1954: The Year in People

Baby Boomers · Year of the Horse 🐎 · Born in 1954 turn 72 in 2026

The year in numbers

Gas, per gallon

$0.29

Median home

$8,925

Minimum wage

$0.75/hr

Movie ticket

$0.46

US population

2.73B

US president

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Top song

"Little Things Mean a Lot" — Kitty Kallen

Top film

White Christmas

Top TV show

I Love Lucy

Best Picture

On the Waterfront

In the news: Brown v. Board of Education desegregates US schools

Born in 1954

298 people in our data · most viewed first

Catherine O'Hara

1954–2026 · March 4

Canadian and American actress

Dennis Quaid

b. 1954 · April 9

American actor

Ellen Barkin

b. 1954 · April 16

American actress

Annie Lennox

b. 1954 · December 25

Scottish musician

Dennis Haysbert

b. 1954 · June 2

American actor

Christie Brinkley

b. 1954 · February 2

American model, actress

Howard Stern

b. 1954 · January 12

American radio and television personality

Alexander Lukashenko

b. 1954 · August 30

President of Belarus since 1994

Angela Merkel

b. 1954 · July 17

Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021

Chris Noth

b. 1954 · November 13

American actor

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

b. 1954 · November 19

President of Egypt since 2014

Ang Lee

b. 1954 · October 23

Taiwanese filmmaker

Curtis Sliwa

b. 1954 · March 26

American politician and talk radio show host

Bobby Sands

1954–1981 · March 9

Irish Provisional IRA member

Al Sharpton

b. 1954 · October 3

American Baptist minister, activist and talk show host

Al Roker

b. 1954 · August 20

American weather presenter, television and radio personality

Jeff Porcaro

1954–1992 · April 1

American drummer

Adam Ant

b. 1954 · November 3

English singer and musician

Cliff Martinez

b. 1954 · February 5

American musician and composer

Wendy Schaal

b. 1954 · July 2

American actress

D. W. Moffett

b. 1954 · October 26

American actor

Chris Evert

b. 1954 · December 21

American former tennis player

Alice Krige

b. 1954 · June 28

South African actress

Anthony Minghella

1954–2008 · January 6

British playwright and filmmaker

Died in 1954

Alan Turing1912–1954 · English computer scientist
Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha1884–1954 · Duke and Nazi politician
Colette1873–1954 · French novelist
Alcide De Gasperi1881–1954 · Italian politician and statesman
Charles Ives1874–1954 · American modernist composer
Claude Cahun1894–1954 · French artist
Dziga Vertov1896–1954 · Soviet-Jewish filmmaker
André Derain1880–1954 · French artist and co-founder of Fauvism with Henri Matisse
Calogero Vizzini1877–1954 · Sicilian Mafia boss
Agnes Macphail1890–1954 · Canadian politician and activist
Grantland Rice1880–1954 · American sportswriter
Archduke Eugen of Austria1863–1954 · Archduke of Austria and a Prince of Hungary and Bohemia