1940: The Year in People

The Silent Generation · Year of the Dragon 🐉 · Born in 1940 turn 86 in 2026

The year in numbers

Gas, per gallon

$0.18

Median home

$2,938

Minimum wage

$0.30/hr

US population

2.30B

US president

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Top song

"I'll Never Smile Again" — Tommy Dorsey

Top film

Fantasia

Best Picture

Rebecca

In the news: The Blitz: Germany bombs London

What happened in 1940

1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1940th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 940th year of the 2nd millennium, the 40th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1940s decade.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Born in 1940

169 people in our data · most viewed first

Chuck Norris

1940–2026 · March 10

American martial artist and actor

Bruce Lee

1940–1973 · November 27

Martial artist and actor

Al Pacino

b. 1940 · April 25

American actor

John Hurt

1940–2017 · January 22

English actor

Bob Knight

1940–2023 · October 25

American basketball coach

Cliff Richard

b. 1940 · October 14

British singer and actor

Brian De Palma

b. 1940 · September 11

American film director

Barry Corbin

b. 1940 · October 16

American actor

Alex Trebek

1940–2020 · July 22

Canadian-American TV personality

David Jason

b. 1940 · February 2

English actor

Denny Doherty

1940–2007 · November 29

Canadian singer and musician

Anthony Fauci

b. 1940 · December 24

American immunologist

A. K. Antony

b. 1940 · December 28

23rd Defence Minister Of India And Former Chief Minister of Kerala

Constantine II of Greece

1940–2023 · June 2

King of Greece from 1964 to 1973

Carlos Slim

b. 1940 · January 28

Mexican business oligarch

Dan Hedaya

b. 1940 · July 24

American actor

Burt Young

1940–2023 · April 30

American actor

George A. Romero

1940–2017 · February 4

American filmmaker

H. R. Giger

1940–2014 · February 5

Swiss artist

Bartholomew I of Constantinople

b. 1940 · February 29

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople since 1991

Elke Sommer

b. 1940 · November 5

German actress

Abbas Kiarostami

1940–2016 · June 22

Iranian filmmaker

Bob Mackie

b. 1940 · March 24

American fashion designer

Kip Thorne

b. 1940 · June 1

American physicist, writer, and Nobel Laureate

Died in 1940

Emma Goldman1869–1940 · Russian-born anarchist
K. B. Hedgewar1889–1940 · Indian activist and physician
Eric Gill1882–1940 · English artist
Arthur Rostron1869–1940 · British merchant seaman
Carl Bosch1874–1940 · German chemist and engineer
Eugen Bleuler1857–1940 · Swiss psychiatrist
Ben Turpin1869–1940 · American actor
Charley Chase1893–1940 · American actor, comedian, director, writer
Berton Churchill1876–1940 · Canadian actor
Cai Yuanpei1868–1940 · Chinese educator and statesman
Edward Harkness1874–1940 · American philanthropist
Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington1860–1940 · English politician and governor