Famous November Birthdays a to z

Grace Abbott is best known for her social activism on behalf of immigrants and children. She headed the Children's Bureau from 1921 to 1934.

Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist and author of Things Fall Apart, a work that in part led to his being called the "patriarch of the African novel."

Hugh Acheson is a celebrity chef and owner of three restaurants in Georgia. He is also a judge on Top Chef and a cookbook author.

Abigail Adams was the wife of President John Adams and the mother of John Quincy Adams, who became the sixth president of the United States.

James Agee was a film critic for TIME magazine, penned the screenplay for The African Queen, and won the 1958 Pulitzer Prize for his novel A Death in the Family.

Spiro Agnew was twice elected U.S. vice president under Richard Nixon, but resigned from his second term after being charged with bribery, conspiracy and tax fraud.

Amos Bronson Alcott, teacher, mystic, writer and the father of Louisa May Alcott, became an itinerant teacher before settling in Boston to found his own school.

Louisa May Alcott was an American author who wrote the classic novel Little Women, as well as various works under pseudonyms.

Ciro Alegria was a Peruvian novelist who wrote about the struggles of the Peruvian Indians, and whose militant pro-Indian activism led to his arrest and exile.

Tom Anderson is best known as president and co-founder of MySpace, a site intended to help fans connect with their favorite bands and share music.

Adam Ant came to fame in the early 1980s as the lead singer of the New Wave band Adam and the Ants.

Marie Antoinette helped provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792.

Actress Christina Applegate played Kelly Bundy on the popular sitcom Married... With Children. She is a breast cancer survivor and publicly promotes awareness.

James Mitchell Ashley was best known as a U.S. congressman and abolitionist who laid the foundation to pass the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery.

Ed Asner is an American actor best known as gruff-but-lovable newsman Lou Grant, who debuted on the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

American empresario Stephen Austin, a.k.a. “the father of Texas,” created the first Anglo American colony in the Tejas region of Mexico, later to become Texas.

American singer LaVern Baker helped pioneer the R&B sound in the 1950s and released multiple hits with Atlantic Records, including the famous "Tweedle Dee."

Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor and writer.

Sir Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian scientist and doctor, whose research led to the discovery of insulin to treat diabetic patients.

Roseanne Barr is an Emmy Award-winning actress and comedian known for her hit sitcom, Roseanne.

John Barry was a British film composer best known for his memorable work on James Bond films.

Roland Barthes was a French literary philosopher whose work influenced structuralism, semiotics and anthropology.

Daisy Bates was an African American civil rights activist and newspaper publisher who documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas.

Patricia Bath is the first African American to complete a residency in ophthalmology. She invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment in 1986.

Edith Bouvier Beale ("Little Edie") was an eccentric cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She became a cult figure and fashion icon after her appearance in the documentary Grey Gardens.

Bobby Beausoleil, a part of Charles Manson's circle, is serving a life sentence in a California prison for the July 1969 murder of Manson associate Gary Hinman.

German tennis great Boris Becker became the youngest men's champion in history with his victory at Wimbledon as a 17-year-old in 1985.

Mexican actor and director Gael García Bernal starred as Che Guevera in The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) and as Stéphane Miroux in The Science of Sleep (2006).

Former Delaware Senator Joe Biden was elected the 47th U.S. vice president with President Barack Obama in 2008. He earned a second term as vice president when Obama was re-elected to the presidency in 2012.

Big Pun was a Latino hip-hop artist whose album Capital Punishment went to No. 1 on the R&B/hip-hop charts. He died in 2000 from obesity related heart failure.

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow has directed films like Point Break and Zero Dark Thirty. In 2009, she became the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director for The Hurt Locker (2008).

Hussein bin Talal served as king of Jordan from 1953 to 1999. He helped guide his country into the modern era.

Björk is an Icelandic singer-songwriter and founding member of the band the Sugarcubes. She went on to a strong solo career with songs like "I've Seen It All" and "Human Behaviour," as well as acting success.

Harry Blackmun was the 98th U.S. Supreme Court Justice, known for his landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade.

William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced countless writers and artists through the ages, and he has been deemed both a major poet and an original thinker.

Isabella Blow was a British fashion director and style icon known for wearing flamboyant hats, many by designer Philip Treacy.

Bluford became the first African American to travel in space in 1983, as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

John Boehner is best known as the Republican Speaker of the House, beginning in January 2011.

Hugh Bonneville is a British actor chiefly known for playing Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, on the hit TV series Downton Abbey.

American explorer and frontiersman Daniel Boone blazed a trail to the far west though the Cumberland Gap, thereby providing access to the frontier.

Edwin Booth was a 19th century Shakespearean actor best known for his portrayal of Hamlet and as the brother of assassin John Wilkes Booth.

Milton Bradley was a businessman and a manufacturer of toys and board games. He founded Milton Bradley Co.

Louis Brandeis was the first Jew to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. His decisions affirmed individual liberty and privacy and opposed unchecked governmental power.

Jeremy Brett was a British actor and singer known for his roles in My Fair Lady and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Author Paula Broadwell made headlines in 2012, when her extramarital affair with U.S. General David Petraeus was uncovered.

American film Charles Bronson is best known for playing tough-guy, vigilante roles in films like The Magnificent Seven (1960) and Death Wish (1974).

Dennis Brutus was a poet whose works center on his sufferings and those of his fellow blacks in South Africa.

Writer and politician Pat Buchanan is a nationally syndicated columnist and American conservative political commentator who has served under three presidents.

Jeff Buckley was an American singer-songwriter who became widely known for his stirring cover of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah."

William F. Buckley was a writer and political TV personality who helped make conservative politics popular in the 1950s-1970s.

American serial killer and rapist Ted Bundy was one of the most notorious criminals of the late 20th century.

Richard Burton was a highly regarded Welsh actor of stage and screen. He earned seven Oscar nominations and was married twice to actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Jenna Bush Hager is the daughter of President George W. Bush. She’s worked as a teacher and journalist, including reporting for the Today Show.

Laura Bush is the wife of 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush. She served as first lady from 2001 to 2009.

Gerard Butler is best known for his role as King Leonidas of Sparta in 300.

Algerian born writer Albert Camus won the Nobel Prize for literature in part due to his embrace of existentialism in books like The Stranger.

Actress Kate Capshaw married director Steven Spielberg, whom she met when she auditioned for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Hoagy Carmichael was an American songwriter who wrote the standards "Rockin' Chair," "Lazy River," "Stardust" and "Georgia on my Mind."

Andrew Carnegie, a self-made steel tycoon and one of the wealthiest 19th century U.S. businessmen, donated towards the expansion of the New York Public Library.

Dale Carnegie is the author of How To Win Friends and Influence People, one of the bestselling self-help books of all time.

Art Carney was an Oscar-winning actor and comedian best known for his role as Jackie Gleason's best friend, Ed Norton, on the pioneering sitcom The Honeymooners.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was a French explorer best known for leading an expedition down the Mississippi River, claiming the region for France.

Jacques Alexandre César Charles was a French scientist and inventor who, along with Nicholas Robert, was the first to take flight in a hydrogen balloon.

Don Cheadle is a critically acclaimed actor who has appeared in such films as Crash, Boogie Nights and Out of Sight.

Jacques Chirac is a French politician best known as the Prime Minister, Mayor of Paris and President of France during his career from 1974-2007.

Shirley Chisholm was the first black congresswoman, and the first African-American woman to make a bid for the U.S. Presidency.

As prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill rallied the British people during WWII, and led his country from the brink of defeat to victory.

Dick Clark was a TV personality known for the shows American Bandstand, $25,000 Pyramid and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, among others.

Toni Collette is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning Australian actress.

When the space shuttle Columbia blasted off on July 23, 1999, pilot Eileen Collins became NASA's first female shuttle commander.