Portal:Biography/Selected anniversaries/December 31

Births

• 1491 - Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
• 1869 - Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954) (pictured)
• 1937 - Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor
• 1943 - John Denver, American musician (d. 1997)
• 1943 - Ben Kingsley, English actor
• 1948 - Donna Summer, American singer (d. 2012)
• 1959 - Val Kilmer, American actor

Deaths

• 192 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)
• 1384 - John Wycliffe, English theologian and Bible translator
• 1877 - Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)
• 1985 - Ricky Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)