Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1905
Born in 1905? 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 121 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Snake
The 1900s
The most famous people born in 190536
1905–1980Jean-Paul Sartre
French existentialist philosopher and author of Being and Nothingness and Nausea, who turned down the Nobel Prize in Literature
Photo: Moshe Milner · CC BY-SA 3.0
1905–1982Ayn Rand
Russian-American novelist of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged who founded the individualist philosophy of Objectivism
Photo: Photo portrait credited to "Talbot" (though not on original dust jacket). Published by the Bobbs-Merrill Company . · Public domain
1905–1961Dag Hammarskjöld
Swedish diplomat who served as the second UN Secretary-General and was killed in a plane crash, winning a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1905–1984Mikhail Sholokhov
Soviet novelist of And Quiet Flows the Don, an epic of Cossack life, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1905–1990Greta Garbo
Swedish film star of Queen Christina and Anna Karenina who retired at 36 and became famous for wanting to be left alone
Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (work for hire) · Public domain
1905–1994Elias Canetti
Bulgarian-born writer in German of the novel Auto-da-Fé and the study Crowds and Power, who won the Nobel Prize
Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
1905–1977Joan Crawford
American actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood
Photo: George Hurrell · Public domain
1905–1982Henry Fonda
Oscar-winning actor known for roles in classic Westerns and dramas
Photo: Studio publicity still · Public domain
Born in 1905, month by month
- January
- Christian Dior (January 21) · Iconic French fashion designer who founded a world-famous luxury brand
- Emilio G. Segrè (January 30) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered the antiproton
- February
- Ayn Rand (February 2) · Russian-American novelist of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged who founded the individualist philosophy of Objectivism
- Władysław Gomułka (February 6) · Polish communist politician who led the country for many years
- Ulf von Euler (February 7) · Nobel Prize-winning physiologist who discovered the neurotransmitter noradrenaline
- March
- Raymond Aron (March 14) · Prominent French philosopher and journalist known for political commentary
- Albert Speer (March 19) · German architect who served as the Nazi Minister of Armaments
- Joan Crawford (March 23) · American actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood
- Viktor Frankl (March 26) · Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who wrote the memoir Man's Search for Meaning
- April
- Attila József (April 11) · Influential 20th-century Hungarian poet
- May
- Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (May 13) · Lawyer and politician who served as the fifth President of India
- Joseph Cotten (May 15) · American actor known for Citizen Kane and The Third Man
- Henry Fonda (May 16) · Oscar-winning actor known for roles in classic Westerns and dramas
- Mikhail Sholokhov (May 24) · Soviet novelist of And Quiet Flows the Don, an epic of Cossack life, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
- June
- Jean-Paul Sartre (June 21) · French existentialist philosopher and author of Being and Nothingness and Nausea, who turned down the Nobel Prize in Literature
- July
- Elias Canetti (July 25) · Bulgarian-born writer in German of the novel Auto-da-Fé and the study Crowds and Power, who won the Nobel Prize
- Dag Hammarskjöld (July 29) · Swedish diplomat who served as the second UN Secretary-General and was killed in a plane crash, winning a posthumous Nobel Peace Prize
- Clara Bow (July 29) · Silent film actress who became the original It Girl
- August
- Myrna Loy (August 2) · American actress famous for The Thin Man film series
- Wassily Leontief (August 5) · Nobel Prize-winning economist who developed input-output analysis
- Santa Faustina Kowalska (August 25) · Polish mystic and nun who inspired the Divine Mercy devotion
- Major Dhyan Chand Singh (August 29) · Indian field hockey player regarded as one of the greatest ever
- September
- Carl David Anderson (September 3) · Physicist who won the Nobel Prize for discovering the positron
- Arthur Koestler (September 5) · Hungarian-British author of the anti-totalitarian novel Darkness at Noon
- Greta Garbo (September 18) · Swedish film star of Queen Christina and Anna Karenina who retired at 36 and became famous for wanting to be left alone
- Howard Hughes (September 24) · American business magnate, record-breaking aviator and film producer
- Severo Ochoa (September 24) · Nobel Prize-winning Spanish biochemist who studied the synthesis of DNA
- Nevill Francis Mott (September 30) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for research into electronic structures
- October
- Félix Houphouët-Boigny (October 16) · Founding President of Ivory Coast who led the nation for decades
- Felix Bloch (October 23) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who pioneered nuclear magnetic resonance
- November
- Astrid of Sweden (November 17) · Swedish princess who became Queen of the Belgians
- Vasily Grossman (November 29) · Soviet journalist and author of the epic novel Life and Fate
- December
- Gerard Kuiper (December 7) · Dutch-American astronomer who discovered the Kuiper belt
- Simo Häyhä (December 17) · Finnish sniper credited with hundreds of kills during the Winter War
- Daniil Kharms (December 17) · Soviet-era avant-garde poet and absurdist writer
- Emmanuel Levinas (December 30) · Influential philosopher known for his work on ethics and phenomenology