1955

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, 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 22 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) 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 4 – "Baghdad Pact": Military treaty signed between Iraq and Turkey.

February 9 – Apartheid in South Africa: 60,000 non-white residents of the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg are forcibly evicted.

February 10 – The United States Seventh Fleet 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 14 – WFLA-TV signs on the air in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida.

February 16 – Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.

February 19 – Southeast Asia Treaty Organization established at a meeting in Bangkok.

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 – A young Jim Henson builds the first version of Kermit the Frog.

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 while being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station. She becomes a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle (1956) which rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional.

Serious floods in Australia.

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.

Elvis Presley makes his television debut on "Louisiana Hayride" carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport (although audio recordings exists, there is no known video footage of this appearance).

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 – Richard Riot in Montreal: 6,000 people protest the suspension of French Canadian ice hockey star Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens by the National Hockey League following a violent incident during a match.

March 19 – KXTV signs on the air in Sacramento, California.

March 20 – The movie adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & 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 10 – in the NBA, the Syracuse Nationals defeat the Fort Wayne Pistons 92-91 in game seven to win the title.

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.

Taekwondo, a famous for Korean martial arts, officially recognized as naming in South Korea.

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 (METO).

Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois.

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 Bandung, 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 – Western European Union charter effective.

May 7 – The last time Newcastle United won a domestic title.

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. It will be dissolved in 1991.

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 Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, as part of a British team led by Charles Evans.

June

June 7 – The television 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.

June 26 – Freedom Charter of the anti-apartheid South African Congress Alliance adopted at a Congress of the People in Kliptown.

July

July 7 – The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.

July 13 – Ruth Ellis 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.

Disneyland opens to the public 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 23.

July 27 – El Al Flight 402 from Vienna, Austria to Tel Aviv 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 18

The First Sudanese Civil War begins.

First meeting of the Organization of Central American States (Organización de Estados Centroamericanos, ODECA), in Antigua Guatemala.

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 in the U.K. that is 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 18 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the uninhabited island of Rockall.

September 19–September 21 – The President of Argentina, Juan Perón, 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 24 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Nixon serves as Acting President while Eisenhower recovers.

October

October 2 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuts on the CBS 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.

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 – Organization of Central American States secretariat inaugurated.

October 20 – Disc jockey Bill Randle of WERE (Cleveland) is the key presenter of a concert at Brooklyn High School (Ohio), featuring Pat Boone and Bill Haley & His Comets and opening with Elvis Presley, Elvis's first filmed performance, for a documentary on Randle titled The Pied Piper of Cleveland.

October 26

After the last Allied troops have left Austria and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, the country declares its permanent neutrality.

Ngô Đình Diệm 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 27 – Film Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, is released in the United States.

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 over the Hudson River in New York State 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 becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one billion dollars in one year.

Date unknown

The 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

January

January 1

Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director

Mary Beard, English classicist

Precious, Canadian professional wrestling valet

Mulatu Teshome, Ethiopian politician and 8th President of Ethiopia

January 2 – Vivien Savage, French singer

January 5 – Mamata Banerjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal

January 6 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor

January 9 – J. K. Simmons, American actor

January 10 – Michael Schenker, German guitarist (Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group)

January 13

Ran Ito, Japanese actress

Paul Kelly, Australian musician

Jay McInerney, American writer

January 15

Andreas Gursky, German photographer

Mayumi Tanaka, Japanese voice actress

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 orchestral conductor

January 20

Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member

Hiromi Ōta, Japanese singer

January 21 – Jeff Koons, American artist

January 22 – Keiko Takahashi, Japanese actress

January 25 – Petra Gerster, German television presenter and newscaster

January 26

Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor

Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born American rock musician (Van Halen)

January 27

John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States

Alexander Stuart, British-born author

January 28

Vinod Khosla, Indian-born American venture capitalist

Nicolas Sarkozy, 23rd President of France

George Tokoro, Japanese TV personality and singer-songwriter

January 29

Eddie Jordan, American basketball player and head coach

Femi Pedro, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria

February

February 1 – Hans Werner Olm, German television and film comedian

February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, writer and translator

February 3 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter

February 6

Michael Pollan, American journalist

Irinej Dobrijević, American-born Serbian Bishop of Australia and New Zealand

February 7 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (d. 2017)

February 8

John Grisham, American novelist

Xu Bing, Chinese artist

February 9

Charles Shaughnessy, English-born actor

Jim J. Bullock, American actor and comedian

February 10

Chris Adams, English wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)

Pablo Borges Delgado, Cuban artist

Greg Norman, Australian golfer

February 12 – Ai Satō, Japanese voice actress

February 13 – Akiko Yano, Japanese singer-songwriter

February 15

Janice Dickinson, American model, photographer, author and talent agent

Christopher McDonald, American actor

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 pop keyboardist and singer-songwriter

Flip Saunders, American basketball coach (d. 2015)

February 24

Steve Jobs, American businessman and founder of Apple Inc. (d. 2011)

Alain Prost, French race car driver

February 28 – Gilbert Gottfried, American actor and comedian

March

March 1 – Sir Timothy Laurence, English admiral and 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

Julien Dray, French politician

Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian (Penn & Teller)

March 6

Wendy Boglioli, American swimmer

Jay Ilagan, Filipino actor (d. 1992)

Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (d. 1994)

Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (d. 2015)

March 7 – Tommy Kramer, American football player

March 8 – Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)

March 9

Ornella Muti, Italian actress

Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer

March 10

Yousra, Egyptian actress and singer

Marianne Rosenberg, German 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, Egyptian-born Australian weightlifter

Dee Snider, American rock singer (Twisted Sister)

March 16

Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director

Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer

March 17 – Gary Sinise, American actor, producer and director

March 18

Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer

Dwayne Murphy, American baseball player

March 19

Pino Daniele, Italian music artist (d. 2015)

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

Lena Olin, Swedish actress

Pete Sessions, American politician

Valdis Zatlers, 7th President of Latvia

March 23 – Moses Malone, American basketball player (d. 2015)

March 24

Celâl Şengör, Turkish geologist

Kim Johnston Ulrich, American actress

March 26 – Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player

March 27 – Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister of Spain

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-born actress

March 31 – Angus Young, lead guitarist of Australian rock group AC/DC

April

April 3

Michael Burleigh, British historian

Mick Mars, American rock guitarist (Mötley Crüe)

April 5

Janice Long, English radio disc jockey

Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist

April 6 – Michael Rooker, American actor

April 7

Grace Hightower, American philanthropist, actress and singer

Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist

Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager

Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)

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 Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)

April 16

Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

DJ Kool Herc, Jamaican American DJ

April 17 – Rob Bolland, Dutch musician, songwriter and music producer (Bolland & Bolland)

April 18 – Bobby Castillo, American baseball player (d. 2014)

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

James Risen, American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author

Eric Schmidt, American software engineer and businessman, former CEO of Google (2001-2011)

April 28 – Eddie Jobson, English musician

April 29

Richard Epcar, American voice actor

Kate Mulgrew, American actress

Yūko Tanaka, Japanese actress

April 30 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter

May

May 1

Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet

Nick Feldman, English musician (Wang Chung)

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 7 – Mayra Alejandra, Venezuelan actress (d. 2014)

May 8 – Meles Zenawi, 10th Prime Minister of Ethiopia and 3rd President 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 musician John Lennon

Rick Steves, American author and television personality; host of Rick Steves' Europe

May 14 – Robert Tapert, American TV producer

May 15 – Lee Horsley, American film, television, and theater actor

May 16

Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast

Olli Kortekangas, Finnish composer

Jack Morris, American baseball player

Hazel O'Connor, British rock musician

Richard Phillips, American merchant mariner and captain of the MV Maersk Alabama

Debra Winger, American actress

May 17 – Bill Paxton, American actor

May 18 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor

May 19

Mark Staff Brandl, American and Swiss artist and art historian

James Gosling, Canadian software engineer

Th. Emil Homerin, American theologian

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 29

Mike Porcaro, American bass guitarist (d. 2015)

John Hinckley Jr., attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan

May 30

Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII, Japanese Kabuki actor

Colm Tóibín. Irish novelist

May 31

Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist

Susie Essman, American actress

Lynne Truss, English writer

June

June 1 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (58th Yokozuna grand champion) (d. 2016)

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

Sam Simon, American filmmaker (d. 2015)

June 7 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)

June 8

Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist and inventor

Griffin Dunne, American actor and director

June 10

Floyd Bannister, American baseball player

Andrew Stevens, American actor, producer and director

June 11 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower

June 14

Kim Lankford, American actress, businesswoman and horse wrangler

Paul O'Grady (also known as "Lily Savage"), English talk show host and comedian

June 15

Polly Draper, American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director

David A. Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1984)

June 16 – Laurie Metcalf, American actress

June 18 – Sandy Allen, American, world's tallest woman (d. 2008)

June 20 – Tor Nørretranders, Danish author

June 21

Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician

Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer

Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer-songwriter

Leigh McCloskey, American actor

Michel Platini, French retired football player and President of UEFA

June 23 – Glenn Danzig, American rock singer (The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)

Alan J. Gow, Australian-born British motorsport executive

June 24 – Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga

June 25 – Mike McShane, American actor, comedian and voice actor

June 26 – Yoko Gushiken, Japanese boxer

June 27

Isabelle Adjani, French actress

Brad Diller, American cartoonist

June 30 – Amelia Kyambadde, Ugandan politician

July

July 1

Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor

Nikolai Demidenko, Russian classical pianist

Li Keqiang, Premier of the People's Republic of China

Lisa Scottoline, American novelist

July 2 – Stephen Walt, American political scientist

July 3

John Cramer, American game show announcer

Matt Keough, American baseball player

July 5

Sebastian Barry, Irish playwright, novelist and poet

Henry Lee Summer, American singer

July 7 – Rolf Saxon, American actor

July 8 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress

July 9

Lindsey Graham, American politician, lawyer, former U.S. Army soldier, U.S. Senator (R-Sc.), and unsuccessful 2016 presidential candidate

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

Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine football player and manager

Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)

Béla Tarr, Hungarian film director

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 3 – Roger Gifford, Lord Mayor of London 2013

August 4

Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer

Billy Bob Thornton, American actor, director and screenwriter

August 6

Gordon J. Brand, English golfer

Ron Davis, American baseball player

August 7

Wayne Knight, American actor and comedian

David Learner, British actor

Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer

August 8 – Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter

August 9 – Doug Williams, American football quarterback

August 10 – Mel Tiangco, Philippine television host and newscaster 24 Oras

August 12

Heintje Simons, Dutch singer and actor

Gish Jen, American fiction writer

August 13 – Daryl, American magician

August 14 – Gillian Taylforth, English television 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

Gordon Liu, Chinese 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

Helge Schneider, comedian, jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, author, film and theatre director

August 31

Olek Krupa, Polish actor

Edwin Moses, American athlete

September

September 1

Billy Blanks, American martial artist; inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program

Bruce Foxton, English musician

September 2

Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist

Claus Kleber, German television journalist

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

Brendan O'Carroll, Irish actor and comedian

Bruce Reitherman, American filmmaker and voice actor

Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer

September 16

Janet Ellis, British children's TV presenter

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

Zucchero Fornaciari, Italian singer-songwriter

September 28 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician

October

October 2 – Philip Oakey, Member of British pop group The Human League

October 3 – Tommy Wiseau, American film director and actor, known for the 2003 "dark comedy" (The Room)

October 5

Bart D. Ehrman, American religious studies scholar and writer, specialist of textual criticism

Jean-Jacques Lafon, French singer-songwriter

Caroline Loeb, French singer and actress

October 7

Clinton Bennett, British scholar of religions, specialist in the study of Islam

Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese American cellist

October 8

Bill Elliott, American racing driver

Darrell Hammond, Comedian (SNL)

October 13 – Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player

October 15

James B. Aguayo-Martel, Mexican-born physician, surgeon, scientist and inventor

Kulbir Bhaura, Indian-born British field hockey player

Tanya Roberts, American actress

Emily Yoffe, American journalist and advice columnist

October 18

Hiromi Go, Japanese singer

Timmy Mallett, English television presenter

October 19 – LaSalle Ishii, Japanese television personality

October 21

Yasukazu Hamada, Japanese politician

Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (d. 1997)

October 24

Karen Austin, American actress

Katherine Knight, Australian mariticide

October 25 – Glynis Barber, South African-born British actress

October 28

Bill Gates, American businessman and co-founder of Microsoft

Indra Nooyi, Indian business executive

October 29

Kevin DuBrow, American rock singer (d. 2007)

Roger O'Donnell, English rock keyboardist

Etsuko Shihomi, Japanese actress

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 1 – Joe Arroyo, Colombian salsa and tropical music singer (d. 2011)

November 2 – Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader

November 3

Teresa De Sio, Italian singer-songwriter

Phil Simms, American football player

Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Japanese film director

November 4

Moulana Ghousavi Shah, Sufi teacher and author, Secretary General of The Conference of World Religions

Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland

November 5

Pedro Brieger, Argentine journalist and sociologist.

Kris Jenner, American television personality

Karan Thapar, Indian journalist, political analyst and commentator

November 6 – Maria Shriver, American television journalist, host; First Lady of California

November 7 – Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete

November 9 – Karen Dotrice, Guernsey-born child actress

November 10 – Roland Emmerich, German film director, Richard Burton, Welsh stage and cinema actor

November 11 – Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of Bhutan

November 13 – Whoopi Goldberg, American actress and comedian

November 14 – Koichi Nakano, Japanese bicycle racer

November 17 – Peter Cox, English singer-songwriter (Go West)

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, Ceylonese-born British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter

November 23

Steven Brust, American author

Ludovico Einaudi, Italian pianist and composer

November 24

Sir Ian Botham, English cricketer

Najib Mikati, Lebanese politician, 2-Time Prime Minister of Lebanon

November 25 – Bruno Tonioli, film, music video and theater 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

Michael Beschloss, American historian

Kevin Conroy, American voice actor

Billy Idol, born William Broad, British rock musician and was lead singer of Generation X

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, South African-born English cricketer

Martin Semmelrogge, German actor

December 9 – Asashio Tarō IV, Japanese sumo wrestler

December 12 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman

December 16

Chiharu Matsuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter

Rob Levin, American founder of the freenode IRC network (d. 2006)

December 17 – Brad Davis, American basketball player

December 21 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress

December 23

Keith Comstock, American baseball player

Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet

December 24

Mizuho Fukushima, Japanese politician

Clarence Gilyard, American actor and college professor

December 27 – Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)

December 28 – Liu Xiaobo, Chinese literary critic and human rights activist

December 31 – Jim Tracy, American baseball player

Date unknown

Mark Marderosian, American cartoonist

Anacleto Rapping, American photographer and pedagogue

Sergey Zimov, Russian geophysicist and creator of Pleistocene Park

January

January 1 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian scientist (b. 1894)

January 2 – José Antonio Remón Cantera, 19th President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)

January 6 – Yevgeny Tarle, Soviet historian (b. 1874)

January 11 – Rodolfo Graziani, Italian general (b. 1882)

January 15

Johannes Baader, German artist (b. 1875)

Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)

January 18 – August Duesenberg, German-born American automobile manufacturer (b. 1879)

January 20 – Robert P. T. Coffin, American poet (b. 1892)

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

February 11 – Ona Munson, American actress (b. 1903)

February 12

Thomas J. Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)

S. Z. Sakall, Hungarian actor (b. 1883)

February 20 – Oswald Avery, American physician and medical researcher (b. 1877)

February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist, and diplomat (b. 1868)

February 27 – Trixie Friganza, American actress (b. 1870)

March

March 3 – Katharine Drexel, American Roman Catholic saint (b. 1858)

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, 12nd President of Brazil (b. 1875)

March 30 – Ylla, Hungarian photographer (b. 1911) (jeep accident)

April

April 7 – Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)

April 10 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French Jesuit priest, philosopher, paleontologist and geologist (b. 1881)

April 11 – Clifton Sprague, American admiral (b. 1896)

April 13 – Peyton C. March, United States Army General (b. 1864)

April 18 – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)

April 25 – Constance Collier, stage and screen actress; acting coach (b. 1878)

May

May 2 – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, 10th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1872)

May 4

Louis Charles Breguet, French aircraft designer and builder and early aviation pioneer (b. 1880)

George 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

Charles Pelot Summerall, American general (b. 1867)

Anwar Wagdi, Egyptian actor and filmmaker (b. 1904)

May 16 – James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)

May 17 – Owen Roberts, American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1875)

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 (accident) (b. 1918)

May 30 – Bill Vukovich, American race-car driver (accident) (b. 1918)

June

June 5

Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)

Herbert Stanley, Governor of Northern Rhodesia, Ceylon and Southern Rhodesia (b. 1872)

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)

June 29 – Max Pechstein, German painter (b. 1881)

July

July 3 – Beatrice Chase, English writer (b. 1874)

July 13

Ruth Ellis, Welsh-born murderer, last woman to be executed in the United Kingdom (b. 1926)

Stanley Price, American film and television actor (b. 1892)

July 20 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1869)

July 23 – Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)

July 31 – Robert Francis, American actor (b. 1930)

August

August 2

Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria, Bavarian military leader and last Bavarian crown prince (b. 1869)

Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)

August 5 – Carmen Miranda, Portuguese Brazilian singer and actress (b. 1909)

August 8 – Grace Hartman, American actress (b. 1907)

August 12

Thomas Mann, German novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)

James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)

August 13 – Florence Easton, English-born operatic soprano (b. 1882)

August 17 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (b. 1881)

August 27 – Augusto Turati, Italian fascist politician (b. 1888)

August 28 – Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)

September

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 25 – José Tamborini, rgentine physician and politician (b. 1886)

September 30

Michael Chekhov, Russian actor and writer (b. 1891)

James Dean, American actor (accident) (b. 1931)

October

October 1 – Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)

October 4 – Alexander Papagos, Greek Field Marshal (b. 1883)

October 7 – Rodolphe Seeldrayers, German journalist and administrator, 4th President of FIFA (b. 1876)

October 8 – Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (b. 1928)

October 9

Theodor Innitzer, Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)

Alice Joyce, American actress (b. 1890)

October 13 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, 45th President of Mexico (b. 1897)

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

November 1 – Dale Carnegie, American writer and lecturer (b. 1888)

November 4 – Cy Young, American baseball player (Cleveland Spiders) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (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 and architect (b. 1878)

November 13 – Moshe Pessach, chief rabbi of Volos (b. 1869)

November 14 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (b. 1896)

November 15 – Lloyd Bacon, American actor and director (b. 1889)

November 17 – Helmuth Weidling, German general (b. 1891)

November 22 – Shemp Howard, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1895)

November 27 – Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1892)

November 30 – Alta Bates, nurse anesthetist and founder of Alta Bates Hospital (b. 1879)

December

December 1 – Chief Thundercloud, American character actor (b. 1899)

December 5 – Jirō Minami, Japanese general and Governor-General of Korea (1936-1942) (b. 1874)

December 6

George Platt Lynes, American photographer (b. 1907)

Honus Wagner, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1874)

December 8 – Hermann Weyl, German mathematician, theoretical physicist and philosopher (b. 1885)

December 13 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)

December 15 – Otto Braun, German politician, former Minister President of the Free State of Prussia (b. 1872)

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; second husband of 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 and Polykarp Kusch

Chemistry – Vincent du Vigneaud

Physiology or Medicine – Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell

Literature – Halldór Kiljan Laxness

Peace – not awarded