List of Famous people who born in 1920

Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. was an American science-fiction author best known for the 1965 novel Dune and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, photographer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer.

Francis Joseph Sheeran, also known as "The Irishman", was an American labor union official who was accused of having links to the Bufalino crime family in his capacity as a high-ranking official in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the president of Local 326.

Hubert Germain is a French politician and former member of the French Resistance. Since 20 November 2020, he is the last living Companion of the Order of Liberation.

Pope John Paul II was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was elected pope by the second papal conclave of 1978, which was called after Pope John Paul I, who had been elected in August to succeed Pope Paul VI, died after 33 days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the third day of the conclave and adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him. John Paul II is recognised as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe.

Henrietta Lacks was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day.

Christopher Robin Milne was an English author and bookseller and the only child of author A. A. Milne. As a child, he was the basis of the character Christopher Robin in his father's Winnie-the-Pooh stories and in two books of poems.

Yuliy Borisovich Briner, better known as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-American actor, singer, and director, considered one of the first Russian-American film stars. He became widely known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical The King and I, for which he won two Tony Awards, and later won an Academy Award for the film adaptation. He played the role 4,625 times on stage and became known for his shaved head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for The King and I.

Edward Montgomery Clift was an American actor. A four-time Academy Award nominee, The New York Times said he was known for his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men".

Captain Sir Thomas Moore, popularly known as "Captain Tom", is a former British Army officer and centenarian, known for getting people to donate to charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic.

John Demjanjuk was a Ukrainian-American who served as a Trawniki man and Nazi camp guard at Sobibor extermination camp, Majdanek, and Flossenbürg. Demjanjuk became the center of global media attention in the 1980s, when he was tried and convicted after being misidentified as "Ivan the Terrible", a notoriously cruel watchman at Treblinka extermination camp. Shortly before his death, he was again tried and convicted as an accessory to 28,000 murders at Sobibor.

Albin Chalandon was a French politician and minister.

Ravi Shankar, whose name is often preceded by the title Pandit (Master), was an Indian sitar virtuoso and a composer. He was the best-known proponent of the sitar in the second half of the 20th century and influenced many other musicians throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999.

Gene Eliza Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the film Laura (1944), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

Maureen O'Hara was an Irish actress and singer. She was a famous redhead who was known for playing passionate, but sensible heroines, often in westerns and adventure films. On numerous occasions, she worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne.

Federico Fellini, was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time. His films have ranked highly in critical polls such as that of Cahiers du cinéma and Sight & Sound, which lists his 1963 film ​8 ¹⁄₂ as the 10th-greatest film.

Anne Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon is the widow of Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon (1897–1977), who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 to 1957. She married Eden in 1952, becoming Lady Eden in 1954 when he was made a Knight of the Garter, before becoming Countess of Avon in 1961 on her husband's being created an earl. She is also the niece of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Her memoir, sub-titled From Churchill to Eden, was published in 2007 under the name of Clarissa Eden.

Ildaura Murillo-Rohde was a Panamanian nurse, academic, tennis instructor, and organizational administrator. She founded the National Association of Hispanic Nurses in 1975.

Ann Fortune FitzRoy, Dowager Duchess of Grafton,, is a British courtier who has served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II since 1967. She is the widow of Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton and grandmother of Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton.

Charles "Charlie" Parker Jr., nicknamed "Bird" and "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and advanced harmonies. Parker was a blazingly fast virtuoso and introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas into jazz, including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. Primarily a player of the alto saxophone, Parker's tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber.

Şehzade Burhaneddin Cem was the heir apparent to the headship of the Ottoman dynasty. He was born at Beşiktaş, Istanbul as the son of Prince Ibrahim Tevfik (1874–1931) and his fourth wife Hatice Sadiye Hanım (1898–1986). Burhaneddin was a descendant of Sultan Abdülmecid I. He married Irene Starosselskaya of Russian–Georgian noble descent and had two children, Nilüfer Sultan and Şehzade Selim (1955).