1955
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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Template:C20YearInTopicX 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). Template:C20YearTOC
Events of 1955
January
- January 2 – José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a race track in Panama City.
- January 7 – Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
- 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 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 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 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 harrassed on the way to the police station while the officers tried to guess her bra size.
- 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 been created in 1954, starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC-TV. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV 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 children's 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 5
- Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 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 sabotage the ship Kashmir Princess, killing 16 but failing to assassinate the People's Republic of China leader, Zhou Enlai.
- Two ferries on the Inland Sea of Japan sink, killing 168 children, which foreshadows the construction of the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge, begun in 1986 but not completed until 1998.
- April 12 – The Salk polio vaccine, having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the FDA.
- 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 had not existed for a long time.
- April 17 – Imre Nagy, the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
- April 18 – Albert Einstein dies in New Jersey.
- April 18–24 – Asian-African Conference.
May
- 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 9 – West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
- May 11 – Japanese ferry Shiun Maru sinks off of Takamatsu, Shikoku, Japan; 168 people are killed.
- 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.
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 Le Mans, France.
- 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 Disneyland Amusement Park opens in Anaheim, California.
- July 18
- 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 23rd.
- 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 27 – First edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published, in London.
September
- 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 15 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
- September 19-21 – 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 – American President Dwight D. Eisenhower 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 TV program debuts on the NBC-TV network in the United States.
- October 3 – The Mickey Mouse Club TV program 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 the 1955 baseball playoff.
- October 11 – 70-mm film for projection is introduced with the theatrical release of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical film, Oklahoma!
- 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.
November
- November 1 – 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 five-and-one-half-mile long Rimutaka Railroad tunnel opens in New Zealand.
- November 5 – Racial segregation is outlawed on trains and buses in Interstate Commerce in the United States
- November 5 – Dr. Emmett Brown invents the flux capacitor.
- November 20 – Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS-TV network.
December
- December 1 – Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white person, and the national civil rights movement begins.
- 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 morotorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
- 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.
Ongoing
- Malayan Emergency (1948–1960)
- Mau Mau Uprising (1952–1960)
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
| Gregorian calendar | 1955 MCMLV |
| Ab urbe condita | 2708 |
| Armenian calendar | 1404 ԹՎ ՌՆԴ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6705 |
| Baháʼí calendar | 111–112 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1876–1877 |
| Bengali calendar | 1361–1362 |
| 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 (Wood Horse) 4652 or 4445 — to — 乙未年 (Wood Goat) 4653 or 4446 |
| Coptic calendar | 1671–1672 |
| Discordian calendar | 3121 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1947–1948 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5715–5716 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2011–2012 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1876–1877 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5055–5056 |
| Holocene calendar | 11955 |
| Igbo calendar | 955–956 |
| Iranian calendar | 1333–1334 |
| Islamic calendar | 1374–1375 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 30 (昭和３０年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1886–1887 |
| Juche calendar | 44 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4288 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 44 民國44年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 487 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2498 |
| Tibetan calendar | 阳木马年 (male Wood-Horse) 2081 or 1700 or 928 — to — 阴木羊年 (female Wood-Goat) 2082 or 1701 or 929 |
January
- January 1 – Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
- January 2 – Vivien Savage, French singer
- January 6 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
- January 13 – Paul Kelly, Australian musician
- January 13
- Ran Ito, Japanese actress
- Jay McInerney, American writer
- January 17
- Steve Earle, American musician
- Mami Koyama, Japanese voice actress
- January 18 – Kevin Costner, American actor
- 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 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born rock musician (Van Halen)
- January 27
- John 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
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
- Charles Shaughnessy, British Actor
- February 10
- Chris Adams, British professional wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
- Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- February 12
- Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
- Ai Satō, Japanese voice actress
- February 13 – Akiko Yano, Japanese singer-songwriter
- February 15 – Christopher McDonald, American actor
- February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese writer
- February 19 – Jeff Daniels, American actor
- February 20 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- February 23
- Howard Jones, English musician
- Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
- February 24
- Alain Prost, French race car driver
- Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer
March
- 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)
- March 9 – Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer
- March 10 – Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
- March 11 – Nina Hagen, German pop star
- March 12 – Rupert Jones, American baseball player
- March 13 – Bruno Conti, Italian football player
- 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
- 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 singer and actress
- March 29
- Earl Campbell, American football player
- Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
- March 30 – Paul Reiser, American actor
- March 31 – Angus Young, Australian rock guitarist (AC/DC)
April
- April 3 – Mick Mars, American musician with Motley Crue
- 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
- 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 20 – Seema Mustafa, Indian politician and journalist
- 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 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 – Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
- May 6 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
- May 8 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia
- May 9 – Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- May 10
- Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster (ABC Sports)
- Mark David Chapman, American murderer of John Lennon
- May 16
- Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- Jack Morris, American baseball player
- Hazel O'Connor, British singer
- 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
- 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, Jpanese voice actress
- May 25
- Suguru Egawa, Japanese baseball player
- Connie Sellecca, American actress and wife of John Tesh
- May 26
- Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
- May 30 – Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII, Japanese Kabuki actor
- May 31 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist (CGP)
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
- June 10
- Floyd Bannister, American baseball player
- Andrew Stevens, American actor and film producer
- June 14 – Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
- 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
- Michel Platini, French football player
- June 22 – Glenn Danzig, American rock singer (The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
- June 23 – Alan J. Gow, British motorsport executive
- June 21 – Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- June 24 – Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga
- June 26 – Yoko Gushiken, Japanese boxer
- June 27 – Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- 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
- July 8 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
- July 9
- Fred Norris, American radio personality
- Jimmy Smits, American actor
- July 18 – Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
- July 21 – Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
- July 22
- Willem Dafoe, American actor
- Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani politician
- 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
- August 6 – Ron Davis, American baseball player
- August 7 – Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 8 – Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
- August 9 – Doug Williams, American football quarterback
- August 13 – Daryl, American magician
- 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
- August 27 – Sergey Khlebnikov, Soviet (Russian) speed skater (d. 1999)
- August 30 – Mayumi Muroyama, Japanese manga artist
- August 31 – 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
- September 2 – Natalya Petrusyova, Soviet (Russian) speed skater
- 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 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 23 – Don Graham, American journalist
- 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 13 – Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
- October 15
- Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
- James B. Aguayo-Martel, physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor
- October 18
- Hiromi Gō, 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 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
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 – Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
- November 5
- 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
- November 23 – Steven Brust, American author
- November 24 – Ian Botham, British cricketer
- November 27 – Bill Nye, American science presenter and public television host
- November 29 – Howie Mandel, Canadian actor and game show host
- November 30
- Kevin Conroy, American voice actor
- Billy Idol, British rock singer
- Gordon Liu, Chinese actor
December
- December 3 – 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 18 – Ray Liotta, American actor
- 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
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 (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
- Tom Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)
- S.Z. Sakall, Hungarian actor (b. 1883)
- 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 7 – 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
- Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
- John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (b. 1865)
- May 11 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- May 14 – Anwar Wagdi, Egyptian actor and filmmaker (b. 1904)
- 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 – Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)
- 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 24 – Carlos Gardel, Argentine singer (b. 1890)
- June 26 – Engelbert Zaschka, German helicopter pioneer (b. 1896)
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
- Michael Chekov, Russian actor and writer (b. 1891)
- James Dean, American actor (b. 1931)
Sept.30: James Dean.
- October 1 – Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
- October 8 – Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (b. 1928)
- October 9
- Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)
- Alice Joyce, American actress (b. 1890)
- 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
- George Platt Lynes, American photographer (b. 1907)
- Honus Wagner, American baseball player (b. 1874)
- December 13 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- December 21 – Garegin Njdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
- 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
Notes
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