Sidney Poitier - 6 January - first black actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor (Lilies of the Field - 1963). Ambassador to Japan (1997–2007).
Hardy Kruger - 19 January - German actor.
Meat Loaf - 20 January - Rock singer. Real name Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday). Bat Out of Hell was his 1977 debut album.
Leonard Fenton – 29 January - played Dr. Legg in EastEnders.
Bamber Gascoigne - 8 February - University Challenge host.
Jack Smethurst – 16 February - Eddie Booth in the British sitcom Love Thy Neighbour.
Anna Karen - 22 February - Actress. Played Olive Rudge in On The Buses.
Sally Kellerman - 24 February - American actress who played Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in Robert Altman's film M*A*S*H.
Shane Warne - 4 March - Australian cricketer. One of the sport's greatest-ever bowlers. Until 2007, record holder for most wickets taken in Test cricket.
Lynda Baron - 5 March - actress who played Nurse Gladys in Open All Hours.
Peter Bowles - 17 March - actor who appeared in sitcoms Only When I Laugh, and To the Manor Born.
Madeleine Albright - 23 March - first woman to serve as the United States secretary of state. Born in Prague.
Taylor Hawkins - 25 March - American musician, drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters.
June Brown - 3 April - actress known for her role as Dot Cotton on Eastenders.
Jack Higgins - 9 April - author of The Eagle Has Landed.
Dennis Waterman - 8 May - actor known for Minder, and The Sweeney.
Kay Mellor - 15 May - scriptwriter known for TV such as Fat Friends.
Vangelis - 17 May - Greek musician and composer, best known for score to Chariots of Fire.
Ray Liotta - 26 May - American actor who played Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.
Lester Piggott - 29 May - English professional jockey and trainer.
Hilary Devey - 11 June - businesswoman, known for her role on Dragons' Den.
Bruce Kent - 22 June - British Roman Catholic priest, political activist in CND.
Andy Goram - 2 July - Scottish goalkeeper.
James Caan - 6 July - American actor.
Shinzo Abe - 8 July - former Prime Minister of Japan who was assassinated in 2022.
Ivana Trump - 14 July - former wife of Donald Trump.
Bernard Cribbins - 27 July - English actor.
Judith Durham - 5 August - Australian lead singer of the folk music group the Seekers.
Dame Olivia Newton-John - 8 August - British-Australian singer and actress.
Raymond Briggs - 9 August - English illustrator and author, The Snowman.
Anne Heche - 11 August - American actress. Died from car crash.
Josephine Tewson - 18 August - English actress, best known for TV sitcoms including Keeping Up Appearances.
Bill Turnbull - 31 August - English TV and radio presenter and journalist, including BBC Breakfast presenter for 15 years.
Mikhail Gorbachev - 30 August - Russian. The last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991.
John McVicar - 6 September - British journalist. An armed robber in the 1960s who was labelled "Public Enemy No. 1" by Scotland Yard.
Gwyneth Powell = 8 September - Actress best known as Mrs McClusky in the 80s in Grange Hill.
Kenneth Starr - 13 September - American lawyer and judge. Author of the Starr Report that led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Dame Hilary Mantel - 22 September - British writer. Twice winner of the Booker Prize, the first was for her 2009 novel Wolf Hall.