In the year 1926, t he airline Deutsche Luft Hansa is founded in Berlin (Jan 6), Franco becomes General of Spain (Feb 25),  explorer Richard E. Byrd and his co-pilot claim to be the first to fly over the North Pole, but some experts have since been skeptical of the claim (May 9), a weather map is televised for the first time (Aug 18), the sudden death of Rudolph Valentino causes worldwide grief (Aug 23), A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh is published in London (Oct 14), United States' Numbered Highway System - including Route 66 - is established (Nov 11), Al Capone is at the apex of his power - and all these fine people were born:

1926-xxxx Rahal Meskini* Moroccan resistance fighter against French colonialism - Beni Meskine (1956/30) 1926-0101 Maria Frisé* journalist/ author - Breslau, Prussia, Weimar Republic (2022/96) 1926-0106 Mickey Hargitay* (b Miklós Hargitay) Hungarian-American actor/1955 Mr Universe/father of Mariska Hargitay/to U.S. at age 21 - Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary (2006/80) 1926-0106 Edward Mosberg* Polish-American Holocaust survivor/educator/philanthropist/to U.S. at age 25 - Kraków, Poland (2022/96) 1926-0107 Claude Roy Kirk Jr.* businessman/ Governor of Florida - San Bernardino, CA USA (2011/85) 1926-0108 Hanae Mori* 森 英恵 fashion designer - Muikachi, Shimane, Japan (2022/96) 1926-0111 Eberhard Zeidler* German-Canadian architect/to Canada at age 25 - Braunsdorf, Weimar Republic (2022/95) 1926-0113 Michael Bond* author (Paddington Bear) - Newbury, Berkshire, England (2017/91) 1926-0120 Sarah Conlon* (b Maguire) Irish housewife/campaigner - Belfast, Northern Ireland (2008/82) 1926-0120 Patricia Neal* actress/married to Roald Dahl - Packard, KY USA (2010/84) 1926-0129 Bob Falkenburg* amateur tennis player/entrepreneur (Bob’s) - Manhattan, NY USA (2022/95) 1926-0131 1926-0201 Vivian Maier* nanny/street photographer - New York City, NY USA (2009/83) 1926-0202 Válery Giscard d' Estaing* French politician/P - Koblenz, French-occupied Germany (2020/94) 1926-0203 Hans-Jochen Vogel* lawyer/ politician/mayor - Göttingen, Prussia, Germany (2020/94) 1926-0207 Mark Taimanov* chess Grandmaster/chess author - Kharkiv, Ukraine, Soviet Union (2016/90) 1926-0208 Sonja Ziemann* actress - Eichwalde, Germany (2020/94) 1926-0210 1926-0211 Paul Bocuse* chef - Collonges-au-Mont-d’Or, France (2018/91) 1926-0211 Leslie Nielsen* actor/ comedian - Regina, SK Canada (2010/84) 1926-0211 Hans Standl* sport shooter - Füssen, Bavaria (2021/95) 1926-0217 Friedrich Cerha* composer/ conductor/teacher - Vienna, First Austrian Republic (2023/96) 1926-0220 Whitney Blake* (b Nancy Ann Whitney) actress/ director/producer - Los Angeles, CA USA (2002/76) 1926-0220 Richard Matheson* writer/ screenwriter - Allendale, NJ USA (2013/87) 1926-0225 1926-0228 Clint Albright* hockey player - Winnipeg, MB Canada (1999/73) 1926-0228 Svetlana Alliluyeva* a.k.a. Lana Peters, Stalin’s daughter/to the U.S. at age 41 - Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union (2011/85) 1926-0304 Richard DeVos* billionaire businessman - Grand Rapids, MI USA (2018/92) 1926-0305 Lily Carlstedt* athlete (javelin/OB) - Søllerød, Denmark (2002/76) 1926-0306 Andrzej Wajda* film and theater director - Suwalki, Second Polish Republic (2016/90) 1926-0310 Barbara Howard* painter/wood engraver/designer - Long Branch, ON Canada (2002/76) 1926-0311 Ralph Abernathy* minister/ political activist - Linden, AL USA (1990/64) 1926-0312 Minerva Mirabal Reyes* lawyer/ political activist - Salcedo, Dominican Republic (1960/34) 1926-0318 Peter Graves* actor - Minneapolis, MN USA (2010/83) 1926-0321 Heikki Hasu* cross-country skier/OG - Sippola, Finland ***** 1926-0324 Dario Fo* playwright/songwriter/campaigner/N - Leggiuno Sangiano, Italy (2016/90) 1926-0325 Hans Rausing* dairy business entrepreneur/son of Tetra Pak founder Ruben Rausing - Gothenburg, Sweden (2019/93) 1926-0330 Sydney Chaplin* actor/son of Charlie Chaplin - Los Angeles, CA USA (2009/82) 1926-0330 Ingvar Kamprad* founder of IKEA - Pjätteryd, Sweden (2018/91) 1926-04xx Barbara Everitt Bryant* market researcher - Ann Arbor, MI USA (2023/96) 1926-0402 Jack Brabham* racing driver/WC - Hurstville, NSW Australia (2014/88) 1926-0403 Gus Grissom* astronaut - Mitchell, IN USA (1967/40) 1926-0405 Roger Corman* film director/ producer - Detroit, MI USA (2024/98) 1926-0406 Gil Kane* (b Eli Katz) Latvian-American comics artist/to U.S. at age 3 - Riga, Latvia (2000/73) 1926-0407 Erik Bruun* graphic designer - Viipuri, Finland **** 1926-0408 1926-0409 Hugh Hefner* magazine publisher - Chicago, IL USA (2017/91) 1926-0409 Harris Wofford* attorney/ politician/civil rights activist - New York, NY USA (2019/92) 1926-0410 1926-0418 Niranjan Bhagat* poet/ commentator - Ahmedabad, Bombay, British India (2018/91) 1926-0420 1926-0421 Queen Elizabeth II* Queen of the United Kingdom (1952-2022)/daughter of King George VI - Mayfair, London, England (2022/96) 1926-0423 Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa* Hawaiian princess - Honolulu, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii, USA (2022/96) 1926-0424 Thorbjörn Fälldin* politician - Högsjö, Ångermanland, Sweden (2016/90) 1926-0426 David Gottesman* billionaire businessman/founder of  First Manhattan Co. - New York City, NY USA (2022/96) 1926-0428 Harper Lee* novelist (To Kill a Mockingbird) - Monroeville, AL USA (2016/89) 1926-0429 Leonard Fenton* actor - East End, London, England (2022/95) 1926-0429 Carrie Meek* teacher/politician - Tallahassee, FL USA (2021/95) 1926-0430 1926-0501 1926-0502 1926-0505 Bing Russell* actor/baseball club owner/father of Kurt Russell - Brattleboro, VT USA (2003/76) 1926-0508 David Attenborough* natural historian/broadcaster/author - Isleworth, Middlesex, England ***** 1926-0508 Don Rickles* stand-up comedian - New York, NY USA (2017/90) 1926-0510 1926-0514 Eric Morecambe* (b Bartholomew) comedian - Morecambe, Lancashire, England (1984/58) 1926-0515 Regis Cordic* actor/ radio personality - Pittsburgh, PA USA (1999/72) 1926-0516 Mordechai Rechtman* German-Israeli bassoonist/conductor - Barmen, Weimar Republic (2023/97) 1926-0523 Aileen Hernandez* union organizer/civil rights activist/ women’s rights activist - New York City, NY USA (2017/90) 1926-0526 Miles Davis* jazz trumpeter/ bandleader/composer - Alton, IL USA (199165) 1926-0529 Katie Boyle* British actress/ writer/activist - Florence, Kingdom of Italy (2018/91) 1926-0531 1926-0601 Andy Griffith* actor/comedian/ producer - Mount Airy, NC USA (2012/86) 1926-0601 Marilyn Monroe* actress - Los Angeles, CA USA (1962/36) 1926-0601 Richard Schweiker* businessman/ politician - Norristown, PA USA (2015/89) 1926-0602 Chiyonoyama Masanobu* 千代の山 雅信 sumo wrestler - Fukushima, Hokkaido, Japan (1977/51) 1926-0603 Allen Ginsberg* poet/ philosopher/writer - Newark, NJ USA (1997/70) 1926-0604 Kalle Anttila* businessman/ founder of the warehouse chain Anttila - Helsinki, Finland (1993/66) 1926-0621 Yvette Lévy* Holocaust survivor/educator - Paris, France ***** 1926-0622 1926-0626 Marian Turski* Holocaust survivor/journalist/historian - Druskieniki, Poland (2025/98) 1926-0627 Francis Rapp* mediavalist historian - Strasbourg, France (2020/93) 1926-0628 George Booth* cartoonist (The New Yorker) - Cainsville, MO USA (2022/96) 1926-0628 Mel Brooks* (b Kaminsky) film director/ producer - San Diego, CA USA ***** 1926-0630 1926-0701 Carl Hahn* German businessman (Volkswagen Group) - Chemnitz, Saxony, Weimar Republic (2023/96) 1926-0704 Alfredo Di Stéfano* football player (Real Madrid)/coach - Buenos Aires, Argentina (2014/88) 1926-0706 Dorothy E. Smith*  British-Canadian sociologist - Northallerton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England (2022/95) 1926-0710 Ross Lowell* photographer/ lighting designer/inventor of the gaffer tape - New York, NY USA (2019/92) 1926-0714 Harry Dean Stanton* actor/ musician/singer - West Irvine, KY USA (2017/91) 1926-0716 Paul M. Ellwood Jr.* physician/ prominent figure in American health care - San Francisco, CA USA (2022/95) 1926-0720 1926-0721 Norman Jewison* film director/ producer- Toronto, ON Canada (2024/97) 1926-0721 Rahimuddin Khan* Pakistani military officer/politician - Qaimganj, United Provinces, British India (2022/96) 1926-0723 Cedella Booker* (b Malcolm) singer/ writer/mother of Bob Marley - Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica (2008/81) 1926-0727 Simpson Kalisher* photojournalist/ street photographer - The Bronx, NY USA (2023/96) 1926-0728 Namvar Singh* linguist/literary critic/theoretician - Jiyanpur, Uttar Pradesh, British India (2019/92) 1926-0730 Martin Bookspan* announcer/ commentator/author - Boston, MA USA(2021/94) 1926-0731 1926-0801 Elinor Ross* opera singer - Tampa, FL USA (2020/93) 1926-0803 Tony Bennett* singer - Queens, NY USA (2023/96) 1926-0803 Gordon Scott* actor - Portland, OR USA (2007/80) 1926-0805 1926-0807 John Woodcock* cricket writer/journalist - Longparish, Hampshire, England (2021/94) 1926-0808 Richard Anderson* actor - Long Branch, NJ USA (2017/91) 1926-0811 Claus von Bülow* British-Danish socialite/lawyer - Copenhagen, Denmark (2019/92) 1926-0813 Fidel Castro* communist revolutionary/politician/P - Birán, Cuba (2016/90) 1926-0814 René Goscinny* cartoonist (Asterix, Lucky Luke) - Paris, France (1977/51) 1926-0816 David Johansson* cross-country skier (Vasaloppet)/coach - Delsbo, Sweden (2005/79) 1926-0826 Mary Lou Robinson* judge/ Chief Justice - Dodge City, KS USA (2019/92) 1926-0829 Helene Ahrweiler* Byzantinologist/ UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Greece - Athens, Greece **** 1926-0829 Betty Lynn* actress (The Andy Griffith Show) - Kansas City, MO USA (2021/95) 1926-0901 Tenho Sauren* actor (Reinikainen) - Viiala, Finland (2001/74) 1926-0903 Irene Papas* (b Lelokou) actress/singer - Chilimodion, Corynthia, Peloponnese, Greece (2022/96) 1926-0907 Samuel Goldwyn Jr.* film producer - Los Angeles, CA USA (2015/88) 1926-0910 1926-0913 Emile Francis* hockey player/coach/GM - North Battleford, SK Canada (2022/95) 1926-0917 Hermann Bausinger* German cultural scientist - Aalen, Württemberg, Weimar Republic (2021/95) 1926-0919 James Lipton* writer/ actor/host of Inside the Actors Studio  -  Detroit, MI USA (2020/93) 1926-0921 Donald A. Glaser* physicist/ neurobiologist/N - Cleveland, OH USA (2013/86) 1926-0923 Henry Silva* actor - Brooklyn, NY USA (2022/95) 1926-0925 1926-0927 Matti Tapio* (b Johansson) actor/film and theater director - Helsinki, Finland (1978/52) 1926-0930 1926-1001 1926-1002 Jan Morris* (b James Morris) Welsh historian/travel writer - Clevedon, Somerset, England (2020/94) 1926-1007 Marcello Abbado* pianist/ composer/conductor - Milan, Italy (2020/93) 1926-1008 Rudy Autio* sculptor/ of Finnish descent - Butte, MT USA  (2007/80) 1926-1008 Lars Jansson* cartoonist/ writer/brother of Tove Jansson - Helsinki, Finland (2000/73) 1926-1009 Ruth Ellis* model/nightclub hostess/last woman hanged in UK - Rhyl, Wales (1955/28) 1926-1011 Thích Nhất Hạnh* Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk/founder of the Plum Village Tradition/“father of mindfulness” - Huế, Annam, French Indochina (2022/95) 1926-1012 Tapio Mäkelä* cross-country skier/OG - Nastola, Finland (2016/89) 1926-1013 Jacques Blamont* astrophysicist - Paris, France (2020/93) 1926-1015 1926-1016 Charles Dolan* billionaire businessman/founder of Cablevision and HBO - Cleveland, OH USA (2024/98) 1926-1016 Joe Sinnott* comic book artist - Saugerties, NY USA (2020/93) 1926-1017 1926-1018 Mauri Jaakkola* actor - Kuusankoski, Finland (1992/65) 1926-1018 Klaus Kinski* actor - Zoppot, Free City of Danzig (1991/65) 1926-1018 John Morris* film composer - Elizabeth, NJ USA (2018/91) 1926-1020 1926-1030 Aune Haanpää** - Oulu, Finland (2000/c.74) 1926-1031 Timo Sarpaneva* designer/sculptor - Helsinki, Finland (2006/79) 1926-1031 Jimmy Savile* DJ/television and radio personality/sexual abuser - Burley, Leeds, England (2011/84) 1926-1101 1926-1102 Charlie Walker* country musician - Copeville, TX USA (2008/81) 1926-1111 Yitzhak Arad* (b Icchak Rudnicki) Soviet partisan/Israeli historian/ author - Święciany, Second Polish Republic (2021/94) 1926-1111 Harry Lumley* hockey goalie - Owen Sound, ON Canada (1998/71) 1926-1118 Dennis W. Sciama* physicist/the PhD supervisor to Stephen Hawking a.o./a father of modern cosmology - Manchester, Lancashire, England (1999/73) 1926-1120 Ann Turner Cook* the model for Gerber Baby artwork/mystery novelist/educator - Westport, CT USA (2022/95) 1926-1120 John Gardner* spy and thriller novelist - Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, England (2007/80) 1926-1121 Matti Ranin* actor - Tampere, Finland (2013/87) 1926-1124 Tsung-Dao Lee* physicist/N - Shanghai, China (2024/97) 1926-1130 Richard Crenna* actor - Los Angeles, CA USA (2003/76) 1926-1201 Kitty Hart-Moxon* (b Felix) Polish-British Holocaust survivor/ writer - Bielsko, Poland**** 1926-1201 Allyn Ann McLerie* actress/ singer/dancer/to U.S. as infant  - Grand-Mère, QC Canada (2018/91) 1926-1201 Rauha Puntti* actress - Finland (2010/83) 1926-1202 Hobie Billingsley* diving champion/coach - Erie, PA USA (2022/95) 1926-1204 Lars Lindgren* engineer/son of Astrid Lindgren - Copenhagen, Denmark (1986/59) 1926-1209 Henry Way Kendall* particle physicist/N - Boston, MA USA (1999/72) 1926-1210 Leon Kossoff* painter - Islington, London, Engand (2019/92) 1926-1211 Big Mama Thornton* singer/ songwriter - Ariton, AL USA (1984/57) 1926-1217 Patrice Wymore*  actress/married to Errol Flynn - Miltonvale, KS USA (2014/87) 1926-1219 Herb Stempel* game show contestant/whistleblower - New York City, NY USA (2020/93) 1926-1220 David Levine* artist/ caricaturist - Brooklyn, NY USA (2009/83) 1926-1223 Metakse Poghosian* Armenian poet/writer/activist - Artik, Shirak Province (2014/87) 1926-1225 Helen Davis* drama teacher/actress/Florida politician - Brooklyn, NY USA (2015/88) 1926-1226 Gina Pellón* painter/ poet/active in Europe - Cumanayagua, Cienfuegos, Cuba (2014/87) 1926-1229 Amelita Ramos* administrative executive/First Lady - Manila, Philippine Islands**** 1926-1231 Billy Snedden* politician - West Perth, WA Australia (1987/60) 1926-0 1926-0 1926-0 Updated 2025-0219 Helsinki Search for another year here