Famous People Born In 1896

Novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writer F. Scott Fitzgerald is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. However, he wasn’t much popular during his lifetime. His works gained international acclaim only in the years following his untimely death at 44. Many of his works have been adapted into films.

George Burns was an American actor, comedian, singer, and writer. Characterized by his cigar-smoke punctuation and arched eyebrow, which remained relevant for more than 75 years, Burns was one of the few entertainers to have achieved an equal amount of success in film, television, vaudeville, and radio. He has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jimmy Doolittle was an American aviation pioneer and military general. Apart from winning many flying races, Doolittle also helped develop instrument flying. He was the brains behind the Doolittle Raid, the air raid that served as retribution for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. His work during the raid earned him the prestigious Medal of Honor.

Soviet general and Marshal of the Soviet Union, Georgy Zhukov, is remembered for overseeing some of the Red Army's most decisive victories during the Second World War. As a young man, he served in the First World War and the Russian Civil War. The recipient of four Hero of the Soviet Union awards, he was made the defence minister.

Mamie Eisenhower was the First Lady of the U.S. through her marriage to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Her love for elegant attires got her featured on the New York Dress Institute’s list of the best-dressed women. She gave rise to the Mamie Look and the Mami Pink shade.

Antonin Artaud was a French writer, poet, dramatist, and theater director. Known for his raw, surreal, and transgressive themes, he was a major figure in 20th-century theater. He outlined his theories in the Theatre of Cruelty movement, expressed in the form of essays and plays. He died of cancer at the age of 51.  

Raymond Massey was a Canadian actor best remembered for his stage-trained voice. Massey earned an Academy Award nomination under the Best Actor category for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in the 1940 biographical historical drama film Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Massey has two stars on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the film and TV industries.  

Born into a family of shopkeepers, French poet André Breton initially studied medicine and psychiatry. He then joined Dadaism and eventually branched out and became one of the pioneers of the surrealist movement. Known for his Surrealist Manifestos, Breton was also a collector of manuscripts, sculptures, and paintings.

US Army officer Leslie Groves is best remembered for his association with the Manhattan Project, which was aimed at developing atom bombs during World War II. He was also in-charge of building a place to house the War Department’s staff in a structure that later became the Pentagon.

Jolie Gabor, also known as Mama Jolie, was a renowned socialite and the mother of the actor sisters Zsa Zsa, Magda, and Eva Gabor. Born into a family of famous Hungarian jewelers, she herself owned multiple jewelry shops in Hungary and later established her business in the US.

Known as the Birdman of India, legendary ornithologist Salim Ali was the first to conduct bird surveys in India. The Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan winner is best remembered for penning the book The Book of Indian Birds, and for setting up the Bharatpur and Ranganathittu bird sanctuaries.

Carlos P. Garcia was a Filipino teacher, lawyer, orator, poet, political economist, public official, and Commonwealth military leader. He is best remembered for his service as the President of the Philippines from 18 March 1957 to 30 December 1961. An important political leader, Carlos P. Garcia also served as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1953 to 1957.

Tristan Tzara was a Romanian-born French avant-garde performance artist, poet, and essayist. A multi-talented personality, Tzara was also active as a playwright, journalist, art and literary critic, film director, and composer. Tristan Tzara is best remembered for co-founding the anti-establishment Dada movement, which he helped popularize. He is also credited with co-founding the Romanian literary and art magazine Simbolul.   

Initially a bootlegger, Harry R. Truman later leased a 50-acre plot in the woods near the active volcano Mount St. Helens and opened the Mount St. Helens Lodge. He became famous after refusing to evacuate the place after warnings that the volcano would erupt, and was later presumed dead.

Joseph Schildkraut was an Austrian-American actor best known for winning an Academy Award for his performance in the film The Life of Emile Zola. The son of an actor, he began stage training with Max Reinhardt. He began his career as a character actor on the stage, eventually transitioning to films. He was also active on television. 

Austro-Hungarian-American biochemist Gerty Cori is best-known for discovering the course of catalytic conversion of glycogen with her husband Carl Ferdinand Cori for which they jointly won the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. With this Gerty became the third woman to win a Nobel in science and the first to win it in this category.

One of the first female architects from Austria, Lilia Skala later also became a reputed actor, winning an Academy Award nomination for her film Lilies of the Field. She had also worked in Broadway plays such as Letters to Lucerne and in soaps such as Claudia: The Story of a Marriage.

Considered a Romanian hero, Helen of Greece and Denmark is remembered for her selfless act of saving Romanian Jews during World War II. The daughter of Greek king Constantine I, Helen served as the queen mother of Romania during the rule of her son, King Michael I.

Paulino Alcántara was a Filipino-born Spanish football player who played as a forward for the Catalonia national football team from 1915 and 1926 and for the Spain national team from 1921 to 1923. He also played for the Philippines national team in 1917. In 1917, Paulino Alcántara won a silver medal for the Philippines at the Far Eastern Championship Games.

One of the pioneers of electronic music, Léon Theremin invented the aetherphone, also known as the theremin, which was the first electronic musical instrument to be mass-produced. He also doubled up as a Soviet spy, eavesdropping on the British, French, and US embassies, using the Buran device and The Thing.

Elizabeth Mackintosh, better known by her pseudonym, Josephine Tey, was a physical education teacher before becoming a full-time author. She first tasted success with The Man in the Queue, a detective novel written as Gordon Daviot. Her work A Shilling for Candles was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was an Italian writer best remembered as the last Prince of Lampedusa. Tomasi is quite popular for his novel The Leopard which was published posthumously in 1958. His life and career inspired a docufilm titled Die Geburt des Leoparden which was directed by Luigi Falorni and screened at the 14th Rome Film Festival.

Beginning his career as a civil servant, Nobusuke Kishi entered politics as a vice minister of the Manchukuo government and later served in the Cabinet of Tōjō Hideki. Imprisoned for three years by the Allied Occupation authorities after the war, he eventually became the Prime Minister of Japan. As Prime Minister of Japan, he signed a new U.S.-Japan security treaty.

Milena Jesenska was a Czech writer, editor, journalist, and translator. She is best remembered for translating Franz Kafka's works from German to Czech and for her romantic relationship with Kafka when she was still married to Ernst Pollak. She is also known for her action of saving the lives of many Jewish and political refugees when the Nazis occupied Czechoslovakia.

Léonide Massine was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer who created Les Présages, the first symphonic ballet in the world. Between 1915 and 1921, Massine worked at Sergei Diaghilev's popular company Ballets Russes where he served as the principal choreographer. In 2002, Léonide Massine was inducted into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.

Dziga Vertov was a Soviet documentary filmmaker and cinema theorist. His theories and filming practices had a significant impact on the cinéma vérité style of documentary filmmaking. Dziga Vertov's independent and exploratory style of filmmaking inspired and influenced numerous filmmakers including Guy Debord.