Famous February Birthdays a to z

Ida Lupino was a famous mid-20th century film actress who was also a trailblazing director and producer in a male-dominated industry.

Mary Lyon was an educator and founder of the first women's college, which is now known as Mount Holyoke College.

Antonio López de Santa Anna was a 19th century Mexican military officer who acted as the country’s president and dictator at different periods.

Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald has appeared on television in Broadwalk Empire and in such films as Gosford Park and Anna Karenina.

English actor Patrick Macnee is best known for playing secret agent John Steed in the 1960s television series The Avengers.

Lee Boyd Malvo was one of the vicious snipers who bred fear in the Washington, D.C. area for more than 20 days in 2002.

American producer, director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz was known for creating memorable characters. He worked with many major Hollywood stars.

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

Ray Manzarek was a co-founder of the Doors, a 1960s rock band. His keyboard skills helped turn Doors songs like "Light My Fire" into huge hits.

Carlos Marcello was best known as the mob boss of New Orleans, and for the FBI's investigation of his possible involvement in JFK's assassination.

A co-founder of Apple Computers Inc., Mike Markkula laid the groundwork for the company's success with his management and marketing vision.

Philip Markoff answered a Craigslist ad for massage services, met a masseuse/former call girl, and killed her, becoming known as the "Craigslist killer."

Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter Bob Marley served as a world ambassador for reggae music and sold more than 20 million records throughout his career—making him the first international superstar to emerge from the so-called Third World.

Playwright, poet. Christopher Marlowe was a poet and playwright at the forefront of the 16th-century dramatic renaissance. His works influenced William Shakespeare and generations of writers to follow.

Actor Lee Marvin’s appeared in about 70 films, including Hell in the Pacific and The Dirty Dozen, between 1951 and 1986.

The youngest of the Marx Brothers, Zeppo Marx was the handsomest sibling, but often underappreciated as the straight man and young romantic lead. He left the famous comedic team to become a millionaire inventor.

Lois Maxwell was an actress best known for her role as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond film series.

American boxer Floyd Mayweather is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters of his generation. HBO's documentary about him, 24/7, increased his popularity.

Colum McCann is an Irish born writer best known for his works of fiction published as novels and short stories.

Actress Rue McClanahan is best-known for her role as self-absorbed bombshell Devereaux on the 1980's sitcom Golden Girls. 

The work of Carson McCullers, author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding, is must-read southern gothic fiction.

Michael McDonald is an American singer and songwriter best known as a former member of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers.

John McEnroe is a world champion tennis player famous for his temperamental outbursts. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.

Dmitri Mendeleyev was a Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements.

A high-profile trainer and life coach, Jillian Michaels starred on the reality TV show The Biggest Loser and has created her own fitness franchise.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was such a bright young thing of the jazz age that she coined the term "my candle burns at both ends."

John Mills was an award-winning actor, dancer and producer whose career spanned eight decades with works like Great Expectations and Ryan’s Daughter.

Married to Judy Garland and father to Liza Minnelli, film director Vincente Minnelli infused a new sophistication and vitality into movie musicals of the 1940s and '50s.

Sun Myung Moon was founder and leader of the Unification Church, a religious movement whose followers were labeled "Moonies."

Sara Jane Moore gained national notoriety in 1975, when she attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford outside a San Francisco hotel.

Thomas H. Moorer was a U.S. Navy admiral and naval aviator who later served as chief of naval operations (1967-70), and then as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1970-4).

Thomas More is known for his 1516 book Utopia and for his untimely death in 1535, after refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. He was canonized by the Catholic Church as a saint in 1935.

Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, best known for her performances in French New Wave films of the 1950s and 60s.

Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize- and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved.

Stage, television and screen actor Zero Mostel won a Tony Award playing Tevye in Jerome Robbins' Fiddler on the Roof, and starred in Mel Brooks' film The Producers.

Robert Mugabe has served as president of Zimbabwe since 1987, previously serving as prime minister. He has been re-elected to the presidency multiple times, but elections have reportedly been tainted by fraud and voter intimidation.

Photographer Nickolas Muray was famous for his portraits of Hollywood beauties, his fabulous fencing skills and his romance with artist Frida Kahlo.

Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson in November 2011.

Luis Muñoz Marín was Puerto Rico's first governor, serving four terms.

Attorney Ralph Nader is an auto-safety reformer and consumer advocate. He’s run for president several times, having been both a Democrat and Green Party member.

Sarojini Naidu was an India political leader best known as the first female President of the India National Congress.

Graham Nash's vocals and songwriting talents helped make Crosby, Stills and Nash one of the most popular folk-rock bands of all time.

Vince Neil is the lead singer of Mötley Crüe and a reality TV show veteran.

Leslie Neilsen was an actor known for his deadpan comic delivery in such films as Airplane! and The Naked Gun

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Twice appointed the United States' poet laureate, Howard Nemerov was a writer with wit and illuminating irony.

Huey P. Newton was an African-American activist best known for founding the militant Black Panther Party in 1966, along with co-founder Bobby Seale.

John G. Nicolay served as secretary to President Abraham Lincoln, and later co-wrote a 10-volume biography on the president, Abraham Lincoln: A History.

Chester W. Nimitz was commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during World War II. A brilliant strategist, he commanded all land and sea forces in the central Pacific.

Actor Nick Nolte made it big in the 1980s with such films as 48 Hours, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, and The Prince of Tides.

Manuel Noriega was the military ruler of Panama who ran a corrupt puppet government there until the United States drove him out in 1990.

Despite his successes, Australian golfer Greg Norman earned a reputation for his inability to sustain leads in several major tournaments.

Bob Novak was a conservative TV talk show personality, most famously appearing on CNN's often-explosive Crossfire.

Film actress Kim Novak was a leading box-office attraction of the 1950s, perhaps the last of the ‘sex goddesses’ produced by the Hollywood star system.

Actor Edward James Olmos earned an Oscar nomination for Stand and Deliver before starring on TV's Battlestar Galactica.

Elizabeth Olsen is best known for being the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and for acting in the film Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Yoko Ono is a multimedia artist who became known worldwide in the 1960s when she married Beatles front man John Lennon.

James Otis was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who is best remembered for the phrase, "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

Jack Palance was an American actor best known for playing villainous roles in the 1960s and for his award-winning appearance in the film City Slickers.

Sarah Palin, McCain's 2008 running mate, is the second woman and first Republican female to run for vice president on a U.S. major party's ticket.

Don Pardo is a velvet-toned television announcer known for his work over the years on such NBC shows as Saturday Night Live and The Price Is Right.

Anna Pavlova was a famous Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. The company she founded in 1911 was the first to tour ballet around the world.

Peter III was the Emperor of Russia for a mere six months in 1762 before he was overthrown by his wife, Catherine the Great, and assassinated in 1762.

With bright eyes and bee-sting lips, Bernadette Peters is best know for her comedic musical performances, especially in period roles.

Alexei Petrovich was the son of Peter the Great and heir to the Russian throne. He was sentenced to death by his father.

Lou Diamond Phillips is an actor best known for his his work in films such as La Bamba, Stand and Deliver, and Young Guns.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American Revolutionary War veteran, South Carolina legislator and two-time presidential candidate.

Horace Pippin was a self-taught, African-American painter whose art documented slavery and his experiences in World War I.

Sidney Poitier became the first black Academy Award winner in 1964, receiving the honor for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963).

Rabbi and author Chaim Potok wrote The Chosen, along with several other novels featuring characters grappling with clashing secular and religious views.

Canadian poet E.J. Pratt is the author of several collections of verse, including The Titans (1926) and Brébeuf and His Brethren (1940).

Lisa Marie Presley is a singer and actress who is familiar to most as the only daughter of Elvis Presley and the ex-wife of Michael Jackson.

Leontyne Price is a lyric soprano who has been credited as the first African-American singer to achieve an international reputation in opera.

Known as the 'wild child' of Monaco for her scandalous affairs, Princess Stephanie's diverse career path has included singing, swimwear design and modeling.

Tony Randall was an actor who played popular television character Felix Unger on the hit series The Odd Couple.