1927 births

William James Claxton (October 12, 1927 – October 11, 2008) was an American photographer and author.

Hubert Leon "Bill" Richardson (December 28, 1927 – January 13, 2020) was an American gun rights activist and former politician who founded Gun Owners of America (GOA) in 1976 and served as a California state senator from 1966 to 1989.

Robert Gravem Webb (18 February 1927 – 18 September 2018) was an American herpetologist, expert in the systematics and biogeography of reptiles and amphibians, and professor emeritus of biological science at the University of Texas, El Paso.Webb received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Kansas in 1960.Webb had over a hundred publications to his name. He specialized in amphibians and reptiles of the southwestern United States and Mexico.The snake Lampropeltis webbi is named after him.

Robert Raymond Wilkinson (October 8, 1927 – September 12, 2016) was an American football end who played for the New York Giants. He played college football at the University of California, Los Angeles, having previously attended Loyola High School in Los Angeles, California. He died of complications of Parkinson's disease in 2016.

Harold Wertz (August 3, 1927 – November 21, 1999) was an American child actor.

Philip Raymond Hurlic (December 20, 1927 – July 7, 2014) was an American child actor.

Joan Lowery Nixon (February 3, 1927 – June 28, 2003) was an American journalist and author, specializing in historical fiction and mysteries for children and young adults.

John Elliott Williams (June 30, 1927 – February 26, 2005) was an American football defensive back and kick returner in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins and San Francisco 49ers. He played college football at the University of Southern California and was drafted in the 26th round of the 1951 NFL Draft.

Vera Baker Williams (January 28, 1927 – October 16, 2015) was an American children's writer and illustrator. Her best known work, A Chair for My Mother, has won multiple awards and was featured on the children's television show Reading Rainbow.For her lifetime contribution as a children's illustrator she was U.S. nominee in 2004 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to creators of children's books. Additionally, she was awarded the 2009 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature.

Melvin Frederick "Mel" Stute (August 8, 1927 – August 12, 2020) was an American trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. On December 11, 2010, at Hollywood Park Racetrack, he won the 2000th race of a career that includes a win in the second leg of the U.S. Triple Crown series, the Preakness Stakes in 1986, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies that same year, and the 1987 Breeders' Cup Sprint.Stute was the younger brother of trainer Warren Stute (1921–2007). His family moved to California in 1934 when Mel was seven years old. In his teens, Stute worked as a groom at Santa Anita Racetrack before winning his first race as a trainer in 1947 at Portland Meadows Racetrack in Portland, Oregon. Since then he won twelve training titles at various California tracks of which six were at Fairplex Park Racetrack, where he is the all-time leader in races won.