1968

January

January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as the leader of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia.

January 8 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson endorses the I'm Backing Britain campaign for working an additional half-hour each day without pay.

January 14 – The Green Bay Packers defeat the Oakland Raiders by the score of 33-14 in Super Bowl II at the Miami Orange Bowl.

January 15 – An earthquake in Sicily kills 380 and injures around 1,000.

January 17 – Lyndon B. Johnson calls for the non-conversion of the U.S. dollar.

January 21

Vietnam War – Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins, ending on April 8.

A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress crashes in Greenland, discharging 4 nuclear bombs.

January 22 – Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In debuts on NBC.

January 23 – North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated its territorial waters while spying.

January 25 – The Israeli submarine INS Dakar sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 69.

January 28 – The French submarine Minerve sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 52.

January 30 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins, as Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks across South Vietnam.

January 31

Việt Cộng soldiers attack the US Embassy, Saigon.

Nauru president Hammer DeRoburt declares independence from Australia.

February

February 1

Vietnam War: A Viet Cong officer named Nguyễn Văn Lém is executed by Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The event is photographed by Eddie Adams. The photo makes headlines around the world, eventually winning the 1969 Pulitzer Prize, and sways U.S. public opinion against the war.

The Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad merge to form Penn Central, the largest ever corporate merger up to this date.

February 6–February 18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France.

February 8 – American civil rights movement: A civil rights protest staged at a white-only bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina is broken up by highway patrolmen; 3 college students are killed.

February 11

Border clashes take place between Israel and Jordan.

Madison Square Garden in New York City opens at its current location.

February 12 – Vietnam War: Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.

February 13 – Civil rights disturbances occur at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

February 17 – Administrative reforms in Romania divide the country into 39 counties.

February 19

The Florida Education Association (FEA) initiates a mass resignation of teachers to protest state funding of education. This is, in effect, the first statewide teachers' strike in the United States.

NET televises the very first episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

February 24 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Huế.

February 25 – Vietnam War: Hà My massacre.

February 27 – Ex-Teenagers singer Frankie Lymon is found dead from a heroin overdose in Harlem.

March

March 7 – Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon ends.

March 8 – The first student protests spark the 1968 Polish political crisis.

Vietnam War]]: Battle of Lima Site 85, the largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members (12) during the then-secret war later known as the Laotian Civil War.

March 11 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson mandates that all computers purchased by the federal government support the ASCII character encoding.

March 12

Mauritius achieves independence from British rule.

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson barely edges out antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, a vote which highlights the deep divisions in the country, and the party, over Vietnam.

March 13 – The first Rotaract club is chartered in North Charlotte, North Carolina.

March 14 – Nerve gas leaks from the U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground near Skull Valley, Utah.

March 15 – British Foreign Secretary George Brown resigns.

March 16

Vietnam War – My Lai Massacre: American troops kill scores of civilians. The story will first become public in November 1969 and will help undermine public support for the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.

U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy enters the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

March 17 – A demonstration in London's Grosvenor Square against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War leads to violence; 91 people are injured, 200 demonstrators arrested.

March 18 – Gold standard: The United States Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back U.S. currency.

March 19–March 23 – Afrocentrism, Black Power, Vietnam War: Students at Howard University in Washington, D.C., signal a new era of militant student activism on college campuses in the U.S. Students stage rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in, laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the university in protest over its ROTC program and the Vietnam War, and demanding a more Afrocentric curriculum.

March 22 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit ("Danny the Red") and 7 other students occupy the administrative offices of the University of Nanterre, setting in motion a chain of events that lead France to the brink of revolution in May.

March 24 – Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashes en route from Cork to London near Tuskar Rock, Wexford, killing 61 passengers and crew.

March 26 – Joan Baez marries activist David Harris in New York.

March 28 – Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is shot by the police in a protest for cheaper meals at a restaurant for low-income students. The aftermath of his death is one of the first major events against the military dictatorship.

March 31 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces he will not seek re-election.

April

April 2

Bombs explode at midnight in two department stores in Frankfurt-am-Main; Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin are later arrested and sentenced for arson.

The film 2001: A Space Odyssey premieres in Washington, D.C.

April 3 – The American movie Planet of the Apes is released in theaters.

April 4

Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Riots erupt in major American cities, lasting for several days afterwards.

Apollo program: Apollo-Saturn mission 502 (Apollo 6) is launched, as the second and last unmanned test-flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle.

April 6

La, la, la by Massiel (music and lyrics by Manuel de la Calva and Ramón Arcusa) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 for Spain, at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

A shootout between Black Panthers and Oakland police results in several arrests and deaths, including 16-year-old Panther Bobby Hutton.

A double explosion in downtown Richmond, Indiana kills 41 and injures 150.

April 7 – Racing driver Jim Clark is killed in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim.

April 8 – The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (under Department of Justice) (BNDD) is created.

April 10 – The ferry TEV Wahine strikes a reef at the mouth of Wellington Harbour, New Zealand, with the loss of 53 lives, in Cyclone Giselle, which created the windiest conditions ever recorded in New Zealand.

April 11

Josef Bachmann tries to assassinate Rudi Dutschke, leader of the left-wing movement (APO) in Germany, and tries to commit suicide afterwards, failing in both, although Dutschke dies of his brain injuries 11 years later.

German left-wing students blockade the Springer Press HQ in Berlin and many are arrested (one of them Ulrike Meinhof).

U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

MGM's classic film The Wizard of Oz makes its NBC debut after being telecast on CBS since 1956. It will remain on NBC for the next 8 years.

April 18 – John Rennie's 1831 New London Bridge is sold to Arizona entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch and is rebuilt in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, reopening on October 5, 1971.

April 20

Pierre Elliott Trudeau becomes the 15th Prime Minister of Canada.

English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.

April 23

President Mobutu releases captured mercenaries in the Congo.

Surgeons at the Hôpital de la Pitié, Paris, perform Europe's first heart transplant, on Clovis Roblain.

The United Methodist Church is created by the union of the former Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches.

April 23–April 30 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university (see main article Columbia University protests of 1968).

April 26 – The nuclear weapon "Boxcar" is tested at the Nevada Test Site in the biggest detonation of Operation Crosstie.

April 29 – The musical Hair officially opens on Broadway.

May

May 2 – The Israel Broadcasting Authority commences television broadcasts.

May 3 – Braniff Flight 352 crashes near Dawson, Texas, killing all 85 persons on board.

May 13 – Paris student riots: One million march through the streets of Paris.

May 13 – Manchester City wins the 1967–68 Football League First Division by 2 clear points, over club rivals Manchester United

May 14 – The Beatles announce the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference.

May 15 – An outbreak of severe thunderstorms produces tornadoes, causing massive damage and heavy casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas.

May 16 – Ronan Point, a 23 floor tower block in Canning Town, east London, partially collapses after a gas explosion, killing 5.

May 17 – The Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burn them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War.

May 18 – West Bromwich Albion win the Football Association Cup, defeating Everton 1-0 after extra time. The winning goal was scored by Jeff Astle.

May 19

A general election is held in Italy.

Nigerian forces capture Port Harcourt and form a ring around the Biafrans. This contributes to a humanitarian disaster as the surrounded population already suffers from hunger and starvation.

May 22 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.

May 29 – Manchester United wins the European Cup Final, becoming the first English team to do so.

May 30 – Bobby Unser wins the Indianapolis 500.

June

June 3 – Radical feminist Valerie Solanas shoots Andy Warhol as he enters his studio, wounding him.

June 4 – The Standard & Poor's 500 index closes above 100 for the first time, at 100.38.

June 5 – U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested. Kennedy dies from his injuries the next day.

June 8 – James Earl Ray is arrested for the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr..

June 10 – Italy beats Yugoslavia 2–0 in a replay to win the 1968 European Championship. The original final on June 8 ended 1–1.

June 12 – The film Rosemary's Baby premieres in the U.S.

June 17 – The Malayan Communist Party launches a second insurgency and the state of emergency is again imposed in Malaysia.

June 20 – Austin Currie, Member of Parliament at Stormont in Northern Ireland, along with others, squats a house in Caledon to protest discrimination in housing allocations.

June 23 – A football stampede in Buenos Aires leaves 74 dead and 150 injured.

June 24 – Giorgio Rosa declares the independence of his Republic of Rose Island, an artificial island off Rimini, Italy. Italian troops demolish it not long after.

June 26 – The Bonin Islands are returned to Japan after 23 years of occupation by the United States Navy.

June 30 – The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy heavy military transport aircraft first flies in the U.S. This model will still be in service 40 years later.

July

July 1

The Central Intelligence Agency's Phoenix Program is officially established.

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opens for signature.

July 4 – Yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero's welcome as he sails into Portsmouth, England after his 354-day round-the-world trip.

July 15

– The soap opera One Life to Live premieres on ABC.

July 17 – Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Iraq after a coup d'état.

July 18 – The semiconductor company Intel is founded.

July 20 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

July 23–July 28 – Black militants led by Fred (Ahmed) Evans engage in a fierce gunfight with police in the Glenville Shootout of Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

July 25 – Pope Paul VI publishes the encyclical entitled Humanae vitae, condemning birth control.

July 26 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to 5 years hard labor, for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.

July 29 – Arenal Volcano erupts in Costa Rica for the first time in centuries.

July 30 – Thames Television starts transmission in London.

August

August 5–August 8 – The Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida nominates Richard Nixon for U.S. President and Spiro Agnew for Vice President.

August 11 – The last steam passenger train service runs in Britain. A selection of British Railways steam locomotives make the 120-mile journey from Liverpool to Carlisle and return to Liverpool – the journey is known as the Fifteen Guinea Special.

August 18 – Two charter buses are pushed into the Hida River on National Highway Route 41 in Japan, in an accident caused by heavy rain; 104 are killed.

August 20–August 21 – The Prague Spring of political liberalization ends, as 750,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 6,500 tanks with 800 planes invade Czechoslovakia. It is dated as the biggest operation in Europe since WWII ended.

August 21 – The Medal of Honor is posthumously awarded to James Anderson, Jr.—he is the first black U.S. Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

August 24 – France explodes its first hydrogen bomb.

August 22–August 30 – Police clash with anti-war protesters in Chicago, Illinois, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention, which nominates Hubert Humphrey for U.S. President, and Edmund Muskie for Vice President. The riots and subsequent trials were an essential part of the activism of the Youth International Party.

August 28 – John Gordon Mein, US Ambassador to Guatemala, is assassinated on the streets of Guatemala City. First US Ambassador assassinated in the line of duty.

August 29 – Crown Prince Harald of Norway marries Sonja Haraldsen, the commoner he has dated for 9 years, in Oslo.

September

September 6

Swaziland becomes independent.

150 women (members of New York Radical Women) arrive in Atlantic City, New Jersey to protest against the Miss America Pageant, as exploitative of women. Led by activist and author Robin Morgan, it is one of the first large demonstrations of Second Wave Feminism as Women's Liberation begins to gather much media attention.

September 11

The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is founded.

French General René Cogny and 94 others die in an Air France Caravelle jetliner crash near Nice in the Mediterranean.

September 13

Albania officially retreats from the Warsaw Pact upon the Soviet Union-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, having already ceased to participate actively in Pact activity since 1962.

US Army Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware, WWII Medal of Honor recipient, is killed when his helicopter is shot down in Vietnam. He is posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Agreement for merger between the General Electric Company and English Electric, the largest industrial merger in the UK up to this date.

September 14 – Detroit Tiger Denny McLain becomes the first baseball pitcher to win 30 games in a season since 1934. He remains the last to accomplish the feat.

September 17 – The D'Oliveira affair: The Marylebone Cricket Club tour of South Africa is cancelled when the South Africans refuse to accept the presence of Basil D'Oliveira, a Cape Coloured, in the side.

September 20 – Hawaii Five-O debuts on CBS, and eventually becomes the longest-running crime show in television history, until Law & Order overtakes it in 2003.

September 21 – The Soviet's Zond 5 unmanned lunar flyby mission returns to earth, with its first of a kind biological payload intact.

September 23 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive comes to an end in South Vietnam.

September 24 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS and is still on the air as of 2016.

September 27 – Marcelo Caetano becomes prime minister of Portugal.

September 29 – A referendum in Greece gives more power to the military junta.

September 30 – At Paine Field, near Everett, Washington in the United States, Boeing officially rolls out its new 747 for the media and the public.

October

October 2 – Tlatelolco massacre: A student demonstration ends in bloodbath at La Plaza de las Tres Culturas in Tlatelolco, Mexico City, Mexico, 10 days before the inauguration of the 1968 Summer Olympics.

October 3 – In Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado takes power in a revolution.

October 5 – Police baton civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of The Troubles.

October 7 – José Feliciano At the height of protests against the Vietnam War, Jose Feliciano performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Tiger Stadium in Detroit during Game 5 pre-game ceremonies of the 1968 World Series between the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. His personalized, slow, Latin jazz performance[6] proved highly controversial, opening the door for later interpretations of the national anthem.

October 8 – Vietnam War – Operation Sealords: United States and South Vietnamese forces launch a new operation in the Mekong Delta.

October 10 – Detroit Tiger Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in 7 games (4-3) after being down 3 games to 1, completing an unlikely comeback against the heavily favored Cardinals led by the overpowering right-handed pitcher Bob Gibson.

October 11

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission (Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham). Mission goals include the first live television broadcast from orbit and testing the lunar module docking maneuver.

In Panama, a military coup d'état, led by Col. Boris Martinez and Col. Omar Torrijos, overthrows the democratically elected (but highly controversial) government of President Arnulfo Arias. Within a year, Torrijos ousts Martinez and takes charge as de facto Head of Government in Panama.

October 12–October 27 – The Games of the XIX Olympiad are held in Mexico City, Mexico.

October 12 – Equatorial Guinea receives its independence from Spain.

October 14 – Vietnam War: The United States Department of Defense announces that the United States Army and United States Marines will send about 24,000 troops back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours.

October 15 – Led Zeppelin makes their first live performance, at Surrey University in England

October 16

In Mexico City, African-American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their arms in a black power salute after winning, respectively, the gold and bronze medals in the Olympic men's 200 metres.

Kingston, Jamaica is rocked by the Rodney Riots, provoked by the banning of Walter Rodney from the country.

October 18 – US athlete Bob Beamon breaks the long jump world record by 55cm / 21 3/4ins at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. His record stands for 23 years, and is still the second longest jump in history.

October 20 – Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis on the Greek island of Skorpios.

October 22 – The Gun Control Act of 1968 is enacted.

October 31 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in the Paris peace talks, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.

November

November 5

U.S. presidential election, 1968: Republican challenger Richard Nixon defeats the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, and American Independent Party candidate George C. Wallace.

Luis A. Ferré, of the newly formed New Progressive Party is elected Governor of Puerto Rico, by beating incumbent governor Roberto Sánchez Vilella of the People's Party, Luis Negrón López of the Popular Democratic Party and Antonio J. Gonzalez of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, he also becomes the first "statehooder" governor of the Island.

November 11

Vietnam War: Operation Commando Hunt is initiated to interdict men and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh trail, through Laos into South Vietnam. By the end of the operation, 3 million tons of bombs are dropped on Laos, slowing but not seriously disrupting trail operations.

A second republic is declared in the Maldives.

November 14 – Yale University announces it is going to admit women.

November 17 – The Heidi Game: NBC cuts off the final 1:05 of an Oakland Raiders–New York Jets football game to broadcast the pre-scheduled Heidi. Fans are unable to see Oakland (which had been trailing 32–29) score 2 late touchdowns to win 43–32; as a result, thousands of outraged football fans flood the NBC switchboards to protest.

November 19 – In Mali, President Modibo Keïta's regime is overthrown in a bloodless military coup led by Moussa Traoré.

November 20 – The Farmington Mine disaster in Farmington, West Virginia, kills seventy-eight men.

November 22

The Beatles release their self-titled album popularly known as the White Album.

"Plato's Stepchildren", 12th episode of Star Trek 3rd season is aired, featuring the first-ever interracial kiss on U.S. national television between Lieutenant Uhura and Captain James T. Kirk.

November 24 – 4 men hijack Pan Am Flight 281 from JFK International Airport, New York to Havana, Cuba.

November 26 – Vietnam War: United States Air Force First Lieutenant and Bell UH-1F helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire, earning a Medal of Honor for his bravery.

November 27–30 – First National Women's Liberation Conference in Lake Villa, Illinois.

December

December 3 – If I Can Dream marks the concert return of Elvis Presley.

December 6 – The Rolling Stones release Beggars Banquet, which contains the classic song "Sympathy for the Devil."

December 9 – Douglas Engelbart publicly demonstrates his pioneering hypertext system, NLS, in San Francisco, together with the computer mouse, at what becomes retrospectively known as "The Mother of All Demos".

December 10 – Japan's biggest heist, the never-solved "300 million yen robbery", occurs in Tokyo.

December 11 – The film Oliver!, based on the hit London and Broadway musical, opens in the U.S. after being released first in England. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is also filmed on this date, but not released until 1996.

December 13 – Prompted by growing unrest and proliferation of pro-communist terrorist actions, Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva enacts the so-called AI-5, the fifth of a series of non-constitutional emergency decrees that helped stabilize the country after the turmoils of the early 1960s.

December 17 – 11-year-old Mary Bell is found guilty of murdering two small boys and sentenced to life in Detention, but is later released from prison in 1980 and granted anonymity.

December 20 – The Zodiac Killer is believed to have shot Betty Lou Jensen and David Faraday on Lake Herman Road, Benicia, San Francisco Bay, California.

December 22

David Eisenhower, grandson of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, marries Julie Nixon, the daughter of U.S. President-elect Richard Nixon.

Mao Zedong advocates that educated youth in urban China be re-educated in the country. It marks the start of the "Up to the mountains and down to the villages" movement.

December 24 – Apollo program: U.S. spacecraft Apollo 8 enters orbit around the Moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William A. Anders become the first humans to see the far side of the Moon and planet Earth as a whole. Anders photographs Earthrise. The crew also reads from Genesis.

December 26 – Led Zeppelin make their American debut in Denver, CO.

December 28 – Israeli forces launch an attack on Beirut airport, destroying more than a dozen aircraft.

Dates unknown

The Khmer Rouge is officially formed in Cambodia as an offshoot movement of the Vietnam People's Army from North Vietnam to bring communism to the nation. A few years later, they will become bitter enemies.

Mattel's Hot Wheels toy cars are introduced.

United Artists pulls eleven Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons in its library from television due to the depiction of racist stereotypes towards African-Americans. These cartoons come to be known as the Censored Eleven.

January

January 1 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer

January 2 – Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor

January 5

Andrzej Gołota, Polish boxer

Carrie Ann Inaba, American choreographer, game show host and singer

January 6 – John Singleton, American film director and writer

January 7 – James Brokenshire, British politician

January 9 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress

January 12

Keith Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter

Rachael Harris, American actress and comedian

January 13 – Pat Onstad, Canadian footballer

January 14 – LL Cool J, American rapper and actor

January 15 – Chad Lowe, American actor

January 16 – Stephan Pastis, American cartoonist

January 17 – Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete

January 19 – Matt Hill, Canadian voice actor

January 21 – Charlotte Ross, American actress

January 23 – Yasuhiro Takato, Japanese voice actor

January 24

Michael Kiske, German musician

Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast

January 26

Novala Takemoto, Japanese author and fashion designer

Eric Davis, American football player

January 27 – Mike Patton, American singer

January 28 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer

January 29

Edward Burns, American actor

Sora Jung, Korean actress

January 30 – King Felipe VI of Spain

February

February 1

Lisa Marie Presley, American singer

Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player

February 2 – Kenny Albert, American sports announcer

February 3

Vlade Divac, Serbian basketball player

Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer and composer

February 5

Roberto Alomar, American baseball player

Marcus Grönholm, Finnish rally driver

Qasim Melho, Syrian television actor

February 7

Peter Bondra, Slovakian ice hockey player

Porntip Nakhirunkanok, Miss Universe 1988

February 8 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)

February 10

Laurie Foell, New Zealand/Australian actress

Atika Suri, Indonesian television newscaster

February 11 – Lavinia Agache, Romanian artistic gymnast

February 12 – Josh Brolin, American actor

February 13

Kelly Hu, American actress

Niamh Kavanagh, Irish singer, Eurovision Song Contest 1993 winner

February 14 – Jules Asner, American model and television personality

February 15 – Gloria Trevi, Mexican singer and actress

February 18

Molly Ringwald, American actress, singer and dancer

Dennis Satin, German film director

February 21 – Nitin Ganatra, Kenyan-born English actor

February 22

Delphine Boël, purported out-of-wedlock daughter of King Albert II of Belgium

Brad Nowell, American musician (d. 1996)

Jeri Ryan, American actress

February 25

Thomas G:son, Swedish composer and musician, co-writer of Euphoria

Sandrine Kiberlain, French actress

February 27 – Matt Stairs, Canadian baseball player

February 29 – Sam Sneed, American producer and rapper

March

March 1

Kunjarani Devi, Indian weightlifter

Muho Noelke, German Zen master

March 2 – Daniel Craig, British actor

March 3 – Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player

March 4

Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player

Patsy Kensit, British actress

March 5 – Gordon Bajnai, Hungarian Prime Minister

March 6 – Moira Kelly, American actress

March 7 – Jeff Kent, American baseball player

March 10 – Thio Li-ann, Singaporean law academic and Nominated Member of Parliament

March 11 – Lisa Loeb, American singer

March 12 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor

March 13

Akira Nogami, Japanese professional wrestler

Masami Okui, Japanese singer

March 14 – James Frain, British actor

March 15

Mark McGrath, American singer (Sugar Ray)

Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician

March 16 – Trevor Wilson, American basketball player

March 18 – Shinichiro Miki, Japanese voice actor

March 19 – Mots'eoa Senyane, Lesotho diplomat

March 20 – Carlos Almeida, Cape Verdean long-distance runner

March 22 – Euronymous, Norwegian musician (d. 1993)

March 23

Damon Albarn, English singer-songwriter and musician (Blur)

Mike Atherton, English cricketer

Mitch Cullin, American novelist

March 25 – Cathy Dennis, British singer-songwriter, record producer and actress

March 26

Kenny Chesney, American country music singer

James Iha, American rock musician

March 28

Iris Chang, American author (d. 2004)

Nasser Hussain, English cricketer

March 29 – Lucy Lawless, New Zealand actress and singer

March 30 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer

April

April 1

Julia Boutros, Lebanese singer

Andreas Schnaas, German director

April 5

Paula Cole, American singer

Stewart Lee, English stand-up comedian

April 8 – Patricia Arquette, American actress

April 12

Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player

Ott, English musician and record producer

April 13 – Jørn Stubberud, Norwegian musician

April 14 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor and singer

April 15 – Stacey Williams, American model

April 16 – Martin Dahlin, Swedish football player

April 17 – Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer

April 18 – David Hewlett, English-born Canadian actor, writer and director

April 19 – Ashley Judd, American actress

April 20

J.D. Roth, American television host

Yelena Välbe, Russian cross-country skier

April 23 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)

April 24

April 25 – David Moore, English-born Energy Expert

Stacy Haiduk, American actress

Yuji Nagata, Japanese professional wrestler

April 28 – Howard Donald, British singer (Take That)

April 29

Carnie Wilson, American singer and television host

Michael Herbig, German film director, actor and author

Darren Matthews, English professional wrestler

Jürgen Vogel, German actor

April 30 – T. T. Boy, American porn producer and actor

May

May 1 – Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer

May 2 – Hikaru Midorikawa, Japanese voice actor

May 7 – Traci Lords, American actress/porn star

May 9 – Marie-José Pérec, French athlete

May 12 – Tony Hawk, American skateboarder

May 13 – Sonja Zietlow, German television presenter

May 16 – Chingmy Yau, Hong Kong actress

May 17 – Constance Menard, French professional dressage rider

May 19 – Kyle Eastwood, American jazz bass musician

May 20

Timothy Olyphant, American actor

Waisale Serevi, Fijian rugby player

May 21 – Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (d. 1985)

May 22 – Graham Linehan, Irish television writer and director

May 24 – Charles De'Ath, English actor

May 26 – Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

May 27

Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player

Frank Thomas, American baseball player

May 28 – Kylie Minogue, Australian actress and singer

May 30 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French-Moroccan 9/11 conspirator

June

June 1

Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer

Karen Mulder, Dutch model and singer

June 2

Beetlejuice, member of the Wack Pack (The Howard Stern Show)

Jon Culshaw, English impressionist

June 9 – Alexandr Konovalov, Russian lawyer and politician

June 10

Bill Burr, American comedian

Nobutoshi Canna, Japanese voice actor

June 14 – Yasmine Bleeth, American actress

June 20 – Robert Rodriguez, American film director

June 21 – Sonique, British singer

June 26

Paolo Maldini, Italian football player

Iwan Roberts, Welsh footballer

Shannon Sharpe, American football player and commentator

June 28

Chayanne, Puerto Rican singer

Adam Woodyatt, British actor

June 29

Theoren Fleury, Canadian ice hockey player

Brian d'Arcy James, American actor and musician

June 30 – Philip Anselmo, American musician

July

July 5 – Ken Akamatsu, Japanese manga artist

July 7

Jorja Fox, American actress

Allen Payne, American actor

Jeff VanderMeer, American writer

July 8

Billy Crudup, American actor

Akio Suyama, Japanese voice actor

Josephine Teo, Singaporean politician.

Michael Weatherly, American actor

July 9 – Eduardo Santamarina, Mexican actor

July 10 – Hassiba Boulmerka, Algerian athlete

July 13 – Omi Minami, Japanese voice actress

July 15 – Eddie Griffin, American actor and comedian

July 16

Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player

Barry Sanders, American football player

July 17 – Darren Day, British actor and TV presenter

July 19 – Robert Flynn, American vocalist and guitarist (Machine Head)

July 21 – Johnnie Barnes, American football player

July 23

Gary Payton, American basketball player

Stephanie Seymour, American model and actress

July 24

Laura Leighton, American actress

Kristin Chenoweth, American soprano and actress

July 27 – Julian McMahon, Australian actor

July 30 – Terry Crews, American actor and former NFL player

July 30 – Robert Korzeniowski, Polish athlete

August

August 3 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (d. 2007)

August 4

Lee Mack, British actor and stand-up comedian

Olga Neuwirth, Austrian composer

August 5

Terri Clark, American country music singer

Marine Le Pen, French politician

Colin McRae, Scottish rally car driver (d. 2007)

August 9

Gillian Anderson, American actress

Eric Bana, Australian actor

James Roy, Australian author

August 10 – Greg Hawgood, Canadian ice hockey player

August 11 – Noordin Mohammad Top, Malaysian Islamist terrorist (d. 2009)

August 12

Pablo Rey, Spanish painter

Paul Tucker, English songwriter and record producer (Lighthouse Family)

Kōji Yusa, Japanese voice actor

August 14

Catherine Bell, American actress

Darren Clarke, Northern Irish professional golfer

Jason Leonard, English rugby player

August 15 – Debra Messing, American actress

August 17

Ed McCaffrey, American football player

Bruno van Pottelsberghe, Belgian economist

August 20 – Yuri Shiratori Japanese actress and singer

August 21 – Dina Carroll, British singer

August 24

Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler

Hiroshi Kitadani, Japanese singer

Tim Salmon, American baseball player

August 25 – Rachael Ray, American television chef and host

August 27 – Luis Tascón, Venezuelan politician (d. 2010)

August 28 – Billy Boyd, Scottish actor

August 31

Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician and Australian football player

Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player

September

September 1

Mohamed Atta, 9/11 ringleader of the hijackers and pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)

Atsuko Yuya, Japanese voice actress

September 3 – Raymond Coulthard, English actor

September 4

John DiMaggio, American voice actor

Phill Lewis, American actor

Mike Piazza, American baseball player

September 5 – Thomas Levet, French golfer

September 7

Marcel Desailly, French footballer

Lucy Robinson, British actress

September 8 – Paul Mazurkiewicz, American drummer, Cannibal Corpse

September 8 – Louise Minchin, British journalist and news presenter

September 9 – Julia Sawalha, English actress

September 10

Big Daddy Kane, American hip-hop artist

Guy Ritchie, British film director

September 11

Kay Hanley, American musician

Tetsuo Kurata, Japanese actor

September 13 – Laura Cutina, Romanian artistic gymnast

September 15 – Danny Nucci, American actor

September 17

Anastacia Newkirk, American singer-songwriter

Tito Vilanova, Spanish football manager (d. 2014)

September 18 – Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player

September 20

Darrell Russell, American race car driver (d. 2004)

Philippa Forrester, British TV presenter

Leah Pinsent, Canadian actress

September 21

Ricki Lake, American actress, producer, and television presenter

Lisa Angell, French singer

September 22 – Megan Hollingshead, American voice actress

September 23 – Yvette Fielding, English television presenter

September 25

Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau (d. 2013)

Heather Stewart-Whyte, British model

John A. List, American economist

Will Smith, American rapper and actor

September 26

James Caviezel, American actor

Michelle Meldrum, American guitarist (d. 2008)

Ben Shenkman, American television, film and stage actor

Tricia O'Kelley, American actress

September 27 – Mari Kiviniemi, 62nd Prime Minister of Finland

September 28

Mika Häkkinen, Finnish Formula One driver

Naomi Watts, English-born Australian actress

September 29

Patrick Burns, American paranormal investigator and television personality

Alex Skolnick, American jazz/heavy metal guitarist

Samir Soni, Indian film and TV actor

October

October 1

Mark Durden-Smith, British television presenter

Jay Underwood, American actor

October 2

Lucy Cohu, English actress

Victoria Derbyshire, British radio presenter

October 3 – Paul Crichton, English footballer

October 7

Luminița Anghel, Romanian dance/pop recording artist, songwriter, TV personality and politician

Thom Yorke, British singer/songwriter

October 8

Daniela Castelo, Argentine journalist (d. 2011)

Emily Procter, American actress

October 9

Troy Davis, American high-profile death row inmate and human rights activist (d. 2011)

Pete Docter, American animator, director

October 10

Bart Brentjens, Dutch mountainbiker

Feridun Düzağaç, Turkish rock singer-songwriter

October 11

Tiffany Grant, American voice actress

Jane Krakowski, American actress

Brett Salisbury, Author, QB

October 12 – Hugh Jackman, Australian actor

October 13 – Tisha Campbell-Martin, American actress and singer

October 14 – Matthew Le Tissier, English footballer

October 15

Didier Deschamps, French footballer

Jyrki 69, Finnish singer

Vanessa Marcil, American actress

October 17 – Ziggy Marley, Jamaican musician and oldest son of Bob Marley

October 22 – Shaggy, Jamaican singer

October 24 – Mark Walton American story artist, actor

October 27 – Alain Auderset, Swedish writer

October 28 – Juan Orlando Hernández, 55th President of Honduras

October 29 – Tsunku, Japanese singer, music producer, and song composer

November

November 1 – Silvio Fauner, Italian cross-country skier

November 3 – Debbie Rochon, Canadian actress

November 4

Lee Germon, New Zealand cricketer

Daniel Landa, Czech composer, singer and actor

Miles Long, American pornographic actor and director

November 5 – Sam Rockwell, American actor

November 6

Caesar Meadows, American cartoonist

Kelly Rutherford, American actress

November 8

Parker Posey, American actress

Zara Whites, Dutch actress

November 9 – Nazzareno Carusi, Italian classical pianist

November 10 – Tracy Morgan, American actor and comedian

November 11 – David L. Cook, American Christian recording star

November 12

Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress

Sammy Sosa, Dominican Major League Baseball player

November 13 – Pat Hentgen, American baseball player

November 14

Janine Lindemulder, American adult film actress

Serge Postigo, Canadian actor

November 15

Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (d. 2004)

Fausto Brizzi, Italian screenwriter and film director

November 16 – Tammy Lauren, American actress

November 18

Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager

Luizianne Lins, Brazilian politician

Gary Sheffield, American retired baseball player

Owen Wilson, American actor and comedian

November 20

Chew Chor Meng, Singaporean Chinese television actor

John Trobaugh, American artist and photographer

November 21

Qiao Hong, Chinese table tennis player

Sean Schemmel, American voice actor

Alex James, English bassist (Blur) and cheesemaker

November 22

Sidse Babett Knudsen, Danish actress

Rasmus Lerdorf, Danish-Greenlandic creator of PHP

November 23 – Hamid Hassani, Iranian scholar

November 24

Phil Starbuck, former English footballer

yukihiro, Japanese musician (L'Arc-en-Ciel)

November 25

Tunde Baiyewu, British singer (Lighthouse Family)

Jacqueline Hennessy, Canadian actress and talk show host

Jill Hennessy, Canadian actress

November 27 – Michael Vartan, French actor

November 28 – Ken, Japanese musician (L'Arc-en-Ciel)

November 29 – Jonathan Knight, American singer (New Kids on the Block)

November 30

Des'ree, British singer

Rica Matsumoto, Japanese voice actress and singer

December

December 2 – Lucy Liu, American actress

December 3

Brendan Fraser, Canadian-American actor

Montell Jordan, American singer

December 5 – Margaret Cho, American actress and comedian

December 7

Greg Ayres, American voice actor

Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league player

Filip Naudts, Belgian photographer

December 8

Michael Cole, American television sports commentator

Wendi Deng, Chinese-American businesswoman

Mike Mussina, American baseball player

December 9 – Kurt Angle, American amateur and professional wrestler, 1996 Olympic gold medalist

December 11 – Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt, German speed skater

December 17 – Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver

December 18 – Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress

December 21 – Khrystyne Haje, American actress

December 22 – Dina Meyer, American actress

December 23 – Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, American photographer

December 24 – Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model

December 25 – Helena Christensen, Danish model

December 26

Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler

Malcolm L. McCallum, American herpetologist, conservation biologist, and environmental scientist

December 29 – Tricia Leigh Fisher, American actress and singer

December 30 – Fabrice Guy, French skier

December 31 – Gerry Dee, Canadian actor and stand-up comedian

Date unknown

Jeff Forshaw, British particle physicist

Andrei Ivanovitch, Russian classical pianist

George Henry Smyth, Irish artist

January

January 4 – Joseph Pholien, former Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1884)

January 7

Hugo Butler, Canadian screenwriter (b. 1914)

Gholamreza Takhti, Iranian wrestler (b. 1930)

Mario Roatta, Italian general (b. 1887)

January 10 – Theophilus Ebenhaezer Dönges, Former Prime Minister of South Africa, and elected President of South Africa (b. 1898)

January 11 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and Talmudic scholar, and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1876)

January 15 – Bill Masterton, Canadian hockey player (b. 1938)

January 18 – Bert Wheeler, American actor and comedian (b. 1895)

January 19 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879), winner of the first Indianapolis 500 (1911)

January 21 – Will Lang Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)

January 22 – Duke Kahanamoku, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1890)

January 26 – Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher and aviation promoter (b. 1883)

January 30 – Robert Wood Johnson, American business leader and philanthropist (b. 1893)

February

February 1

Jacob van der Hoeden, Dutch-Israeli veterinary scientist (b. 1891)

Lawson Little, American golfer (b. 1910)

February 4 – Neal Cassady, American writer (b. 1926)

February 7 – Nick Adams, American actor (b. 1931)

February 11 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1888)

February 13 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1894)

February 19 – Georg Hackenschmidt, German strongman and professional wrestler (b. 1877)

February 20 – Anthony Asquith, British director and writer (b. 1902)

February 21 – Howard Walter Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (b. 1898)

February 22 – Peter Arno, American cartoonist (b. 1904)

February 23 – Fannie Hurst, American novelist (b. 1885)

February 27 – Frankie Lymon, American singer (b. 1942)

February 29 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)

March

March 6 – Léon Mathot, French actor (b. 1886)

March 10 – Helen Walker, American actress (b. 1920)

March 16

Leon Cadore, American baseball pitcher (b. 1890)

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)

June Collyer, American actress (b. 1906)

March 20

Charles Chaplin Jr., American actor (b. 1925)

Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (b. 1889)

March 23 – Edwin O'Connor, American novelist and Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (b. 1918)

March 24 – Alice Guy-Blaché, French film director (b. 1873)

March 27 – Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, first human in space (b. 1934)

March 30 – Bobby Driscoll, American child actor (b. 1937)

April

April 1 – Lev Davidovich Landau, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)

April 4 – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)

April 7 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)

April 10 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian politician (b. 1899)

April 14 – Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911)

April 16

Fay Bainter, American actress (b. 1893)

Edna Ferber, American writer (b. 1885)

April 19

Ronald Urquhart, British general (b. 1906)

Poul Reumert, Danish actor (b. 1883)

April 22 – Stephen H. Sholes, American record executive (b. 1911)

April 24 – Tommy Noonan, American actor (b. 1921)

April 25 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)

May

May 1 – Jack Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1895)

May 5 – Albert Dekker, American actor (b. 1905)

May 7

Mike Spence, British race car driver (b. 1936)

Craig Wood, American golfer (b. 1901)

May 9

Mercedes de Acosta, American poet, playwright, costume designer, and socialite (b. 1893)

Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (b. 1878)

Marion Lorne, American actress (b. 1883)

May 10 – Scotty Beckett, American actor (b. 1929)

May 14 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)

May 21 – Doris Lloyd, English actress (b. 1896)

May 23 – James Burke, American actor (b. 1886)

May 25 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (b. 1881)

May 28 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch-French painter (b. 1877)

May 29 – Arnold Susi, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1896)

May 31 – Preben Uglebjerg, Danish actor (b. 1931)

June

June 1 – Helen Keller, American spokeswoman for the deaf and blind (b. 1880)

June 2

Jouett Shouse, American politician (b. 1879)

Dick Williams, American tennis champion (b. 1891)

June 4 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (b. 1898)

June 6

Randolph Churchill, British politician, son of Winston Churchill (b. 1911)

Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General (assassinated) (b. 1925)

June 7 – Dan Duryea, American actor (b. 1907)

June 14 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)

June 15

Sam Crawford, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1880)

Wes Montgomery, American jazz guitarist (b. 1925)

June 18 – Sally O'Neil, American actress (b. 1908)

June 21 – Ingeborg Spangsfeldt, Danish actress (b. 1895)

June 24 – Tony Hancock, British comedian (b. 1924) (suicide)

June 29 – Paddy Driscoll, American football player (Chicago Cardinals) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1895)

July

July 1 – Virginia Weidler, American actress (b. 1927)

July 6 – Johnny Indrisano, American boxer and actor (b. 1906)

July 7

Ugo Frigerio, Italian Olympic athlete (b. 1901)

Ellsworth Johnson, American gangster (b. 1906)

July 18 – Corneille Heymans, Belgian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)

July 21 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (b. 1878)

July 23 – Henry Hallett Dale, English scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1875)

July 27 – Lilian Harvey, British-German actress (b. 1906)

July 28 – Otto Hahn, German chemist, discoverer of nuclear fission, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)

July 30 – Alexander Hall, American Theatrical Motion Picture Director (b. 1894)

July 31 – Jack Pizzey, Premier of Queensland, Australia (b. 1911)

August

August 19 – George Gamow, Ukrainian-born physicist (b. 1904)

August 26 – Kay Francis, American actress (b. 1905)

August 27

Robert Z. Leonard, American film director (b. 1889)

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)

August 29 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner (b. 1881)

August 31 – Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (b. 1908)

September

September 8 – Luther Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1928)

September 12 – Tommy Armour, Scottish golfer (b. 1894)

September 17 – Armand Blanchonnet, French cyclist (b. 1903)

September 18

Francis McDonald, American actor (b. 1891)

Franchot Tone, American actor (b. 1905)

September 19 – Red Foley, American singer (b. 1910)

September 23 – Pio of Pietrelcina, Italian saint (b. 1887)

September 24 – Virginia Valli, American actress (b. 1898)

September 26 – Lipman Heilprin, Israeli physician and Israel Prize recipient (b. 1902)

September 28 – Norman Brookes, Australian tennis champion (b. 1877)

October

October 2 – Marcel Duchamp, French artist (b. 1887)

October 4 – Hitoshi Imamura, Japanese general (b. 1886)

October 9 – Pierre Mulele, Congolese revolutionary (b. 1929)

October 10 – Trevor Housley, Australian public servant (b. 1910)

October 13 – Bea Benaderet, American actress (b. 1906)

October 18 – Lee Tracy, American actor (b. 1898)

October 20 – Bud Flanagan, British entertainer and comedian (b. 1896)

October 27 – Lise Meitner, German-Austrian physicist, discoverer of nuclear fission (b. 1878)

October 30

Pert Kelton, American actress (b. 1907)

Rose Wilder Lane, American author and reporter (b. 1886)

Ramón Novarro, Mexican actor (b. 1899)

Conrad Richter, American writer (b. 1890)

November

November 3 – Vern Stephens, American baseball player (b. 1920)

November 4 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (b. 1892)

November 6 – Charles Munch, French conductor and violinist (b. 1891)

November 7 – Gordon Coventry, Australian rules footballer (b. 1901)

November 8 – Wendell Corey, American actor (b. 1914)

November 9 – Gerald Mohr, American actor (b. 1914)

November 13 – Berthold Bartosch, Czech animator (b. 1893)

November 15 – Charles Bacon, American Olympic athlete (b. 1885)

November 18 – Walter Wanger, American film producer (b. 1894)

November 20

Helen Gardner, American actress (b. 1884)

Cathy Lewis, American actress (b. 1916)

November 23 – Shangguan Yunzhu, Chinese actress (b. 1920)

November 24 – István Dobi, former Hungarian leader (b. 1898)

November 25 – Upton Sinclair, American writer (b. 1878)

November 26 – Arnold Zweig, German writer (b. 1887)

November 28 – Enid Blyton, British children's writer (b. 1897)

December

December 2 – Adamson-Eric, Estonian artist (b. 1902)

December 4 – Archie Mayo, American actor and director (b. 1891)

December 5 – Fred Clark, American actor (b. 1914)

December 9 – Enoch L. Johnson, American political boss and racketeer (b. 1883)

December 10

Karl Barth, German Protestant theologian (b. 1888)

Thomas Merton, American author (b. 1915)

December 12 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)

December 14 – Margarete Klose, German soprano (b. 1902)

December 15 – Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)

December 15 – Jian Bozan, Chinese historian (b. 1898)

December 18 – Giovanni Messe, Italian general, field marshal and politician (b. 1883)

December 19 – Norman Thomas, American politician (b. 1884)

December 20 – John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

December 21 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian football player and manager (b. 1886)

December 24 – Leo Otis Colbert, American admiral and engineer, third Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (b. 1883)

December 26 – Weegee, Ukrainian photographer and photojournalist (b. 1899)

December 30

Trygve Lie, 1st Secretary General of the United Nations (b. 1896)

Vladimir Peter Tytla, American animator (b. 1904)

December 31 – George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)

Date unknown

Alan Stuart Paterson, New Zealand cartoonist (b. 1902)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Luis Walter Alvarez

Chemistry – Lars Onsager

Physiology or Medicine – Robert W. Holley, Har Gobind Khorana, Marshall W. Nirenberg

Literature – Yasunari Kawabata

Peace – René Cassin