In the year 1944, the R.A.F. drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin (Jan 20), Casablanca wins the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards (Mar 2), **Operation Overlord, code named D-Day begins **(Jun 6), Germany launches V1-bomb attack on England (Jun 13), the deportation of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps begins (Jun 29), Soviet troops begin operations to occupy the Baltic countries (Jul 10), the world’s first undersea oil pipeline is laid between England and France (Aug 12), London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time (Sep 8) - and all these fine people were born:
1944-0103 Pentti Tuononen* astrologer - Seinäjoki, Finland
1944-0109 Jimmy Page* multi-instrumentalist/songwriter (Led Zeppelin)/ record producer - Heston, Middlesex, England
1944-0110 Frank Sinatra Jr.* singer-songwriter/ actor/conductor - Jersey City, NJ USA (2016/72)
1944-0112 Joe Frazier* boxer/OG/coach - Beaufort, SC USA (2011/67)
1944-0118 **Tarja Tallqvis**t* (b Tainio) journalist/television director/politician - Joensuu, Finland
1944-0119 Shelley Fabares* actress (The Donna Reed Show)/ singer - Santa Monica, CA USA
1944-0120 Jyrki Kangas* jazz musician/musical entrepreneur - Pori, Finland (2020/76)
1944-0123 Rutger Hauer* actor - Breukelen, Netherlands (2019/75)
1944-0124 Gian Franco Kasper* journalist/tourism manager/ski official - St. Moritz, Switzerland (2021/77)
1944-0126 Angela Davis* political activist/author - Birmingham, AL USA
1944-0128 Andrew Jack* dialect coach/actor - London, England (2020/76)
1944-0128 Rosalía Mera* businesswoman/ entrepreneur (Zara) - A Coruña, Galicia, Spain (2013/69)
1944-0130 Sharon Pratt* politician/ mayor- Washington, D.C. USA
1944-0131
1944-0202 Geoffrey Hughes* actor - Wallasey, Cheshire, England (2012/68)
1944-0202 Ashraf Marwan* businessman/Israeli spy - Cairo, Egypt (2007/63)
1944-0205
1944-0206 Christine Boutin* politician - Levroux, France
1944-0206 Anders E.** - Shanghai, China (2022/78)
1944-0206 Willie Tee* keyboardist/songwriter/producer - New Orleans, LA USA (2007/63)
1944-0207 Witi Ihimaera* Māori writer - Gisborne, New Zealand
1944-0208 Malcolm Bessent* British psychic/parapsychologist - Deolali, India (1997/53)
1944-0209 Nancy Carlsson-Paige* author/speaker/ mother of Matt Damon - Albany, NY USA
1944-0210 Peter Allen* singer-songwriter/ entertainer/first husband of Liza Minelli - Tenterfield, NSW Australia (1992/48)
1944-0210 Bikram Choudhury* yoga teacher/alleged sexual predator - Calcutta, British India
1944-0213 Stockard Channing* actress - New York, NY USA
1944-0213 Jerry Springer* American lawyer/ politician/television host/to U.S. at age 4 - London, England (2023/79)
1944-0214 Carl Bernstein* investigative journalist - Washington D.C. USA
1944-0214 Alan Parker* film director - Islington, London, England (2020/76)
1944-0217 Marjatta Raita* actress - Pori, Finland (2007/63)
1944-0222 Jonathan Demme* film director/producer - Baldwin, NY USA (2017/73)
1944-0222 Robert Kardashian* lawyer/ businessman/ father of The Kardashians - Los Angeles, CA USA (2003/59)
1944-0222 Christopher Meyer* diplomat - Beaconsville, England (2022/78)
1944-0223
1944-0225 Eeva Litmanen* actress - Lappeenranta, Finland
1944-0228 Kelly Bishop* actress - Colorado Springs, CO USA
1944-0228 Colin Nutley* film director - Gosport, England
1944-0229 Dennis Farina* actor - Chicago, IL USA (2013/69)
1944-0301 Roger Daltrey* singer (The Who) - East Acton, London, England
1944-0302 Leif Segerstam* conductor - Vaasa, Finland
1944-0304 Harvey Postlethwaite* engineer/race car designer - Barnet, England (1999/55)
1944-0315 Viveka Seldahl* actress - Överammer, Jämtland Sweden (2001/57)
1944-0326 Lesley Langley* (b Hill) Miss World 1965/dental practice assistant - Weymouth, Dorset, England
1944-0326 Diana Ross* singer/songwriter/producer - Detroit, MI USA
1944-0327 Ann Sidney* Miss World 1964/actress - Poole, England
1944-0329 Jane Hawking* (b Wilde) author/teacher/1st wife of Stephen Hawking - St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England
1944-0331
1944-0401
1944-0404 Graig T. Nelson* actor - Spokane, WA USA
1944-0405 Dafydd Gibbon* computational linguist - Halifax, England
1944-0407 Gerhard Schröder* politician - Mossenberg, Germany
1944-0408 Marina Munk*
1944-0408 Tariana Turia* (b Woon) Māori rights activist/politician - Whangaehu, New Zealand (2025/80)
1944-0411 Joen Bille* actor/ great-grandson of Henrik Ibsen - Frederiksberg, Denmark
1944-0420 Marie Lundmark* Finnish ice dancer/sports official/to Finland at age 24 - Czechoslovakia
1944-0420 Michael Mendl* actor - Lünen, Nazi Germany
1944-0425 Len Goodman* ballroom dancer/dance teacher & competition adjudicator - Farnborough, Kent, England (2023/78)
1944-0428 Risto Alapuro* sociologist - Ruokolahti, Finland (2022/78)
1944-0430 Jill Clayburgh* actress - New York, NY USA (2010/66)
1944-0501
1944-0504 Fred Stanfield* hockey player - Toronto, ON Canada (2021/77)
1944-0505 John Rhys-Davies* actor - Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
1944-0508 Gary Glitter (b Paul Gadd) singer/convicted rapist - Banbury, Oxfordshire, England
1944-0509 Lars Norén* author/playwright - Stockholm, Sweden
1944-0513 Brian Fawcett* writer /cultural analyst - Prince, George, BC Canada (2022/77)
1944-0514 George Lucas* film director - Modesto, CA USA
1944-0515
1944-0518 Jason Chang* Taiwanese-Singaporean billionaire - Shanghai, China
1944-0519 Peter Mayhew* actor (Chewbacca) - Barnes, Surrey, England (2019/74)
1944-0520 Joe Cocker* singer - Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England (2014/70)
1944-0520 Dietrich Mateschitz* billionaire businessman/co-founder of Red Bull GmbH - Sankt Marein im Mürztal, Styria, Austria (2022/78)
1944-0521 Mary Robinson* Máire Mhic Róibín (b Bourke) politician/P - Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland
1944-0523 John Newcombe* tennis player - Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1944-0525 Frank Oz* (b Oznowicz) American actor/puppeteer/director - Hereford, England
1944-0525 Tim Page* (b Russell) British–Australian photographer - Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England (2022/78)
1944-0528 Rudy Giuliani* lawyer/businessman/107th mayor of New York City - Brooklyn, NY USA
1944-0528 Sondra Locke* (b Sandra Smith) actress/director - Shelbyville, TN USA (2018/74)
1944-0529 Tamara Degtyaryova* actress - Russia, Soviet Union (2018/74)
1944-0601 Robert Powell* actor - Salford, Lancashire, England
1944-0604 Michelle Phillips* singer (the Mamas and the Papas)/actress - Long Beach, CA USA
1944-0605 Whitfield Diffie* cryptographer/one of the pioneers of public-key cryptography - Washington D.C. USA
1944-0605 Jon Kabat-Zinn* yoga/teacher of Mindfulness - New York City, NY USA
1944-0606 Phillip Allen Sharp* geneticist/molecular biologist who co-discovered RNA splicing/N - Falmouth, KY USA
1944-0607 Annette Lu* 呂秀蓮 Taiwanese politician - Tōen Town, Japanese Taiwan
1944-0608 Mark Belanger* baseball player/coach - Pittsfield, MA USA (1998/54)
1944-0608 Boz Scaggs* singer/ songwriter/guitarist- Canton, OH USA
1944-0613 Ban Ki-moon* diplomat/UN Secretary-General - Eumseong County, South Korea
1944-0615 Robert D. Keppel* law enforcement officer/detective - Spokane, WA USA (2021/76)
1944-0620 John McCook* actor - Ventura, CA USA
1944-0620 Dave Nelson* baseball player/coach/ commentator - Fort Sill, OK USA (2018/73)
1944-0621 Tony Scott* film director/producer - North Shields, Northumberland, England (2012/68)
1944-0622 Gérard Mourou* laser scientist/N -Albertville, France
1944-0629 Gary Busey* actor - Goose Creek, TX USA
1944-0629 Lars Grini* ski jumper/OB - Gran, Norway
1944-0630 Raymond Moody* physician/ philosopher/NDE - Porterdale, GA USA
1944-0701
1944-0707 Jürgen Grabowski* football player - Wiesbaden, Prussia, Nazi Germany (2022/77)
1944-0708 Juhani Palmu* artist - Turku, Finland (2024/79)
1944-0709 Jack Palladino* attorney/private investigator - Boston, MA USA (2021/76)
1944-0710
1944-0713 Ernö Rubik* architect/inventor of the Rubik Cube - Budapest, Hungary
1944-0718 Rahman Ali* (b Clay) heavyweight boxer/brother of Muhammad Ali - Louisville, KY USA
1944-0719 Tim McIntire* actor - Los Angeles, CA USA (1986/41)
1944-0720
1944-0724 Maya Wildevuur* painter - Deventer, Netherlands (2023/78)
1944-0725 Gaetano Troja* football player - Palermo, Kingdom of Italy (2023/78)
1944-0731 Geraldine Chaplin* actress - Santa Monica, CA USA
1944-0731 David Norris* Irish scholar/ politician - Léopoldville, Belgian Congo
1944-0801
1944-0803 Ann Pasternak Slater* literary cholar/ translator/niece of Boris Pasternak - Oxford, England
1944-0804 Richard Belzer* stand-up comedian/actor/author - Bridgeport, CT USA
1944-0807 John Glover* actor - Kingston, NY USA
1944-0807 Robert Mueller* lawyer/civil servant - New York, NY USA
1944-0808 Katsuhiko Ishibashi* 石橋 克彦 seismologist - Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
1944-0809 Sam Elliott* actor - Sacramento, CA USA
1944-0810
1944-0811 Joanna Cole* author of children' books - Neward, NJ USA (2020/75)
1944-0817 Larry Ellison* entrepreneur/co-founder of Oracle Corporation/philanthropist - New York, NY USA
1944-0818 Volker Lechtenbrink* German actor/singer-songwriter/theater manager - Cranz, East Prussia (2021/77)
1944-0819 Seppo Ahti * writer/screenwriter - Tampere, Finland
1944-0820 Rajiv Gandhi* politician/PM - Bombay, India (1991/46)
1944-0820 Salvatore Inzerillo* member of the Sicilian Mafia - Palermo, Kingdom of Italy (1981/36)
1944-0823 Marcia Neave* legal academic/judge - Melbourne, VIC Australia
1944-0827 G. W. Bailey* actor (Police Academy) - Port Arthur, TX USA
1944-0828 Karen Durbin* journalist/ feminist/critic - Cincinnati, OH USA (2025/80)
1944-0829
1944-0831 Jos LeDuc* (b Michel Pigeon) show wrestler - Montreal, QBC Canada (1999/54)
1944-0902 Claude Nicollier* the first astronaut from Switzerland - Vevey, Switzerland
1944-0905 Esko Roine* actor - Tampere, Finland
1944-0906 Swoosie Kurtz* actress - Omaha, NB USA
1944-0912 Barry White* (b Carter) singer - Galveston, TX USA (2003/58)
1944-0913 Jacqueline Bisset* actress - Weybridge, Surrey, England
1944-0913 Peter Cetera* singer/ songwriter/bassist (Chicago) - Chicago, IL USA
1944-0918 Grischa Huber* actress - Misdroy, Germany (2021/76)
1944-0919 Anders Björck* politician - Nässjö, Jönköping County, Sweden
1944-0921 Hamilton Jordan* politician - Charlotte, NC USA (2008/63)
1944-0925 Guy-Michel Chauveau* politician - Irais, France
1944-0925 Michael Douglas* actor - New Brunswick, NJ USA
1944-0927 Iiro Viinanen* politician - Kuopio, Finland
1944-1001 Antti Tuuri* writer - Kauhava, Finland
1944-1006 Lars-Arne Bölling* (b Torsten) cross-country skier (Vasaloppet) - Sörsjön, Sweden
1944-1009 John Entwistle* musician (The Who) - Chiswick, London, England (2002/57)
1944-1011 Joana Emetz* singer/songwriter - Neustadt, Germany
1944-1011 Martin Naylor* sculptor - Morley, West Yorkshire, England (2016/72)
1944-1011 Younan Nowzaradan* Iranian-American bariatric surgeon a.k.a. Dr. Now - Tehran, Imperial State of Iran
1944-1014 Udo Kier* (b Kierspe) actor/voice actor - Cologne, Rhine Province, Nazi Germany
1944-1014 Bob Ricks* law enforcement agent/politician - Houston, TX USA
1944-1015 David Trimble* politician/N - Bangor, Northern Ireland (2022/77)
1944-1016 Elizabeth Loftus* psychologist/ memory specialist - Bel Air, CA USA
1944-1018 Nelson Freire* pianist - Boa Esperança, Brazil (2021/77)
1944-1020
1944-1021 Curtis Credel* actor - Washington, NC USA
1944-1025 Ren Zhengfei* 任正非 businessman/founder of Huawei - Zhenning, China
1944-1028 Dennis Franz* actor - Chicago, IL USA
1944-1029 Titta Karakorpi* actress - Oulu, Finland
1944-1029 Barbara Stamm* (b Stocker) politician - Bad Mergentheim, Württemberg, Nazi Germany (2022/77)
1944-1031
1944-1101 Kinky Friedman* singer/ novelist/politician - Chicago, IL USA
1944-1101 Bobby Heenan* pro wrestler/color commentator/comedian - Chicago, IL USA (2017/72)
1944-1101 Oscar Temaru* politician/ President of French Polynesia - Faa’a, Tahiti, French Polynesia
1944-1102 Michael Buffer* ring announcer/brother of Bruce Buffer - Philadelphia, PA USA
1944-1102 Keith Emerson* keyboardist/ songwriter/record producer - Todmorden, West Riding of Yorkshire, England (2016/71)
1944-1102 Claude Nowell* businessman/ founder of Summum - Salt Lake City, UT USA (2008/64)
1944-1103
1944-1104 Linda Gary* (b Gary Dewoskin) voice-over artist/actress - Los Angeles, CA USA (1995/50)
1944-1110 Askar Akayev* politician/ first president of Kyrgyzstan - Kyzyl-Bayrak, Kyrgyzstan, Soviet Union
1944-1110 Tim Rice* lyricist/ author/collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber - Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire, England
1944-1111 Kemal Sunal* actor/ comedian - Malatya, Turkey (2000/55)
1944-1112 Booker T. Jones* musician/ songwriter/record producer - Memphis, TN USA
1944-1112 Al Michaels* sportscaster - Brooklyn, NY USA
1944-0113 Glenn Knight* Singaporean lawyer - (2025/80)
1944-0114
1944-1117 Gene Clark* singer-songwriter/ founding member of the Byrds - Tipton, MO USA (1991/46)
1944-1117 Danny De Vito* actor - Neptune Township, NJ USA
1944-1117 Lorne Michaels* (b Lipowitz) Canadian-American television producer/ actor/creator of SNL - place of birth disputed
1944-1118 Lorinda Cherry* computer scientist/programmer - USA (202/77)
1944-1121 Harold Ramis* actor/ director/writer - Chicago, IL USA (2014/69)
1944-1122 Priscilla Welch* army officer/marathon runner - Bedford, England
1944-1124 Peter Maloney* actor - Chicago, IL USA
1944-1126 Roberto Fontanarrosa* cartoonist/ comics artist/writer - Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina (2007/62)
1944-1130
1944-1201 Arja Saijonmaa* singer - Mikkeli, Finland
1944-1203 Juhan af Grann* (b Heikki Juhani Grann) ufologist/director/writer - Kuopio, Finland (2023/78)
1944-1203 Carol Sutton* (b Dickerson) actress - New Orleans, LA USA (2020/76)
1944-1204 Dennis Wilson* singer - Inglewood, CA USA (1983/39)
1944-1209 Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto* Grand Master of the Knights of Malta - Rome, Kingdom of Italy (2020/75)
1944-1215 Chico Mendes* trade union leader/ environmentalist - Xapuri, Brazil (1988/44)
1944-1216 Santo Versace* banker/ businessman/ politician - Reggio Calabria, Kingdom of Italy
1944-1217 Timo K. Mukka* Finnish author - Bollnäs, Sweden (1973/28)
1944-1219 Richard Leakey* Kenyan palaeoanthropologist/ conservationist /politician - Nairobi, British Kenya (2022/77)
1944-1220 Amara Essy* Ivorian politician/diplomat - Bouaké, Ivory Coast, French West Africa (2025/80)
1944-1221 Maikki Harjanne* (b Saksman) children’s author and illustrator (Minttu) - Sippola, Finland (2023/78)
1944-1231
1944-0
1944-0
1944-0
Updated 2025-0429 Helsinki-Stockholm
Search for another year here