1954
| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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Template:C20YearInTopicX 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar). Template:C20YearTOC
Events of 1954
January
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- January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from East Germany.
- January 12 – Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200.
- January 14 – Marilyn Monroe marries baseball player Joe DiMaggio.
- January 15 – Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya.
- January 17 – In Yugoslavia, Milovan Djilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties.
- January 20
- The coldest day ever recorded in the contiguous United States at −56.5 °C (−70 °F).
- The U.S.-based National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
- January 21 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower.
- January 25 – The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.
February
- February 3 – Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.
- February 10 – After authorizing $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
- February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
- February 25 – Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes premier of Egypt.
March
- March 1
- U.S. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test has been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
- U.S. Capitol shooting incident: Four Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in the United States House of Representatives chamber and wound five; they are apprehended by security guards.
- March 9 – American journalists Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute See It Now documentary, entitled A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.
- March 12 – Finland and Germany officially end their state of war.
- March 13 – French troops begin the battle against the Viet Minh in Dien Bien Phu.
- March 19 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory at Madison Square Garden, in the first televised boxing prize fight to be shown in color.
- March 23 – In Vietnam, the Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu. The remaining French Army units there are partially isolated.
- March 25
- The 26th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
- RCA manufactures the first color TV set (12-inch screen; price: $1,000).
- May 1 – The Unification Church is founded in South Korea.
- May 4 – General Alfredo Stroessner seizes power in a coup d'état in Paraguay.
- May 6 – Roger Bannister runs the first four-minute mile.
- May 7 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
- May 14 – The Boeing 707 is released after about two years of development.
- May 15 – Latin Union (Unión Latina) created by Convention of Madrid, member countries belong to the five Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
- May 17
- Brown v. Board of Education (347 US 483 1954): The United States Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional.
- The Petrov Royal Commission in Australia begins its inquiry.
- Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (21st government)
- May 20 – Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
- May 22 – The common Nordic Labour Market act is signed.
- May 29 – Robert Menzies's government is re-elected for a 4th term in Australia.
June
- June 9 – McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy, during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army, saying, 'Have you, at long last, no decency?'.
- June 14 – The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
- June 15 – The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.
- June 17 – A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in Guatemala.
- June 18 – Pierre Mendès-France becomes prime minister of France.
- June 27
- Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than 35 years.
- The world's first atomic power station opens at Obninsk, near Moscow.
July
- July 1
- The Common Nordic Labor Market Act comes into effect.
- The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 meters.
- July 4
- Food rationing in Great Britain ends with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II and nearly a decade after the war's end.
- West Germany beats Hungary 3–2 to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
- July 10 Peter Thomson becomes the first Australian to win the British Open Golf Championship.
- July 15
- The maiden flight of the Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), the prototype of the Boeing 707 series.
- Juan Fangio, the Argentine driver for German Grand Prix team Mercedes Benz, made a new fastest lap of the Silverstone with an average speed of 100.35 mph, the previous record being 100.16 mph.
- July 21 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference sends French forces to the south, and Vietnamese forces to the north, of a ceasefire line, and calls for elections to decide the government for all of Vietnam by July 1956. Failure to abide by the terms of the agreement leads to the establishment de facto regimes of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, and the Vietnam War.
August
- August 6 – Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following an epileptic seizure at Sainte Agathe, Quebec. She was the first of the five to perish, and three of them lived into the 21st Century.
- August 16 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published in the United States.
- August 24 – The Brazilian president, Getulio Vargas, commits suicide after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder a Brazilian Air Force officer.
September
- September 3 – The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio, after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.
- September 6 – The SEATO treaty is signed in Manila, Philippines.
- September 8 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established in Bangkok, Thailand.
- September 9 – An earthquake centered on the city of Orleansville, Algeria kills 1,500 and leaves thousands homeless.
- September 11 – The Miss America Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time.
- September 14 – The USSR tests a nuclear weapon.
- September 25 – The Footscray Football Club wins their first Grand Final.
- September 26 – The Japanese ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait. More than 1,100 people are killed.
- September 30 – The USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned by the United States Navy.
October
- Shri SaiBaba statue in samadhimandhir at shirdi was installed on 7 October 1954, on Vijayadasami day, the 36th anniversary of Baba's Mahasamadhi
- October 11
- Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
- Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000.
- October 15 – Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina.
- October 18 – Texas Instruments announces the development of the first transistor radio.
- October 20 – A dock workers' strike expands in England.
- October 21 – Max and Ruby make their first debut in "Max and the Big White Thing".
- October 23 – West Germany joins NATO.
- October 23 – WEU founded.
- October 25 – Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300.
- October 26 – Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdul Latif tries to kill Gamal Abdal Nasser.
- October 31 – Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.
November
- November 1 – The FLN attacks representative and public buildings of the French colonial power.
- November 2 – The dock workers' strike in England ends.
- November 3- The first Godzilla movie premieres in Tokyo, Japan.
- November 5 – Japan and Burma sign a separate peace treaty in Rangoon, to end their formal state of war.
- November 10 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.
- November 12 – The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
- November 14 – Egyptian president Mohammed Naguib is deposed; Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him.
- November 22 – The United States Supreme Court decides the landmark case Berman v. Parker (348 U.S. 26), upholding the federal slum clearance and urban renewal program.
- November 23 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86%, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.
- November 30 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a four kilogram piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
December
- December 1 The first Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens. It is the first hotel in the world built outside of an airport.
- December 2
- Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67–22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
- The Taiwan-United States Mutual Defense Treaty is signed.[1]
- December 4 – The first Burger King opens in Miami, Florida, USA.
- December 24 – Laos gains full independence from France.
Undated
- New Zealand inventor Sir William Hamilton invents the world's first water pump-jet engine, later named the "Hamilton Jet".
- The first successful kidney transplant is done in Boston, Massachusetts - from one identical twin to his brother, which was the only possibility for avoiding organ rejection at that time. All previous and contemperoneous attempts were doomed by rejection.
- The Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race.
- Gerbils (Meriones Unguiculatus) are brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
- The case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the supposedly antique frescoes in Marienkirche himself, goes to trial.
- The TV dinner is introduced by the American entrepreneur Gerry Thomas.
- The New York City Ballet's co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker is staged for the first time in New York City, and it became a tradition there, still being performed annually as of 2010.
- South Korea opens the Gimpo International Airport.
- The novel Lord of the Flies is published.
Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1954 MCMLIV |
| Ab urbe condita | 2707 |
| Armenian calendar | 1403 ԹՎ ՌՆԳ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6704 |
| Baháʼí calendar | 110–111 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1875–1876 |
| Bengali calendar | 1361 |
| Berber calendar | 2904 |
| British Regnal year | 2 Eliz. 2 – 3 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2498 |
| Burmese calendar | 1316 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7462–7463 |
| Chinese calendar | 癸巳年 (Water Snake) 4651 or 4444 — to — 甲午年 (Wood Horse) 4652 or 4445 |
| Coptic calendar | 1670–1671 |
| Discordian calendar | 3120 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1946–1947 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5714–5715 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2010–2011 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1875–1876 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5054–5055 |
| Holocene calendar | 11954 |
| Igbo calendar | 954–955 |
| Iranian calendar | 1332–1333 |
| Islamic calendar | 1373–1374 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 29 (昭和２９年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1885–1886 |
| Juche calendar | 43 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4287 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 43 民國43年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 486 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2497 |
| Tibetan calendar | 阴水蛇年 (female Water-Snake) 2080 or 1699 or 927 — to — 阳木马年 (male Wood-Horse) 2081 or 1700 or 928 |
January
- January 2 – Henry Bonilla, American politician
- January 3 – Jim Ross, American wrestling commentator
- January 4 – Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
- January 5 – Alex English, American basketball player
- January 6 – Anthony Minghella, British film and theatre director (d. 2008)
- January 7 – José María Vitier, Cuban music composer and pianist.
- January 12 – Howard Stern, American radio host
- January 13 – Trevor Rabin, South African–American musician
- January 14
- Tom Cheney, American cartoonist
- Masanobu Fuchi, Japanese professional wrestler
- January 15 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer
- January 17 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of Robert F Kennedy
- January 19
- Katey Sagal, American actress and singer (Married...with Children)
- Ted DiBiase, American professional wrestler
- January 22 – Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
- January 23
- Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
- Edward Ka-Spel, British/Dutch rock vocalist (The Legendary Pink Dots)
- January 29
- Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show hostess, producer, and publisher
- Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist
February
- February 1 – Bill Mumy, American actor and musician (Lost In Space)
- February 2 – Christie Brinkley, American model
- February 7 – Dieter Bohlen, German singer
- February 9
- Chris Gardner, American entrepreneur
- Kevin Warwick, English cybernetic scientist
- February 11 – Noriyuki Asakura, Japanese composer
- February 12 – Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
- February 13 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
- February 15 – Matt Groening, American cartoonist
- February 17 – Rene Russo, American actress
- February 18 – John Travolta, American actor (Saturday Night Fever)
- February 19 – Socrates, Brazilian footballer
- February 20
- Anthony Stewart Head, English actor
- Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnapping victim
- February 23 – Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
- February 25 – Gerardo Pelusso, Uruguayan football manager
March
- March 1 – Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer (Happy Days)
- March 2 – Eddie Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player
- March 4
- François Fillon, Prime Minister of France
- Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress (SCTV)
- Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer
- Willie Thorne, English snooker player
- March 6 – Harald Schumacher, German football goalkeeper
- March 8 – David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
- March 9 – Bobby Sands, Irish Republican, Long Kesh hunger striker (d. 1981)
- March 13 – The Baroness Amos, British politician
- March 16 – Nancy Wilson, American singer, musician, and actress
- March 17 – Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
- March 18 – James F. Reilly, American astronaut
- March 19 – Indu Shahani, Indian educator and Sheriff of Mumbai
- March 23 – Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach
- March 24 – Robert Carradine, American actor
- March 26 – Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
- March 29 – Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
April
- April 1 – Dieter Muller, German soccer player
- April 2 – Susumu Hirasawa, Japanese musician
- April 5 – Guy Bertrand (broadcaster), Canadian linguist and radio personality
- April 7
- Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor
- Tony Dorsett, American football player
- April 8 – John Schneider, American actor (Dukes of Hazzard)
- April 9
- Dennis Quaid, American actor
- Steve Holt, Canadian musician
- April 10 – Anacani, Mexican-born American singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
- April 14 – Bruce Sterling, American science fiction writer
- April 16 – Ellen Barkin, American actress
- April 17 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
- April 27 – Ray Shaw, Australian rules footballer
- April 29
- Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian
- Jake Burton Carpenter, American founder of Burton Snowboards
May
- May 1 – Archie Norman, British politician and businessman
- May 1 – Ray Parker, Jr. African-American musician, singer-songwriter, composer (Raydio)
- May 7
- Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
- Amy Heckerling, American film director
- May 8 – Gary Wilmot British entertainer
- May 19 – Phil Rudd, Australian rock drummer (AC/DC)
- May 22 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese electronics engineer
- May 26 – Danny Rolling, American murderer (d. 2006)
- May 27 – Pauline Hanson, Australian politician
June
- June 5 – Nancy Stafford, American actress and Christian author
- June 9 – John Hagelin, American physicist and U.S. Presidential candidate
- June 9 – Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada
- June 15 – James Belushi, American actor (Saturday Night Live)
- June 16 – Sergey Kuryokhin, Russian pianist, composer, improvisor, performance artist and actor (d. 1996)
- June 19
- Ted Coombs, American artist
- Kathleen Turner, American actress
- June 20
- Michael Anthony, American rock bassist (Van Halen)
- Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force, Israel's first astronaut (d. 2003)
- June 22 – Freddie Prinze,Sr., American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
- June 26 – Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
- June 27 – Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
- June 28 – Ava Barber, American country singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
- June 29 – Rick Honeycutt, American baseball player and coach
- June 30 – Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)
July
- July 5 – John Wright, New Zealand cricket captain
- July 6 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player, coach, manager
- July 10 – Neil Tennant, British musician
- July 13 – Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer
- July 15
- Tarak Dhiab, Tunisian footballer
- Mario Kempes, Argentine footballer
- July 16 – Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
- July 17
- Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- J. Michael Straczynski, American author
- Eduardo Romero, Argentine golfer
- July 22 – Pierre Lebeau, Canadian actor
- July 24 – Jorge Jesus, Portuguese football player and coach
- July 25 – Walter Payton, African-American football player (d. 1999)
- July 27 – Lynne Frederick, British actress (d. 1994)
- July 27 – Philippe Alliot, French race car driver
- July 28 – Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan President
August
- August 1 – Michael J. Badnarik, American software engineer and presidential candidate
- August 2 – Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
- August 4
- Uwe Wittwer, Swiss artist
- François Valéry, French singer-songwriter and composer
- August 11 – Joe Jackson, British rock singer (Steppin' Out)
- August 12
- Sam J. Jones, American actor
- Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist
- August 13 – Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass player
- August 14 – Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d.2009)
- August 16 – James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
- August 17 – Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Russian-Irish writer
- August 20 – Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey, music video producer (d. 2007)
- August 20 – Al Roker, African-American television broadcaster (Today)
- August 21 – Ivan Stang, American author and publisher
- August 21 – Steve Smith, American drummer
- August 23 – Charles Busch, American director, writer, and actor
- August 24 – Philippe Cataldo, French singer
- August 25 – Elvis Costello, British singer-songwriter
- August 29 – István Cserháti, Hungarian keyboardist (d. 2005)
- August 31
- Julie Brown, American actress, singer-songwriter and screenwriter
- Caroline Cossey, English model
September
- September 1 – Dave Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player
- September 10 – Mark W. Everson, incoming President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross
- September 13 – Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
- September 17 – Joël-François Durand, French composer
- September 18 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007)
- September 21 – Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
- September 26 – Kevin Kennedy, American baseball manager and television host
- September 28 – Steve Largent, American football player and congressman
- September 30 – Barry Williams, American actor
October
- October 1 – Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
- October 3
- Dennis Eckersley, American baseball player
- Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
- Al Sharpton, African-American politician and minister
- Eddie DeGarmo, American Christian guitarist and producer (DeGarmo and Key)
- October 5 – Wayne Watson, American Christian musician
- October 7 – Robert A. Schuller, American televangelist and son of Robert H. Schuller
- October 9
- Scott Bakula, American television actor
- John O'Hurley, American television actor and game show host
- October 10
- David Lee Roth, American rock singer
- Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor
- October 12 – Les Dennis, English television presenter and actor
- October 13 – Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli nuclear technician, convicted of treason and espionage by Israel and imprisoned for mny years.
- October 15
- Tanya Roberts, American actress
- Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
- October 23 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director
- October 24
- Mike Rounds, Governor of South Dakota
- Doug Davidson, American actor
November
- November 2 – Angela Webber, Australian author, TV writer, producer and comedian (d. 2007)
- November 3
- Brigitte Lin, Taiwanese actress
- Adam Ant, English singer
- Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedienne
- November 7 – Kamal Haasan, Indian actor
- November 8
- Michael D. Brown, U.S. Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response
- Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British author
- November 13 – Chris Noth, American actor
- November 14
- Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State
- Yanni, Greek musician
- Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- November 15 – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
- November 16 – Bruce Edwards, American golf caddy (d. 2004)
- November 23 – Bruce Hornsby, American rock singer (That's Just The Way It Is)
- November 26 – Dan Kwong, American performance artist, playwright
- November 27 – Patricia McPherson, American actress
- November 29 – Joel Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor
December
- December 1 – Bob Goen, American television personality and game show host
- December 2 – Stone Phillips, American television journalist (NBC Dateline)
- December 3 – Grace Andreacchi, American author
- December 7 – Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
- December 10 – Jack Hues, English musician
- December 11
- Jermaine Jackson, American singer
- Prachanda, Nepalese Communist leader
- December 13 – John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
- December 14
- Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
- Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
- December 18
- Ray Liotta, American actor
- Ulrich Roth, German rock guitarist (Scorpions)
- December 20 – Sandra Cisneros, American writer
- December 21 – Chris Evert, American tennis player
- December 24 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President 1994–1998
- December 25 – Annie Lennox, British rock singer (Eurythmics)
- December 26 – Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer (d. 2006)
- December 28
- Denzel Washington, African-American actor
- Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler
- December 31 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician
Deaths
January–June
- January 5 – Lillian Rich, English actress (b. 1900)
- January 8 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (b. 1898)
- January 11 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
- January 18 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
- January 20 – Fred Root, English cricketer (b. 1890)
- January 30 – John Murray Anderson, Canadian theater director and producer (b. 1886)
- January 31
- Edwin Armstrong, American electrical engineer (b. 1890)
- Florence Bates, American actress (b. 1888)
- February 8 – Laurence Trimble, American actor (b. 1885)
- February 12 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
- February 6 – Maxwell Bodenheim, American poet and novelist (murdered) (b. 1892)
- February 9 – Mabel Paige, American actress (b. 1880)
- February 21 – William K. Howard, American film director (b. 1899)
- March 7
- Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
- Will H. Hays, Namesake for the Hays Code (b. 1879)
- March 9 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (b. 1874)
- March 26 – Louis Silvers, American film composer (b. 1889)
- April 8 – Fritzi Scheff, actress & singer (b. 1879)
- April 10 – Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862)
- April 12 – Luis Cabrera Lobato, Mexican lawyer, politician and writer (b. 1876)
- April 13 – Angus L. Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (b. 1890)
- April 15 – Ülo Altermann, Estonian soldier and forest brother (b. 1923)
- April 17 – Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (b. 1900)
- April 28 – Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
- April 29 – Joe May, Austrian-born director (b. 1880)
- May 1 – Tom Tyler, American actor (b. 1903)
- May 3 – Józef Garbień, Polish footballer and physician (b. 1896)
- May 6 – B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
- May 14 – Heinz Guderian, German World War II general (b. 1888)
- May 15 – William March, American writer and soldier (b. 1893)
- May 19 – Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
- May 25 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
- June 7 – Alan Turing, British mathematician (b. 1912)
- June 22 – Don Hollenbeck, American newscaster (b. 1905)
July–December
- July 1 – Thea von Harbou, German actress (b. 1888)
- July 3 – Reginald Marsh, American artist (b. 1898)
- July 6 – Gabriel Pascal, Hungarian producer and director (b. 1894)
- July 11 – Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859)
- July 13
- Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
- Irving Pichel, American actor and director (b. 1891)
- Grantland Rice, American sportswriter (b. 1880)
- July 14
- Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
- Jackie Saunders, American silent screen actress (b. 1892)
- July 17 – Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster (b. 1895)
- July 28 – Kamiyama Sojin or "Sojin", Japanese film star during the American silent film era, (b. 1884)
- July 29 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
- August 3
- Bess Streeter Aldrich, American writer (b. 1881)
- Colette, French novelist (b. 1873)
- August 24 – Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
- September 3 – Eugene Pallette, American actor (b. 1889)
- September 5 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (b. 1860)
- September 7
- Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1885)
- Glenn Scobey Warner, American college football coach (b. 1871)
- September 21 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
- September 24 – Edward Pilgrim, British homeowner (suicide) (b. 1904)
- September 28 – Bert Lytell, American actor (b. 1885)
- October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, American racing driver (b. 1902)
- November 3 – Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
- November 15 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1878)
- November 16 – Albert Francis Blakeslee, American botanist (b. 1874)
- November 17 – Yitzhak Lamdan, Russian-born Israeli poet and columnist (b. 1899)
- November 21 – Roderick McMahon, Boxing and Wrestling promoter also founder of what is now wwe (b.1880)
- November 22
- Moroni Olsen, American actor (b. 1889)
- Andrey Vyshinsky, Russian jurist and diplomat (b. 1883)
- November 28 – Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- November 29 – Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
- November 30 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
- December 1 – Fred Rose, American songwriter (b. 1898)
- December 8
- Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
- Gladys George, American actress (b. 1900)
- December 20 – James Hilton, English novelist (b. 1900)
- December 23 – René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)
- December 30 – Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)
Ship events
Nobel Prizes
- Physics – Max Born, Walther Bothe
- Chemistry – Linus Carl Pauling
- Medicine – John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
- Literature – Ernest Hemingway
- Peace – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Fields Medalists
See also
Notes
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1954.