| 137491 | December 5 | Birth | 1896 – Carl Ferdinand Cori, Czech-American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984) |
| 137492 | December 5 | Birth | 1897 – Nunnally Johnson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977) |
| 137493 | December 5 | Birth | 1897 – Gershom Scholem, German-Israeli philosopher and historian (d. 1982) |
| 137494 | December 5 | Birth | 1898 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and translator (d. 1982) |
| 137495 | December 5 | Birth | 1898 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (d. 1947) |
| 137496 | December 5 | Birth | 1900 – Jimmy Dimmock, English footballer (d. 1972) |
| 137497 | December 5 | Birth | 1901 – Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1966) |
| 137498 | December 5 | Birth | 1901 – Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist and author (d. 1980) |
| 137499 | December 5 | Birth | 1901 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1976) |
| 137500 | December 5 | Birth | 1901 – Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (d. 1986) |
| 137501 | December 5 | Birth | 1902 – Emeric Pressburger, Hungarian-English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1988) |
| 137502 | December 5 | Birth | 1902 – Strom Thurmond, American educator, general, and politician, 103rd Governor of South Carolina (d. 2003) |
| 137503 | December 5 | Birth | 1903 – Johannes Heesters, Dutch-German actor and singer (d. 2011) |
| 137504 | December 5 | Birth | 1903 – C. F. Powell, English-Italian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969) |
| 137505 | December 5 | Birth | 1905 – Gus Mancuso, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1984) |
| 137506 | December 5 | Birth | 1906 – Otto Preminger, Austrian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1986) |
| 137507 | December 5 | Birth | 1907 – Lin Biao, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 1971) |
| 137508 | December 5 | Birth | 1907 – Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian-French physicist and academic (d. 1993) |
| 137509 | December 5 | Birth | 1909 – Musashiyama Takeshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1969) |
| 137510 | December 5 | Birth | 1910 – Abraham Polonsky, American director and screenwriter (d. 1999) |
| 137511 | December 5 | Birth | 1911 – Władysław Szpilman, Polish pianist and composer (d. 2000) |
| 137512 | December 5 | Birth | 1912 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1965) |
| 137513 | December 5 | Birth | 1913 – Esther Borja, Cuban soprano and actress (d. 2013) |
| 137514 | December 5 | Birth | 1914 – Hans Hellmut Kirst, German lieutenant and author (d. 1989) |
| 137515 | December 5 | Birth | 1916 – Margaret Hayes, American actress (d. 1977) |
| 137516 | December 5 | Birth | 1916 – Hilary Koprowski, Polish-American virologist and immunologist, created the world's first effective live polio vaccine (d. 2013) |
| 137517 | December 5 | Birth | 1916 – Walt McPherson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013) |
| 137518 | December 5 | Birth | 1917 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (d. 2004) |
| 137519 | December 5 | Birth | 1917 – Wenche Foss, Norwegian actress (d. 2011) |
| 137520 | December 5 | Birth | 1919 – Alun Gwynne Jones, Baron Chalfont, English historian and politician |