- Oct 2 Jan Morris, Welsh journalist, historian and travel writer (Among the Cities, Hong Kong, Journeys), born in Clevedon, Somerset, England (d. 2020)
- Oct 3 Marques Haynes, Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame guard (Harlem Globetrotters), born in Sand Springs, Oklahoma (d. 2015)
- Oct 5 Gottfried Michael Koenig, German-Dutch composer, born in Magdeburg, Germany
- Oct 5 Willi Unsoeld, American mountaineer (First ascent of the West Ridge of Mount Everest), born in Arcata, California (d. 1979)
- Oct 6 Alan Copeland, American Grammy Award-winning arranger, songwriter, and singer (The Modernaires; Your Hit Parade), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2022)
- Oct 6 Cyril Reuben, Welsh classical and session violinist (London Symphony), born in Splott, Cardiff, Wales (d. 1996)
- Oct 7 Ivan Jirko, Czech composer, music critic and psychiatrist, born in Prague (d. 1978)
- Oct 7 Marcello Abbado, pianist, composer, conductor, and teacher, born in Milan, Italy (d. 2020)
- Oct 8 Raaj Kumar, Hindi film star (Mother India), born in Loralai, Balochistan, British India (d. 1996)
- Oct 9 Danièle Delorme [Gabrielle Girard], French actress (Pardon My Affair), born in Paris (d. 2015)
- Oct 10 Oscar Brown, American singer, songwriter ("Brown Baby"; "Forbidden Fruit"), playwright, and poet, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2005)
- Oct 10 Ralph Liguori, American auto racer (NASCAR Grand National Series 30 x Top 10; 5 x Top 5 finishes), born in NYC, NY (d. 2020)
- Oct 10 Richard Jaeckel, American actor (3:10 to Yuma, Sands of Iwo Jima, Sometimes a Great Notion), born in Long Beach, New York (d. 1997)
- Oct 11 Earle Hyman, American stage and screen actor (The Cosby Show - "Russell Huxtable"; ThunderCats; Coriolanus), born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina (d. 2017)
- Oct 11 Jean Alexander, British actress (Coronation Street - "Hilda Ogden"), born in Liverpool, England (d. 2016)
- Oct 11 John Dewes, British cricketer (England opener late 40's early 50's), born in Latchford, Cheshire, England (d. 2015)
- Oct 11 Thích Nhất Hạnh [Nguyen Xuan Bao], Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, teacher, peace activist, and writer (Love Letter to the Earth; The Art of Communicating), born in Huế, Annam, French Indochina (now Vietnam) (d. 2022) [1]
- Oct 12 César Pelli, Argentine American architect (Petronas Towers), born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina (d. 2019)
- Oct 12 Hans Liebold, German auto racer (Nardo, Italy)
- Oct 13 Ray Brown, American jazz double bassist (Oscar Peterson; Ella Fitzgerald), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 2002)
- Oct 13 Tommy Whittle, British jazz tenor saxophonist (Ted Heath; BBC Show Band), and bandleader, born in Grangemouth, Scotland (d. 2013)
- Oct 13 Walter "Killer" Kowalski, Canadian professional wrestler, born in Windsor, Canada (d. 2008)
- Oct 14 Bill Justis, American rock and roll musician (Raunchy), born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 1982)
- Oct 14 Willy Alberti [Carel Verbrugge], Dutch singer and actor (Riffin in Amsterdam), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1985)
- Oct 15 Ed McBain [Evan Hunter], American writer (Blackboard Jungle), born in NYC, New York (d. 2005)
- Oct 15 Jean Peters, American actress (Viva Zapata!, Apache, Deep Waters), born in Canton, Ohio (d. 2000)
- Oct 15 Karl Richter, German composer and conductor, born in Plauen, Germany (d. 1981)
- Oct 15 Michel Foucault, French philosopher and historian (The History of Sexuality), born in Poitiers, France (d. 1984)
- Oct 16 Hansheinz Schneeberger, Swiss violinist (Duo Paganini), born in Bern, Switzerland (d. 2019)
- Oct 17 Beverly Garland [Fessenden], American actress (My Three Sons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King), born in Santa Cruz, California (d. 2008)
- Oct 17 Julie Adams [Betty May Adams], American actress (Yancy Derringer, Code Red), born in Waterloo, Iowa
- Oct 17 Karl Gordon Henize, American astronomer and NASA astronaut (STS-51-F), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1993)
Chuck Berry (1926-2017)
Oct 18 American rock n' roll guitarist and singer-songwriter ("Roll Over Beethoven"; "Sweet Little Sixteen"), born in St Louis, Missouri
- Oct 18 John Morris, American film and Broadway composer who commonly worked alongside Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder, born in Elizabeth, New Jersey (d. 2018)
- Oct 18 Klaus Kinski [Naksynski], German-Polish actor (Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Little Drummer Girl), born in Zoppot, Free City of Danzig (d. 1991)
- Oct 18 Thomas Millar, Australian historian and political scientist, born in Kalamunda, Western Australia (d. 1994)
- Oct 19 Arne Bendiksen, Norwegian pop singer-songwriter (Eurovision, 1964, 1966, 1973, 1974), born in Bergen, Norway (d. 2009)
- Oct 19 Joel Feinberg, American moral philosopher (d. 2004)
- Oct 20 Ursula Happe, German swimmer (Olympic gold 200m backstroke 1956), born in Gdańsk, Poland (d. 2021)
- Oct 21 Bob Rosburg, American golfer, analyst (PGA Championship 1959), born in San Francisco, California (d. 2009)
- Oct 21 Don Elliott [Helfman], American jazz trumpeter, vibraphonist, mellophone player, and vocalist, born in Somerville, New Jersey (d. 1984)
- Oct 21 Leonard Rossiter, British actor (Rising Damp, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1984)
- Oct 21 Marga Richter, American classical pianist and composer (Landscapes of the Mind; Out of Shadows and Solitude), born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin (d. 2020)
- Oct 22 Jan A de Jonge, Dutch historian
- Oct 24 Y. A. Tittle, American NFL quarterback (Baltimore, San Francisco, NY Giants, MVP 1963), born in Marshall, Texas (d. 2017)
- Oct 25 Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano opera singer (Britten's "War Requiem"), born in Leningrad, Russia (d. 2012)
- Oct 25 Ismail Gulgee, Pakistani painter, born in Peshawar, Pakistan (d. 2007)
- Oct 25 Jimmy Heath "Little Bird", American jazz saxophonist and composer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2020)
- Oct 25 William "Biff" McGuire, American actor (Serpico, Heart is Lonely Hunter), born in New Haven, Connecticut
- Oct 26 Yuri Aleksandrovich Letunov, Russian cosmonaut, born in Tomsk, Russia (d. 1983)
H. R. Haldeman (1926-1993)
Oct 27 Nixon's White House Chief of Staff during Watergate, born in Los Angeles, California
- Oct 27 Nana Joshi, Indian cricket wicket-keeper (12 tests, 27 dismissals, 1 x 50; Maharashtra CC), born in Baroda, Gujarat, India (d. 1987)
Bowie Kuhn (1926-2007)
Oct 28 American Baseball HOF executive (MLB commissioner 1969-1984), born in Takoma Park, Maryland
- Oct 29 Jon Vickers, Canadian operatic tenor (Covent Garden, 1957-87; New York Metropolitan Opera, 1960-87), born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (d. 2015)
- Oct 30 Jacques Swaters, Belgian racing driver, born in Woluwe-St-Lambert, Brussels, Belgium (d. 2010)
- Oct 31 (Moisés) "Mario" Abramovich, Argentinian tango and classical violinist (Sexteto Major, 1974-2014), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 2014)
- Oct 31 Jimmy Savile, English entertainer and suspected sexual predator, born in Leeds (d. 2011)
- Oct 31 Shirley Dinsdale, ventriloquist (Judy Splinters), born in San Francisco, California
About October 1926
How Old? 96 years old
Generation: Greatest Generation
Leap Year: No