Famous people born on July 14th
July 14 is a remarkably wide-ranging birthday roster, spanning presidents and protest leaders, Nobel-level literature and criticism, and artists who reshaped modern visual culture. The date also features influential scientists, composers, and screen performers whose work left an imprint far beyond their home countries. Together, these lives sketch a cross-section of politics, the arts, and public life across two centuries.
Notable highlights
- Gerald R. Ford (1913) - The only U.S. president to assume office without being elected president or vice president, steering the country through the post-Watergate transition.
- Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904) - Nobel Prize-winning novelist who brought Yiddish storytelling to a global audience with sharp moral irony and folklore-inflected realism.
- Woody Guthrie (1912) - Folk songwriter whose plainspoken lyrics chronicled the Great Depression and labor struggles, shaping the template for modern protest music.
- Emmeline Pankhurst (1858) - Militant British suffrage leader whose organizing and tactics helped force women's voting rights into the political mainstream.
- Gustav Klimt (1862) - Viennese symbolist whose gilded, sensual style became an icon of fin-de-siecle modernism, epitomized by works like "The Kiss".
- Ingmar Bergman (1918) - Director who pushed cinema toward psychological and philosophical depth, using spare imagery to explore faith, intimacy, and doubt.
- Harry Dean Stanton (1926) - Celebrated character actor whose quiet intensity made him a standout in American independent film and iconic genre roles.
- Northrop Frye (1912) - Literary critic whose structural approach to myth and genre influenced how literature is studied and taught worldwide.
- Jerome Lawrence (1915) - Playwright (co-creator of "Inherit the Wind") who used drama to argue for intellectual freedom and the dignity of dissent.
- Claudia Kennedy (1947) - U.S. Army lieutenant general who broke barriers for women in senior military leadership and became a prominent public voice on service culture.
On this day
- 1789 - The storming of the Bastille in Paris becomes a defining flashpoint of the French Revolution.
- 1790 - The Fete de la Federation is held in Paris, marking an early revolutionary attempt at national reconciliation.
- 1933 - Gleichschaltung intensifies in Nazi Germany as the regime consolidates control over political and civic institutions.
- 1958 - Iraq's monarchy is overthrown in a coup, reshaping the country's political trajectory and regional alignments.