43.2967° N, 5.3764° E

MARSEILLE

Most Famous People Born in Marseille, France

Notable people
2,271
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1928
Most distinctive
Sculptor 2.8×

A Greek colony founded around 600 BC that is still, stubbornly, a Mediterranean city rather than a French one. Marseille's distinctive professions are sculptors, painters, and poets — the trades of a port city with a heavy North African and Italian presence and a long Mediterranean visual-arts lineage. Zinedine Zidane and Eric Cantona are both from here, as are Antonin Artaud and Edmond Rostand, and the 18th-century bench is unusually deep for a city outside Paris.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Marseille during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 178 notable births.

What Marseille Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Marseille's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (295).

Marseille over-indexes on sculptor2.8× the global rate.

  1. Football295
  2. Politician218
  3. Actor183
  4. Painter136
  5. Writer96
  6. Singer56
  7. Film51
  8. Journalist50
  1. Sculptor422.8×
  2. Painter1362.3×
  3. Poet461.9×
  4. Film511.8×
  5. Physician251.6×
  6. Actor1831.5×
  7. Historian361.5×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Marseille's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Writing
  • Film & TV
  • Politics & Law
  • Art & Design
  • Music
  • Other
All2,271
Sort By

Showing 106 of 2,271 notable people

0012 POLITICIAN

Roger Garaudy

1913 - 2012

Preview
0049 CONDUCTOR

Franck Pourcel

1913 - 2000

Preview
0103 PLAYWRIGHT

André Roussin

1911 - 1987

Preview
0146 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Jacques de Mahieu

1915 - 1990

Preview
0173 ACTOR

Junie Astor

1911 - 1967

Preview
0178 ACTOR

Louis Ducreux

1911 - 1992

Preview
0203 SINGER

Cora Vaucaire

1918 - 2011

Preview
0231 EDITOR

Robert Laffont

1916 - 2010

Preview
0234 ARTIST

Roger Excoffon

1910 - 1983

Preview
0275 POLITICIAN

Jacques Baumel

1918 - 2006

Preview
0281 FILM

Robert Darène

1914 - 2016

Preview
0286 RACING

Robert Manzon

1917 - 2015

Preview
0309 FILM

Hervé Bromberger

1918 - 1993

Preview
0397 COMPOSER

Pierre Lantier

1910 - 1998

Preview
0400 ACTOR

Andrée Clément

1918 - 1954

Preview
0416 PHILOSOPHER

Éliane Amado Levy-Valensi

1919 - 2006

Preview
0444 PAINTER

Max Papart

1911 - 1994

Preview
0468 SPY

Eliane Plewman

1917 - 1944

Preview
0485 ACTOR

Manuel Gary

1912 - 1988

Preview
0498 ACTOR

Françoise Lugagne

1914 - 1991

Preview
0499 FOOTBALL

Georges Dard

1918 - 2001

Preview
0524 BUSINESS

Georges Beuchat

1910 - 1992

Preview
0532 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Claudio Esteva Fabregat

1918 - 2017

Preview
0550 COMPOSER

Léo Chauliac

1913 - 1977

Preview
0563 ACTOR

Clairette Oddera

1919 - 2008

Preview
0570 ACTOR

Germaine Roger

1910 - 1975

Preview
0587 LAWYER

Émile Pollak

1914 - 1978

Preview
0588 PLAYER

Doris Metaxa

1911 - 2007

Preview
0619 ACADEMIC

Roger Milliex

1913 - 2006

Preview
0632 LAWYER

Guy de Lacharrière

1919 - 1987

Preview
0636 SPORT

Raoul Rémy

1919 - 2002

Preview
0655 SPY

Federico Umberto D'Amato

1919 - 1996

Preview
0671 DRIVER

Élie Bayol

1914 - 1995

Preview
0724 POLITICIAN

Marcel Bleibtreu

1918 - 2001

Preview
0735 ACTOR

Jacques Angelvin

1914 - 1978

Preview
0753 PAINTER

Georges Arditi

1914 - 2012

Preview
0780 ACTOR

Marcel Charvey

1916 - 1995

Preview
0785 SCULPTOR

Jean-Marie Baumel

1911 - 1978

Preview
0872 POLITICIAN

René Arthaud

1915 - 2007

Preview
0907 POLITICIAN

Françoise Seligmann

1919 - 2013

Preview
0944 SOCIOLOGIST

Madeleine Grawitz

1911 - 2008

Preview
0960 POLITICIAN

Paul Racine

1914 - 2016

Preview
1014 PRIEST

Jean-Marie Charles-Roux

1914 - 2014

Preview
1019 FOOTBALL

Antoine Franceschetti

1913 - 2011

Preview
1024 POLITICIAN

Robert Salmon

1918 - 2013

Preview
1055 BUSINESS

Jacqueline Beytout

1918 - 2006

Preview
1061 ACTOR

Robert Ripa

1919 - 2005

Preview
1118 ACTOR

Fransined

1914 - 2012

Preview
1141 MATHEMATICIAN

Jean Ville

1910 - 1989

Preview
1180 LIBÉRATION

Francis-Louis Closon

1910 - 1998

Preview
1181 POLITICIAN

Jean Masse

1911 - 1987

Preview
1206 PAINTER

Antoine Ferrari

1910 - 1995

Preview
1226 HISTORIAN

Jean Doise

1917 - 2006

Preview
1236 ACTOR

Jean Castan

1917 - 1990

Preview
1242 BOBSLED

Jacques Bridou

Born 1911

Preview
1244 POLITICIAN

Pierre Laffont

1913 - 1993

Preview
1295 DRUG TRAFFICK

Auguste Ricord

1911 - 1985

Preview
1318 HISTORIAN

André Magdelain

1917 - 1993

Preview
1329 PHYSICIST

Noël Felici

1916 - 2010

Preview
1332 ACTIVIST

Charles Foulon

1912 - 1997

Preview
1338 SWIMMER

René Cavalero

1917 - 2008

Preview
1361 SCREENWRITER

André Remacle

1910 - 1995

Preview
1371 MATHEMATICIAN

Lucien Malavard

1910 - 1990

Preview
1411 OFFICER

François Garbit

1910 - 1941

Preview
1424 PUBLISHER

Bernard Gheerbrant

1918 - 2010

Preview
1433 RÉSISTANT

Albert Chabanon

1916 - 1944

Preview
1448 MILITANT

Albert Demazière

1914 - 2008

Preview
1449 POLITICIAN

Raymond Cayol

1917 - 1997

Preview
1493 POLITICIAN

Philippe Farine

1917 - 2006

Preview
1507 POLITICIAN

Jean Palméro

1912 - 1999

Preview
1537 PHYSICIAN

Henri Métras

1917 - 1957

Preview
1546 ARCHAEOLOGIST

Hubert Gallet de Santerre

1915 - 1991

Preview
1565 MILITANT

Fifi Turin

1913 - 1944

Preview
1585 ORGANIST

Arsène Muzerelle

1919 - 2016

Preview
1625 RÉSISTANT

Paul Corazzi

1910 - 1995

Preview
1649 SCREENWRITER

Edmond Tyborowski

Born 1918

Preview
1671 PAINTER

Claude de Romefort

1918 - 2010

Preview
1672 POLITICIAN

Charles Bonifay

1919 - 2017

Preview
1685 POLITICIAN

Claude Delorme

1912 - 1983

Preview
1698 GUITAR

Marcel Bianchi

1911 - 1998

Preview
1745 FILM

Louis Wipf

1910 - 1998

Preview
1761 LINGUIST

Jean Stéfanini

1917 - 1985

Preview
1850 DRIVER

René Carrière

1911 - 1982

Preview
1878 FOOTBALL

Aristide Gorelli

1915 - 2010

Preview
1891 PLAYER

Jean Prin-Clary

Born 1912

Preview
1912 POLITICIAN

Paul Cermolacce

1912 - 1988

Preview
1943 FOOTBALL

Albert Pardigon

1915 - 1995

Preview
1945 OFFICIER

Michel Durrmeyer

1916 - 1945

Preview
1971 LAWYER

Édouard Alexander

1916 - 2004

Preview
2001 NATURALIST

Fernand Nicolas

1919 - 2014

Preview
2052 ACTOR

Henri-Roland Hercé

1919 - 1995

Preview
2061 FILM

Jeanne Rongier (monteuse)

1917 - 2009

Preview
2066 SPY

Albert Browne-Bartroli

1915 - 1967

Preview
2079 POLITICIAN

Henri Arnaud (homme politique)

1915 - 2000

Preview
2116 SCULPTOR

Pierre Graille

1915 - 2014

Preview
2143 ARCHITECT

René Egger

1916 - 2016

Preview
2181 FOOTBALL

Raymond Vincenti

Born 1911

Preview
2182 FOOTBALL

Paul El Hadidji

1918 - 2007

Preview
2187 COOK

Lucie Peyraud

1917 - 2020

Preview
2192 WRITER

Ruggero Y. Quintavalle

1918 - 2003

Preview
2194 MILITAR

Jean-Baptiste Roux-Alic

1910 - 2001

Preview
2207 ACADEMIC

Jean Bourilly

1911 - 1971

Preview
2226 PHYSICIAN

Jeanne Reybaud

1918 - 2006

Preview
2251 BUSINESS

Paul Fabre

1915 - 2009

Preview
2260 SYNDICALISTE

Roger Reynaud

Born 1916

Preview
2269 FOOTBALL

Louis Ugona

1911 - 1998

Preview