Famous Birthdays on this Day in History - per Wikipedia

August 17

• 1473 – Richard, Duke of York
• 1578 – Francesco Albani, Italian painter (d. 1660)
• 1601 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (d. 1665)
• 1629 – King John III of Poland (d. 1696)
• 1686 – Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (d. 1768)
• 1753 – Josef Dobrovský, Czech linguist (d. 1828)
• 1768 – Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French general (d. 1800)
• 1786 – Davy Crockett, American frontiersman and soldier (d. 1836)
• 1786 – Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (d. 1861)
• 1794 – Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, German priest (d. 1849)
• 1828 – Jules Bernard Luys, French neurologist (d. 1897)
• 1840 – Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, English poet and writer (d. 1922)
• 1844 – Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (d. 1913)
• 1863 – Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and naturalist (d. 1924)
• 1866 – Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, 6th Nizam of Hyderabad (d. 1911)
• 1866 – Julia Marlowe, English actress (d. 1950)
• 1873 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (d. 1946)
• 1878 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (d. 1911)
• 1880 – Percy Sherwell, South African cricketer (d. 1948)
• 1887 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black rights activist (d. 1940)
• 1887 – Charles I of Austria (d. 1922)
• 1888 – Monty Woolley, American actor (d. 1963)
• 1890 – Harry Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1946)
• 1890 – Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator (d. 1920)
• 1893 – Mae West, American actress (d. 1980)
• 1895 – Aris Maliagros, Greek actor (d. 1984)
• 1896 – Leslie Groves, American military engineer (d. 1970)
• 1904 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (d. 1991)
• 1904 – Mary Cain, American newspaper editor and politician (d. 1984)
• 1909 – Larry Clinton, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Martin Sandberger, German military officer (d. 2010)
• 1913 – W. Mark Felt, American Watergate informant (d. 2008)
• 1913 – Rudy York, American baseball player (d. 1970)
• 1913 – Óscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (d. 1989)
• 1914 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (d. 1988)
• 1919 – Georgia Gibbs, American singer (d. 2006)
• 1920 – Maureen O'Hara, Irish actress
• 1921 – Geoffrey Rudolph Elton, British historian (d. 1994)
• 1922 – Roy Tattersall, England cricketer
• 1926 – Jiang Zemin, Chinese politician
• 1926 – Valerie Eliot, surviving widow and second wife of the Nobel prize-winning poet, T. S. Eliot.
• 1926 – George Melly, British singer (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Jean Poiret, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1992)
• 1929 – Francis Gary Powers, American U-2 pilot (d. 1977)
• 1929 – Jimmy Donley, American singer (d. 1963)
• 1930 – Glenn Corbett, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1930 – Ted Hughes, English poet (d. 1998)
• 1932 – V. S. Naipaul, West Indian writer, Nobel Laureate
• 1933 – Eugene F. Kranz, American NASA executive
• 1933 – Mark Dinning, American singer (d. 1986)
• 1935 – Oleg Tabakov, Russian actor
• 1936 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Native American musician and actor (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Ronnie Butler, singer
• 1937 – Spiros Focás, Greek actor
• 1938 – Abu Bakar Bashir, Indonesian Muslim cleric
• 1938 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek politician
• 1939 – Luther Allison, American musician (d. 1997)
• 1939 – Anthony Valentine, British actor
• 1940 – Eduardo Mignogna, Argentinian film director (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Jean Pierre Lefebvre, French Canadian film director
• 1941 – Boog Powell, American baseball player
• 1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor
• 1943 – Dave "Snaker" Ray, American musician (d. 2002)
• 1944 – Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, billionaire
• 1946 – Martha Coolidge, American film director
• 1946 – Patrick Manning, 4th and 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago
• 1947 – Gary Talley, American musician (Box Tops)
• 1947 – Sylvia Nasar, German-born American economist and author
• 1948 – Rod MacDonald, American musician
• 1949 – Sib Hashian, American musician (Boston)
• 1949 – Norm Coleman, American politician
• 1951 – Robert Joy, Canadian actor
• 1951 – Alan Minter, British boxer
• 1952 – Nelson Piquet, Brazilian race car driver
• 1952 – Dr. Mario Theissen, German F1 team principal of BMW Sauber
• 1952 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentinian tennis player
• 1953 – Michael Malthouse, Premiership winning Australian football coach
• 1953 – Judith Regan, American book publisher
• 1953 – Kevin Rowland, English musician (Dexys Midnight Runners)
• 1954 – Eric Johnson, American guitarist
• 1955 – Richard Hilton, American heir
• 1955 – Colin Moulding, English bass player, singer and songwriter (XTC)
• 1956 – Gail Berman, American film executive
• 1956 – Álvaro Pino, Spanish cyclist
• 1957 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater
• 1958 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer
• 1958 – Fred Goodwin British banker
• 1958 – Kirk Stevens, Canadian snooker player
• 1959 – Chika Sakamoto, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1959 – Jonathan Franzen, American author
• 1959 – David Koresh, American cult leader (d. 1993)
• 1959 – Eric Schlosser, American author
• 1960 – Stephan Eicher, Swiss singer
• 1960 – Sean Penn, American actor and director
• 1962 – Gilby Clarke, American musician (Guns N' Roses)
• 1962 – John Marshall Jones, American actor
• 1962 – Buddy Landel, American professional wrestler
• 1963 – Jon Gruden, American football coach
• 1963 – S. Shankar, Indian film director
• 1964 – Colin James, Canadian musician
• 1964 – Maria McKee, American singer
• 1966 – Maysa Leak, American jazz singer
• 1966 – Rodney Mullen, American skateboarder
• 1966 – Don Sweeney, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 – Kevin Max, American singer (dc talk)
• 1967 – Spencer Rice, Canadian Actor
• 1968 – Ed McCaffrey, American football player
• 1968 – Helen McCrory, English actress
• 1969 – Christian Laettner, American basketball player
• 1969 – Donnie Wahlberg, American actor and singer (New Kids On The Block)
• 1969 – Kelvin Mercer, American rapper (De La Soul)
• 1970 – Jim Courier, American tennis player
• 1970 – Rupert Degas, English actor and voice artist
• 1970 – Øyvind Leonhardsen, Norwegian footballer
• 1971 – Uhm Jung-hwa, South Korean singer and actress
• 1971 – Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1971 – Shaun Rehn, Australian Rules footballer
• 1972 – Habibul Bashar, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1972 – Ken Ryker, American pornographic actor
• 1974 – Tony Hajjar, Lebanese musician (At the Drive-In, Sparta)
• 1974 – Nicola Kraus, American novelist
• 1975 – Giuliana DePandi, Italian-born American television personality
• 1976 – Scott Halberstadt, American actor
• 1976 – Geertjan Lassche, Dutch reporter
• 1977 – Nathan Deakes, Australian race walker
• 1977 – William Gallas, French footballer
• 1977 – Thierry Henry, French footballer
• 1977 – Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer
• 1977 – Matthew Oakley, English footballer
• 1978 – Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress
• 1978 – Vibeke Stene, Norwegian singer (Tristania)
• 1979 – Antwaan Randle El, American football player
• 1979 – Marcus Patric, British actor
• 1980 – Keith Dabengwa, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1980 – Jan Kromkamp, Dutch footballer
• 1980 – Lene Marlin, Norwegian singer
• 1981 – Kristin Holt, American television personality
• 1982 – Cheerleader Melissa, American professional wrestler
• 1982 – Phil Jagielka, English footballer
• 1982 – Mark Salling, American actor
• 1983 – Dustin Pedroia, American baseball player
• 1984 – Dee Brown, American basketball player
• 1984 – Garrett Wolfe, American football player
• 1985 – Yū Aoi, Japanese actress
• 1986 – Rudy Gay, American basketball player
• 1986 – Tyrus Thomas, American basketball player
• 1986 – Bryton McClure, American actor & singer
• 1987 – Matthew Shultz, American musician, Cage the Elephant
• 1988 – Brady Corbet, American actor
• 1988 – Erika Toda, Japanese actress
• 1988 – Nichole Cordova, Performer (Girlicious)
• 1989 – Elena Hight, American snowboarder
• 1989 – Frederick Lau, German actor
• 1989 – Lil B, American rapper, author, historical online figure
• 1990 – Colin Bates, American actor
• 1990 – Rachel Hurd-Wood, British actress
• 1991 – Austin Butler, American actor
• 1991 – Qory Sandioriva, Indonesian beauty queen, Puteri Indonesia 2009
• 1996 – Ella Cruz, Filipina actress