Famous people born in 1939
The best-known people born in 1939, ranked by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in.
Best known
Tina TurnerAmerican-born Swiss singer and songwriter (1939–2023)
November 26 · d. 2023
Photo: HBO, Public domain
Margaret AtwoodCanadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, pépiniériste and inventor (born 1939)
November 18
Photo: Collision Conf, CC BY 2.0
Seamus HeaneyIrish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer (1939–2013)
April 13 · d. 2013
Photo: Sean O'Connor, cropped by Sabahrat, Public domain
Romano ProdiItalian politician and economist (born 1939)
August 9
Photo: Niccolò Caranti, CC BY-SA 4.0
Gro Harlem Brundtland29th Prime Minister of Norway
April 20
Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, OGL v1.0
Ada YonathIsraeli structural biologist and Nobel laureate (1939–2026)
June 22 · d. 2026
Photo: Hareesh N. Nampoothiri, CC BY-SA 3.0
John HowardPrime Minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007
July 26
Photo: © Commonwealth of Australia 2011, CC BY-SA 3.0
Germaine GreerAustralian writer and public intellectual (born 1939)
January 29
Photo: Helen Morgan, CC BY 2.0
Marvin GayeAmerican R&B and soul singer (1939–1984)
April 2 · d. 1984
Photo: Photograph by Jim Britt, whose other (copyrighted) photos of Gaye from the same session—many of them, Public domain
Peter GrünbergGerman physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (1939-2018)
May 18 · d. 2018
Photo: Kuebi = Armin Kübelbeck, CC BY-SA 3.0
John CleeseEnglish comedian and actor (born 1939)
October 27
Photo: Miguel Discart & Kiri Karma, CC BY-SA 4.0
Zviad GamsakhurdiaGeorgian politician, dissident and writer, first President of Georgia (1991–1992)
March 31 · d. 1993
Photo: George barateli by George Barateli in 1989, Public domain
Reuven Rivlin10th President of Israel (2014–2021)
September 9
Photo: Avi Ohayon, Government Press Office (Israel), CC BY-SA 3.0
Lee Harvey OswaldAmerican former marine who assassinated John F. Kennedy (1939–1963)
October 18 · d. 1963
Photo: Dallas Police; Warren Commission, Public domain
Aníbal Cavaco SilvaPortuguese economist and politician (born 1939)
July 15
Photo: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, OGL v1.0
Wes CravenAmerican filmmaker (1939–2015)
August 2 · d. 2015
Photo: Bob Bekian from Thousand Oaks Ca., USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Laurent-Désiré Kabilaformer President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1939-2001)
November 27 · d. 2001
Photo: Etienne Scholasse, European Communities, CC BY 4.0
Amos OzIsraeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual (1939–2018)
May 4 · d. 2018
Photo: Michiel Hendryckx, CC BY 3.0
Daniel C. TsuiChinese-American physicist, Nobel laureate
February 28
Photo: Istvan Hargittai, CC BY 4.0
Terence HillItalian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer
March 29
Photo: Spencerhilldb, CC BY-SA 4.0
Richard KielAmerican actor (1939–2014)
September 13 · d. 2014
Photo: dejahthoris from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY-SA 3.0
Susumu TonegawaJapanese biologist, neuroscientist (1939–2026)
September 5 · d. 2026
Photo: User9131986 A cropped version, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who is your time twin?
Enter your birth date and find out who was exactly your age today on the day you were born.
Find my twinMonth by month
January
- January 1 · Michèle Mercier, French actress
- January 3 · Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player (1939–2023)
- January 6 · Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian football manager (1939–2002)
- January 9 · Susannah York, English film, stage and television actress (1939–2011)
- January 10 · Sal Mineo, American actor (1939-1976)
- January 22 · Alfredo Palacio, Ecuadorian physician
February
- February 1 · Fritjof Capra, American physicist (1939-)
- February 1 · Claude François, French pop singer, songwriter and dancer (1939–1978)
- February 2 · Dale T. Mortensen, American economist (1939–2014)
- February 3 · Michael Cimino, American film director (1939–2016)
- February 12 · Ray Manzarek, American keyboardist (1939–2013)
- February 14 · Eugene Fama, American economist and Nobel laureate in Economics
March
- March 1 · Tzvetan Todorov, Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist (1939-2017)
- March 5 · Samantha Eggar, British actress (1939–2025)
- March 13 · Yoshinobu Ishii, Japanese association football player and manager (1939–2018)
- March 17 · Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian association football player and manager (born 1939)
- March 20 · Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993
- March 30 · Ratko Janev, Macedonian atomic physicist (1939–2019)
April
- April 1 · Ali MacGraw, American actress
- April 4 · Hugh Masekela, South African jazz trumpeter
- April 13 · Paul Sorvino, American actor (1939–2022)
- April 16 · Dusty Springfield, British singer (1939–1999)
- April 27 · João Bernardo Vieira, President of Guinea-Bissau (1939-2009)
- April 27 · Stanisław Dziwisz, Polish archbishop, cardinal
May
- May 1 · Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter and musician (born 1939)
- May 7 · Sidney Altman, Canadian American molecular biologist (1939-2022)
- May 7 · Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994
- May 18 · Giovanni Falcone, Italian magistrate murdered by the Mafia (1939-1992)
- May 19 · Dick Scobee, American astronaut
- May 22 · Paul Winfield, American actor (1939–2004)
June
- June 5 · Joe Clark, 16th Prime Minister of Canada
- June 8 · Norman Davies, British historian
- June 17 · Krzysztof Zanussi, Polish producer and film director
- June 18 · Amanda Lear, French singer, actress, television presenter
- June 21 · Salomé, Spanish singer
- June 30 · Jhonatan dolsond, Mexican writer (1939-2014)
July
- July 1 · Karen Black, American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter (1939-2013)
- July 7 · Elena Obraztsova, Soviet and Russian opera singer (1939–2015)
- July 14 · Karel Gott, Czech singer and actor (1939–2019)
- July 16 · Ryozo Suzuki, Japanese association football player
- July 20 · Judy Chicago, American artist, author, and teacher (born 1939)
- July 30 · Peter Bogdanovich, American film director (1939–2022)
August
- August 12 · George Hamilton, American film and television actor
- August 12 · Sushil Koirala, Prime Minister of Nepal (1939-2016)
- August 19 · Ginger Baker, British drummer (1939–2019)
- August 19 · Alan Baker, English mathematician (1939-2018)
- August 21 · Festus Mogae, President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008
- August 29 · Joel Schumacher, American director, screenwriter, and producer (1939–2020)
September
- September 1 · Lily Tomlin, American actress
- September 5 · George Lazenby, Australian actor
- September 7 · Stanislav Petrov, officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, noted for not executing a nuclear strike during a nuclear false alarm incident (1939-2017)
- September 18 · Jorge Sampaio, President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006
- September 22 · Junko Tabei, Japanese mountain climber (1939-2016)
- September 30 · Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist
October
- October 5 · Marie Laforêt, French-Swiss singer and actress
- October 8 · Paul Hogan, Australian actor and comedian
- October 14 · Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer (born 1939)
- October 22 · Joaquim Chissano, 2nd President of Mozambique
- October 28 · Jane Alexander, American actress (born 1939)
- October 30 · Lee Hartwell, American biologist
November
- November 1 · Bernard Kouchner, French doctor and politician
- November 4 · Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer and mental calculator (1929-2013)
- November 7 · Barbara Liskov, American computer scientist
- November 15 · Yaphet Kotto, American actor (1939–2021)
- November 18 · John O'Keefe, American British neuroscientist, 2014 Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine
- November 26 · Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009
December
- December 2 · Harry Reid, American politician (1939–2021)
- December 5 · Ricardo Bofill, Catalan architect (1939-2022)
- December 14 · Stephen Cook, American-Canadian computer scientist
- December 18 · Harold E. Varmus, American scientist
- December 18 · Michael Moorcock, English writer, editor, critic (born 1939)
- December 26 · Phil Spector, American record producer (1939–2021)
People from Wikidata (CC0), photos from Wikimedia Commons; each photo shows its author and licence.