Well-known Austrians

Actors/Actresses

  • Leon Askin, actor
  • Klaus Maria Brandauer, actor
  • Liane Haid, first Austrian movie star
  • Hedy Lamarr, (1913-2000), actress; also co-inventor of spread spectrum radio technology; became U.S. citizen
  • Romy Schneider, actress (Sissi)
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger, (born 1947), bodybuilder, actor, Governor of California; became U.S. citizen
  • Oskar Werner, actor

Artists

  • Herbert Bayer, artist, typographer, art director, graphic designer
  • Ernst Fuchs, painter and sculptor, born in Vienna, 1930
  • Rudolf Hausner, painter and graphic artist, 1914-1995
  • Gottfried Helnwein, artist, born in Vienna, 1948
  • Alfred Hrdlicka, sculptor and graphic artist, born in Vienna, 1928
  • Friedensreich Hundertwasser, artist, 1928-2000, born in Vienna
  • Gustav Klimt, artist, helped found Vienna Secession
  • Oskar Kokoschka, painter, 1886-1980, born in Pöchlarn (Lower Austria)
  • Inge Morath, photographer
  • Hermann Nitsch, artist, painter, born in Vienna, 1938
  • Alf Poier, artist and stand-up comedian
  • Arnulf Rainer, painter, born 1929
  • Egon Schiele, painter, 1890-1918
  • Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect and political activist

Filmmakers

  • Fritz Lang, film director, December 05, 1890 - August 02, 1976
  • Josef von Sternberg, film director, 1894-1969
  • Billy Wilder, film director, 1906-2002, born in Austria-Hungary
  • Otto Preminger, film director
  • Fred Zinnemann, film director
  • Franz Antel, filmmaker

Inventors

  • Gaston Glock, inventor, founder of Glock
  • Eduard Haas, inventor of PEZ
  • Viktor Kaplan, inventor of turbines for river power plants
  • Johann Korbuly, inventor of matador (special wooden toy)
  • Josef Madersberger, invented the sewing-machine in 1818
  • Sigfried Marcus, inventor of automobile in 1864 in Vienna, lived most of his life in Austria
  • Paul Schwarzkopf, inventor of powder metallurgy
  • Auer von Welsbach, inventor of gaslight

Musicians

  • Ludwig van Beethoven composer, born in Bonn but spent most of his life in Vienna
  • Alban Berg, composer, 1885-1935, born in Vienna
  • Anton Bruckner, composer, 1824-1896
  • Falco, (1957-1998), pop musician
  • Friedrich Gulda, pianist and composer, born in 1930 in Vienna
  • Joseph Haydn, Composer with Croatian connections. Author of "Imperial Hymn" now German Hymn
  • Udo Jürgens, singer-songwriter
  • Walter Jurmann, composer
  • Gustav Mahler, composer
  • Leopold Mozart, composer & musician
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer & musician
  • Franz Schubert, composer & musician
  • Johann Strauss, Sr., 1809-1849, Johann Strauss, Jr., 1825-1899, and Josef Strauss, 1827-1870, the "Waltz Kings" of the latter 19th century
  • Fritz Wotruba, sculptor, 1907-1975, born in Vienna
  • Joe Zawinul, jazz musician, composer, born in Vienna, 1932

Philosophers

  • Martin Buber, philosopher, 1878-1965, born in Vienna
  • Heinrich Gomperz, philosopher, 1873-1942, born in Vienna
  • Karl Popper, philosopher (born in Austria, became British)
  • Othmar Spann, philosopher and economist
  • Rudolf Steiner, mystic & philosopher
  • Otto Weininger, philosopher
  • Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher, born 1889 in Vienna

Politicians

  • Engelbert Dolfuss, politician, 1892-1934, born in Texing
  • Bruno Kreisky, Chancellor of Austria (1970-1983)
  • Karl Renner, (1870-1950), Chancellor and President of Austria
  • Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, diplomat
  • Kurt Waldheim, diplomat and politician; former Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1982, former President of Austria from 1986 to 1992 born 1918

Psychologists

  • Alfred Adler, father of Individual Psychology
  • Sigmund Freud, father of psychoanalysis
  • Otto Rank, pioneer psychologist
  • Wilhelm Reich, psychologist, (1897-1957)

Scientists

  • Ludwig Boltzmann, physicist, 1844-1906, born in Vienna
  • Fritjof Capra, physicist
  • Christian Andreas Doppler, physicist, 1803-1853, born in Salzburg
  • Paul Ehrenfest, physicist & mathematician
  • Viktor Frankl, father of logotherapy
  • Kurt Gödel, mathematician (born in Austria-Hungary, became naturalized U.S. citizen)
  • Hans Hass, biologist
  • Friedrich Hayek, Nobel Prize winner (economics)
  • Karl Landsteiner, physician, serologist, Nobel Prize winner, 1886-1943
  • Konrad Lorenz zoologist, Nobel prize 1973 (physiology/medicine)
  • Lise Meitner, physicist
  • Gregor Mendel, pioneer of genetics
  • Ludwig von Mises, free-market economist
  • Wolfgang Pauli, Nobel prize winner (Physics, 1945)
  • Ferdinand Porsche, automotive engineer, designed the Volkswagen (the "people's car"), born in Austria-Hungary
  • Erwin Schrödinger, physicist and Nobel Prize winner
  • Berta von Suttner, Nobel Prize winner

Sportsmen/Sportswomen

  • Franz Klammer, downhill skier, born in Mooswald (Carinthia), 1953
  • Niki Lauda, (born 1949), race car driver and aviation entrepreneur
  • Hermann Maier, skier, born 1972
  • Thomas Muster, tennis champion, born 1967
  • Gernot Reinstadler, skier (1970-1991)
  • Jochen Rindt, race car driver
  • Toni Sailer, 1956 Olympic Games - Won all three gold medals earning himself the Triple Crown of Alpine Skiing ; born 1935

Writers

  • Ingeborg Bachmann, poet, 1926-1973
  • Otto Maria Carpeaux, literary critic and foremost historian of Literature, 1900-1978
  • Thomas Bernhard, dramatist, novelist, poet, 1931-1989, born in Cloister Heerlen, Netherlands
  • Heimito von Doderer, writer, 1896-1966, born in Hadersdorf-Weidlingau near Vienna
  • Peter Handke, author, born in 1942 in Griffen (Carinthia)
  • Franz Kafka, writer, born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (wrote in German)
  • Ludwig von Köchel, writer, composer, botanist, music historian
  • Karl Kraus, essayist, poet, dramatist, 1874-1936
  • Frederic Morton, journalist and novelist, born 1924
  • Robert Musil, writer
  • Günther Nenning, journalist, born 1921
  • Arthur Schnitzler, writer
  • Fritz Spiegl, journalist
  • Friedrich Torberg, narrative writer, essayist, script author 1908-1979, born in Vienna
  • Georg Trakl, poet
  • Stefan Zweig, writer, 1881-1942, born in Vienna

Other Notables

  • Marie Antoinette, born in Vienna, became Queen of France
  • Elisabeth of Austria ("Sissi"), born in Munich (Bavaria)
  • Otto Habsburg-Lothringen
  • Theodor Herzl, "founder" of Israel, lived most of his life in Austria
  • Adolf Hitler, unsuccessful artist; dictator of Germany from 1933-1945; born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn
  • Franz Cardinal König, 1905-2004, Archbishop of Vienna (1956-1985)
  • Alma Mahler, wife and muse to Mahler, Gropius, Werfel
  • Max Reinhardt, renowned theatre director
  • Günther Schifter, radio personality
  • Georg Ritter von Trapp, head of The Sound of Music family
  • Simon Wiesenthal, b.1908, Nazi hunter