1957

January

January 1

The Saarland joins West Germany.

An Irish Republican Army attack on the Brookeborough police barracks in Northern Ireland leads to the deaths of Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon.

Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini suffers the stroke that leads to his death a little over two weeks later in the United States.

January 2 – The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge to form the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.

January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.

January 4 – After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published in the United States.

January 5 – Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having handled the ball in Test cricket.

January 6 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the 3rd and final time. He is shown only from the waist up, even during the gospel segment, singing "Peace In The Valley". Ed Sullivan describes Elvis thus: "This is a real decent, fine boy. We've never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we've had with you. You're thoroughly all right."

January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns.

January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.

January 13 – Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.

January 14

Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.

American screen actor Humphrey Bogart dies aged 57 in California after a long battle with cancer.

January 15 – Release, in Japan, of the film Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth.

January 16 – The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool as a jazz club.

January 20

Dwight D. Eisenhower is privately sworn in for a second term as President of the United States.

Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).

The New York City "Mad Bomber", George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut, and charged with planting more than 30 bombs.

January 21 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower is publicly sworn in.

January 23 – Ku Klux Klan members force truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River; he drowns as a result.

January 26 – The Ibirapuera Planetarium (the first in the Southern Hemisphere) is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

January 31 – Three students on a junior high school playground in Pacoima, California, are among the 8 persons killed following a mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, in the skies above the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, U.S.

February

February 2 – President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage across the Indus River near Sukkur.

February 4

France prohibits U.N. involvement in Algeria.

The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. It is decommissioned on March 3, 1980.

A coal gas explosion at the giant Bishop coal mine in Bishop, Virginia, kills 37 men.

February 6 – The Soviet Union announces that Swedish envoy Raoul Wallenberg had died in a Soviet prison "possibly of a heart attack" on July 17, 1947.

February 10 – The Confederation of African Football is founded at a meeting in Khartoum.

February 15 – Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union.

February 16

The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m., is abolished in the United Kingdom.

Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal opens at cinema in Sweden.

February 17 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri, kills 72 people.

February 18

Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.

The last person to be executed in New Zealand, Walter James Bolton, is hanged at Mount Eden Prison for poisoning his wife.

February 23 – The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc opens in Dakar.

February 25 – The Boy In The Box is discovered along a sidewalk in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The murder victim is described as Caucasian in appearance and 4 to 6 years old; the case is never solved.

February 28 – Gaston, a French comic strip, is introduced.

March

March 1

U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma.

Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.

Sud Aviation forms from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest).

Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is published in the United States.

March 3 – Net als toen sung by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, lyrics by Willy van Hemert) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 (held at Frankfurt) for the Netherlands.

March 4 – Standard & Poor's first publishes the S&P 500 Index in the United States.

March 6

United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent nation of Ghana.

Zodi Ikhia founds the Nigerien Democratic Front (FDN) in Niger.

March 7 – The United States Congress approves the Eisenhower Doctrine on assistance to threatened foreign regimes.

March 8 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.

March 10 – Floodgates of The Dalles Dam are closed, inundating Celilo Falls and ancient Indian fisheries along the Columbia River in Oregon.

March 13

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery.

The Anglo-Jordanian Treaty of 1948 expires.

March 14 – President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.

March 17 – 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash: Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash.

March 20 – The French news magazine L'Express reveals that the French army tortures Algerian prisoners.

March 25

The Treaty of Rome (Patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC; predecessor of the European Union) between Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Copies of Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems (first published November 1, 1956) printed in England are seized by United States Customs Service officials in San Francisco on the grounds of obscenity. On October 3, in People v. Ferlinghetti, a subsequent prosecution of publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the work is ruled not to be obscene.

March 26 – 22-year-old Elvis Presley buys Graceland on 3734 Bellevue Boulevard (Highway 51 South) for $US100,000. He and his family move from the house on 1034 Audubon Drive.

March 27 – The 29th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood. Around the World in 80 Days wins Best Picture.

March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, the team's only musical written especially for television, is telecast live and in color by CBS in the United States, starring Julie Andrews in the title role. The production is seen by millions, but this 1957 version is not to be telecast again for more than 40 years, when a kinescope of it is shown.

April

April – IBM sells the first compiler for the Fortran scientific programming language.

April 1 – The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.

April 5 – The Communist Party of India wins the elections in Kerala, making E. M. S. Namboodiripad its first chief minister.

April 9 – Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to all shipping.

April 12 – The United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self-rule on January 1, 1958.

April 15

The Distant Early Warning Line is handed over by contractors to the U.S. and Canadian military.

White Rock secedes from Surrey, British Columbia, following a referendum.

April 17 – Suspected English serial killer Dr. John Bodkin Adams is found not guilty of murder at the Old Bailey.

April 24 – First broadcast of BBC Television astronomy series The Sky at Night in the U.K., presented by Patrick Moore. This will run with the same presenter until his death in December 2012.

April 24–25 – 1957 Fethiye earthquakes on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.

May

May 2 – Vincent Gigante fails to assassinate mafioso Frank Costello in Manhattan.

May 3 – Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles.

May 15.

Operation Grapple: At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb, which fails to detonate properly.

Stanley Matthews plays his final international game, ending an English record international career of almost 23 years.

May 16 – Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new Secretary General of NATO.

May 22 – A 42,000-pound hydrogen bomb accidentally falls from a bomber near Albuquerque.

May 24 – Anti-American riots erupt in Taipei, Taiwan.

May 30 – Real Madrid beats Fiorentina 2-0 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid to win the 1956–57 European Cup (football).

June

June 1 – Three-year-old thoroughbred Gallant Man wins the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park.

June 9 – Broad Peak, on the China-Pakistan border, is first ascended.

June 15 – Oklahoma celebrates its semi-centennial statehood. A brand new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere is buried in a time capsule (to be opened 50 years later on June 15, 2007).

June 15 – Gallant Man wins the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in record time.

June 20 – Toru Takemitsu's Requiem for Strings is first performed, by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

June 21 – John Diefenbaker becomes the 13th Prime Minister of Canada.

June 25 – The United Church of Christ is formed in Cleveland, Ohio, by the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, U.S., killing 400 people.

July

July

The International Geophysical Year begins.

The University of Waterloo is founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Hugh Everett III publishes the first scientifically founded many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

Production of the Citroën Traction Avant automobile, begun in 1934, ceases.

July 6 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney first meet as teenagers at a garden fete at St. Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool, England, at which Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen, is playing, 3 years before forming The Beatles.

July 9 – Elvis Presley's Loving You opens in theaters.

July 11 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan becomes the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims at age 20. His grandfather Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III appoints Prince Karim in his will.

July 14 – Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.

July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.

July 25 – Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba its first president.

July 28

The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, a high point of the Khrushchev Thaw, kicks off in Moscow.

Heavy rains and mudslides at Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, kill 992.

A strong earthquake shakes Mexico City and Mexican port city Acapulco.

July 29 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

August

August 4 – Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins this season) his record 5th world drivers championship, including his 4th consecutive championship (also a record); these 2 records endure for nearly half a century.

August 5 – American Bandstand, a local dance show produced by WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, joins the ABC Television Network.

August 21 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces a 2-year suspension of nuclear testing.

August 28 – United States Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) sets the record for the longest filibuster with his 24-hour, 18-minute speech railing against a civil rights bill.

August 31 – The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom, subsequently celebrated as Malaysia's National Day. Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya. The country's new Constitution came into force on August 27.

September

September 1 – 175 die in Jamaica's worst railway disaster.

September 3 – The Wolfenden report on homosexuality is published in the United Kingdom.

September 4

African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68): Little Rock Crisis – Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas calls out the National Guard of the United States to prevent African-American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School.

The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel on what the company proclaims as "E Day".

September 5 – The first edition of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road goes on sale in the United States.

September 7 – NBC introduces an animated version of its famous "living color" peacock logo.

September 9

The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is enacted, establishing the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

Catholic Memorial School opens its doors for the first time in Boston, Massachusetts.

September 14 – Have Gun – Will Travel premieres on CBS.

September 21

Olav V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father Haakon VII.

The sailing ship Pamir sinks off the Azores in a hurricane.

Perry Mason premiers on CBS.

September 23 – The Academy Award-winning movie The Three Faces of Eve is released.

September 24

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to provide safe passage into Little Rock Central High School for the "Little Rock Nine".

Camp Nou, home-stadium of FC Barcelona, officially opened in Barcelona, Spain.

September 26 – Leonard Bernstein's musical West Side Story makes its first appearance on Broadway and runs for 732 performances.

September 29 – The Kyshtym disaster occurs at the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant in Russia.

October

October

Which? magazine is first published by The Consumers' Association in the United Kingdom.

The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.

October 2 – David Lean's film The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in the U.K.

October 4

Space Age – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.

The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow delta wing interceptor aircraft is unveiled.

The sitcom Leave It to Beaver premieres on CBS in the United States.

October 9 – Neil H. McElroy is sworn in as United States Secretary of Defense.

October 10

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbedemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware, restaurant.

Windscale fire: Fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor on the north-west coast of England releases radioactive material into the surrounding environment, including iodine-131.

October 11

The Jodrell Bank radio telescope opens in Cheshire, England.

The orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) is first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer by teams at The M.I.T. Computation Center and Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

October 12 – Ayn Rand's fourth, last and longest novel, Atlas Shrugged, is published in the United States.

October 16 – Antônio Vilas Boas, a Brazilian farmer, claims to have been abducted by extraterrestrials; the first famous alien abduction case.

October 21

Two trains collide in Turkey; 95 die.

The U.S. military sustains its first combat fatality in Vietnam, Army Capt. Hank Cramer of the 1st Special Forces Group.

October 23 – Morocco begins its invasion of Ifni.

October 25 – Mafia boss Albert Anastasia is assassinated in a barber shop, at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City.

October 27 – Celâl Bayar is re-elected president of Turkey.

October 31 – Toyota begins exporting vehicles to the United States, beginning with the Toyota Crown and the Toyota Land Cruiser.

November

November 1

The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at this time, opens in the United States to connect Michigan's two peninsulas.

The first (westbound) tube of the Hampton Roads Bridge–Tunnel linking Norfolk and Hampton, Virginia opens at a cost of $44 million.

November 3 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, with the first animal to orbit the Earth (a dog named Laika) on board; there is no technology available to return it to Earth.

November 7 – Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.

November 8 – Film Jailhouse Rock opens across the U.S. to reach #3, and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety.

November 13

Gordon Gould invents the laser.

Flooding in the Po Valley of Italy leads to flooding also in Venice.

November 14 – Apalachin Meeting: American Mafia leaders meet in Apalachin, New York at the house of Joseph Barbara; the meeting is broken up by a curious patrolman.

November 15

1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash: A flying boat crash on the Isle of Wight leaves 45 dead.

Yugoslavia announces the end of an economic boycott of Francoist Spain (although it does not reinstitute diplomatic relations).

November 16

Serial killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin, U.S.

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower has a stroke.

Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party forms the new government of Turkey (23rd government,last government formed by DP and Menderes).

November 30 – Indonesian president Sukarno survives a grenade attack at the Cikini School in Jakarta, but six children are killed.

December

December 1 – In Indonesia, Sukarno announces the nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.

December 4 – The Lewisham rail crash in London leaves 92 dead.

December 5 – All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.

December 6 – The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails when the Vanguard rocket blows up on the launch pad.

December 10 – Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson receives the Nobel Peace Prize for his peacekeeping efforts in the United Nations.

December 18 – The Bridge on the River Kwai is released in the U.S. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Additional Oscars go to Alec Guinness (Best Actor) and David Lean (Best Director), among others. This is Lean's first Oscar for directing.

December 19 – Meredith Willson's classic musical The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, debuts on Broadway.

December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.

December 22 – The CBS afternoon anthology series The Seven Lively Arts presents Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker on U.S. television for the first time, although heavily abridged.

Date unknown

Mao Zedong admits that 800,000 "class enemies" have been summarily liquidated in China between 1949 and 1954.

Expected date for Operation Dropshot, an all-out U.S. war with the Soviet Union, triggered by a Soviet takeover of Western Europe, the Near East and parts of Eastern Asia which does not materialize, as prepared for by the United States Department of Defense in 1949.

Gruppe SPUR, an artistic collaboration, is founded in Germany.

The so-called 'mound of Midas', the Great Tumulus near Gordium, is excavated.

Three new neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces are released: Folio (designed by Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum), Neue Haas Grotesk (designed by Max Miedinger) and Univers (designed by Adrian Frutiger); all will be influential in the International Typographic Style of graphic design.

January

January 1 – Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish actress

January 3 – Bojan Križaj, Slovenian alpine skier

January 4 – Charles Allen, British television magnate

January 6 – Nancy Lopez, American golfer

January 7

Nicholson Baker, American novelist

Katie Couric, American television host

Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey goaltender

Julian Solís, Puerto Rican boxer

January 8

David Lang, American composer

Dwight Clark, American football player

January 9 – Bibie, Ghanaian singer

January 11

Bryan Robson, English footballer

Claude Criquielion, Belgian bike racer (d. 2015)

January 12 – John Lasseter, American director, writer and animator

January 13

Lorrie Moore, American writer

Daniel Scioli, Argentine politician and sportsman

January 14

Anchee Min, Chinese writer

Wu Chengzhen, Chinese Buddhist abbess

January 15

Mario Van Peebles, African-American actor and director

Patrick Dixon, British business guru and author

January 16 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor

January 17

Steve Harvey, American comedian, television host, radio personality, actor and author; host of Steve Harvey, Little Big Shots, and Family Feud

January 21 – Greg Ryan, American soccer coach

January 22

Mike Bossy, Canadian hockey player

Rene Requiestas, Filipino comedian (d. 1993)

Godfrey Thoma, Nauruan politician

January 23 – Princess Caroline of Monaco

January 24 – Adrian Edmondson, British comedian

January 26 – Richard Portnow, American actor

January 27

Frank Miller, American comic book writer

Janick Gers, British heavy metal guitarist

January 29 – Grażyna Miller, Polish poet

January 30 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)

February

February 2 – Phil Barney, French singer

February 4 – Elaine Carbines, Member of the Australian Labor Party

February 5 – Jackie Woodburne, Australian actress

February 6 – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian

February 8 – Cindy Wilson, American rock singer (The B-52's)

February 9 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager

February 11 – Mitchell Symons, British writer

February 14 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish lyric soprano

February 15 – Shahriar Mandanipour, Iranian writer

February 16 – LeVar Burton, American actor

February 17 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer, composer, harpist

February 18

Vanna White, American game show presenter

Marita Koch, German athlete

February 19

Falco, Austrian rock musician (d. 1998)

Ray Winstone, British actor

February 20 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey coach

February 23 – Ria Brieffies, Dutch singer (d. 2009)

February 27

Adrian Smith, British heavy metal guitarist

Viktor Markin, Russian athlete

Rob de Castella, Australian long-distance runner

Danny Antonucci, Canadian creator of the Cartoon Network show Ed, Edd n Eddy

February 28

Ainsley Harriott, British celebrity chef

Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer

John Turturro, American actor, writer and director

March

March 3 – Eric Walters, Canadian author

March 4

Jim Dwyer, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner

Rick Mast, American NASCAR driver

March 8

Clive Burr, British heavy metal drummer (d. 2013)

Mitsuko Horie, Japanese voice actress and singer

March 9 – Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician

March 10

Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born founder of al-Qaeda (d. 2011)

Hans-Peter Friedrich, German politician

March 12 – Marlon Jackson, American singer

March 13 – David Peaston, American singer

March 15

Joaquim de Almeida, Portuguese actor

Park Overall, American film and television actress

March 17 – Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer

March 18 – György Pazdera, Hungarian rock bassist (Pokolgép)

March 20

Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress

John Grogan, American journalist and non-fiction writer

Spike Lee, American film director and actor

Theresa Russell, American actress

March 23

Teresa Ganzel, American comedian and actress

Lucio Gutiérrez, 41st President of Ecuador

March 24 – Jack Edwards, American play-by-play announcer

March 26 – Leeza Gibbons, American television personality

March 29 – Christopher Lambert, French actor

March 30

Paul Reiser, American comedian and actor

Ian Shelton, Canadian astronomer who discovered SN 1987A

March 31

Alan Duncan, British politician

Terry Klassen, Canadian voice actor and voice director

April

April 1

J. Karjalainen, Finnish rock musician

Denise Nickerson, American child actress

April 2 – Giuliana De Sio, Italian actress

April 4 – Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director

April 5 – Ivan Corea, Sri Lankan autism campaigner

April 7 – Simon Climie, English singer-songwriter (Climie Fisher)

April 8 – Henry Cluney, Irish musician

April 9 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (d. 2011)

April 10 – Ülle Kaljuste, Estonian actress

April 11

Michael Card, American Christian musician

Ian Stuart, singer for white power skinhead band Skrewdriver (d. 1993)

Jim Lauderdale, bluegrass musician

April 12 – Suzzanne Douglas, American actress

April 14 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, conductor and composer

April 17 – Susan Roman, Canadian voice actress

April 18 – Genie, American feral child

April 21

Jesse Orosco, American baseball player

Herbert Wetterauer, German artist and author

Faustin-Archange Touadéra, 8th President of the Central African Republic

April 22 – Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland

April 23

Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)

Kenji Kawai, Japanese composer

Patrik Ouředník, Czech writer

April 25 – Eric Bristow, English darts player

April 27 – Michel Barrette, Canadian actor and stand-up comedian

April 28 – Dinorah de Jesús Rodriguez, Cuban-born experimental filmmaker

April 29 – Daniel Day-Lewis, English-born actor

May

May 2 – Michael Coyle, American composer

May 3

William Clay Ford, Jr., American automobile executive

Jo Brand, English comedian

May 5 – Richard E. Grant, English actor

May 6 – Mbah Surip, Indonesian singer (d. 2009)

May 10 – Sid Vicious, English rock bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)

May 14 – Daniela Dessi, Italian opera singer (d. 2016)

May 15 – Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque Lehendakari (Prime Minister)

May 16 – Joan Benoit, American Olympic gold medal-winning marathon runner

May 17 – Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish rock singer and songwriter (Leevi and the Leavings) (d. 2003)

May 18

Michael Cretu, Romanian–German musician (Enigma)

Frank Plasberg, German journalist and television presenter

May 20

Yoshihiko Noda, 62nd Prime Minister of Japan

Stewart Nozette, American astronomer

May 21

Judge Reinhold, American actor

Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress

May 22

Albert Boonstra, Dutch swimmer

Shinji Morisue, Japanese gymnast

Gary Sweet, Australian actor

May 23 – Jimmy McShane (aka Baltimora), Northern Irish dancer (d. 1995)

May 24 – Walter Moers, German comic artist and writer

May 24 – John Rowland, U.S. Republican politician, Governor of Connecticut

May 26

Pontso Sekatle, Lesotho academic and politician

Dan Roodt, South African author and politician

May 27 – Siouxsie Sioux, British rock singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)

May 28 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player

May 29

Jeb Hensarling, American politician; U.S. Representative (R-TX)

Ted Levine, American film and television actor

Bobby Hamilton, racing driver (d. 2007)

June

June 1 – Dorota Kędzierzawska, Polish film director

June 3 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player

June 6 – Jessica Diamond, American artist

June 7 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer and songwriter

June 8

Scott Adams, American cartoonist (Dilbert)

Sonja Vectomov, Czech/Finnish sculptor

June 10 – Hidetsugu Aneha, Japanese architect

June 12

Timothy Busfield, American actor

Javed Miandad, Pakistani cricketer

Ciro Pessoa, Brazilian musician (Titãs, Cabine C), journalist, screenwriter and poet

June 14

Debbie Arnold, British actress and voice artiste

Maxwell Fraiser, African-British rapper for Faithless, DJ

June 15 – Seppo Pääkkönen, Finnish actor

June 19 – Anna Lindh, Swedish politician (d. 2003)

June 21 – Luis Antonio Tagle, Filipino cardinal, Archbishop of Manila

June 23 – Frances McDormand, American actress

June 28

Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player

Georgi Parvanov, President of Bulgaria

June 29 – Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmen politician, 2nd President of Turkmenistan

July

July 1 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player

July 2 – Bret Hart, Canadian professional wrestler

July 3

Ken Ober, American actor and game show host (d. 2009)

July 5 – Doug Wilson, Canadian ice hockey

July 9

Marc Almond, English singer

Kelly McGillis, American actress

July 10 – Cindy Sheehan, American anti-war activist

July 12 – Götz Alsmann, German television presenter, musician and singer

July 13

Lília Cabral, Brazilian actress

Cameron Crowe, American writer and film director

July 17 – Fern Britton, British television presenter

July 18 – Nick Faldo, British golfer

July 21 – Jon Lovitz, American comedian and actor

July 23 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (d. 2004)

July 24

Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbek politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Uzbekistan and 2nd President of Uzbekistan

Robbie Grey, English rocker, and lead singer and guitarist for Modern English

July 26

Yuen Biao, Hong Kong actor

Nana Visitor, American actress

July 27

Hansi Müller, German footballer

Matt Osborne, American professional wrestler (d. 2013)

July 29 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast

July 31 – Shan Goshorn, Cherokee artist

August

August 2

Mojo Nixon, American singer, lyricist and actor

Butch Vig, American record producer and drummer (Garbage)

August 4 – John Wark, Scottish footballer

August 5 – Clayton Rohner, American actor

August 6 – Jim McGreevey, 52nd Governor of New Jersey

August 7 – Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast

August 9 – Melanie Griffith, American actress

August 10 – Juli Básti, Hungarian actress

August 11 – Richie Ramone, American rock drummer (Ramones)

August 14 – Peter Costello, Australian politician

August 15 – Željko Ivanek, Slovenian-American actor

August 16

Tim Farriss, Australian rock guitarist (INXS)

Laura Innes, American actress and director

August 17 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater

August 18

Carole Bouquet, French actress

Denis Leary, American comedian and actor

Harald Schmidt, German actor, writer, columnist, comedian and television entertainer

August 19 – Li-Young Lee, Indonesian-born poet

August 20 – Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player

August 22 – Steve Davis, British snooker player

August 24 – Stephen Fry, British comedian, author and actor

August 25 – Simon McBurney, British actor, writer and theatre director

August 26

Dr. Alban, Nigerian-born Swedish singer

Uzo, Nigerian-American film producer and director

August 27 – Bernhard Langer, German golfer

August 28

Ivo Josipović, President of Croatia

Rick Rossovich, American actor

Daniel Stern, American actor

Ai Weiwei, Chinese artist, philosopher

August 29

Grzegorz Ciechowski, Polish musician (d. 2001)

Shirō Sagisu, Japanese composer

August 30 – Manu Tuiasosopo, American football player

August 31 – Ingrid Washinawatok, Native American activist (d. 1999)

September

September 1 – Gloria Estefan, Cuban-born American singer

September 7

Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish athlete

John McInerney, British-German singer-songwriter (Bad Boys Blue)

September 8

Ricardo Montaner, Argentine-born Venezuelan singer

Heather Thomas, American actress and activist

September 11

Preben Elkjær Larsen, Danish footballer

Jeh Johnson, American politician, 4th Secretary of Homeland Security.

September 12

Rachel Ward, English-born actress

Hans Zimmer, German composer

September 13 – Vinny Appice, American drummer

September 15 – Brad Bird, American animator and director

September 16 – David McCreery, Irish footballer

September 19 – Chris Roupas, Greek-American basketball player

September 20 – Sabine Christiansen, German journalist and television presenter

September 21

Ethan Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor

Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia

September 22 – Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor

September 26 – Luigi De Canio, Italian footballer and football manager

September 27 – Peter Sellars, American theatre director

September 28 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician

September 29 – Andrew Dice Clay, American comedian

September 30 – Fran Drescher, American actress

October

October 4 – Aleksandr Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast

October 5 – Bernie Mac, American stand-up comedian and actor (d. 2008)

October 7

Michael W. Smith, Christian musician

Jayne Torvill, British ice skater

October 8 – Ewan Stewart, Scottish actor

October 10 – Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese manga artist

October 11 – Dawn French, British comedian

October 14 – Kenny Neal, American guitarist

October 15 – Stacy Peralta, American director and skateboarder

October 21 – Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

October 23

Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda

Martin Luther King III, American human rights advocate and community activist, son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King

October 25 – Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress

October 26

Julie Dawn Cole, English actress

Bob Golic, American football player

October 27 – Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwanese film director

October 29 – Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor (Homer Simpson from 'The Simpsons')

October 30 – Richard Jeni, American comedian (d. 2007)

October 31

Brian Stokes Mitchell, American actor and singer

Robert Pollard, American musician

Shirley Phelps-Roper, American political and religious activist

November

November 3 – Dolph Lundgren, Swedish actor and martial artist

November 4 – Tony Abbott, 28th Prime Minister of Australia

November 5 – Jon-Erik Hexum, American actor (d. 1984)

November 6

Klaus Kleinfeld, German business executive

Lori Singer, American actress and musician

November 7 – Christopher Knight, American actor

November 13 – Roger Ingram, American jazz musician, author, educator, trumpet designer

November 14 – Gregg Burge, American tap dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)

November 15 – Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist

November 17 – Debbie Thrower, English TV news presenter

November 18 – Olivia Heussler, Swiss photojournalist

November 19 – Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (d. 2000)

November 20

John Eriksen, Danish footballer (d. 2002)

Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria

November 24 – Denise Crosby, American actress

November 26 – Matthias Reim, German singer-songwriter

November 27

Kenny Acheson, Irish race car driver

Caroline Kennedy, American author, attorney and daughter of 35th President John F. Kennedy

Edda Heiðrún Backman, Icelandic actress, singer, director and artist (d. 2016)

November 30 – Colin Mochrie, Scottish-born Canadian comedian

December

December 3 – Maxim Korobov, Russian businessman & politician

December 4 – Eric S. Raymond, American open source software advocate

December 6

Adrian Borland, English musician and producer (The Sound) (d. 1999)

Thomas Brinkman, American politician

Andrew Cuomo, 56th Governor of New York

December 9

Peter O'Mara, Australian jazz guitarist and composer

Donny Osmond, American pop singer

December 10

Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (d. 2012)

Paul Hardcastle, English musician

December 13 – Steve Buscemi, American actor

December 15

Chō, Japanese voice actor and actor

Laura Molina, American artist, musician and actress

December 17

Masako Natsume, Japanese model and actress (d. 1985)

Doug Parker, Canadian voice actor and voice director

December 19 – Kevin McHale, American basketball player

December 20

Billy Bragg, British singer

Joyce Hyser, American actress

Anna Vissi, Greek singer

December 21

Tom Henke, American baseball player

Ray Romano, American actor and comedian

December 24 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

December 25 – Shane MacGowan, Irish singer and songwriter (The Pogues)

December 30

Matt Lauer, American newscaster

Joanna Pacuła, Polish actress

Unknown date

Emily Alemika, Nigerian Professor of Law

January

January 4 – Theodor Körner, Austrian statesman, president of the Republic (b. 1873)

January 10 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)

January 13 – A. E. Coppard, English writer (b. 1878)

January 11 – Jack Gilbert Graham, American mass murderer (executed) (b. 1932)

January 14 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)

January 16 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)

January 20 – James Connolly, American athlete (b. 1868)

January 26

Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)

William Eythe, American actor (b. 1918)

José Linhares, 15th President of Brazil (b. 1886)

February

February 1 – Friedrich Paulus, German field marshal (b. 1890)

February 8

Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (b. 1903)

February 9

John Axon, English railwayman and hero, in rail accident (b. 1900)

Miklós Horthy, Austro-Hungarian admiral and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (b. 1868)

February 10 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)

February 16 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-born pianist and composer (b. 1876)

February 18

Walter James Bolton, uxoricide, last person to be executed in New Zealand (b. 1888)

Dedan Kimathi, Kenyan rebel leader, executed (b. 1920)

Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)

February 19 – Märta Torén, Swedish actress (b. 1926)

February 23 – Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)

February 25

Bugs Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)

B. P. Schulberg, American film producer (b. 1892)

March

March 5 – William Cameron Menzies, American film production designer (b. 1896)

March 6 – Alexander Godley, British general (b. 1867)

March 7 – Wyndham Lewis, English painter (b. 1882)

March 8 – János Esterházy, Hungarian politician in Czechoslovakia (b. 1901)

March 11 – Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (b. 1888)

March 12 – Josephine Hull, American actress (b. 1886)

March 14 – Eugenio Castellotti, Italian racing driver (car crash) (b. 1930)

March 16 – Constantin Brâncuși, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)

March 17 – Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines (air crash) (b. 1907)

March 25 – Max Ophüls, German film director and writer (b. 1902)

March 29

Laura Bowman, American actress, singer (b. 1881)

Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)

March 31 – Gene Lockhart, Canadian actor (b. 1891)

April

April 3 – Ned Sparks, Canadian character actor (b. 1883)

April 4 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat (b. 1909)

April 5 – Alagappa Chettiar, Indian philanthropist (b. 1909)

April 8 – Dorothy Sebastian, American actress (b. 1903)

April 15 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)

April 16 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American gangster (b. 1882)

April 23 – Roy Campbell, South African poet (b. 1901)

April 26 – Elinor Fair, American actress (b. 1903)

May

May 1 – Grant Mitchell, American actor (b. 1874)

May 2 – Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)

May 7 – Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer (b. 1877)

May 9 – Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)

May 12 – Erich von Stroheim, Austrian actor and director (b. 1885)

May 13

Michael Fekete, Hungarian-born Israeli mathematician (b. 1886)

Robert "Fuzzy" Theobald, American admiral (b. 1884)

May 14 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (b. 1884)

May 16 – Eliot Ness, American policeman (b. 1903)

May 29 – James Whale, English film director (b. 1889)

May 31 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)

June

June 1

Feliksas Baltušis-Žemaitis, Lithuanian military leader (b. 1897)

Luisa Casati, Italian patron of the arts (b. 1881)

Russell Hicks, American actor (b. 1895)

June 12

Robert Alton, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1906)

Jimmy Dorsey, American jazz musician (b. 1904)

June 13 – Irving Baxter, American athlete (b. 1876)

June 15 – Princess Norina Matchabelli, Italian perfumier (b. 1880)

June 17 – Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)

June 21 – Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)

June 26 – Alfred Döblin, German writer (b. 1878)

June 27

Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1924)

Malcolm Lowry, English novelist (b. 1909)

July

July 3

Richard Mohaupt, German composer and Kapellmeister (b. 1904)

Judy Tyler, American actress (b. 1932)

July 8 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)

July 11 – Aga Khan III, 48th Nizari Imam (b. 1877)

July 15

George Cleveland, Canadian actor (b. 1885)

Vasily Maklakov, Russian liberal politician and parliamentary orator (b. 1869)

James M. Cox, Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920 (b. 1870)

July 23 – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sicilian writer (b. 1896)

July 24

Metodija Andonov-Čento, Macedonian statesman (b. 1902)

Sacha Guitry, Russian-born playwright, actor and director (b. 1885)

July 28

Edith Abbott, American social worker, educator and author (b. 1876)

Isaac Heinemann, German-born Israeli scholar and professor of classical literature (b. 1876)

August

August 5 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)

August 7 – Oliver Hardy, American actor (b. 1892)

August 16 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)

August 19 – David Bomberg, Vorticist painter (b. 1890)

August 20 – Julio Lozano Díaz, President of Honduras (b. 1885)

August 21 – Mait Metsanurk, Estonian writer (b. 1879)

August 30 – Harold Gatty, Australian aviator (b. 1903)

September

September 1 – Dennis Brain, English French horn player (b. 1921) (car crash)

September 2 – Bobby Myers, American NASCAR driver (b. 1927)

September 9 – Muhammad al-Muqri, grand vizier of Morocco (b. ?1844)

September 16 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (b. 1864)

September 20 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)

September 21 – Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)

September 22 – Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)

September 28 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician (b. 1888)

October

October 3 – Lőrinc Szabó, Hungarian poet (b. 1900)

October 19 – Vere Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist (b. 1892)

October 20 – Jack Buchanan, British actor (b. 1891)

October 24

Christian Dior, French fashion designer (b. 1905)

Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, South African artist (b. 1886)

October 25

Albert Anastasia, American gangster (b. 1902)

Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (b. 1878)

October 26 – Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)

October 27 – Giovanni Battista Caproni, Italian aeronautical, civil and electrical engineer, aircraft designer and industrialist (b. 1886)

October 29 – Louis B. Mayer, American film studio mogul, former head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (b. 1885)

November

November 2 – Ted Meredith, American Olympic athlete (b. 1891)

November 3

Charles Brabin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1882)

Laika, Soviet space dog

Wilhelm Reich, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1897)

November 4

Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í leader (b. 1897)

William Haywood, British architect (b. 1876)

November 7 – Hasui Kawase, Japanese painter and printmaker (b. 1883)

November 11 – Masao Maruyama, Japanese general (b. 1889)

November 17 – Cora Witherspoon, American actress (b. 1890)

November 18 – Rudolf Diels, German Nazi civil servant and Gestapo chief (b. 1900)

November 24 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)

November 25

Raymond Griffith, American actor (b. 1895)

William V. Pratt, American admiral (b. 1869)

November 26 – Billy Bevan, Australian actor (b. 1887)

November 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (b. 1897)

November 30 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)

December

December 2 – Harrison Ford, American silent film actor (b. 1884)

December 4 – John Lavarack, Australian general, Governor of Queensland (1946-1957) (b. 1885)

December 8 – Reginald Sheffield, English actor (b. 1901)

December 10 – Maurice McLoughlin, American tennis champion (b. 1890)

December 10 – Napoleon Zervas, Greek WW II Resistance leader (b. 1891)

December 11 – Musidora, French actress (b. 1889)

December 17 – Dorothy L. Sayers, British crime writer, poet, playwright and essayist (b. 1893)

December 21 – Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)

December 24 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)

December 25

Alfred Walton Hinds, 17th Naval Governor of Guam (b. 1874)

Charles Pathé, French film pioneer (b. 1863)

Stanley Vestal, American writer, poet and historian (b. 1877)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Chen-Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee

Chemistry – Lord Alexander R. Todd

Physiology or Medicine – Daniel Bovet

Literature – Albert Camus

Peace – Lester Bowles Pearson