1904: The Year in People

The Greatest Generation · Year of the Dragon 🐉 · Born in 1904 turn 122 in 2026

The year in numbers

US president

Theodore Roosevelt

In the news: New York City opens its first subway line

Born in 1904

75 people in our data · most viewed first

Cary Grant

1904–1986 · January 18

British-American actor

Dr. Seuss

1904–1991 · March 2

American author and cartoonist

Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia

1904–1918 · August 12

Heir to the Russian throne

B. F. Skinner

1904–1990 · March 20

American psychologist and social philosopher

Cecil Day-Lewis

1904–1972 · April 27

Irish-born British poet

Dolores del Río

1904–1983 · August 3

Mexican actress

Alger Hiss

1904–1996 · November 11

American diplomat and accused Soviet spy

Anna Neagle

1904–1986 · October 20

English stage and film actress and singer

Alberta Williams King

1904–1974 · September 13

Mother of Martin Luther King Jr.

Iron Eyes Cody

1904–1999 · April 3

American actor

Bruce Cabot

1904–1972 · April 20

American actor

Cecil Beaton

1904–1980 · January 14

British photographer and designer

George Formby

1904–1961 · May 26

English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian

Constance Bennett

1904–1965 · October 22

American actress and producer

A. K. Gopalan

1904–1977 · October 1

Indian politician

Charles R. Drew

1904–1950 · June 3

American surgeon and medical researcher

Clarence Nash

1904–1985 · December 7

American voice actor

Arshile Gorky

1904–1948 · April 15

Armenian-American painter

Aarne Juutilainen

1904–1976 · October 18

Finnish army captain

Coleman Hawkins

1904–1969 · November 21

American jazz saxophonist

René Lacoste

1904–1996 · July 2

French and Jamaican tennis player

Ancel Keys

1904–2004 · January 26

American physiologist

George Gamow

1904–1968 · March 4

American theoretical physicist

Clyfford Still

1904–1980 · November 30

American painter

Died in 1904

Anton Chekhov1860–1904 · Russian dramatist and author
Antonín Dvořák1841–1904 · Czech composer
Eadweard Muybridge1830–1904 · English photographer
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi1834–1904 · French sculptor and painter
Dan Emmett1815–1904 · American entertainer and composer
Henri Fantin-Latour1836–1904 · French painter
Abai Qunanbaiuly1845–1904 · Kazakh poet and composer
Eduard Hanslick1825–1904 · Austrian music critic
Edwin Arnold1832–1904 · English poet and journalist
Aparicio Saravia1856–1904 · Uruguayan politician and military leader
Andrei Ryabushkin1861–1904 · Russian painter
Emmanuel Rhoides1836–1904 · Greek writer