Portrait of Anthony Bourdain

Birthday profile

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author (died 2018)

Born
June 25, 1956
Died
June 8, 2018
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1956

About Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Michael Bourdain ( bor-DAYN; June 25, 1956 – June 8, 2018) was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdain graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1978. He worked in many professional kitchens, including several years as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan. In the late 1990s, The New Yorker published an essay by Bourdain, kickstarting Bourdain's career and legitimizing the point-blank tone that became his trademark. The success was followed a year later by the New York Times best-selling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000). Bourdain's first food and world-travel television show, A Cook's Tour, ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he began hosting the Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) and The Layover (2011–2013). In 2013, he began a three-season run as a judge on The Taste and consequently switched his travelogue programming to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Bourdain also wrote fiction and historical nonfiction. On June 8, 2018, Bourdain died while on location in France, filming for Parts Unknown, of suicide by hanging. Although best known for his culinary writings and television presentations along with several books on food and cooking and travel adventures, Bourdain also wrote both fiction and historical nonfiction. At the time of Bourdain's birth, Pierre was a salesman at a New York City camera store as well as a floor manager at a record store.

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

Career and life highlights

The world when Anthony Bourdain was born

Anthony Bourdain was born in 1956. 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 1956

  • #1 song"Heartbreak Hotel" – Elvis Presley
  • Top movieAround the World in 80 Days
  • Top TV showI Love Lucy
  • Best-selling bookPeyton Place – Grace Metalious

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentDon Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series
  • Top headlineElvis Presley takes America by storm
  • Technology milestoneFirst transatlantic telephone cable (TAT-1)
  • Defining fadElvis Presley mania
  • Notable inventionHard disk drive (IBM)
  • World population2.82 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderDwight D. Eisenhower
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonPhiladelphia Warriors (NBA)
  • U.S. population168.1M

1956 versus 2026

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

Measure19562026
Gas$0.30$3.45/gal
Average home$11,700$435,000
Average income$6,500$67,500
Minimum wage$1.00$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.50$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population168.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. 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.