1955
Related subjects: Years
Background Information
Arranging a Wikipedia selection for schools in the developing world without internet was an initiative by SOS Children. Visit the SOS Children website at http://www.soschildren.org/
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
|---|---|
| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1920s 1930s 1940s – 1950s – 1960s 1970s 1980s |
| Years: | 1952 1953 1954 – 1955 – 1956 1957 1958 |
| 1955 by topic: |
| Subject |
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| By country |
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| Leaders |
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| Birth and death categories |
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| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
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| Works and introductions categories |
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| Gregorian calendar | 1955 MCMLV |
| Ab urbe condita | 2708 |
| Armenian calendar | 1404 ԹՎ ՌՆԴ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6705 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 111–112 |
| Bengali calendar | 1362 |
| Berber calendar | 2905 |
| British Regnal year | 3 Eliz. 2 – 4 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2499 |
| Burmese calendar | 1317 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7463–7464 |
| Chinese calendar | 甲午年十二月初八日 (4591/4651-12-8) — to — 乙未年十一月十八日(4592/4652-11-18) |
| Coptic calendar | 1671–1672 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1947–1948 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5715–5716 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2011–2012 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1877–1878 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5056–5057 |
| Holocene calendar | 11955 |
| Igbo calendar | |
| - Ǹrí Ìgbò | 955–956 |
| Iranian calendar | 1333–1334 |
| Islamic calendar | 1374–1375 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 30 (昭和30年) |
| Juche calendar | 44 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4288 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 44 民國44年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2498 |
Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events
January
- January 2 – José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a race track in Panama City.
- January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
- January 7 – Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
- January 17 – USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
- January 18– January 20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- January 19 – The game Scrabble debuts.
- January 22 – The Pentagon announces a plan to develop ICBMs ( intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
- January 23 – Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17 near Birmingham, England.
- January 25 – Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.
- January 28 – United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.
February
- February 1 – Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant (the company's 9th since it was founded in 1940), but Kroc later takes over the company and oversees its worldwide expansion.
- February 4 – Pact of Mutual Cooperation " Baghdad Pact" signed.
- February 10 – Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
- February 12 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
- February 16 – Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
- February 19 – Southeast Asia Treaty Organization established.
- February 22 – In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,77.
March
- March 2 – Claudette Colvin (a fifteen-year-old African American girl) refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards whilst being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station.
- March 5 – WBBJ-TV signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expanded American commercial television in mostly-rural areas.
- March 7 – The Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, which had opened in 1954 starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC-TV with its original cast, as an installment of Producers' Showcase. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV almost exactly as it was performed on stage. This program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to this time, and it becomes one of the first great TV family musical classics.
- March 17 – The Richard Riot occurs in Montreal.
- March 19 – KXTV of Stockton, California, signs on the air in the United States, being the 100th commercial television station in this country.
- March 20 – Evan Hunter's movie adaptation of the novel Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single, Rock Around the Clock, by Bill Haley and His Comets. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.
April
- April 1 – EOKA A starts a terrorist campaign against British rule in the Crown colony of Cyprus.
- April 5
- Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom due to ill-health at the age of 80.
- Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become Mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
- April 6 – Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 11 – The Taiwanese Kuomintang put a time-bomb on the airplane Kashmir Princess, killing 16 but failing to assassinate the People's Republic of China leader, Zhou Enlai.
- April 12 – The Salk polio vaccine, having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
- April 14 – The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup for the 7th time in franchise history, but will not win again until 1997.
- April 15 – Middle East Treaty Organization (MENTO).
- April 16 – Burma-Japanese peace treaty, signed in Rangoon on November 5, 1954, comes into effect, formally ending a state of war between the two countries that has not existed for a long time.
- April 17 – Imre Nagy, the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
- April 18– April 24 – Asian-African Conference held in Indonesia.
May
- May 1 – Warsaw Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance signed ( Warsaw Treaty Organization) (effective June 6).
- May 5 – West Germany becomes a sovereign country recognized by important Western foreign countries, such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
- May 6 – WEU charter effective.
- May 9 – West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
- May 11 – Japanese National Railways' ferry Shiun Maru sinks after collision with sister ship Uko Maru in thick fog off Takamatsu, Shikoku, in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan; 166 passengers (many children) and two crew are killed. This event is influential in plans to construct the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (built 1986-98).
- May 12– New York's Third Avenue Elevated runs its last train between Chathem Square in Manhattan and East 149th Street in the Bronx, thus ending elevated train service in Manhattan.
- May 14 – Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty in Warsaw, Poland, that is called the Warsaw Pact.
- May 15 – Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's national sovereignty, is concluded between the four occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
- May 25 – Joe Brown and George Band are the first to attain the summit of Kanchenjunga in the Himalayas, as part of a British team led by Charles Evans.
June
- June 7 – The TV quiz program The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS-TV in the United States, with Hal March as the host.
- June 11 – Le Mans disaster: eighty-three people are killed and at least 100 are injured after two race cars collide in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans.
- June 13 – Mir Mine, the first diamond mine in the Soviet Union, is discovered.
- June 16 – Lady and the Tramp, the Walt Disney company's 15th animated film, premieres in Chicago, Illinois.
July
- July 7 – The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.
- July 13 – Ruth Ellis (born 1926) is hanged for murder in London, becoming the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom.
- July 17 – The American Broadcasting Company broadcasts a sneak preview of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
- July 18
- Disneyland opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
- The first nuclear-generated electrical power is sold commercially, partially powering the town of Arco, Idaho.
- The Illinois Governor, William Stratton, signs the "Loyalty Oath Act", passed by the State Legislature, which mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath to Illinois and the United States, or lose their jobs.
- The first Geneva Summit meeting between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France begins. It ends on July 23.
- July 27 – El Al Flight 402 from Vienna, Austria to Tel Aviv-Yafo via Istanbul is shot down over Bulgaria. All 58 passengers and crewmen aboard the Lockheed Constellation airplane are killed.
- July 28 – The first Interlingua Congress in Tours, France, leading to foundation of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.
August
- August 19 – Hurricane Diane hits the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people, and causing over $1.0 billion in damage.
- August 20 – Hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
- August 22 – Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
- August 25 – The last Soviet Army occupation forces leave Austria.
- August 26 – Release in India of Satyajit Ray's film Pather Panchali.
- August 27 – First edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published, in London.
September
- September 2 – Under the guidance of Dr Humphry Osmond, Christopher Mayhew ingests 400 mg of mescaline hydrochloride and allows himself to be filmed as part of a Panorama special for BBC TV that was never broadcast.
- September 6 – Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
- September 10 – The long-running program Gunsmoke debuts on the CBS-TV network.
- September 14 – Pope Pius XII elevates many of the Apostolic Vicariates in Africa to Metropolitan Archdioceses
- September 15 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
- September 19– September 21 – The President of Argentina, Juan Peron, is ousted in a military coup.
- September 19 – Hurricane Hilda kills about 200 people in Mexico.
- September 22 – Independent Commercial Television (ITV) begins broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
- September 23 – Alec Guinness meets the actor James Dean. Guinness supposedly has a premonition of Dean's death.
- September 24 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver, Colorado.
- September 30 – Actor James Dean is killed when his automobile collides with another car at a highway junction near Cholame, California. Dean is just 24 years old.
October
- October 2 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuts on the NBC-TV network in the United States.
- October 3 – The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on the ABC-TV network in the United States.
- October 4
- The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, South Korea.
- The Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 2–0 in Game 7 of this year's baseball playoff.
- October 5 – Disneyland Hotel opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
- October 11 – 70-mm film for projection is introduced with the theatrical release of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical film, Oklahoma!
- October 14 – ODECA secretariat inaugurated.
- October 20
- The first footage of Elvis Presley is filmed as part of a film short about the Cleveland, Ohio, disc jockey Bill Randle.
- Cardiff is announced as the capital city of the principality of Wales, within the United Kingdom.
- October 26
- After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.
- Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam to be a republic with himself as its President (following the State of Vietnam referendum on October 23) and forms the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
- October 29 – Soviet battleship Novorossiysk explodes at moorings in Sevastopol Bay, killing 608, the Soviet Union's worst naval disaster.
November
- November 1
- The Vietnam War begins between the South Vietnam Army and the North Vietnam Army in which the latter is allied with the Viet Cong.
- A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying above Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
- November 3 – The Rimutaka Tunnel opens on the New Zealand Railways, at 5.46 mi (8.79 km) the longest in the Southern Hemisphere at this time.
- November 5 – Racial segregation is outlawed on trains and buses in interstate commerce in the United States.
- November 19 – C. Northcote Parkinson first propounds ' Parkinson's Law', in The Economist.
- November 20 – Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS-TV network.
- November 23 – The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean are transferred from British to Australian control.
- November 26 – The British Governor of Cyprus declares a State of Emergency on the island.
December
- December 1 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger and is arrested, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott.
- December 4 – The International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations was founded in Luxembourg.
- December 5
- The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
- The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black people's boycott of all city buses.
- December 9 – Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (22nd government)
- December 14
- The Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
- Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
- December 20 – Cardiff is declared by the British Government as the capital of Wales.
- December 22 – American cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes, forty-six.
- December 31 – General Motors Corporation becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one billion dollars in one year.
Date unknown
- Strömsund Bridge in Sweden is completed, being the first significant cable-stayed bridge of the modern era.
World population
- World population: 2,755,823,000
- Africa: 246,746,000
- Asia: 1,541,947,000
- Europe: 575,184,000
- South America: 190,797,000
- North America: 186,884,000
- Oceania: 14,265,000
Births
January
- January 1
- Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
- Mary Beard, British classicist
- January 2 – Vivien Savage, French singer
- January 6 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
- January 9 – J. K. Simmons, American actor
- January 13
- Ran Ito, Japanese actress
- Paul Kelly, Australian musician
- Jay McInerney, American writer
- January 15 – Andreas Gursky, German photographer
- January 17
- Steve Earle, American musician
- Mami Koyama, Japanese voice actress
- January 18 – Kevin Costner, American actor, producer and director
- January 19 – Sir Simon Rattle, English conductor
- January 20
- Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
- Hiromi Ota, Japanese singer
- January 21 – Jeff Koons, American artist
- January 22 – Keiko Takahashi, Japanese actress
- January 26
- Edward Van Halen, Dutch-born American rock musician ( Van Halen)
- Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor
- January 27
- John G. Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- Alexander Stuart, British author
- January 28
- Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist
- Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
- George Tokoro, Japanese TV personality and singer-songwriter
- January 29
- Eddie Jordan, American basketball player and head coach
- Femi Pedro, Lagos State, Nigeria
February
- February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, writer and translator
- February 3 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
- February 6 – Michael Pollan, American journalist
- February 7 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor
- February 8
- John Grisham, American novelist
- Xu Bing, Chinese artist
- February 9
- Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
- Jerry Beck, American animation historian
- February 10
- Chris Adams, British professional wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
- Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- February 12 – Ai Satō, Japanese voice actress
- February 13 – Akiko Yano, Japanese singer-songwriter
- February 15
- Christopher McDonald, American actor
- Janice Dickinson, American model, photographer, author and talent agent
- February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese writer
- February 19 – Jeff Daniels, American actor
- February 21 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor and comedian
- February 23
- Howard Jones, English musician
- Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
- February 24
- Alain Prost, French race car driver
- Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer (d. 2011)
March
- March 1 – Sir Timothy Laurence, second husband of Anne, Princess Royal
- March 2
- Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader ( Aum Shinrikyo)
- Jay Osmond, American pop singer
- March 3 – Kent Derricott, Canadian TV personality in Japan
- March 4 – Dominique Pinon, French actor
- March 5
- Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
- Julien Dray, French politician
- March 6 – Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
- March 7 – Tommy Kramer, American football player
- March 8
- Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
- Joellyn Auklandus, American writer
- March 9
- Ornella Muti, Italian actress
- Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer
- March 10 – Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
- March 11 – Nina Hagen, German pop singer
- March 13
- Bruno Conti, Italian football player
- Glenne Headly, American actress of film, stage and television
- March 15
- Robert Kabbas, Australian weightlifter
- Dee Snider, American rock singer ( Twisted Sister)
- March 16
- Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- March 17 – Gary Sinise, American actor, producer and director
- March 18
- Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
- Dwayne Murphy, American baseball player
- March 19
- Bruce Willis, American actor
- Simon Yam, Hong Kong actor
- March 20 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
- March 21 – Philippe Troussier, French football coach
- March 22
- Pete Sessions, American politician
- Valdis Zatlers, president of Latvia
- Lena Olin, Swedish actress
- March 23 – Moses Malone, American basketball player
- March 26 – Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
- March 28
- John Alderdice, Irish politician
- Reba McEntire, American country singer and actress
- March 29
- Earl Campbell, American football player
- Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
- Marina Sirtis, English actress
- March 31 – Angus Young, Australian rock guitarist ( AC/DC)
April
- April 3 – Mick Mars, American rock guitarist ( Mötley Crüe)
- April 5
- Janice Long, British radio disc jockey
- Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
- April 6
- Michael Rooker, American actor
- Janet Ellis, British children's TV presenter
- April 7
- Grace Hightower, American philanthropist, actress and singer
- Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
- Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager
- April 8
- Kane Hodder, American actor
- Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
- April 9 – Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
- April 11 – Kevin Brady, American politician
- April 13
- Steve Camp, American Christian musician
- Hideki Saijo, Japanese singer and actor
- April 15 – Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- April 16 – Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- April 18 – Bobby Castillo, American baseball player
- April 21
- Ebiet G Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
- Toninho Cerezo, Brazilian footballer and coach
- April 23
- Judy Davis, Australian actress
- Fumi Hirano, Japanese voice actress and essayist
- Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- April 24 – John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
- April 25
- John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
- Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
- April 26 – Chen Daoming, Chinese actor
- April 27 – Eric Schmidt, American software engineer and businessman
- April 28 – Eddie Jobson, English musician
- April 29
- Wendee Lee, American voice actress
- Kate Mulgrew, American actress
- Yūko Tanaka, Japanese actress
May
- May 1 – Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
- May 2
- Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
- Donatella Versace, Italian designer
- Dave Winer, American software pioneer
- May 3 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- May 4
- Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
- Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
- May 6 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
- May 8 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (d. 2012)
- May 9 – Anne Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- May 10
- Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
- Mark David Chapman, American murderer of John Lennon
- May 16
- Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- Jack Morris, American baseball player
- Hazel O'Connor, English singer-songwriter and actress
- Debra Winger, American actress
- May 17 – Bill Paxton, American actor
- May 18 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor
- May 19
- James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
- Mark Staff Brandl, American and Swiss artist and art historian
- Th. Emil Homerin, American scholar of religion
- May 20
- Diego Abatantuono, Italian actor
- Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
- May 22
- Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, American jazz guitarist (d. 2008)
- Dale Winton, English radio DJ and television presenter
- May 24
- Rosanne Cash, American entertainer
- Rumiko Ukai, Japanese voice actress
- May 25
- Suguru Egawa, Japanese baseball player
- Connie Sellecca, American actress
- May 26
- Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
- May 30
- Colm Tóibín. Irish novelist
- Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII, Japanese Kabuki actor
- May 31
- Susie Essman, American actress
- Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist
June
- June 1 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (58th Yokozuna grand champion)
- June 2 – Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
- June 5 – Fernando Borrego Linares, Cuban singer and songwriter (aka Polo Montañez)
- June 6
- Sandra Bernhard, American comedian, actress, author and singer
- Chris Nyman, American baseball player
- June 7 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
- June 8
- Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- Griffin Dunne, American actor and director
- June 10
- Floyd Bannister, American baseball player
- Andrew Stevens, American actor, producer and director
- June 11 – Yuri Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
- June 14
- Kim Lankford, American actress, businesswoman, and horse wrangler
- Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
- June 15 – Polly Draper, American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director
- June 16 – Laurie Metcalf, American actress
- June 18 – Sandy Allen, American, world's tallest woman (d. 2008)
- June 20 – Tor Norretranders, Danish author
- June 21
- Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician
- Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer-songwriter
- Leigh McCloskey, American actor
- Michel Platini, French football player
- Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- June 22 – Glenn Danzig, American rock singer ( The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
- June 23 – Alan J. Gow, British motorsport executive
- June 24 – Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga
- June 26 – Yoko Gushiken, Japanese boxer
- June 27
- Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- Brad Diller, American cartoonist
- June 30 – David Alan Grier, American actor and comedian
July
- July 1
- Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
- Lisa Scottoline, American novelist
- July 2 – Stephen Walt, American political scientist
- July 3
- Matt Keough, American baseball player
- John Cramer, American game show announcer
- July 5
- Sebastian Barry, Irish playwright, novelist, and poet.
- Henry Lee Summer, American singer
- July 8 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
- July 9
- Fred Norris, American radio personality
- Jimmy Smits, American actor
- July 11 – Balaji Sadasivan, Singaporean politician and neurosurgeon
- July 18 – Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
- July 21
- Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
- Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine football player and manager
- July 22
- Willem Dafoe, American actor
- Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani politician
- July 25 – Iman, Somalian model
- July 26 – Michele Pillar, American Christian musician
- July 27 – Allan Border, Australian cricketer
- July 31 – Jakie Quartz, French singer
August
- August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer
- August 4
- Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer
- Billy Bob Thornton, American actor, director and screenwriter
- August 6
- Ron Davis, American baseball player
- Gordon J. Brand, English golfer
- August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 8 – Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
- August 9 – Doug Williams, American football quarterback
- August 10 – Mel Tiangco, Television host and newscasters 24 Oras
- August 13 – Daryl, American magician
- August 14 – Gillian Taylforth, English actress
- August 17 – Richard Hilton, American businessman
- August 19
- Peter Gallagher, American actor
- Terry Harper, American baseball player
- August 20 – Agnes Chan, Hong Kong born TV personality in Japan
- August 22 – Chiranjeevi, Indian actor
- August 24 – Mike Huckabee, American politician, former Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate
- August 27
- Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
- Sergey Khlebnikov, Soviet speed skater (d. 1999)
- August 30 – Mayumi Muroyama, Japanese manga artist
- August 31
- Olek Krupa, Polish actor
- Edwin Moses, American athlete
September
- September 1
- Billy Blanks, American martial artist, inventor of the Tae Bo
- Bruce Foxton, English musician
- September 2
- Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
- Natalya Petrusyova, Soviet speed skater
- Michelle Yim, Hong Kong actress
- September 4 – Hiroshi Izawa, Japanese actor
- September 6 – Raymond Benson, American author
- September 7 – Efim Zelmanov, Russian mathematician
- September 9 – John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
- September 12 – Peter Scolari, American actor and comedian
- September 15
- Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
- Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer
- September 16 – Robin Yount, American baseball player
- September 17 – Charles Martinet, American voice-actor
- September 19 – Richard Burmer, American composer, sound designer, and musician (d. 2006)
- September 21 – Richard Hieb, American astronaut
- September 24 – Shinbo Nomura, Japanese manga artist
- September 25 – Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German football player
- September 28 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician
October
- October 2 – Philip Oakey, English rock musician ( The Human League)
- October 5
- Jean-Jacques Lafon, French singer-songwriter
- Caroline Loeb, French singer and actress
- October 7 – Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
- October 10 – Leticia Erne, Mexican Stylist
- October 13 – Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
- October 15
- Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
- James B. Aguayo-Martel, physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor
- Tanya Roberts, American actress
- October 18
- Hiromi Go, Japanese singer
- Timmy Mallett, British television presenter
- October 19 – LaSalle Ishii, Japanese TV personality
- October 21
- Yasukazu Hamada, Japanese politician
- Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (d. 1997)
- October 24 – Karen Austin, American actress
- October 25 – Glynis Barber, English actor
- October 28
- Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur
- Indra Nooyi, Indian CEO
- October 29
- Kevin DuBrow, American musician (d. 2007)
- Etsuko Shihomi, Japanese actress
- Roger O'Donnell, English musician
- October 30 – Jeremy Black, British historian
- October 31 – Eduardo V. Manalo, 3rd Executive Minister (Tagapamahalang Pangkalahatan) of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ)
November
- November 2 – Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
- November 3
- Phil Simms, American football player
- Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Japanese film director
- Teresa De Sio, Italian singer-songwriter
- November 4 – Moulana Ghousavi Shah, Author, (Secretary General: The Conference of World Religions)
- November 4 – Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
- November 5
- Pedro Brieger, Argentine journalist and sociologist.
- Kris Jenner, American TV personality
- Karan Thapar, Indian journalist, political analyst & commentator
- November 6 – Maria Shriver, American journalist, First Lady of California
- November 7 – Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
- November 9 – Karen Dotrice, English actress
- November 10 – Roland Emmerich, German film director
- November 11 – Jigme Singye Wangchuk, King of Bhutan
- November 13 – Whoopi Goldberg, American actress and comedienne
- November 14 – Koichi Nakano, Japanese bicycle racer
- November 19 – Dianne de Leeuw, Dutch figure skater
- November 20 – Ray Ozzie, American computer programmer
- November 21
- Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
- Cedric Maxwell, American basketball player
- November 22 – George Alagiah, British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter
- November 23 – Steven Brust, American author
- November 24 – Ian Botham, British cricketer
- November 25 – Bruno Tonioli, Film, music video & theatre choreographer
- November 26 – Tracy Hickman, American Author
- November 27 – Bill Nye, American science presenter and public television host
- November 28 – Alessandro Altobelli, Italian football player
- November 29 – Howie Mandel, Canadian actor and game show host
- November 30
- Kevin Conroy, American voice actor
- Billy Idol, English rock singer
- Gordon Liu, Chinese actor
- Michael Beschloss, American historian
- Rolf Saxon, American actor
December
- December 3
- Melody Anderson, Canadian actress and social worker
- Steven Culp, American actor
- December 4 – Maurizio Bianchi, Italian musician
- December 7 – Priscilla Barnes, American actress
- December 8 – Ian Greig, English cricketer
- December 9 – Asashio Tarō IV, Japanese sumo wrestler
- December 12 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
- December 16 – Chiharu Matsuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter
- December 17 – Brad Davis, American basketball player
- December 16 – Rob Levin, American founder of the freenode IRC network (d. 2006)
- December 21 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- December 23
- Keith Comstock, American baseball player
- Carol Ann Duffy, British poet
- December 24
- Mizuho Fukushima, Japanese politician
- Clarence Gilyard, American actor and college professor
- December 27 – Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)
- December 31 – Jim Tracy, American baseball player
Date unknown
- Michael Burleigh, British historian
- Gish Jen, American writer
- Mark Marderosian, American artist
Deaths
January–February
- January 1 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian scientist (b. 1894)
- January 2 – Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)
- January 6 – Yevgeny Tarle, Soviet historian (b. 1874)
- January 11 – Rodolfo Graziani, Italian General (b. 1882)
- January 15 – Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
- January 18 – August Duesenberg, German-born American automobile manufacturer (b. 1879)
- January 21 – Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
- January 24 – Ira Hayes, U.S. Marine flag raiser on Iwo Jima (b. 1923)
- January 29 – Hans Hedtoft, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1903)
- January 31 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- February 11 – Ona Munson, American actress (b. 1903)
- February 12
- February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist, and diplomat (b. 1868)
- February 27 – Trixie Friganza, American actress (b. 1870)
March–April
- March 8 – William C. deMille, American screenwriter and director (b. 1878)
- March 9 – Matthew Henson, American explorer (b. 1866)
- March 11 – Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
- March 12 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
- March 16 – Nicolas de Staël, Russian painter (b. 1914)
- March 23 – Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
- March 30 – Ylla, Hungarian photographer (b. 1911) (jeep accident)
- April 13 – Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- April 18 – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
- April 25 – Constance Collier, stage & screen actress (b. 1878)
May–June
- May 4 – Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- May 10
- May 11 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- May 14
- May 16 – James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
- May 18 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
- May 22 – Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, American actor (b. 1891)
- May 26 – Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
- May 30 – Bill Vukovich, American race car driver (b. 1918)
- June 5
- June 11 – Walter Hampden, American actor (b. 1879)
- June 17 – Carlyle Blackwell, American actor (b. 1884)
- June 19 – Adrienne Monnier, French poet (b. 1892)
- June 26 – Engelbert Zaschka, German helicopter pioneer (b. 1895)
July–August
- July 3 – Beatrice Chase, British writer (b. 1874)
- July 13 – Stanley Price, American film and television actor (b. 1892)
- July 23 – Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)
- July 20 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1869)
- July 31 – Robert Francis, American actor (b. 1930)
- August 2 – Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)
- August 5 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1909)
- August 8 – Grace Hartman, American actress (b. 1907)
- August 12
- Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
- James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- August 13 – Florence Easton, English opera soprano (b. 1882)
- August 17 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
- August 28 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
September–October
- September 1 – Philip Loeb, American actor (b. 1891)
- September 20 – Robert Riskin, American screenwriter (b. 1897)
- September 23 – Martha Norelius, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1908)
- September 24 – Ib Schønberg, Danish actor (b. 1902)
- September 30
- October 1 – Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
- October 8 – Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (b. 1928)
- October 9
- October 18 – José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (b. 1883)
- October 19 – John Hodiak, American actor (b. 1914)
- October 31 – William Woodward, Jr., American banker and horse breeder, shot to death by his wife (b. 1920)
November–December
- November 1 – Dale Carnegie, American writer and lecturer (b. 1888)
- November 4 – Cy Young, American baseball player (b. 1867)
- November 5 – Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
- November 7 – Tom Powers, American actor (b. 1890)
- November 11 – Jerry Ross, American lyricist and composer (b. 1926)
- November 12 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
- November 14 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (b. 1896)
- November 15 – Lloyd Bacon, American actor and director (b. 1889)
- November 22 – Shemp Howard, American actor and comedian ( The Three Stooges) (b. 1895)
- November 27 – Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1892)
- December 1 – Chief Thundercloud, American character actor (b. 1899)
- December 6
- December 13 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- December 21 – Garegin Nzhdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
- December 22 – Otto Eppers, American cartoonist (b. 1893)
- December 25
- Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of President Benjamin Harrison and Mary Dimmick Harrison (b. 1897)
- Thomas J. Preston, Jr., professor of Archeology at Princeton University; he married Frances Cleveland, widow of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1862)
- December 27 – Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics – Willis Eugene Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
- Chemistry – Vincent du Vigneaud
- Physiology or Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
- Literature – Halldór Kiljan Laxness
- Peace – not awarded
