List of Famous people who born in 1924

Balbir Singh Dosanjh was an Indian hockey player. He was a three-time Olympic gold medallist, having played a key role in India's wins in London (1948), Helsinki (1952), and Melbourne (1956) Olympics. He is regarded as one of the greatest hockey players of all time, a modern-day Dhyan Chand, a legend of the sport and is widely regarded as the sport's greatest ever centre-forward. His Olympic record for most goals scored by an individual in an Olympic men's hockey final remains unbeaten. Singh set this record when he scored five goals in India's 6–1 victory over the Netherlands in the gold medal game of the 1952 Olympic Games. He was often called Balbir Singh Senior to distinguish him from other Indian hockey players named Balbir Singh.

Nicholas Colasanto was an American actor and television director who is best known for his role as "Coach" Ernie Pantusso in the American television sitcom Cheers. He served in the United States Navy during World War II and later attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in the 1950s.

Tatyana Mikhailovna Lioznova was a Soviet film director best known for her TV series Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973).

Peter Roman Scholl-Latour was a German journalist and author.

Ludwig von Friedeburg was a German politician and sociologist. He served as Minister for Education for the state of Hesse from 1969 until 1974. During that period he forced the installation of Comprehensive Schools in the state of Hesse, heavily opposed by the Christian Democratic Union. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

Claude Sautet was a French film director and screenwriter.

Libero Grassi was an Italian clothing manufacturer from Palermo, Sicily, who was killed by the Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands. The businessman wrote an open letter to the local newspaper informing the extortionists that he was no longer willing to pay pizzo, a Sicilian term for protection money. Other business-owners and shopkeepers in Palermo refused to join his public campaign. Grassi was gunned down in the street near his home eight months after writing the letter.

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was a Pakistani four-star general who became the sixth President of Pakistan after declaring martial law in 1977. He served as the head of state from 1978 until his death in 1988. He remains the country’s longest-serving head of state.

Raymond Octave Joseph Barre was a French centre-right politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three Presidents and later served as Prime Minister under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing from 1976 until 1981. As a candidate for the presidency in 1988, he came in third and was eliminated in the first round. He was born in Saint-Denis, in the French island of Réunion, then still a colony.

Madeleine Riffaud, is a French poet, journalist, war correspondent and previously a member of the French Resistance.