Famous People Born in 1939
- Dean Arnold Corll (December 24, 1939 – August 8, 1973) was an American serial killer who abducted, raped, tortured, and murdered at least 28 teenage boys and young men between 1970 and 1973 in Houston, Texas. Corll was aided by two teenaged accomplices, David Owen Brooks and Elmer Wayne Henley. The crimes, which became known as the Houston Mass Murders, came to light after Henley fatally shot Corll. Upon discovery, they were considered the worst example of serial murder in U.S. history.Corll's victims were typically lured with an offer of a party or a lift to a succession of addresses in which he resided between 1970 and 1973. They would then be restrained either by force or deception, and each was killed either by strangulation or shooting with a .22-caliber pistol. Corll and his accomplices buried 17 of their victims in a rented boat shed; four other victims were buried in woodland near Lake Sam Rayburn; one victim was buried on a beach in Jefferson County; and at least six victims were buried on a beach on the Bolivar Peninsula. Brooks and Henley confessed to assisting Corll in several abductions and murders; both were sentenced to life imprisonment at their subsequent trials. Corll was also known as the Candy Man and the Pied Piper, because he and his family had owned and operated a candy factory in Houston Heights, and he had been known to give free candy to local children.
- Birthplace: Fort Wayne, Indiana
- Francis Ford Coppola, a name synonymous with visionary storytelling and grandeur in cinema, is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Detroit, Michigan on April 7, 1939, he quickly developed a fascination for theater and film, which led him to study drama at Hofstra University and filmmaking at UCLA. His early career was marked by a series of highs and lows; however, his perseverance resulted in some of cinema's most memorable gems such as The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now. Coppola's journey through the world of film began with writing and directing low-budget films for Roger Corman. With his skills being recognized, he won his first Academy Award for co-writing Patton in 1970. However, it was his work on The Godfather, adapted from Mario Puzo's novel, that catapulted him to global fame. Dealing with the intricate dynamics of a mafia family, the trilogy not only redefined gangster films but also set new standards for cinematic storytelling. While The Godfather films secured his place among Hollywood's elite, Coppola's ambitious project Apocalypse Now, a war epic based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, showcased his audaciousness and vision as a filmmaker. Beyond his directorial endeavors, Coppola has been a strong advocate for innovative filmmaking. He founded American Zoetrope in 1969, a studio intended to finance off-beat, avant-garde films that major studios wouldn't back. This venture helped launch the careers of many prominent filmmakers including George Lucas. Despite facing financial troubles and criticism throughout his career, Coppola's unyielding commitment to his craft ensured he left an indelible mark on Hollywood. As one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Francis Ford Coppola's legacy continues to inspire generations of artists worldwide.
- Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, USA
- Richard John "Dick" Vitale (; born June 9, 1939), also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well known as a college basketball broadcaster for ESPN. He is known for catchphrases such as "this is awesome baby" and "diaper dandy" (outstanding freshman player), as well as enthusiastic and colorful remarks he makes during games, and has authored nine books and appeared in several movies.
- Birthplace: Passaic, USA, New Jersey
- Clive James (born 7 October 1939) is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist. He has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1962.
- Birthplace: Kogarah, Australia
- A dark-haired, somber-looking former model, Ali MacGraw gained instant screen stardom in "Goodbye, Columbus" (1969). The following year, she earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination as the doomed collegiate heroine of the sweet, extremely popular "Love Story" (1970). She was also effective in the comic role of Alan King's mistress in "Just Tell Me What You Want" (1980). For much of the 1980s, MacGraw found employment on the small screen. She played the daughter-in-law of Robert Mitchum's character in the mammoth ABC miniseries "War and Remembrance" (1983), and appeared as the sophisticated Lady Ashley Mitchell for the 1984-85 season of "Dynasty" (ABC). After publishing her memoirs in 1991, MacGraw concentrated on a career as a designer, appearing in the occasional project like her son Josh Evans' first feature "Glam" (1997).
- Birthplace: Pound Ridge, New York, USA
- Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American film, television and stage actress and singer. She starred as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom Designing Women (1986–93), and as Randi King on the drama series Family Law (1999–2002). She was nominated for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives (2006–07). Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of the musical Carousel in 1960, and made her Broadway debut in the 1974 musical Sextet. After appearing for two years as District Attorney Brandy Henderson on the CBS soap The Edge of Night (1974–76), she starred in the 1976 Broadway musical Pal Joey. Her other television roles included the sitcoms On Our Own (1977–78), Filthy Rich (1982–83) and Diff'rent Strokes (1984–85). She returned to Broadway to play Maria Callas in the play Master Class in 1997, and to play Mrs. Meers in the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2004.
- Birthplace: McLemoresville, Tennessee, USA
- Stage-trained African-American comic actor who garnered international acclaim for his portrayal of Black Bart, the unlikely sheriff, in Mel Brooks' Western spoof "Blazing Saddles" (1974). Little's big break came with a turn in Peter Yates' "John and Mary" (1969), alongside Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow. In 1970, he starred on stage in Ossie Davis' musical "Purlie," for which he won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award, and appeared in Davis' landmark black independent film, "Cotton Comes to Harlem." Throughout his career, Little displayed a manic, live wire comic energy and a flamboyant, streetwise style of line delivery.
- Birthplace: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
- William Caleb Yarborough (March 27, 1939 – December 31, 2023) was an American NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, farmer, and rancher. He was one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1976, 1977, and 1978. He was one of the preeminent stock car drivers from the 1960s to the 1980s and also competed in IndyCar events. His fame was such that a special model of the Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II was named after him.
- Birthplace: Timmonsville, South Carolina
- Dusty Springfield, born as Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in 1939 in London, England, was an iconic British pop singer and record producer who gained prominence during the 1960s. With her signature blonde beehive hairstyle, dramatic makeup, and unforgettable soulful voice, she became a significant figure in the British Invasion of the U.S. music scene. Springfield's music career began in earnest with her brother Tom, as part of a folk-oriented trio named The Springfields. However, she achieved her biggest success as a solo artist, with an unmistakable, emotive voice that bridged pop and soul music. Springfield's string of top-charting songs made her one of the most successful British female performers of her generation. Her most enduring work, the 1969 album Dusty in Memphis, is hailed to this day for its fusion of pop and soul, yielding the international hit "Son of a Preacher Man." As a result, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, acknowledging her contribution to the genre. Her innovative approach to music extended beyond her own performance; she was instrumental in bringing the Motown sound to the UK, introducing audiences to a whole new world of music. Offstage, Springfield was known for her colourful personality and personal life. At a time when being openly gay could have been detrimental to her career, she was candid about her relationships with women. Springfield's life was not without challenges; she faced struggles with addiction and mental health issues, but always maintained her dedication to music until her untimely death from breast cancer in 1999. Despite any difficulties, Dusty Springfield's legacy in the music industry endures, her influence still felt in the sounds of contemporary artists across genres.
- Birthplace: England, London
- Carolina Herrera is a Venezuelan-American fashion designer known for "exceptional personal style", and for dressing First Ladies from Jacqueline Onassis to Michelle Obama. The New York Times cited her designs as "elegant and worldly without ever being fussy".
- Birthplace: Caracas, Venezuela
- Dorothy McGowan (sometimes credited as Dorothy MacGowan, born circa 1939) is a Brooklyn, New York-born former model and actress. As a model McGowan appeared on numerous covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Glamour, and other publications in the 1960s. She was photographed by Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Melvin Sokolsky, Francesco Scavullo, and others.A daughter of Irish immigrants Sarah and Michael McGowan and born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, she had one sister, Mary, and two brothers, Peter (1930–2007), a policeman who became a Roman Catholic priest, and James, a policeman whose role as lead negotiator in a hostage crisis was dramatized in the film Dog Day Afternoon.McGowan was one of photographer William Klein's favorite models. After the release of his film Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?, in which she starred, she disappeared from public view and apparently neither acted nor modeled again.She was married to, and divorced, from photographer Didier Dorot, with whom she has two children. In 2007 Dorothy Dorot was living in Mamaroneck, New York.
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York
- Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN) and radio play-by-play voice for the Oakland Raiders. With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was one of the original members of their program The NFL Today and is credited with coining the phrase "March Madness" to describe the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament while covering the Final Four. While at CBS, Musburger also covered the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, the World Series, U.S. Open tennis, and The Masters. Joining ESPN and ABC Sports in 1990, Musburger continued to cover the NBA Finals, as well as hosting Monday Night Football and providing play-by-play for Saturday Night Football and the SEC Network. He covered the Indianapolis 500, U.S. Open and British Open golf, the World Cup, the Belmont Stakes, and the College Football national championship among other big events. In January 2017, he left the ESPN and ABC television networks after 27 years, briefly retiring from play-by-play of live sports. Raised in Billings, Montana, he is a member of the Montana Broadcaster's Association Hall of Fame.
- Birthplace: Oregon, USA, Portland
- Barbara Colby (July 2, 1939 – July 24, 1975) was an American actress.
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York
- A husky-voiced actress who segued from beautiful leading lady to earthy character parts, Brenda Vaccaro enjoyed success in a variety of mediums. She earned three Tony nominations for her stage work in the 1960s, won a Golden Globe nomination for her role as a socialite paying Jon Voight for sex in "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), and an Oscar nomination for "Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough" (1975). Although she was an accomplished dramatic actress, audiences embraced her most as a wisecracking second banana to everyone from Faye Dunaway in "Supergirl" (1984) to Barbra Streisand in "The Mirror Has Two Faces" (1996), as well as an in-demand voiceover actress. The Emmy-winning Vaccaro earned an impressive array of TV credits as well, and earned excellent reviews for the lead role in the gentle romantic comedy "Boynton Beach Club" (2005) and for a brilliant supporting turn as Al Pacino's sister in the Dr. Kevorkian biopic, "You Don't Know Jack" (HBO, 2010). Even 50 years into her career, Vaccaro remained a vital, formidable actress with the training and talent to deliver award-caliber performances.
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Richard Remick Smothers (born November 20, 1939) is an American actor, comedian, composer and musician. He is half of the musical comedy team the Smothers Brothers, with his older brother Tom.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- A tawny, sleek, somber-looking actress, of French and Vietnamese extraction, Nuyen made her film debut at 19 as Liat in the film version of "South Pacific" (1958) and in the 1960s was briefly promoted as an exotic type. She also starred on Broadway in the title role (learned phonetically, because her English was still very shaky) of the popular "The World of Suzie Wong." After making the middling features "Diamond Head" (1962), "A Girl Named Tamiko" (1962) and "Dimension 5" (1966), Nuyen worked largely during the 70s and 80s in forgettable TV-movies like "The Horror at 37,000 Feet" (1973), "Deathmoon" (1978) and "Jealousy" (1984). She had better luck with her role as the dignified, compassionate Dr. Kiem on the final two seasons of the acclaimed NBC medical drama, "St. Elsewhere." Having completed graduate work in psychology, Nuyen began a second career as a therapist in 1986, but renewed feature film work beckoned in the early 90s, most notably a role as one of four mothers who bond with their daughters over mah jongg in Wayne Wang's "The Joy Luck Club" (1993).
- Birthplace: Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône France
- William John Janklow (September 13, 1939 – January 12, 2012) was an American politician and member of the Republican Party who holds the record for the longest tenure as Governor of South Dakota: sixteen years in office. Janklow has the second longest gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,851 days.Janklow served as the 25th Attorney General of South Dakota from 1975 to 1979 before serving as the state's 27th Governor from 1979 to 1987 and then the 30th Governor from 1995 to 2003. Janklow was then elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served for a little more than a year. He resigned in 2004 after being convicted of manslaughter for his culpability in a fatal automobile accident.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA
- David Joel Horowitz (born January 10, 1939) is an American conservative writer. He is a founder and president of the think tank the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC); editor of the Center's publication, FrontPage Magazine; and director of Discover the Networks, a website that tracks individuals and groups on the political left. Horowitz also founded the organization Students for Academic Freedom. Horowitz wrote several books with author Peter Collier, including four on prominent 20th-century American political families that had members elected to the presidency. He and Collier have collaborated on books about cultural criticism. Horowitz worked as a columnist for Salon. Its then-editor Joan Walsh described him as a "conservative provocateur".From 1956 to 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left. He later rejected progressive and Marxist ideas and became a defender of right-wing values. Though often described as a neoconservative, he does not think of himself as such. Horowitz recounted his ideological journey in a series of retrospective books, culminating with his 1996 memoir Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey.
- Birthplace: Forest Hills, New York City, New York
- David Edwin Birney (born April 23, 1939) is an American actor/director whose career has performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film and television.
- Birthplace: Washington, D.C., USA
- Barbara-Rose Collins (born April 13, 1939) is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan and the first black woman from Michigan to be elected to Congress. Collins was born in Detroit, Michigan, graduated from the public schools there and attended Wayne State University as an Anthropology Major. She was a member of the Detroit Region I public school board, 1971–1973; a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives, from the 21st District, 1975–1981; and a member of the Detroit City Council, 1982–1991. In 1988, she lost a primary election to the incumbent U.S. Representative for what was then Michigan's 13th congressional district, George W. Crockett, Jr. When he retired, she won the seat, taking 34 percent of the vote in a crowded eight-way Democratic primary. This was tantamount to election in this heavily Democratic, black-majority district. She won handily in November and was reelected three more times, each time garnering over 80 percent of the vote. Her district was renumbered as the 15th district after the 1990 census. Collins was a sponsor of several bills that passed into law, including the Food Dating Bill, the Sex Education Bill, and the Pregnancy Insurance Bill. She also introduced the Unrenumerated Work Act in 1991, 1993, and 1994. This bill would have required the Bureau of Labor Statistics to set value on unwaged work such as housework, care work, agricultural work, volunteer work, and work in a family business, and include that value in the Gross National Product of the US. This measure had been called for in the Forward Looking Strategies resolution passed at the UN 3rd World Conference on Women Nairobi in 1985. Collins's bill was endorsed by the Congressional Women's Caucus and by 1993 had 90 co-sponsors; however, it failed to pass. Collins was the subject of a Congressional Ethics Committee inquiry in 1995, under suspicion of 11 instances of misuse of funds. In 1996, after she lost the Democratic Primary for re-election, the inquiry was dropped. After five years out of politics, Collins returned to the Detroit City Council for two terms, retiring in 2009.
- Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, USA
- William F. Watts Jr. (born May 5, 1939) is an American former professional wrestler, promoter, and WWE Hall of Fame Inductee (2009). Watts was famous under his "Cowboy" gimmick in his wrestling career, and then as a tough, no-nonsense promoter in the Mid-South United States, which grew to become the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF). In 1992, Watts was the Executive Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) but after clashes with management over a number of issues, as well as feeling pressure from Hank Aaron over a racially sensitive piece of correspondence, he resigned. He was subsequently replaced by Ole Anderson who was then succeeded by Eric Bischoff.
- Birthplace: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Barbara Bosson
Dec. at 83 (1939-2023)Barbara Bosson (November 1, 1939 – February 18, 2023) was an American actress. Her most notable role came in the television series Hill Street Blues (1981–1987), for which she was consecutively nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards.- Birthplace: Charleroi, Pennsylvania, USA
- Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei (Persian: سید علی حسینی خامنهای, pronounced [ʔæˈliː hosejˈniː xɒːmeneˈʔiː] (listen); born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia Marja' and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously President of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei is the second-longest serving head of state in the Middle East (after Oman's Sultan Qaboos), as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.According to his official website, Khamenei was arrested six times before being sent into exile for three years during Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's reign. He was the target of an attempted assassination in June 1981 that paralysed his right arm.Khamenei was one of Iran's leaders during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, and developed close ties with the now powerful Revolutionary Guards which he controls, and whose commanders are elected and dismissed by him. The Revolutionary Guards have been used to suppress opposition to him. Khamenei then went to serve as the third President of Iran from 1981 to 1989, while becoming a close ally of the first Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini. Eventually, after Khomeini had a disagreement with the then heir apparent Hussein Ali Montazeri, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani claimed that Khomeini had chosen Khamenei as his successor while the Assembly of Experts deliberated to elect the next Supreme Leader. After Khomeini's death, Khameini was elected by the Assembly of Experts as the new Supreme Leader on 4 June 1989, at the age of 49. He has been head of the servants of Astan Quds Razavi since 14 April 1979.Today, as Supreme Leader, Khamenei is the head of state of Iran and the commander-in-chief of its armed forces. For this reason, he is considered the most powerful political authority in the country. As Supreme Leader, Khamenei can issue decrees and make the final decisions on the main policies of the government in many fields such as economy, the environment, foreign policy, and national planning in Iran. According to Karim Sadjadpour, Khamenei has either direct or indirect control over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, as well as the military and media. All candidates for the Assembly of Experts, the Presidency and the Majlis (Parliament) are vetted by the Guardian Council, whose members are selected directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader of Iran. There have been also instances when the Guardian Council reversed its ban on particular people after being ordered to do so by Khamenei.There have been major protests during Khamenei's reign, including the 1994 Qazvin Protests, the 1999 Iranian student protests, the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests the 2011–12 Iranian protests, and the 2017–18 Iranian protests. Journalists, bloggers, and other individuals have been put on trial in Iran for the charge of insulting Supreme Leader Khamenei, often in conjunction with blasphemy charges. Their sentences have included lashing and jail time, and some of them have died in custody. Regarding the nuclear program of Iran, Ali Khamenei had issued a fatwa in 2003 saying that the production, stockpiling, and use of all kinds of weapons of mass destruction is forbidden.
- Birthplace: Mashhad, Iran
- Francis Richard Scobee (May 19, 1939 – January 28, 1986) was an American pilot, engineer and astronaut. He was killed while he was commanding the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, which suffered catastrophic booster failure during launch of the STS-51-L mission.He held a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering. He was a reciprocating engine mechanic for the United States Air Force and served as a combat aviator in the Vietnam War. In April 1984, he piloted Challenger mission STS-41-C, which successfully deployed one satellite and repaired another. Selected for NASA Astronaut Corps in January 1978, Scobee completed his training in August 1979. While awaiting his first orbital spaceflight mission, he served as an instructor pilot for the Shuttle's 747 carrier aircraft.
- Birthplace: Cle Elum, Washington
- Barbara Jean Hammer (May 15, 1939 – March 16, 2019) was an American feminist filmmaker known for being one of the pioneers of lesbian film whose career spanned over 50 years. Hammer is known for having created experimental films dealing with women's issues such as gender roles, lesbian relationships and coping with aging and family. She resided in New York City and Kerhonkson, New York, and taught each summer at the European Graduate School.
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, USA, Hollywood, California
Dorothy Kazel
Dec. at 41 (1939-1980)Sister Dorothy Kazel, O.S.U. (June 30, 1939 – December 2, 1980), was an American Ursuline Religious Sister and missionary to El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, raped, and murdered along with three fellow missionaries – Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford, Maura Clarke and laywoman Jean Donovan – by members of the military of El Salvador.- Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio
- Christina Crawford is an American author and actor. Christina was one of five children adopted by Joan Crawford. Crawford appeared in summer stock theater production of "Splendor in the Grass." She also acted in several Off-Broadway productions, including "In Color on Sundays" (1958). She also appeared in "At Christmas Time" (1959), "Dark of the Moon" (1959) and "The Moon Is Blue" (1960). In 1960, Crawford was given a supporting role in the crime drama film "Force of Impulse" (1961). In October 1965, she appeared in "Barefoot in the Park." In November 1978, Crawford's book "Mommie Dearest" was released. In 2013, she made a documentary, Surviving Mommie Dearest. Christina Crawford has published five subsequent books, including "Survivor," "Black Widow," "No Safe Place," "Daughters of the Inquisition" and "Scammed."
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
- John Shepard Reed is the former Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He previously served as Chairman and CEO of Citicorp, Citibank, and post-merger, Citigroup. He is currently the Chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's board of trustees.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was the 30th State Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He served from 1971 to 1981 as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the state's 50th district. He then served as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981, until his death by suicide during a press conference. In the early 1980s, Pennsylvania discovered its state workers had overpaid federal taxes due to errors in state withholding. Many accounting firms competed for a multimillion-dollar contract to determine compensation to each employee. In 1986, Dwyer was convicted of receiving a bribe from the California firm that ultimately won the contract. He was scheduled to be sentenced on those charges on January 23, 1987. On January 22, 1987, Dwyer called a news conference in the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg where he killed himself in front of the gathered reporters, by shooting himself in the mouth with a .357 Magnum revolver. Dwyer's suicide was broadcast later that day to a wide television audience across Pennsylvania. Throughout Dwyer's trial and after his conviction, he maintained that he was not guilty of the charges levied against him, and that he had been framed. Decades later, the prosecution's primary witness, William Trickett Smith, whose testimony was largely used to obtain Dwyer's conviction, stated in the documentary Honest Man: The Life of R. Budd Dwyer, as he did at Dwyer's trial, that he offered Dwyer a bribe and that Dwyer accepted it. He expressed regret for the decision to offer Dwyer a bribe and for the role it played in Dwyer's death. James J. West, the former acting United States Attorney who prosecuted Dwyer, affirmed Dwyer's guilt in 2010.
- Birthplace: Saint Charles, Missouri, USA
Sir Robert B. Horton is a former CEO of British Petroleum. He is a member of the Board of several companies including British Petroleum, Emerson Electric and Standard Oil of Ohio.- A giant of white doo-wop and R&B in the early 1960s, Dion was the savvy, cocksure voice behind such enduring hits as "The Wanderer," "Runaround Sue" and "Ruby Baby," which inspired a generation of East Coast rock and pop artists to bring the sounds of the streets to their own music. He began with the vocal group the Belmonts, which scored major hits with "A Teenager in Love" and "I Wonder Why" in the late 1950s. Dion established himself as a solo performer in the early '60s with a string of Top 10 hits including the aforementioned tunes, which established him as a worthy contemporary in both the rock and soul markets. After a turn as a Christian artist in the 1980s, he returned to his roots with a series of roots-rock and blues albums that saw him joined by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Lou Reed, both of whom owed a musical debt to Dion's music. One of rock-n-roll's most enduring survivors, Dion's best work retained the grit, the heart and the passion of the streets that launched his singing career.
- Birthplace: Bronx, New York, USA
- Gianclaudio Giuseppe Regazzoni (5 September 1939 – 15 December 2006), commonly called "Clay", was a Swiss racing driver. He competed in Formula One races from 1970 to 1980, winning five Grands Prix. His first win was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in his debut season, driving for Ferrari. He remained with the Italian team until 1972. After a single season with BRM, Regazzoni returned to Ferrari for a further three years, 1974 to 1976. After finally leaving Ferrari at the end of 1976, Regazzoni joined the Ensign and Shadow teams, before moving to Williams in 1979, where he took the British team's first ever Grand Prix victory, the 1979 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. He was replaced by Carlos Reutemann at Williams for 1980 and moved back to Ensign. Following an accident at the 1980 United States Grand Prix West he was left paralyzed from the waist down, ending his career in Formula One. Regazzoni did not stop racing, however; he competed in the Paris-Dakar rally and Sebring 12 hours using a hand controlled car during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1996, Regazzoni became a commentator for Italian TV. He was known as a hard charging racer; Jody Scheckter stated that if "he'd been a cowboy he'd have been the one in the black hat." Regazzoni died in a car accident in Italy on 15 December 2006.
- Birthplace: Porza, Switzerland
- William Anthony Kirsopp Lake (born April 2, 1939) was the Executive Director of the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), author, academic, and former American diplomat, Foreign Service Officer, and political advisor. He has been a foreign policy advisor to many Democratic U.S. presidents and presidential candidates, and served as National Security Advisor under U.S. President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Lake is credited as being one of the individuals who developed the policy that led to the resolution of the Bosnian War. He also held the chair of Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York, USA
- Elizabeth Clare Prophet (née: Wulf, a.k.a. Guru Ma) (April 8, 1939 – October 15, 2009) was an American spiritual leader, author, orator, and writer. In 1963 she married Mark L. Prophet(after ending her first marriage), who had founded The Summit Lighthouse in 1958. Mark and Elizabeth had four children. Elizabeth, just 33 years of age at the time of her second husband's death on February 26, 1973, assumed control of The Summit Lighthouse.In 1975 Prophet founded Church Universal and Triumphant, which became the umbrella organisation for the movement, and which she expanded worldwide. She also founded Summit University and Summit University Press. In the late 1980s Prophet controversially called on her members to prepare for the possibility of nuclear war at the turn of the decade, encouraging them to construct fallout shelters. In 1996, Prophet handed day-to-day operational control of her organisation to a president and board of directors. She maintained her role as spiritual leader until her retirement due to health reasons in 1999.During the 1980s and 1990s Prophet appeared on Larry King Live, Donahue and Nightline, among other television programs. Earlier media appearances included a feature in 1977 in "The Man Who Would Not Die," an episode of NBC's In Search Of... series. She was also featured in 1994 on NBC's Ancient Prophecies.
- Birthplace: Red Bank, New Jersey
- Robert Lewis Lilly (born July 26, 1939), nicknamed "Mr. Cowboy", is a former American football defensive tackle and photographer. After a college career at Texas Christian University (TCU), he played for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) for fourteen seasons. Lilly was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1981.
- Birthplace: Olney, Texas
- Andrew William Thomas (born October 8, 1939 in Ithaca, New York) is an American composer. He studied with Karel Husa at Cornell University, with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, and earned his M.M. and D.M.A. Degrees in Composition at The Juilliard School. At Juilliard he studied with Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, and Otto Luening. Thomas teaches and was the chairman of the Composition Department at the Pre-College Division at Juilliard from 1969 to 1994. In 1994, the Juilliard School appointed him the Director of the Pre-College Division. In addition to composing, Dr. Thomas performs as a pianist, conductor, and is a guest teacher throughout the world. His many awards include a grant from The National Endowment for the Arts and a Distinguished Teacher Citation from The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.
- Birthplace: Ithaca, New York
- David Parker Ray (November 6, 1939 – May 28, 2002), also known as the Toy-Box Killer, was an American suspected serial killer and known torturer of women. Though no bodies were found, he was accused by his accomplices of killing several people and suspected by the police to have murdered as many as 60 people from Arizona and New Mexico, while living in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, approximately 7 miles north of Truth or Consequences. He soundproofed a truck trailer that he called his "toy box", and equipped it with items used for sexual torture. Ray was convicted of kidnapping and torture in 2001, for which he received a lengthy sentence, but he was never convicted of murder. He died of a heart attack about one year after his convictions in two cases (the second of which resulted in a plea deal).
- Birthplace: Belen, New Mexico
- Cynthia Lillian Lennon (née Powell; 10 September 1939 – 1 April 2015) was the first wife of English musician John Lennon and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of 12, she was accepted into the Junior Art School and was later enrolled in the Liverpool College of Art. John Lennon also attended the college; a meeting with Powell in a calligraphy class led to their relationship. When John Lennon was performing in Hamburg with the Beatles, she rented his bedroom from his aunt and legal guardian, Mimi Smith. After Powell became pregnant, she and John were married on 23 August 1962 at the Mount Pleasant register office in Liverpool and from 1964 to 1968, they lived at Kenwood in the Surrey town of Weybridge, where she kept house and participated with her husband in a London-based social life. In 1968, John left her for Japanese avant-garde conceptual artist Yoko Ono and as a result, the couple's divorce was legally granted on 8 November 1968 on the grounds of John's adultery with Ono. She married Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini in 1970, divorcing him in 1976. In 1978, she married John Twist, an engineer from Lancashire, but divorced him in 1982. After her divorce from Twist, she changed her name back to "Lennon" by deed poll and met Jim Christie, her partner for 17 years. She was later married to Noel Charles, a night club owner, from 2002 until his death in 2013. She published a book of memoirs, A Twist of Lennon, in 1978, and a more intimate biography, John, in 2005. Over the years, she staged several auctions of memorabilia associated with her life with John Lennon. She lived in Majorca, Spain, until her death from cancer in 2015.
- Birthplace: Blackpool, England
- Brian J. Ford FLS HonFRMS (born 1939 in Corsham, Wiltshire) is an independent research biologist, author, and lecturer, who publishes on scientific issues for the general public. He has also been a television personality for more than 40 years.
- Birthplace: Corsham, United Kingdom
Astrid Schulz
Age: 85- Birthplace: Heemstede, Kingdom of the Netherlands
- A scion of the famous acting family, Corin Redgrave maintained the lowest profile as well as the longest periods of inactivity, compared to his more famous sisters, Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. Nevertheless, he amassed a respectable list of stage credits as well as numerous key supporting roles in British features. Redgrave's first professional stage work was as director of "The Scarecrow" at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and by the next year, he portrayed Lysander in the Royal Court's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." By 1963, he had crossed the Atlantic to appear on Broadway in a supporting part in "Chips with Everything." Redgrave's feature film work began with a turn as Roper in Fred Zinnemann's "A Man for All Seasons" in 1966. Many of his other film roles were in decidedly British works, such as the remake of "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (1968), directed by then brother-in-law Tony Richardson, and Sir Richard Attenborough's heralded "Oh, What a Lovely War" (1969).
- Birthplace: Marylebone, London, England, UK
- David Ray Griffin (born August 8, 1939 in Wilbur, Washington) is a retired American professor of philosophy of religion and theology, and a political writer. Along with John B. Cobb, Jr., he founded the Center for Process Studies in 1973, a research center of Claremont School of Theology that seeks to promote the common good by means of the relational approach found in process thought. Griffin has published many books on the subject of the September 11 attacks, suggesting that there was a conspiracy involving some elements of the United States government.
- Adnan bin Abdul Kareem Ahmed Alkaissy El Farthie (March 1, 1939 – September 6, 2023) better known professionally as Adnan Al-Kaissie, was an Iraqi former professional wrestler and manager best known as Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey, Billy White Wolf, or General Adnan. In 1971 he defeated André the Giant in Al-Shaab Stadium in Baghdad, under the auspices of his former friend at high school Saddam Hussein. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF). On December 7, 1976, he won the WWWF World Tag Team Championship with Chief Jay Strongbow.
- Birthplace: Baghdad, Iraq
Dieter Schwarz
Age: 85Dieter Schwarz (born 24 September 1939) is a German billionaire businessman, and owner of the Schwarz-Gruppe. He is the chairman and CEO of the supermarket chain Lidl, and the hypermarket chain Kaufland.- Birthplace: Heilbronn, Germany
- David Lawrence Groh (May 21, 1939 – February 12, 2008) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Joe Gerard in the 1970s television series Rhoda, opposite Valerie Harper.
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Robert McElhiney James (born December 25, 1939) is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz keyboardist, arranger, and record producer. He founded the band Fourplay and wrote "Angela," the theme song for the TV show Taxi. He is most famous for standards such as "Nautilus", "Westchester Lady", "Heads", "Night Crawler", "Touchdown", "Blue Lick", "Sign Of the Times", "Spunky", "Marco Polo", "Courtship" and "Just One Thing". Music from his first seven albums has often been sampled and has contributed to the formation of hip hop.
- Birthplace: Marshall, Missouri
- Bill Graham or Billy Graham may refer to:
- Birthplace: Montreal, Canada
- Auberon Alexander Waugh (; 17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downside School, he was commissioned in the army during National Service, where he was badly injured in a shooting accident. He went on to study for a year at Oxford University. At twenty, he launched his journalism career at the Telegraph Group, and also wrote for many other publications including Private Eye, in which he presented a profile that was half Tory grandee and half cheeky rebel. As a young man, Waugh wrote five novels that were quite well received, but he gave up fiction for fear of unfavourable comparisons with his father. He and his wife Lady Teresa had four children and lived at their manor house in Combe Florey in Somerset.
- Birthplace: Dulverton, United Kingdom
- Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced more than seventy full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1969. Major successes include Absurd Person Singular (1975), The Norman Conquests trilogy (1973), Bedroom Farce (1975), Just Between Ourselves (1976), A Chorus of Disapproval (1984), Woman in Mind (1985), A Small Family Business (1987), Man Of The Moment (1988), House & Garden (1999) and Private Fears in Public Places (2004). His plays have won numerous awards, including seven London Evening Standard Awards. They have been translated into over 35 languages and are performed on stage and television throughout the world. Ten of his plays have been staged on Broadway, attracting two Tony nominations, and one Tony award.
- Birthplace: Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
- Eugene Burger (June 1, 1939 – August 8, 2017) was an American magician. He was born in 1939 and was based in Chicago, Illinois. He was reputed for his close-up skills and his work in mentalism and bizarre magic.Burger was also a philosopher and a historian of religion. He had degrees in philosophy and earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1964 from Yale University and taught university courses in comparative religion and philosophy. Burger frequently taught at the McBride Magic & Mystery School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the author of books on the presentation of close up magic and was featured on several instructional DVDs and videos for magicians. He produced an audio program called Growing in the Art of Magic.Eugene died of cancer in Chicago on August 8, 2017. He was 78.
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- Martin Brian Mulroney (born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993. His tenure as prime minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the Goods and Services Tax, and the rejection of constitutional reforms such as the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord. Prior to his political career, he was a prominent lawyer and businessman in Montreal.
- Birthplace: Baie-Comeau, Canada
- Al Young (born May 31, 1939) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and professor. On May 15, 2005, he was named Poet Laureate of California by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In appointing Young as Poet Laureate, the Governor praised him: "He is an educator and a man with a passion for the Arts. His remarkable talent and sense of mission to bring poetry into the lives of Californians is an inspiration." Muriel Johnson, Director of the California Arts Council declared: "Like jazz, Al Young is an original American voice." Young's many books include novels, collections of poetry, essays, and memoirs. His work has appeared in literary journals and magazines including Paris Review, Ploughshares, Essence, The New York Times, Chicago Review, Seattle Review, Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz & Literature, Chelsea, Rolling Stone, Gathering of the Tribes, and in anthologies including the Norton Anthology of African American Literature, and the Oxford Anthology of African American Literature.
- Birthplace: Ocean Springs, Mississippi
- Amos Oz (Hebrew: עמוס עוז; born Amos Klausner; 4 May 1939 – 28 December 2018) was an Israeli writer, novelist, journalist, and intellectual. He was also a professor of Hebrew literature at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. From 1967 onwards, Oz was a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He was the author of 40 books, including novels, short story collections, children's books, and essays, and his work has been published in 45 languages, more than that of any other Israeli writer. He was the recipient of many honours and awards, among them the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Legion of Honour of France, the Israel Prize, the Goethe Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award in Literature, the Heinrich Heine Prize, and the Franz Kafka Prize. Oz is regarded as one of "Israel's most prolific writers and respected intellectuals", as The New York Times worded it in an obituary.
- Birthplace: Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
- Cleve Barry Moler is an American mathematician and computer programmer specializing in numerical analysis. In the mid to late 1970s, he was one of the authors of LINPACK and EISPACK, Fortran libraries for numerical computing. He invented MATLAB, a numerical computing package, to give his students at the University of New Mexico easy access to these libraries without writing Fortran. In 1984, he co-founded MathWorks with Jack Little to commercialize this program.
- Dariush Mehrju'i (Persian: داریوش مهرجویی, born 8 December 1939, also spelled as Mehrjui, Mehrjoui, and Mehrjuyi) is an Iranian director, screenwriter, producer, film editor and a member of the Iranian Academy of the Arts.Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s. His second film, Gaav, is considered to be the first film of this movement, which also included Masoud Kimiai and Nasser Taqvai. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted from Iranian and foreign novels and plays.
- Birthplace: Tehran, Iran
- Adi Da Samraj, born Franklin Albert Jones (November 3, 1939 – November 27, 2008), was an American spiritual teacher, writer and artist. He was the founder of a new religious movement known as Adidam. He changed his name numerous times throughout his life; these names included Bubba Free John, Da Free John, Da Love-Ananda, Da Kalki, Da Avadhoota and Da Avabhasa, among others. From 1991 until his death, he was known as Adi Da Love-Ananda Samraj or Adi Da.Adi Da initially became known in the spiritual counterculture of the 1970s for his books and public talks, and for the activities of his religious community. His philosophy was essentially similar to many eastern religions which see spiritual enlightenment as the ultimate priority of human life. Distinguishing his from other religious traditions, Adi Da declared that he was a uniquely historic avatar (incarnation of a god or divinity in human form). As such, Adi Da stated that henceforth devotional worship of him would be the sole means of spiritual enlightenment for anyone else.Adi Da wrote many books about his spiritual philosophy and related matters, founding a publishing house to print them. He gained praise from authorities in spirituality and philosophy, but was also criticized for what were perceived as his isolation, controversial behavior, claims toward exclusive realization, and cult-like community.In the mid-1980s, allegations by former followers of false imprisonment, brainwashing, sexual abuse, assault and involuntary servitude received international media attention. These allegations resulted in lawsuits or threatened suits on both sides
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Baruch Kimmerling (Hebrew: ברוך קימרלינג; 16 October 1939 – 20 May 2007) was an Israeli scholar and professor of sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Upon his death in 2007, The Times described him as "the first academic to use scholarship to reexamine the founding tenets of Zionism and the Israeli State". Though a sociologist by training, Kimmerling was associated with the New Historians, a group of Israeli scholars who question the official narrative of Israel's creation.
- Birthplace: Turda, Romania
- Daniel Chee Tsui (Chinese: 崔琦; pinyin: Cuī Qí, born February 28, 1939) is a Chinese-born American physicist whose areas of research included electrical properties of thin films and microstructures of semiconductors and solid-state physics. In 1998, along with Horst L. Störmer and Robert Laughlin, Tsui was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect. Daniel Tsui was previously the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, retiring in 2010. From 2011 to 2013, he was a research professor at Boston University.
- Birthplace: Henan, China
- Adrienne Louise Clarkson (Chinese: 伍冰枝; pinyin: Wǔ Bīngzhī; née Poy, February 10, 1939) is a Hong Kong-born Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 26th since Canadian Confederation. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 1941, as a refugee from Japanese-occupied Hong Kong, and was raised in Ottawa. After receiving a number of university degrees, Clarkson worked as a producer and broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and a journalist for various magazines. Her first diplomatic posting came in the early 1980s, when she promoted Ontarian culture in France and other European countries. She was in 1999 appointed as governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien, to replace Roméo LeBlanc as viceroy and she occupied the post until succeeded by Michaëlle Jean in 2005. While Clarkson's appointment as the Canadian vicereine was generally welcomed at first, she caused some controversy during her time serving as the Queen's representative, mostly due to costs incurred in the operation of her office, as well as a somewhat anti-monarchist attitude toward the position. On October 3, 2005, Clarkson was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. She subsequently published her memoirs, founded the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, and became Colonel-in-Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry.
- Birthplace: Hong Kong, China
- Bernard Verley was an actor who made a successful career for himself in film. Verley's early acting career consisted of roles in various films, such as the comedic fantasy "The Milky Way" (1970) with Laurent Terzieff, "Chloe in the Afternoon" (1972) and "Le Feu Aux Levres" (1973). He also appeared in the Jean-Claude Brialy experimental "Le Fantome de la Liberte" (1974) and "Les Mal Partis" (1975) with France Dougnac. In the nineties, Verley devoted his time to various credits, such as "3000 Scenarios contre un virus" (1994), "Loose Screws" (1994) and "Rosine" (1994) starring Eloise Charretier. He also worked on "Six Days, Six Nights" with Anne Parillaud (1994). Film continued to be his passion as he played roles in "Les Terres froides" (1999), "The Colour of Lies" (1999) with Sandrine Bonnaire and the Catherine Frot comedy "La Dilettante" (1999). He also appeared in "Lucie Aubrac" (1999) and the Clement Sibony comedic drama "L' Envol" (2000). Verley most recently acted in "Un autre vie" (2014).
- Birthplace: Lille, France
- Benjamin "Bob" Clark (August 5, 1939 – April 4, 2007) was an American actor, director, screenwriter and producer best known for directing and writing the script with Jean Shepherd to the 1983 Christmas film A Christmas Story. Although he worked primarily in the United States, from 1973 to 1983 he worked in Canada and was responsible for some of the most successful films in Canadian film history such as Black Christmas (1974), Murder by Decree (1979), Tribute (1980), and Porky's (1981).
- Birthplace: USA, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Dr. Allen E. Fox (born June 25, 1939) is a former world class tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. He was ranked as high as U.S. No. 4 in 1962, and was in the top ten in the U.S. five times between 1961 and 1968.
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
- Claude Antoine Marie François (French: [klod ɑ̃twan maʁi fʁɑ̃swa]; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (composed by Jacques Revaux and himself), the original version of "My Way" and composed the music of "Parce que je t'aime mon enfant", the original version of "My Boy". Among his most famous songs are "Le Téléphone Pleure", "Le lundi au soleil", "Magnolias for Ever", "Alexandrie Alexandra" and "Cette année là". François sold some 70 million records during his career (and after his death) and was about to embark for the US when he was accidentally electrocuted in March 1978 at age 39.Former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is quoted as saying Claude François was, to him, "the French equivalent of The Beatles, meaning the great talent of a generation".
- Birthplace: Ismaïlia, Egypt
- Alfred "Al" Unser (born May 29, 1939) is a retired American automobile racing driver. He was the second of four men (A. J. Foyt, himself, Rick Mears and Hélio Castroneves) to have won the Indianapolis 500 four times (1970, 1971, 1978, 1987), the fourth of five to have won the race in consecutive years, and won the National Championship in 1970, 1983, and 1985. He is the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr.
- Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Edward Sanders (born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author, publisher and longtime member of the band the Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have been active and "present at the counterculture's creation."
- Birthplace: Kansas City, Missouri
- Benjamin Jerome Cayetano (born November 14, 1939) is an American politician and author who served as the fifth governor of the State of Hawaii from 1994 to 2002. He is the first Filipino American to serve as a state governor in the United States.
- Birthplace: Kalihi, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
- Alfred Gray (October 22, 1939 – October 27, 1998) was an American mathematician whose main research interests were in differential geometry. He also made contributions in the fields of complex variables and differential equations.
- Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
Bob Giraldi
Age: 86Bob Giraldi (born January 17, 1939) is an American film and television director known for directing the film Dinner Rush and the music video for Michael Jackson's song "Beat It". He is considered one of the pioneers for bringing music videos to America. Bob has been inducted into the Art Director’s Hall of Fame, one of the few film directors to be honored; and, in 2014, was the first director ever to be inducted to the Advertising Hall of Fame. His work has garnered several London International Awards, Cannes Advertising Awards, NY International Awards, Addy Awards, Chicago Film Festival Awards, and dozens of Clio Awards. He has been named one of the 101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising.- Birthplace: Paterson, New Jersey
Arnold J. Levine
Age: 85Arnold J. Levine, is a United States Molecular biologist. He was awarded the 1998 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry and was the first recipient of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research in 2001 for his discovery of the tumor suppressor protein p53. He is currently Professor of Systems Biology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton New Jersey.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
Ed Victor
Age: 86Edward Victor (9 September 1939 – 7 June 2017) was an American literary agent, based in London for much of his career.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Edward Verne Roberts (January 23, 1939 – March 14, 1995) was an American activist. He was the first student who relied on a wheelchair to attend the University of California, Berkeley. He was a pioneering leader of the disability rights movement.
- Andrew Charles Cyrille (born November 10, 1939) is an American avant-garde jazz drummer. Throughout his career, he has performed both as a leader and a sideman in the bands of Walt Dickerson and Cecil Taylor, among others.
- Birthplace: New York
- Breyten Breytenbach (; born 16 September 1939) is a South African writer and painter known for his opposition to apartheid, and consequent imprisonment by the South African government. He is informally considered as the national poet laureate by Afrikaans-speaking South Africans of the region. He also holds French citizenship.
- Birthplace: Bonnievale, Western Cape
- Diane Helen Wood Middlebrook (April 16, 1939 – December 15, 2007) was an American biographer, poet, and teacher. She taught feminist studies for many years at Stanford University. She is best known for critically acclaimed biographies of poets Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath (along with Plath's husband Ted Hughes), and jazz musician Billy Tipton. Middlebrook was preparing a biography of the Roman poet Ovid, to be published in 2008. Her death brought that project to a close. Middlebrook held no illusions about the difficulties facing a biographer. In an interview on her professional life, she said: "With a biography there is no straight line; all is muddled. You don't know what you know, you don't know what you don't know; if you find anything you make a note about it because some day it may find its partner. You have to have very good ways of keeping track of what you have found and where you have put it."
- Birthplace: Pocatello, Idaho
- Brett Whiteley, AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes. He held many exhibitions, and lived and painted in Australia as well as Italy, England, Fiji and the United States.
- Birthplace: Sydney, Australia
- Carl Dennis (born September 17, 1939), an American poet and educator. His book Practical Gods won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
- Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
- Carl Michael Yastrzemski (; nicknamed "Yaz"; born August 22, 1939) is an American former Major League Baseball player. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. Yastrzemski played his entire 23-year Major League career with the Boston Red Sox (1961–1983). He was primarily a left fielder, but also played 33 games as a third baseman and mostly was a first baseman and designated hitter later in his career. Yastrzemski is an 18-time All-Star, the possessor of seven Gold Gloves, a member of the 3,000 hit club, and the first American League player in that club to also accumulate over 400 home runs. He is second on the all-time list for games played, and third for total at-bats. He is the Red Sox' all-time leader in career RBIs, runs, hits, singles, doubles, total bases, and games played, and is third on the team's list for home runs behind Ted Williams and David Ortiz.In 1967 Yastrzemski achieved a peak in his career, leading the Red Sox to the American League pennant for the first time in over two decades and being voted the 1967 American League MVP. Yastrzemski also won the Triple Crown that year, a milestone which was not accomplished again in the Major Leagues until Miguel Cabrera achieved the feat 45 years later in 2012.
- Birthplace: USA, Southampton, New York
- Chögyam Trungpa (Wylie: Chos rgyam Drung pa; March 5, 1939 – April 4, 1987) was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision. Recognized both by Tibetan Buddhists and by other spiritual practitioners and scholars as a preeminent teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, he was a major figure in the dissemination of Buddhism to the West, founding Vajradhatu and Naropa University and establishing the Shambhala Training method. Among his contributions are the translation of numerous Tibetan texts, the introduction of the Vajrayana teachings to the West, and a presentation of the Buddhadharma largely devoid of ethnic trappings. Trungpa coined the term crazy wisdom. Some of his teaching methods and actions were the topic of controversy during his lifetime and afterwards.
- Birthplace: Qinghai, China
Brian Lowe
Age: 85Brian Lowe (born 25 June 1939) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in Tasmania and Victoria from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. He was inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame in 2005. Lowe, a ruckman, played with Geelong in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 1960s while Bob Davis was coach and were starting to develop into a strong side. A member of Geelong's 1961 'night premiership' team, Lowe played in the drawn 1962 VFL Preliminary Final against Carlton as well as the narrow loss in the replay the following weekend. Geelong again made the finals again in 1963 but Lowe, despite participating in their Semi Final defeat of Hawthorn Football Club which booked a place in the Grand Final, was not selected in the premiership decider, which they won. Upon leaving Geelong, Lowe become captain/coach of Tasmanian club Cooee and represented the state, as vice-captain, in the 1966 Hobart Carnival. His original club, City-South, placed him in the back pocket of their official 'Team of the Century'.- Feroz Khan or Feroze Khan may refer to: Feroz Khan (actor) (1939–2009), Indian actor and film director Feroz Khan Noon (1893–1970), Pakistani politician and 8th Prime Minister of Pakistan Feroze Khan (born 1990), Pakistani VJ, television actor, and model Feroze Khan (field hockey) (1904–2005), Pakistani hockey player, and Olympic gold medalist Feroz Abbas Khan (born 1959), Indian theatre and film director Feroz (actor) (born 1968), Indian film and television actor Farooq Feroze Khan (born 1939), Chairman joint chiefs and the Pakistan Air Force general
- Birthplace: India, Bangalore
- Korean-American filmmaker Dennis Lee, nephew of well respected Korean novelist Choi In-ho, began his career with a 2003 short comic film called "Jesus Henry Christ," about a rebellious young boy at a private Christian school. Lee made his full-length debut in 2008 as writer and director of the family drama "Fireflies in the Garden," starring Ryan Reynolds, Julia Roberts and Emily Watson. The film made its debut at the Berlin International Film Festival but did not get wide release until 2011. In 2012, Lee returned with a feature-length reworking of "Jesus Henry Christ," starring Toni Colette and Welsh character actor Michael Sheen in the adult roles.
- Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- William Orland Kilmer, Jr. (born September 5, 1939) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, and Washington Redskins. He played college football at UCLA.
- Birthplace: Topeka, Kansas
- Bobby Jones (born September 18, 1939 in Henry, Tennessee, United States) is an American Gospel music singer and television host from Nashville, Tennessee and the host and executive producer of several cable television's gospel music programs including the former Bobby Jones Gospel. Jones is referred as the Ed Sullivan of gospel music. He has assisted numerous gospel stars in propelling their talents of numerous gospel stars and has a lot of trophies racked up at his Nashville home for his contributions to music. Bobby Jones Gospel was canceled and went off the air in 2015.
- Birthplace: Tennessee, USA, Henry
Roy S Roberts
Age: 86Roy S. Roberts is an American business executive who had a long, distinguished career at General Motors before retiring as group vice president, North American Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing in 2000. He is also a former Managing Director at Reliant Equity Investors. As of November, 2012 he is the Detroit Public Schools' Emergency Financial Manager and Board Chairman of the Education Achievement Authority of Michigan. He is considered a pioneer for African-Americans in the auto industry. He once told Forbes magazine, "I've been the first black everywhere I went. One of my jobs is to see I'm not the last." An August 1988 article published in The New York Times stated Roberts was the second African-American vice-president at GM. For much of his career he was the highest-ranking African-American in the automobile industry. Roberts began his professional career working on an assembly line at Lear Siegler while attending Western Michigan University. In addition to the executive positions he has held in his professional career, Roberts has also played important roles while serving in numerous volunteer and civic organizations.Antonio Colorado
Age: 85Antonio José Colorado Laguna (born September 8, 1939) is a lawyer and politician from New York City, U.S.. He served as Secretary of State of Puerto Rico and Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico for the administration of Rafael Hernández Colón.- Birthplace: New York, USA
- Nils Börje Ahlstedt (born 21 February 1939) is a Swedish actor who has worked extensively with the world-famous director Ingmar Bergman in films like Fanny and Alexander (1982), The Best Intentions (1992), Sunday's Children (1992) and Saraband (2003). Ahlstedt has also worked with the directors Bo Widerberg and Kay Pollak. Börje Ahlstedt was born in Stockholm. He went to the school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre 1962-1965 and has belonged to the ensemble of the theatre since then.Early in his acting career, Ahlstedt starred in the films I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) and I Am Curious (Blue) (1968). Ahlstedt has also been in plays and films based on the dramas written by August Strindberg as well as in films based on the children’s books by Astrid Lindgren, for instance playing the father of Ronia in Ronia the Robber's Daughter. At the 26th Guldbagge Awards he won the award for Best Actor for his role in The Rabbit Man.In January 2006 the American newspaper USA Today suggested that Ahlstedt should be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Saraband, with the comment "He shows you what it's like to be an aging version of a man who was already broken in his 20s".Ahlstedt has been married to Birgitta Hermann since 1965.In 2013 Ahlstedt appears as "Pápá Fouras", the new Swedish version of "Père Fouras", in the 15th season of Fångarna på Fortet (the Swedish version of French game show, Fort Boyard) on TV4. Ahlstedt is seen inside the fort's Watch Tower and sets riddles for certain contestants; if the contestants give the correct answer, they receive a key.
- Birthplace: Stockholm, Sweden
- Dennis J. "Denny" O'Neil (born May 3, 1939) is an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement. His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. As of 2013, he sits on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and serves on its Disbursement Committee.
- Birthplace: St. Louis, Missouri
Carmen Argibay
Dec. at 74 (1939-2014)Carmen María Argibay (15 June 1939 – 10 May 2014) was a member of the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice. She was the first woman to be nominated for the Court by a democratic government in Argentina, and caused some controversy upon declaring herself an atheist and a supporter of legal abortion.- Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Elisabeth Chojnacka
Age: 85Elisabeth Chojnacka (born Elżbieta Ukraińczyk; 10 September 1939 – 28 May 2017) was a Polish harpsichordist living in France. She was one of the world's foremost harpsichordists specializing in the performance of contemporary harpsichord music.- Birthplace: Poland
- Edward "Ed" Giacomin (born June 6, 1939) is a retired professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League, as well as for the Providence Reds of the American Hockey League.
- Birthplace: Greater Sudbury, Canada
- Delano Floyd "Del" McCoury (born February 1, 1939) is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respectively. In June 2010, he received a National Heritage Fellowship lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2011 he was elected into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
- Birthplace: York, Pennsylvania
Elizabeth Dawn
Age: 85Sylvia Ann Ibbetson (née Butterfield; 8 November 1939 – 25 September 2017), known professionally as Elizabeth Dawn or Liz Dawn, was an English actress, best known for her role as Vera Duckworth in the long-running British soap opera Coronation Street. First starting on the serial in 1974, she had a recurring role as a factory worker until her husband, Jack, (played by Bill Tarmey) first appeared in 1979. She played the character of Vera for 34 years. For her role in the soap, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 British Soap Awards. She was appointed an MBE in the 2000 Queens Birthday Honours.- Birthplace: Leeds, England
Richard M. Levy
Age: 86Dr. Richard Levy heads Varian Medical Systems, a 1 billion company providing high energy radiation machines and associated hardware and software for treating cancer, and x-ray tubes for diagnostic radiology. With over 3,500 radiotherapy systems in place delivering treatments to more than 1,000,000 cancer patients per year, the company holds a clear leadership position in this technology, which is used to treat over 50% of all cancer patients in the U.S. Varian Medical Systems also ranks as the world’s largest merchant supplier of X-ray tubes, including products for use in CT scanners, mammography units, and other diagnostic systems. A third segment of the company, the Edward L. Ginzton Technology Center, functions as a Central Research Department and a developer and incubator of promising new businesses in health care technologies. Varian Medical Systems was formed in April 1999 following the spin-off of the Semiconductor and Instruments businesses from Varian Associates, Inc., a $1.6 billion multi-business company founded in 1948. The company is traded under the original symbol, VAR, on the New York Stock Exchange. Dr. Levy joined Varian in 1968 as a regional sales manager and was selected to head the company’s medical activities in 1986. He was appointed a senior vice president of the corporation in 1989, and during the 1989-1992 period oversaw several other business areas, including Semiconductor Equipment and Vacuum Products. From 1992 until the time of the spin, Mr. Levy served as an executive vice president of the corporation, with operational responsibilities for the medical businesses and the Ginzton Technology Center. Dr. Levy’s background is well suited to his demanding role. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a doctorate in nuclear chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. He began his business career at the Monsanto Company, where he served as a research specialist and project manager in both basic and applied research. Within Varian, prior to assuming General Management and CEO duties, he oversaw Sales, Marketing, Service, RD, and various corporate functions as well as managing the corporate Quality Program. Dr. Levy is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the Board of Directors of Pharmacyclics, Inc. and AdvaMed (Advanced Medical Technology Association). He is a past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Electronics Association, America’s largest high-technology trade organization, and he served on the Board of Directors of the Diagnostic Imaging and Therapy Systems Division of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association.- Barbara Liskov (born November 7, 1939 as Barbara Jane Huberman) is an American computer scientist who is an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ford Professor of Engineering in its School of Engineering's electrical engineering and computer science department. She was one of the first women to be granted a doctorate in computer science in the United States and is a Turing Award winner who developed the Liskov substitution principle.
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
- Charles Alexander Jencks is an American architecture theorist and critic, landscape architect and designer. His books on the history and criticism of modernism and postmodernism are widely read in architectural circles. He studied under the influential architectural historians Sigfried Giedion and Reyner Banham. Jencks now lives in Scotland where he designs landscape sculpture.
- Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
- James Brian Jacques (, as in "Jakes"; 15 June 1939 – 5 February 2011) was an English writer known for his Redwall series of novels and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman series. He also completed two collections of short stories entitled The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns and Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales.
- Birthplace: Liverpool, United Kingdom
- For the journalist, author, and politician, see Bill Keith.William Bradford "Bill" Keith (December 20, 1939 – October 23, 2015) was a five-string banjoist who made a significant contribution to the stylistic development of the instrument. In the 1960s he introduced a variation on the popular "Scruggs style" of banjo playing (an integral element of bluegrass music) which would soon become known as melodic style, or "Keith style".
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Brian Francis Wynne Garfield (January 26, 1939 – December 29, 2018) was an American novelist and screenwriter. He wrote his first published book at the age of 18 and wrote many novels under such pen names as "Frank Wynne" and "'Brian Wynne" before gaining prominence when his book Hopscotch (1975) won the 1976 Edgar Award for Best Novel. He is best known for his 1972 novel Death Wish, which was adapted for the 1974 film of the same title, followed by four sequels, and the 2018 remake. His follow-up 1975 sequel to Death Wish, Death Sentence, was very loosely adapted into the 2007 film of the same name; it had an entirely different storyline, but with the novel's same look on vigilantism. Garfield is also the author of The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History. Garfield's latest book, published in 2007, is Meinertzhagen, the biography of controversial British intelligence officer Richard Meinertzhagen. Garfield was born in New York City, the son of Frances O'Brien, a portrait artist, and George Garfield. He was the nephew of chorus dancer and stage manager Chester O'Brien. Garfield died in Pasadena, California, in December 2018 at the age of 79.
- David Jacobs (August 12, 1939 – August 20, 2023) was an American television writer, producer, and director. He is most well known as the creator of the CBS primetime series Dallas, Knots Landing, and Paradise.
- Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
- Ferre Grignard is a film score composer.
- Birthplace: Antwerp, Belgium
Bo Gritz
Age: 86James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (; born January 18, 1939) is a former United States Army Special Forces officer who served for 22 years, including in the Vietnam War. His activities in retirement, notably attempted POW rescues in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, have been controversial. Gritz ran for United States president under the Populist Party in 1992. Gritz ran in 1992 under the slogan: "God, Guns and Gritz," and published an isolationist political manifesto titled "The Bill of Gritz". Gritz has four children. Gritz until recently lived in Sandy Valley, Nevada, with his fourth wife Judy, now estranged. He currently lives in Nevada.- Birthplace: Oklahoma
- Carol Lynn Wright Pearson (born December 1, 1939) is an American poet, author, screenwriter, and playwright. A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Pearson is best known for her book Goodbye, I Love You, a memoir of her marriage to a gay man who died of AIDS in 1984. She frequently addresses the topics of LGBT acceptance and the role of Mormon women.
- Birthplace: Salt Lake City, Utah
Arlene Howell
Age: 85Arlene Howell (born Eurlyne Howell, October 25, 1939) is a former American television actress from northern Louisiana who won the title of Miss USA of 1958.- Birthplace: Delhi, Louisiana, USA
- Cynthia Scott (born January 1, 1939) RCA, is an Oscar and Canadian Film Award winning filmmaker who has produced, directed, written and edited several films with the National Film Board of Canada. She is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. She is married to filmmaker John N. Smith. Her work with the NFB is mainly focused on documentary filmmaking. Some of Scott's most notable documentaries for the NFB feature dancing and the dance world including Flamenco at 5:15 (1983), which won an Academy Award for Documentary Short at the 56th Academy Awards in 1984.
- Birthplace: Winnipeg, Canada
- Clara M. Lovett is an American educator and the former president of Northern Arizona University.
- Birthplace: Trieste, Italy
- Aníbal António Cavaco Silva, GCC, GColL (Portuguese pronunciation: [ɐˈniβɐɫ ɐ̃ˈtɔɲu kɐˈvaku ˈsiɫvɐ]; born 15 July 1939), is an economist who was the 19th President of Portugal, in office from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016. He had been previously Prime Minister of Portugal from 6 November 1985 to 28 October 1995. His 10-year tenure was the longest of any prime minister since António de Oliveira Salazar, and he was the first Portuguese prime minister to win an absolute parliamentary majority under the current constitutional system. He is best known for leading Portugal into the European Union. He won the 22 January 2006 presidential election and was re-elected on 23 January 2011 for a second five-year term. During his second term, his perceived disregard of the results of the 2015 election most likely contributed to him having the lowest level of popularity for a Portuguese President since the Carnation Revolution.
- Birthplace: Boliqueime, Portugal
- Vladimir Valentinovich Menshov (Russian: Влади́мир Валенти́нович Меньшо́в; born 17 September 1939 in Baku) is a Soviet and Russian actor and film director. He is noted for depicting the Russian everyman and working class life in his films. Although his output as an actor outnumbers his output as a director, he is best known for the five films he directed, the most famous of which is the 1979 melodrama Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Actress Vera Alentova, who starred in the film, is the mother of Vladimir Menshov's daughter Yuliya Menshova.
- Birthplace: Baku, Azerbaijan
- Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré (31 October 1939 – 6 March 2006) was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues. The belief that the latter is historically derived from the former is reflected in Martin Scorsese's often quoted characterization of Touré's tradition as constituting "the DNA of the blues". Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 37 on Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
- Birthplace: Mali, Timbuktu Cercle, Timbuktu
- Francis Xavier "Frank" McCloskey (June 12, 1939 – November 2, 2003) was a six-term Democratic representative from Indiana from January 3, 1983, to January 3, 1995, widely remembered for his advocacy on behalf of Bosnian Muslims. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Bloomington, Indiana after receiving an undergraduate (majoring in political science) and J.D. degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law. He was the Democratic nominee for a seat in the Indiana House of Representatives in 1970. Frank McCloskey worked as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, the Bloomington Herald-Telephone, and the City News Bureau in Chicago.
- Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (20 May 1939 – 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was an Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Born in a Sri Lankan Tamil family, he developed a passion for photography and literature at a young age. After witnessing the shoot of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) during a school trip in Sri Lanka, he was drawn towards filmmaking. He graduated from the London University and started his career as a draughtsman with the Sri Lankan Government. In 1966, he moved to India and gained admission to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to pursue a course in motion picture photography. Upon completion of his diploma, he entered Malayalam cinema as a cinematographer in the early 1970s. After working in over 20 films as a cinematographer, Mahendra made his directorial debut in 1977 with the Kannada film Kokila. Since then, he directed over 20 films in a span of 36 years. Along with P. Bharathiraja and J. Mahendran, he is regarded as a trendsetter in Tamil cinema. During the tail end of his career, he established a film school in Chennai, which offers courses in cinematography, direction and acting. Following a brief phase of poor health, Mahendra died of cardiac arrest in February 2014. Widely regarded as an auteur, Mahendra usually scripted and edited his films apart from shooting them. He was the recipient of six National Film Awards (including two for Best Cinematography), five Filmfare Awards South and several state government awards.
- Birthplace: Sri Lanka, Batticaloa
- Frances Taylor was a film score composer.
- Birthplace: Rome, Italy
- Eugene Francis "Gene" Fama (; born February 14, 1939) is an American economist, best known for his empirical work on portfolio theory, asset pricing, and the efficient-market hypothesis. He is currently Robert R. McCormick Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2013, he shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen. The Research Papers in Economics project ranked him as the 9th-most influential economist of all-time based on his academic contributions, as of April 2019.
- Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
- Barry Nathaniel Malzberg (born July 24, 1939) is an American writer and editor, most often of science fiction and fantasy.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld, and for 2013's If Mayors Ruled the World as well as the classic of democratic theory, 1984's Strong Democracy (revised in 2004). He became a top-level international consultant on participatory democracy as well as an adviser to Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, and Muammar Gaddafi.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
Edward Kleban
Dec. at 48 (1939-1987)Edward “Ed” Kleban (April 30, 1939 – December 28, 1987) was an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. Kleban was born in the Bronx, New York in 1939 and graduated from New York's High School of Music & Art and Columbia University, where he attended with future playwright Terrence McNally. Kleban is best known as lyricist of the Broadway hit A Chorus Line. He and composer Marvin Hamlisch won the 1976 Tony Award for Best Original Score, and he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1976 with Hamlisch and three other contributors to the musical. The one-woman Phyllis Newman show, The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979), featured a few tunes with his lyrics. For several years he worked at Columbia Records, where he produced albums by performers as diverse as Igor Stravinsky and Percy Faith and the album for the Off-Broadway musical Now Is The Time For All Good Men. He was a teacher for many years at the BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) Musical Theater Workshop.Kleban died of complications from throat cancer on December 28, 1987 at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- One of the first and most successful professional athletes to transition into the acting profession, Bernie Casey was born in Wyco, West Virginia in 1939. He excelled in football and track and field at Bowling Green State University, where he won three consecutive Mid-American Conference titles in the high-hurdles. After being drafted by the NFL in 1961, Casey played for six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and for two with the Los Angeles Rams, finishing in the top ten NFL receivers four times over the course of his career. Casey was also an avid artist, studying painting in college. He would grow as an artist, especially after retiring from football in 1968, and hosted several prestigious exhibitions of his work. Casey also began taking an interest in drama, and pursued acting jobs following his NFL retirement. He appeared in the thriller "...tick...tick...tick.." (1970) in 1970, and in Martin Scorsese's "Boxcar Bertha" (1973) two years later. After appearing alongside David Bowie in "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (1976), Casey was cast to play the longstanding role of American agent Felix Leiter in the Bond film "Never Say Never Again" (1983). An even more memorable role for Casey would come the following year, when he played the president of the Lamba Lamba Lamba fraternity in the smash comedy hit "Revenge of the Nerds" (1984). Following a memorable turn as John Slade in "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988) and an appearance in the action blockbuster "Under Siege" (1992), Casey stepped behind the camera to write, produce, and direct the film "The Dinner" (1997), which featured African-American men discussing issues of racism in American society over the dinner table. The thought provoking film was perceived as something of a departure by some, but those familiar with Casey's reflective mind were not at all surprised-he did publish two books of poetry, after all. Casey's final film appearance was in a film directed by legendary actor and filmmaker Fred Williamson, the horror romp "Vegas Vampires" (2007). Bernie Casey died on September 19, 2017. He was 78 years old.
- Birthplace: Wyco, West Virginia, USA
- Cleveland Josephus "Cleve" Eaton II (born August 31, 1939) is an American jazz double bassist, producer, arranger, composer, publisher, and head of his own record company from Fairfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. His most famous accomplishments are playing with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and the Count Basie Orchestra. His 1975 recording Plenty Good Eaton is considered a classic in the funk music genre. He has been inducted into both the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.
- Birthplace: Fairfield, Alabama
- Frank Bidart (born May 27, 1939 in Bakersfield, California) is an American academic and poet, and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
- Birthplace: Bakersfield, California
- David Hackett Souter (; born September 17, 1939) is a retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from October 1990 until his retirement in June 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by William J. Brennan Jr., Souter sat on both the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts. Souter grew up in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and attended Harvard College, Magdalen College, Oxford, and Harvard Law School. After briefly working in private practice, he moved to public service. He served as a prosecutor (1966–1968), in the New Hampshire Attorney General's office (1968–1976), as the Attorney General of New Hampshire (1976–1978), as an Associate Justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire (1978–1983), as an Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court (1983–1990) and briefly as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (1990).He was nominated for the Supreme Court without a significant "paper trail" but was expected to be a conservative Justice. Within a few years of his appointment Souter moved towards the center and eventually came to vote reliably with the Court's liberal wing.Following the election of Barack Obama, a Democratic President, Souter was more inclined to leave the Court and return to New Hampshire. He announced his retirement in mid-2009 and was succeeded by Sonia Sotomayor. Souter continues to hear cases by designation at the circuit court level.
- Birthplace: Melrose, Massachusetts, USA
- David Louis Goodstein (born April 5, 1939) is an American physicist and educator. From 1988 to 2007 he served as Vice-provost of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he is also a professor of physics and applied physics, as well as (since 1995) the Frank J. Gilloon Distinguished Teaching and Service Professor.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
