- Oct 1 Jimmie Reese, American baseball infielder and coach (LA Angels Hall of Fame), born in New York City (d. 1994)
- Oct 2 Charles Stark "Doc" Draper, American Scientist and Engineer who headed the team that invented the Apollo Guidance Computer and inertial navigation technology for aircraft, space vehicles, and submarines, born in Windsor, Missouri (d. 1987)
- Oct 2 Christopher Clarkson, British test pilot, born in Dunsfold, Surrey (d. 1994)
- Oct 2 Roy Campbell, South African poet (Flowering Rifle), born in Durban, South Africa (d. 1957)
- Oct 3 Jean Grémillon, French film director, born in Bayeux, France (d. 1959)
- Oct 3 Masao Ohki, Japanese composer (Idea of the Night; Hiroshima Symphony), born in Iwata, Japan (d. 1971)
- Oct 4 [Robert] Carroll Nye, American actor (Gone With The Wind), born in Akron, Ohio (d. 1974)
- Oct 5 John Alton [Johann Jacob Altmann], American cinematographer, born in Sopron, Austria-Hungary (d. 1996)
- Oct 5 Willy Lages, German chief of Sicherheitsdienst in Amsterdam (deported 70,000 Dutch Jews to death camps), born in Braunschweig, Germany (d. 1971)
- Oct 7 Frank Boucher, Canadian Hockey HOF center (Ottawa Sens, Vancouver Maroons, NY Rangers), coach (Stanley Cup 1939–40 NY Rangers) and executive (GM NY Rangers), born in Ottawa, Ontario (d. 1977)
- Oct 7 Ralph Rainger [Reichenthal], American song and film composer (Thanks for the Memory; Love In Bloom), born in New York City (d. 1942)
- Oct 7 Souvanna Phouma, Prince and Prime Minister of Laos (1951–54, 1956–58, 1960 and 1962–75), born in Luang Phrabang, Laos (d. 1984)
- Oct 8 Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and ethnomusicologist, born in Eidsborg, Norway (d. 1977)
- Oct 10 Alberto Giacometti, Swiss-French painter and sculptor, born in Borgonovo, Stampa, Graubünden, Switzerland (d. 1966)
- Oct 11 Emil Hlobil, Czech composer, born in Veselí nad Lužnicí (d. 1987)
- Oct 13 Benjamin Merkelbach, Dutch architect and city builder of Amsterdam, born in Amsterdam (d. 1961)
- Oct 13 Edith Sampson (née Spurlock) American lawyer, judge, and the first Black U.S. delegate appointed to the United Nations, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1979)
- Oct 13 Edward Chapman, British actor (Things to Come, Promoter, Rembrandt), born in Harrogate, Yorkshire (d. 1977)
- Oct 14 Willem A. Wagenaar, Dutch journalist and writer (Shanghai) (d. 1968)
- Oct 15 Bernard von Brentano, German writer (Big Cats), born in Offenbach, Germany (d. 1964)
- Oct 15 Hermann Abs, German banker to Adolf Hitler & Konrad Adenauer and director of Deutsche Bank (1938-45), born in Bonn, Germany (d. 1994)
- Oct 15 Robert Bromston Thesiger Daniell, English soldier, born in London (d. 1996)
- Oct 18 Barbara Brown, American actress, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1975)
- Oct 18 Vladimir Grigor'yevich Zakharov, Soviet-Russian composer, born in Bogodukhov, Ukraine, Russian Empire (d. 1956)
- Oct 19 Arleigh Burke, American admiral (WW II, Solomon Islands, Navy Cross), born in Boulder, Colorado (d. 1996)
- Oct 20 Adelaide Hall, American-English musical theatre, cabaret, and jazz singer (Cotton Club; "Creole Love Call" with Duke Ellington), born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 1993) [1]
- Oct 20 Hans-Otto Borgmann, German film score composer under the Third Reich, born in Linden, Germany (d. 1977)
- Oct 21 Gerhard von Rad, German old testament scholar (Deuteronomium), born in Nuremberg, Germany (d. 1971)
- Oct 24 Gilda Gray [Marianna Michalska], Polish-American stage and screen actress (Piccadilly), and dancer (The Shimmy), born in Krakau, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1959)
- Oct 28 Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (The Three Children (Near Clonmel)), born in Dublin (d. 1979)
- Oct 29 Daniele Amfitheatrof [Amfiteatrov], Russian-Italian pianist, conductor, and composer of concert and Hollywood film score music (American Panorama; The Naked Jungle), born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1983)
About October 1901
How Old? 122 years old
Generation: Greatest Generation
Leap Year: No