Events on 1920
Fictional
The following are references to year 1920 in fiction: (unknown).
Births
January-February
January 1 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
January 2 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (d. 1992), Anne-Sofie Østvedt, Norweigan resistance leader
January 3 - Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
January 5 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)
January 6
Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist
John Maynard Smith, English biologist (d. 2004)
Early Wynn, baseball player (d. 1999)
January 9 - Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (d. 1998)
January 12 - Bill Reid, Canadian artist (d. 1998)
January 19 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General
January 20
Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
John O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)
January 23 - Gottfried Böhm, German architect
January 27 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
January 30 - Delbert Mann, American television and film director
February 7 - An Wang, Chinese-born computer pioneer (d. 1990)
February 11
Farouk I, King of Egypt (d. 1965)
Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
February 12 - William Roscoe Estep, American Baptist historian (d. 2000)
February 13 - Seneka Bibile, Sri Lankan pharmacologist (d. 1977)
February 17 - Ivo Caprino, Norwegian film director (d. 2001)
February 18 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (d. 1990)
February 18 - Eddie Slovik, U.S. Army private (d. 1945)
February 26
Tony Randall, American actor (d. 2004)
Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist, writer, and traveler (d. 2006)
February 29 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
March-April
March 3
James Doohan, Canadian-born actor (d. 2005)
Ronald Searle, British cartoonist
March 4
Jean Lecanuet, French politician (d. 1993)
Alan MacNaughtan, Scottish actor (d. 2002)
March 10
Alfred Peet, Dutch-American entrepreneur and the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea (d. 2007)
Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (d. 1959)
March 11 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
March 14 - Hank Ketcham, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
March 15
Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
March 16 - Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
March 19 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian poet and artist (d. 2002)
March 20 - Pamela Harriman, English-born U.S. ambassador to France (d. 1997)
March 22 - Werner Klemperer, German actor (d. 2000)
March 24 - Corbin Harney, an elder and spiritual leader of the Newe (Western Shoshone) people (d. 2007)
March 25
Patrick Troughton, British actor (d. 1987)
Arthur Wint, Jamaican runner (d. 1992)
March 27 - Robin Jacques, English illustrator (d. 1995)
April 1 - Toshirô Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
April 2 - Jack Webb, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1982)
April 5 - Arthur Hailey, American writer (d. 2004)
April 6 - Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
April 7 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
April 8 - Carmen McRae, American jazz singer (d. 1994)
April 11 - Peter O'Donnell, British author and writer of comic strips
April 13 - Liam Cosgrave, fifth Taoiseach of Ireland
April 15 - Thomas Stephen Szasz, Hungarian-born psychiatrist and writer
April 21 - Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
April 27 - Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
April 29 - Harold Shapero, American composer
May-June
May 2
Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss conductor (d. 2004)
Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-born writer and ecological activist (d. 2000)
May 6 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (d. 2004)
May 8 - Saul Bass, American graphic designer (d. 1996)
May 9 - Richard Adams, English author
May 11 - Denver Pyle, American actor (d. 1997)
May 13 - Gareth Morris, British flautist (d. 2007)
May 18
Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
Lucia Mannucci, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
May 23 - Helen O'Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
May 26 - Peggy Lee, American singer (d. 2002)
May 28 - Gene Levitt, American television writer, producer, and director (d. 1999)
May 29 - John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
May 30 - Franklin Schaffner, American film and television director (d. 1989)
June 2 - Tex Schramm, American football executive (d. 2003)
June 12
Dave Berg, American cartoonist (d. 2002)
Jim Siedow, American actor (d. 2003)
June 16 - José López Portillo, President of Mexico (d. 2004)
June 17
Jacob H. Gilbert, American politician (d. 1981)
François Jacob, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
June 25 - Ozan Marsh, American pianist
June 29 - Ray Harryhausen, American animator
July-August
July 4 - Leona Helmsley, Hotel operator, Realestate investor (d. 2007)
July 10 - Owen Chamberlain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
July 11 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (d. 1985)
July 13
Bill Towers, English footballer (d. 2000)
Don Ralke, American music arranger (d. 2000)
July 17 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish International Olympic Committee president
July 21 - Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 2001)
July 24 - Bella Abzug, American politician (d. 1998)
July 25 - Rosalind Franklin, British crystallographer (d. 1958)
August 2 - Reginald Hugh Hickling, British lawyer, colonial civil servant, law academic and author (d. 2007)
August 3 - Hayden Carruth, American poet and literary critic
August 8
Leo Chiosso, Italian poet (d. 2006)
Jimmy Witherspoon, American singer (d. 1997)
August 9 - Milton G. Henschel, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses and 5th President of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (d. 2003)
August 16 - Charles Bukowski, American writer (d. 1994)
August 17 - Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress
August 18
Bob Kennedy, baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
Shelley Winters, American actress (d. 2006)
August 21 - Christopher Robin Milne, English author and bookseller (d. 1996)
August 22 - Ray Bradbury, American writer
August 26 - Mauri Favén, Finnish painter (d. 2006)
August 29 - Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1955)
September-October
September 9 - Aldo Parisot, Brazilian/American cellist
September 10 - Fabio Taglioni, Italian motorcycle engineer (d. 2001)
September 14 - Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer
September 14 - Lawrence Klein, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
September 18 - Jack Warden, American actor (d. 2006)
September 22 - William H. Riker, American political scientist (d. 1993)
September 23 - Mickey Rooney, American film actor
September 24 - Dick Bong, American fighter ace
September 27 - Jayne Meadows, American actress
September 29 - Peter D. Mitchell, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
October 1
Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor (d. 2001)
Walter Matthau, American actor (d. 2000)
October 6 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (d. 2005)
Helen Andelin, American author
October 8 - Frank Herbert, American author (d. 1986)
October 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (d. 1976)
October 15 - Mario Puzo, American author (d. 1999)
October 22 - Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author (d. 1996)
October 29 - Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
October 30 - Norman Bird, UK character actor (d. 2005)
October 31 - Fritz Walter, German footballer (d. 2002)
November-December
November 2 - Ann Rutherford, Canadian actress
November 25 - Ricardo Montalban, Mexican actor
November 30 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (d. 2005)
December 6
Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
George Porter, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
December 9 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic
December 21 - J. Roderick MacArthur American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1984)
December 24 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Soviet World War II heroine (d. 1944)
December 30 - Jack Lord, American actor (d. 1998)
''date unknown''
Patrick Campbell Rodger, Scottish Anglican bishop (d. 2002)
Tommy J. Smith, Australian trainer (d. 1998)
Amos Yarkoni, Israeli soldier (d. 1991)
Deaths
January - March
January 2 - Paul Adam, French writer (b. 1862)
January 3 - Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician (b. 1888)
January 4 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)
January 6 - Hieronymus Georg Zeuthen, Danish mathematician (b. 1839)
January 7 - Edmund Barton, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
January 18 - Giovanni Capurro, Italian poet (b. 1825)
January 24
William Percy French, Irish songwriter and entertainer (b. 1854)
Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (tuberculosis) (b. 1884)
William Plunket, 5th Baron Plunket, British diplomat and administrator (b. 1864)
January 26 - Jeanne Hébuterne, French artist, model, and common-law wife of Amedeo Modigliani (suicide) (b. 1898)
February 2 - Field E. Kindley, American World War I aviator (b. 1896)
February 3 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
February 6 - Augustus F. Goodridge, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1839)
February 7 - Aleksandr Kolchak, Russian naval commander (b. 1874)
February 15 - Joseph Burton Sumner, founder of Sumner, Mississippi (b. 1837)
February 20
Joseph J. Fern, Mayor of Honolulu (b. 1872)
Robert Peary, American Arctic explorer (b. 1856)
February 27 - William Sherman Jennings, Governor of Florida (b. 1863)
March 1
John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama (b. 1842)
William A. Stone, Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1846)
Joseph Trumpeldor, Russian Zionist (b. 1880)
March 4 - Roswell P. Bishop, U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1843)
March 11 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
March 13 - Charles Lapworth, English geologist (b. 1842)
March 26
William Chester Minor, American surgeon (b. 1834)
Mary Augusta Ward, Tasmanian novelist (b. 1851)
March 31
Paul Bachmann, German mathematician (b. 1837)
Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland (b. 1848)
April - June
April 8
John Brashear, American astronomer (b. 1840)
Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (b. 1884)
April 9 - Moritz Cantor, German historian of mathematics (b. 1829)
April 21 - Maria L. Sanford, American educator (b. 1836)
April 26 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
May 1 - Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (b. 1882)
May 11
James Colosimo, Italian-born gangster (b. 1877)
William Dean Howells, American writer (b. 1837)
May 16 - Levi P. Morton, Vice President of the United States (b. 1824)
May 21
Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (b. 1859)
Eleanor H. Porter, American novelist (b. 1868)
May 23 - Svetozar Borojevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (b. 1856)
May 30 - George Ernest Morrison, Australian adventurer (b. 1862)
June 5
Rhoda Broughton, Welsh writer (b. 1840)
Julia A. Moore, American poet (b. 1847)
June 6 - James Dunsmuir, Canadian politician (b. 1851)
June 13 - Essad Pasha, Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1863)
June 14
Gabrielle Réjane, French actress (b. 1856)
Max Weber, German political economist (b. 1864)
June 18
Jewett W. Adams, Governor of Nevada (b. 1835)
John Macoun, Irish born naturalist (b. 1831)
June 20
Marie Adolphe Carnot, French chemist, mining engineer, and politician (b. 1839)
John Grigg, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1838)
June 27 - Adolphe Basile Routhier, Canadian poet (b. 1839)
July - September
July 1 - Delfim Moreira, President of Brazil (b. 1868)
July 2 - William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (b. 1846)
July 10 - John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, British admiral (b. 1841)
July 11 - Empress Eugénie of France (b. 1826)
July 14 - Albert Keller, German painter (b. 1844)
July 22 - William Kissam Vanderbilt, American heir (b. 1849)
August 1
Frank Hanly, Governor of Indiana (b. 1863)
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist (b. 1856)
August 2 - Ormer Locklear, American pilot (b. 1891)
August 9 - Samuel Griffith, Australian politician and judge (b. 1845)
August 10 - Adam Politzer, Austrian otologist (b. 1835)
August 12 - Hermann Struve, Russian-born astronomer (b. 1854)
August 16
Henry Daglish, Premier of Australia (b. 1866)
Joseph Norman Lockyer, English astronomer (b. 1836)
August 17 - Ray Chapman, baseball player (b. 1891)
August 22 - Anders Zorn, Swedish painter (b. 1860)
August 26 - James Wilson, Scottish-born American politician (b. 1835)
August 31 - Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist and psychologist (b. 1832)
September 7 - Simon-Napoléon Parent, Premier of Quebec (b. 1855)
September 10 - Olive Thomas, American actress (b. 1894)
September 18 - Robert Beaven, Canadian politician (b. 1836)
September 24 - Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian jeweler (b. 1846)
September 25 - Jacob Schiff, German-born banker and philanthropist (b. 1847)
September 30 - William Wilfred Sullivan, Canadian journalist, politician, and jurist (b. 1843)
October - December
October 2 - Winthrop M. Crane, Governor of Massachusetts and Senator (b. 1853)
October 10 - Hudson Stuck, English mountaineer (b. 1865)
October 19 - John Reed, American journalist (b. 1887)
October 20 - Max Bruch, German composer (b. 1838)
November 21- Michael Hogan (sportsman) Was shot during a Gaelic football match by the British army who also killed 14 Irish supporters .
October 24 - Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia (b. 1853)
November 1 - Kevin Barry, Irish republican (hanged) (b. 1902)
November 4 - Ludwig Struve, Russian astronomer (b. 1858)
November 13 - Luc-Olivier Merson, French painter and illustrator (b. 1846)
November 23 - George Callaghan, British admiral (b. 1852)
November 25 - Gaston Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and manufacturer (b. 1892)
November 30 - Eugene W. Chafin, American politician (b. 1852)
December 3 - William de Wiveleslie Abney, English astronomer and photographer (b. 1843)
December 11 - Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
December 12 - Edward Gawler Prior, Canadian mining engineer and politician (b. 1854)
December 14 - George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895)
''date unknown'' - Reginald John Farrer, English botanist (b. 1880)
Notes