October 17 birthdays, facts & history
Everything about being born on October 17, from your sign and birth stone to who shares your birthday.
Zodiac sign
♎︎ Libra
Sep 23 – Oct 22
Birth stone
Opal
Birth flower
Marigold
How common
#85 of 366
by US birth counts
Famous October 17 birthdays
Georg Büchner · German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose1813
Jean Arthur · American actress1900
Pope John Paul I · Pope of the Catholic Church in 19781912
Arthur Miller · American playwright and essayist1915
Marsha Hunt · American actress1917
Rita Hayworth · American actress1918
Zhao Ziyang · Former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party1919
Montgomery Clift · American actor1920
Julie Adams · American actress1926
William Anders · American astronaut and lunar explorer1933
George Wendt · American actor1948
Margot Kidder · Canadian and American actress and activist1948
Robert Jordan · American fantasy writer1948
Prabowo Subianto · President of the Republic of Indonesia1951
Mae Jemison · American doctor and NASA astronaut1956
Rob Marshall · American film and theatre director and producer1960
Eminem · American rapper, record producer and actor1972
Tarkan · Turkish singer1972
Kimi Räikkönen · Finnish racing driver1979
Felicity Jones · British actress1983
On this day in history
1931American gangster Al Capone was convicted on five counts of income-tax evasion.
1952Indonesian Army elements surrounded the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, demanding that President Sukarno disband the Provisional People's Representative Council.
1975'Salem's Lot, an American vampire novel by Stephen King, is published.
1979The Department of Education Organization Act creates the U.S. Department of Education.
1941World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat.
1964Prime Minister Robert Menzies inaugurated the artificial Lake Burley Griffin in the centre of the Australian capital Canberra.
1965The 1964–65 New York World's Fair closes after two years and more than 51 million attendees.
1973Yom Kippur War: Egyptian forces retreated from the Battle of the Chinese Farm, allowing Israeli forces to build their first bridge across the Suez Canal.
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