1942: The Year in People

The Silent Generation · Year of the Horse 🐎 · Born in 1942 turn 84 in 2026

The year in numbers

Gas, per gallon

$0.20

Median home

$3,175

Minimum wage

$0.30/hr

US population

2.33B

US president

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Top song

"White Christmas" — Bing Crosby

Top film

Bambi

Best Picture

Mrs. Miniver

In the news: Battle of Midway turns the tide in the Pacific

What happened in 1942

1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1942nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 942nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 42nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1940s decade.

Summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Born in 1942

189 people in our data · most viewed first

Barbra Streisand

b. 1942 · April 24

American singer and actress

Aretha Franklin

1942–2018 · March 25

American singer

Bob Ross

1942–1995 · October 29

American painter and TV host

Amitabh Bachchan

b. 1942 · October 11

Indian actor

Brian Wilson

1942–2025 · June 20

American musician

Brian Jones

1942–1969 · February 28

British musician

Ann Dunham

1942–1995 · November 29

American anthropologist

Jerry Garcia

1942–1995 · August 1

American guitarist and singer

Chris Sarandon

b. 1942 · July 24

American actor

Bob Hoskins

1942–2014 · October 26

English actor

Billy Connolly

b. 1942 · November 24

Scottish actor and comedian

Country Joe McDonald

b. 1942 · January 1

American musician

Barry Levinson

b. 1942 · April 6

American filmmaker

Bill Nelson

b. 1942 · September 29

American politician and attorney

Charlie Rose

b. 1942 · January 5

American TV interviewer and journalist

Bob Einstein

1942–2019 · November 20

American actor and comedy writer

Christine Keeler

1942–2017 · February 22

English model and showgirl

Al Jardine

b. 1942 · September 3

American musician

Curtis Mayfield

1942–1999 · June 3

American singer-songwriter

Dennis Hastert

b. 1942 · January 2

American politician

Marsha Mason

b. 1942 · April 3

American actress

Isabel Allende

b. 1942 · August 2

Chilean-American writer

Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri

1942–2020 · July 1

6th Vice president of Iraq

Bobbie Gentry

b. 1942 · July 27

American singer-songwriter

Died in 1942

Fritz Todt1891–1942 · German engineer and senior Nazi figure
Avraham Stern1907–1942 · Zionist leader
George M. Cohan1878–1942 · American actor, singer, composer and playwright
Charlie Christian1916–1942 · American swing and jazz guitarist
Cornelius Vanderbilt III1873–1942 · American military officer and engineer
Flinders Petrie1853–1942 · British Egyptologist
Bruno Schulz1892–1942 · Polish Jewish writer and artist
William Henry Bragg1862–1942 · British X-ray crystallographer
Daniel J. Callaghan1890–1942 · United States Navy admiral
Francis Younghusband1863–1942 · British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer
Daniil Kharms1905–1942 · Russian writer
Alexander von Zemlinsky1871–1942 · Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher