List of Famous people who born in 1926

Leonard Rossiter was an English actor. He had a long career in the theatre but achieved his greatest fame for his television comedy roles, most notably starring as Rupert Rigsby in the ITV series Rising Damp from 1974 to 1978, and Reginald Perrin in the BBC's The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin from 1976 to 1979.

Vasili Aleksandrovich Arkhipov was a Soviet Navy officer credited with preventing a Soviet nuclear strike during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Such an attack likely would have caused a major global thermonuclear response.

Yevgeny Ivanovich Tashkov was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter and actor known for his spy movies as well as a comedy Come Tomorrow, Please... that made a name for his wife Ekaterina Savinova. He was named Meritorious Artist of RSFSR in 1980 and People's Artist of Russia in 1995.

Hocine Aït Ahmed was an Algerian politician. He was founder and leader until 2009 of the historical political opposition in Algeria.

Graeme Allwright was a New Zealand-born French singer and songwriter. He became popular in the 1960s and 1970s as a French language interpreter of the songs of American and Canadian songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Pete Seeger, and remained active into his nineties.

Georges Lautner was a French film director and screenwriter, known primarily for his comedies created in collaboration with screenwriter Michel Audiard.

Angus Scrimm was an American actor, author, and journalist, known for his portrayal of the Tall Man in the 1979 horror film Phantasm and its sequels.

George William Weidler was an American saxophonist and songwriter. He was the second husband of singer-actress Doris Day and older brother of former child actress Virginia Weidler.

Noor Jehan, also known by her honorific title Malika-e-Tarannum, was a Pakistani playback singer and actress who worked first in British India and then in Pakistan. Her career spanned more than six decades. She was renowned as one of the greatest and most influential singers of all time especially throughout South Asia and was given the honorific title of Malika-e-Tarannum in Pakistan. She had a command of Hindustani classical music as well as other music genres.

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and was at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane's music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. He remains one of the most influential saxophonists in music history. He received numerous posthumous awards, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church and a Pulitzer Prize in 2007. His second wife was pianist and harpist Alice Coltrane. The couple had three children: John Jr. (1964–1982), a bassist; Ravi, a saxophonist; and Oran, also a saxophonist.