List of Famous people who born in 1940

Kevin Price Phillips is an American writer and commentator on politics, economics, and history. Formerly a Republican Party strategist before becoming an Independent, Phillips became disaffected with the party from the 1990s, and became a critic. He is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times, Harper's Magazine, and National Public Radio, and was a political analyst on PBS' NOW with Bill Moyers.

Barry Keenan is an American businessman, best known as the mastermind behind the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr.

Jūrō Kara is a Japanese avant-garde playwright, theatre director, author, actor, and songwriter. He was at the forefront of the Angura ("underground") theatre movement in Japan.

Jesús Rodríguez Quintero is a journalist, editor and presenter of Spanish programs in radio and television, known in the media as Jesús Quintero.

Anita Jane Bryant is an American singer and anti-gay rights activist. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses" that reached No. 5 on the charts. She was also a former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and was a brand ambassador from 1969 to 1980 for the Florida Citrus Commission.

Najma Akbar Ali Heptulla is an Indian politician and Governor of Manipur and the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, and former vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and a six time member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament, between 1980 and 2016, and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for sixteen years. She was a member representing Rajasthan from July 2004 to July 2010. She was nominated by the BJP for the Rajya Sabha in 2012 from Madhya Pradesh, and assumed her office on 24 April 2012.

Herbert Jeffrey Hancock is an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer, and actor. Hancock started his career with Donald Byrd. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles.

Keith Robinson is an American environmentalist who is the co-owner of Niʻihau, the second-smallest of the eight principal Hawaiian Islands.

Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf is a German aviator, airline executive and religious leader. He is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Called as an apostle in 2004, he served as Second Counselor to Thomas S. Monson in the church's First Presidency from 2008 until Monson's death on 2 January 2018. Currently, Uchtdorf is the sixth most senior apostle in the ranks of the church.

Raymond Soubie is a former social affairs advisor to former French President Nicolas Sarkozy.