- Dec 1 Keith Michell, Australian actor and theater director (6 Wives of Henry VIII), born in Adelaide, South Australia (d. 2015)
- Dec 1 Robert Symonds, American actor and associate director of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, born in Bristow, Oklahoma (d. 2007)
- Dec 2 Hobie Billingsley, American ISHOF diving coach (Indiana University 1959-89; 6 x NCAA team championships; US Olympic team 1968, 72, 76), born in Erie, Pennsylvania (d. 2022) [1]
- Dec 3 Hans Otte, German composer and pianist (The Book of Sounds, Book of Hours), born in Plauen, Germany (d. 2007)
- Dec 3 Walter Ormeño, Peruvian soccer goalkeeper (Peru 1949-57; Boca Juniors, Rosario Central), born in Lima, Peru (d. 2020)
- Dec 7 Victor Kermit Kiam II, American businessman (Remington shavers) and NFL owner (New England Patriots 1988–91), born in New Orleans, Louisiana (d. 2001)
- Dec 7 Wolfgang Ludewig, German composer, born in Marburg, Germany (d. 2017)
Joachim Fest (1926-2006)
Dec 8 German historian and journalist (Hitler biography, Speer: The Final Verdict), born in Berlin, Germany
- Dec 9 Henry Way Kendall, American physicist (Nobel 1990-pioneering investigations concerning deep inelastic scattering of electrons on protons and bound neutrons, which have been of essential importance for the development of the quark model in particle physics), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1999)
- Dec 9 Jan Křesadlo, Czech-British psychologist and writer, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia (d. 1995)
- Dec 10 Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe, Norwegian musicologist, educator, and composer, born in Oslo, Norway (d. 2013)
- Dec 10 Guitar Slim [Eddie Jones], blues guitarist ("The Things That I Used to Do"), born in Greenwood, Mississippi (d. 1959)
- Dec 10 Harry Fowler, British actor (Great: Isambard Kingdom Brunel), born in Lambeth, London (d. 2012)
- Dec 11 Richard "Dick" Tufeld, American voice actor (Lost in Space - "Robot"), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2012)
- Dec 11 Richard Devon, American character actor (Magnum Force, Battle of Blood Island), born in Glendale, California (d. 2010)
- Dec 11 Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter (Hound Dog, Ball & Chain, Stronger than Dirt), born in Ariton, Alabama (d. 1984)
- Dec 12 Laurie Davidson, New Zealand yacht designer (Black Magic 1995; Team New Zealand 2000; America's Cup HOF 2007), born in Auckland, New Zealand (d. 2021)
- Dec 13 Carl Erskine, American baseball player (Bkln Dodgers), born in Anderson, Indiana
- Dec 13 George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 4 x 400m relay 1952), born in Kingston, Jamaica
- Dec 14 Frank King, West Indian cricketer (WI fast bowler in 14 Tests in 50's, 29 wkts), born in Delamere Land, Brighton, St Michael, Barbados (d. 1990)
- Dec 16 Alfred Koerppen, German organist, composer, and educator (Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater, 1948-91), born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 2022)
- Dec 16 James McCracken, American operatic tenor (Otello), born in Gary, Indiana (d. 1988)
- Dec 16 Josef Hadar, Israeli violinist and composer (Evening of Roses), born in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine (now Israel) (d. 2006)
- Dec 17 Jeremy Brooks, English writer (Jampot Smith), born in Southampton (d. 1994)
- Dec 17 Patrice Wymore, American actress (The Big Tree), born in Miltonvale, Kansas (d. 2014)
- Dec 17 Ray Jablonski, American baseball player (d. 1985)
- Dec 17 Stephen Lewis, British stage and screen comic actor, screenwriter and playwright (In The Buses - "Blakey"; Last of the Summer Wine - "Smiler"), born in Poplar, England (d. 2015)
- Dec 18 Jock Aird, Scottish soccer defender (4 caps Scotland, 2 New Zealand; Burnley), born in Glencraig, Scotland (d. 2021)
- Dec 19 Bobby Layne, American College and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback (3 x NFL champion; 6 x Pro Bowl; Detroit Lions), born in Santa Anna, Texas (d. 1986)
- Dec 19 Herb Stempel, American game show contestant
- Dec 20 David Levine, American artist (New York Review of Books caricatures), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2009)
- Dec 20 Geoffrey Howe, British politician (Chancellor and Foreign Secretary under Thatcher), born in Aberavon, Glamorganshire (d. 2015)
- Dec 20 Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (Free Democratic Party), born in Aachen, Germany
- Dec 21 Joe Paterno, American College Football HOF coach (Penn State 1966-2011; NCAA C'ship 1982, 86; Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of 1986), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2012)
- Dec 21 John Herbert McDowell, American composer for ballet, TV and the stage, born in Washington, D.C. (d. 1985)
- Dec 22 Lee Salk, Russian-American child psychologist and author, born in New York, New York (d. 1992)
- Dec 23 Raymond Daveluy, Canadian organist (St. Joseph's Montreal, 1960-2002), composer and educator, born in Victoriaville, Quebec (d. 2016)
- Dec 23 Robert Bly, American poet & essayist (Loving a Woman in 2 Worlds), born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota
- Dec 23 Ron Gowans, Australian jazz saxophonist, born in Sydney (d. 2009)
- Dec 24 Paul Buissonneau, French-born Quebec theatre director, born in Paris, France (d. 2014)
- Dec 24 Ronald Draper, South African cricketer (South African batsman v Australia 1949-50), born in Oudtshoorn, South Africa
- Dec 25 Enrique Jorrín, Cuban composer and musician (d. 1987)
- Dec 26 Earle Brown, American composer (open form), born in Lunenburg, Massachusetts (d. 2002)
- Dec 26 Edgar D Ngoyi, South African ANC leader (17 yrs in Robbeneiland Jail)
- Dec 26 Zlatko Pibernik, Croatian composer and music teacher, born in Zagreb, Croatia (d. 2010)
- Dec 27 Jerome Courtland, American actor (Tonka, Tharus), born in Knoxville, Tennessee (d. 2012)
- Dec 28 Donald Carr, English cricket all-rounder (2 Tests, 1 x 50, 2 wickets; Derbyshire CCC) and official (secretary Test and County Cricket Board 1976-86), born in Wiesbaden, Germany (d. 2016)
- Dec 30 Stanley Tracey, British jazz pianist and composer (Under Milk Wood), born in Denmark Hill, South London, England (d. 2013)
About December 1926
How Old? 96 years old
Generation: Greatest Generation
Leap Year: No
Chinese Zodiac: Tiger
Star Signs: Sagittarius (Nov 22 - Dec 21), Capricorn (Dec 22 - Jan 19)