Famous July Birthdays a to z

Richard Petty is a champion NASCAR driver who was nicknamed "The King" for his record setting Daytona 500 and NASCAR championship wins.

Camille Pissarro was a French landscape artist best known for his influence on Impressionist and Postimpressionist painting.

George Arthur Plimpton expanded the educational publishing company Ginn & Co worldwide. He had a renowned collection of manuscripts and books.

Sydney Pollack is an Oscar-winning film director, producer and actor. His director credits include Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor.

Frenchman Georges Pompidou rose from schoolteacher to Premier and then President, continuing many of his predecessor's, Charles de Gaulle, policies.

Former SS Captain Erich Priebke participated in the 1944 massacre of 335 Italian civilians in Rome, Italy. He was captured and tried for his crimes in the 1990s.

Princess Diana was Princess of Wales while married to Prince Charles. One of the most adored members of the British royal family, she died in a 1997 car crash.

Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden is the eldest child born to King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and is heir to the Swedish throne.

The daughter of comedian Richard Pryor, Rain Pryor is a multifaceted actress, singer, comedian and artistic director.

Wolfgang Puck is a chef who expanded his purview into running restaurants, writing cookbooks and hosting cooking shows.

Anna Quindlen is the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and bestselling novelist who wrote the books One True Thing and Object Lessons.

Daniel Radcliffe is an English actor who rose to international stardom as Harry Potter in the series of films based on the hugely popular books by J.K. Rowling.

Stamford Raffles was an English administrator and traveler who oversaw the establishment of Singapore.

Nancy Reagan is a former first lady of the United States, the widow of Ronald Reagan, who founded the "Just Say No" drug awareness campaign.

Della Reese is a singer and actress known for her gospel talents and for her role on TV's Touched by an Angel.

Martha Reeves is an American pop and R&B singer best remembered as the lead singer of the group Martha and the Vandellas.

Janet Reno broke new ground in 1993 as the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney General, serving under President Bill Clinton.

Actor Michael Richards starred for nine years on the television series Seinfeld, playing Jerry Seinfeld's quirky next-door neighbor Cosmo Kramer.

Actress Lisa Rinna is known for her roles on Days of Our Lives and Melrose Place, and for appearing on TV's Dancing with the Stars.

Though best known for his controversial talk shows, television personality Geraldo Rivera also worked as a journalist for several major news outlets.

Jenni Rivera is best known for making hit albums singing in Spanish and producing several reality TV series featuring her family.

Jason Robards Jr. was an intense stage and film actor, and a frequent interpreter of Eugene O'Neill's work. He starred in the 1960 television production The Iceman Cometh, and later starred in films like Philadelphia and Magnolia.

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

Christopher Rocancourt conned dozens of wealthy families in the Hamptons, while pretending he was a French Rockefeller.

John D. Rockefeller was the head of the Standard Oil Company and one of the world's richest men. He used his fortune to fund ongoing philanthropic causes.

The son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., Nelson Rockefeller served four terms as governor of New York. He was later appointed vice president under President Gerald Ford.

In 2007, American baseball player Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player in major league baseball history to hit 500 career home runs.

Ginger Rogers was a prolific Oscar-winning actress, singer and dancer who was revered for her cinematic footwork with Fred Astaire.

Linda Ronstadt is a ten-time Grammy winner and superstar of both pop and country music. Her 1974 album, Heart Like a Wheel, sold more than 1 million copies.

Tokyo Rose, whose real name was Iva Toguri, was an American-born Japanese woman who hosted a Japanese propaganda radio program aimed at U.S. troops during World War II.

J.K. Rowling is the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, one of the most popular book and film franchises in history.

American film and TV actor Alan Ruck is beloved for his role as Cameron Frye, the best friend of Ferris Bueller, in John Hughes's 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Maya Rudolph is a comedian and actor who became a household name via her Saturday Night Live tenure, which ran from 2000 to 2007.

Donald Rumsfeld is a political figure known for being the secretary of defense under both President Gerald Ford and President George W. Bush.

Geoffrey Rush is an Australian actor best known for his award-winning performance in the 1996 film Shine.

Betye Saar is best known for her art work that critiques American racism toward blacks.

French author Amandine Aaurore Lucile Dudevant wrote many popular novels during the Romantic period under the pseudonym George Sand.

Journalist Marlene Sanders was both the first woman to anchor a nightly network newscast and the first female field correspondent in the Vietnam War.

Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana is leader of Santana, a band whose music uniquely blends Latin-infused rock, jazz, blues, salsa, and African rhythms.

Fred Schneider is best known as the lead singer of rock band The B-52s. He's known for his style of reciting poetry over music, called sprechgesang.

Howard Schultz is CEO and chairman of Starbucks, the highly successful coffee company.

Arnold Schwarzenegger first gained fame as a body builder, using that as a launching point to become a huge Hollywood star and, later, the governor of California.

One of the world's premier golfers, Adam Scott became the first Australian to win the Masters Tournament with his 2013 victory.

English film director Tony Scott was best known for his first box-office success, Top Gun, as well as later films like True Romance and Enemy of the State. He was the brother of  Ridley Scott, also a famed producer and director.

Emperor Haile Selassie I worked to modernize Ethiopia for several decades before famine and political opposition forced him from office in 1974.

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote more than 60 plays during his lifetime, which earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.

Chandra Shekhar Singh was a politician and legislator who served as Prime Minister of India from 1990-1991.

Overweight as a child, Richard Simmons is now an American fitness personality best known for his high-energy and eccentric aerobic videos and DVDs.

Writer for stage and screen Neil Simon penned some of America's most popular plays, including Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965).

Jessica Simpson is an American pop singer, actress and fashion empire entrepreneur, and a former MTV reality show star.

O.J. Simpson is best known for his arrest and trial in the 1994 murder of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, of which he was found not guilty.

Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Jewish-American writer who won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Peter Singer is an Australian philosopher whose work in applied ethics has led to controversial views on abortion, animal liberation and infanticide.

Noble Sissle was a pioneering jazz singer, bandleader and composer known for his work on the musical Shuffle Along, among other productions.

Popular bluegrass and mandolin player Ricky Skaggs is known for several popular country hits, including "Country Boy."

Son of a circus clown, Red Skelton was a radio and television comedian and host best known for his emotionally complex routines.

Award-winning hard rock guitarist Slash played with Guns N’ Roses until 1996. He went on to form the band Velvet Revolver and release two solo albums.

Jaden Smith is an actor best known for his starring role in the remake of The Karate Kid, and as the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith.

Wesley Snipes is an actor known for his action roles in such films as Blade and Passenger 57 and for his trouble with the law over unpaid taxes.

Goalkeeper Hope Solo helped the U.S. Women's Soccer Team win gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She also appeared on Dancing with the Stars in 2011.

Brett Somers was a TV actress and personality perhaps best known for her appearances on Match Game, the top game show during much of the 1970s.

Kevin Spacey was catapulted into international stardom in the '90s with roles in The Usual Suspects (1995) and Se7en (1995).

One of the most popular action stars of all time, Sylvester Stallone is best known for portraying boxer Rocky Balboa and Vietnam War veteran John Rambo.

Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress who had a 60-year career in film and TV. Usually playing strong-willed women, Stanwyck defined the femme fatale.

Ringo Starr first rose to fame in the early 1960s as the drummer for the legendary rock group the Beatles.

William Thomas Stead was a writer of journalistic pieces and ghost stories whose life came to an end on the Titanic.

Musician, Isaac Stern was a famous violinist and was responsible for discovering Yo-Yo Ma.

Ian Stewart was one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, later serving as their road manager and pianist.

Toni "Tomboy" Stone made history in 1953 when she joined the Negro Leagues, making her the first woman ever to play professionally in a men's league.

Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright whose famous works include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1964) and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1978). He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 Academy Award winning film Shakespeare in Love. 

Stephen Strasburg drew close media scrutiny as the first pick in Major League Baseball's 2009 draft.

Woody Strode was a Hollywood actor who also had a brief career as a professional football player.

Actor Michael Stuhlbarg has combined a stage career with work on the TV series Boardwalk Empire and films like A Serious Man, Men in Black III and Hitchcock.

Jeffrey Tambor is an American actor best known for his roles on the late-night spoof series The Larry Sanders Show and the comedy series Arrested Development.