1939 births

Ali Hosseini Khamenei was an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the second supreme leader of Iran from 1989 until his assassination in the 2026 Iran war. A member of the Khamenei family, he previously served as the third president of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He held the title Grand Ayatollah, and his tenure as supreme leader, spanning 36 years and six months, made him the longest-serving head of state in West Asia at the time of his death.

American-born Swiss singer and songwriter (1939–2023)

Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, pépiniériste and inventor (born 1939)

Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer (1939–2013)

Italian politician and economist (born 1939)

American filmmaker (born 1939)

29th Prime Minister of Norway

British actor (born 1939)

American R&B and soul singer (1939–1984)

German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (1939-2018)

English comedian and actor (born 1939)

1st President of Georgia (1991–92)

10th President of Israel (2014–2021)

Lee Harvey Oswald was a U.S. Marine veteran who assassinated John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, on November 22, 1963.

Scottish racing driver

American actor

American filmmaker (1939–2015)

Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual (1939–2018)

Chinese-American physicist, Nobel laureate

American actor (born 1939)

former President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1939-2001)

British chemist (1939-2016)

Italian actor, film director, screenwriter and film producer

American actress (1939–2010)

American actor (1939–2014)

American actress, comedian and writer

Japanese mountain climber (1939-2016)

Canadian American molecular biologist (1939-2022)

Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993

Australian actor

Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009

2nd President of Mozambique

American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter (1939-2013)

President of Guinea-Bissau (1939-2009)

Italian association football player and manager

President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008

American keyboardist (1939–2013)

Japanese association football player

American director, screenwriter, and producer (1939–2020)

officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, noted for not executing a nuclear strike during a nuclear false alarm incident (1939-2017)

Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994

American film director (1939–2022)

American computer scientist

American economist and Nobel laureate in Economics

President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006

American actress

American biologist

Japanese association football player and manager (1939–2018)

American politician (1939–2021)

Bulgarian historian, philosopher, structuralist literary critic, sociologist and essayist (1939-2017)

British singer (1939–1999)

American scientist

French doctor and politician

American fashion designer (born 1939)

Czech singer and actor (1939–2019)

Italian magistrate murdered by the Mafia (1939-1992)

American film director (1939–2016)

Australian actor and comedian

British actress (1939–2025)

American actress (born 1939)