Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1898
Born in 1898? Meet the well-known people who share your birth year, from the biggest names to the ones you might not expect, month by month.
Turning 128 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Dog
The 1890s
The most famous people born in 189838
1898–1956Bertolt Brecht
German playwright of The Threepenny Opera and Mother Courage who developed epic theatre to make audiences think critically
Photo: Kolbe, Jörg · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
1898–1948Sergei Eisenstein
Soviet director of Battleship Potemkin, whose Odessa Steps sequence pioneered montage editing, and of Alexander Nevsky
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1898–1936Federico García Lorca
Spanish poet and playwright of Blood Wedding and The House of Bernarda Alba who was killed by Nationalists in 1936
Photo: Anonymous Unknown author · Public domain
1898–1978Golda Meir
Ukrainian-born, Milwaukee-raised politician who became Israel's first and only female prime minister and led it through the 1973 war
Photo: Talmoryair ( talk ) after Marion S. Trikosko · Public domain
1898–1963C. S. Lewis
Northern Irish scholar and writer of The Chronicles of Narnia and Christian works such as Mere Christianity
Photo: John S. Murray · Public domain
1898–1970Erich Maria Remarque
German novelist and First World War veteran who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front, later banned and burned by the Nazis
Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
1898–1975Umm Kulthum
Egyptian singer known as the Star of the East, whose hour-long songs and monthly concerts captivated the Arab world
Photo: Production company · Public domain
1898–1977Stefania Turkevych-Lukiianovych
Ukraine's first recognised female composer and musicologist
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
Born in 1898, month by month
- January
- Sergei Eisenstein (January 10) · Soviet director of Battleship Potemkin, whose Odessa Steps sequence pioneered montage editing, and of Alexander Nevsky
- Ahmad Shah Qajar (January 21) · Last ruling member of the Qajar dynasty in Iran
- February
- Alvar Aalto (February 3) · Finnish architect and designer of furniture and glassware
- Bertolt Brecht (February 10) · German playwright of The Threepenny Opera and Mother Courage who developed epic theatre to make audiences think critically
- Leó Szilárd (February 11) · Physicist who first conceived the idea of a nuclear chain reaction
- Fritz Zwicky (February 14) · Astronomer who proposed the existence of dark matter
- Hastings Banda (February 15) · First president and long-term leader of independent Malawi
- Enzo Ferrari (February 18) · Italian motor racing driver and founder of the Ferrari car brand
- March
- Soong May-ling (March 4) · First Lady of the Republic of China for many decades
- Georges Dumézil (March 4) · French philologist known for his studies on Indo-European mythology
- Zhou Enlai (March 5) · First Premier of the People's Republic of China and master diplomat
- April
- Paul Robeson (April 9) · American singer, actor and civil rights activist
- Stefania Turkevych-Lukiianovych (April 25) · Ukraine's first recognised female composer and musicologist
- Vicente Aleixandre (April 26) · Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet of the Generation of '27
- May
- Golda Meir (May 3) · Ukrainian-born, Milwaukee-raised politician who became Israel's first and only female prime minister and led it through the 1973 war
- Tamara de Lempicka (May 16) · Art Deco painter known for her polished portraits
- June
- Federico García Lorca (June 5) · Spanish poet and playwright of Blood Wedding and The House of Bernarda Alba who was killed by Nationalists in 1936
- Curzio Malaparte (June 9) · Italian writer and journalist known for his surrealist war novels
- M. C. Escher (June 17) · Graphic artist famous for creating impossible structures and patterns
- Erich Maria Remarque (June 22) · German novelist and First World War veteran who wrote All Quiet on the Western Front, later banned and burned by the Nazis
- July
- Gulzarilal Nanda (July 4) · Indian politician who twice served as interim Prime Minister
- Herbert Marcuse (July 19) · German-American philosopher and prominent figure of the Frankfurt School
- Alexander Calder (July 22) · Pioneer of kinetic sculpture and inventor of the mobile
- Isidor Isaac Rabi (July 29) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered the technique of nuclear magnetic resonance
- Henry Moore (July 30) · British artist renowned for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures
- August
- Albert Claude (August 23) · Nobel Prize-winning biologist who pioneered the use of the electron microscope
- Shirley Booth (August 30) · Academy Award-winning actress who achieved the Triple Crown of Acting
- September
- Giuseppe Saragat (September 19) · Former President of Italy and founder of the Social Democratic Party
- Howard Florey (September 24) · Australian scientist who developed penicillin into a life-saving medicine
- George Gershwin (September 26) · Composer of Rhapsody in Blue and Porgy and Bess
- November
- Rodion Malinovsky (November 10) · Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union
- René Magritte (November 21) · Surrealist artist known for thought-provoking paintings of everyday objects
- Liu Shaoqi (November 24) · Former President of the People's Republic of China and revolutionary leader
- Karl Ziegler (November 26) · German chemist who revolutionised the production of plastics
- C. S. Lewis (November 29) · Northern Irish scholar and writer of The Chronicles of Narnia and Christian works such as Mere Christianity
- December
- Gunnar Myrdal (December 6) · Nobel Prize-winning economist and social scientist
- Irene Dunne (December 20) · Hollywood actress nominated five times for the Best Actress Oscar
- Umm Kulthum (December 31) · Egyptian singer known as the Star of the East, whose hour-long songs and monthly concerts captivated the Arab world