List of Famous people who born in 1926

Wera Frydtberg (1926–2008) was a German film and television actress. She appeared in I Often Think of Piroschka (1955) Her best known film Wir Wunderkinder won the Golden Globe for the most successful International Picture in 1960 and the Golden Medal at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Gilbert Favre was a clarinetist from Geneva, Switzerland. He trained at the Conservatory of Geneva, and also played jazz clarinet. In South America, he discovered the quena, and when he moved to Bolivia, he traded in his clarinet. In La Paz, he created the musical cabaret La Pena de Naira at the Place San Francisco featuring indigenous music. The club became a hub for the diplomatic corps stationed in La Paz, as well as a favorite for Bolivians. Gilbert was the founding member of the popular Bolivian folk group Los Jairas. Favre was commonly referred to as "El Gringo" by the Bolivian public. Favre traveled from Geneva to South America as assistant to the Swiss anthropologist Jean Christian Spahni. In Santiago, Favre met celebrated Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra and fell in love. Favre played quena with Violeta and her son Angel Parra. He appears on recordings as "El Tocador Afuerino". Favre eventually left for Bolivia, where he created La Pena de Naira and started experimenting with Andean music playing alongside virtuoso guitar player Alfredo Dominguez and renowned charango player Ernesto Cavour. Parra appeared several times at La Pena. Favre returned to Geneva in the early 1960s together with Parra; after a few years in Europe, they returned to South America. As the Trio Domínguez-Favre-Cavour gained media attention and became increasingly popular for their "neofolklore", Favre decided not to move back to Chile and left Parra for good; she would later write "Run Run Se Fue Pa'l Norte," dedicated to her lover. Violetta Parra would later commit suicide. Their relationship was portrayed in the award-winning film Violeta Went to Heaven (2011), in which Favre was played by Thomas Durand.

Refik Veseli was an Albanian photographer and formerly a co-founder of the Albanian Institute of Monuments. He was decorated along with his family by the state of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jews during the Second World War.

Shumon Miura was a Japanese novelist.

Meir Pa'il was a colonel in the Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli politician, and military historian.

Peter Zadek was a German director of theatre, opera and film, a translator and a screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in German-speaking theater.

Rehavam Ze'evi was an Israeli general and politician who founded the right-wing nationalist Moledet party, mainly advocating population transfer.

Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection.

Eliyahu Winograd was an Israeli acting Supreme Court judge and former president of the Tel Aviv District Court. Between September 11, 2006 and April 30, 2007 he chaired the Winograd Commission to investigate the failures experienced by Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Harold A. Rosen was an American electrical engineer, known as "the father of the geostationary satellite", and "father of the communications satellite". He formed and led the team that designed and built the first geosynchronous communications satellite, Syncom, for Hughes Aircraft Company.