Famous people born on April 13th
April 13 is a surprisingly wide-ranging birthday date, spanning statesmen, poets, polemicists, performers, and pioneering public figures. The roster moves from the early modern political world to modern literature, music, journalism, and film. It is a date that pairs foundational history with boundary-pushing art and debate.
Notable highlights
- Thomas Jefferson (1743) - Third U.S. president and principal author of the Declaration of Independence, he helped define early American political philosophy.
- Samuel Beckett (1906) - Nobel-winning playwright whose minimalist style and existential humor reshaped modern theater with works like "Waiting for Godot."
- Seamus Heaney (1939) - Irish poet and Nobel laureate celebrated for language rooted in place, memory, and moral witness.
- Christopher Hitchens (1949) - Combative essayist and public intellectual known for debating religion, politics, and war with sharp wit and rhetoric.
- Garry Kasparov (1963) - World chess champion whose rivalry with IBM's Deep Blue became a landmark moment in human-versus-machine competition.
- Peabo Bryson (1951) - Grammy-winning R&B vocalist famed for blockbuster ballads and Disney duets such as "Beauty and the Beast."
- Ron Perlman (1950) - Character actor recognized for genre-defining roles, including Hellboy, and a career spanning film, TV, and voice work.
- Jacques Lacan (1901) - Influential French psychoanalyst whose theories on language and the self left a lasting imprint on psychology and the humanities.
- Eudora Welty (1909) - Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose Mississippi-set stories are admired for empathy, detail, and quiet humor.
- Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1919) - Prominent atheist activist whose legal fights helped shape U.S. church-state debate in public schools.
On this day
- 1742 - Handel's "Messiah" is first performed in Dublin, quickly becoming one of the most enduring works in choral music.
- 1861 - Fort Sumter surrenders, marking an early turning point as the American Civil War begins to unfold.
- 1970 - Apollo 13 suffers a catastrophic in-flight explosion, forcing NASA and the crew into a dramatic rescue mission.
- 1997 - Tiger Woods wins the Masters, becoming the youngest champion in tournament history and signaling a new era in golf.