Famous people born on 17 February

• Hal HolbrookAmerican actor · 1925–2021
  95 yrs
• Otto SternGerman-American physicist · 1888–1969
  81 yrs
• Gustavo Adolfo BécquerSpanish poet · 1836–1870
  34 yrs
• Konstantinos XI PalaiologosLast Byzantine emperor, from 1449 to 1453 · 1404–1453
  49 yrs
• Arcangelo Corelli ↗Italian violinist and composer · 1653–1713
  59 yrs
• Ronald Fisher ↗British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist · 1890–1962
  72 yrs
• Hans Morgenthau ↗American political scientist · 1904–1980
  76 yrs
• René Laenne ↗French physician, inventor of stethoscope · 1781–1826
  45 yrs
• Sadegh Hedayat ↗Iranian writer · 1903–1951
  48 yrs
• Ralphie May ↗American stand-up comedian · 1972–2017
  45 yrs
• Ruth Rendell ↗British writer · 1930–2015
  85 yrs
• Taylor Hawkins ↗American drummer · 1972–2022
  50 yrs
• Jim Brown ↗American football player and actor · 1936–2023
  87 yrs
• Dositej Obradović ↗Serbian writer · 1742–1811
  69 yrs
• Lola Montez ↗Irish dancer and actress · 1821–1861
  39 yrs
• Mori Ōgai ↗Japanese novelist and army physician · 1862–1922
  60 yrs
• Thomas John Watson, Sr. ↗USA IBM executive and art collector · 1874–1956
  82 yrs
• Horace Bénédict de Saussure ↗Genevan scientist · 1740–1799
  58 yrs
• Arthur Kennedy ↗American actor · 1914–1990
  75 yrs
• Friedrich Maximilian Klinger ↗German dramatist and novelist · 1752–1831
  79 yrs
• Georgy Gapon ↗Russian priest · 1870–1906
  36 yrs
• Jaroslav Vrchlický ↗Czech lyrical poet · 1853–1912
  59 yrs
• Alan Bates ↗English actor · 1934–2003
  69 yrs
• Romano Guardini ↗German Catholic philosopher · 1885–1968
  83 yrs
• Henri Vieuxtemps ↗Belgian violinist and composer · 1820–1881
  61 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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