Share:

People: Famous People born in 1939

People in chronological context: 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1939th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 939th year of the 2nd millennium, the 39th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1930s decade. This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. ()

People in decade: 1800s | 1810s | 1820s | 1830s | 1840s | 1850s | 1860s | 1870s | 1880s | 1890s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s


Sort by:
2,581 people found (page 1/87):

Lee Majors(85)

Actor | Wyandotte, Michigan

Lee Majors(bornHarvey Lee Yearyon April 23, 1939) is an American television, film and voice actor, best known for his roles as Heath Barkley in the TV seriesThe Big Valley(1965–69), as ColonelSteve AustininThe Six Million Dollar Man(1973–78) and as Colt Seavers inThe Fall Guy(1981–86). In the late 1980s and 1990s, he reprized the role of Steve Austin in a number of TV movies, and appeared in a number of supporting, recurring and cameo roles in feature films and TV series, and lent his voice to a number of animated TV series and video games..

* 04/23/1939

Wes Craven(† 76)

Crew | Cleveland, Ohio (US)

Wesley Earl"Wes"Craven(August 2, 1939– August 30, 2015) was a prolific and influentialAmerican film director, writer, producer, and occasional actor known for his pioneering workin the horror genre, and particularly in the teenslasher subgenre. Among his best-known works are such landmark films as "The Last House on the Left" (1972), "The Hills Have Eyes" (1977), "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) and the "Scream" series (1996–2011).

* 08/02/1939

Harvey Keitel(84)

Actor | Brooklyn, New York (US)

Harvey Keitel ( ky-TEL; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with director Martin Scorsese, starring in six of his films: Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and The Irishman (2019). Keitel received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mickey Cohen in Bugsy (1991). He won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Piano (1993). Keitel has starred in several other films, including Blue Collar (1978), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Holy Smoke! (1998), Cop Land (1997), and Youth (2015). Additionally, Keitel has starred in three films directed by Wes Anderson: Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). Keitel played Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Peter Sadusky in both National Treasure (2004), and National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2006) and reprised his role in the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History (2022). From 1995 to 2017, he was a co-president of the Actors Studio, alongside Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn.

* 05/13/1939

Ian McKellen(84)

Actor | Burnley, Lancashire, England (GB)

Sir Ian Murray McKellen, CH, CBE (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. He is the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a BIF Award, two Saturn Awards, four Drama Desk Awards and two Critics' Choice Awards. He has also received two Academy Award nominations, eight BAFTA film and TV nominations and five Emmy Award nominations. McKellen's work spans genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. His notable film roles include Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies and Magneto in the X-Men films.

* 05/25/1939

William Devane(84)

Actor | Albany, New York (US)

William Joseph Devane (born September 5, 1937) is an American film, television and theater actor, known for his role as Greg Sumner on the primetime soap opera Knots Landing and as James Heller on the Fox serial drama 24, the role he reprised in Live Another Day. He is also known for his supporting roles in films such as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Family Plot), Marathon Man, Rolling Thunder and Space Cowboys.Devane began his acting career with the New York Shakespeare Festival where he performed in 15 plays. In 1966, Devane portrayed Robert F. Kennedy in the Off-Broadway spoof MacBird. He gained acclaim for his role as President John F. Kennedy in a television docudrama about the Cuban Missile Crisis, The Missiles of October, and again when he played blacklisted radio personality John Henry Faulk in the Emmy Award-winning TV movie Fear on Trial. He is widely known for his ten years as the ambitious and hardnosed politician-turned-corporate titan Greg Sumner on Knots Landing.In 1994, Devane appeared as Al Capone in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in an episode entitled "That Old Gang of Mine". He also had a recurring role on the CBS show Early Edition as the lead character's father. Devane appeared in the films McCabe & Mrs. Miller; Lady Liberty; Family Plot; Marathon Man; Rolling Thunder; Yanks; Testament; Timestalkers; Forgotten Sins; Exception to the Rule; Payback; Hollow Man and Space Cowboys.Devane has played members of the Presidential Cabinet on two evening dramas. In 2004, on The West Wing, he guest-starred as the Secretary of State and potential Vice-Presidential nominee. Devane appeared in several scenes with Martin Sheen; they also appeared together as President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, respectively, 30 years earlier in The Missiles of October. In 2005, he joined the cast of 24 as Secretary of Defense James Heller for seasons 4, 5 and 6.

* 09/05/1939

George Hamilton(84)

Actor | Memphis, Tennessee (US)

George Stevens Hamilton (born August 12, 1939) is an American actor. His notable films include Home from the Hill (1960), Where the Boys Are (1960), Angel Baby (1961), By Love Possessed (1961), A Thunder of Drums (1961), Light in the Piazza (1962), Two Weeks in Another Town (1962), The Victors (1963), Looking for Love (1964), Your Cheatin' Heart (1964), Viva Maria! (1965), Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding! (1967), Jack of Diamonds (1967), The Power (1968), Evel Knievel (1971), The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973), Once Is Not Enough (1975), Love at First Bite (1979), Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981), The Godfather Part III (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991), Once Upon a Crime (1992), 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag (1997), Hollywood Ending (2002), and The Congressman (2016). For his debut performance in Crime and Punishment U.S.A. (1959), Hamilton won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for a BAFTA Award. He has received one additional BAFTA nomination and two Golden Globe nominations. Hamilton began his film career in 1958, and although he has a substantial body of work in film and television, he is perhaps most famous for his debonair style, perpetual suntan, and commercials for Ritz Crackers. Bo Derek wrote in her autobiography that "there was an ongoing contest between John Derek and George Hamilton as to who had the most tan!".

* 08/12/1939

John Cleese(84)

Actor | Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England (GB)

John Marwood Cleese ( KLEEZ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and presenter. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. Along with his Python costars Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983). In the mid-1970s, Cleese and first wife Connie Booth cowrote the sitcom Fawlty Towers, in which he starred as hotel owner Basil Fawlty, for which he won the 1980 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance. In 2000, the show topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, and in a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. Cleese costarred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Fierce Creatures (1997), both of which he also wrote. For A Fish Called Wanda, he received Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and Golden Globe Award nominations. He has also starred in Time Bandits (1981), Clockwise (1986), and Rat Race (2001) and acted in Silverado (1985), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), two James Bond films (as R and Q), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly Headless Nick), and the last three Shrek films. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Cheers (1987) and was nominated for 3rd Rock from the Sun (1998) and Will & Grace (2004). Cleese has specialised in political and religious satire, black comedy, sketch comedy, and surreal humour. He was ranked the second best comedian ever in a 2005 Channel 4 poll of fellow comedians. He cofounded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films as well as The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. Formerly a staunch supporter of the Liberal Democrats, in 1999, he turned down an offer from the party to nominate him for a life peerage. In 2023, he began presenting a talk show on GB News.

* 10/27/1939

John LaMotta(† 75)

Actor | Brooklyn, New York (US)

- No description / details available yet. -

* 01/08/1939

Len Cariou(84)

Actor | Winnipeg, Manitoba (CA)

Leonard Joseph Cariou (born September 30, 1939) is a Canadian actor and stage director. He gained prominence for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) alongside Angela Lansbury for which he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. He also received Tony nominations for his roles in the Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical Applause (1970), and the Sondheim A Little Night Music (1973). He is also known for his film roles in A Little Night Music (1977), The Four Seasons (1981), Thirteen Days (2000), About Schmidt (2002), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Prisoners (2013), and Spotlight (2015). He portrayed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the HBO film Into the Storm (2009) for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He also is known for his recurring television roles in Murder, She Wrote (1985-1992), Brotherhood (2005-2006), and Damages (2010). Since 2010, he has starred as the patriarch Henry Reagan, NYPD Police Commissioner (retired), in the multi-generational CBS series Blue Bloods.

* 09/30/1939

Francis Ford Coppola(85)

Crew | Detroit, Michigan (US)

Francis Ford Coppola ( KOH-pəl-ə, Italian: [ˈkɔppola]; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood film movement of the 1960s and 1970s and is widely considered one of the greatest directors of all time. He is the recipient of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, two Palmes d'Or, and a British Academy Film Award (BAFTA). After directing The Rain People in 1969, Coppola co-wrote Patton (1970), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with Edmund H. North. Coppola's reputation as a filmmaker was cemented with the release of The Godfather (1972), which revolutionized the gangster genre of filmmaking, receiving strong commercial and critical reception. The Godfather won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Mario Puzo). The Godfather Part II (1974) became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Highly regarded by critics, the film earned Coppola two more Academy Awards, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director, making him the second director (after Billy Wilder) to win these three awards for the same film. Also in 1974, Coppola released the thriller The Conversation, which received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. His next film, the war epic Apocalypse Now (1979), which had a notoriously lengthy and strenuous production, was widely acclaimed for vividly depicting the Vietnam War. It also won the Palme d'Or, making Coppola one of only ten filmmakers to have won the award twice. Other notable films Coppola has released since the start of the 1980s include the dramas The Outsiders and Rumble Fish (both 1983), The Cotton Club (1984), Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), The Godfather Part III (1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) and The Rainmaker (1997). Coppola has acted as producer on such diverse films as American Graffiti (1973), The Black Stallion (1979), The Escape Artist (1982), Hammett (1982), Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) and The Secret Garden (1993). Many of Coppola's relatives and children have become popular actors and filmmakers in their own right: his sister Talia Shire is an actress, his daughter Sofia is a director, his son Roman is a screenwriter, and his nephews Jason Schwartzman and Nicolas Cage are actors. Conductor, Riccardo Muti, is his 2nd Cousin on his mother’s side (Pennino). Coppola resides in Napa, California, and since the 2010s has been a vintner, owning a family-branded winery of his own.

* 04/07/1939

Terence Hill(85)

Actor | Venice, Veneto (IT)

Terence Hill is an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer. Hill started his career as a child actor and went on to multiple starring roles in action and comedy films, many with longtime film partner and friend Bud Spencer. Wikipedia.

* 03/29/1939

Paul Gleason(† 67)

Actor | Jersey City, New Jersey (US)

Paul Xavier Gleason (May 4, 1939 – May 27, 2006) was an American film and television actor. He was known for his roles on television series such as All My Children and films such as The Breakfast Club, Trading Places, and Die Hard.

* 05/04/1939
Ad Protect Your Online Privacy with a VPN

Don't risk your personal information and online activities being exposed to hackers, government surveillance, and other online threats. A VPN encrypts your internet connection and hides your IP, giving you maximum security and privacy. Take control of your online safety, switch to a VPN now. Choose one of these services to learn more:

Mike Farrell(85)

Actor | St. Paul, Minnesota (US)

Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series M*A*S*H (1975–83). In addition, Farrell was a producer of Patch Adams (1998) starring Robin Williams, and he starred in the television series Providence (1999–2002). Farrell is also an activist and public speaker for various political causes. He has been the President of Death Penalty Focus since 1994. He is a long-time opponent of the death penalty. In 2001, Farrell said of the work: "I’ve wept many times. But I keep finding people who inspire me--some of them on death row, and more of them in the trenches, in the courts, in religious circles, fighting against the death penalty.” Farrell has helped raise defense funds for inmates he believes are innocent.

* 02/06/1939

John Amos(84)

Actor | Newark, New Jersey (US)

Early life Amos was born John Amos, Jr. in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Annabelle P. and John A. Amos, Sr., who was an auto mechanic. He graduated from East Orange (NJ) High School in 1958. He enrolled at Long Beach City College and graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in sociology. Amos also played on the Colorado State Rams football team. Amos was a Golden Gloves boxing champion. In 1964, he signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Denver Broncos. He was released before the season and played with Joliet Explorers of the United Football League. In 1965 he played with the Norfolk Neptunes and Wheeling Ironmen of the Continental Football League. In 1966 he played with the Jersey City Jets and Waterbury Orbits of the Atlantic Coast Football League. In 1967, he had signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. He was released in training camp and played that year with the Victoria Steelers of the Continental Football League.

* 12/27/1939

Paul Hogan(84)

Actor | Lightning Ridge, New South Wales (AU)

Paul Hogan, AM (born 8 October 1939) is an Australian actor best known for his role as Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee from the Crocodile Dundee film series. He was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Original Screenplayand won theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedyfor his performanceIn the first film of the series.He was married to his co-star, actress Linda Kozlowski from 1990 to 2014.

* 10/08/1939

Paul Sorvino(† 83)

Actor | Brooklyn, New York City, New York (US)

Paul Anthony Sorvino (Italian: [sorˈviːno]; April 13, 1939 – July 25, 2022) was an American actor. He often portrayed authority figures on both the criminal and the law enforcement sides of the law. Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese crime family caporegime Paulie Cicero (based on real life gangster Paul Vario) in Martin Scorsese's 1990 gangster film Goodfellas and as NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta on the second and third seasons of the TV series Law & Order. He also played a variety of father figures, including Juliet's father in Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film Romeo + Juliet, as well as guest appearances as the father of Bruce Willis' character on the TV series Moonlighting and the father of Jeff Garlin's character on The Goldbergs. He was in additional supporting roles in A Touch of Class (1973), Reds (1981, as Louis C. Fraina), The Rocketeer (1991), Nixon (1995, as Henry Kissinger), and The Cooler (2003). Usually cast in dramatic supporting roles, he occasionally acted in lead roles in films including Bloodbrothers (1978), and also in comedic roles including his turn as a bombastic Southern evangelist in Carl Reiner's Oh, God! (1977). Sorvino was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for the 1972 play That Championship Season, and later starred in film and television adaptations. He was the father of actors Mira Sorvino and Michael Sorvino.

* 04/13/1939

Fred Willard(† 80)

Actor | Shaker Heights, Ohio (US)

Frederick Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 - May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian and voice over actor known for his improvisational comedy skills. He is known for his roles in the Christopher Guest mockumentary films This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration as well as television series D.C. Follies. He is an alumnus of The Second City comedy troupe. He received three Emmy nominations for his recurring role on the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond as Robert Barone's father-in-law, Hank MacDougall.

* 09/18/1939

Richard Kiel(† 74)

Actor | Detroit, Michigan (US)

Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing 7 ft 2 in (218 cm) tall, he was known for portraying Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). Kiel's next-most-recognized role is the tough but eloquent Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore (1996). Other notable films include The Longest Yard (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Cannonball Run II (1984), Pale Rider (1985), and Tangled (2010).

* 09/13/1939

James Fox(84)

Actor | London, England (GB)

James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor. He won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for The Servant (1963). Other credits include The Miniver Story (1950), The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), King Rat (1965), The Chase (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Isadora (1968), Performance (1970), before quitting acting for several years to be an evangelical Christian. On his return to acting in the 1980s, he starred in Runners (1983), A Passage to India (1984), Comrades (1986), A Question of Attribution (1992), Patriot Games (1992), Farewell to the King (1993), Heart of Darkness (1993), The Remains of the Day (1993), Gulliver's Travels (1996), Anna Karenina (1997), and Mickey Blue Eyes (1999). From 2000 onwards he appeared in Sexy Beast (2000), 2001 adaptation of The Lost World (2001), Agatha Christie's Poirot – Death on the Nile (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Waking the Dead (2007), Lewis (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Cleanskin (2010), The Double (2013), W.E. (2010), Utopia (2013), The Great Train Robbery (2013), Death in Paradise (2015), and Surviving Christmas with the Relatives (2018).

* 05/19/1939

Kathryn Joosten(† 72)

Actress | Chicago, Illinois (US)

Joosten was born in Chicago. Her first career was as a psychiatric nurse at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, living in nearby Lake Forest, Illinois, where she married a psychiatrist and raised two sons. Following her 1980 divorce, she began acting in community theater in 1982, at age 42.

* 12/20/1939

Tina Turner(† 83)

Actress | Nutbush, Tennessee (US)

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, and actress. Known as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the husband-wife duo Ike & Tina Turner before launching a successful career as a solo performer. Born in Tennessee, Turner began her musical career with her future husband Ike Turner's band, the Kings of Rhythm, in 1956. Under the name Little Ann, she appeared on her first record, "Boxtop", in 1958. In 1960, she debuted as Tina Turner with the hit single "A Fool in Love". The Ike & Tina Turner Revue became "one of the most formidable live acts in history". The duo released hits such as "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", "River Deep – Mountain High", "Proud Mary", and "Nutbush City Limits" before disbanding in 1976. In the 1980s, Turner launched "one of the greatest comebacks in music history". Her 1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer contained the hit song "What's Love Got to Do with It", which won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became her first and only number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100. Her chart success continued with "Better Be Good to Me", "Private Dancer", "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)", "Typical Male", "The Best", "I Don't Wanna Fight", and "GoldenEye". She embarked on the Break Every Rule World Tour (1987–1988), which became the top-grossing female tour of the 1980s and set a Guinness World Record for the then-largest paying audience in a concert (180,000). Turner also acted in the films Tommy (1975) and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985). In 1986, she published her autobiography I, Tina: My Life Story, which was adapted for the 1993 film What's Love Got to Do with It. In 2009, Turner retired after completing her Tina!: 50th Anniversary Tour. In 2018, she was the subject of Tina, a jukebox musical. Turner sold more than 100 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. She received 12 Grammy Awards, which include eight competitive awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and three Grammy Hall of Fame inductions. She was the first black artist and first woman to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone ranked her among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Turner has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: with Ike Turner in 1991 and as a solo artist in 2021. She was also a 2005 recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors and the Women of the Year award.

* 11/26/1939

Mark Margolis(† 83)

Actor | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (US)

Mark Margolis (born 26 November 1939) is an American actor, who has been making films since 1976.Margolis went to Temple University briefly before moving to New York City, where he studied drama with Stella Adler and at the Actors Studio. He is perhaps most famous for his supporting roles in Scarface and the films of Darren Aronofsky: π, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, and Black Swan. Aronofsky wrote the role of Father Avila in The Fountain specifically for Margolis.He has had recurring roles on numerous TV shows, including The Equalizer, HBO's Oz, Law And Order, Crossing Jordan and most recently Showtime's Californication and Breaking Bad. He also appeared in a first season episode of Quantum Leap.In 1991 he also played Helmut Dieter in soap opera Santa Barbara.

* 11/26/1939

Lily Tomlin(84)

Actress | Detroit, Michigan (US)

Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer. She has won multiple awards from many quarters, including Tony Awards, Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award and has also been nominated for an Academy Award.

* 09/01/1939

F. Murray Abraham(84)

Actor | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (US)

F. Murray Abraham (born Murray Abraham; October 24, 1939) is an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he came to prominence for his acclaimed leading role as Antonio Salieri in the drama film Amadeus (1984) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama as well as a BAFTA Award nomination.Abraham made his Broadway debut in the 1968 play Man in the Glass Booth. He received the Obie Award for Outstanding Performance for his roles in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (1984) and William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (2011). He returned to Broadway in the revival of Terrence McNally's comedy It's Only a Play (2014) receiving a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play nomination.He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men (1976), Scarface (1983), The Name of the Rose (1986), Last Action Hero (1993), Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Dillinger and Capone (1995), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Finding Forrester (2000), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Isle of Dogs (2018) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019).He was a regular cast member on the Showtime drama series Homeland (2012–2018), which earned him two nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He also starred in Mythic Quest (2020–2021), Moon Knight (2022), and The White Lotus (2022) with the latter earning him a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series.

* 10/24/1939

Karen Black(† 74)

Actress | Park Ridge, Illinois (US)

Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, and established herself as a figure of New Hollywood. Her career spanned over 50 years and includes nearly 200 credits in both independent and mainstream films. Black received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Golden Globe Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A native of suburban Chicago, Black studied theater at Northwestern University before dropping out and relocating to New York City. She performed on Broadway in 1965 before making her major film debut in Francis Ford Coppola's You're a Big Boy Now (1966). Black relocated to California and was cast as an LSD-tripping prostitute in Dennis Hopper's road film Easy Rider (1969). That led to a co-starring role in the drama Five Easy Pieces (1970), in which she played a hopeless waitress, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Black made her first major commercial picture with the disaster film Airport 1975 (1974), and her subsequent appearance as Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby (1974) won her a second Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Black played a glamorous country singer in Robert Altman's ensemble musical drama Nashville (1975), also writing and performing two songs for the soundtrack, for which she received a nomination for a Grammy Award. Her portrayal of an aspiring actress in John Schlesinger's drama The Day of the Locust (also 1975) earned her a third Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actress. Black subsequently took on four roles in Dan Curtis' anthology horror film Trilogy of Terror (1975), followed by Curtis' supernatural horror feature, Burnt Offerings (1976). The same year, she played a kidnapping accomplice in Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot. In 1982, Black played a transsexual in the Robert Altman-directed Broadway debut of Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean, a role she also reprised in Altman's subsequent film adaptation. She next starred in the comedy Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983), followed by Tobe Hooper's remake of Invaders from Mars (1986). For much of the 1990s and 2000s, Black starred in a variety of arthouse, independent, and horror films, as well as writing her own screenplays. She had a leading role as a villainous mother in Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses (2003), which cemented her status as a cult horror icon. Black continued to star in low-profile films throughout the early 2010s, as well as working as a playwright before her death from ampullary cancer in 2013.

* 07/01/1939

Denis Arndt(85)

Actor | Issaquah, Washington (US)

Denis Arndt (born November 23, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Alex Priest in the play Heisenberg for which he earned a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play.

* 02/23/1939

Patrick Wayne(84)

Actor | Los Angeles, California (US)

Patrick John Morrison (born July 15, 1939), better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne, is an American actor. He is the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films, including eleven with his father. Later in his career, Wayne became a television host with the 1980 variety program The Monte Carlo Show and the 1990 revival of Tic-Tac-Dough.

* 07/15/1939

Clarence Williams III(† 81)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

Clarence Williams III (August 21, 1939 – June 4, 2021) was an American actor.

* 08/21/1939

Sid Haig(† 80)

Actor | Fresno, California (US)

Sid Haig was an American film actor known for blaxploitation films of the 1970s as well as his role as Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie's horror films House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. He has appeared in many television programs during his career.

* 07/14/1939

Samantha Eggar(85)

Actress | Hampstead, London, England (GB)

Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar (born 5 March 1939) is a retired English actress. After beginning her career in Shakespearean theatre she rose to fame for her performance in William Wyler's thriller The Collector (1965), which earned her a Golden Globe Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She later appeared as Emma Fairfax in Doctor Dolittle (1967) and the American drama The Molly Maguires (1970). In the early 1970s Eggar moved to the United States and Canada, where she later starred in several horror films, including The Dead Are Alive (1972), The Uncanny (1977) and David Cronenberg's cult thriller The Brood (1979). Eggar has also worked as a voice actress, as Hera in Walt Disney's Hercules (1997) and in several video games, including Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned and 007: Nightfire. Her television work includes roles on Fantasy Island and a recurring part as Charlotte Devane in the soap opera All My Children in 2000.

* 03/05/1939
previous page
next page