Famous June Birthdays a to z

Director, producer and playwright George Abbott lived to be 107 and participated in such Broadway productions as Boy Meets Girl, The Fall Guy and Our Town.

Paula Abdul is best known for her hit songs and dancing in the 1990s, and for judging American Idol in the 2000s.

J.J. Abrams is a screenwriter, director and producer known for TV shows like Felicity and Alias and films like Star Trek and Super 8.

Red Adair was an American oil well firefighter best known for completing over 1,000 jobs internationally.

Muammar al-Qaddafi seized control of the Libyan government in 1969, and ruled as an authoritarian dictator for more than 40 years before he was overthrown in 2011.

Tim Allen was a sporting goods salesman, drug dealer, and stand-up comedian before Home Improvement made him a sitcom star (and the voice of Buzz Lightyear).

Alois Alzheimer was a German psychiatrist who discovered the pathological condition of dementia and diagnosed the disease that bears his name.

Tichina Arnold is best known for portraying Pam James, opposite Martin Lawrence, on the sitcom Martin and Rochelle on the show Everybody Hates Chris.

Soldier and revolutionary leader José Gervasio Artigas is regarded as the father of Uruguayan independence, which occurred years after his exile.

Madeleine Force Astor married 47-year-old John Jacob Astor in her late teens. The marriage was cut short when he died in the sinking of the Titanic.

In 2011, Kelly Ayotte was elected to represent New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate, after previously serving as the state's attorney general.

Josephine Baker was a dancer and singer who became wildly popular in France during the 1920s. She also devoted much of her life to fighting racism.

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

Deep-sea archaeologist and oceanographer Robert Ballard is best known for discovering the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985.

Philip Barry is an American playwright best known for writing comedies of life. His most famous play is The Philadelphia Story.

Award-winning actress Kathy Bates starred as a deranged fan opposite James Caan in Misery, and as a comically emancipated housewife in Fried Green Tomatoes.

Star of the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, Meredith Baxter has appeared in several films and television shows throughout her lifetime.

Jeff Beck is a guitarist best known for his recordings and performances with The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group, and as a solo artist.

Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congressional clergyman, best known for his Protestant sermons and his involvement in a high-profile adultery scandal.

Saul Bellow was a celebrated novelist who won the Pulitzer, the Nobel Prize for Literature and the National Book Award for Fiction three times.

Jim Belushi, younger brother of the late John Belushi, starred on his own TV sitcom, According to Jim, as well as in several theater and film productions.

David Berkowitz was a serial killer active in the 1970s in New York City and was known by the name Son of Sam.

Isaiah Berlin was a trailblazing 20th century scholar, philosopher and author, who championed pluralistic thinking and openness to ideas.

Sandra Bernhard is an actress and stand-up comedian best known for her role on Roseanne and in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy.

Benazir Bhutto became the first female prime minister of Pakistan in 1988. She was killed by a suicide bomber in 2007.

Jill Biden is best known for being the wife of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and for her role as America's second lady.

Thomas Blanchard was an American inventor whose patents contributed to the development of the mass production system.

Chef, TV host, author. Chef Anthony Bourdain moved out of the kitchen to become a bestselling author and TV personality, gaining wider fame with his unique culinary worldview.

Elizabeth Bowen is the author of novels and short-story collections such as The House in Paris (1935), The Heat of the Day (1938) and The Demon Lover (1945).

James J. Braddock the American world heavyweight boxing champion from 1935 until 1937. His astonishing comeback in 1934 earned him the nickname, "The Cinderella Man."

Wayne Brady is a comedian and actor known for his work on TV's Whose Line Is It Anyhow, The Wayne Brady Show and Don't Forget the Lyrics.

Comedian Russell Brand is famous for his controversial comments and stunts, past struggles with addiction and his short-lived marriage to singer Katy Perry.

Gwendolyn Brooks was a postwar poet best known as the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her 1949 book Annie Allen.

Mel Brooks is an iconic filmmaker known for comedies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, among other works.

Christy Brown was a writer with cerebral palsy who penned the autobiography My Left Foot, which was adapted into a film starring Daniel Day-Lewis.

Dan Brown is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code. He is known for the intricate plotting and detail in his books.

Prolific author Pearl S. Buck earned a Pulitzer Prize for her novel The Good Earth. She was also the first female to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.

Former first lady Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush, founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She is also George W. Bush's mother.

The 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush served as vice president under Ronald Reagan. He is the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd president.

Sammy Cahn was a U.S. lyricist who composed songs for romantic films and Broadway musicals, including the hit “Three Coins in the Fountain” (1954, Oscar).

James Mark Cameron was a respected and prominent British journalist who reported widely and illuminatingly on poverty, war, injustice.

Stokely Carmichael was a Trinidadian-American political activist, best known as the leader of the civil rights group SNCC in the 1960s.

June Carter Cash was a Grammy-winning country singer who was married to and performed with country music star Johnny Cash.

Paul Castellano is best known for becoming the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City.

Charles IX was King of France from 1560 until 1574 during the turbulent time of the Wars of Religion.

Charles Chesnutt was a trailblazing short-story author and novelist who presented African-American life in works like The Conjure Woman and The Colonel's Dream.

Cicely Saunders was a nurse, social worker who founded the first modern hospice, St. Christopher's Hospice, in 1967 to provide palliative care to those in need.

Sam Claflin is a British actor who's starred in big-screen fantasy adventures like Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Snow White and the Huntsman, and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Joe Clark became Canada's youngest prime minister in 1979, serving until 1980. He later served as special representative to the secretary-general of the United Nations for Cyprus.

Lucille Clifton is a poet whose works generally examine family life, racism and gender issues.

Kim Clijsters is a professional tennis player who has won multiple Grand Slam titles, including some at the U.S. Open. She married American basketball player Brian Lynch.

Singer Cheryl Cole was part of the top-selling British girl group Girls Aloud.

Anderson Cooper was a news correspondent on ABC and CNN before hosting his own show, Anderson Cooper 360. 

Jacques Cousteau was a French undersea explorer, researcher, photographer and documentary host who invented diving and scuba devices, including the Aqua-Lung. He also conducted underwater expeditions and produced films and television series, including the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. 

Randy Couture is best known as a mixed martial arts fighter and heavyweight champion. He is one of the first members of the UFC Hall of Fame.

Courteney Cox is an actress best known for her role on the hit TV series Friends and Cougar Town.

Singer Nadine Coyle was part of top-selling British girl group Girls Aloud.

Francis Crick is responsible for discovering, along with James Watson, the double-helix structure of the DNA strand.

From Some Like It Hot to Spartacus, Tony Curtis was the reigning Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s. He's also known as actress Jamie Lee Curtis's dad.

Actor John Cusack’s quirky humor earned him roles in many 1980s films, including The Sure Thing and Say Anything. In 1990, he won his first grown-up role in The Grifters.

Aimé Césaire was a cofounder (with Léopold Sédar Senghor) of Negritude, an influential movement to restore the cultural identity of black Africans.

Movie and theater actor Hugh Dancy is now starring in the eerie NBC series Hannibal, as well as enjoying family life with wife Claire Danes and their son.

Thomas Arthur Darvill is a British actor and musician, best known for his role as Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor's companion in the popular sci-fi program Doctor Who.

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.

Lead singer for The Kinks, Ray Davies is known for his decades-long career in rock, hits like ‘Lola,’ and ongoing feuds with brother and bandmate Dave Davies.

Jefferson Davis was a 19th century U.S. senator best known as the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.