Famous people born in 1897

The best-known people born in 1897, ranked by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in.

Best known

William Faulkner
American writer (1897-1962)
September 25 · d. 1962
Photo: Carl Van Vechten, Public domain
Amelia Earhart
American aviation pioneer and author (1897–1939)
July 24 · d. 1939
Photo: NBC Photo-NBC Radio, Public domain
Paul VI
pope of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978 (1897–1978)
September 26 · d. 1978
Photo: Fotografia Felici, Public domain
Irène Joliot-Curie
French chemist and physicist (1897–1956)
September 12 · d. 1956
Photo: K. G. D. Horovitz (1894-1959), Public domain
Anthony Eden
British soldier, diplomat and politician (1897–1977)
June 12 · d. 1977
Photo: Walter Stoneman, Public domain
Enid Blyton
English author (1897–1968)
August 11 · d. 1968
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Ludwig Erhard
Chancellor of West Germany (1963–1966)
February 4 · d. 1977
Photo: Adrian, Doris, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Louis Aragon
French poet (1897–1982)
October 3 · d. 1982
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Frank Capra
Italian-born American film director (1897–1991)
May 18 · d. 1991
Photo: Columbia Pictures, Public domain
Lester B. Pearson
14th Prime Minister of Canada, from 1963 to 1968 (1897–1972)
April 23 · d. 1972
Photo: ABC Television, Public domain
John Cockcroft
British physicist (1897–1967)
May 27 · d. 1967
Photo: Nobel foundation, Public domain
Subhas Chandra Bose
Indian nationalist leader (1897-1945)
January 23 · d. 1945
Photo: Unknown (Netaji Research Bureau, Calcutta), Public domain
Patrick Blackett
British physicist (1897-1974)
November 18 · d. 1974
Photo: Nobel foundation, Public domain
Ngô Đình Diệm
South Vietnamese politician; President of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963
July 27 · d. 1963
Photo: The Embassy of (the State of )Viet-Nam, Washington, D.C., U.S.A., Public domain
Georges Bataille
French intellectual and literary figure (1897–1962)
September 10 · d. 1962
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Paavo Nurmi
Finnish middle and long distance runner (1897–1973)
June 13 · d. 1973
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author (Suomen Urheilumuseo), Public domain
Wilhelm Reich
Austrian-American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, sex educator and sociologist (1897–1957)
March 24 · d. 1957
Photo: Ludwig Gutmann, Public domain
Tadeusz Reichstein
Polish-Swiss chemist (1897-1996)
July 20 · d. 1996
Photo: ETH Zürich, CC BY-SA 3.0
Thornton Wilder
American playwright and novelist (1897–1975)
April 17 · d. 1975
Photo: Roger Sherman Studio, Public domain
Zakir Husain
3rd President of India (1897-1969)
February 8 · d. 1969
Photo: Nation Museum Government of India, Public domain
Yun Po-sun
2nd President of South Korea (1897-1990)
August 26 · d. 1990
Photo: 공보처 홍보국 사진담당관, Public domain
Ivan Konev
Soviet military commander (1897-1973)
December 28 · d. 1973
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, CC BY 4.0
Cyril Norman Hinshelwood
English physical chemist (1897-1967)
June 19 · d. 1967
Photo: Unidentified photographer, Public domain
Yeghishe Charents
Armenian poet (1897–1937)
March 25 · d. 1937
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Fredric March
American actor (1897–1975)
August 31 · d. 1975
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
Marian Anderson
African-American contralto (1897–1993)
February 21 · d. 1993
Photo: S. Hurok-classical concert promoter, Public domain
John Franklin Enders
American medical researcher (1897-1985)
February 10 · d. 1985
Photo: Henry Lytton Cobbold, Public domain
Odd Hassel
Norwegian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate (1897–1981)
May 17 · d. 1981
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, CC BY 3.0
Pola Negri
Polish actress (1897-1987)
January 3 · d. 1987
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish
British chemist
November 9 · d. 1978
Photo: The Nobel Foundation, Public domain

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Month by month

January

January 1 · Ana Aslan, Romanian biologist and physician (1897–1988)
January 3 · Marion Davies, American actress (1897–1961)
January 3 · Dorothy Arzner, American film director and film editor (1897–1979)
January 11 · Kazimierz Nowak, Polish photographer
January 14 · Hasso von Manteuffel, German general and politician (1897-1978)
January 28 · Valentin Kataev, Soviet writer, playwright, screenwriter, poet (1897–1986)

February

February 5 · Dirk Stikker, Dutch politician (1897-1979)
February 9 · Charles Kingsford Smith, Australian aviator (1897-1935)
February 11 · Emil Leon Post, Polish-born American logician (1897–1954)
February 22 · Leonid Govorov, Soviet marshal (1897–1955)
February 22 · Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (1897-1947)
February 27 · Bernard Lyot, French astronomer (1897-1952)

March

March 1 · Shoghi Effendi, grandson of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, head of the Bahá'í Faith from 1921 until his death in 1957
March 8 · Josep Pla, Spanish journalist (1897–1981)
March 11 · Henry Cowell, American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario (1897-1965)
March 19 · Betty Compson, American actress (1897–1974)
March 25 · Jean Epstein, French film director, essayist and novelist (1897–1953)
March 28 · Sepp Herberger, German footballer and manager (1897-1977)

April

April 7 · Walter Winchell, American gossip journalist (1897-1972)
April 24 · Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist (1897–1941)
April 24 · Manuel Ávila Camacho, 52th President of Mexico
April 25 · Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, Member of the House of Windsor
April 26 · Douglas Sirk, German film director (1897–1987)
April 28 · Ye Jianying, former Head of State of the People's Republic of China (1897-1986)

May

May 10 · Einar Gerhardsen, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway (1897–
May 10 · Margaret Mahler, Hungarian born American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (1897-1985)
May 11 · Kurt Gerron, German Jewish film actor, director and singer murdered at Auschwitz (1897-1944)
May 14 · Sidney Bechet, American jazz musician
May 25 · Gene Tunney, American boxer (1897-1978)
May 29 · Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian-born American composer and conductor (1897–1957)

June

June 2 · Tan Malaka, communist Indonesian politician (1897-1949)
June 7 · George Szell, Classical conductor and composer (1897–1970)
June 10 · Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess of Russia (1897–1918); second daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)
June 16 · Georg Wittig, German chemist (1979 Nobel Prize)
June 21 · Yuri Kondratyuk, Ukrainian Soviet scientist (1897–1942)
June 22 · Norbert Elias, German sociologist (1897–1990)

July

July 3 · Jesse Douglas, American mathematician (1897–1965)
July 3 · Hansa Jivraj Mehta, reformist, social activist, freedom-fighter and educator and writer of India
July 10 · John Gilbert, American actor and film director (1899–1936)
July 10 · Manlio Brosio, Italian politician, lawyer, and diplomat; NATO Secretary General (1897-1980)
July 14 · Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Prime Minister of Thailand, 1938–44 and 1948–57 (1897–1964)
July 21 · Vasily Sokolovsky, Soviet marshal (1897–1968)

August

August 2 · Philippe Soupault, French writer (1897–1990)
August 4 · Adolf Heusinger, German general (1897-1982)
August 10 · Jack Haley, American stage, radio and film actor (1898–1979)
August 12 · Otto Struve, Baltic German astronomer (1897–1963)
August 20 · Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian author (1897–1970)
August 22 · Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian-German actress (1897–1986)

September

September 8 · Jimmie Rodgers, American country singer (1897–1933)
September 15 · Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar, Pakistani politician and diplomat (1897–1960)
September 17 · William Gopallawa, Sri Lankan President (1897-1981)
September 23 · Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (1897-1994)
September 23 · Walter Pidgeon, Canadian actor (1897-1984)
September 28 · Mukhtar Auezov, Kazakh writer (1897–1961)

October

October 2 · Bud Abbott, American actor, producer and comedian (1897–1974)
October 7 · Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader (1897-1975)
October 8 · Rouben Mamoulian, American film and theatre director (1897–1987)
October 15 · Ilya Ilf, Soviet writer and journalist (1897–1937)
October 23 · Dmitry Pavlov, Soviet general
October 28 · Edith Head, American film and television costumer (1897-1981)

November

November 7 · Herman J. Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (1897-1953)
November 8 · Dorothy Day, American journalist, social activist, and Catholic convert (1897-1980)
November 11 · Gordon Allport, American psychologist (1897–1967)
November 15 · Aneurin Bevan, Welsh politician (1897–1960)
November 16 · Chuhdary Rahmat Ali, Pakistani politician (1897–1951)
November 26 · Manuel Odría, 38th & 40th President of Peru (1948–1956)

December

December 2 · Ivan Bagramyan, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1897-1982)
December 3 · André Marie, French politician (1897-1974)
December 5 · Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli philosopher (1897–1982)
December 9 · Hermione Gingold, English actress (1897–1987)
December 14 · Margaret Chase Smith, member of the United States Senate from Maine (1897-1995)
December 18 · Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer (1897–1952)

People from Wikidata (CC0), photos from Wikimedia Commons; each photo shows its author and licence.