Famous birthdays by year

Famous People Born in 1916

Born in 1916? 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 110 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Dragon

The 1910s

The most famous people born in 191641

1916–1996

François Mitterrand

Socialist politician who served as President of France for 14 years, the longest in the Fifth Republic, from 1981 to 1995

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was President of France from 1981 to 1995. He was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic, successfully remaining in office longer than any other republican head of state in French history.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 109

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1916–1990

Roald Dahl

Beloved children's author of books like Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British author of popular children's literature and short stories, a poet, screenwriter and a wartime fighter ace. His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 110

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1916–2020100 Club

Kirk Douglas

Hollywood legend known for his starring role in Spartacus

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 109

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1916–2002

Camilo José Cela

Nobel Prize-winning Spanish novelist and writer

Camilo José Cela y Trulock, 1st Marquess of Iria Flavia (Spanish:; 11 May 1916 – 17 January 2002) was a Spanish novelist, poet, story writer and essayist associated with the Generation of '36 movement.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

LiteratureWould be 110

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1916–2004

Francis Crick

Nobel Prize-winning scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA

Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. He, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

ScienceWould be 110

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1916–2003

Gregory Peck

Academy Award-winning actor known for To Kill a Mockingbird

Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor. He was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

FilmWould be 110

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1916–1978

Aldo Moro

Five-time Prime Minister of Italy

Aldo Moro (Italian:; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and prominent member of Christian Democracy (DC) and its centre-left wing. He served as prime minister of Italy for five terms from December 1963 to June 1968 and from November 1974 to July 1976.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 110

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1916–1995

Harold Wilson

British Labour politician who served twice as Prime Minister

James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995), was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

PoliticsWould be 110

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Born in 1916, month by month

January
- Elena Ceaușescu (January 7) · Wife of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu and Deputy Prime Minister
- Paul Keres (January 7) · Estonian chess grandmaster regarded as one of the greatest ever players
- Sune Bergström (January 10) · Swedish biochemist who won the Nobel Prize for research on prostaglandins
- P. W. Botha (January 12) · South African politician who led the country during the apartheid era
February
- Jackie Gleason (February 26) · Comedian and actor known for the sitcom The Honeymooners
- Dinah Shore (February 29) · American singer and television host of the mid-twentieth century
March
- Hans Eysenck (March 4) · Psychologist known for his work on intelligence and personality
- Harold Wilson (March 11) · British Labour politician who served twice as Prime Minister
- Christian B. Anfinsen (March 26) · Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who studied the structure of proteins
April
- Gregory Peck (April 5) · Academy Award-winning actor known for To Kill a Mockingbird
- Sirimavo Bandaranaike (April 17) · Sri Lankan politician who became the first female prime minister worldwide
- Yehudi Menuhin (April 22) · World-renowned violinist and conductor who founded a famous music school
- Ferruccio Lamborghini (April 28) · Italian industrialist who founded the luxury sports car brand
- Claude Shannon (April 30) · Mathematician and engineer known as the father of information theory
May
- Glenn Ford (May 1) · Leading actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema
- Zail Singh (May 5) · First Sikh politician to serve as the President of India
- João Havelange (May 8) · Former president of the football governing body FIFA
- Camilo José Cela (May 11) · Nobel Prize-winning Spanish novelist and writer
June
- Robert F. Furchgott (June 4) · Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who discovered how nitric oxide signals cells
- Francis Crick (June 8) · Nobel Prize-winning scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA
- Robert McNamara (June 9) · US Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War
- Herbert Simon (June 15) · Nobel Prize winner who pioneered artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology
July
- Olivia de Havilland (July 1) · Double Oscar-winning actress known for Gone with the Wind
- Hans-Ulrich Rudel (July 2) · Decorated German ground-attack pilot during the Second World War
- Edward Heath (July 9) · UK Prime Minister who took the country into the European Economic Community
- Alexander Prokhorov (July 11) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who co-invented the laser
- Gough Whitlam (July 11) · Australian Prime Minister who led the country from 1972 to 1975
- Lyudmila Pavlichenko (July 12) · Red Army sniper who recorded over three hundred confirmed kills
- Natalia Ginzburg (July 14) · Italian author and politician who explored family life and fascism
August
- C. Wright Mills (August 28) · American sociologist who wrote The Power Elite
September
- Roald Dahl (September 13) · Beloved children's author of books like Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Vitaly Ginzburg (September 21) · Russian physicist who shared a Nobel Prize for work on superconductivity
- Aldo Moro (September 23) · Five-time Prime Minister of Italy
- Peter Finch (September 28) · Oscar-winning actor known for the film Network
October
- Jean Dausset (October 19) · Nobel Prize-winning immunologist who discovered the HLA gene system
- François Mitterrand (October 26) · Socialist politician who served as President of France for 14 years, the longest in the Fifth Republic, from 1981 to 1995
November
- Walter Cronkite (November 4) · American journalist and long-serving anchorman for the CBS Evening News
December
- Kirk Douglas (December 9) · Hollywood legend known for his starring role in Spartacus
- Maurice Wilkins (December 15) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who helped discover the structure of DNA
- Dino Risi (December 23) · Influential Italian director of the commedia all'italiana film genre
- Ahmad ibn Billah (December 25) · First president of independent Algeria and a key revolutionary leader

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