List of Famous people who born in 1944

Manuel Ruíz de Lopera y Ávalos is the former owner and chairman of the Spanish football club Real Betis.

Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM is a French actor, best known for playing Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's series of films about that character, beginning with The 400 Blows. He also worked several times with Jean-Luc Godard and Aki Kaurismäki, as well as with other famous directors; Jean Cocteau, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Jerzy Skolimowski, Agnes Varda, Jacques Rivette, etc. He is a significant figure of the French New Wave.

Shigenobu Nagamori is a Japanese billionaire businessman, and the chairman and CEO of Nidec, the world's largest manufacturer of micromotors for hard disks and optical drives.

Nazlı Ilıcak is a prominent Turkish journalist and writer. She was a deputy of the Virtue Party, elected in the 1999 Turkish general election, losing her seat when the party was banned in 2001.

Daniel Pennac is a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay Chagrin d'école.

Homer Walter Drew Jr. is an American former college basketball coach and administrator who coached at Washington State, LSU, Bethel College, Indiana-South Bend, and Valparaiso who retired from college basketball in 2011 with 640 career wins, which ranked him sixth amongst all Division I coaches at the time of his retirement. Drew was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov, is a leading Soviet and Russian conductor and violinist best known for his work with the Moscow Virtuosi chamber orchestra.

Bernard Ménez is a French actor. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1969.

Zoramthanga is an Indian politician who is the Chief Minister of Mizoram. He is the president of Mizo National Front (MNF) party. He had served as the Chief Minister of Mizoram from December 1998 to December 2008, for two consecutive terms. He was second-in-command to Laldenga during the secession movement of Mizo National Front, and became the successor as the party leader, after MNF was a recognised political party, following the death of Laldenga in 1990. He joined the Mizoram Legislative Assembly as Minister of Finance and Education in 1987. His party lost the 2008 Assembly elections to the Indian National Congress. He contested from both North and South Champhai and lost in both constituencies. He tendered his resignation to Governor MM Lakhera on 8 December 2008 and left office three days later. He has cited anti-incumbency as reason for the loss of his party. He returned as Chief Minister after his party came back to power in the 2018 state assembly elections.

Davenie Johanna "Joey" Heatherton is an American actress, dancer, and singer. A sex symbol of the 1960s and 1970s, she is best known for her many television appearances during that time, particularly as a frequent variety show performer, although she also appeared in acting roles. She performed for over a decade on USO tours presented by Bob Hope, and starred in several feature films, including My Blood Runs Cold (1965) and The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977).