Portal:Biography/Selected anniversaries/August 17

Births

 * 1601 - Pierre de Fermat, (pictured) French mathematician (d. 1665)
 * 1882 - Samuel Goldwyn, Hollywood producer (d. 1974)
 * 1887 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican leader, Rastafari prophet (d. 1940)
 * 1893 - Mae West, American actress and playwright (d. 1980)
 * 1926 - Jiang Zemin, former President of the People's Republic of China (d. 2022)
 * 1943 - Robert De Niro, American actor
 * 1958 - Belinda Carlisle, American singer
 * 1960 - Sean Penn, American actor, director
 * 1970 - Jim Courier, American tennis player
 * 1977 - Tarja Turunen, Finnish singer (Nightwish)
 * 1977 - Thierry Henry, French footballer

Deaths

 * 1786 - King Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1712)
 * 1979 - Vivian Vance, actress (b. 1909)
 * 1988 - Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (b. 1924)