Famous Births in 1943

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January

Don Novello - Comedian, best known as “Father Guido Sarducci” on Saturday Night Live (1st)

Doris Kearns Goodwin - Historian and presidential biographer [No Ordinary Time, Washington] (4th)

Terry Venables - Soccer player and manager [Crystal Palace, Barcelona, Tottenham Hotspur] (6th)

Summary

Sadako Sasaki - Atomic bomb sickness victim [hibakusha] and origami artist (7th) d. 1955

Freddie Starr - Stand up comedian, impressionist, singer and actor. Infamous hoax victim. (9th) d. 2019

Jim Hightower - 8th Agriculture Commissioner of Texas, syndicated columnist, political activist and author (11th)

Richard Moll - Film/TV and voice actor [Night Court, Batman: The Animated Series] (13th)

Holland Taylor - Actress and playwright [The Practice, Two and a Half Men, Ann, Hollywood] (14th)

Janis Joplin - Singer-songwriter, lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company [“Me and Bobby McGee”, “Down on Me”, “Summertime”] (19th) d. 1970

Sharon Tate - Model and actress [Valley of the Dolls], Manson family victim (24th) d. 1969

Tobe Hooper - Director, screenwriter, and producer [The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem’s Lot, Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Invaders from Mars] (25th) d. 2017

Tony Blackburn - Disc jockey, singer and TV presenter [Radio Caroline, Radio London], First jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 at launch (29th)

Pat Quinn - Ice hockey player, head coach and executive [Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks] (29th) d. 2014

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February

Blythe Danner - Film, TV and stage actress [Butterflies Are Free, 1776, Huff, Meet the Parents, Will and Grace], Mother of Gwyneth Paltrow (3rd)

Nolan Bushnell - Electrical engineer, co-founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre, video game pioneer (5th)

Michael Mann - Film director, screenwriter and producer [Thief, Manhunter, Heat, The Insider, Collateral], Executive producer of Miami Vice (5th)

Fabian Forte - Singer and actor [Tiger, The Longest Day] (6th)

Creed Bratton - Actor, singer and musician [The Office] (8th)

Joe Pesci - Actor and musician [Raging Bull, GoodFellas, Home Alone, My Cousin Vinny, Casino] (9th)

Joseph Stiglitz - Economist and public policy analyst, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979) [9th]

Homer Hickam - Ex-NASA engineer, author of Rocket Boys and subject of October Sky (19th)

Mike Leigh - Film director and screenwriter [Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets & Lies, Peterloo] (20th)

David Geffen - Record producer and studio executive, founder of Geffen Records and co-founder of DreamWorks Pictures (21st)

Eduard Limonov - Writer and political dissident, founder of the National Bolshevik Party (22nd) d. 2020

George Harrison - Singer-songwriter and member of the Beatles [My Sweet Lord, What Is Life, Got My Mind Set on You] (25th) d. 2001

Bill Duke - Actor and Film/TV director [Commando, Predator, Deep Cover, Menace II Society] (26th)

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March

Tony Meehan - Musician, drummer of the Drifters/Shadows (2nd) d. 2005

Lynn Redgrave - Film and stage actress [Georgy Girl, Shine, Gods and Monsters] (8th) d. 2010

Bobby Fischer - Chess player world champion [1972-75] (9th) d. 2008

Sly Stone - R&B singer, leader of Sly and the Family Stone [“Dance to the Music”, “Everyday People”, “Family Affair”] (15th)

David Cronenberg - Director and screenwriter [Videodrome, Crash, A History of Violence] (15th)

Bakili Muluzi - 2nd President of Malawi (17th)

Mario J. Molina - Chemist, pivotal in the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry [1995] (19th) d. 2020

Mario Monti - Prime Minister of Italy [2011-2013], former president of Scelta Civica [Civic Choice] (19th)

Vivian Stanshall - Singer-songwriter, author, comedian and founding member of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (21st) d. 1995

Paul Michael Glaser - Actor and director [Starsky & Hutch, Third Watch, Ray Donovan] (25th)

Bob Woodward - Author and investigative journalist, notable for reporting the Watergate scandal with Carl Bernstein, subject of All the President’s Men (26th)

John Major - MP for Huntingdon [1979-2001] and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [1990-1997] (29th)

Eric Idle - Actor, comedian and singer, member of the Monty Python troupe [“Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”, “Galaxy Song”] (29th)

Vangelis [Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou] - Musician and composer [Chariots of Fire, Blade Runner] (29th)

Christopher Walken - Actor and comedian [The Deer Hunter, A View to a Kill, Pulp Fiction, Catch Me If Yout Can] (31st)

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April

Richard Manuel - Composer and multi-instrumentalist, pianist and singer for The Band (3rd) d. 1986

Michael Bennett - Choreographer and musical theatre director [A Chorus Line], winner of seven Tony Awards (8th) d. 1987

Harley Race - Professional wrestler star, nine time world champion, and inductee of the WWE & WCW Hall of Fame (11th) d. 2019

Louise Glück - Poet and essayist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature [2020] and Poet Laureate of the United States [2003-2004] (22nd)

Hervé Villechaize - Actor and painter [The Man with the Golden Gun, Fantasy Island*] (23rd) d. 1993

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May

Michael Palin - Actor, comedian, writer and television presenter, member of the Monty Python troupe [Time Bandits, A Fish Called Wanda] (5th)

Andreas Baader - Terrorist and founder of the Red Army Faction aka the Baader-Meinhof Gang (6th) d. 1977

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson - 5th president of Iceland [1996-2016] and Chairman of the Arctic Circle (14th)

Jack Bruce - Singer-songwriter, bassist and co-vocalist for Cream [“Sunshine of Your Love”, “White Room”, “I Feel Free”] (14th) d. 2014

James Chaney - Civil rights worker, member of the Congress for Racial Equality [CORE] (30th) d. 1964

Gale Sayers - Ex-NFL player [Chicago Bears, 1965-1971], Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee (30th) d. 2020

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June

Richard Smalley - Chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry for co-discovering buckminsterfullerene [1996] (6th) d. 2005

Superstar Billy Graham [Eldridge Wayne Coleman] - Former professional wrestler and WWWF Heavyweight Champion [1977-78]. Mentor to Hulk Hogan, Jesse Ventura, and Ric Flair (7th)

Colin Baker - Actor, notable as the 6th Doctor Who [1984-86] (8th)

Henry Hill - Mobster for the Lucchese crime family [1955-1980] and FBI informant, Subject of Wiseguy and Goodfellas. (11th) d. 2012

Malcolm McDowell - Actor, producer and television presenter [If…, A Clockwork Orange, Cat People (1982), Star Trek Generations] (13th)

Barry Manilow - Singer-songwriter [“Mandy”, “I Write the Songs”, “Copacabana (At the Copa)”] (17th)

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And of course, Dr. Loomis in the Rob Zombie Halloween films.

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