1939: The Year in People

The Silent Generation · Year of the Rabbit 🐇 · Born in 1939 turn 87 in 2026

The year in numbers

Gas, per gallon

$0.19

Minimum wage

$0.30/hr

US population

2.25B

US president

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Top song

"Over the Rainbow" — Judy Garland

Top film

Gone with the Wind

Best Picture

Gone with the Wind

In the news: World War II begins; The Wizard of Oz premieres

What happened in 1939

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1939th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 939th year of the 2nd millennium, the 39th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1930s decade.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Born in 1939

163 people in our data · most viewed first

Ali Khamenei

1939–2026 · April 19

Supreme Leader of Iran from 1989 to 2026

Ali MacGraw

b. 1939 · April 1

American actress

Harvey Keitel

b. 1939 · May 13

American actor

F. Murray Abraham

b. 1939 · October 24

American actor

Grace Slick

b. 1939 · October 30

American painter and musician

Dusty Springfield

1939–1999 · April 16

British singer

Dick Scobee

1939–1986 · May 19

American astronaut

Brenda Vaccaro

b. 1939 · November 18

American actress

Carl Yastrzemski

b. 1939 · August 22

American baseball player

Dixie Carter

1939–2010 · May 25

American actress

Judy Collins

b. 1939 · May 1

American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1939)

Corin Redgrave

1939–2010 · July 16

English actor

Cleavon Little

1939–1992 · June 1

American actor

Amanda Lear

b. 1939 · November 18

French singer, actress, television presenter

Chuck Wepner

b. 1939 · February 26

American boxer

Claudette Colvin

1939–2026 · September 5

African-American civil rights activist

Brian Mulroney

1939–2024 · March 20

Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993

Don Williams

1939–2017 · May 27

American country music singer-songwriter

Giovanni Trapattoni

b. 1939 · March 17

Italian association football player and manager

France Nuyen

b. 1939 · July 31

French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor

Paul Williams (The Temptations singer)

1939–1973 · July 2

American singer

Bill Toomey

b. 1939 · January 10

American decathlete

Balu Mahendra

1939–2014 · May 20

Film director in Indian cinema

Bobby Hull

1939–2023 · January 3

Canadian ice hockey player

Died in 1939

Eugen Weidmann1908–1939 · German serial killer
Alphonse Mucha1860–1939 · Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist
Bluey (long-lived dog)1910–1939 · Australian cattle dog
Carl Laemmle1867–1939 · German-American film producer
Arthur Rackham1867–1939 · English book illustrator
Charles M. Schwab1862–1939 · American steel magnate
Alice Brady1892–1939 · American actress
Antonio Machado1875–1939 · Spanish poet
Anthony Fokker1890–1939 · Dutch aviation pioneer
Barbara Newhall Follett1914–1939 · American author (born 1914, disappeared 1939)
Charles Rudolph Walgreen1873–1939 · American businessman and founder of Walgreens
Francisco León de la Barra1863–1939 · President of Mexico in 1911