Famous people born on 21 December

• Benjamin DisraeliBritish statesman · 1804–1881
  76 yrs
• Heinrich BöllGerman writer · 1917–1985
  67 yrs
• Frank ZappaAmerican musician · 1940–1993
  52 yrs
• Thomas SankaraPresident of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987 · 1949–1987
  37 yrs
• Kurt WaldheimAustrian politician and diplomat · 1918–2007
  88 yrs
• Leopold von RankeGerman historian and founder of modern source-based history · 1795–1886
  90 yrs
• Paco de Lucía ↗Spanish flamenco, classical, jazz guitarist & musician · 1947–2014
  66 yrs
• Robert Brown ↗British botanist (1773-1858), discoverer of the cell nucleus and of Brownian Motion · 1773–1858
  84 yrs
• Hermann Joseph Muller ↗American biologist · 1890–1967
  76 yrs
• Rebecca West ↗British writer, journalist, literary critic, and feminist · 1892–1983
  90 yrs
• Florence Griffith Joyner ↗American track and field athlete · 1959–1998
  38 yrs
• Jean-Henri Fabre ↗French entomologist and author · 1823–1915
  91 yrs
• Aziz Nesin ↗Turkish writer · 1915–1995
  79 yrs
• Nâmık Kemâl ↗Ottoman writer · 1840–1888
  47 yrs
• Jan Łukasiewicz ↗Polish logician, mathematician, philosopher, rector of the University of Warsaw · 1878–1956
  77 yrs
• John G. Avildsen ↗American film director · 1935–2017
  81 yrs
• Thomas Couture ↗French painter · 1815–1879
  63 yrs
• Alicia Alonso ↗Cuban prima ballerina assoluta and choreographer · 1920–2019
  98 yrs
• Jean Gerson ↗French academic · 1363–1429
  65 yrs
• Kalevi Sorsa ↗Prime Minister of Finland · 1930–2004
  73 yrs

Only people with a known day of birth are listed, and only people who have died. Dates are from Wikidata (CC0), last updated 22 October 2026.

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