Famous Birthdays for February 4th

Pre–1600[edit]

• 1447 – Lodovico Lazzarelli, Italian poet (d. 1500)^[18]
• 1495 – Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1535)^[19]
• 1495 – Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (d. 1568)
• 1505 – Mikołaj Rej, Polish poet and author (d. 1580)^[20]
• 1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian, founded the French school of spirituality (d. 1629)

1601–1900[edit]

• 1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet and politician (d. 1699)
• 1676 – Giacomo Facco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1753)
• 1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (d. 1731)
• 1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (d. 1763)
• 1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (d. 1804)
• 1740 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
• 1778 – Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (d. 1841)
• 1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese journalist and author (d. 1854)
• 1818 – Emperor Norton, San Francisco eccentric and visionary (d. 1880)^[21]
• 1831 – Oliver Ames, American financier and politician, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
• 1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1921)
• 1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1926)
• 1862 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (d. 1942)
• 1865 – Abe Isoo, Japanese minister and politician (d. 1949)
• 1868 – Constance Markievicz, Irish revolutionary and first woman elected to the UK House of Commons (d. 1927)
• 1869 – Bill Haywood, American labor organizer (d. 1928)^[22]
• 1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German lawyer and politician, first President of Germany (d. 1925)
• 1872 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian and Macedonian revolutionary activist (d. 1903)
• 1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1905)
• 1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (d. 1953)
• 1877 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (d. 1953)
• 1881 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (d. 1939)
• 1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (d. 1955)
• 1883 – Reinhold Rudenberg, German-American inventor and a pioneer of electron microscopy (d. 1961)
• 1891 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, second Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
• 1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and academic (d. 1964)
• 1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
• 1896 – Friedrich Glauser, Austrian-Swiss author (d. 1938)
• 1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist and academic (d. 1997)
• 1897 – Ludwig Erhard, German soldier and politician, second Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1977)
• 1899 – Virginia M. Alexander, American physician and founder of the Aspiranto Health Home (d. 1949)
• 1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (d. 1977)^[23]

1901–present[edit]

• 1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (d. 1974)^[24]
• 1902 – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 2003)
• 1903 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (d. 2014)
• 1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American author and screenwriter (d. 1977)^[25]
• 1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedian, actress and music hall performer (d. 1986)
• 1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (d. 1945)^[26]
• 1906 – Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, Irish librarian (d. 1994)^[27]
• 1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997)
• 1908 – Julian Bell, English poet and academic (d. 1937)
• 1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian banker and politician, Norwegian Minister of Industry (d. 1999)
• 1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian-American conductor (d. 1993)
• 1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2006)
• 1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)^[28]
• 1914 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author and publisher (d. 1980)
• 1915 – William Talman, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968)
• 1915 – Norman Wisdom, English comedian, actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)^[29]
• 1917 – Yahya Khan, Pakistan general and politician, third President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
• 1918 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (d. 1995)
• 1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher and author (d. 1991)
• 1920 – Janet Waldo, American actress and voice artist (d. 2016)
• 1921 – Betty Friedan, American author and feminist (d. 2006)^[30]
• 1921 – Lotfi Zadeh, Iranian-American mathematician and computer scientist and founder of fuzzy logic (d. 2017)
• 1922 – Bhimsen Joshi, Indian vocalist of the Hindustani classical music tradition (d. 2011)^[31]
• 1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Russell Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)^[32]
• 1925 – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Christopher Zeeman, English mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
• 1926 – Gyula Grosics, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
• 1927 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
• 1928 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentinian racing driver (d. 1967)
• 1928 – Osmo Antero Wiio, Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
• 1929 – Paul Burlison, American rockabilly guitarist (d. 2003)
• 1929 – Neil Johnston, American basketball player (d. 1978)^[33]
• 1930 – Tibor Antalpéter, Hungarian volleyball player and diplomat, Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2012)
• 1930 – Arthur E. Chase, American businessman and politician (d. 2015)
• 1930 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Isabel Perón, Argentinian dancer and politician, 41st President of Argentina
• 1935 – Wallis Mathias, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish opera singer (d. 1989)
• 1935 – Collin Wilcox, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1936 – David Brenner, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2014)
• 1936 – Claude Nobs, Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (d. 2013)
• 1937 – David Newman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
• 1937 – Birju Maharaj, Indian dancer, composer, singer and exponent of the Lucknow "Kalka-Bindadin" Gharana of Kathak dance (d. 2022)^[34]
• 1938 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (d. 2010)
• 1939 – Stan Lundine, American lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New York^[35]
• 1940 – George A. Romero, American director and producer (d. 2017)
• 1941 – Russell Cooper, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of Queensland
• 1941 – Ron Rangi, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
• 1941 – Jiří Raška, Czech skier and coach (d. 2012)
• 1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese journalist and politician, second President of the Regional Government of Madeira
• 1943 – Wanda Rutkiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish mountaineer (d. 1992)
• 1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language
• 1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer and actress
• 1944 – Alan Shields, American artist and ship captain (d. 2005)^[36]
• 1947 – Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and politician, third Director of National Intelligence
• 1947 – Dan Quayle, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States
• 1948 – Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter
• 1948 – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler
• 1949 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general (d. 2010)
• 1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
• 1952 – Jenny Shipley, New Zealand politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand^[37]
• 1952 – Thomas Silverstein, American criminal and prisoner (d. 2019)
• 1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak politician, Prime Minister of Slovakia
• 1957 – Matthew Cobb, British zoologist and author^[38]
• 1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (d. 2005)
• 1959 – Christian Schreier, German footballer and manager
• 1960 – Siobhan Dowd, English author and activist (d. 2007)^[39]
• 1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer and playwright (d. 1996)
• 1961 –
• 1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach^[40]
• 1962 – Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
• 1964 – Elke Philipp, German Paralympic equestrian^[41]
• 1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
• 1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
• 1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
• 1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1972 – Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and television host
• 1972 – Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer and manager
• 1973 – Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer
• 1973 – James Hird, Australian footballer and coach
• 1973 – Manny Legace, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
• 1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
• 1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter
• 1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian racing driver
• 1980 – Raimonds Vaikulis, Latvian basketball player
• 1981 – Jason Kapono, American basketball player^[42]
• 1981 – Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist
• 1982 – Ivars Timermanis, Latvian basketball player
• 1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian cyclist
• 1983 – Lee Stempniak, American ice hockey player
• 1983 – Rebecca White, Australian politician^[43]
• 1984 – Sandeep Acharya, Indian singer (d. 2013)
• 1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
• 1986 – Maximilian Götz, German racing driver
• 1986 – Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer^[44]
• 1987 – Darren O'Dea, Irish footballer^[45]
• 1987 – Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
• 1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast and singer^[46]
• 1998 – Maximilian Wöber, Austrian footballer