- Oct 1 Lon "Lonny" Chapman, American actor (Investigator, For the People), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (d. 2007)
- Oct 1 Walter Matthau, American actor and comedian (The Odd Couple, Bad News Bears), born in New York City (d. 2000)
- Oct 2 Spec Shea, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star, World Series 1947; NY Yankees, Washington Sens), born in Naugatuck, Connecticut (d. 2002)
- Oct 2 William Cramond, Scottish psychiatrist and vice-chancellor (Stirling University), born in Aberdeen, Scotland (d. 2004)
- Oct 4 George Tribe, Australian cricket spin bowler (3 Tests; Northamptonshire; 66 VFL games Footscray), born in Yarraville, Victoria (d. 2009)
- Oct 5 Robert Feenstra, Dutch law historian, born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies (d. 2013)
- Oct 6 Lord Donaldson of Lymington, British judge (d. 2005)
- Oct 6 Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (d. 2005)
- Oct 7 Georg Leber, German politician (SPD), (d. 2012)
Frank Herbert (1920-1986)
Oct 8 American sci-fi author (Dune series), born in Tacoma, Washington
- Oct 8 Maxi Herber, German figure skater pairs (Olympic gold 1936), born in Munich, Germany (d. 2006)
- Oct 9 Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian poet and writer (Dikt, Jonas), born in Kristiansand, Norway (d. 1976)
- Oct 9 Vivienne Della Chiesa, American lyric soprano who sang on US radio during the 1940s and early 1950s (The American Album of Familiar Music, The Standard Hour), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2009)
- Oct 9 Yusef Lateef [William Huddleston], American jazz saxophonist and flautist, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee (d. 2013)
- Oct 10 Frank Sinkwich, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Heisman Trophy 1942, U of Georgia; NFL Draft #1 pick Detroit Lions 1943; NFL MVP 1944), born in Starjak, Croatia (d. 1990)
- Oct 13 Albert Hague [Marcuse], German-American actor, singer and composer (Fame; How the Grinch Stole Christmas), born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2001)
- Oct 13 Laraine Day [La Raine Johnson], American actress (Dr. KIldaire, Foreign Correspondent), born in Roosevelt, Utah (d. 2007)
- Oct 15 Henri Verneuil, French-Armenian playwright and film director (Mélodie en sous-sol), born in Rodosto, Ottoman Turkey (d. 2002)
Mario Puzo (1920-1999)
Oct 15 American novelist (The Godfather, Cotton Club, Earthquake), born in New York City
- Oct 17 Miguel Delibes, Spanish novelist (The Holy Innocents), born in Valladodid, Spain (d. 2010)
- Oct 17 Montgomery Clift, American actor (From Here to Eternity, Judgement at Nuremberg), born in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1966)
- Oct 17 Rudolf Hrusinský, Czech actor and director (Short Cut, Golden Eels), born in Nová Včelnice (d. 1994)
- Oct 18 Melina Mercouri, Greek actress, activist and politician, born in Athens, Greece (d. 1994)
- Oct 19 LaWanda Page [Alberta Peal], American actress (Aunt Esther-Sanford & Sons), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2002)
- Oct 19 Pandurang Shastri Athavale, Indian philosopher, spiritual leader and social revolutionary who founded the Swadhyaya Parivar, born in Roha, Bombay Presidency, British India (d. 2003)
- Oct 20 Dov Noy, Polish-born Jewish scholar of Jewish folklore, born in Kolomyia, Poland (d. 2013) [1]
- Oct 22 Harry Potts, English soccer forward (Burnley, Everton) and manager (Burnley, Shrewsbury Town, Blackpool), born in Sunderland, England (d. 1996)
- Oct 22 Mitzi Green [Elizabeth Keno], American child actress (Huckleberry Finn, Little Orphan Annie), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 1969)
- Oct 22 Timothy Leary, American psychologist & advocate for psychedelic drug use, born in Springfield, Massachusetts (d. 1996)
- Oct 23 Ted Fujita, Japanese meteorologist (d. 1998)
- Oct 23 Vern Stephens, American baseball shortstop (8 x MLB All Star; AL HR leader 1945; 3×AL RBI leader; St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox), born in McAlister, New Mexico (d. 1968)
- Oct 24 Julius Youngner, American scientist, helped develop Salk polio vaccine, born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2017)
- Oct 24 Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician, born in Paris (d. 1996)
- Oct 26 T. C. Jones, American female impersonator, born in Scranton, Pennsylvania (d. 1971)
- Oct 27 K. R. Narayanan, 10th President of India (1997-2002), born in Uzhavoor, Kerala (d. 2005)
- Oct 27 Nanette Fabray [Ruby Fabares], American actress and singer (Love Life, Caesar's Hour, One Day at a Time), born in San Diego, California (d. 2018)
- Oct 29 Baruj Benacerraf, Venezuelan-American immunologist (Nobel 1980 - discovery of genes that regulate immune responses and of the role that some of these genes play in autoimmune diseases), born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 2011)
- Oct 29 Didymos I, Catholicos of the East and Malankara Metropolitan (2005-10), born in Mavelikkara, India (d. 2014)
- Oct 30 Christy Ring, Irish hurler (Cork 65 games, scoring tally [33-208], 8 x All-Ireland medals), born in Cloyne, Ireland (d. 1979)
- Oct 31 Dedan Kimathi [wa Waciuri], Kenyan freedom fighter (Mau Mau Uprising), born in Thegenge Village, British Kenya (d. 1957)
- Oct 31 Dick Francis, British jockey and detective writer (Whip Hand, High Stakes), born in Lawrenny, Pembrokeshire, Wales (d. 2010)
- Oct 31 Fritz Walter, German footballer (1. FC Kaiserslautern) and captain of West Germany, born in Kaiserslautern, Germany (d. 2002)
- Oct 31 Helmut Newton, German fashion photographer, born in Berlin, Germany (d. 2004)
- Oct 31 Joseph Gelineau, French Catholic Jesuit priest and composer, born in Maine-et-Loire, France (d. 2008)
About October 1920
How Old? 103 years old
Generation: Greatest Generation
Leap Year: Yes