Famous people born in 1917

The best-known people born in 1917, ranked by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in.

Best known

John F. Kennedy
president of the United States from 1961 to 1963 (1917–1963)
May 29 · d. 1963
Photo: Cecil W. Stoughton, Public domain
Indira Gandhi
Prime Minister of India (1966-1977; 1980-1984)
November 19 · d. 1984
Photo: Prime Minister's Office, GODL-India
Ferdinand Marcos
President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986
September 11 · d. 1989
Photo: derivative work: Bluemask Ferdinand_Marcos_and_George_Shultz_DA-SC-84-05877.JPEG : Spec. 4 Dino Bart, CC BY-SA 3.0
Arthur C. Clarke
British science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist (1917–2008)
December 16 · d. 2008
Photo: ITU Pictures, CC BY 2.0
Heinrich Böll
German writer (1917–1985)
December 21 · d. 1985
Photo: Hoffmann, Harald, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Ella Fitzgerald
American jazz singer (1917–1996)
April 25 · d. 1996
Photo: Lewin/Kaufman/Schwartz, Public Relations, Beverly Hills, Public domain
Park Chung-hee
3rd President of the Republic of Korea
November 14 · d. 1979
Photo: Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service, CC BY-SA 2.0
I. M. Pei
Chinese-American architect (1917–2019)
April 26 · d. 2019
Photo: Bernard Gotfryd, Public domain
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Hungarian-American socialite and actress (1917–2016)
February 6 · d. 2016
Photo: Studio publicity still, Public domain
Dean Martin
American singer, actor, comedian and film producer (1917–1995)
June 7 · d. 1995
Photo: Studio, Public domain
Ernest Borgnine
American actor (1917–2012)
January 24 · d. 2012
Photo: Milburn McCarty Public Relations. It was not uncommon for a network, program sponsor or studio to di, Public domain
Ilya Prigogine
Russian-Belgian physical chemist (1917–2003)
January 25 · d. 2003
Photo: Unknown (Keystone - US), Public domain
Anthony Burgess
English writer and composer (1917–1993)
February 25 · d. 1993
Photo: Open Media Ltd., CC BY-SA 3.0
Joan Fontaine
British actress (1917–2013)
October 22 · d. 2013
Photo: Whitey Schafer, Public domain
Robert Mitchum
American actor (1917–1997)
August 6 · d. 1997
Photo: J. Fred Henry Publications, Public domain
Eric Hobsbawm
British academic historian and Marxist historiographer (1917–2012)
June 9 · d. 2012
Photo: Government of India, GODL-India
Kenan Evren
President of Turkey (1917–2015)
July 17 · d. 2015
Photo: Reagan Library, CC BY 3.0
Jane Wyman
American actress (1917–2007)
January 5 · d. 2007
Photo: Eiga no Tomo, Public domain
Robert Burns Woodward
American chemist
April 10 · d. 1979
Photo: Robert_Burns_Woodward_in_1965.jpg : The original uploader was Peter Geymayer at German Wikipedia . (, Public domain
Christian de Duve
Belgian biochemist, cytologist (1917–2013)
October 2 · d. 2013
Photo: Julien Doornaert, CC BY 2.5
Andrew Huxley
English physiologist and biophysicist (1917–2012)
November 22 · d. 2012
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Sidney Sheldon
American writer (1917–2007)
February 11 · d. 2007
Leonid Hurwicz
Polish-American economist and mathematician (1917–2008)
August 21 · d. 2008
Photo: Dong Oh (square by Juan Pablo Arancibia Medina ), CC BY 3.0
Dizzy Gillespie
American jazz trumpeter (1917–1993)
October 21 · d. 1993
Photo: William P. Gottlieb, Public domain
James Rainwater
American physicist
December 9 · d. 1986
Photo: Keystone, Public domain
Phyllis Diller
American stand-up comedian, actress, author, musician, and visual artist (1917–2012)
July 17 · d. 2012
John Kendrew
English biochemist and crystallographer (1917–1997)
March 24 · d. 1997
Photo: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
Yahya Khan
former Pakistani president (1917–1980)
February 4 · d. 1980
Photo: Yahya and Nixon.jpg : Original uploader was User:Yahoo1 at en.wikipedia, Public domain
Jack Kirby
American comic book artist (1917–1994)
August 28 · d. 1994
Photo: Susan Skaar, CC BY-SA 3.0
Thelonious Monk
American jazz pianist and composer (1917–1982)
October 10 · d. 1982
Photo: William P. Gottlieb / Adam Cuerden, Public domain

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Month by month

January

January 12 · Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian spiritual master
January 15 · Vasily Petrov, Marshal of the Soviet Union (1917–2014)
January 16 · Justin Ahomadégbé-Tomêtin, Beninise politician (1917-2002)
January 17 · M. G. Ramachandran, film actor, chief minister of Tamil Nadu (1917 – 1987)
January 25 · Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician, former president of Brazil (1961)
January 26 · Louis Zamperini, Italian-American middle distance runner and World War II veteran

February

February 2 · Do Muoi, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (1917–2018)
February 10 · Musine Kokalari, Albanian writer (1917-1983)
February 11 · Giuseppe De Santis, Italian film director (1917–1997)
February 14 · Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician (1917–2011)
February 19 · Carson McCullers, American writer (1917–1967)
February 27 · John Connally, American politician (1917–1993)

March

March 1 · Robert Lowell, American poet (1917–1977)
March 6 · Will Eisner, American cartoonist, writer and entrepreneur (1917–2005)
March 6 · Donald Davidson, American philosopher (1917–2003)
March 19 · László Szabó, Hungarian chess player (1917–1998)
March 20 · Vera Lynn, British singer (1917–2020)
March 27 · Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State from 1977 to 1980 (1917–2002)

April

April 5 · Robert Bloch, American fiction writer (1917–1994)
April 6 · Leonora Carrington, British-born Mexican artist, painter and novelist (1917–2011)
April 18 · Frederica of Hanover, Queen consort of Greece as the wife of King Paul; daughter of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (1887-1953)
April 18 · Georgy Vitsin, Soviet and Russian actor (1917-2001)
April 29 · Celeste Holm, American actress (1917–2012)
April 29 · Urie Bronfenbrenner, Russian American developmental psychologist (1917–2005)

May

May 1 · Danielle Darrieux, French actress and singer
May 3 · Kiro Gligorov, President of the Republic of Macedonia (1917–2012)
May 16 · Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer (1917–1986)
May 16 · George Gaynes, American actor (1917–2016)
May 21 · Raymond Burr, Canadian actor (1917–1993)
May 23 · Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (1917–2008)

June

June 1 · William Standish Knowles, American chemist (1917–2012)
June 13 · Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan writer (1917–2005)
June 14 · Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician (1917–2007)
June 15 · John Fenn, American analytical chemist (1917–2010)
June 30 · Susan Hayward, American actress (1917–1975)
June 30 · Lena Horne, American singer, actress, dancer and activist (1917–2010)

July

July 12 · Andrew Wyeth, American visual artist (1917–2009)
July 15 · Nur Muhammad Taraki, 1st General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
July 15 · Robert Conquest, British historian and poet
July 18 · Henri Salvador, French Caribbean recording artist; singer, songwriter (1917–2008)
July 22 · Adam Malik, 3rd Vice President of Indonesia (1978–1983)
July 27 · Bourvil, French actor and singer (1917–1970)

August

August 15 · Óscar Romero, Salvadoran Catholic archbishop and saint (1917–1980), assassinated while celebrating Mass
August 15 · Jack Lynch, Taoiseach of Ireland; from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979
August 18 · Caspar Weinberger, American politician (1917-2006)
August 22 · John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (1912 or 1917–2001)
August 22 · Ko Arima, Japanese association football player
August 25 · Mel Ferrer, American actor, director and producer (1917–2008)

September

September 7 · John Cornforth, Australian-British chemist
September 11 · Herbert Lom, Czech actor (1917–2012)
September 20 · Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (1917–1994)
September 20 · Obdulio Varela, Uruguayan footballer (1917–1996)
September 23 · Asima Chatterjee, Indian chemist (1917–2006)
September 30 · Buddy Rich, American jazz drummer and bandleader (1917–1987)

October

October 4 · Violeta Parra, Chilean musician and folklorist
October 7 · June Allyson, American actress (1917–2006)
October 8 · Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist and Nobel laureate (1917–1985)
October 17 · Marsha Hunt, American actress (1917–2022)
October 20 · Stéphane Hessel, French diplomat, ambassador, writer, concentration camp survivor (1917–2013)
October 27 · Oliver Tambo, South African anti-apartheid activist and politician (1917–1993)

November

November 2 · Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress
November 7 · Helen Suzman, South African politician (1917–2009)
November 20 · Robert Byrd, American politician (1917–2010)
November 21 · Chung Il-kwon, South Korean general, politician (1917–1994)
November 22 · Hirokazu Ninomiya, Japanese association football player and manager (1917–2000)
November 25 · Alparslan Türkeş, Founder of Turkish Nationalist Action Party and Grey Wolves (1917–1997)

December

December 6 · Kamal Jumblatt, Lebanese politician (1917-1977)
December 14 · Tove Ditlevsen, Danish poet and author (1917–1976)
December 18 · Ossie Davis, American actor, director, poet, playwright, writer, and social activist (1917-2005)
December 20 · David Bohm, American theoretical physicist (1917-1992)
December 20 · Audrey Totter, American actor (1917-2013)
December 24 · Kim Jong-suk, First wife of North Korean President Kim Il Sung (1917–1949)

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