Famous People Born in 1902
List of famous people born in 1902, with photos when available. This list of celebrities born in 1902 is loosely ordered by popularity, so the most well-known people are at the top. All sorts of men and women are featured on this list, including actors, singers, musicians and athletes born in 1902. Various bits of information are available for these prominent people whose birth year is 1902, such as what schools they went to and where they were born. If you're looking for a particular famous person born in 1902 you can type their name into the "search" bar and it will take you right to them.
List features celebs like Norma Shearer and Larry Fine.
If you're trying to answer the question, "Which celebrities were born in 1902?" then this list should be a perfect resource for you.- Charles Lindbergh, born in Detroit, Michigan on February 4, 1902, was an American aviator who achieved worldwide fame as the first person to fly solo and non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. Born to a congressman father and a schoolteacher mother, his love for machinery and technology was evident from a young age. Lindbergh's early years were marked by frequent moves, following his father's political career, which ultimately led him to develop a strong sense of independence and a curiosity about the world. Lindbergh's fascination with flight took root during his time as a U.S. Air Mail pilot, but it was his daring transatlantic flight in May 1927 that put his name in the history books. In his single-engine plane, "The Spirit of St. Louis," he flew from New York to Paris, covering an astonishing distance of nearly 3,600 miles in thirty-three and a half hours. The feat was not only a triumph of engineering but also a testament to Lindbergh's skill, courage, and unwavering determination. This historic achievement won him the prestigious Orteig Prize and secured his place in aviation history. However, Lindbergh's life was not without controversy. His first-born son was tragically kidnapped and murdered in 1932, a case that became known as "The Crime of the Century". Later, his apparent sympathy towards Nazi Germany prior to World War II stirred public outcry. Yet, despite these tumultuous personal trials and public scrutiny, Lindbergh continued his work in aviation and conservation until his passing in 1974. A complex figure, Charles Lindbergh remains emblematic of the bold spirit of exploration and the relentless pursuit of progress that characterized the early 20th century.
- Birthplace: Michigan, USA, Detroit
- James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue".Growing up in a series of Midwestern towns, Hughes became a prolific writer at an early age. He graduated from high school in Cleveland, Ohio and soon began studies at Columbia University in New York City. Although he dropped out, he gained notice from New York publishers, first in The Crisis magazine, and then from book publishers and became known in the creative community in Harlem. He eventually graduated from Lincoln University. In addition to poetry, Hughes wrote plays, and short stories. He also published several non-fiction works. From 1942 to 1962, as the civil rights movement was gaining traction, he wrote an in-depth weekly column in a leading black newspaper, The Chicago Defender.
- Birthplace: USA, Joplin, Missouri
- Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was a landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advocating "pure" photography which favored sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph. He and Fred Archer developed an exacting system of image-making called the Zone System, a method of achieving a desired final print through a deeply technical understanding of how tonal range is recorded and developed in exposure, negative development, and printing. The resulting clarity and depth of such images characterized his photography. Adams was a life-long advocate for environmental conservation, and his photographic practice was deeply entwined with this advocacy. At age 12, he was given his first camera during his first visit to Yosemite National Park. He developed his early photographic work as a member of the Sierra Club. He was later contracted with the United States Department of the Interior to make photographs of national parks. For his work and his persistent advocacy, which helped expand the National Park system, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980. Adams was a key advisor in establishing the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, an important landmark in securing photography's institutional legitimacy. He helped to stage that department's first photography exhibition, helped found the photography magazine Aperture, and co-founded the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona.
- Birthplace: Western Addition, California
- Mention the name Margaret Hamilton to a Millennial, and chances are they won't be able to pick her out of a line-up. Quote her most famous line, however, and watch their eyes blink awake with recognition: "I'll get you my pretty! ....and your little dog, too!" The woman behind of cinema's most iconic villains, Cleveland-born Margaret Brainard Hamilton was, as a young girl, enchanted by L. Frank Baum's fantastical Oz tales, and impulsively drawn to the theater. Decades later, with her Technicolor-green visage, reverberating cackle, and nightmarish troop of flying monkeys, Hamilton terrified generations of children in the classic MGM musical, "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). Ironic, perhaps, given her inherently kind-hearted nature, but telling, no doubt, of her monumental talent and unwavering commitment to craft. The imaginative daughter of prominent lawyer, Hamilton's benevolent disposition and love of children made her a natural in her initial career as a kindergarten teacher (a profession her parents encouraged for practical reasons). Even so, she never gave up on her dream of becoming an actor. In 1923, at the age of 21, Hamilton made her stage debut in a Cleveland Play House production of "The Man Who Ate Popomac." Her talent blossoming over the course of the next three years, Hamilton made considerable wear on those sturdy midwestern boards. And while it was without question a big step to Broadway, Hamilton made the stride effortlessly with her Broadway debut in a Majestic Theater production of "Another Language." So memorable was Hamilton in the role of a waspish spinster that Hollywood producers lured her to the West Coast to reprise the character in the 1936 film adaptation of the same name. On the big screen, Hamilton's withering sneer registered stronger than ever, and vicious tongue lashings cracked through the air in those cavernous movie houses like a bullwhip in an arena. Three years later, Hamilton showed a gentler side in Chatterbox (1936). Though her stern screen presence and impeccable rapid-fire delivery brought her steady work throughout the 1930s, those same traits also led to her being typecast as the busybody spinster or the disapproving aunt. Meanwhile, at MGM, preparations were being made to adapt one of Baum's beloved Oz stories to the big screen. Hamilton read in the trades that Gail Sundergaard was planning to go glamorous with her interpretation of the dreaded Wicked Witch of the West. Around this time, Hamilton and her agent Jeff Smith were attending a football game when they recognized Producer Mervyn LeRoy in the crowd. When LeRoy expressed interest in working with Hamilton, Smith started bargaining. Initially, Hamilton was hired to work on The Wizard of Oz for six weeks. By the time the shoot wrapped, Hamilton had not only worked a total of twenty-three weeks, but also suffered second and third-degree burns during the scene in which her character makes a flashfire exit from Munchkinland Of course it's widely known today that The Wizard of Oz, despite being adored by critics and nominated for six Academy Awards, wasn't exactly a financial windfall for MGM. In fact, the film that would forever change the landscape of American pop culture failed to turn a profit until the re-release a decade later.
- Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
- Robert Tyre Jones Jr. (March 17, 1902 – December 18, 1971) was an American amateur golfer who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport; he was also a lawyer by profession. Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founded the Masters Tournament. The innovations that he introduced at the Masters have been copied by virtually every professional golf tournament in the world. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete at a national and international level. During his peak from 1923 to 1930, he dominated top-level amateur competition, and competed very successfully against the world's best professional golfers. Jones often beat stars such as Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen, the era's top pros. Jones earned his living mainly as a lawyer, and competed in golf only as an amateur, primarily on a part-time basis, and chose to retire from competition at age 28, though he earned significant money from golf after that, as an instructor and equipment designer. Explaining his decision to retire, Jones said, "It [championship golf] is something like a cage. First you are expected to get into it and then you are expected to stay there. But of course, nobody can stay there." Jones is most famous for his unique "Grand Slam," consisting of his victory in all four major golf tournaments of his era (the open and amateur championships in both the U.S. & the U.K.) in a single calendar year (1930). In all Jones played in 31 majors, winning 13 and placing among the top ten finishers 27 times. After retiring from competitive golf in 1930, Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club soon afterwards in 1933. He also co-founded the Masters Tournament, which has been annually staged by the club since 1934 (except for 1943–45, when it was canceled due to World War II). The Masters evolved into one of golf's four major championships. Jones came out of retirement in 1934 to play in the Masters on an exhibition basis through 1948. Jones played his last round of golf at East Lake Golf Club, his home course in Atlanta, on August 18, 1948. A picture commemorating the event now sits in the clubhouse at East Lake. Citing health reasons, he quit golf permanently thereafter. Bobby Jones was often confused with the prolific golf course designer, Robert Trent Jones, with whom he worked from time to time. "People always used to get them confused, so when they met, they decided each be called something different," Robert Trent Jones Jr. said. To help avoid confusion, the golfer was called "Bobby," and the golf course designer was called "Trent."
- Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia
- Genial American leading actor and singer-dancer who enjoyed 15 years of second-string stardom in Hollywood and, prefiguring Ronald Reagan (whom he rather resembled), later enjoyed success in California politics.
- Birthplace: New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Producer extraordinaire David O. Selznick will be forever known as a Hollywood rebel who pushed boundaries and introduced many future stars to movie goers. He was born to silent movie distributor Lewis Selznick, and he added the "O" as an initial because he thought it made him sound more distinguished. He studied at Columbia University and worked at MGM and Paramount during the 1920s to learn the picture business. In 1931, Selznick became the head of production at RKO where he produced a steady stream of outstanding films like "A Bill of Divorcement," which introduced the world to Katharine Hepburn, and the marvelous fantasy "King Kong." He then moved to MGM and produced the Charles Dickens adaptation "David Copperfield" before leaving that company to start his own production house. It was at this point that Selznick spent many years getting the epic drama "Gone with the Wind" to the screen, and his obsessive attention to detail paid off handsomely. Adjusted for inflation, "Gone with the Wind" remains the most lucrative movie ever made. In 1940, Selznick produced the psychological thriller "Rebecca," the first American film for Alfred Hitchcock. After winning two consecutive Best Picture Oscars. Selznick couldn't repeat his success. He settled into promoting the career of his wife, the ethereal Jennifer Jones, including casting her in the western "Duel in the Sun." Selznick passed away at age 63 from a heart attack.
- Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- Anthony William Lars Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy (1948) and The Browning Version (1951), among other adaptations. His other notable films include Pygmalion (1938), French Without Tears (1940), The Way to the Stars (1945) and a 1952 adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.
- Birthplace: England, London
- The middleman for the comedy trio known as The Three Stooges, Larry Fine endured endless slaps, pokes in the eye and mallets to the head, all for the sake of laughter. Alongside brothers Moe and Shemp Howard, Larry first found fame as a member of the vaudeville musical-comedy act, Ted Healy and his Stooges. But it was only after the Howard's younger brother, Jerome - renamed "Curly" - replaced Shemp and the trio became a solo act officially known as the Three Stooges, that they achieved massive success on a national level. For Columbia Pictures, the Three Stooges would star in nearly 200 short films over a remarkable 24 year period. Both revered and reviled for their gleefully violent slapstick, Larry, Moe and Curly became an indelible part of American pop culture. Over the course of a nearly 40 year career, there were several changes in the line-up - Curly's health problems brought back Shemp, who in turn was replaced by comedian Joe Besser, who eventually gave way to "Curly Joe" DeRita. Throughout it all, however, Larry remained a constant presence alongside Moe, lending an understated sense of calm to the chaotic proceedings. Often underappreciated as a comedic actor, Fine was later praised by lifelong Stooge fanatic and filmmaker Peter Farrelly, who said that while children were drawn to Curly and teens tended to appreciate Moe, "Anyone out of college, if you're not looking at Larry, you don't have a good brain."
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Sir Karl Raimund Popper (28 July 1902 – 17 September 1994) was an Austrian-born British philosopher and professor.Generally regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest philosophers of science, Popper is known for his rejection of the classical inductivist views on the scientific method in favour of empirical falsification. A theory in the empirical sciences can never be proven, but it can be falsified, meaning that it can and should be scrutinised by decisive experiments. Popper is also known for his opposition to the classical justificationist account of knowledge, which he replaced with critical rationalism, namely "the first non-justificational philosophy of criticism in the history of philosophy".In political discourse, he is known for his vigorous defence of liberal democracy and the principles of social criticism that he believed made a flourishing open society possible. His political philosophy embraces ideas from all major democratic political ideologies and attempts to reconcile them, namely socialism/social democracy, libertarianism/classical liberalism and conservatism.
- Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
- Lucius Morris Beebe (December 9, 1902 – February 4, 1966) was an American author, gourmand, photographer, railroad historian, journalist, and syndicated columnist.
- Birthplace: Wakefield, Massachusetts
- Barton MacLane was a prolific film actor, making over 140 film appearances from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, but he is perhaps best known as General Peterson from the classic 1960s sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie." MacLane moved from theater to film in the early 1930s, playing a series of predominantly tough guy roles over the course of the decade. In 1938, he had the lead part in the crime drama "Prison Break." In 1941, he played the supporting part of Sam Higgins in the Spencer Tracy and Ingrid Bergman-starring sci-fi horror film, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." In 1941, MacLane landed a supporting role in the classic film noir mystery "The Maltese Falcon," starring Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. Later that decade, in 1948, MacLane worked with Bogart again, in a classic of another genre, the adventure-western film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." In 1954, MacLane appeared in an altogether different genre, with a supporting part in the James Stewart-starring biopic "The Glenn Miller Story." On TV, MacLane took a lead part in the 1960 western "Outlaws," and later in the decade appeared on two episodes of "Gunsmoke." But his most lasting pop-cultural legacy began in 1965, as the frequently befuddled General Peterson, Major Anthony Nelson's (Larry Hagman) boss on "I Dream of Jeannie," which starred Barbara Eden. MacLane passed away from cancer at age 69.
- Birthplace: Columbia, South Carolina, USA
- Mark Canfield worked on a variety of projects during his entertainment career. Canfield began his screenwriting career with a successful contribution to "Maybe It's Love" (1930). He moved forward in the screenwriting industry, locking down film projects such as "Baby Face" (1933). Later in his career, Canfield wrote "Crack in the Mirror" (1960). Canfield passed away in April 1961 at the age of 55.
- Birthplace: Wahoo, Nebraska, USA
- Widely regarded as one of the most respected innovators of the American stage, John Houseman also enjoyed tremendous success as a producer, screenwriter and, perhaps most remarkable of all, as a character actor in a prolific later career, begun at the age of 70. Forced out of his lucrative international grain business by the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Houseman found a creative outlet alongside wunderkind Orson Welles at the Federal Theater Project. Frequently controversial productions produced and directed by Houseman and Welles included the 1935 "voodoo" version of "Macbeth" and the historic labor union musical "The Cradle Will Rock" in 1936. After forming the Mercury Theater Company - responsible for the infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast in 1938 - with Welles, he followed the young auteur to Hollywood, where he made significant contributions to "Citizen Kane" (1941). A falling out over "Kane" brought an end to Houseman's relationship with the volatile Welles, although a successful career as a film producer kept him in the industry for more than 30 years. Then, just as he was about to retire, the 70-year-old Houseman became one of the most sought-after supporting actors in the years following his Academy Award-winning turn as a crusty, yet conscientious law professor in "The Paper Chase" (1973). Over the next 15 years, he would be seen in scores of feature films, television miniseries and commercial campaigns. In a variety of professional roles, Houseman made immeasurable contributions to the mediums of stage, film and television.
- Birthplace: Bucharest, Romania
- John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American author. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception." He has been called "a giant of American letters," and many of his works are considered classics of Western literature.During his writing career, he authored 27 books, including 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two collections of short stories. He is widely known for the comic novels Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945), the multi-generation epic East of Eden (1952), and the novellas Of Mice and Men (1937) and The Red Pony (1937). The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath (1939) is considered Steinbeck's masterpiece and part of the American literary canon. In the first 75 years after it was published, it sold 14 million copies.Most of Steinbeck's work is set in central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists.
- Birthplace: Salinas, USA, California
- Luis Cernuda Bidón (September 21, 1902 – November 5, 1963) was a Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27. During the Spanish Civil War, in early 1938, he went to the UK to deliver some lectures and this became the start of an exile that lasted till the end of his life. He taught in the universities of Glasgow and Cambridge before moving in 1947 to the US. In the 1950s he moved to Mexico. While he continued to write poetry, he also published wide-ranging books of critical essays, covering French, English and German as well as Spanish literature. He was frank about his homosexuality at a time when this was problematic and became something of a role model for this in Spain. His collected poems were published under the title La realidad y el deseo.
- Birthplace: Seville, Spain
Egon Orowan FRS (Hungarian: Orován Egon) (August 2, 1902 – August 3, 1989) was a Hungarian-British physicist and metallurgist. According to György Marx, he was one of The Martians.- Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
J. Irving Whalley
Dec. at 77 (1902-1980)John Irving Whalley (September 14, 1902 – March 8, 1980) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.- Birthplace: Barnesboro, Pa
- Calvin Souther Fuller (May 25, 1902 – October 28, 1994) was a physical chemist at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he worked for 37 years from 1930 to 1967. Fuller was part of a team in basic research that found answers to physical challenges. He helped develop synthetic rubber during World War II, he was involved in early experiments of zone melting, he is credited with devising the method of transistor production yielding diffusion transistors, he produced some of the first solar cells with high efficiency, and he researched polymers and their applications.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Charles Leslie McFarlane (October 25, 1902 in Carleton Place, Ontario – September 6, 1977 in Oshawa, Ontario) was a Canadian journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker, who is most famous for ghostwriting many of the early books in the very successful Hardy Boys series, using the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon.
- Birthplace: Carleton Place, Canada
- Ann Harding (August 7, 1902 – September 1, 1981) was an American theatre, motion picture, radio, and television actress. A regular player on Broadway and in regional theater in the 1920s, in the 1930s Harding was one of the first actresses to gain fame in the new medium of "talking pictures", and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1931 for her work in Holiday. Harding was born Dorothy Walton Gatley, and was the daughter of a prominent United States Army officer. She was raised primarily in East Orange, New Jersey and graduated from East Orange High School. Having gained her initial acting experience in school drama classes, she decided on a career as an actress and moved to New York City. Because her father opposed her career choice, she used the stage name Ann Harding. After initial work as a script reader, Harding began to win roles on Broadway and in regional theaters, primarily in Pennsylvania. She moved to California to begin working in movies, which were just then beginning to include sound. Her work in plays had given her notable diction and stage presence, and she became a leading lady. By the late 1930s, she was becoming stereotyped as the beautiful, innocent, self-sacrificing woman, and film work became harder for her to obtain. After marrying conductor Werner Janssen in 1937, she worked only sporadically, with two notable roles coming in Eyes in the Night (1942) and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). Harding also worked occasionally in television between 1955 and 1965, and she appeared in two plays in the early 1960s, returning to the stage after an absence of over 30 years, including the lead in "The Corn is Green" in 1964 at the Studio Theater in Buffalo, New York. After her 1965 retirement, she resided in Sherman Oaks, California. She died there in 1981, and was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park -- Hollywood Hills.
- Birthplace: Texas, Fort Sam Houston, USA, San Antonio
- Gifted character actress, often in eccentric yet wistful parts, in the US from 1934. Perhaps best remembered for her dual roles in "The Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), as both the monster's mate and his "creator," author Mary Shelley, Lanchester also brought her slightly dizzy, perennially scene-stealing charm to films as diverse as "Rembrandt" (1937), "Mystery Street" (1950), "Bell, Book and Candle" (1958) and "Murder by Death" (1976). Lanchester was married to actor Charles Laughton from 1929 until his death in 1962; besides working memorably together with him in "Rembrandt" she also played the nurse who endlessly fidgets over his misbehaving barrister (both of them received Oscar nominations) in Billy Wilder's delightful "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957).
- Birthplace: Lewisham, London, England, UK
- Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple but effective chair designs.
- Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark
- No classic Western fan could mistake character actor Chill Wills for anyone else. First there was the name, then his unforgettable foghorn bellow of a voice. Starting out as a leader of the singing cowboy group the Avalon Boys Quartet, he appeared with the quartet in a number of oaters in the 1930s, most memorably the Laurel and Hardy Western comedy "Way Out West." When he left the group, he focused solely on working in film, landing bit parts in the shadow of bigger stars like John Wayne in "Allegheny Uprising" and Gary Cooper in "The Westerner." His most notable part was voicing the sardonic Francis the mule in six movies from 1950 to 1955. When not playing the mule, Wills frequently worked with one of the true greats of classic Hollywood, John Wayne, and when Wayne finally saddled into the director's chair to make the 1960 epic "The Alamo," Wills was cast in a juicy role. When award season swung around, Wills mounted a notoriously gauche Oscar campaign after he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, much to the horror of Wayne and almost everyone else in Hollywood. He didn't win, though several comedians (including Groucho Marx) made sure to use Wills as their comedic punching bag. Some of his other memorable parts are in the star-studded "Giant"; the roaring Western comedy "McLintock!," with Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; and as a drunken, sweaty saloon keeper in Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid."
- Birthplace: Seagoville, Texas, USA
- Jerzy Zawieyski, born Henryk Nowicki, (2 October 1902, Radogoszcz, Piotrków Governorate – 18 June 1969, Warsaw) was a Polish playwright, prose writer, Catholic political activist and amateur stage actor. He wrote psychological, social, moral and historical novels, dramas, stories, essays and journals. As a secretary of the Towarzystwo Uniwersytetów Robotniczych, he did organizing work for the workers' educational and theatrical movement. Then he was an activist of the Związek Młodzieży Wiejskiej Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. During the German occupation of Poland, he was active in the underground cultural movement.
James Stillman Rockefeller
Dec. at 102 (1902-2004)James Stillman Rockefeller (June 8, 1902 – August 10, 2004) was a member of the prominent U.S. Rockefeller family. He won an Olympic rowing title for the United States then became president of what eventually became Citigroup. He was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History and a member of the board of overseers of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Marcel Lajos Breuer, was a Hungarian-born modernist, architect and furniture designer. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer extended the sculptural vocabulary he had developed in the carpentry shop at the Bauhaus into a personal architecture that made him one of the world’s most popular architects at the peak of 20th-Century design.
- Birthplace: Pécs, Hungary
- Began his film career at Leningrad's Nordkino studios in 1923, moved to Germany in 1925 and began directing for UFA in 1930. Following the international success of the French production, "Mayerling" (1936), Litvak moved to the US where he signed with Warner Bros. in 1937. He earned a reputation as a capable handler of urban dramas ("City for Conquest" 1940, "Blues in the Night" 1941, "Sorry, Wrong Number" 1948) and received critical acclaim for "The Snake Pit" (1948), a harrowing, realistic account of life in a mental institution. Litvak's post-1950s work--all European--consisted primarily of glossy, somewhat turgid star vehicles. He was married to actress Miriam Hopkins (from 1937 to 1939) and costume designer Sophie Steur, who worked on some of his films.
- Birthplace: Kiev, Russian Empire
- Barbara McClintock (June 16, 1902 – September 2, 1992) was an American scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. McClintock received her PhD in botany from Cornell University in 1927. There she started her career as the leader in the development of maize cytogenetics, the focus of her research for the rest of her life. From the late 1920s, McClintock studied chromosomes and how they change during reproduction in maize. She developed the technique for visualizing maize chromosomes and used microscopic analysis to demonstrate many fundamental genetic ideas. One of those ideas was the notion of genetic recombination by crossing-over during meiosis—a mechanism by which chromosomes exchange information. She produced the first genetic map for maize, linking regions of the chromosome to physical traits. She demonstrated the role of the telomere and centromere, regions of the chromosome that are important in the conservation of genetic information. She was recognized as among the best in the field, awarded prestigious fellowships, and elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1944. During the 1940s and 1950s, McClintock discovered transposition and used it to demonstrate that genes are responsible for turning physical characteristics on and off. She developed theories to explain the suppression and expression of genetic information from one generation of maize plants to the next. Due to skepticism of her research and its implications, she stopped publishing her data in 1953. Later, she made an extensive study of the cytogenetics and ethnobotany of maize races from South America. McClintock's research became well understood in the 1960s and 1970s, as other scientists confirmed the mechanisms of genetic change and genetic regulation that she had demonstrated in her maize research in the 1940s and 1950s. Awards and recognition for her contributions to the field followed, including the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, awarded to her in 1983 for the discovery of genetic transposition; she is the only woman to receive an unshared Nobel Prize in that category.
- Birthplace: Hartford, Connecticut
- Compact, reliable, likable leading man of the 1930s and 40s, often as a cop, detective or gangster, primarily in low-budget action films, many of them quite good. Once dubbed "Hollywood's most popular forgotten man" by "This Week" magazine in 1949, Nolan--handsome, but not of the glamourous, pretty-boy type--gave good value for one's money in fine B-films like "King of Gamblers" (1937), "Michael Shayne, Private Detective" (1940) and "Buy Me That Town" (1941). He also played important supporting roles in more expensive films including "The House on 92nd Street" and "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (both 1945), and was especially fine as the father in a study of drug addiction, "A Hatful of Rain" (1957). Often taken for granted, Nolan finally enjoyed sizable acclaim on both Broadway and television in the mid-50s as the neurotic, dictatorial Captain Queeg in "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial." Later in life the prolific Nolan played many character roles; whether sympathetic or villainous, he retained the forceful, no-nonsense persona which marked most of his work. He co-starred with Diahann Carroll from 1968 to 1971 as the cantankerous but kindly Dr. Morton Chegley on the gentle sitcom "Julia," and, at the end of his distinguished career, contributed a striking performance as Mia Farrow's father in Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986).
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California, USA
Hjalmar Hvam
Dec. at 94 (1902-1996)Hjalmar Petterson Hvam (16 November 1902 – March 30, 1996) was a competitive Norwegian-American Nordic skier and inventor of the first safety ski binding.- Birthplace: Norway
- Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino (Italian: [ˈkarlo ɡamˈbiːno]; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was a Sicilian-American mobster and boss of the Gambino crime family, which is still named after him. After the 1957 Apalachin Convention, he unexpectedly seized control of the Commission of the American Mafia. Gambino was inconspicuous and secretive; he was convicted of tax evasion in 1937 but had his sentence suspended. He lived to the age of 74, when he died of a heart attack in bed.
- Birthplace: Palermo, Italy
Charles Schild
Dec. at 78 (1902-1980)Charles Schild (1902–1980) was an American inventor. His patents range from as widely disparate fields as automotives and games, while many of his inventions were never patented at all. Two of his inventions designed for medical assistance: A hand operated 4-wheel cart for a young man who was paralyzed from the waist down, and A machine which allowed very gentle massage of petroleum jelly on burn victims (sicsic) with major portions of their bodies affected.Among his inventions were an early version of what now is the spinning reel for fishing and a guitar which could play chords.- Andrew L. Stone was an American director, writer, producer, and actor who was best known for directing "Julie" and "The Great Victor Herbert." Stone was nominated for an Academy Award in 1957 for the first project.
- Birthplace: Oakland, California, USA
- Corliss Lamont (March 28, 1902 – April 26, 1995) was an American socialist philosopher and advocate of various left-wing and civil liberties causes. As a part of his political activities he was the Chairman of National Council of American-Soviet Friendship starting from the early 1940s.
- Birthplace: Englewood, New Jersey
- British born Brian Aherne possessed the attributes that all but guaranteed him a career in motion pictures, in that he was a polished stage performer, came across as a cultured gentleman and was also quite handsome. He first made his name in America as one of the stars of Broadway's "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (1931) and was soon gracing such notable features as "Sylvia Scarlett" (1935), "Beloved Enemy" (1936), "The Great Garrick" (1937), and "Juarez" (1939). While he did not generate the same degree of publicity as the major stars of the time, Aherne was a respected actor and reliable box office draw who earned a great deal of money from his film assignments. He continued to appear in gems like "A Night to Remember" (1942), "The Locket" (1946), "I, Confess" (1953), and "The Best of Everything" (1959), but also took breaks to do stage work. These detours usually found him either back on the Great White Way or in touring productions of old standbys like "My Fair Lady," where his interpretation of Professor Henry Higgins proved a hit with audiences. Following his retirement in 1967, he penned sharp and amusing books about his life and that of longtime friend and colleague, George Sanders. While he only starred in a handful of classic movies, Aherne was welcomed by audiences of the era for the touches of charm and sophistication that he could be counted on to display in most any role.
- Birthplace: King's Norton, Worcestershire, England, UK
- Eugene Paul "E. P." Wigner (Hungarian: Wigner Jenő Pál; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist and mathematician. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles, particularly through the discovery and application of fundamental symmetry principles".A graduate of the Technical University of Berlin, Wigner worked as an assistant to Karl Weissenberg and Richard Becker at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, and David Hilbert at the University of Göttingen. Wigner and Hermann Weyl were responsible for introducing group theory into physics, particularly the theory of symmetry in physics. Along the way he performed ground-breaking work in pure mathematics, in which he authored a number of mathematical theorems. In particular, Wigner's theorem is a cornerstone in the mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics. He is also known for his research into the structure of the atomic nucleus. In 1930, Princeton University recruited Wigner, along with John von Neumann, and he moved to the United States. Wigner participated in a meeting with Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein that resulted in the Einstein-Szilard letter, which prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to initiate the Manhattan Project to develop atomic bombs. Wigner was afraid that the German nuclear weapon project would develop an atomic bomb first. During the Manhattan Project, he led a team whose task was to design nuclear reactors to convert uranium into weapons grade plutonium. At the time, reactors existed only on paper, and no reactor had yet gone critical. Wigner was disappointed that DuPont was given responsibility for the detailed design of the reactors, not just their construction. He became Director of Research and Development at the Clinton Laboratory (now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) in early 1946, but became frustrated with bureaucratic interference by the Atomic Energy Commission, and returned to Princeton. In the postwar period he served on a number of government bodies, including the National Bureau of Standards from 1947 to 1951, the mathematics panel of the National Research Council from 1951 to 1954, the physics panel of the National Science Foundation, and the influential General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1952 to 1957 and again from 1959 to 1964. In later life, he became more philosophical, and published The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, his best-known work outside technical mathematics and physics.
- Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
- Chester Miller (July 19, 1902 – May 15, 1953) was an American racecar driver. He was killed in a crash in the south turn of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during practice for the 1953 Indianapolis 500. During his long Indy career, Miller earned the nickname "Dean of the Speedway." He died at age 50 while driving a Novi-engined Special. He is interred at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
- Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan
- Leading light of the English stage for over fifty years; in films from the early 1930s.
- Birthplace: South Shields, Durham, England, UK
- Eric Henry Liddell (; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish Olympic Gold Medalist runner, rugby union international player, and Christian missionary. Liddell was born in China to Scottish missionary parents. He attended boarding school near London, spending time when possible with his family in Edinburgh, and afterwards attended the University of Edinburgh. At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Liddell refused to run in the heats for his favoured 100 metres because they were held on a Sunday. Instead he competed in the 400 metres held on a weekday, a race that he won. He returned to China in 1925 to serve as a missionary teacher. Aside from two furloughs in Scotland, he remained in China until his death in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945. Liddell's Olympic training and racing, and the religious convictions that influenced him, are depicted in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire, in which he is portrayed by fellow Scot Ian Charleson.
- Birthplace: China, Tianjin
- Kota Shivaram Karanth (10 October 1902 – 9 December 1997) was an Indian polymath, who was a novelist in Kannada language, playwright and conservationist. Ramachandra Guha called him the "Rabindranath Tagore of Modern India, who has been one of the finest novelists-activists since independence". He was the third writer to be decorated with the Jnanpith Award for Kannada, the highest literary honor conferred in India. His son Ullas is a conservationist.
- Birthplace: Saligrama, India
- James Harold "Sleepy Jim" Crowley (September 10, 1902 – January 15, 1986) was an American football player and coach. He gained fame as one-fourth of the University of Notre Dame's legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield where he played halfback from 1922 to 1924. After a brief career as a professional football player, Crowley turned to coaching. He served as the head football coach at Michigan State College from 1929 to 1932, at Fordham University from 1933 to 1941 and at the North Carolina Pre-Flight School in 1942, compiling a career college football record of 86–23–11. Crowley also coached the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference in 1947. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1966.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach (or client-centered approach) to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his pioneering research with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1956. The person-centered approach, his own unique approach to understanding personality and human relationships, found wide application in various domains such as psychotherapy and counseling (client-centered therapy), education (student-centered learning), organizations, and other group settings. For his professional work he was bestowed the Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Psychology by the APA in 1972. In a study by Steven J. Haggbloom and colleagues using six criteria such as citations and recognition, Rogers was found to be the sixth most eminent psychologist of the 20th century and second, among clinicians, only to Sigmund Freud.
- Birthplace: Oak Park, Illinois
- Erik Homburger Erikson (born Erik Salomonsen; 15 June 1902 – 12 May 1994) was a German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development of human beings. He may be most famous for coining the phrase identity crisis. His son, Kai T. Erikson, is a noted American sociologist. Despite lacking a bachelor's degree, Erikson served as a professor at prominent institutions, including Harvard, University of California (UC Berkeley), and Yale. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Erikson as the 12th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
- Birthplace: Frankfurt, Germany
- Likable blonde silent screen actress, dubbed "the American Venus" by Florenz Ziegfeld after she starred as an aspiring Miss America contestant in a 1926 film of that name. Practically raised onstage by a family of vaudevillians, Ralston began in bit parts in films as a teenager, and worked primarily with Paramount and MGM during the 1920s. Ralston's films often found her playing wholesome, glamorous yet playful roles and include a charming version of "Peter Pan" (1925) in which she played Mrs. Darling in support of star Betty Bronson, the lively comedy "Beggar on Horseback" (1925), "Half a Bride" (1928), in which she played opposite Gary Cooper, and "The Case of Lena Smith" (1929) directed by the formidable Joseph von Sternberg.
- Birthplace: Bar Harbor, Maine, USA
- Irene Ryan was an American actress who has appeared in her role in "The Beverly Hillbillies" as Daisy Moses. Ryan was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1964 for the same project.
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California, USA
- Isaac Bashevis Singer (Yiddish: יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 21, 1902 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-American writer in Yiddish, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. The Polish form of his birth name was Icek Hersz Zynger. He used his mother's first name in an initial literary pseudonym, Izaak Baszewis, which he later expanded. He was a leading figure in the Yiddish literary movement, writing and publishing only in Yiddish. He was also awarded two U.S. National Book Awards, one in Children's Literature for his memoir A Day Of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw (1970) and one in Fiction for his collection A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories (1974).
- Birthplace: Leoncin, Poland
- Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist. Lombardo formed the Royal Canadians in 1924 with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and Victor, and other musicians from his hometown. They billed themselves as creating "the sweetest music this side of Heaven". The Lombardos are believed to have sold between 100 and 300 million records during their lifetimes, many featuring the band's lead singer, Kenny Gardner.
- Birthplace: London, Canada
- Jayaprakash Narayan (listen ; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or Lok Nayak (Hindi for The People's Leader), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is also known as the "Hero of Quit India Movement" and he is remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, for whose overthrow he had called for a "total revolution". His biography, Jayaprakash, was written by his nationalist friend and an eminent writer of Hindi literature, Rambriksh Benipuri. In 1999, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work. Other awards include the Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1965.
- Birthplace: Saran district, India
- Manuel Álvarez Bravo (February 4, 1902 – October 19, 2002) was a Mexican artistic photographer and one of the most important figures in 20th century Latin American photography. He was born and raised in Mexico City. While he took art classes at the Academy of San Carlos, his photography is self-taught. His career spanned from the late 1920s to the 1990s with its artistic peak between the 1920s and 1950s. His hallmark as a photographer was to capture images of the ordinary but in ironic or Surrealistic ways. His early work was based on European influences, but he was soon influenced by the Mexican muralism movement and the general cultural and political push at the time to redefine Mexican identity. He rejected the picturesque, employing elements to avoid stereotyping. He had numerous exhibitions of his work, worked in the Mexican cinema and established Fondo Editorial de la Plástica Mexicana publishing house. He won numerous awards for his work, mostly after 1970.
- Birthplace: Mexico City, Mexico
- Alfred Carroll Richmond (18 January 1902 – 15 March 1984) was a United States Coast Guard admiral who served as the 11th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard from 1954 to 1962, the second longest tenure of any U.S. Coast Guard Commandant following Russell R. Waesche who served from 1936 to 1946.
- Birthplace: Waterloo, Iowa
- Andrew Comyn "Sandy" Irvine (8 April 1902 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Everest Expedition, the third British expedition to the world's highest (8,848 m) mountain, Mount Everest. While attempting the first ascent of Mount Everest, his climbing partner George Mallory and he disappeared somewhere high on the mountain's northeast ridge. The pair was last sighted only a few hundred metres from the summit, and if the pair reached the summit before they perished is unknown. Mallory's body was found in 1999, but Irvine's body has never been found.
- Birthplace: Birkenhead, United Kingdom
- Roberta Brooke Astor (née Russell; March 30, 1902 – August 13, 2007) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and writer who was the chairwoman of the Vincent Astor Foundation, which had been established by her third husband, Vincent Astor, son of John Jacob Astor IV and great-great grandson of America's first multi-millionaire, John Jacob Astor. Brooke Astor was the author of two novels and two volumes of personal memoirs.
- Birthplace: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
- Franklin "Pete" Adreon (November 18, 1902 – September 10, 1979) was an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.
- Birthplace: USA, Gambrills, Maryland
- Arna Wendell Bontemps ( bon-TOM) (October 13, 1902 – June 4, 1973) was an American poet, novelist and librarian, and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance.
- Birthplace: Alexandria, Louisiana
- Lauchlin Bernard Currie (October 8, 1902 – December 23, 1993) worked as White House economic adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II (1939–45). From 1949-53, he directed a major World Bank mission to Colombia and related studies. Information from the Venona project, a counter-intelligence program undertaken by agencies of the United States government, references him in nine partially decrypted cables sent by agents of the Soviet Union. He became a Colombian citizen after the United States refused to renew his passport in 1954 due to doubts of his loyalty to the United States engendered by testimony of former Communist agents and information in the Venona decrypts.
- Birthplace: Canada
- Luis Ramiro Barragán Morfín was a Mexican architect. He studied as an engineer in his home town, while undertaking the entirety of additional coursework to obtain the title of architect.
- Birthplace: Guadalajara, Mexico
- Chung-Yao Chao (simplified Chinese: 赵忠尧; traditional Chinese: 趙忠堯; pinyin: Zhào Zhōngyáo; Wade–Giles: Chao Chung-yao; 27 June 1902 – 28 May 1998) was a Chinese physicist. He studied the scattering of gamma rays in lead by pair production in 1930, without knowing that positrons were involved in the anomalously high scattering cross-section. When the positron was discovered by Carl David Anderson in 1932, confirming the existence of Paul Dirac's "antimatter", it became clear that positrons could explain Chung-Yao Chao's earlier experiments, with the gamma rays being emitted from electron-positron annihilation. He entered Nanjing Higher Normal School (later renamed National Southeastern University, National Central University and Nanjing University), in 1920 and earned a B.S. in physics in 1925. Then he earned a Ph.D. degree in physics under supervision of Nobel Prize laureate Robert Andrews Millikan at California Institute of Technology in 1930. Later he went back to China and joined the physics faculty of Tsinghua University in Beijing.
- Aloysius Harry Simmons (May 22, 1902 – May 26, 1956), born Alois Szymanski, was an American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Bucketfoot Al", he played for two decades in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and had his best years with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics during the late 1920s and early 1930s, winning two World Series with Philadelphia. Simmons also played for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators, Boston Braves, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox. After his playing career ended, Simmons served as a coach for the Athletics and Cleveland Indians. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953.
- Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
K. Shankar Pillai
Dec. at 87 (1902-1989)Kesava Shankara Pillai (31 July 1902 – 26 December 1989), better known as Shankar, was an Indian cartoonist. He is considered the father of political cartooning in India. He founded Shankar's Weekly, India's Punch in 1948. Shankar's Weekly also produced cartoonists like Abu Abraham, Ranga and Kutty, he closed down the magazine during the Emergency of 25 June 1975. From then on he turned to making children laugh and enjoy life. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 1976, the second highest civilian honour given by the Govt. of India. Today he is most remembered for setting up Children's Book Trust established 1957 and Shankar's International Dolls Museum in 1965.- Birthplace: Kayamkulam, India
- James Fyfe Robertson (19 August 1902 – 4 February 1987) was a Scottish television journalist.
- Birthplace: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (July 5, 1902 – February 27, 1985), sometimes referred to as Henry Cabot Lodge II, was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a United States ambassador. He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 presidential election alongside incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon. The Republican ticket lost to Democrats John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Born in Nahant, Massachusetts, Lodge was the grandson of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and the great-grandson of Secretary of State Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen. After graduating from Harvard University, Lodge won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He defeated Democratic Governor James Michael Curley in 1936 to represent Massachusetts in the United States Senate. He resigned from the Senate in 1944 to serve in Italy and France during World War II. Lodge remained in the Army Reserve after the war and eventually rose to the rank of major general. In 1946, Lodge defeated incumbent Democratic Senator David I. Walsh to return to the Senate. He led the Draft Eisenhower movement before the 1952 election and served as Eisenhower's campaign manager, ensuring that his candidate triumphed at the 1952 Republican National Convention. Eisenhower defeated Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II in the general election, but Lodge lost his own re-election campaign to John F. Kennedy. Lodge was named as ambassador to the United Nations in 1953 and became a member of Eisenhower's Cabinet. Vice President Richard M. Nixon chose Lodge as his running mate in the 1960 presidential election, but the Republican ticket lost the election. In 1963, President Kennedy appointed Lodge to the position of Ambassador to South Vietnam, where Lodge supported the 1963 South Vietnamese coup. He continued to represent the United States in various countries under President Lyndon B. Johnson, President Nixon, and President Gerald Ford. Lodge led the U.S. delegation that signed the Paris Peace Accords with North Vietnam, leading to the end of the Vietnam War. He died in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1985.
- Birthplace: Nahant, Massachusetts, USA
Harry Pierpont
Dec. at 32 (1902-1934)Harry "Pete" Pierpont (October 13, 1902 – October 17, 1934) was a Prohibition era gangster. He is perhaps most noted for being a friend and mentor of John Dillinger. Described as handsome and soft-spoken, Pierpont was a bright, natural-born leader. Fiercely loyal, he had a reputation of taking care of those around him and not squealing on his friends. He disliked publicity, and was content to let others, especially Dillinger, take credit for the bold bank robberies committed after the Michigan City prison break. He stood over six feet tall, with light brown hair and blue eyes. The second and third toes of his feet were grown together.- Birthplace: Muncie, Center Township, Indiana
- Central architect of Italian neorealist cinema who laid down the blueprint for the movement with writings ranging from screenplays and novels to theory and poetry.
- Birthplace: Luzzara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Helene Bertha Amalie "Leni" Riefenstahl (German: [ˈʁiːfn̩ʃtaːl]; 22 August 1902 – 8 September 2003) was a German film director and actress.Born in 1902, Leni Riefenstahl grew up with her brother Heinz (1905–1944), who was killed on the Eastern Front in World War II. A talented swimmer and artist, she also became interested in dancing during her childhood, taking dancing lessons and performing across Europe. After seeing a promotional poster for the 1924 film Der Berg des Schicksals ("The Mountain of Destiny"), Riefenstahl was inspired to move into acting. Between 1925 and 1929, she starred in five successful motion pictures. Riefenstahl became one of the few women in Germany to direct a film during the Weimar Period when, in 1932, she decided to try directing with her own film called Das Blaue Licht ("The Blue Light"). In the 1930s, she directed the Nazi propaganda films Triumph des Willens ("Triumph of the Will") and Olympia, resulting in worldwide attention and acclaim. The movies are widely considered two of the most effective, and technically innovative, Nazi propaganda films ever made. Her involvement in Triumph des Willens, however, significantly damaged her career and reputation after the war. The exact nature of her relationship with Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler remains a matter of debate. However, Hitler was in close collaboration with Riefenstahl during the production of at least three important Nazi films, and a closer friendship is claimed to have existed. When in 2000 Jodie Foster was planning a biographical drama on Riefenstahl, war-crime documenters warned against a revisionist view that glorified the director. They stated that publicly Riefenstahl seemed "quite infatuated" with Hitler and was, in fact, the last surviving member of his "inner circle". Others go further, arguing that Riefenstahl's visions were essential to the success of the Holocaust. After the war, Riefenstahl was arrested, but classified as being a "fellow traveler" or "Nazi sympathizer" only and was not associated with war crimes. Throughout her life, she denied having known about the Holocaust. Besides directing, Riefenstahl released an autobiography and wrote several books on the Nuba people. Riefenstahl died of cancer on 8 September 2003 at the age of 101 and was buried at Munich Waldfriedhof.
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Charles or Charlie Barton may refer to: Charles Barton (director) (1902–1981), American actor and director Charles Barton (cricketer) (1860–1919), English cricketer Charles Barton (legal writer) (1768–1843), English legal writer Charles John Wright Barton (1852–1935), farmer, businessman and mayor Charlie Barton, a fictional character in the film The Howling Charles Barton (politician) (1848–1912), member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Charles Barton (basketball), player in 2011 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship Charlie Barton (journalist), Canadian sports journalist Charles Hastings Barton (1829–1902), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Charles K. Barton (1886–1958), member of the New Jersey Senate
- Birthplace: USA, California, San Francisco
- Jasper Maskelyne (1902–1973) was a British stage magician in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of an established family of stage magicians, the son of Nevil Maskelyne and a grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne. He is most remembered, however, for his entertaining accounts of his work for British military intelligence during the Second World War, in which he claims that he created large-scale ruses, deception and camouflage.
- Birthplace: England
E. E. Evans-Pritchard
Dec. at 70 (1902-1973)Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard, FBA (21 September 1902 – 11 September 1973), known as E. E. Evans-Pritchard, was an English anthropologist who was instrumental in the development of social anthropology. He was Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford from 1946 to 1970.- Birthplace: Sussex, United Kingdom
- Marcela Paz (February 28, 1902 – June 12, 1985) was the pen name of Esther Huneeus Ramos Falla Salas de Claro, a Chilean writer. She also used the pen names of Paula de la Sierra, Lukim Retse, P. Neka and Juanita Godoy. She was a recipient of the National Prize for Literature.
- Birthplace: Santiago, Chile
Helmut Poppendick
Dec. at 92 (1902-1994)Helmut Poppendick ((1902-01-06)January 6, 1902 – (1994-01-11)January 11, 1994) was a German doctor who served in the SS during World War II. He was an internist and worked in the Medical Doctorate, as Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police. After the war he was a defendant in the Doctors' Trial. He studied medicine from 1919-1926 in Göttingen, Munich, and Berlin. Poppendick received his medical license on 1 February 1928. Then, he worked for four years as a clinical assistant at the First Medical Clinic of Charité in Berlin. From June 1933-October 1934, he was the assistant medical director at Virchow Hospital in Berlin. In 1935, he completed training as an expert for "race hygiene" at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Genetics and Eugenics. After this, he became the adjutant of the ministerial director Arthur Gütt at the Reich Ministry of the Interior. He was also the chief of staff at the SS Office for Population Politics and Genetic Health Care, which in 1937 became the SS Main Race and Settlement Office. Poppendick was departmental head and staff leader of the Genealogical Office. At the beginning of World War II, he was drafted as an adjutant to a medical department of the army and took part in the attack on Belgium, France and the Netherlands. In November 1941, Poppendick was accepted into the Waffen-SS. In 1943, Ernst-Robert Grawitz of the Reich Physician SS appointed him to lead his personal staff. Poppendick joined the NSDAP in 1932 (party member No. 998607) and the SS (No. 36345). He reached the rank of Oberführer in the SS. Poppendick was implicated in a series of medical experiments done on concentration camp prisoners, including the medical experiments done in Ravensbrück. At the American Military Tribunal No. I on August 20, 1947, he was acquitted from being criminally implicated in medical experiments, but was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for membership in a criminal organization, the SS. He was released on January 31, 1951. Later on, Poppendick managed to get his medical services paid by insurance, in Oldenburg.- Birthplace: Hude, Germany
Kenneth N. Ogle
Dec. at 66 (1902-1968)Kenneth N. Ogle (1902-1968) was a scientist of human vision. He was born in Colorado, and attended the public school and college at Colorado Springs. In 1925, Ogle earned a bachelor's degree from Colorado College cum laude. After graduation from college and selection of physics as a career, Ogle spent two years at Dartmouth College, a year at the University of Minnesota, and then returned to Dartmouth College for his Ph.D. degree, awarded in 1930. He was later awarded an honorary medical degree by the University of Uppsala in Sweden.Ogle remained at Dartmouth Eye Institute to which he was appointed by Adelbert Ames, Jr. from 1930 until 1947 where he spent much of his working life until the Institute was discontinued. In 1947 Ogle became a member of the staff of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, in the Section of Biophysics, working intimately with the Eye Section. Ogle's research work was largely in the fields of optics and human binocular vision. In 1967, he won the Tillyer Medal, awarded by the Optical Society of America. He died less than two months after retiring from the Mayo Clinic.- William Powell Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding the Lear Jet Corporation, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed the 8-track cartridge, an audio tape system. Throughout his career of 46 years, Lear received over 120 patents.
- Birthplace: Hannibal, Missouri
- Howard Earl Averill (May 21, 1902 – August 16, 1983) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a center fielder from 1929 to 1941, most notably for the Cleveland Indians. He was a six-time All-Star (1933–38) and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
- Birthplace: Snohomish, Washington
Catharose de Petri
Dec. at 88 (1902-1990)Catharose de Petri (real name Henriette Stok Huyser 1902–1990) was a Dutch-born mystic and co-founder of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum, an international esoteric school based on Gnostic ideas of Christianity. Catharose de Petri founded the Lectorium in 1935 with two other Dutch mystics, Jan van Rijckenborgh and his brother Zwier Willem Leene after meeting them as a member of the Dutch branch of Max Heindel's Rosicrucian Fellowship. The three broke away from Heindel's interpretation of the Rosicrucian message to form their own movement, the Lectorium Rosicrucianum. With van Rijckenborgh and Leene Catharose wrote several books on the Gnostic vision of the Lectorium, speaking of a transformation of the inner man through the Christian/Rosicrucian Gnosis. In 1956 she and the others met French historian of the Cathars and mystic Antonin Gadal whose theories about the heretical Christian movement of the Middle Ages played a major role in the development of their ideas. On the death of Rijckenborgh in 1968 Catharose de Petri took over leadership of the movement until she died in 1990 (Zwier had died many years earlier). The Lectorium continues their work today.Bernard Rosencrantz
Dec. at 33 (1902-1935)Bernard "Lulu" Rosenkrantz (1902 – October 25, 1935) was a New York mobster and Dutch Schultz's chauffeur and bodyguard. He was shot at the Palace Chophouse in Newark, New Jersey, on October 23, 1935, moments after Schultz was shot. He died two days later in the Newark City Hospital.In 1938, Rosenkrantz and Schultz were named as co-conspirators in an indictment of Tammany Hall politician James Joseph Hines that led to Hines' conviction for racketeering.- Emeric Pressburger (5 December 1902 – 5 February 1988) was a Hungarian British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in an award-winning collaboration partnership known as the Archers and produced a series of films, notably 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951).
- Birthplace: Miskolc, Hungary
- Johan Nordahl Brun Grieg (1 November 1902 – 2 December 1943) was a Norwegian poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist and political activist. He was a popular author and a controversial public figure. He served in World War II as a war correspondent and was killed while on a bombing mission to Berlin.
- Birthplace: Bergen, Norway
Charles Douglas Jackson
Dec. at 62 (1902-1964)General Charles Douglas (C. D.) Jackson (March 16, 1902 – September 18, 1964) was a United States government propagandist and senior executive of Time Inc. As an expert on psychological warfare he served in the Office of Strategic Services in World War II and later as Special Assistant to the President in the Eisenhower administration.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Eric Hoffer (July 25, 1898 – May 21, 1983) was an American moral and social philosopher. He was the author of ten books and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in February 1983. His first book, The True Believer (1951), was widely recognized as a classic, receiving critical acclaim from both scholars and laymen, although Hoffer believed that The Ordeal of Change (1963) was his finest work.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Henry Steele Commager (October 25, 1902 – March 2, 1998) was an American historian. As one of the most active and prolific liberal intellectuals of his time, with 40 books and 700 essays and reviews, he helped define modern liberalism in the United States.In the 1940s and 1950s, Commager was noted for his campaigns against McCarthyism and other abuses of government power. With his Columbia University colleague Allan Nevins, Commager helped to organize academic support for Adlai E. Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, and John F. Kennedy in 1960. He opposed the Vietnam War and was an outspoken critic of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan and what he viewed as their abuses of presidential power. His principal scholarly works were his 1936 biography of Theodore Parker; his intellectual history The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and Character since the 1880s (1950), which focuses on the evolution of liberalism in the American political mind from the 1880s to the 1940s, and his intellectual history Empire of Reason: How Europe Imagined and America Realized the Enlightenment (1977). In addition, he edited a widely used compilation, Documents of American History; ten editions were published between 1938 and 1988, the last coedited with Commager's former student, Milton Cantor.
- Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hyman Amberg
Dec. at 24 (1902-1926)Herman "Hyman" Amberg (c. 1902 – November 3, 1926) was a New York mobster who, with his brothers Joseph and Louis, formed one of the prominent criminal gangs during Prohibition. Often acting as an enforcer, he was arrested for the murder of a local jeweler in 1926. While awaiting trial in the Tombs, he and another prisoner attempted to escape after acquiring guns on November 3, 1926. However, they made it only as far as the prison wall before being trapped by prison guards. Rather than surrender to prison authorities, Amberg and the other prisoner committed suicide. He is buried in Montefiore Cemetery.- John Daniel Wild (April 10, 1902 – October 23, 1972) was a twentieth-century American philosopher. Wild began his philosophical career as an empiricist and realist but became an important proponent of existentialism and phenomenology in the United States.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Dirk Brouwer (September 1, 1902, Rotterdam – January 31, 1966, New Haven) was a Dutch-American astronomer.He received his Ph.D. in 1927 at Leiden University under Willem de Sitter and then went to Yale University. From 1941 until 1966 he was editor of the Astronomical Journal. He specialized in celestial mechanics and together with Gerald Clemence wrote the textbook Methods of Celestial Mechanics.
- Birthplace: Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Georgette Heyer (; 16 August 1902 – 4 July 1974) was an English historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 Heyer married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. The couple spent several years living in Tanganyika Territory and Macedonia before returning to England in 1929. After her novel These Old Shades became popular despite its release during the General Strike, Heyer determined that publicity was not necessary for good sales. For the rest of her life, she refused to grant interviews, telling a friend: "My private life concerns no one but myself and my family."Heyer essentially established the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance. Her Regencies were inspired by Jane Austen, but unlike Austen, who wrote about and for the times in which she lived, Heyer was forced to include copious information about the period so that her readers would understand the setting. To ensure accuracy, Heyer collected reference works and kept detailed notes on all aspects of Regency life. While some critics thought the novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer's greatest asset. Her meticulous nature was also evident in her historical novels; Heyer even recreated William the Conqueror's crossing into England for her novel The Conqueror. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year. Her husband often provided basic outlines for the plots of her thrillers, leaving Heyer to develop character relationships and dialogue so as to bring the story to life. Although many critics describe Heyer's detective novels as unoriginal, others such as Nancy Wingate praise them "for their wit and comedy as well as for their well-woven plots".Her success was sometimes clouded by problems with tax inspectors and alleged plagiarists. Heyer chose not to file lawsuits against the suspected literary thieves, but tried multiple ways of minimizing her tax liability. Forced to put aside the works she called her "magnum opus" (a trilogy covering the House of Lancaster) to write more commercially successful works, Heyer eventually created a limited liability company to administer the rights to her novels. She was accused several times of providing an overly large salary for herself, and in 1966 she sold the company and the rights to seventeen of her novels to Booker-McConnell. Heyer continued writing until her death in July 1974. At that time, 48 of her novels were still in print; her last book, My Lord John, was published posthumously.
- Birthplace: Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom
Curt Siodmak
Dec. at 98 (1902-2000)Curt Siodmak (August 10, 1902 – September 2, 2000) was a German-American novelist and screenwriter. He is known for his work in the horror and science fiction film genres, with such films as The Wolf Man and Donovan's Brain (the latter adapted from his novel of the same name). He was the younger brother of noir director Robert Siodmak.- Birthplace: Dresden, Germany
- Felix Jackson was a film and television producer and a screenwriter.
- Birthplace: Hamburg, Germany
- Donald Grant Creighton, (July 15, 1902 – December 19, 1979) was a noted Canadian historian whose major works include The Commercial Empire of the St-Lawrence: 1760-1850 (first published in 1937) a detailed study on the growth of the English merchant class in relation to the St Lawrence River in Canada. His biography of John A. Macdonald, published into two parts between 1952 and 1955, was considered by many Canadian historians as re-establishing biographies as a proper form of historical research in Canada. By the 1960s Creighton began to move towards a more general history of Canada. Creighton's later years were preoccupied with criticizing the then ruling Liberal Party of Canada under William Lyon Mackenzie King and his successor Louis St-Laurent. Creighton denounced the Liberal Party for undermining Canada's link with Great Britain and moving towards closer relations with the United States, a policy which he strongly disliked. His peers remember a brilliant writer who was a very difficult colleague. One of his biographers says: By the 1960s, English Canada’s most accomplished historian had become a caricature: one-dimensional, uncomplicated and unlikeable; temperamental, francophobic and intolerant....he had become a pariah.
- Birthplace: Toronto, Canada
F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas
Dec. at 61 (1902-1964)Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward "Tommy" Yeo-Thomas (17 June 1902 – 26 February 1964) was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "SEAHORSE" and "SHELLEY" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas was known by the Gestapo as "The White Rabbit". His particular sphere of operations was Occupied and Vichy France.- Luther Harris Evans (13 October 1902 – 23 December 1981) was an American political scientist who served as the tenth Librarian of Congress and third Director-General of UNESCO.
- Birthplace: Texas
- Abraham Wald (; Hungarian: Wald Ábrahám; (1902-10-31)31 October 1902 – (1950-12-13)13 December 1950) was a Hungarian mathematician who contributed to decision theory, geometry, and econometrics, and founded the field of statistical sequential analysis. He spent his researching years at Columbia University.
- Birthplace: Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Karl Menger (January 13, 1902 – October 5, 1985) was an Austrian-American mathematician. He was the son of the economist Carl Menger. He is credited with Menger's theorem. He worked on mathematics of algebras, algebra of geometries, curve and dimension theory, etc. Moreover, he contributed to game theory and social sciences.
- Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
- Elizabeth Janet Gray Vining (October 6, 1902 – November 27, 1999) was an American professional librarian and author who tutored Emperor Akihito of Japan in English while he was crown prince. She was also a noted author, whose children's book Adam of the Road received the Newbery Medal in 1943.
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Fritz Machlup (; German: [ˈmaxlʊp]; December 15, 1902 – January 30, 1983) was an Austrian-American economist who was president of the International Economic Association from 1971–1974. He was one of the first economists to examine knowledge as an economic resource, and is credited with popularizing the concept of the information society.
- Birthplace: Wiener Neustadt, Austria
- Carlo Levi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkarlo ˈlɛːvi]) (November 29, 1902 – January 4, 1975) was an Italian painter, writer, activist, anti-fascist, and doctor. He is best known for his book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (Christ Stopped at Eboli), published in 1945, a memoir of his time spent in exile in Lucania, Italy, after being arrested in connection with his political activism. In 1979, the book became the basis of a movie of the same name, directed by Francesco Rosi. Lucania, also called Basilicata, was historically one of the poorest and most backward regions of the impoverished Italian south. Levi's lucid, non-ideological and sympathetic description of the daily hardships experienced by the local peasants helped to propel the "Problem of the South" into national discourse after the end of World War II.
- Birthplace: Turin, Italy
- Alexander Romanovich Luria (Russian: Алекса́ндр Рома́нович Лу́рия, IPA: [ˈlurʲɪjə]; 16 July 1902 – 14 August 1977) was a notable neuropsychologist, often credited as a father of modern neuropsychological assessment. He developed an extensive and original battery of neuropsychological tests during his clinical work with brain-injured victims of World War II, which are still used in various forms. He made an in-depth analysis of the functioning of various brain regions and integrative processes of the brain in general. Luria's magnum opus, Higher Cortical Functions in Man (1962), is a much-used psychological textbook which has been translated into many languages and which he supplemented with The Working Brain in 1973. It is less known that Luria's main interests, before the war, were in the field of psycho-semantics (that is, research into how people attribute meaning to words and instructions). He became famous for his studies of low-educated populations in the south of the Soviet Union showing that they use different categorization than the educated world (determined by functionality of their tools). He was one of the founders of Cultural-Historical Psychology, and a leader of the Vygotsky Circle, also known as "Vygotsky-Luria Circle". Apart from his work with Vygotsky, Luria is widely known for two extraordinary psychological case studies: The Mind of a Mnemonist, about Solomon Shereshevsky, who had highly advanced memory; and The Man with a Shattered World, about a man with traumatic brain injury. During his career Luria worked in a wide range of scientific fields at such institutions as the Academy of Communist Education (1920-1930s), Experimental Defectological Institute (1920-1930s, 1950-1960s, both in Moscow), Ukrainian Psychoneurological Academy (Kharkiv, early 1930s), All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine, and the Burdenko Institute of Neurosurgery (late 1930s). A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Luria as the 69th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
- Birthplace: Kazan, Russia
- During a career that spanned over half a century, cinematographer Charles Lang worked with directors ranging from Dorothy Arzner ("Anybody's Woman" 1930) to George Cukor ("Zaza" 1939) to Anthony Mann ("The Man from Laramie" 1955) and Paul Mazursky ("Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" 1969). One of the key talents responsible for the look of Paramount Studio's films during the 1930s and 40s, Lang helped establish the softer, romanticized side of the studio's ornate, glossy, vaguely European visual style. Some of Lang's best work features a supple use of camera movement and an atmospheric, translucent lighting which washes gently through interiors, most notably in such tender love stories and wispy light comedies as Frank Borzage's "A Farewell to Arms" (1932) and "Desire" (1936), Mitchell Leisen's "Cradle Song" (1933), Ernst Lubitsch's "Angel" (1937), and Henry Hathaway's stunning romantic fantasy, "Peter Ibbetson" (1935). Like most Hollywood cinematographers of the classical period, however, Lang worked in all genres, and his work included action epics ("Lives of a Bengal Lancer" 1935) as well as the more brittle, stinging comedy of such classics as Mae West's first starrer, "She Done Him Wrong" (1933) and Leisen's delightful "Midnight" (1939).
- Birthplace: Bluff, Utah, USA
- Arnold Danford Patrick Heeney, (April 5, 1902 – December 20, 1970) was a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and civil servant. He was born in Montreal, Quebec. He was educated at St. John's College, Winnipeg and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921 and a Master of Arts degree in 1923 both from the University of Manitoba. As the Manitoba Rhodes Scholar he went on to St. John's College, Oxford before returning to Canada, earning a Bachelor of Civil Law degree at McGill University. Specializing in Maritime law, in 1929 he joined the Montreal law firm of Meredith, Holden, Heward & Holden. In one of his last cases with the firm, he successfully represented F. R. Scott against the City of Westmount. In 1938, he took the position of Principal Secretary to Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. From 1940 to 1949, he was Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet. He was perhaps the most important civil servant during World War II. In 1949, he became Under Secretary of State for External Affairs, then Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He was Canada's Ambassador to the United States from 1953 to 1957 and 1959 to 1962. In 1968, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. He died in Ottawa in 1970.
- Birthplace: Montreal, Canada
- Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902 – February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist best known for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change.
- Birthplace: Washington, D.C.
- This reliable second lead played gangsters, best friends, neighbors and the occasional romantic hero in countless films and TV shows from 1932 through the 1980s. Talbot's colorful childhood was like something from a melodrama: born on a riverboat, he was abducted by his grandmother after his mother's early death. By his teen years, Talbot was a sideshow magician, and by the late 20s was running The Lyle Talbot Players in Nebraska. When talking pictures became popular, Talbot headed West. The handsome, husky actor with stage training and a broad grin quickly found work.
- Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
- John Walter Grant MacEwan, (August 12, 1902 – June 15, 2000) was a Canadian farmer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dean of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, the 28th Mayor of Calgary and both a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Canada. MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta and the MacEwan Student Centre at the University of Calgary as well as the neighbourhoods of MacEwan Glen in Calgary and MacEwan in Edmonton are named after him.
- Birthplace: Brandon, Canada
- Mantan Moreland was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. Moreland's career in acting began with his roles in various films like the George Houston western "Frontier Scout" (1938), "Irish Luck" (1939) and "Chasing Trouble" (1940). He also appeared in "Mr. Washington Goes to Town" (1940), "Cracked Nuts" (1941) and "The Gang's All Here" (1941). His film career continued throughout the forties in productions like "Law of the Jungle" (1942), "Professor Creeps" (1942) and "Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost" (1942) with Lupe Velez. He also appeared in "Lucky Ghost" (1942). Toward the end of his career, he continued to act in the Sidney Toler adventure "The Shanghai Cobra" (1945), the Richard Conte mystery adaptation "The Spider" (1945) and "Dark Alibi" (1946). He also appeared in "Shadows Over Chinatown" (1946) and "The Trap" (1946). Moreland was most recently credited in the comedy "Spider Baby" (1994) with Lon Chaney Jr.. Moreland passed away in September 1973 at the age of 71.
- Birthplace: Monroe, Louisiana, USA
- Herbert Feigl (; German: [ˈfaɪgl̩]]; December 14, 1902 – June 1, 1988) was an Austrian philosopher and an early member of the Vienna Circle. He coined the term "nomological danglers".
- Birthplace: Liberec, Czech Republic
- Joachim Prinz (May 10, 1902 – September 30, 1988) was a German-American rabbi who was outspoken against Nazism and became a Zionist leader. As a young rabbi in Berlin, he was forced to confront the rise of Nazism, and eventually emigrated to the United States in 1937. There he became vice-chairman of the World Jewish Congress, an active member of the World Zionist Organization and a participant in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
- Birthplace: Turawa, Poland
- Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role of Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. from 1960 to 1970. Aunt Bee logged more Mayberry years (ten) than any other character. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Comedy Actress for the role in 1967.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- Alva Myrdal (Swedish: [ˈalːva ˈmyːɖɑːl]; née Reimer; 31 January 1902 – 1 February 1986) was a Swedish sociologist, diplomat and politician. She was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with Alfonso Garcia Robles, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. She married Gunnar Myrdal in 1924.
- Birthplace: Uppsala, Sweden
- George Gaylord Simpson (June 16, 1902 – October 6, 1984) was a US paleontologist. Simpson was perhaps the most influential paleontologist of the twentieth century, and a major participant in the modern synthesis, contributing Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944), The Meaning of Evolution (1949) and The Major Features of Evolution (1953). He was an expert on extinct mammals and their intercontinental migrations. He anticipated such concepts as punctuated equilibrium (in Tempo and mode) and dispelled the myth that the evolution of the horse was a linear process culminating in the modern Equus caballus. He coined the word hypodigm in 1940, and published extensively on the taxonomy of fossil and extant mammals. Simpson was influentially, and incorrectly, opposed to Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift.He was Professor of Zoology at Columbia University, and Curator of the Department of Geology and Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History from 1945 to 1959. He was Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University from 1959 to 1970, and a Professor of Geosciences at the University of Arizona until his retirement in 1982.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Harry Bayless Stockwell (April 27, 1902 – July 19, 1984) was an American actor and singer. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Stockwell made his film debut in the 1935 film Here Comes the Band. However, his claim to fame came in 1937, when he provided the voice of "The Prince" (seen at the beginning and again in the finale) in Walt Disney's animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Stockwell was also a noted Broadway performer. In 1943, he succeeded Alfred Drake as Curly, the lead role in Broadway's Oklahoma! He remained in the role until 1948.
- Birthplace: Kansas City, USA, Missouri
- Ellen Dymphna Cusack AM (21 September 1902 – 19 October 1981) was an Australian author and playwright.
- Birthplace: West Wyalong, Australia
- Sir Alan James Mansfield, (30 September 1902 – 17 July 1980) was an Australian barrister, judge, and the 18th Governor of Queensland, serving from 1966 until 1972.
- Birthplace: Brisbane, Australia
- Francis Bitter (July 22, 1902 – July 26, 1967) was an American physicist.Bitter invented the Bitter plate used in resistive magnets (also called Bitter electromagnets). He also developed the water cooling method inherent to the design of Bitter magnets. Prior to this development, there was no way to cool electromagnets, limiting their maximum flux density.
- Birthplace: Weehawken, New Jersey
Jean Bruller
Dec. at 89 (1902-1991)Jean Marcel Adolphe Bruller (26 February 1902 – 10 June 1991) was a French writer and illustrator who co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit with Pierre de Lescure. Born to a Hungarian-Jewish father, during World War II occupation of northern France he joined the Resistance and his texts were published under the pseudonym Vercors. Several of his novels have fantasy or science fiction themes. The 1952 novel Les Animaux dénaturés (translated variously into English as You Shall Know Them, Borderline, and The Murder of the Missing Link) was made into the film Skullduggery (1970) starring Burt Reynolds and Susan Clark, and examines the question of what it means to be human. Colères (translated into English as The Insurgents) is about the quest for immortality. In 1960 he wrote Sylva, a novel about a fox who turns into a woman, inspired by David Garnett's novel Lady into Fox (1922). The English translation was nominated for the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Novel.His historical novel Anne Boleyn (1985) presents a very intelligent Anne as having determinedly set about marrying Henry VIII of England in order to separate England from Papal power and strengthen England's independence.- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Edward Uhler Condon (March 2, 1902 – March 26, 1974) was a distinguished American nuclear physicist, a pioneer in quantum mechanics, and a participant in the development of radar and nuclear weapons during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. The Franck–Condon principle and the Slater–Condon rules are co-named after him. He was the director of the National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) from 1945 to 1951. In 1946, Condon was president of the American Physical Society, and in 1953 was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During the McCarthy period, when efforts were being made to root out communist sympathizers in the United States, Edward Condon was a target of the House Un-American Activities Committee on the grounds that he was a 'follower' of a 'new revolutionary movement', quantum mechanics; Condon defended himself with a famous commitment to physics and science. Condon became widely known in 1968 as principal author of the Condon Report, an official review funded by the United States Air Force that concluded that unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have prosaic explanations. The lunar crater Condon is named for him.
- Birthplace: Alamogordo, New Mexico
- Bhaskar Anand Saletore (1902–1963), better known as B. A. Saletore, was an Indian historian from Mangalore, Karnataka.
- Birthplace: Puttur taluk
Henry Cecil Leon
Dec. at 73 (1902-1976)Henry Cecil Leon (19 September 1902 – 23 May 1976), who wrote under the pen-names Henry Cecil and Clifford Maxwell, was a judge and a writer of fiction about the British legal system. He was born near London in 1902 and was called to the Bar in 1923. Later in 1949 he was appointed a County Court Judge, a position he held until 1967. He used these experiences as inspiration for his work. His books typically feature educated and genteel fraudsters and blackmailers who lay ludicrously ingenious plots exploiting loopholes in the legal system. There are several recurring characters, such as the drunken solicitor Mr Tewkesbury and the convoluted and exasperating witness Colonel Brain. He writes well about the judicial process, usually through the eyes of a young barrister but sometimes from the viewpoint of the judge; Friends at Court contains a memorable snub from a County Court judge to a barrister who is trying to patronise him. Cecil did not believe that judges should be too remote from the public: in Sober as a Judge, a High Court judge, in a case where the ingredients of a martini are of some importance, states drily that he will ignore the convention by which he should inquire "what is a martini?" and instead gives the recipe for the cocktail himself. His 1955 novel Brothers in Law was made into a film in 1957 and, later, a television and radio series starring Richard Briers. While at Paramount Pictures, Alfred Hitchcock worked on adapting No Bail for the Judge for the screen several times between 1954 and 1960, and hoped to co-star Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Harvey, and John Williams, but the film was never produced. He also reviewed the Rowland case in the Celebrated Trials series published by David & Charles in 1975. The 1946 trial of Walter Rowland was for the murder of Olive Balchin, who had been found battered to death on a bomb site on Deansgate, Manchester. A hammer had been found near the body, and the police identified Rowland with three witnesses. He was found guilty and hanged at Strangeways Prison in 1947. He protested his innocence from the dock and afterwards. After the trial, another man confessed to the killing, but his evidence was ignored when the original judgment was reviewed by the Court of Criminal Appeal. Henry Cecil concludes in his book that Rowland was indeed guilty, although Cecil ignores the forensic evidence, or rather the absence of forensic evidence, linking Rowland to the crime scene. His book reveals the many prejudices of the judiciary in the 1970s, including the complete acceptance of police evidence at face value, for example.John Lee Mahin
Dec. at 81 (1902-1984)Veteran Hollywood writer, mostly at MGM; instrumental in the formation of the Writers Guild.- Birthplace: Evanston, Illinois, USA
- Alois Carigiet (30 August 1902 – 1 August 1985) was a Swiss graphic designer, painter, and illustrator. He may be known best for six children's picture books set in the Alps, A Bell for Ursli and its sequels, written by Selina Chönz, and three that he wrote himself. In 1966 he received the inaugural Hans Christian Andersen Medal for children's illustrators.
- Birthplace: Trun, Switzerland
- Daniel Chapin "Dan" Kinsey (January 22, 1902 – June 27, 1970) was an American hurdler and a scholar in physical education.Born in St. Louis, Kinsey attended the University of Illinois, studying education. He developed as a top hurdler, and in 1924 he first won the IC4A title in the high hurdles, followed by the Olympic gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. He graduated in 1926, and continued his study in physical education at Oberlin College, where he would also work until 1959. Besides teaching, Kinsey was involved in coaching several school teams, and was in the board of several committees and associations, such as the American Olympians Association. In 1959, Kinsey left Oberlin and became a professor at Earlham College and at the Delta College, University Center, MI. He retired in 1967. He died in his home in Richmond, Indiana, aged 68, soon after he retired.
- Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
- Eberhard Frederich Ferdinand Hopf (April 17, 1902 in Salzburg, Austria-Hungary – July 24, 1983 in Bloomington, Indiana) was a mathematician and astronomer, one of the founding fathers of ergodic theory and a pioneer of bifurcation theory who also made significant contributions to the subjects of partial differential equations and integral equations, fluid dynamics, and differential geometry. The Hopf maximum principle is an early result of his (1927) that is one of the most important techniques in the theory of elliptic partial differential equations.
- Birthplace: Salzburg, Austria
- Cheryl Crawford (September 24, 1902 – October 7, 1986) was an American theatre producer and director.
- Birthplace: Akron, Ohio
- Ernő Goldfinger was a Hungarian-born architect and designer of furniture. He moved to the United Kingdom in the 1930s, and became a key member of the architectural Modern Movement. He is most prominently remembered for designing residential tower blocks, some of which are now listed buildings.
- Birthplace: Budapest, Hungary
