Joe Dante

Joe Dante, American director and producer

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Born: November 28, 1946
Age in 2026: 80
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Birth year: 1946

About Joe Dante

Joseph James Dante Jr. (; born November 28, 1946) is an American film director. His films—notably Gremlins (1984) alongside its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with 1960s radicalism and cartoon comedy. Dante's output includes the films Piranha (1978), The Howling (1981), Explorers (1985), Innerspace (1987), The 'Burbs (1989), Matinee (1993), Small Soldiers (1998), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). His father was an Italian-American professional golfer who encouraged him to play sports; however, Dante was more interested in drawing cartoons and frequenting Saturday matinees at the cinema. Dante was 12 when Famous Monsters of Filmland, a magazine dedicated to horror films, came onto news shelves.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Joe Dante was born

Joe Dante was born in 1946. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1946

#1 song"The Christmas Song" – Nat King Cole
Top movieThe Best Years of Our Lives
Best-selling bookThe King's General – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentFirst NBA (BAA) season begins
Top headlineUnited Nations General Assembly holds its first session
Technology milestoneENIAC — first general-purpose electronic computer
Defining fadBaby boom begins
Notable inventionTupperware
World population2.43 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
U.S. population141.4M

1946 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Joe Dante's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1946	2026
Gas	$0.21	$3.45/gal
Average home	$6,600	$435,000
Average income	$4,300	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.40	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.35	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	141.4M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.