Famous May Birthdays a to z

Thomas Gainsborough was an 18th century English painter known for his suggestive portraiture and landscapes.

Noel Gallagher was the vocalist and lead guitarist in the 1990s alternative rock band Oasis. He began a solo career after quitting Oasis in 2009.

John Galt was a prolific Scottish novelist admired for his depiction of country life. His masterpieces include The Ayrshire Legatees and Lawrie Todd.

Actress Ana Gasteyer joined Saturday Night Live in 1996 and became famous for her impersonations of Barbra Streisand, Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart.

A pioneer in early filmmaking, Léon Gaumont saw the possibilities of what moving pictures could be and making film equipment unavailable for the masses, establishing what is now the oldest surviving film company.

Jean-Leon Gerome was a French painter, sculptor, and teacher. His best-known works are scenes inspired by his travels in Egypt.

Melissa Gilbert came to fame playing Laura Ingalls on the NBC period drama series Little House on the Prairie (1974-82).

Rudy Giuliani is a former major of New York City who served during the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001.

Tracey Gold is an actress who shot to stardom in the 1980s on the hit TV show Growing Pains.

Rubén González was an acclaimed Afro-Cuban pianist and Buena Vista Social Club member who released his debut album as a lead player at the age of 78.

Benny Goodman, "The King of Swing", was the clarinetist composer responsible for multiple hit singles as a band leader before World War II.

Ekaterina Gordeeva is a Russian figure skater who, with her late partner and husband Sergei Grinkov, was a two-time Olympian and four-time world champion.

Lesley Gore is a singer-songwriter best remembered for her 1963 smash single "It's My Party." Gore also scored hits with "Maybe I Know" and "You Don't Own Me."

Jay Gould was a prominent American railroad builder and financier. He illegally issued new stock for Erie Railroads in the "Erie War" with Vanderbilt.

Martha Graham is considered by many to be the 20th century's most important dancer and the mother of modern dance.

Mike Gravel is a former U.S. senator from Alaska, known for his efforts to end the draft during the Vietnam War and for releasing the Pentagon Papers.

Cee Lo Green is a singer-songwriter who has found success as frontman of the duo Gnarls Barkley and as a solo artist, and has appeared as a judge on The Voice.

Pam Grier is best known for acting in many "blaxploitation" films in the 1970s.

Steve "Clem" Grogan, a member of Charles Manson's "Family," served 15 years in prison for the murder of ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, in a plot led my Manson.

Grace Gummer is an American actress best known as the daughter of Academy Award-winner Meryl Streep.

In 1966, Thomas Watt Hamilton attacked a classroom at the Dunblane Primary School in Scotland.

After earning a fortune in the cigar industry, Oscar Hammerstein I, grandfather of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, built numerous theaters and opera houses.

Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled crime fiction, including the novels The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man.

Playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun and was the first black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics’ Circle award.

During his all-too-brief life, artist Keith Haring became a sensation in the art world with his bold, cartoon and graffiti influenced works during the 1980s.

Lorenz Hart was an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with Richard Rodgers, including "My Funny Valentine" and "Blue Moon."

World Wrestling Federation fans knew Owen Hart as "the Rocket" or "the Blue Blazer." He died tragically during a pre-match publicity stunt when he fell 90 feet.

Television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck is the youngest and most politically conservative co-host of the talk show The View.

Tony Hawk is a professional skateboarder, probably the most famous to ever be involved in the sport.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Howard Hawks directed Only Angels Have Wings, Sergeant York, Scarface, Bringing Up Baby and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Economist F.A. Hayek was noted for his criticisms of the Keynesian welfare state and of totalitarian socialism. In 1974 he shared the Nobel Prize for Economics.

Charles Melville Hays was president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and a victim of the Titanic disaster of 1912.

Tony Hayward was the CEO of BP when its rig Deepwater Horizon sank in the Gulf of Mexico, creating one of the greatest environmental disasters ever.

Actress Anne Heche got her start on the soap opera Another World. She is known for dating comedian Ellen DeGeneres, and for starring in the series Men in Trees.

Based on his experience, novelist Joseph Heller wrote the satirical novel Catch-22, considered one of the most significant works of postwar protest literature.

Musician and singer Levon Helm was a member of the influential rock group, The Band, and a Grammy Award-winning solo artist.

Actress Christina Hendricks, named the sexiest woman alive by Esquire magazine, is known for playing Joan Holloway on the TV series Mad Men.

Doug Henning was a magician known the world over for his tricks performed on TV and Broadway and in Las Vegas.

Patrick Henry was a brilliant orator and a major figure of the American Revolution, perhaps best known for his words "Give me liberty or give me death!"

Actress Audrey Hepburn, star of Breakfast at Tiffany's, remains one of Hollywood's greatest style icons and one of the world's most successful actresses.

Katharine Hepburn was an actress known as a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity in films such as The African Queen and On Golden Pond.

Journalist Theodor Herzl responded to the anti-Semitism he witnessed while covering the Dreyfus Affair by starting the World Zionist Organization.

Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West.

When singer, songwriter and actress Lauryn Hill released her solo debut album, she became the first woman or hip-hop artist to win five Grammy Awards.

John Hinckley Jr. gained national notoriety in 1981 when he attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan outside of a Washington, D.C. hotel.

H.H. Holmes was the alias of one of America's first serial killers. During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, he lured victims into his elaborate "murder castle."

Bob Hope was a entertainer and comic actor, known for his rapid-fire delivery of jokes and for his success in virtually all entertainment media.

Actor/director Dennis Hopper came to fame with 1969's Easy Rider. Later films like Blue Velvet and River's Edge cemented his legend.

At 16, Sarah Hughes won the 2002 Olympic women’s figure skating gold medal as the result of a thrilling long program.

Psychologist Clark L. Hull performed a study and produced the dominant learning theory of the 1940s and 1950s, that learning was based on “habit strength."

British singer Engelbert Humperdinck made it big in 1967 with hit song "Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)."

Hubert H. Humphrey was an assistant majority leader of the Senate who became the 38th U.S. vice president under Lyndon B. Johnson.

Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter was first elected to represent the San Diego area in 1980. He failed to gain his party's 2008 presidential nomination.

Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish singer known for several hit songs, including "Bailamos," "Rhythm Divine," "Be With You," "Escape" and "Hero." He is the son of Spanish singer Julio Iglesias.

William Inge was a playwright best known for his plays Come Back, Little Sheba; Picnic, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize; and Bus Stop.

Glenda Jackson is best known for her Academy Award winning roles in Women in Love and A Touch of Class.

Jackie Jackson was the oldest member of the group Jackson 5, which included his four brothers Michael, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon Jackson.

The younger sister of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson is one of the best-selling artists in contemporary history. Her albums include Control and Rhythym Nation.

Katherine Jackson is best known for being the mother of international pop superstar Michael Jackson.

La Toya Jackson is a singer and entertainer, and is best known as a member of the musical Jackson family. Michael Jackson was her brother.

Author and activist Jane Jacobs wrote about preserving urban neighborhoods, in books like The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Dark Age Ahead.

Singer and guitarist Casey James became a household name when he appeared and placed third on the ninth season of American Idol.

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

Jazz pianist, composer and saxophonist Keith Jarrett is considered one of the most original and prolific jazz musicians to emerge during the late 20th century.

Jewel is a multi-platinum singer-songwriter, poet and actress. Her debut album Pieces of You yielded the hit single "Who Will Save Your Soul."

Singer Billy Joel topped the charts in the 1970s and '80s with hits like "Piano Man," "Uptown Girl" and "We Didn't Start the Fire."

Dwayne Johnson became a film actor (2001's The Mummy) after gaining fame with the World Wrestling Federation as "The Rock."

Musician Robert Johnson is best known as one of the greatest blues performers of all time, a recognition that came largely after his death at age 27.

Al Jolson was a Russian-born U.S. singer, songwriter, and blackface comedian who performed in vaudeville and minstrel shows and starred in The Jazz Singer.

Jim Jones was best known as the cult leader of the Peoples Temple who led more than 900 followers in a mass suicide via cyanide-laced punch known as the Jonestown Massacre.

Entertainer, author and famous transsexual Christine Jorgensen, made headlines in the early 1950s for having a sex change from a man to a woman.

Wynonna Judd is a country music superstar, famous for her solo hits and alongside her mother, Naomi Judd.

Reggae and ska musician Judge Dread produced a string of hits in the 1970s, such as Big Six and several others that were banned by the BBC for their sexual innuendo.

Ted Kaczynski is a mathematician best known for a campaign of letter bombs he sent as "The Unabomber" over a 20 year period, resulting in three fatalities.

Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser capitalized on U.S. mobilization for WWII and grew his ship building company into a multi-billion dollar corporation.

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov was a Russian chess grandmaster and world champion from 1975-1985.

Harvey Keitel is best known for his work with director Martin Scorsese in the films Mean Streets and Taxi Driver.

The geometric paintings and sculptures of abstract artist Ellsworth Kelly are influenced by the avant-garde movement, including work by Henri Matisse.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, negotiated the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and initiated the Alliance for Progress. He was assassinated in 1963.

Jack Kevorkian was a U.S.-based physician who assisted in patient suicides, sparking increased talk on hospice care and "right to die" legislative action.

Mohammad Ayub Khan was president of Pakistan from 1958 to 1969, giving birth to modern-day Pakistan. He introduced a system of basic democracies in 1960.

Søren Kierkegaard was a 19th century Danish philosopher who wrote about Christian belief systems and helped birth existentialism.

Henry Kissinger is an American political scientist and diplomat who won the Nobel Peace Prize for efforts to broker a peaceful settlement of the Vietnam War.