1955
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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Template:C20YearInTopicX Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). Template:C20YearTOC
Events of 1955
January
- January 2 - José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a race track in Panama City.
- January 7 - Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
- January 18 - January 20 - Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).
- January 22 - The Pentagon announces a plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
- January 23 - The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17 near Birmingham, England.
- January 25 - The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.
- January 28 - The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.
February
- February 8 - Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant (the company's 9th since it was founded in 1940), but Kroc later takes over the company and oversees its worldwide expansion.
- February 10 - The Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
- February 12 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
- February 16 - Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
- February 22 - In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,775.
March
- March 5 - WBBJ signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee as WDXI.
- March 7 - The 1954 Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC (also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV exactly as performed on stage). The program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to that time, and becomes one of the first great television classics.
- March 17 - The Richard Riot occurs in Montreal.
- March 19 - KXTV signs on the air in the United States.
- March 20 - Blackboard Jungle opens in movie theaters featuring the song Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and his Comets, thus propelling rock and roll as a musical genre. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.
April
- April 5 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 5 - Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
- April 6 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 11 - The Taiwanese Kuomintang sabotages the "Kashmir Princess", killing 16 but failing to assassinate People's Republic of China leader Zhou Enlai.
- April 12 - The Salk polio vaccine is introduced.
- April 16 - The Burma-Japanese peace treaty signed in Rangoon on November 5, 1954 comes into force, formally ending the state of war.
- April 17 - Imre Nagy, Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
- April 18–24 - Asian-African Conference.
May
- May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
- May 9 - West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
- May 11 - The Japanese ferry Shiun Maru sinks off of Takamatsu, Shikoku; 168 are killed.
- May 14 - Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
- May 19 - The Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's sovereignty, is concluded between the four occupying powers of World War II and Austria.
June
- June 7 - The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS television, with Hal March as the host.
- June 11 - 1955 Le Mans disaster: Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide.
- June 13 - Mir Mine, the first diamond mine of the USSR, is discovered.
- June 16 - Lady and the Tramp, Walt Disney's 15th animated feature film, debuts in U.S. movie theaters.
July
- July 7 - The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.
- July 13 - Ruth Ellis (b. 1926) is hanged for murder in London (the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom).
- July 17 - Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.
- July 18 - The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially, powering Arco, Idaho.
- July 18 - Illinois's Governor William Stratton signs the Loyalty Oath Act, that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath or lose their jobs.
- July 18 - The Geneva Summit between the US, USSR, UK, and France begins.
- July 19 - Estonian Television (ETV) begins broadcasting.
- July 23 - The Geneva Summit between the US, USSR, UK, and France ends.
- July 27 - El Al Flight 402 from Vienna to Tel Aviv-Yafo via Istanbul is shot down over Bulgaria. All passengers and crew aboard the Lockheed Constellation are killed.
- July 28 - The first Interlingua Congress in Tours, France, leads to the founding of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.
August
- August 19 - Hurricane Diane hits the northeast United States, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
- August 20 - Hundreds are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
- August 22 - Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
- August 25 - The last Soviet forces leave Austria.
- August 27 - The first copy of a Guinness World Records book is published.
- August 28 - Emmett Till is killed in Money, Mississippi.
September
- September 6 - Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
- September 10 - Gunsmoke debuts on the CBS television network.
- September 15 - Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
- September 19 - President of Argentina Juan Peron is ousted in a military coup.
- September 19 - Hurricane Hilda kills 200 in Mexico.
- September 21 - Juan Perón loses power in a military coup.
- September 22 - Independent Commercial Television (ITV) begins broadcasting in the UK.
- September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
- September 30 - Actor James Dean is killed when his Porsche 550 Spyder collides with another automobile at a highway junction near Cholame, California.
October
- October 3 - The Mickey Mouse Club premieres on the ABC television network.
- October 4 - The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, Korea.
- October 4 - The Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 2-0 in Game 7 of the 1955 Fall Classic.
- October 11 - 70-mm film is introduced with the theatrical release of Oklahoma!
- October 20 - The first film footage of Elvis Presley is shot as part of a film short about Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle.
- October 20 - Cardiff is proclaimed as the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
- October 26 - After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.
- October 26 - Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.
November
- November 1 - A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying above Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board the aircraft.
- November 3 - The five-and-a-half-mile Rimutaka Railway tunnel opens in New Zealand.
- November 5 - Racial segregation is forbidden on trains and buses in U.S. interstate commerce.
- November 12 - The Bugs Bunny cartoon Roman-Legion Hare debuts in the USA.
- November 20 - Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS network.
- November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
- November 27 - Fred Phelps establishes the Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay church, in Topeka, Kansas.
December
- December 1 - Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, and the national civil rights movement begins.
- December 5 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
- December 5 - The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black boycott of city buses.
- December 14 - Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
- December 14 - Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sri Lanka join the United Nations.
- December 22 - American cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes.
- December 31
- General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
- Michigan J. Frog, a cartoon character, debuts in One Froggy Evening
Undated
- Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport (Flughafen Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach) is founded.
Ongoing
- Malayan Emergency (1948-1960)
- Marshall Plan
- Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1960)
World population
- World population: 2,755,823,000
- - Africa: 246,746,000
- - Asia: 1,541,947,000
- - Europe: 575,184,000
- - Latin-America: 190,797,000
- - Northern America: 186,884,000
- - Oceania: 14,265,000
Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1955 MCMLV |
| Ab urbe condita | 2708 |
| Armenian calendar | 1404 ԹՎ ՌՆԴ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6705 |
| Baháʼí calendar | 111–112 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1876–1877 |
| Bengali calendar | 1362 |
| Berber calendar | 2905 |
| British Regnal year | 3 Eliz. 2 – 4 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2499 |
| Burmese calendar | 1317 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7463–7464 |
| Chinese calendar | 甲午年 (Wood Horse) 4652 or 4445 — to — 乙未年 (Wood Goat) 4653 or 4446 |
| Coptic calendar | 1671–1672 |
| Discordian calendar | 3121 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1947–1948 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5715–5716 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2011–2012 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1876–1877 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5055–5056 |
| Holocene calendar | 11955 |
| Igbo calendar | 955–956 |
| Iranian calendar | 1333–1334 |
| Islamic calendar | 1374–1375 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 30 (昭和３０年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1886–1887 |
| Juche calendar | 44 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4288 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 44 民國44年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 487 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2498 |
| Tibetan calendar | 阳木马年 (male Wood-Horse) 2081 or 1700 or 928 — to — 阴木羊年 (female Wood-Goat) 2082 or 1701 or 929 |
January
- January 1 - Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
- January 1 - Stephen Mallinder, English musician (Cabaret Voltaire)
- January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
- January 2 - Vivien Savage, French singer
- January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
- January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, American writer and television producer
- January 13 - Paul Kelly, Australian musician
- January 13 - Jay McInerney, American writer
- January 15 - Nigel Benson, British author and illustrator
- January 17 - Steve Earle, American musician
- January 18 - Kevin Costner, American actor
- January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
- January 20 - Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
- January 25 - Terry Chimes, British rock drummer (The Clash)
- January 26 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born rock musician (Van Halen)
- January 27 - John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- January 27 - Alexander Stuart, British author
- January 28 - Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
- January 28 - Vinod Khosla, Venture Capitalist
February
- February 3 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
- February 3 - Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
- February 6 - Michael Pollan, American journalist
- February 7 - Miguel Ferrer, American actor
- February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
- February 10 - Chris Adams, British professional wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
- February 10 - Greg Norman, Australian golfer
- February 12 - Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
- February 15 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
- February 16 - Hunt Block, American actor
- February 17 - Mo Yan, Chinese writer
- February 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor
- February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor
- February 23 - Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer
- February 23 - Howard Jones, English musician
- February 23 - Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
- February 24 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
- February 24 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer
March
- March 2 - Jay Osmond, American pop singer
- March 4 - Dominique Pinon, French actor
- March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
- March 5 - Julien Dray, French politician
- March 6 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
- March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player
- March 8 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
- March 10 - Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
- March 11 - Nina Hagen, German pop star
- March 15 - Dee Snider, American rock singer (Twisted Sister)
- March 16 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
- March 16 - Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- March 17 - Gary Sinise, American actor
- March 18 - Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
- March 19 - Bruce Willis, American actor
- March 22 - Pete Sessions, American politician
- March 22 - Valdis Zatlers, president of Latvia
- March 22 - Lena Olin, Swedish actress
- March 23 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
- March 26 - Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
- March 28 - John Alderdice, Irish politician
- March 28 - Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
- March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football player
- March 29 - Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
- March 30 - Paul Reiser, American actor
- March 31 - Angus Young, Australian rock guitarist (AC/DC)
April
- April 1 - Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
- April 3 - Mick Mars, American musician with Motley Crue
- April 5 - Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
- April 5 - Janice Long, British radio disc jockey
- April 6 - Michael Rooker, American actor
- April 6 - Janet Ellis, British children's TV presenter
- April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
- April 7 - Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager
- April 8 - Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
- April 8 - Kane Hodder, American actor
- April 9 - Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
- April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
- April 13 - Steve Camp, American musician
- April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
- April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
- April 20 - Seema Mustafa, Indian politician and journalist
- April 21 - Ebiet G Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
- April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
- April 23 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
- April 24 - John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
- April 25 - John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
- April 25 - Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
- April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, American actress
- April 29 - Wendee Lee, American voice actress
May
- May 1 - Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
- May 1 - Nick Feldman, English musician
- May 2 - Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
- May 2 - Dave Winer, American software pioneer
- May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
- May 4 - Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
- May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
- May 7 - Kevin Reed, American Presbyterian author, theologian and publisher
- May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
- May 10 - Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster (ABC Sports)
- May 10 - Mark David Chapman, American murderer of John Lennon
- May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
- May 16 - Jack Morris, American baseball player
- May 16 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
- May 16 - Debra Winger, American actress
- May 17 - Bill Paxton, American actor
- May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
- May 19 - James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
- May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
- May 21 - Paul Barber, British field hockey player
- May 21 - Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
- May 22 - Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, American jazz guitarist (d. 2008)
- May 22 - Jimmy Lyon, American guitarist
- May 22 - Dale Winton, English radio DJ and television presenter
- May 24 - Rosanne Cash, American entertainer
- May 24 - Rumiko Ukai, Jpanese voice actress
- May 26 - Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- May 26 - Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
- May 28 - John McGeoch, Scottish rock musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees, Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
- May 29 - John Hinckley, Jr., American who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan
- May 30 - Topper Headon, British rock drummer (The Clash)
- May 31 - Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist (CGP)
June
- June 1 - Ralph Morse (actor), British actor, singer, and writer of historical dramas
- June 2 - Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
- June 2 - Michael Steele, American rock bassist (The Bangles)
- June 5 - Fernando Borrego Linares, Cuban singer and songwriter (aka Polo Montañez)
- June 6 - Sandra Bernhard, American comedian, actress, author and singer
- June 7 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
- June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
- June 10 - Andrew Stevens, American actor and film producer
- June 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
- June 14 - Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
- June 16 - Laurie Metcalf, American actress
- June 18 - Sandy Allen, American, world's tallest woman (d. 2008)
- June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish author
- June 21 - Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer-songwriter
- June 21 - Michel Platini, French football player
- June 21 - Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician
- June 22 - Glenn Danzig, American rock singer (The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
- June 22 - Green Gartside, Welsh singer, songwriter
- June 23 - Alan J. Gow, British motorsport executive
- June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- June 24 - Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga
- June 26 - Mick Jones, British rock guitarist (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite)
- June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- June 30 - David Alan Grier, American actor and comedian
July-August
- July 1 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
- July 1 - Lisa Scottoline, American novelist
- July 8 - Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
- July 9 - Fred Norris, American radio personality
- July 9 - Jimmy Smits, American actor
- July 18 - Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
- July 21 - Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
- July 22 - Willem Dafoe, American actor
- July 22 - Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani politician
- July 27 - Allan Border, Australian cricketer
- July 31 - Jakie Quartz, French singer
- August 2 - Caleb Carr, American writer
- August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor
- August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
- August 8 - Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
- August 9 - Doug Williams, American football quarterback
- August 17 - Wesley Eure, American actor
- August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
- August 22 - Chiranjeevi, Indian actor
- August 24 - Mike Huckabee, American politician, former Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate
- August 27 - Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
- August 31 - Edwin Moses, American athlete
September
- September 1 - Bruce Foxton, English musician
- September 2 - Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
- September 3 - Steve Jones, English rock guitarist (Sex Pistols)
- September 7 - Efim Zelmanov, Russian mathematician
- September 9 - John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
- September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
- September 12 - Peter Scolari, American actor
- September 15 - Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
- September 15 - Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer
- September 16 - Robin Yount, American baseball player
- September 17 - Charles Martinet, American voice-actor
- September 19 - Richard Burmer, American composer, sound designer, and musician (d. 2006)
- September 21 - Richard Hieb, American astronaut
- September 23 - Don Graham, American journalist
- September 25 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German football player
- September 28 - Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician
October
- October 1 - The Honeymooners series starts
- October 2 - Philip Oakey, English rock musician (The Human League)
- October 5 - Jean-Jacques Lafon, French singer-songwriter
- October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
- October 13 - Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
- October 15 - Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
- October 15 - James B. Aguayo-Martel, physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor
- October 18 - Timmy Mallett, British television presenter
- October 21 - Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (d. 1997)
- October 28 - Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur
- October 28 - Indra Nooyi, Indian CEO
- October 29 - Kevin DuBrow, American musician (d. 2007)
November
- November 2 - Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
- November 3 - Phil Simms, American football player
- November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
- November 5 - Karan Thapar, Indian journalist, political analyst & commentator
- November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist, First Lady of California
- November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
- November 9 - Karen Dotrice, English actress
- November 11 - Jigme Singye Wangchuk, King of Bhutan
- November 13 - Whoopi Goldberg, American actress and comedienne
- November 14 - Koichi Nakano, Japanese bicycle racer
- November 20 - Ray Ozzie, American computer programmer
- November 21 - Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
- November 23 - Steven Brust, American author
- November 24 - Ian Botham, British cricketer
- November 27 - Bill Nye, American science presenter and public television host
- November 29 - Howie Mandel, Canadian actor and game show host
- November 30 - Kevin Conroy, American voice actor
- November 30 - Billy Idol, British rock singer
- November 30 - Gordon Liu, Chinese actor
December
- December 3 - Steven Culp, American actor
- December 4 - Maurizio Bianchi, Italian musician
- December 7 - Priscilla Barnes, American actress
- December 8 - Ian Greig, English cricketer
- December 12 - Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
- December 15 - Paul Simonon, British rock bassist (The Clash)
- December 17 - Brad Davis, American basketball player
- December 16 - Rob Levin, American founder of the freenode IRC network
- December 18 - Ray Liotta, American actor
- December 21 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- December 23 - Carol Ann Duffy, British poet
- December 24 - Clarence Gilyard, American actor
- December 27 - Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)
Deaths
January–April
- January 1 - Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian scientist (b. 1894)
- January 2 - Jose Antonio Remon, President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)
- January 6 - Yevgeny Tarle, Soviet historian (b. 1874)
- January 15 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
- January 18 - August Duesenberg, German-born American automobile manufacturer (b. 1879)
- January 21 - Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
- January 24 - Ira Hayes, U.S. Marine (b. 1923)
- January 29 - Hans Hedtoft, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1903)
- January 31 - John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
- February 12 - Tom Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)
- March 9 - Matthew Henson, American explorer (b. 1866)
- March 11 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1881)
- March 12 - Charlie Parker, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
- March 23 - Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
- April 7 - Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
- April 18 - Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
May–July
- May 4 - Georges Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- May 10 - Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
- May 10 - John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (b. 1865)
- May 11 - Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
- May 16 - James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
- May 18 - Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
- May 26 - Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
- June 5 - Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)
- June 19 - Adrienne Monnier, French poet (b. 1892)
- June 24 - Carlos Gardel, Argentine singer (b. 1890)
- June 25 - Vito Corleone, Italian-American mob moss (b. 1891)
- July 3 - Beatrice Chase, British writer (b. 1874)
- July 13 - Stanley Price, American film and television actor (b. 1892)
- July 23 - Cordell Hull, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1871)
August–November
- August 2 - Wallace Stevens, American poet (b. 1879)
- August 5 - Carmen Miranda, Portuguese singer and actress (b. 1909)
- August 12 - Thomas Mann, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
- August 12 - James B. Sumner, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
- August 13 - Florence Easton, English opera soprano (b. 1882)
- August 28 - Emmett Till, American murder victim (b. 1941)
- September 24 - Ib Schønberg, Danish actor (b. 1902)
- September 30 - James Dean, American actor (b. 1931)
Sept.30: James Dean. - October 1 - Charles Christie, American film studio owner (b. 1880)
- October 9 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Catholic Archbishop of Vienna (b. 1875)
- October 8 - Iry LeJeune, Cajun musician (b. 1928)
- October 18 - José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher (b. 1883)
- November 4 - Cy Young, American baseball player (b. 1867)
- November 5 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (b. 1882)
- November 12 - Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
- November 22 - Shemp Howard, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1895)
- November 27 - Arthur Honegger, French-born Swiss composer (b. 1892)
December
- December 6 - Honus Wagner, American baseball player (b. 1874)
- December 13 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- December 21 - Garegin Njdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
- December 25 - Elizabeth Harrison, daughter of President Benjamin Harrison and Mary Dimmick Harrison (b. 1897)
- December 25 - Thomas J. Preston, Jr., professor of Archeology at Princeton University; he married Frances Cleveland, widow of President Grover Cleveland (b. 1862)
- December 27 - Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)
Nobel Prizes
- Physics - Willis Eugene Lamb, Polykarp Kusch
- Chemistry - Vincent du Vigneaud
- Physiology or Medicine- Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell
- Literature - Halldór Kiljan Laxness
- Peace - not awarded
Sports[1]
Baseball
- The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees 4 games to 3 to win the World Series.
American Football
- The Cleveland Browns beat the Los Angeles Rams 38-14 for the NFL championship in Los Angeles.
Basketball
- The Syracuse Nationals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons 4 games to 3 to win the NBA title.
Hockey
- The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 3 to win the Stanley Cup
Notes
- ^ Nite, Norm N. (1992). ROCK ON ALMANAC: The First Four Decades of Rock ‘n’ Roll: A Chronology; 2nd Edition. New York, New York: Harper Collins. pp. p26. ISBN 0-06-273157-2.
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