Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1912
Born in 1912? 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 114 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Rat
The 1910s
The most famous people born in 191241
1912–1954Alan Turing
British mathematician who helped break the Enigma code at Bletchley Park and laid the foundations of computer science and AI
Photo: Elliott & Fry · Public domain
1912–1994Kim Il-sung
Founder of North Korea who ruled from 1948 until his death, launched the Korean War and created a personality cult
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1912–2006Milton Friedman
American economist of the Chicago School whose ideas on monetarism and free markets won him the Nobel Prize and shaped policy
Photo: Bachrach Studios · Public domain
1912–1978John Paul I
Italian pope known as the Smiling Pope, whose reign in 1978 lasted only 33 days, one of the shortest in history
Photo: Anefo · CC0
1912–1956Jackson Pollock
American Abstract Expressionist painter famous for dripping and pouring paint onto canvases laid on the floor
Photo: Hans Namuth · Public domain
1912–1977Wernher von Braun
Rocket engineer who developed the Saturn V for the Apollo missions
Photo: NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center · Public domain
1912–1994Erich Honecker
Leader of East Germany who oversaw the Berlin Wall
Photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
1912–1945Eva Braun
Long-term partner and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler
Photo: Studio of Heinrich Hoffmann · Public domain
Born in 1912, month by month
- January
- José Ferrer (January 8) · Oscar-winning actor known for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac
- Leonid Kantorovich (January 15) · Soviet mathematician and Nobel laureate who founded the field of linear programming
- Konrad Emil Bloch (January 21) · Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who studied cholesterol and fatty acids
- Jackson Pollock (January 28) · American Abstract Expressionist painter famous for dripping and pouring paint onto canvases laid on the floor
- February
- Eva Braun (February 6) · Long-term partner and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler
- Pierre Boulle (February 20) · French novelist who wrote Planet of the Apes
- Lawrence Durrell (February 27) · British novelist and poet who wrote the Alexandria Quartet
- March
- Pat Nixon (March 16) · Former First Lady of the United States and wife of Richard Nixon
- Karl Malden (March 22) · Oscar-winning actor known for A Streetcar Named Desire
- Wernher von Braun (March 23) · Rocket engineer who developed the Saturn V for the Apollo missions
- James Callaghan (March 27) · British Prime Minister who led the country during the late 1970s
- April
- Sonja Henie (April 8) · Three-time Olympic figure skating champion and Hollywood film star
- Robert Doisneau (April 14) · French photographer known for his candid images of life in Paris
- Kim Il-sung (April 15) · Founder of North Korea who ruled from 1948 until his death, launched the Korean War and created a personality cult
- Shōichi Nishimura (April 18) · Japanese footballer and manager of the national team
- Glenn Theodore Seaborg (April 19) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who discovered several transuranium elements
- May
- Perry Como (May 18) · American singer and television star with a long career
- Herbert C. Brown (May 22) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist known for his work with organoboranes
- János Kádár (May 26) · Long-serving leader of communist Hungary during the Cold War
- Patrick White (May 28) · First Australian author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Julius Axelrod (May 30) · Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who studied the release of neurotransmitters
- Chien-Shiung Wu (May 31) · Chinese-American physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project
- June
- Alan Turing (June 23) · British mathematician who helped break the Enigma code at Bletchley Park and laid the foundations of computer science and AI
- July
- Woody Guthrie (July 14) · Influential folk musician who wrote the song This Land Is Your Land
- Milton Friedman (July 31) · American economist of the Chicago School whose ideas on monetarism and free markets won him the Nobel Prize and shaped policy
- August
- Raoul Wallenberg (August 4) · Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during the Holocaust
- Jorge Amado (August 10) · Brazilian modernist author of novels including Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
- Salvador Luria (August 13) · Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist who pioneered the study of viral genetics
- Julia Child (August 15) · American chef who popularised French cooking through books and television
- Gene Kelly (August 23) · American dancer and actor who starred in Singin' in the Rain
- Erich Honecker (August 25) · Leader of East Germany who oversaw the Berlin Wall
- Edward Mills Purcell (August 30) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who discovered nuclear magnetic resonance
- September
- John Cage (September 5) · Avant-garde composer famous for his silent work 4′33″
- Lev Gumilev (September 18) · Soviet historian known for unorthodox theories on ethnic development
- Michelangelo Antonioni (September 29) · Influential Italian director known for Blow-Up and L'Avventura
- October
- John Paul I (October 17) · Italian pope known as the Smiling Pope, whose reign in 1978 lasted only 33 days, one of the shortest in history
- November
- Alfredo Stroessner (November 3) · Military dictator who ruled Paraguay for thirty-five years
- George Emil Palade (November 19) · Romanian-American biologist and Nobel Prize winner
- Otto von Habsburg (November 20) · Last Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
- December
- Carlo Ponti (December 11) · Prolific Italian film producer and husband of actress Sophia Loren
- Lady Bird Johnson (December 22) · Former First Lady of the United States and environmental activist