Famous People Born in 1943 a to z

Arthur Ashe is the first African American to win the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and the first black American to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Singer Florence Ballard formed The Supremes in 1961 with childhood friends Mary Wilson and Diana Ross. She sang on 16 different Top 40 hits.

Jim Barksdale is an American entrepreneur and business executive who served as president and CEO of Netscape from 1995 to 1999.

Infamous drug trafficker Griselda Blanco is suspected of committing more than 200 murders while transporting cocaine from Colombia to the U.S. She was murdered in Colombia in 2012.

Steven Bochco is a US television producer and writer. He is famous for creating Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue.

Jack Bruce is considered one of greatest bassists of all time. As the lead singer and bass guitarist for the band Cream, he wrote and sang "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room," among several other hits.

Mary Brunner, a member of Charles Manson's "Family," was in jail at the time of the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders, thereby precluding her participation.

British astronomer Jocelyn Bell Burnell assisted in constructing a large radio telescope and discovered pulsars, cosmic sources of peculiar radio pulses.

Chevy Chase is a comedic actor who is best know for his appearances on Saturday Night Live and his starring roles in the films Caddyshack and Fletch.

Cheryl Crane is the daughter of Hollywood legend Lana Turner. In 1958 when she was just 14 years old she committed murder, stabbing Turner's boyfriend after hearing him threaten to kill her mother.

Jim Croce was an American folk singer and songwriter. He released five studio albums between 1966 and 1973, before his untimely death in 1973.

American illustrator and artist Robert Crumb is best known for his distinctive style and satirical tone and creating the cartoon character Fritz the Cat.

Willie Davenport was an Olympic athlete and medal winner and one of only a few Americans to compete in both the Summer and Winter games.

Legendary award-winning actor Robert De Niro has starred in such films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather: Part II and Silver Linings Playbook.

John Denver was one of the most successful singer-songwriters of the 1970s. His hits include "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."

Bobby Fischer is best known for being the first American grandmaster of chess.

Former chairman of the Cendant Corporation, Walter A. Forbes is best known as the man behind the largest accounting fraud of the 1990s.

Robert Gates served as director of the CIA under George H.W. Bush before serving as secretary of defense under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

David Geffen is an ambitious, energetic music and movie executive who established a vast Hollywood-based empire, featuring Geffen Records and DreamWorks.

With his "Contract with America," former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich established his position as the head of the anti-Clinton Republican wave in 1994.

The poems of Nikki Giovanni helped to define the African American voice of the 1960s, '70s and beyond. She was also a major force in the Black Arts movement.

Louise Glück is a poet whose work has been described as technically precise, sensitive, insightful and gripping.

Doris Kearns Goodwin is best known for authoring biographies of American presidents, including Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

George Harrison was lead guitarist of The Beatles as well as a singer-songwriter on many of their most memorable tracks.

For close to 30 years, drummer Mickey Hart paired with Bill Kreutzmann to form the rhythm section for the iconic rock 'n' roll band the Grateful Dead.

Henry Hill was a member of the Lucchese crime family who became a federal informant, inspiring the Martin Scorsese movie Goodfellas.

As the lead singer of the Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger has become a rock legend for his gritty, blues-influenced songs and for his charismatic stage presence.

Judith Jamison, choreographer and dancer, has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.

Singer Janis Joplin rose to fame in the late 1960s and was known for her powerful, blues-inspired vocals. She died of an accidental drug overdose in 1970.

Senator John Kerry has supported free trade, expansive foreign and military policy and education spending. In 2004, he was a democratic presidential nominee.

Jean-Claude Killy is a French former champion alpine skier who won three gold medals at the 1968 Winter Olympics.

Billie Jean King is best known for her long and successful tennis career.

Ben Kingsley is an Academy Award-winning actor known for his work in films like Gandhi, Bugsy and Schindler’s List.

James Levine is a renowned pianist, violinist and conductor who has served as music director of the Metropolitan Opera since 1971.

Little Eva was a singer best known for the overnight stardom brought to her through her #1 smash "The Loco-Motion."

New York physician Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979 for murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters, but questions remain about his guilt.

John Major was a member of the British Parliament's Conservative Party and England's prime minister from 1990 to 1997.

Terrence Malick is a critically acclaimed American film director who films include: Badlands, Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life.

Barry Manilow made the whole world sing with his 1970s hits "I Write the Songs," "Mandy" and "Copacabana (At the Copa)."

Michael Mann in an Emmy Award-winning film director, producer and screenwriter best known for producing the 1980s crime series, Miami Vice.

Penny Marshall became a successful film director after starring in the sitcom Laverne and Shirley. Her works include Big and Riding in Cars With Boys.

Mobster Joseph Massino became boss of the Bonanno crime family when other crime bosses were being sent to jail for life. The press called him "the Last Don."

Ronnie Milsap is a multiple Grammy Award-winning country music singer and pianist. A blind performer, Milsap's songs were frequent cross-over hits during the 1970s and 1980s.

Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, responsible for hits such as "Both Sides Now" and "Big Yellow Taxi," is widely considered 1960s and '70s folk royalty.

Mexican-born chemist Mario Molina won a Nobel Prize in 1995 for his research on how man-made compounds affect the ozone layer.

Baseball player Joe Morgan won consecutive National League MVP awards 1975–1976, when he led the Cincinnati Reds to back-to-back World Series championships.

Jim Morrison was the charismatic singer and songwriter for the 1960 rock group the Doors until his death in a Paris bathtub at age 27.

Keith Relf was a founding memeber of the Yardbirds, one of the pivotal British rock bands of the 1960s. Relf is also remembered for his unusual, untimely death.

Guitarist Keith Richards is one of the driving forces behind the Rolling Stones, the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band."

Legendary guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson has had several hit albums with The Band, an influential rock group of the 1960s and 1970s.

Edie Sedgwick was a socialite and model who became a muse to Andy Warhol in the 1960s.

Sam Shepard is a prolific, Oscar-nominated actor and playwright who’s won the Pulitzer Prize.

Ronnie Spector became famous in the 1960s as the lead singer of the Ronettes, whose hits include "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain".

Author R.L. Stine is famous for writing Goosebumps, the best-selling horror series for kids. He also created the successful Fear Street series.

Model and actress Sharon Tate is best remembered for her tragic and untimely death at the hands of serial killer Charles Manson.

Chef Tell was one of the first culinary celebrities, giving cooking demonstrations on television beginning in the 1970s.

Hervé Villechaize was a French actor best known for playing Tattoo on the 1970s television show Fantasy Island.

Labor activist and later Polish president Lech Walesa helped form and lead communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity and won a Nobel Prize.

Film Actor Christopher Walken often plays the bad guy, but he has also proved himself in comic roles and has been a repeat guest on Saturday Night Live.

Roger Waters was the singer, songwriter and bassist for the British rock band Pink Floyd. He also has had an extensive solo career.

Faye Wattleton, former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood—as well as the first African-American, first female and youngest president in the organization's history—has been one of the strongest champions of women's rights and reproductive health for more than four decades.

Paul Wolfowitz is a U.S. government official who is best known as the leading architect of the Iraq War under President George Bush's administration.

Bob Woodward is an American journalist and author who reported on the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post. His coverage greatly contributed to the Post's 1973 Pulitzer Prize.