List of Famous people who born in 1931

Charles Arthur Bassett II, Major, USAF, was an American electrical engineer and United States Air Force test pilot. He went to Ohio State University for two years and later graduated from Texas Tech University. He joined the Air Force as a pilot and graduated from both the Aerospace Research Pilot School and the Air Force's Experimental Test Pilot School. Bassett was married and had two children. He was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1963 and was assigned to Gemini 9. He died in an airplane crash during training for his first spaceflight. He is memorialized on the Space Mirror Memorial; The Astronaut Monument; and the Fallen Astronaut memorial plaque, which was placed on the Moon during the Apollo 15 mission.

Jack D. McVitie, more commonly known as Jack the Hat, was an English criminal from London during the 1950s and 1960s. He is posthumously known for triggering the imprisonment and downfall of the Kray twins. He had acted as an enforcer and hitman with links to the Krays' gang, The Firm, and was murdered by Reggie Kray in 1967.

Lawrence Douglas Wilder is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African-American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction era, and the first elected African-American governor.

Ann Roth is an American costume designer for films and Broadway theatre.

Leonard Martin Kravitz was an American soldier in the United States Army who served in the Korean War. He is a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Kira Alexandrovna Kreylis-Petrova is a Soviet and Russian theater and film actress. Honored Artist of Russia (1993).

Mamie Van Doren is an American actress, model, singer, and sex symbol. She is perhaps best remembered for the rock 'n' roll, juvenile delinquency exploitation movie Untamed Youth (1957).

Romila Thapar is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Thapar is a Professor of Ancient History, Emerita, at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

Peter John Collins was a British racing driver. He was killed in the 1958 German Grand Prix, just weeks after winning the RAC British Grand Prix. He started his career as a 17-year-old in 1949, impressing in Formula 3 races, finishing third in the 1951 Autosport National Formula 3 Championship.

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel is an Argentine activist, community organizer, painter, writer and sculptor. He was the recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize for his opposition to Argentina's last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983), during which he was detained, tortured, and held without trial for 14 months; during that period he also received, among other distinctions, the Pope John XXIII Peace Memorial.