was established.

May 26 – The Rif War ended when Rif rebels surrendered in Morocco.

May 28 – The 1926 coup d'état commanded by Manuel Gomes da Costa in Portugal installed the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship), followed by António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo.

June

June 4 – Ignacy Mościcki became president of Poland.

June 7 The Liberal politician Carl Gustaf Ekman succeeds Rickard Sandler as Prime Minister of Sweden.

June 19 – DeFord Bailey was the first African-American to perform on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry.

June 29 – Arthur Meighen briefly returned to office as Prime Minister of Canada during the King-Byng Affair.

July

July 1 – The Mammoth Cave National Park is authorized by the United States Congress.

July 1 – The Kuomintang began a military unification campaign in northern China.

July 3 – A Caudron C.61 aircraft operated by Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne crashed in Czechoslovakia.

July 9 – General Óscar Carmona took power in a military coup in Portugal.

July 10 – A bolt of lightning struck Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. The resulting fire caused several million pounds of explosives to blow up in the next two to three days.

July 15 – BEST buses made their début in Bombay.

July 23 – Fox Film bought the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.

July 26 – The National Bar Association incorporated in the United States.

August

August 1 – In Mexico, the entry into force of anticlerical measures stipulated in the constitution of 1917 caused the Cristero War.

August 6

Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel from France to England.

In New York, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premiered with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore.

August 18

The British miners' union began negotiations with the government.

A weather map was televised for the first time, sent from NAA Arlington to the Weather Bureau office in Washington, D.C.

August 22 – In Greece, Georgios Kondylis ousted Theodoros Pangalos.

August 23 – The sudden death of popular film actor and sex symbol Rudolph Valentino at the age of only 31 years old caused mass grief and hysteria around the world.

August 25 – Pavlos Kountouriotis announced that dictatorship had ended in Greece and he was now the president.

September

September 1 – Lebanon under the French Mandate got its first constitution, thereby becoming a republic. Charles Debbas was elected president.

September 8 – The German Weimar Republic joined the League of Nations.

September 11

Aloha Tower was officially dedicated at Honolulu Harbor in the Territory of Hawai'i.

In Rome, Italy, Gino Lucetti threw a bomb at Benito Mussolini's car, but Mussolini was unhurt.

September 14 – The Locarno Treaties of 1925 were ratified in Geneva and came into effect.

September 16 – Philip Dunning and George Abbott's play Broadway premieres in New York City.

September 18 – Great Miami Hurricane: A strong hurricane devastated Miami, leaving over 100 dead and causing several hundred million dollars in damage (equal to nearly $100 billion today).

September 19 – Giuseppe Meazza (San Siro) Stadium, as known well for sports venues of Italy, officially opened in Milan.

September 20 – The North Side Gang attempted to assassinate Al Capone, spraying his headquarters in Cicero, Illinois with over a thousand rounds of machine gun fire in broad daylight as Capone was eating there. Capone escaped harm.

September 21 – French war ace René Fonck and three others attempted to fly the Atlantic in pursuit of the Orteig Prize. Before the newsreel cameras at Roosevelt Field New York, the modified Sikorsky S-35 crashes on take-off and bursts into flames. Fonck survived but two of his men are killed.

September 23 – Gene Tunney defeated Jack Dempsey and became heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

September 25

The League of Nations Slavery Convention abolished all types of slavery.

William Lyon Mackenzie King returned to office as Prime Minister of Canada after winning the Canadian federal election.

Detroit Cougers, a professional ice hockey club (National Hockey League) founded. (a predecessor of Detroit Red Wings)

October

October 2 – Józef Piłsudski became prime minister of Poland.

October 12 – British miners agreed to end their strike.

October 14 – A. A. Milne's children's book Winnie-the-Pooh was published in London, featuring the eponymous bear.

October 19 – The 1926 Imperial Conference opened in London.

October 20 – A hurricane killed 650 in Cuba.

October 23

Leon Trotsky and Lev Kamenev were removed from the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

A decree in Italy banned women from holding public office.

The Fazal Mosque, the first purpose-built in London and the first Ahmadiyya mosque in Britain, is completed.

October 31 – Magician Harry Houdini died of gangrene and peritonitis that has developed after his appendix ruptured.

November

November 5 – The APOEL FC is founded.

November 10 – In San Francisco, a necrophiliac serial killer named Earle Nelson (dubbed "Gorilla Man") killed and then rapes his 9th victim, a boarding house landlady named Mrs. William Edmonds.

November 11 – The United States Numbered Highway System, including U.S. Route 66, was established.

November 15

The NBC radio network opened with 24 stations (formed by Westinghouse, General Electric and RCA).

The Balfour Declaration was approved by the 1926 Imperial Conference, making the Commonwealth dominions equal and independent.

November 24

The village of Rocquebillier in the French Riviera was almost destroyed in a massive hailstorm.

Sri Aurobindo retired, leaving The Mother to run the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry, India.

November 25 – The death penalty was re-established in Italy.

November 26 – All Italian Communist deputies were arrested.

November 27 – The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg began in Williamsburg, Virginia.

December

December 2 – British prime minister Stanley Baldwin ended the martial law that had been declared due to general strike.

December 3 – Agatha Christie disappeared from her home in Surrey; on December 14 she was found at a Harrogate hotel.

December 7 – The Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) founded; now the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

December 17 – 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état: A democratically elected government was overthrown in Lithuania; Antanas Smetona assumed power.

December 18 – Turkey converted to the Gregorian calendar, making the next day January 1 1927.

December 23 – Nicaraguan President Adolfo Díaz requested U.S. military assistance in the ongoing civil war. American peacekeeping troops immediately set up neutral zones in Puerto Cabezas and at the mouth of the Rio Grande to protect American and foreign lives and property.

December 26 – In the history of Japan, the Shōwa period began from this day due to the death of Emperor Taishō on the day before. His son Hirohito reigned as Emperor of Japan until 1989. Showa 1 in the Japanese calendar was just six days long, prior to January 1 Showa 2 (1927).

Date unknown

Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddi became the first woman appointed to a legislature in India, the Madras Legislative Council.

Stephen H. Langdon began excavations in Jemdet Nasr finding proto-cuneiform clay tablets (3100–2900 BCE)

Phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust) was first synthesized.

Widows' pensions were introduced in New South Wales, Australia.

The short-lived Western Australian Secession League was founded.

Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designed and marked rodeo's first high-cut rodeo chaps at Stirling, Alberta Canada.

The International African Institute is founded in London.

Raymond Pearl published his landmark book, Alcohol and Longevity.

American microbiologist Selman Waksman published Enzymes.

The Pike School of Andover, Massachusetts was founded.

Industrial output surpassed the level of 1913 in the USSR.

Al Capone was at the apex of his power.

January

January 1 – Claudio Villa, Italian singer (d. 1987)

January 2 – Harold Bradley, American session guitarist on country music records

January 3

Felicitas Kuhn, Austrian illustrator

George Martin, English producer of The Beatles (d. 2016)

January 5 – William De Witt Snodgrass, American poet (d. 2009)

January 6

Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian actor and bodybuilder (d. 2006)

January 8

Chester Feldman, American television game show producer (d. 1997)

Evelyn Lear, American soprano (d. 2012)

Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer

Soupy Sales, American comedian (d. 2009)

January 11

Lev Dyomin, cosmonaut (d. 1998)

Giusto Pio, Italian musician and songwriter (d. 2017)

Grant Tinker, American television executive (d. 2016)

January 12 – Ray Price, American singer (d. 2013)

January 13 – Michael Bond, writer

January 14 – Tom Tryon, American actor and novelist (d. 1991)

January 15 – Maria Schell, Austrian actress (d. 2005)

January 17

Antonio Domingo Bussi, Argentine Army General and former Governor of Tucuman (d. 2011)

Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and dancer (d. 2006)

January 19 – Fritz Weaver, American actor (d. 2016)

January 20

Patricia Neal, American actress (The Day The Earth Stood Still) (d. 2010)

David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)

January 21 – Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)

January 23 – Bal Thackeray, Indian politician (d. 2012)

January 26 – Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (d. 1980)

January 27

Fritz Spiegl, Austrian journalist (d. 2003)

Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)

January 29

Amelita Ramos, former First Lady of the Philippines

Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)

January 31 – Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958). Some sources give his year of birth as 1928.

February

February 2

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, President of France

Lia Laats, Estonian actress (d. 2004)

Miguel Obando y Bravo, Nicaraguan Roman Catholic prelate, archbishop of Managua and cardinal

February 3 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician

February 4 – Gyula Grosics, Hungarian footballer (d. 2014)

February 7

Keiko Tsushima, Japanese actress (d. 2012)

Konstantin Feoktistov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2009)

Bill Hoest, American cartoonist (d. 1988)

February 8 – Neal Cassady, American writer (d. 1968)

February 10

Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish footballer and football manager (d. 1993)

Mimi Sheraton, Chef and Author

February 11

Paul Bocuse, French chef

Alexander Gibson, British conductor and founder of the Scottish Opera (d. 1995)

Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor (d. 2010)

February 12

Joe Garagiola Sr., American baseball player (d. 2016)

Charles Van Doren, American professor and subject of film, Quiz Show (film)

February 14 – Al Brodax, American film and television producer (d. 2016)

February 16

Margot Frank, sister of Anne Frank (d. 1945)

John Schlesinger, British film director (d. 2003)

February 17 – John Meyendorff, Orthodox scholar, protopresbiter, and educator (d. 1992)

February 20

Whitney Blake, American actress (d. 2002)

Richard Matheson, American author (d. 2013)

Bob Richards, American track and field athlete

Maria de la Purisima Salvat Romero, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1998)

February 22 – Kenneth Williams, English actor (d. 1988)

February 24

Knut Kleve, Norwegian philologist (d. 2017)

Dave Sands, Australian boxer (d. 1952)

February 26 – Verne Gagne, American professional wrestler (d. 2015)

February 27 – David H. Hubel, Canadian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2013)

February 28 – Svetlana Alliluyeva, Russian author (d. 2011)

March

March 1

Pete Rozelle, American commissioner of the National Football League (d. 1996)

Robert Clary, French-American actor, author and lecturer

March 2 – Murray Rothbard, American economist (d. 1995)

March 3 – James Merrill, American poet (d. 1995)

March 4

DeVan Dallas, American politician (d. 2016)

Richard DeVos, American billionaire, co-founder of Amway

James J. Eagan, former Mayor of Florissant, Missouri (d. 2000)

Fran Warren, American popular singer (d. 2013)

March 6

Alan Greenspan, American economist and former Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Andrzej Wajda, Polish film director (d. 2016)

March 8

Sultan Salahuddin of Selangor (d. 2001)

Dick Teed, American Major League Baseball player (d. 2014)

March 10 – Seto Wan'ya , Japanese writer and novelist (d. 1993)

March 11

Derek Benfield, English playwright and actor (d. 2009)

Thomas Starzl, American physician

March 13 – Carlos Roberto Reina, President of Honduras (d. 2003)

March 15 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player (d. 1983)

March 16

Edwar al-Kharrat, Egyptian novelist, writer and critic (d. 2015)

Charles Goodell, American politician (d. 1987)

Jerry Lewis, American comedian and humanitarian (Muscular Dystrophy Telethon)

March 17

Jaynne Bittner, American female baseball player

Siegfried Lenz, German writer (d. 2014)

March 18 – Peter Graves, American actor (d. 2010)

March 21

Beatriz Aguirre, Mexican film and television actress

Heikki Hasu, Finnish Olympic cross-country skiier

March 23 – Berta Loran, Brazilian-Polish actress

March 24

Dario Fo, Italian author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)

Desmond Connell, Irish cardinal (d. 2017)

Ventsislav Yankov, Bulgarian pianist

March 25

László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d. 2003)

Gene Shalit, American film critic and television personality

March 28 – Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2014)

March 30

Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman

Peter Marshall, American singer and television host (Hollywood Squares)

March 31 – John Fowles, English writer (d. 2005)

April

April 1

Charles Bressler, American tenor (d. 1996)

Anne McCaffrey, American author (d. 2011)

April 2

Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (d. 2014)

Robert Holmes, British scriptwriter (d. 1986)

April 3

Gus Grissom, American astronaut (d. 1967)

R. W. Schambach, American televangelist, speaker and author (d. 2012)

April 6

Alexander Butterfield, US politician

Jeanne Martin Cissé, Guinean teacher and nationalist politician (d. 2017)

Sergio Franchi, Italian tenor and actor (d. 1990)

Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)

Ian Paisley, Northern Irish politician (d. 2014)

April 7

Prem Nazir, Indian actor (d. 1989)

Miyoko Asō, Japanese voice actress

April 9 – Hugh Hefner, American magazine editor (Playboy)

April 11 – Gervase de Peyer, English clarinetist and conductor (d. 2017)

April 12

Khozh-Akhmed Bersanov, Chechen ethnographer

Jane Withers, American actress

April 13

Neil Betts, Australian rugby union player (d. 2017)

Egon Wolff, Chilean playwright and author (d. 2016)

April 14

Frank Daniel, Czech-born writer, producer, director, teacher (d. 1996)

George Robledo, Chilean soccer player (d. 1989)

Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish politician (d. 2008)

April 17 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian hockey player (d. 2004)

April 19 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian politician and first female parliamentarian in the Arab world (d. 1997)

April 21

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Arthur Rowley, English footballer (d. 2002)

April 22

Charlotte Rae, American actress and singer

James Stirling, Scottish architect (d. 1992)

April 24 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 2016)

April 25

Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)

Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)

April 26

David Coleman, British TV sports broadcaster (d. 2013)

Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (d. 2003)

April 27

Alvin Baldus, American Democratic politician (d. 2017)

Tim LaHaye, American evangelist, speaker and author (d. 2016)

Vladimír Černý, Czechoslovakian modern pentathlete (d. 2016)

Alvin Baldus, American Democratic politician (d. 2017)

April 28 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)

April 29 – Paul Baran, American internet pioneer (d. 2011)

April 30

Edmund Cooper, British author and poet (d. 1982)

Cloris Leachman, American actress

May

May 5

Ann B. Davis, American actress (The Brady Bunch) (d. 2014)

Bing Russell, American actor (d. 2003)

May 8

Sir David Attenborough, British broadcaster, naturalist and producer

Don Rickles, American comedian and actor

May 10 – Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, American film personality and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter (d. 2004)

May 14 – Eric Morecambe, English comedian and author (d. 1984)

May 15

Anthony Shaffer, English novelist and playwright (d. 2001) and his twin brother Peter Shaffer, English playwright (d. 2016)

May 17 – Franz Sondheimer, German-born British chemist (d. 1981)

May 17 – Dietmar Schönherr, Austrian film actor (d. 2014)

May 18 – Dirch Passer, Danish actor (d. 1980)

May 20 – John Lucarotti, TV writer (d. 1994)

May 21 – Robert Creeley, American Poet (d. 2005)

May 23 – Desmond Carrington, British actor and broadcaster (d. 2017)

May 25 – Bill Sharman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)

May 26 – Miles Davis, American musician (d. 1991)

May 27 – Kees Rijvers, Dutch football player and manager

May 28 – Colin Hutton, English rugby union and professional rugby league (d. 2017)

May 29

Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, Queen Consort of Tonga (d. 2017)

Abdoulaye Wade, 3rd President of Senegal

May 30

Johnny Gimble, American country musician and fiddler (d. 2015)

Tsuneo Watanabe, Japanese businessman

June

June 1

Andy Griffith, American actor (d. 2012)

Marilyn Monroe, American actress (d. 1962)

June 3

Roscoe Bartlett, Republican member of the United States House of Representatives

Allen Ginsberg, American poet (Howl) (d. 1997)

June 5

Emile Capgras, Martinican politician (d. 2014)

Peter Peterson- US Secretary of Commerce 1972–1973 US Secretary of Commerce

June 6 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (d. 1998)

June 9 – Happy Rockefeller, American socialite (d. 2015)

June 10 – Lionel Jeffries, British film director and actor (d. 2010)

June 11 – Frank Plicka, Czech-born photographer (d. 2010)

June 12 – Gaspare di Mercurio, Italian doctor and author (d. 2001)

June 13

Paul Lynde, American comedian (d. 1982)

June Krauser, American swimmer (d. 2014)

June 14 – Don Newcombe, American baseball player

June 15 – Shigeru Kayano, Japanese Ainu activist (d. 2006)

June 16

William F. Roemer, Jr., United States FBI agent (d. 1996)

Taketoshi Naito, Japanese actor (d. 2012)

June 18 – Allan Sandage, American astronomer (d. 2010)

June 19 – Arno Mayer, American historian and writer

June 21

Yvette Lévy, French Survivor and a Holocaust witness

Johanna Quandt, German business woman (d. 2015)

Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born cinematographer (d. 2003)

Fred Cone, former professional American football fullback

June 22

George Englund, American film editor, director, producer and actor

Elyakim Haetzni, Israeli lawyer

Ray Szmanda, American radio and television announcer

Tadeusz Konwicki, Polish filmmaker (d. 2015)

June 23

Magda Herzberger, Romanian author, poet and composer, survivor of the Holocaust

Arnaldo Pomodoro, Italian sculptor

Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Japanese freestyle swimmer (d. 2011)

June 24

Barbara Scofield, American tennis player

Aldo Brovarone, chief stylist for Pininfarina

Hans Günter Winkler, German show jumping rider

Walter Hirrlinger, German politician

Blackie Gejeian, American race car driver, race car builder, and hot rod enthusiast (d. 2016)

June 25

Virginia Patton, American actress

Stig Sollander, Swedish alpine skier

Gordon Robertson, Canadian ice hockey player

Margaret Anstee, British diplomat (d. 2016)

Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian writer (d. 1973)

June 26

Mahendra Bhatnagar, Hindi and Indian English poet from India

Fritz Zwazl, Austrian former swimmer

June 27

Galina Vecherkovskaya, Russian rower

Bruce Tozer, Australian former cricketer

Giambattista Bonis, Italian professional football player

Don Raleigh, American ice hockey player (d. 2012)

June 28

Mel Brooks, American entertainer (The Producers)

Satoru Abe, American sculptor and painter

June 29

Julius W. Becton, Jr., U.S Army lieutenant general

Bobby Morgan, American professional baseball player

Roger Stuart Bacon, American politician

Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (d. 2006)

June 30

Reg Newton, English professional football goalkeeper

Paul Berg, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

David Berglas, magician and mentalist

Peter Alexander, Austrian actor, singer and entertainer (d. 2011)

July

July 1

Atilio Stampone, Argentine pianist, composer and arranger

Juan Jaime Cesio, Argentine brigadier general

Fernando J. Corbató, American computer scientist

Carl Hahn, German automotive executive, chairman of Volkswagen

Mainhardt Graf von Nayhauß, German journalist

Robert Fogel, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)

Hans Werner Henze, German composer (d. 2012)

Lupe Gigliotti, Brazilian television, stage and film actress (d. 2010)

July 2

Clara LaMore, American former competition swimmer

Carlo Rolandi, Italian sailor

Jacques Gautheron, French sports director

Liu Dajun, Chinese agricultural scientist, educator and an academician (d. 2016)

July 3

María Lorenza Barreneche, former First Lady of Argentina (d. 2016)

Rae Allen, American actress and director of stage, film and television, and singer.

Laurence Street, Australian jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales

Sybille Haynes, British expert on Etruscology

July 4

Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentine-born footballer (d. 2014)

Amos Elon, Israeli writer (d. 2009)

Mary Stuart, American soap actress (d. 2002)

Ed Koffenberger, American stand-out basketball and lacrosse player (d. 2014)

July 5

Viola Harris, American actress

Roy Hawes, American first baseman in Major League Baseball

Ivo Pitanguy, Brazilian plastic surgeon (d. 2016)

Mario Picone. American pitcher (d. 2013)

July 6

Dorothy E. Smith, Canadian sociologist

Serge Roullet, French film director and screenwriter

July 7

Yvonne Ciannella, American coloratura soprano in opera and concert

Armand Lemieux, Canadian professional hockey player

Kamil Sedláček, Czech tibetologist and comparative Sino-Tibetan linguist

Thorkild Simonsen, Danish politician

Nuon Chea, Cambodian former communist politician who was the chief ideologist of the Khmer Rouge

Len Tolhurst, Australian sports shooter (d. 2011)

July 8

John Dingell, American politician

Martin Riesen, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (d. 2004)

David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher (d. 2014)

July 9

Mathilde Krim, founding chairman of amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research

Ben Roy Mottelson, American-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Murphy Anderson, American comic book artist (d. 2015)

Peter Mullins, Australian decathlete (d. 2012)

July 10

Harry Macpherson, American pitcher

Carleton Carpenter, American actor

Aldo Tortorella, Italian journalist, former politician and partisan

Fred Gwynne, American actor and author (d. 1993)

July 11

Teddy Reno, Italian singer, actor and record producer

Frederick Buechner, American author and theologian

Joe Houston, American saxophonist (d. 2015)

July 12

Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

Martin Bott, English geologist and now Emeritus Professor

Cec Thompson, British professional rugby league footballer (d. 2011)

July 13

T. Loren Christianson, American politician

Thomas Clark, American politician

July 14

Harry Dean Stanton, American film and television actor

Jean Cottard, French fencer

Jan Krenz, Polish composer and conductor

July 15

Sir John Graham, 4th Baronet, English diplomat

Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine dictator (d. 2003)

Raymond Gosling, English physicist (d. 2015)

July 16

Stef Wertheimer, German-born Israeli industrialist, investor, philanthropist and former politician

Paul M. Ellwood, Jr., prominent figure in American health care

Stanley Clements, American actor (d. 1981)

Irwin Rose, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 2015)

Emile Degelin, Belgian film director and novelist

July 17

Arrigo Levi, Italian journalist, essayist and TV anchorman

William Pierson, American television, motion picture and stage actor (d. 2004)

Willis Carto, American far right (d. 2015)

Édouard Carpentier, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2010)

July 18

Nita Bieber, American actress

François Fassone, French footballer

Dan Sandberg, president and Chief Executive officer TVC Lab/Video.

Bernard Pons, French politician and medical doctor

Maunu Kurkvaara, Finnish film director and screenwriter

Robert Sloman, English writer (d. 2005)

Joshua Fishman, American linguist (d. 2015)

Richard Pasco, British stage, screen and TV actor (d. 2014)

July 19

Helen Gallagher, American actress, dancer, singer, and makeup artist

Robert E. Lavender, American Justice

Lathan Lenon, Montford Point Marine, Congressional Gold Medal

Terry Cavanagh, Canadian politician

Edmund Reggie, American Democratic politician (d. 2013)

July 20

Russ Gorman, Australian politician

Odd Kallerud, Norwegian politician

July 21

Rahimuddin Khan, four-star general of the Pakistan Army

Norman Jewison, American film director

Arthur Edgehill, American hard bop jazz

July 22

Jerry Clack, Professor of Classical Languages at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh

J. I. Packer, British-born Canadian Christian theologian in the low church Anglican and Reformed traditions

Bryan Forbes, English film director (d. 2013)

July 24

Guy Severin, American professor (d. 2008)

Lew Schwartz, American comic book artist, advertising creator and filmmaker (d. 2011)

Hans Günter Winkler, German equestrian and show jumper

July 25

Beatriz Segall, Brazilian actress

Whitey Lockman, American player, coach, manager (d. 2009)

Ray Solomonoff, American inventor (d. 2009

July 26

James Best, American actor (The Dukes of Hazzard) (d. 2015)

Lennox Sebe, President of Ciskei bantustan (d. 1994)

Moacir Santos, Brazilian composer, multi-instrumentalist and music educator (d. 2006)

July 27 – Doris Satterfield, American professional baseball player (d. 1993)

July 28 – Walt Brown, American presidential candidate

July 29 – Franco Sensi, Italian oil tycoon (d. 2008)

July 30

Sir Patrick Russell QC, PC, judge of the High Court of England and Wales (d. 2002)

Nina Kulagina, Russian woman who claimed to have psychic powers, particularly in psychokinesis (d. 1990)

July 31

Hilary Putnam, American philosopher, mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2016)

Bernard Nathanson, American medical doctor (d. 2011)

August

August 1 – Hannah Hauxwell, English TV personality

August 2

Sy Mah, Canadian marathoner (d. 1988)

George Habash, Palestinian Christian politician (d. 2008)

W. Carter Merbreier, American television host (Captain Noah) (d. 2016)

Hang Thun Hak, Cambodian radical politician, academic and playwright (d. 1975)

August 3

Rona Anderson, Scottish stage, film, and television actress (d. 2013)

Loris Campana, Italian road and track cyclist (d. 2015)

Tony Bennett, American singer ("I Left My Heart in San Francisco")

Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (d. 2004)

August 6

János Rózsás, Hungarian writer (d. 2012)

Frank Finlay, English stage, film and television actor (d. 2016)

Elisabeth Beresford, British author (The Wombles) (d. 2010)

Norman Wexler, Academy Award nominated Screenwriter (d. 1999)

Dick Hendley, American football (d. 2014)

Loris Campana, Italian road and track cyclist (d. 2015)

Luis Bordón, English author (d. 1986)

Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, son of Prince Philip, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 2013)

August 7 – Stan Freberg, American author, recording artist and comedian (d. 2015)

August 8

Silvio Amadio, Italian film director and screenwriter (d. 1995)

Jimmy Brown, American trumpeter, saxophonist and singer (d. 2006)

Angelo Bonfietti, Brazilian basketball player (d. 2004)

August 9

Willie Finlay, Scottish professional football player and coach (d. 2014)

Frank M. Robinson, American science fiction and techno-thriller writer (d. 2014)

August 10

Michel Breitman, French writer and translator (d. 2009)

Arthur Maxwell House, Canadian neurologist (d. 2013)

Marie-Claire Alain, French organist (d. 2013)

August 11

José María Ortiz de Mendíbil, Spanish referee (d. 2015)

Charles Cooper, American actor (d. 2013)

Claus von Bülow, Danish-born British socialite

Aaron Klug, Lithuanian-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

August 12

Douglas Croft, American child actor (d. 1963)

René Vignal, French footballer (d. 2016)

John Derek, American actor and director (d. 1998)

Hiroshi Koizumi, Japanese actor (d. 2015)

Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)

Osamu Ishiguro, Japanese tennis player (d. 2016)

Hortense Clews, member of the Belgian Resistance during World War II (d. 2006)

August 13

Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary and politician (d. 2016)

Roy Heath, Guyanese writer (d. 2008)

Norris Bowden, Canadian figure skater (d. 1991)

Dennis Eagan, British field hockey player (d. 2012)

August 14

Buddy Greco, American jazz and pop singer and pianist (d. 2017)

René Goscinny, French comic book writer (d. 1977)

Martin Broszat, German historian (d. 1989)

August 15

Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, former President of Greece (d. 2016)

Lionel Van Brabant, Belgian cyclist (d. 2004)

August 16

Eivind Hjelmtveit, Norwegian cultural administrator (d. 2017)

Roger Agache, French archaeologist (d. 2011)

Christopher Polge, English biologist, most noted for his work in cryopreservation (d. 2006)

Jack Britto, Pakistani Olympic field hockey player (d. 2013)

Manorama, Bollywood character actress (d. 2008)

August 17

Jean Poiret, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1992)

Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and President of the People's Republic of China

August 18

Franca Marzi, Italian film actress (d. 1989)

Orlando Bosch, Cuban exile (d. 2011)

August 19

Luis Bordón, Paraguayan musician and composer (d. 2006)

Martin Halliday, British physician (d. 2008)

George Daniels, British horologist (d. 2011)

Angus Scrimm, American actor (d. 2016)

Arthur Rock, American venture capitalist

August 20

Nobby Wirkowski, American and Canadian football player and coach (d. 2014)

Hocine Aït Ahmed, Algerian politician (d. 2015)

August 22 – Lois Hall, American actress (d. 2006)

August 23

Clifford Geertz, American anthropologist (d. 2006)

Vasco Cabral, Guinea-Bissauan writer and politician (d. 2005)

August 26 – Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (d. 2011)

August 27 – Pat Coombs, British actress (d. 2002)

August 29

Ramakrishna Hegde, Indian politician (d. 2004)

Rafael Ithier, Puerto Rican musician

Betty Lynn, American actress

August 30 – Bali Mauladad, Kenian big game hunter (d. 1970)

August 31 – Mayer Hersh, Polish Jew who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp (d. 2016)

September

September 2

Armando Cossutta, Italian communist politician (d. 2015)

Ibrahim Nasir Rannabanderyi Kilegefan, Maldivian president (d. 2008)

September 3

Uttam Kumar, Bengali actor (d. 1980)

Irene Papas, Greek actress and singer

September 6

Claus van Amsberg, German born Prince Consort of the Netherlands (d. 2002)

Maurice Cowling, British historian (d. 2005)

Maurice Prather, American photographer (d. 2001)

September 7

Ronnie Gilbert, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 2015)

Don Messick, American voice actor (d. 1997)

September 8 – Sergio Pininfarina, Italian automobile designer (d. 2012)

September 9 – Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Egyptian Islamic theologian

September 14

Dick Dale, American singer and musician (d. 2014)

John F. Kurtzke, American neurologist (d. 2015)

September 15 – Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician

September 16

John Knowles, American author (d. 2001)

Robert H. Schuller, American televangelist, motivational speaker and author (d. 2015)

September 17 – Bill Black, American rock and roll musician and bandleader (d. 1965)

September 19

Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

James Lipton, American television personality and writer

Duke Snider, American baseball player (d. 2011)

September 21

Donald A. Glaser, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)

Noor Jehan, Pakistani singer and actress (d. 2000)

September 23

John Coltrane, American jazz saxophonist (d. 1967)

Aage Birch, Danish competitive sailor and Olympic medalist (d. 2017)

September 24 – Aubrey Burl, British archaeologist

September 25 – Charles J. Colgan, American politician and businessman (d. 2017)

September 26 – Julie London, American actress and singer (d. 2000)

September 28 – Jerry Clower, American country comedian (d. 1998)

September 30

Robin Roberts, American baseball player (d. 2010)

Dave Hunt, American apologist, speaker, radio commentator and author (d. 2013)

October

October 1 – Max Morath, American musician

October 2 – Jan Morris, travel writer

October 4 – Senaida Wirth, American female professional baseball player (d. 1967)

October 7 – Czesław Ryll-Nardzewski, Polish mathematician (d. 2015)

October 9 – Ruth Ellis, British murderer (d. 1955)

October 11 – Yvon Dupuis, Canadian politician (d. 2017)

October 13

Jesse L. Brown, first African-American aviator in the United States Navy (d. 1950)

Kazuo Nakamura, Japanese-Canadian painter, part of the Painters Eleven (d. 2002)

October 15

Michel Foucault, French philosopher (d. 1984)

Jean Peters, American actress (d. 2000)

Karl Richter, German conductor (d. 1981)

Jeffrey Hayden, American television director and producer (d. 2016)

October 17

Julie Adams, American actress

Beverly Garland, American actress and businesswoman (d. 2008)

October 18

Chuck Berry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Klaus Kinski, German actor (d. 1991)

Pauline Pirok, American female professional baseball player

October 20 – Vsevolod Murakhovsky, Ukrainian-Russian politician (d. 2017)

October 21 – Bob Rosburg, American golfer (d. 2009)

October 22 – Gloria Carter Spann, sister of former President Jimmy Carter (d. 1990)

October 25 – Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano (d. 2012)

October 28 – Bowie Kuhn, American Commissioner of Baseball (d. 2007)

October 29

Necmettin Erbakan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2011)

Jon Vickers, Canadian operatic tenor (d. 2015)

October 30

Lois Wyse, American advertising executive, author and columnist (d. 2007)

Earle Hyman, American actor (The Cosby Show)

October 31 – Jimmy Savile, English DJ and television presenter (d. 2011)

November

November 1 – Betsy Palmer, American actress (d. 2015)

November 3 – Valdas Adamkus, Lithuanian politician, 3rd President of Lithuania

November 5 – John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter (d. 2017)

November 6 – Frank Carson, Northern Irish comedian (d. 2012)

November 7 – Dame Joan Sutherland, Australian soprano (d. 2010)

November 8 – Jack Mendelsohn, American writer-artist (d. 2017)

November 11 – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian automobile racing driver (d. 2016)

November 15 – Helmut Fischer, German actor (d. 1997)

November 16

Amy Applegren, American professional baseball player (d. 2011)

Ton de Leeuw, Dutch composer (d. 1996)

November 17 – Christopher Weeramantry, Sri Lankan lawyer (d. 2017)

November 19 – Jeane Kirkpatrick, American ambassador (d. 2006)

November 20 – John Gardner, English spy novelist (d. 2007)

November 23

Sathya Sai Baba, Indian spiritual leader (d. 2011)

R. L. Burnside, American musician (d. 2005)

November 24 – Tsung-Dao Lee, Chinese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

November 25 – Poul Anderson, American science fiction author (d. 2001)

November 26 – Peter van Pels, German-Dutch love interest of Anne Frank (d. 1945)

November 28

David Alexander, British Royal Marines general (d. 2017)

Umberto Veronesi, Italian oncologist and politician (d. 2016)

November 30

Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)

Andrew Schally, Polish-born American endocrinologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

December

December 1

Allyn Ann McLerie, Canadian-American actress and dancer

Robert Symonds, American actor (d. 2007)

December 9 – Henry Way Kendall, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)

December 10

Guitar Slim, American New Orleans blues guitarist (d. 1959)

Giorgos Ioannou, Greek artist (d. 2017)

December 13 – George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete

December 15 – Nikos Koundouros, Greek film director (d. 2017)

December 16 – James McCracken, American tenor (d. 1988)

December 17

Allan V. Cox, American geologist (d. 1987)

Bill Keightley, American equipment manager for the University of Kentucky men's basketball team from 1962 to 2008 (d. 2008)

December 19 – Herbert Stempel, subject of film Quiz Show (film)

December 20

Geoffrey Howe, British politician (d. 2015)

Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (d. 2009)

David Levine, U.S. caricaturist (d. 2009)

December 21

Joe Paterno, American football coach and philanthropist (d. 2012)

Elisabeth Elliot, American Christian author and speaker (d. 2015)

December 22 – Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguayan footballer (d. 2015)

December 23

Robert Bly, American poet

Metakse, Armenian poet, writer, translator and public activist (d. 2014)

December 26 – Gina Pellón, Cuban painter (d. 2014)

December 31 – Billy Snedden, Australian politician (d. 1987)

January–March

January 4 – Margherita of Savoy, queen consort of Italy (b. 1851)

January 15 – Louis Majorelle, French furniture designer (b. 1859)

January 21 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)

January 28

Katō Takaaki, 24th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1860)

Ernest Troubridge, British admiral (b. 1862)

January 30 – Barbara La Marr, American film actress (b. 1896)

February 6 – Carrie Clark Ward, stage and film character actress (b. 1862)

February 8 – William Bateson, English geneticist (b. 1861)

February 12 – Art Smith, American pilot (b. 1890)

February 21 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)

February 24

John Jacob Bausch, German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (b. 1830)

Eddie Plank, American baseball player and MLB Hall of Famer (b. 1875)

March 11 – Usui Mikao, Japanese founder of Reiki (b. 1865)

March 12 – E. W. Scripps, American newspaper publisher (b. 1854)

March 16 – Sergeant Stubby, World War I American hero war dog (b. 1916)

March 17 – Aleksei Brusilov, Russian general (b. 1853)

March 24 – Sizzo, Prince of Schwarzburg (b. 1860)

March 26 – Constantin Fehrenbach, former Chancellor of Germany (b. 1852)

April–June

April 1 – Jacob Pavlovich Adler, Russian actor (b. 1855)

April 9 – Henry Miller, English-born American stage actor and producer (b. 1859)

April 10 – Ōshima Yoshimasa, Japanese general (b. 1850)

April 20 – Billy Quirk, American actor (b. 1873)

April 24 – Sunjong, last Emperor of Korea (b. 1874)

April 25 – Ellen Key, Swedish feminist writer (b. 1849)

April 28 – Kawamura Kageaki, Japanese field marshal (b. 1850)

April 30 – Bessie Coleman, African-American pilot (b. 1892)

May 9 – J. M. Dent, British publisher (b. 1849)

May 10 – Alton B. Parker, American judge (b. 1852)

May 16 – Mehmed VI, last Ottoman Sultan (b. 1861)

May 26 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian independence fighter (b. 1879)

June 8 – Emily Hobhouse, British welfare campaigner (b. 1860)

June 9 – Sanford B. Dole, President of Hawaii and 1st Territorial Governor of Hawaii (b. 1844)

June 10 – Antoni Gaudí, Catalan architect (b. 1852)

June 14 – Mary Cassatt, American artist (b. 1844)

July–September

July 2 – Émile Coué, French psychologist (b. 1857)

July 12

Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist, writer, spy, and administrator; known as the "Uncrowned Queen of Iraq" (b. 1868)

John W. Weeks, American politician in the Republican Party (b. 1860)

July 22

Willard Louis, American actor (b. 1882)

Friedrich von Wieser, Austrian economist (b. 1851)

July 26 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American statesman and businessman, son of 16th President Abraham Lincoln (b. 1843)

August 1 – Israel Zangwill, British novelist and playwright (b. 1864)

August 14 – John H. Moffitt, American politician (b. 1843)

August 21 – Ugyen Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b. 1861)

August 22 – Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University (b. 1834)

August 23 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)

August 27 – John Rodgers, American naval officer and naval aviation pioneer (b. 1881)

August 30 – Eddie Lyons, American actor (b. 1886)

September 15 – Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)

September 21 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French telegraph engineer (b. 1857)

September 25 – Herbert Booth, third son of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1862)

October–December

October 7 – Emil Kraepelin, German psychiatrist (b. 1856)

October 9 – Josias von Heeringen, German general (b. 1850)

October 11 – Hymie Weiss, American gangster (b. 1898)

October 16 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (b. 1848)

October 19 – Victor Babeș, Romanian bacteriologist (b. 1854)

October 20 – Eugene V. Debs, American labor and political leader (b. 1855)

October 31

Harry Houdini, Hungarian-born escapologist (b. 1874)

Charles Vance Millar, Canadian businessman (b. 1853)

November 3 – Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter and entertainer (b. 1860)

November 7 – Tom Forman, American actor and director (b. 1893)

December 2 – Gérard Cooreman, former Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1852)

December 4 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (b. 1861)

December 5 – Claude Monet, French painter (b. 1840)

December 10 – Nikola Pašić, Serbian and Yugoslav statesman, 4-Time Prime Minister of Serbia and 3-Time Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1855)

December 16 – William Larned, American tennis champion (b. 1872)

December 17 – Lars Magnus Ericsson, Swedish inventor and founder of Ericsson (b. 1846)

December 22 – Mina Arndt, New Zealander painter (b. 1885)

December 24 – Johan Castberg, Norwegian Radical politician (b. 1862)

December 25 – Emperor Taishō, 123rd Emperor of Japan, one of the leaders of World War I (b. 1879)

December 28 – Robert Felkin, British writer (b. 1853)

December 29 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (b. 1875)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Jean Baptiste Perrin

Chemistry – Theodor Svedberg

Physiology or Medicine – Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger

Literature – Grazia Deledda

Peace – Aristide Briand, Gustav Stresemann