Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1923
Born in 1923? 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 103 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Pig
The 1920s
The most famous people born in 192346
1923–2023100 ClubHenry Kissinger
German-born US Secretary of State who opened relations with China and shared the Nobel Peace Prize for Vietnam ceasefire talks
Photo: U.S. Department of State from United States · Public domain
1923–2016Shimon Peres
Israeli statesman who served as prime minister and president and shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the Oslo Accords
Photo: Avi Ohayon · CC BY-SA 3.0
1923–2014Nadine Gordimer
South African novelist of Burger's Daughter and July's People who exposed apartheid and won the Nobel Prize in Literature
Photo: Boberger . Photo: Bengt Oberger · CC BY 3.0
1923–2012Wisława Szymborska
Polish poet whose ironic, precise verses on everyday life and history won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996
Photo: Mariusz Kubik · CC BY 3.0
1923–2015Kuan Yew Lee
Founding prime minister of Singapore who led it for 31 years from a trading port to one of the world's richest nations
Photo: Robert D. Ward · Public domain
1923–2008Charlton Heston
Actor renowned for starring in Hollywood epics such as Ben-Hur
Photo: 20th Century Fox studios · Public domain
1923–2003Heydar Aliyev
Third President of Azerbaijan and former Soviet politician
Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan · CC BY 4.0
1923–1977Maria Meneghini Callas
Highly influential American-born Greek operatic soprano
Photo: CBS Television · Public domain
Born in 1923, month by month
- January
- Italo Calvino (January 15) · Influential Italian novelist and short story writer of the postmodern era
- Lee Teng-hui (January 15) · Former president of Taiwan who oversaw the island's transition to democracy
- Arvid Carlsson (January 25) · Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered the importance of dopamine
- Leonid Gaidai (January 30) · Soviet film director known for his classic comedy movies
- Norman Mailer (January 31) · American writer known for the novel The Naked and the Dead
- February
- Conrad Bain (February 4) · Actor best known for the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes
- Franco Zeffirelli (February 12) · Italian director of stage and screen famous for Romeo and Juliet
- Chuck Yeager (February 13) · Record-breaking test pilot who first broke the sound barrier
- March
- Walter Kohn (March 9) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who developed density functional theory
- Val Logsdon Fitch (March 10) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for subatomic particle research
- Agatha Barbara (March 11) · First female president of Malta and long-serving politician
- Marcel Marceau (March 22) · World-renowned French mime artist who created Bip the Clown
- April
- Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (April 5) · President of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975
- May
- Joseph Heller (May 1) · American author best known for the satirical war novel Catch-22
- Anne Baxter (May 7) · Oscar-winning actress known for The Razor's Edge
- Heydar Aliyev (May 10) · Third President of Azerbaijan and former Soviet politician
- Henry Kissinger (May 27) · German-born US Secretary of State who opened relations with China and shared the Nobel Peace Prize for Vietnam ceasefire talks
- György Ligeti (May 28) · Hungarian-Austrian composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music
- Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (May 31) · Long-reigning monarch of Monaco who married actress Grace Kelly
- June
- Lloyd Shapley (June 2) · Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and pioneer of game theory
- July
- Wisława Szymborska (July 2) · Polish poet whose ironic, precise verses on everyday life and history won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996
- Wojciech Jaruzelski (July 6) · Final communist leader of Poland who imposed martial law
- Rudolph A. Marcus (July 21) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist known for his theory on electron transfer
- Bob Dole (July 22) · Long-serving American senator and Republican presidential candidate
- August
- Shimon Peres (August 2) · Israeli statesman who served as prime minister and president and shared the Nobel Peace Prize for the Oslo Accords
- Edgar F. Codd (August 19) · Computer scientist who invented the relational model for databases
- Richard Attenborough (August 29) · Oscar-winning director of Gandhi and star of Jurassic Park
- September
- Rocky Marciano (September 1) · Undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion
- Peter II of Yugoslavia (September 6) · Last King of Yugoslavia who reigned during the Second World War
- Rasul Gamzatov (September 8) · Soviet poet who wrote the lyrics to the famous song Zhuravli
- Cliff Robertson (September 9) · Oscar-winning actor known for the film Charly and Spider-Man
- Daniel Carleton Gajdusek (September 9) · Nobel Prize-winning physician who discovered that kuru is a transmissible disease
- Kuan Yew Lee (September 16) · Founding prime minister of Singapore who led it for 31 years from a trading port to one of the world's richest nations
- Hank Williams (September 17) · Iconic American singer-songwriter and pioneer of country music
- October
- Charlton Heston (October 4) · Actor renowned for starring in Hollywood epics such as Ben-Hur
- Glynis Johns (October 5) · Tony Award-winning actress who played Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins
- Roy Lichtenstein (October 27) · Pop artist known for comic book style paintings and Ben-Day dots
- November
- Jack Kilby (November 8) · Electrical engineer who helped invent the integrated circuit
- Alan Shepard (November 18) · First American in space and commander of Apollo 14
- Nadine Gordimer (November 20) · South African novelist of Burger's Daughter and July's People who exposed apartheid and won the Nobel Prize in Literature
- Mauno Koivisto (November 25) · Long-serving President of Finland who navigated the end of the Cold War
- Gloria Grahame (November 28) · Oscar-winning actress known for film noir and It's a Wonderful Life
- December
- Maria Meneghini Callas (December 2) · Highly influential American-born Greek operatic soprano
- Jorge Semprún (December 10) · Spanish writer and politician who served as Minister of Culture
- Philip W. Anderson (December 13) · Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist who studied magnetic and disordered systems
- Freeman Dyson (December 15) · Theoretical physicist known for his imaginative ideas about space and technology