1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (dominical letter C) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1971st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 971st year of the 2nd millennium, the 71st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1970s decade.
The world population increased by 2.1% this year; the highest in history.
January 2
Ibrox disaster: A stairway crush at the Rangers vs. Celtic football match in Glasgow, Scotland, kills 66.
A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States.
January 3 – BBC Open University begins in the United Kingdom.
January 5 – The 1st ever ODI cricket match is played between Australia & England at the M.C.G.
January 8 – Tupamaros kidnap Geoffrey Jackson, British ambassador to Uruguay, in Montevideo, keeping him captive until September.
January 9 – Uruguayan president Jorge Pacheco Areco demands emergency powers for 90 days due to kidnappings, and receives them the next day.
January 12 – The landmark television sitcom All in the Family, starring Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker, debuts on CBS.
January 14 – Seventy Brazilian political prisoners are released in Santiago, Chile; Giovanni Enrico Bucher is released January 16.
January 15 – The Aswan High Dam officially opens in Egypt.
January 18 – Strikes in Poland demand the resignation of Interior Minister Kazimierz Świtała. He resigns January 23 and is replaced by Franciszek Szlachcic.
January 19 – Representatives of 23 western oil companies begin negotiations with OPEC in Tehran to stabilize oil prices; February 14 they sign a treaty with 6 Khalij el-Arab countries.
January 24 – The Guinean government sentences to death 92 Guineans who helped Portuguese troops in the failed landing attempts in November 1970; 72 are sentenced to hard labor for life; 58 of the sentenced are hanged the next day.
January 25
In Uganda, Idi Amin deposes Milton Obote in a coup, and becomes president.
In Los Angeles, Charles Manson and 3 female "Family" members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders.
Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.
Intelsat IV (F2) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean March 26.
January 31 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 (carrying astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell) lifts off on the third successful lunar landing mission.
February 4 – In Britain, Rolls-Royce goes bankrupt and is nationalised.
February 5 – Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
February 7
An earthquake in the city of Tuscania, Italy kills 31.
Switzerland gives women voting rights in state elections, but not in all canton-specific ones.
Władysław Gomułka is expelled from the Central Council of the Polish Communist Party.
February 8 – A new stock market index called the Nasdaq Composite debuts.
February 9
The 6.5–6.7 Mw Sylmar earthquake hits the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 64 and injuring 2,000.
Satchel Paige becomes the first Negro League player to become voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame from the Negro League.
Apollo program: Apollo 14 returns to Earth after the third manned Moon landing.
February 11 – The US, UK, USSR and others sign the Seabed Treaty, outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor.
February 11–February 12 – Palestinian and Jordanian fighters clash in Amman.
February 13 – Vietnam War: Backed by American air and artillery support, South Vietnamese troops invade Laos.
February 15
Decimal Day: – The United Kingdom and Ireland both switch to decimal currency (see also decimalisation).
Protesting Belgian farmers bring 3 live cows to crash the EEC meeting in Brussels.
February 16 – In Italy, a local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria; residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for 5 days because of the decision.
February 20
Fifty tornadoes rage in Mississippi, killing 74 people.
The U.S. Emergency Broadcast System sends an erroneous warning, meant to be a standard weekly test conducted by NORAD in Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado; many radio stations just ignore it. The most notorious warning was of WOWO (AM) in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
February 21 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
February 26 – Secretary General U Thant signs the United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
February 27 – Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (Mildredhuis in Arnhem) start to perform abortus provocatus.
February 28 – Evel Knievel sets a world record and jumps 19 cars in Ontario, California.
March 1
A bomb explodes in the men's room at the United States Capitol; the Weather Underground claims responsibility.
Pakistani President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending National Assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
Canadian John Robarts ends his term of office as the 17th Premier of Ontario.
March 4 – The southern part of Quebec, and especially Montreal, receive 16½" (42 cm) of snow in what becomes known as the Century's Snowstorm (la tempête du siècle).
March 5 – The Pakistani army occupies East Pakistan. In Belfast, a Led Zeppelin show includes the first public performance of Stairway to Heaven, a song from the fourth album.
March 6 – A fire in a mental hospital at Burghölzli, Switzerland, kills 28 people.
March 7
The British postal workers' strike, led by UPW General Secretary Tom Jackson, ends after 47 days.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, political leader of then East Pakistan (present day-Bangladesh), delivers his famous speech in the Racecourse Field in Dhaka, calling on the masses to be prepared to fight for national independence.
March 8
The Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI breaks into the Media, Pennsylvania offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and removes all the files.
'Fight of the Century': Boxer Joe Frazier defeats Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden.
March 12 – Hafez al-Assad becomes president of Syria.
March 12–March 13 – The Allman Brothers Band plays their legendary concert at the Fillmore East.
March 16 – Trygve Bratteli forms a government in Norway.
March 18 – A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Yanawayin Lake, killing 200.
March 23 – General Alejandro Lanusse of Argentina takes power in a military coup.
March 25 – The Pakistani army starts Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan from midnight, after President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, a military ruler, voids election results that gave the Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament.
March 26
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) independence is declared by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and transmitted using East Pakistan Rifles (now Border Guards Bangladesh) radio.
Nihat Erim (a former CHP member) forms the new government of Turkey (33rd government,composed mostly of technocrats).
March 27 – East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) independence is repeatedly declared by Army Major (later President of Bangladesh) Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Kalurghat Radio Station, Chittagong.
March 28 – The Ed Sullivan Show airs its final episode.
March 29
U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley is found guilty of 22 murders in the My Lai Massacre and sentenced to life in prison (he is later pardoned).
A Los Angeles jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and 3 female followers.
April 1 – The United Kingdom lifts all restrictions on gold ownership.
April 5
In Ceylon, a group calling themselves the People’s Liberation Front begins a rebellion against the Bandaranaike government.
Chile and East Germany establish diplomatic relations.
Mount Etna erupts in Sicily.
April 7 – Greece releases 261 political prisoners, 50 of whom are sent into internal exile.
April 8 – A right-wing coup attempt is exposed in Laos.
April 9 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death; in 1972, the sentence for all California Death Row inmates is commuted to life imprisonment.
April 12 – Palestinians retreat from Amman to the north of Jordan.
April 17
The People's Republic of Bangladesh forms, under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at Mujibnagor.
Libya, Syria and Egypt sign an agreement to form a confederation.
April 19
The government of Bangladesh flees to India.
Sierra Leone becomes a republic.
The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1.
Followers of Charles Manson, the Manson Family, are sentenced to the gas chamber.
April 20
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education: The Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation.
Cambodian Prime Minister Lon Nol resigns, but remains effectively in power until the next elections.
April 21
Siaka Stevens is elected the first president of Sierra Leone.
François Duvalier, president of Haiti, dies; his son Jean-Claude Duvalier follows him as president-for-life.
April 24
Soyuz 10 docks with Salyut 1.
Five hundred thousand people in Washington, D.C. and 125,000 in San Francisco march in protest against the Vietnam War.
April 25
Todor Zhivkov is re-elected as the leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
Franz Jonas is re-elected as president of Austria.
April 26 – The government of Turkey declares a state of siege in 11 provinces, Ankara included, due to violent demonstrations.
April 28 – The first number of Il Manifesto is issued in Italy.
April 29 – Bolivia nationalizes the American-owned Matilde zinc mine.
April 30 – The Milwaukee Bucks win the NBA World Championship, sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in 4 straight games.
May 1
Amtrak begins inter-city rail passenger service in the United States.
The Ceylonese government promises amnesty for those guerillas who surrender before April 5.
May 2 – In Ceylon, left-wing guerillas launch a series of assaults against public buildings.
May 3
Arsenal F.C. wins the English Division 1 football league championship at the home of their bitter rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, with Ray Kennedy scoring the winner. (Arsenal FC will go on to win the league and cup 'double' 6 days later by defeating Liverpool in the FA Cup final).
The Harris Poll claims that 60% of Americans are against the Vietnam War.
East German leader Walter Ulbricht resigns as Communist Party leader but retains the position of head of state.
1971 May Day Protests: Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington, D.C.; police and military units arrest as many as 12,000, most of whom are later released.
May 5 – The US dollar floods the European currency markets and threatens especially the Deutsche Mark; the central banks of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland stop the currency trading.
May 6 – The Ceylon government begins a major offensive against the People's Liberation Front.
May 9
Arsenal FC beats Liverpool F.C. 2-1 to win the English FA Cup, thus completing the league and cup 'double'.
Mariner 8 fails to launch.
May 12 – An earthquake in Turkey destroys most of the city of Burdur.
May 15 – Efraim Elrom, Israeli ambassador to Turkey, is kidnapped; he is found killed in Istanbul May 25.
May 16 – A coup attempt is exposed and foiled in Egypt.
May 18
The U.S. Congress formally votes to end funding for the American Supersonic Transport program.
The Montréal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Canadiens became only the second team in NHL history to win the Cup in game 7 on the road. This also marked the last NHL game that the late Jean Béliveau played.
May 19 – Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
May 22 – An earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingöl, Turkey – more than 1,000 are killed, 10,000 made homeless.
May 23 – An air crash at Rijeka Airport, Yugoslavia kills 78 people, mostly British tourists.
May 26
Austria and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations.
Qantas agrees to pay $500,000 to bomb hoaxer-extortionist Mr. Brown (Peter Macari), who is later arrested.
May 27
Six armed passengers hijack a Romanian passenger plane and force it to fly to Vienna.
Christie's auctions a diamond known as Deepdene; it is later found to be artificially colored.
May 28 – Portugal resigns from UNESCO.
May 30 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched toward Mars.
May 31 – The birth of Bangladesh is declared by the government in exile, in territory formerly part of Pakistan.
June – Massachusetts passes its Chapter 766 laws enacting Special Education.
June 1 – Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace, claiming to represent the majority of U.S. veterans who served in Southeast Asia, speak against war protests.
June 6
Soyuz program: Soyuz 11 (Vladislav Volkov, Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev) is launched.
A midair collision between Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Douglas DC-9 jetliner and a U.S. Marine Corps McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom jet fighter near Duarte, California, claims 50 lives.
June 10
The U.S. ends its trade embargo of China.
Corpus Thursday: A student rally on the streets of Mexico City is roughly dispersed.
June 11 – Neville Bonner becomes the first Indigenous Australian to sit in the Australian Parliament.
June 13
Vietnam War: The New York Times begins to publish the Pentagon Papers. [1].
Gijs van Lennep (The Netherlands) and co-driver Helmut Marko (Austria) win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the Martini Racing Porsche 917K.
June 14 – Norway begins oil production in the North Sea.
June 17
Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, whereby the U.S. will return control of Okinawa.
President Richard Nixon declares the U.S. War on Drugs.
June 18 – Southwest Airlines, a low-cost carrier, begins its first flights between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
June 20 – Britain announces that Soviet space scientist Anatoli Fedoseyev has been granted asylum.
June 21 – Britain begins new negotiations for EEC membership in Luxembourg.
June 25 – Madagascar accuses the U.S. of being connected to the plot to oust the current government; the U.S. recalls its ambassador.
June 27 – Concert promoter Bill Graham closes the legendary Fillmore East, which first opened on 2nd Avenue (between 5th and 6th Streets) in New York City on March 8, 1968.
June 28 – Assassin Jerome A. Johnson shoots Joe Colombo in the head in a middle of an Italian-American rally, putting him in a coma.
June 30
After a successful mission aboard Salyut 1, the world's first manned space station, the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft are killed when their air supply leaks out through a faulty valve.
New York Times Co. v. United States: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.
July – Nordic Council secretariat inaugurated.
July 3 – Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors is found dead in his bathtub in Paris, France.
July 4 – Michael S. Hart posts the first e-book, a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence, on the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's mainframe computer, the origin of Project Gutenberg.
July 5 – Right to vote: The 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, formally certified by President Richard Nixon, lowers the voting age from 21 to 18.
July 6 – Hastings Banda is proclaimed President for Life of Malawi.
July 9 – The United Kingdom increases its troops in Northern Ireland to 11,000.
July 10–July 11 – Coup attempt in Morocco: 1,400 cadets take over the king's palace for 3 hours and kill 28 people; 158 rebels die when the king's troops storm the palace (10 high-ranking officers are later executed for involvement).
July 10 – Gloria Steinem makes her Address to the Women of America.
July 11 – Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.
July 13
Ólafur Jóhannesson forms a government in Iceland.
Jordanian army troops launch an offensive against Palestinian guerillas in Jordan.
The Yugoslavian government begins allowing foreign companies to take their profits from the country.
Paced by a prodigious home run by Reggie Jackson, which hits a transformer on the roof of Tiger Stadium, the American League defeats the National League 6-4 in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Detroit.
July 14 – Libya severs its diplomatic ties with Morocco.
July 15 – American President Richard Nixon announces his 1972 visit to China.
July 17 – Italy and Austria sign a treaty that ends the schism about South Tyrol.
July 18 – The Trucial States are formed in the Persian Gulf.
July 19 – The South Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,362 feet (415 m), making it the second tallest building in the world.
July 19–July 23 – Major Hashem al-Atta ousts Jaafar Muhammad al-Nimeiri in a military coup in Sudan. Fighting continues until on July 22, when pro-Nimeiri troops win. Al-Atta and 3 officers are executed.
July 24 – Georgina Rizk of Lebanon will crown Miss Universe 1971.
July 25–July 30 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli records in Munich two Debussy works for Deutsche Grammophon; it's his fifth recording.
July 26 – Apollo 15 (carrying astronauts David Scott, Alfred Worden, and James Irwin) is launched.
July 28 – Abdel Khaliq Mahjub, Sudanese communist leader, is hanged.
July 29 – The United Kingdom opts out of the Space Race, with the cancellation of its Black Arrow launch vehicle.
July 30 – In Japan, an All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 collides with a Japanese fighter jet; 162 people are killed.
July 31 – Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin become the first to ride in a lunar rover, a day after landing on the Moon.
August – Camden, New Jersey erupts in race riots following the beating death of a Puerto Rican motorist by city police. Looting and arson occurred. This is a turning point in Camden's decline to one of the poorest and highest-crime municipalities in the United States. Camden was, however, the site of a 1949 shooting rampage by Howard Unruh, considered by some to be the first mass murderer in the United States. The riots result in the demise of Camden's Sears and A&P branches. Also in 1971, Philadelphia International Records is established, with Camden native Leon Huff as co-founder.
August 1 – In New York City, 40,000 attend The Concert for Bangladesh.
August 2 – J. C. Penney debuts its trademark Helvetica wordmark which has been used ever since.
August 5 – The South Pacific Forum (SPF) is established.
August 6 – A lunar eclipse lasting 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 4 seconds is observed.
August 7 – Apollo 15 returns to Earth.
August 9
India signs a 20-year treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union.
Internment in Northern Ireland: British security forces arrest hundreds of nationalists and detain them without trial in Long Kesh prison; 20 people die in the riots that follow.
August 11 – Construction begins on the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
August 12
Three thousand people from Belfast and Derry flee to the Republic of Ireland because of the violence.
Syria severs diplomatic relations with Jordan because of border clashes.
August 14
British troops are stationed on the Ireland border to stop arms smuggling.
Bahrain declares independence as the State of Bahrain (Kingdom of Bahrain as of February 2002).
August 15
Jackie Stewart becomes Formula One World Drivers' Champion in the Tyrrell 003-Cosworth.
The number of British troops in Northern Ireland is raised to 12,500.
President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. He also imposes a 90-day freeze on wages, prices and rents.
August 18
Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
British troops are engaged in a firefight with the IRA in Derry, Northern Ireland.
August 19–August 22 – A right-wing coup ignites a rebellion in Bolivia. Miners and students join troops to support president Juan José Torres, but eventually Hugo Banzer takes over.
August 20
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) (effective 12 February 1973).
The USS Manatee (AO-58) spills 1,000 US gallons (3,800 L) of fuel oil on President Nixon's Western White House beach in San Clemente, California.
August 21 – A bomb made of two hand grenades by communist rebels explodes in the Liberal Party campaign party in Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila the Philippines, injuring several anti-Marcos political candidates.
August 25
Border clashes occur between Tanzania and Uganda.
Bangladesh and eastern Bengal are flooded; thousands flee the area.
August 26 – A civilian government takes power in Greece.
August 30 – The Progressive Conservatives under Peter Lougheed defeat the Social Credit government under Harry E. Strom in a general election, ending 36 years of uninterrupted power for Social Credit in Alberta.
September – Operation Sourisak Montry VIII opens when forces of the Royal Thai Army recapture several positions in the territory of Laos on the south bank of the Mekong in response to an encroaching Chinese presence to the north.
September 3
Qatar gains independence from the United Kingdom. Unlike most nearby emirates, Qatar declines to become part of either the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.
Manlio Brosio resigns as NATO Secretary General.
September 4 – A Boeing 727 (Alaska Airlines Flight 1866) crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
September 8 – In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
September 9 – September 13 – Attica Prison riot: – A revolt breaks out at the maximum-security prison in Attica, New York. In the end, state police and the United States National Guard storm the facility; 42 are killed, 10 of them hostages.
September 19 – Trams in Ballarat (Victoria, Australia) cease to run.
September 21 – Pakistan declares a state of emergency.
September 24 – Britain expels 90 KGB and GRU officials; 15 are not allowed to return.
September 27–October 11 – Japanese Emperor Hirohito travels abroad.
September 28 – Cardinal József Mindszenty, who has taken refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Budapest since 1956, is allowed to leave Hungary.
September 29 – A cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, in the Indian state of Odisha, kills 10,000.
October 1 – Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.
October 14 – Greenpeace is founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
October 18 – In New York City, the Knapp Commission begins public hearings on police corruption.
October 21
U.S. President Richard Nixon nominates Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Clarkston explosion in Scotland kills 22 people.
October 25 – The United Nations General Assembly admits the People's Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (or Taiwan).
October 27 – The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.
October 28
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom votes 356–244 in favour of joining the European Economic Community.
The United Kingdom becomes the sixth nation successfully to launch a satellite into orbit using its own launch vehicle, the Prospero (X-3) experimental communications satellite, using a Black Arrow carrier rocket from Woomera, South Australia.
The Khedivial Opera House in Cairo (Egypt) burns down.
October 29 – Vietnam War – Vietnamization: The total number of American troops still in Vietnam drops to a record low of 196,700 (the lowest since January 1966).
October 30 – Rev. Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party is founded in Northern Ireland.
October 31 – A bomb explodes at the top of the Post Office Tower in London.
November 3 – The UNIX Programmer's Manual is published.
November 6 – Operation Grommet: The U.S. tests a thermonuclear warhead at Amchitka Island in Alaska, code-named Project Cannikin. At around 5 megatons, it is the largest ever U.S. underground detonation.
November 8 – Led Zeppelin releases their Fourth Studio album "Led Zeppelin IV", which goes on to sell 23,000,000 copies.
November 9 – A Royal Air Force C-130 crashes into the Ligurian Sea near Leghorn, Italy, killing all 51 people on board.
November 10 – In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging 9 airplanes.
November 12 – Vietnam War – Vietnamization: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon sets February 1, 1972, as the deadline for the removal of another 45,000 American troops from Vietnam.
November 13 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to enter Mars orbit successfully.
November 14 – Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria is enthroned.
November 15
Intel releases the world's first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
International Organization and System of Space Communications (Intersputnik) (effective 12 July 1972).
November 20 – A bridge still in construction, called Elevado Engenheiro Freyssinet, falls over the Paulo de Frontin Avenue, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 48 people are killed and several injured. Reconstructed, the bridge is currently a part of the Linha Vermelha elevate.
November 23 – The People's Republic of China takes the Republic of China's seat on the United Nations Security Council (see China and the United Nations).
November 24
During a severe storm over Washington State, a man calling himself D. B. Cooper parachutes from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane he'd just hijacked, with US$200,000 in ransom money, and is never seen again (as of March 2008, this case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in history).
A Brussels court sentences pretender Alexis Brimeyer to 18 months in jail for falsely using a noble title; Brimeyer has already fled to Greece.
November 28 – The 59th Grey Cup Game sees the Calgary Stampeders beat the Toronto Argonauts 14-11.
December 1 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray, 10 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh.
December 2 – Six Persian Gulf sheikdoms found the United Arab Emirates.
December 3 – The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 begins with Operation Chengiz Khan as Pakistan launches preemptive attacks on nine Indian airbases. The next day India launches a massive invasion of East Pakistan.
December 3–4 – The Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi (former USS Diablo) sinks mysteriously near the Indian coast while laying mines.
December 4
The Montreux Casino burns down during a Frank Zappa concert (the event is memorialized in the Deep Purple song "Smoke on the Water"). The casino is rebuilt in 1975.
The McGurk's Bar bombing by the Ulster Volunteer Force in Belfast kills 15.
December 8 – U.S. President Richard Nixon orders the 7th Fleet to move towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
December 10 – The John Sinclair Freedom Rally in support of the imprisoned activist features a performance by John Lennon at Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
December 11 – Nihat Erim forms the new government of Turkey (34th government; Nihat Erim has served two times as prime minister).
December 16 – Victory Day of Bangladesh: The Pakistan Army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) surrenders to the freedom fighters of Bangladesh, ending the Bangladesh Liberation War.
December 18
The U.S. dollar is devalued for the second time in history.
The world's largest hydroelectric plant in Krasnoyarsk, Soviet Union, begins operations.
December 19
Clube Atlético Mineiro wins the Brazil Football Championship.
Intelsat IV (F3) is launched; it enters commercial service over the Atlantic Ocean February 18, 1972.
The controversial dystopian crime film A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick is released in New York City.
December 20 – Two groups of French doctors involved in humanitarian aid merge to form Médecins Sans Frontières.
December 24
Giovanni Leone is elected President of the Italian Republic.
Juliane Koepcke survives a fall of 10,000 feet following disintegration of LANSA Flight 508.
December 25
In the longest American football game in National Football League history, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
A fire at a 22-story hotel in Seoul, South Korea kills 158 people.
December 29 – The United Kingdom gives up its military bases in Malta.
Ray Tomlinson sends the first ARPANET e-mail between host computers.
The Free State of Christiania is founded.
Seychelles International Airport in Victoria, Seychelles (Mahe) is completed.
Crude oil production peaks in the continental United States at approximately 4.5 million barrels per day (720,000 m3/d).
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is established.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism is established.
The British crime magazine Master Detective, in an attempt to capitalize on the murder of Diane Maxwell, illegally takes photo negatives from Houston, Texas and uses them for a 1971 edition.
Kamuzu Banda, president of Malawi, becomes the first Black President to visit South Africa.
January 1
Sammie Henson, American wrestler, Olympic silver medalist
Bridget Pettis, American basketball player
January 2
Lisa Harrison, American basketball player
Taye Diggs, African-American actor
Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress, singer and songwriter
January 3 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player
January 5 – Mayuko Takata, Japanese actress
January 7
DJ Ötzi, Austrian entertainer and singer
Jeremy Renner, American actor, singer and producer
January 9 – Scott Thornton, Canadian hockey player
January 11 – Mary J. Blige, African-American singer
January 12 – Jay Burridge, British artist and television presenter
January 13 – Matt McIntosh, American rock singer
January 14 – Lasse Kjus, Norwegian alpine skier
January 15 – Regina King, African-American actress
January 17 – Kid Rock, American rock singer
January 18
Pep Guardiola, Spanish football manager
Seamus O'Regan, Canadian-Irish politician and former television personality
Fabian Ribauw, Nauruan politician
Jonathan Davis, American musician (Korn)
January 19 – Shawn Wayans, American actor
January 20 – Gary Barlow, British singer-songwriter
January 21 – Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
January 25 – Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
January 26 – Li Ming, Chinese footballer and football executive
January 27
Fann Wong, Singaporean Chinese actress, model, and singer
Lil Jon, American rapper and producer
Karin Tammaru, Estonian actress
January 29 – Clare Balding, British sports presenter
January 30 – Lizzie Grubman, American publicist
January 31
Lee Young-ae, South Korean actress
Patrick "Pat" Kielty, Northern Irish comedian and television presenter
Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan actress and model
February 1
Michael C. Hall, American actor
Hynden Walch, American voice actress
February 2 – Andrus Veerpalu, Estonian cross-country skier
February 3 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (d. 1999)
February 4 – Fatmir Limaj, Albanian politician
February 6 – Brian Stepanek, American actor
February 9 – Sharon Case, American model and actress
February 10
Annie Wood, American actress, writer and television personality
Lisa Marie Varon, American professional wrestler
Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress (d. 2015)
February 11 – Damian Lewis, English actor and producer
February 13 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
February 14
Kris Aquino, Filipina actress
Tommy Dreamer, American professional wrestler
Nelson Frazier, Jr., American professional wrestler (d. 2014)
February 15
Alex Borstein, American actress, voice artist, producer, and screenwriter
Renee O'Connor, American actress
February 16 – Amanda Holden, British actress
February 17 – Denise Richards, American actress
February 18 – Thomas Bjørn, Danish golfer
February 19 – Gil Shaham, Israeli/American violinist
February 20
Calpernia Addams, American actress
Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby football player (d.2017)
February 23 – Melinda Messenger, English television presenter
February 24
Pedro de la Rosa, Spanish Formula One driver
Gillian Flynn, American author, comic book writer, and screenwriter
February 25
Sean Astin, American actor
Daniel Powter, Canadian rock musician
February 26 – Max Martin, Swedish music producer and songwriter
February 27 – Rozonda Thomas, African-American singer
February 28
Amanda Davis, American writer and teacher (d. 2003)
Tristan Louis, French Internet entrepreneur
March 1 – Allen Johnson, American Olympic athlete
March 2
Method Man, African-American rapper, record producer, and actor
Roman Čechmánek, Czech hockey goalie
Karel Rada, Czech footballer
Manami Toyota, Japanese professional wrestler
March 4
Iain Baird, Canadian soccer player
Shavar Ross, American actor and filmmaker
March 5 – Yuri Lowenthal, American voice actor
March 6 – Val Venis, American professional wrestler
March 7 – Peter Sarsgaard, American actor
March 9
Diego Torres, Argentine singer
Kinga Rusin, Polish journalist
March 10 – Jon Hamm, American actor, director and producer
March 11 – Johnny Knoxville, American actor, comedian, and stunt performer
March 16 – Alan Tudyk, American actor
March 22
Iben Hjejle, Danish actress
Keegan-Michael Key, American actor, writer, and comedian
Will Yun Lee, Korean-American actor
March 23
Karen McDougal, American model
Alexander Selivanov, Russian ice hockey player
March 26 – Behzad Ghorbani, Iranian scientist
March 27
David Coulthard, Scottish racing driver
Nathan Fillion, Canadian actor
March 29
Attila Csihar, Hungarian vocalist
Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary
March 31
Pavel Bure, Russian ice hockey player
Craig McCracken, American animator
Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
April 1 – Jessica Collins, American actress
April 2
Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player
Zeebra, Japanese rapper
April 3 – Picabo Street, American skier
April 9 – Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian Formula 1 race driver
April 11 – Oliver Riedel, German musician (Rammstein)
April 12 – Shannen Doherty, American actress
April 16
Peter Billingsley, American actor, director and producer
Moses Chan, Hong Kong actor
Selena, Mexican-American singer (d. 1995)
April 18
David Tennant, Scottish actor
Fredro Starr, African-American rapper (Onyx)
April 19
Scott McCord, Canadian voice actor
Wendy Powell, American voice actress
April 20
Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
Allan Houston, American basketball player
Mikey Welsh, American musician and artist (d. 2011)
April 22 – Daisuke Enomoto, first Japanese space tourist
April 29
Tamara Johnson-George, African-American singer (SWV)
Siniša Vuco, Croatian musician
April 30 – John Boyne, Irish novelist
May 1
Stuart Appleby, Australian golfer
Ajith Kumar, Indian film actor
May 8 – Ross Anderson, American pro speed skier
May 10 – Kim Jong-nam, eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (d. 2017)
May 12 – Doug Basham, American professional wrestler
May 14 – Sofia Coppola, American filmmaker
May 15 – Phil Pfister, American strength athlete
May 17
Vernie Bennett, English singer (Eternal)
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
May 19 – Peter Boström, Swedish music producer and songwriter, co-writer of Euphoria
May 20 – Tony Stewart, American race car driver
May 23 – George Osborne, British politician
May 24 – Emily Hamilton, British actress
May 25 – Kristina Orbakaitė, Lithuanian-Russian singer and actress
May 26 – Matt Stone, American actor and producer
May 27
Mathew Batsiua, Nauruan politician
Paul Bettany, British actor
Wayne Carey, Australian rules footballer
Lisa Lopes, African-American rapper (TLC) (d. 2002)
May 28 – Marco Rubio, Cuban-American politician, U.S Senator (R-Fl.)
May 30 – Idina Menzel, American singer, songwriter and actress
June 1 – Mario Cimarro, Cuban actor and singer
June 4
Joseph Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Noah Wyle, American actor
June 5
Susan Lynch, Northern Irish actress
Mark Wahlberg, American actor, producer, businessman, model and retired rapper formerly known as Marky Mark
June 8
Jeff Douglas, Canadian actor
Troy Vincent, American football player
June 10
Bobby Jindal, American Governor of Louisiana
Kyle Sandilands, Australian DJ, Australian Idol judge and TV presenter
June 11 – Kenjiro Tsuda, Japanese voice actor
June 12
Arman Alizad, Finnish tailor, columnist and TV personality
Mark Henry, American professional wrestler, former Olympian
June 15
Taavi Eelmaa, Estonian actor
Isménia do Frederico, Cape Verdean sprinter
June 16
Eva Püssa, Estonian actress
Tupac Shakur, African-American rapper and actor (d. 1996)
June 17 – Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer
June 18 – Nathan Morris, African-American singer (Boyz II Men)
June 20 – Josh Lucas, American actor
June 21 – Anette Olzon, Swedish singer (Nightwish, Alyson Avenue)
June 22 – Kurt Warner, former American football player
June 25
Neil Lennon, Northern Irish footballer
Scott Maslen, English actor
June 26 – Max Biaggi, Italian motercycle racer
June 27
King Dipendra of Nepal (d. 2001)
Kieren Keke, Nauruan politician
June 28
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraqi Islamic extremist leader
Fabien Barthez, French football player
Norika Fujiwara, Japanese actress and television personality
Aileen Quinn, American actress
Elon Musk, South African-born, Canadian-American entrepreneur, engineer, inventor and investor
June 29
Matthew Good, Canadian musician
Junko Noda, Japanese voice actress
June 30 – Jamie McLennan, retired professional ice hockey goaltender, radio sports analyst
July 1
Amira Casar, French actress
Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, African-American rapper, singer, and songwriter
July 3 – Julian Assange, Australian activist
July 9
Marc Andreessen, American software developer
Scott Grimes, American actor
July 11 – Brett Hauer, American ice hockey player
July 12
Robert Allenby, Australian golfer
Kristi Yamaguchi, American figure skater
July 13 – Craig Elliott, American illustrator
July 14
Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly, American actress
Mark LoMonaco, American professional wrestler
Joey Styles, American professional wrestling announcer
Howard Webb, English referee
July 16 – Corey Feldman, American actor
July 17 – Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
July 18 – Penny Hardaway, American basketball player
July 19 – Vitali Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer
July 20
Sandra Oh, Korean actress
DJ Screw, American hip hop DJ (d. 2000)
July 21
Charlotte Gainsbourg, French actress and singer-songwriter
Nuno Markl, Portuguese comedian and radio host
July 23
Ahmed Ezz, Egyptian actor
Alison Krauss, American country singer
Scott Krippayne, American Christian musician
July 26
Khaled Mahmud, Bangladeshi cricketer
Scott Cawthon, American independent video game developer and animator
July 28 – Jeffrey S. Williams, American sportswriter
July 30 – Tom Green, Canadian entertainer
August 1 – Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mexican politician (d. 2008)
August 2 – Michael Hughes, Northern Irish footballer
August 4
Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
Yo-Yo, African-American rapper
August 8 – Ali Liebegott, American author and poet
August 10
Roy Keane, Irish footballer
Mario César Kindelán Mesa, Cuban amateur boxer
Justin Theroux, American actor
August 12
Patrick Carpentier, Canadian race car driver
Pete Sampras, American tennis player
Phil Western, Canadian musician
August 13
Moritz Bleibtreu, German actor
Heike Makatsch, German actress
August 17
Anthony Kearns, Irish tenor
Jorge Posada, Puerto Rican baseball player
August 19 – Guido Cantz, German television presenter
August 20 – David Walliams, English comedy actor
August 21 – Robert Harvey, Australian rules footballer
August 22
Richard Armitage, English actor
Benoît Violier, French-born chef (d. 2016)
August 25
Mike Lockwood, American wrestler (d. 2003)
Ayumi Miyazaki, Japanese singer
August 26
Gaynor Faye, British actress
Thalía, Mexican actress and singer
August 27 – Julian Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer
August 28
Janet Evans, American swimmer
Daniel Goddard, Australian actor and model
August 29 – Carla Gugino, American actress
August 31
Pádraig Harrington, Irish golfer
Chris Tucker, American actor and comedian
September 1 – Hakan Şükür, Turkish footballer
September 2
Kjetil André Aamodt, Norwegian alpine skier
Arnold Arre, Filipino graphic novelist
Tommy Maddox, American football player
Shauna Sand, American model and actress
September 4 – Anita Yuen, Hong Kong actress
September 6 – Dolores O'Riordan, Irish singer
September 8
David Arquette, American actor
Brooke Burke-Charvet, American model
Martin Freeman, English actor
September 9
Eric Stonestreet, American actor
Henry Thomas, American actor
September 11 – Richard Ashcroft, English musician and former lead singer of The Verve
September 13 – Stella McCartney, British fashion designer, daughter of Paul McCartney
September 15 – Colleen O'Shaughnessey, American voice actress
September 16 – Amy Poehler, American actress
September 17 – Jens Voigt, German cyclist
September 18
Lance Armstrong, American cyclist
Anna Netrebko, Russian operatic soprano
Jada Pinkett Smith, African-American actress, singer, and songwriter
September 19 – Sanaa Lathan, African-American actress
September 20 – Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer
September 21
Luke Wilson, American actor
Alfonso Ribeiro, American actor, television director, dancer, and current host of America's Funniest Home Videos
September 22
Chesney Hawkes, English singer-songwriter
Ted Leonard, American singer (Enchant)
September 23 – Lee Mi-yeon, South Korean actress
September 24 – Michael S. Engel, American paleontologist and entomologist
September 25 – Jessie Wallace, English actress
September 27 – Horacio Sandoval, Mexican artist
September 29 – Sibel Tüzün, Turkish pop/rock/jazz singer
September 30
Jenna Elfman, American actress
Jeff Whitty, American playwright
October 2
Xavier Naidoo, German singer
Tiffany, American singer
October 3 – Kevin Richardson, American pop singer (Backstreet Boys)
October 5 – Samuel Vincent, Canadian voice actor
October 10
Tiffany Mynx, American porn actress and director
Evgeny Kissin, Russian pianist
October 12 – Đàm Vĩnh Hưng, Vietnamese singer
October 13
Sacha Baron Cohen, English comedian and actor
Pyrros Dimas, Greek weightlifter
October 14
Andy Cole, English Footballer
Jorge Costa, Portuguese footballer
October 16 – Mirko Reisser (DAIM), German graffiti-artist
October 17
Martin Heinrich, American politician and U.S. Senator (D-New Mexico); was considered for nominee Hillary Clinton's running mate for the 2016 election
Chris Kirkpatrick, American singer ('N Sync)
October 20
Snoop Dogg, African-American rapper
Dannii Minogue, Australian singer
October 21 – Jade Jagger, English jewelry designer
October 23 – Bohuslav Sobotka, 11th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
October 24 – Caprice Bourret, American model and actress
October 25
Athena Chu, Hong Kong actress and singer
Midori Gotō, Japanese violinist
Pedro Martínez, Dominican baseball player
Craig Robinson, American actor, comedian and singer
October 29 – Winona Ryder, American actress
November 3
Piret Laurimaa, Estonian actress
Dylan Moran, Irish comedian, actor, and writer
November 4 – Tabu, Indian actress
November 5 – Jonny Greenwood, English musician and composer
November 7
Robin Finck, American guitarist
Rituparna Sengupta, Indian film actress
November 8
Carlos Atanes, Spanish film director
Tech N9ne, American rapper
November 10
Big Pun, American/Latin rapper (d. 2000)
Niki Karimi, Iranian actress and movie director
November 11 – David DeLuise, American actor
November 12 – Yasuo Aiuchi, Japanese snowboarder
November 12 – Chen Guangcheng, Chinese civil rights activist
November 14
Adam Gilchrist, Australian cricketer
Marco Leonardi, Italian actor
November 16 – Alexander Popov, Russian swimmer
November 17 – Michael Adams, British chess player
November 18 – Özlem Tekin, Turkish singer
November 19 – Sundeep Malani, Indian film director
November 20
Dion Nash, New Zealand cricket captain
Joel McHale, Italian-born American actor
November 21 – Michael Strahan, American-German television personality and American football player
November 22 – Kyran Bracken, English rugby player
November 23 – Chris Hardwick, American actor and comedian
November 24 – Keith Primeau, Canadian hockey player
November 25
Christina Applegate, American actress
Magnus Arvedson, Swedish hockey player
November 28 – Fenriz, Norwegian musician
November 30
Jessalyn Gilsig, Canadian actress
Iván "Pudge" Rodríguez, Puerto Rican baseball player and actor
December 1 – Jason Keng-Kwin Chan, Malaysian-Australian actor
December 2 – Mine Yoshizaki, Japanese manga artist
December 5 – Kali Rocha, American actress
December 6
Helena Bulaja, Croatian multimedia artist
Richard Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
Katariina Unt, Estonian actress
December 7
Vladimir Akopian, Armenian chess player
Larisa Alexandrovna, Ukrainian-American feminist
December 8 – Abdullah Ercan, Turkish football player
December 10 – Michele Mahone, American television entertainment reporter and former make-up artist and hair stylist
December 12 – Sammy Korir, Kenyan long-distance runner
December 15 – Arne Quinze, Belgian conceptual artist
December 16
Michael McCary, African-American singer (Boyz II Men)
Paul van Dyk, German dance music DJ, musician and record producer
December 17
Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
Alan Khan, South African radio DJ
Sinan Akkuş, Turkish-German actor
December 18
Jason Hughes, Welsh actor
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
December 20 – Simon O'Neill, New Zealand opera singer
December 22 – Khalid Khannouchi, Moroccan long-distance runner
December 23
Corey Haim, Canadian actor (d. 2010)
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English socialite (d. 2017)
December 24
Giorgos Alkaios, Greek recording artist
Christopher Daniels, American professional wrestler
Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer
December 25
Dido, English singer
Ain Mäeots, Estonian actor and director
Justin Trudeau, 23rd and current Prime Minister of Canada
December 26 – Jared Leto, American actor and musician (Thirty Seconds to Mars)
December 31 – Brent Barry, American basketball player
Vic Pratt, English writer
January 4 – Arthur Ford, American psychic spiritual medium, clairaudient (b. 1896)
January 5 – Douglas Shearer, Canadian film sound engineer (b. 1899)
January 9 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1876)
January 10 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (b. 1883)
January 12 – John Tovey, British admiral (b. 1885)
January 14 – Guillermo de Torre, Spanish Dadaist author (b. 1900)
January 15 – John Dall, American actor (b. 1918)
January 20 – Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, American actor, director, writer, and producer (b. 1880)
January 23 – Fritz Feigl, Austria-born chemist (b. 1875)
January 24
St. John Greer Ervine, Northern Irish dramatist and author (b. 1883)
Bill W. (William Griffith Wilson), co-founder Alcoholics Anonymous (b. 1895)
January 25
Barry III, Guinean politician (b. 1923)
Hermann Hoth, German general (b. 1885)
Isobel Lennart, American screenwriter (b. 1915)
January 27 – Jacobo Árbenz, 19th President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
January 28 – Donald Winnicott, British psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
January 31 – Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian, linguist (b. 1891)
February 1 – Robert Gordon, American actor (b. 1895)
February 2 – Secundino Zuazo, Spanish architect and city planner (b. 1887)
February 3 – Jay C. Flippen, American actor (b. 1899)
February 4 – Charles Lahr, German-born anarchist, London bookseller and publisher (b. 1885)
February 5 – Samuel Fox, American music publisher and founder of the Sam Fox Publishing Company (b. 1884)
February 8 – Charles Walter Simpson, English painter (b. 1885)
February 12 – James Cash Penney, American founder of J. C. Penney (b. 1875)
February 13 – Emil Fuchs, German theologian (b. 1874)
February 18 – Jaime de Barros Câmara, Brazilian archbishop (b. 1894)
February 19 – Edwin North McClellan, United States Marine Corps (b. 1881)
February 22 – William B. Hartsfield, American politician (b. 1890)
February 25 – Theodor Svedberg, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
February 26 – Yahei Miura, Japanese athlete (b. 1895)
February 28 – Pierino Gabetti, Italian Olympic weightlfter (b. 1904)
March 5 – Jean Grenier, French philosopher and writer (b. 1898)
March 6 – Herbert McLean Evans, U.S. anatomist and embryologist (b. 1882)
March 7 – Barney Balaban, American studio executive (b. 1887)
March 8
Borden Chase, American screenwriter (b. 1900)
Harold Lloyd, American actor and filmmaker (b. 1893)
James Tait Plowden-Wardlaw, Vicar of St Clement’s Cambridge and a barrister (b. 1873)
March 9 – Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch (b. 1902)
March 11
Philo T. Farnsworth, American television pioneer (b. 1906)
C. D. Broad, English philosopher (b. 1887)
March 12 – David Burns, American actor (b. 1902)
March 16
Bebe Daniels, American actress (b. 1901)
Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York; American presidential candidate (b. 1902)
March 17 – Elizabeth Okie Paxton, American painter (b. 1877)
March 18 – Leland Hayward, American film and theatrical agent (b. 1902)
March 19 – Winifred Horrabin, British socialist activist and journalist (b. 1887)
March 23 – Basil Dearden, English film director (b. 1911)
March 24
Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect and designer (b. 1902)
Arthur Metcalfe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
March 31 – Karl King, United States march music (b. 1891)
April 1 – Ramiro Arrue, Basque painter, illustrator, and ceramist (b. 1892)
April 3 – Joseph Valachi, American gangster (b. 1904)
April 6
Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (b. 1882)
Margaret Newton, Canadian plant pathologist and mycologist (b. 1887)
April 8 – Ivan Vurnik, Slovene architect that helped found the Ljubljana School of Architecture (b. 1884)
April 12 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
April 13 – Juhan Smuul, Estonian writer (b. 1922)
April 15 – Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian writer and critic (b. 1886)
April 16 – William Eckert, Commissioner of American baseball (b. 1909)
April 17 – William Corbett, American attorney, acting Governor of Guam (b. 1902)
April 19 – Earl Thomson, Canadian athlete (b. 1895)
April 20 – Cecil Parker, English actor (b. 1897)
April 21
Papa Doc Duvalier, President of Haiti (b. 1907)
Edmund Lowe, American actor (b. 1890)
April 26 – T. V. Soong, Republic of China businessman and politician (b. 1891)
April 29 – Nikolai P. Barabashov, Russian astronomer (b.1894)
April 30 – Albin Stenroos, Finnish athlete (b. 1889)
May 1
Glenda Farrell, American actress (b. 1904)
Cheridah de Beauvoir Stocks, the second British woman to gain a Royal Aero Club aviator licence, in 1911 (b. 1887)
May 2 – Semaun, first chairman of the Communist Party (b. 1899)
May 8 – Frederick Sheffield, American Olympic rower - Men's eights (b. 1902)
May 11 – Seán Lemass, Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1899)
May 12
Harold Lea Fetherstonhaugh, Canadian architect from Montreal, Quebec (b. 1887)
Tor Johnson, Swedish wrestler and actor (b. 1903)
Heinie Manush, American baseball player (b. 1901)
May 15
Goose Goslin, American baseball player (b. 1900)
Sir Tyrone Guthrie, English film director, producer, and writer (b. 1900)
May 17 – Georg Muschner, German cinemagratopher (b. 1885)
May 18
G. Owen Bonawit, stained glass artist (b. 1891)
Bruno Villabruna, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
May 19
Ogden Nash, American poet (b. 1902)
Bernard Wagenaar, Dutch/American composer, conductor and violinist (b. 1894)
May 21 – Dennis King, English actor (b. 1897)
May 26 – Laurence Wild, American basketball player, coach, and 30th Governor of American Samoa (b. 1890)
May 27 – Chips Rafferty, Australian actor (b. 1909)
May 28
Eduardo Blanco Acevedo, Uruguayan political figure and physician (b. 1884)
Garnet Kearney, Canadian doctor, teacher, and pioneer (b. 1884)
Kim Iryeop, Korean writer, journalist, feminist activist, Buddhist nun (b. 1896)
Thomas McLaughlin, Irish engineer (b. 1896)
Audie Murphy, American World War II hero and actor (b. 1924)
Alfred Rose (bishop), the sixth Bishop of Dover in the modern era (b. 1884)
Miriam Soljak, New Zealand feminist and communist (b. 1879)
Jean Vilar, French stage actor (b. 1912)
May 30 – Marcel Dupré, French composer (b. 1886)
June 1 – Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian (b. 1892)
June 4 – György Lukács, Hungarian Marxist philosopher, aesthetician, literary historian, and critic (b. 1885)
June 10
Virginia True Boardman, American actress (b. 1889)
Michael Rennie, English actor (b. 1909)
June 11 – Ambrose, English violinist and bandleader (b. 1896)
June 14 – Carlos P. Garcia, 8th President of the Philippines (b. 1896)
June 15
Herbert Gundelach, German general during the Second World War (b. 1899)
Arthur Kaufmann, German painter, (b. 1888)
Wendell Meredith Stanley, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
June 16 – John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, British broadcasting executive (b. 1889)
June 18
Thomas Gomez, American actor (b. 1905)
Libby Holman, American singer and actress (b. 1904)
Paul Karrer, Swiss chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
Prajnalok Mahasthavir, scholar, writer and orator (b. 1879)
Mildred Veitch, last member of the Veitch family of horticulturists (b. 1889)
June 25 – John Boyd Orr, Scottish physician and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)
June 30
Herbert Biberman, Jewish-American screenwriter and film director (b. 1900)
Alexander Curt Brade, German botanist (b. 1881)
Crew of Soyuz 11:
Georgy Dobrovolsky (b. 1928)
Viktor Patsayev (b. 1933)
Vladislav Volkov (b. 1935)
Gaston Balande, French painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
July 1
William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
Learie Constantine, Baron Constantine, Trinidadian cricketer (b. 1901)
July 3 – Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)
July 4
Maurice Bowra, British critic (b. 1898)
August Derleth, American author and anthologist (b. 1909)
Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (b. 1877)
July 6 – Louis Armstrong, African-American jazz trumpeter (b. 1901)
July 7
Claude Gauvreau, Canadian writer (b. 1925)
Ub Iwerks, American animator (b. 1901)
July 10 – George Kenner, German artist (b. 1888)
July 13 – Joseph J. Clark, American admiral, (b. 1893)
July 15 – Bill Thompson, American voice actor (b. 1913)
July 17 – Cliff Edwards, American actor (b. 1895)
July 19
John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, British businessman (b. 1886)
Harry W. Hill, American admiral (b. 1890)
Norman Reilly Raine, American screenwriter (b. 1894)
Arsène Roux, French Arabist (b. 1893)
July 21 – Michael Somogyi, Hungarian-American professor of biochemistry (b. 1883)
July 22 – W. Ross Thatcher, Premier of Saskatchewan, Canada (1964–1971) (b. 1917)
July 23 – Van Heflin, American actor (b. 1910)
July 24
Christl Mardayn, German actress (b. 1896)
Alan Rawsthorne, British Composer (b. 1905)
July 25 – Alfred Michael "Chief" Venne, Ojibwa/Chippewa Native American leader (b. 1879)
July 26 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (b. 1923)
July 27 – Charlie Tully, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1924)
July 30 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian poet (b. 1901)
August 2
Satyananda Giri, Indian monk and Yukteswar Giri’s chief in Dubai,India (b. 1896)
John McDermott, American golfer (b. 1891)
August 3 – Beatrice Kerr, Australian swimmer, diver, and aquatic performer (b. 1887)
August 4 – E. Barrett Prettyman, United States federal judge (b. 1891)
August 5 – Royal Rife, American inventor (b. 1888)
August 10 – Antoine Mostaert, CICM Missionaries (b. 1881)
August 11 – John Burton Cleland, Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist (b. 1878)
August 12 – James T. Berryman, American political cartoonist, recipient of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning (b. 1902)
August 13 – King Curtis, American saxophonist (b. 1934)
August 15
Albrecht Goetze, German-American Hittitologist (b. 1897)
Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born American actor (b. 1895)
August 17 – Horace McMahon, American actor (b. 1906)
August 20 – Matiur Rahman, Bangladeshi war hero (b. 1945)
August 24 – Carl Blegen, American archaeologist (b. 1887)
August 25 – Ted Lewis, American musician and entertainer (b. 1890)
August 27
Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer (b. 1904)
Bennett Cerf, American publisher and television personality (b. 1898)
August 28
Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey, British Judge during the Nuremberg trials after World War II (b. 1880)
Reuvein Margolies, Austrian-Hungarian-born Israeli author and Talmudic scholar (b. 1889)
September 5 – George Trafton, American football player (b. 1897)
September 7 – Spring Byington, American actress (b. 1886)
September 8 – Emmett Toppino, American Olympic athlete (b. 1909)
September 10 – Pier Angeli, Italian actress (b. 1932)
September 11
Bella Darvi, Polish-born actress (b. 1928)
Percy Helton, American film and television actor (b. 1894)
Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader (b. 1894)
September 12 – Lin Biao, Chinese defense minister (b. 1907)
September 17 – Carlos Lamarca, Brazilian military officer turned guerrilla leader (b. 1937)
September 20 – Giorgos Seferis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
September 21 – Bernardo Houssay, Argentine physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
September 22 – Lilian Bland, British journalist (b. 1878)
September 23
James Waddell Alexander II, mathematician and topologist (b. 1888)
Billy Gilbert, American actor (b. 1894)
September 24 – Hedwiga Reicher, German actress (b. 1884)
September 25 – Hugo Black, American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1886)
October 2
Jessie Arms Botke, American artist (b. 1883)
Richard H. Jackson, four-star admiral (b. 1866)
October 3 – Leah Baird, American actress (b. 1883)
October 6 – Debaki Bose, Bengali director, writer, and actor (b. 1898)
October 7 – Henry Shoemaker Conard, authority on bryophytes and water lilies (b. 1874)
October 8 – Johanna Bordewijk-Roepman, Dutch composer (b. 1892)
October 9 – Peter Rindskopf, American civil rights lawyer (b. 1942)
October 10 – Cyril Burt, British educational psychologist (b. 1883)
October 11 – Chester Conklin, American comedic actor (b. 1886)
October 12
Dean Acheson, United States Secretary of State (b. 1893)
Gene Vincent, American singer (b. 1935)
October 13
Benito Canónico, Venezuelan composer (b. 1894)
Hans Ledersteger, Austrian art director (b. 1898)
October 16
Richard Thomas Alexander, American educator and influential education theorist.(b. 1887)
Robin Boyd, Australian architect (b. 1919)
October 19 – Betty Bronson, American actress (b. 1906)
October 21
Raymond Hatton, American actor (b. 1887)
Naoya Shiga, Japanese writer (b. 1883)
October 24 – Carl Ruggles, American composer (b. 1876)
October 27 – Gustave Baumann, American printmaker and painter (b. 1881)
October 29
Duane Allman, American rock guitarist (b. 1946)
Arne Tiselius, Swedish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
November 1 – Gertrud von Le Fort, German writer of novels, poems and essays (b. 1876)
November 2 – Martha Vickers, American actress (b. 1925)
November 4 – Guillermo León Valencia, 21st President of Colombia (b. 1909)
November 9 – Maude Fealy, American stage and film actor (b. 1881)
November 11
A. P. Herbert, English humorist, novelist, playwright and law reform activist (b. 1890)
Walther Kittel, German general during World War II (b. 1887)
November 16
Lucien Chopard, French entomologist (b. 1885)
Edie Sedgwick, American actress and model (b. 1943)
November 17
Debaki Bose, Indian actor, director and writer (b. 1898)
Dame Gladys Cooper, British actress (b. 1888)
November 22 – József Zakariás, Hungarian soccer player (b. 1924)
November 25 – Hank Mann, American comedic actor (b. 1888)
November 26 – James Alberione, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1884)
November 27 – Joe Guyon, American football player (b. 1892)
November 29 – Knud Jessen, Danish botanist and quaternary geologist (b. 1884)
December 2 – E. M. Almedingen, Russian-British novelist, biographer and children's author (b. 1898)
December 6 – Mathilde Kschessinska, Russian ballerina (b. 1872)
December 7 – Ferdinand Pecora, American lawyer and judge (b. 1882)
December 9 – Ralph Bunche, African-American diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
December 12
Torrance "Torry" Gillick, Scottish footballer (b. 1915)
Nikolai Kudryavtsev, Soviet Russian petroleum geologist (b. 1893)
Yechezkel Kutscher, Israeli philologist and Hebrew linguist (b. 1909)
Alan Morton, Scottish footballer (b. 1893)
David Sarnoff, Radio and television pioneer (b. 1891)
December 13 – Gotthard Heinrici, German general (b. 1886)
December 15 – Paul Levy, French mathematician (b. 1886)
December 18
Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
Diana Lynn, American actress (b. 1926)
December 20
Gustavo Bacarisas, Gibraltarian painter (b. 1873)
Roy O. Disney, American studio executive (b. 1893)
December 22 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch writer (b. 1913)
December 24
Dora Altmann, German actress (b. 1881)
Maria Koepcke, German ornithologist (b. 1924)
December 26 – Robert Lowery, American actor (b. 1913)
December 28 – Max Steiner, Austrian-born film composer (b. 1888)
December 29 – Stuart Holmes, American actor (b. 1884)
December 30
Dorothy Comingore, American actress (b. 1913)
Jo Cals, Dutch politician and jurist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1965–1966) (b. 1914)
December 31
Pete Duel, American actor (Alias Smith and Jones) (b. 1940)
Eduardo Zamacois, Spanish novelist (b. 1873)
Reg Bunn, British artist (b. 1905)
Physics – Dennis Gabor
Chemistry – Gerhard Herzberg
Medicine – Earl W. Sutherland, Jr
Literature – Pablo Neruda
Peace – Willy Brandt
Economics – Simon Kuznets
1971 Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA