1955

1955 in various calendars
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

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century; 20th century ; 21st century;
Decades:	1930s; 1940s; 1950s ; 1960s; 1970s;
Years:	1952; 1953; 1954; 1955 ; 1956; 1957; 1958;

1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1955th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 955th year of the 2nd millennium, the 55th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1950s decade.

Events

January

January 2 – José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a race track in Panama City.
January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
January 7 – Marian Anderson is the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
January 17 – USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
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 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) armed with nuclear weapons.
January 23 – Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17 near Birmingham, England.
January 25 – 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 – United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.

February

February 4 – "Baghdad Pact": Military treaty signed between Iraq and Turkey.
February 9 – Apartheid in South Africa: 60,000 non-white residents of the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg are forcibly evicted.
February 10 – The United States Seventh Fleet 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 14 – WFLA-TV signs on the air in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida.
February 16 – Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
February 19 – Southeast Asia Treaty Organization established at a meeting in Bangkok.
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 264,77.

March

March – A young Jim Henson builds the first version of Kermit the Frog.
March 2
- Claudette Colvin, a fifteen-year-old African-American girl, refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards while being kicked and handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station. She becomes a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle (1956) which rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional.
- Serious floods in Australia.
March 5
- WBBJ-TV signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expanded American commercial television in mostly-rural areas.
- Elvis Presley makes his television debut on "Louisiana Hayride" carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport (although audio recordings exists, there is no known video footage of this appearance).
March 7 – The Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, which had opened in 1954 starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC-TV with its original cast, as an installment of Producers' Showcase. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV almost exactly as it was performed on stage. This program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to this time, and it becomes one of the first great TV family musical classics.
March 17 – Richard Riot in Montreal: 6,000 people protest the suspension of French Canadian ice hockey star Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens by the National Hockey League following a violent incident during a match.
March 19 – KXTV signs on the air in Sacramento, California.
March 20 – The movie adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.

April

April 1 – EOKA A starts a terrorist campaign against British rule in the Crown colony of Cyprus.
April 5
- Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom due to ill-health at the age of 80.
- 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 10 – in the NBA, the Syracuse Nationals defeat the Fort Wayne Pistons 92-91 in game seven to win the title.
April 11
- The Taiwanese Kuomintang put a time-bomb on the airplane Kashmir Princess, killing 16 but failing to assassinate the People's Republic of China leader, Zhou Enlai.
- Taekwondo, a famous for Korean martial arts, officially recognized as naming in South Korea.^{[citation needed]}
April 12 – The Salk polio vaccine, having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
April 14 – The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup for the 7th time in franchise history, but will not win again until 1997.

April 15
- Middle East Treaty Organization (MENTO).
- Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois.
April 16 – Burma-Japanese peace treaty, signed in Rangoon on November 5, 1954, comes into effect, formally ending a state of war between the two countries that has not existed for a long time.
April 17 – Imre Nagy, the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
April 18–April 24 – Asian-African Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia.

May

May 1 – Warsaw Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance signed (Warsaw Treaty Organization) (effective June 6).
May 5 – West Germany becomes a sovereign country recognized by important Western foreign countries, such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States.
May 6 – Western European Union charter effective.
May 7 – The last time Newcastle United won a domestic title.
May 9 – West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
May 11 – Japanese National Railways' ferry Shiun Maru sinks after collision with sister ship Uko Maru in thick fog off Takamatsu, Shikoku, in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan; 166 passengers (many children) and two crew are killed. This event is influential in plans to construct the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge (built 1986-98).
May 12– New York's Third Avenue Elevated runs its last train between Chathem Square in Manhattan and East 149th Street in the Bronx, thus ending elevated train service in Manhattan.
May 14 – Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty in Warsaw, Poland, that is called the Warsaw Pact. It will be dissolved in 1991.
May 15 – Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's national sovereignty, is concluded between the four occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
May 25 – Joe Brown and George Band are the first to attain the summit of Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, as part of a British team led by Charles Evans.

June

June 7 – The television quiz program The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS-TV in the United States, with Hal March as the host.
June 11 – Le Mans disaster: Eighty-three people are killed and at least 100 are injured after two race cars collide in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans.
June 13 – Mir mine, the first diamond mine in the Soviet Union, is discovered.
June 16 – Lady and the Tramp, the Walt Disney company's 15th animated film, premieres in Chicago.
June 26 – Freedom Charter of the anti-apartheid South African Congress Alliance adopted at a Congress of the People in Kliptown.

July

July 7 – The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.
July 13 – Ruth Ellis is hanged for murder in London, becoming the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom.
July 17
- The American Broadcasting Company broadcasts a sneak preview of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
- Disneyland opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
July 18
- The first nuclear-generated electrical power is sold commercially, partially powering the town of Arco, Idaho.
- The Illinois Governor, William Stratton, signs the "Loyalty Oath Act", passed by the State Legislature, which mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath to Illinois and the United States, or lose their jobs.
- The first Geneva Summit meeting between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France begins. It ends on July 23.
July 27 – El Al Flight 402 from Vienna, Austria to Tel Aviv via Istanbul is shot down over Bulgaria. All 58 passengers and crewmen aboard the Lockheed Constellation airplane are killed.
July 28 – The first Interlingua Congress in Tours, France, leading to foundation of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.

August

August 18
- The First Sudanese Civil War begins.
- First meeting of the Organization of Central American States (Organización de Estados Centroamericanos, ODECA), in Antigua Guatemala.
August 19 – Hurricane Diane hits the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people, and causing over $1.0 billion in damage.
August 20 – Hundreds of people 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 Army occupation forces leave Austria.
August 26 – Release in India of Satyajit Ray's film Pather Panchali.
August 27 – First edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published, in London.

September

September 2 – Under the guidance of Dr. Humphry Osmond, Christopher Mayhew ingests 400 mg of mescaline hydrochloride and allows himself to be filmed as part of a Panorama special for BBC TV in the U.K. that is never broadcast.
September 6 – Istanbul pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
September 10 – The long-running program Gunsmoke debuts on the CBS-TV network.
September 14 – Pope Pius XII elevates many of the Apostolic vicariates in Africa to Metropolitan Archdioceses
September 15 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
September 18 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the uninhabited island of Rockall.
September 19–September 21 – The President of Argentina, Juan Perón, is ousted in a military coup.
September 19 – Hurricane Hilda kills about 200 people in Mexico.
September 22 – Independent Commercial Television (ITV) begins broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
September 24 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Nixon serves as Acting President while Eisenhower recovers.
September 30 – Actor James Dean is killed when his automobile collides with another car at a highway junction near Cholame, California.

October

October 2 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuts on the CBS TV network in the United States.
October 3 – The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on the ABC-TV network in the United States.
October 4 – The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, South Korea.
October 5 – Disneyland Hotel opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
October 11 – 70-mm film for projection is introduced with the theatrical release of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical film, Oklahoma!.
October 14 – Organization of Central American States secretariat inaugurated.
October 20 – Disc jockey Bill Randle of WERE (Cleveland) is the key presenter of a concert at Brooklyn High School (Ohio), featuring Pat Boone and Bill Haley & His Comets and opening with Elvis Presley, Elvis's first filmed performance, for a documentary on Randle titled The Pied Piper of Cleveland.
October 26
- After the last Allied troops have left Austria and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, the country declares its permanent neutrality.
- Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims Vietnam to be a republic with himself as its President (following the State of Vietnam referendum on October 23) and forms the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
October 27 – Film Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, is released in the United States.
October 29 – Soviet battleship Novorossiysk explodes at moorings in Sevastopol Bay, killing 608, the Soviet Union's worst naval disaster.

November

October 26: Austria free

November 1
- The Vietnam War begins between the South Vietnam Army and the North Vietnam Army in which the latter is allied with the Viet Cong.
- 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.
November 3 – The Rimutaka Tunnel opens on the New Zealand Railways, at 5.46 mi (8.79 km) the longest in the Southern Hemisphere at this time.
November 5 – Racial segregation is outlawed on trains and buses in interstate commerce in the United States.
November 19 – C. Northcote Parkinson first propounds 'Parkinson's law', in The Economist.
November 20 – Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS-TV network.
November 23 – The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean are transferred from British to Australian control.
November 26 – The British Governor of Cyprus declares a state of emergency on the island.

December

December 1 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger and is arrested, leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

December 4 – The International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations was founded in Luxembourg.
December 5
- The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL–CIO.
- The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black people's boycott of all city buses.
December 9 – Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (22nd government)
December 14
- The Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River in New York State opens to traffic.
- Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
December 20 – Cardiff is declared by the British Government as the capital of Wales.
December 22 – American cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes, forty-six.
December 31 – General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over one billion dollars in one year.

Date unknown

The Strömsund Bridge in Sweden is completed, being the first significant cable-stayed bridge of the modern era.^[1]

World population

World population: 2,755,823,000
- Africa: 246,746,000
- Asia: 1,541,947,000
- Europe: 575,184,000
- South America: 190,797,000
- North America: 186,884,000
- Oceania: 14,265,000

Births

January

January 1
- Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
- Mary Beard, English classicist
- Precious, Canadian professional wrestling valet
January 2 – Vivien Savage, French singer
January 5 – Mamata Banerjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal
January 6 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
January 9 – J. K. Simmons, American actor
January 10 – Michael Schenker, German guitarist (Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group)
January 13
- Ran Ito, Japanese actress
- Paul Kelly, Australian musician
- Jay McInerney, American writer
January 15
- Andreas Gursky, German photographer
- Mayumi Tanaka, Japanese voice actress
January 17
- Steve Earle, American musician
- Mami Koyama, Japanese voice actress
January 18 – Kevin Costner, American actor, producer and director
January 19 – Sir Simon Rattle, English orchestral conductor
January 20
- Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
- Hiromi Ōta, Japanese singer
January 21 – Jeff Koons, American artist
January 22 – Keiko Takahashi, Japanese actress
January 25 – Petra Gerster, German television presenter and newscaster
January 26
- Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor
- Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born American rock musician (Van Halen)
January 27
- John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- Alexander Stuart, British-born author
January 28
- Vinod Khosla, Indian-born American venture capitalist
- Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
- George Tokoro, Japanese TV personality and singer-songwriter
January 29
- Eddie Jordan, American basketball player and head coach
- Femi Pedro, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria

February

February 1 – Hans Werner Olm, German television and film comedian
February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, writer and translator
February 3 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
February 6 – Michael Pollan, American journalist
February 6 – Irinej Dobrijević, American-born Serbian Bishop of Australia and New Zealand
February 7 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor
February 8
- John Grisham, American novelist
- Xu Bing, Chinese artist
February 9
- Charles Shaughnessy, English-born actor
- Jim J. Bullock, American actor and comedian
February 10
- Chris Adams, English wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
- Pablo Borges Delgado, Cuban artist
- Greg Norman, Australian golfer
February 12 – Ai Satō, Japanese voice actress
February 13 – Akiko Yano, Japanese singer-songwriter
February 15
- Janice Dickinson, American model, photographer, author and talent agent
- Christopher McDonald, American actor
February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese writer
February 19 – Jeff Daniels, American actor
February 21 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor and comedian
February 23
- Howard Jones, English pop keyboardist and singer-songwriter
- Flip Saunders, American basketball coach (d. 2015)
February 24
- Steve Jobs, American businessman and founder of Apple Inc. (d. 2011)
- Alain Prost, French race car driver

March

March 1 – Sir Timothy Laurence, English admiral and second husband of Anne, Princess Royal
March 2
- Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader (Aum Shinrikyo)
- Jay Osmond, American pop singer
March 3 – Kent Derricott, Canadian TV personality in Japan
March 4 – Dominique Pinon, French actor
March 5
- Julien Dray, French politician
- Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian (Penn & Teller)
March 6
- Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (d. 1994)
- Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (d. 2015)
March 7 – Tommy Kramer, American football player
March 8 – Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
March 9
- Ornella Muti, Italian actress
- Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer
March 10
- Yousra, Egyptian actress and singer
- Marianne Rosenberg, German singer
March 11 – Nina Hagen, German pop singer
March 13
- Bruno Conti, Italian football player
- Glenne Headly, American actress of film, stage and television
March 15
- Robert Kabbas, Egyptian-born Australian weightlifter
- Dee Snider, American rock singer (Twisted Sister)
March 16
- Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
- Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
March 17 – Gary Sinise, American actor, producer and director
March 18
- Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
- Dwayne Murphy, American baseball player
March 19
- Pino Daniele, Italian music artist (d. 2015)
- Bruce Willis, American actor
- Simon Yam, Hong Kong actor
March 20 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
March 21 – Philippe Troussier, French football coach
March 22
- Lena Olin, Swedish actress
- Pete Sessions, American politician
- Valdis Zatlers, president of Latvia
March 23 – Moses Malone, American basketball player (d. 2015)
March 24
- Celâl Şengör, Turkish geologist
- Kim Johnston Ulrich, American actress
March 26 – Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
March 27 – Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister of Spain
March 28
- John Alderdice, Irish politician
- Reba McEntire, American country singer and actress
March 29
- Earl Campbell, American football player
- Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
- Marina Sirtis, English-born actress
March 31 – Angus Young, Scottish-born Australian rock guitarist

April

File:Akira Toriyama.jpg

Akira Toriyama

April 3
- Michael Burleigh, British historian
- Mick Mars, American rock guitarist (Mötley Crüe)
April 5
- Janice Long, English radio disc jockey
- Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
April 6 – Michael Rooker, American actor
April 7
- Grace Hightower, American philanthropist, actress and singer
- Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
- Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager
- Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
April 8
- Kane Hodder, American actor
- Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
April 9 – Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
April 11 – Kevin Brady, American politician
April 13
- Steve Camp, American Christian musician
- Hideki Saijo, Japanese singer and actor
April 15 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
April 16
- Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
- DJ Kool Herc, Jamaican American DJ
April 17 – Rob Bolland, Dutch musician, songwriter and music producer (Bolland & Bolland)
April 18 – Bobby Castillo, American baseball player (d. 2014)
April 21
- Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
- Toninho Cerezo, Brazilian footballer and coach
April 23
- Judy Davis, Australian actress
- Fumi Hirano, Japanese voice actress and essayist
- Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
April 24 – John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
April 25
- John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
- Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
April 26 – Chen Daoming, Chinese actor
April 27
- James Risen, American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author
- Eric Schmidt, American software engineer and businessman, former CEO of Google (2001-2011)
April 28 – Eddie Jobson, English musician
April 29
- Richard Epcar, American voice actor
- Kate Mulgrew, American actress
- Yūko Tanaka, Japanese actress
April 30 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter

May

May 1
- Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
- Nick Feldman, English musician (Wang Chung)
May 2
- Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
- Donatella Versace, Italian designer
- Dave Winer, American software pioneer
May 3 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
May 4
- Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
- Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
May 6 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
May 7 – Mayra Alejandra, Venezuelan actress (d. 2014)
May 8 – Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (d. 2012)
May 9 – Anne Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
May 10
- Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
- Mark David Chapman, American murderer of musician John Lennon
- Rick Steves, American author and television personality; host of Rick Steves' Europe
May 14 – Robert Tapert, American TV producer
May 15 – Lee Horsley, American film, television, and theater actor
May 16
- Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast
- Olli Kortekangas, Finnish composer
- Jack Morris, American baseball player
- Hazel O'Connor, British rock musician
- Debra Winger, American actress
May 17 – Bill Paxton, American actor
May 18 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor
May 19
- Mark Staff Brandl, American and Swiss artist and art historian
- James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
- Th. Emil Homerin, American theologian
May 20
- Diego Abatantuono, Italian actor
- Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
May 22
- Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, American jazz guitarist (d. 2008)
- Dale Winton, English radio DJ and television presenter
May 24
- Rosanne Cash, American entertainer
- Rumiko Ukai, Japanese voice actress
May 25
- Suguru Egawa, Japanese baseball player
- Connie Sellecca, American actress
May 26
- Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
- Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
May 29
- Mike Porcaro, American bass guitarist (d. 2015)
- John Hinckley Jr., attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan
May 30
- Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII, Japanese Kabuki actor
- Colm Tóibín. Irish novelist
May 31
- Tommy Emmanuel, Australian guitarist
- Susie Essman, American actress
- Lynne Truss, English writer

June

June 1 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (58th Yokozuna grand champion) (d. 2016)
June 2 – Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian
June 5 – Fernando Borrego Linares, Cuban singer and songwriter (aka Polo Montañez)
June 6
- Sandra Bernhard, American comedian, actress, author and singer
- Chris Nyman, American baseball player
- Sam Simon, American filmmaker (d. 2015)
June 7 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
June 8
- Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist and inventor
- Griffin Dunne, American actor and director
June 10
- Floyd Bannister, American baseball player
- Andrew Stevens, American actor, producer and director
June 11 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
June 14
- Kim Lankford, American actress, businesswoman and horse wrangler
- Paul O'Grady (also known as "Lily Savage"), English talk show host and comedian
June 15
- Polly Draper, American actress, screenwriter, playwright, producer and director
- David A. Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1984)
June 16 – Laurie Metcalf, American actress
June 18 – Sandy Allen, American, world's tallest woman (d. 2008)
June 20 – Tor Nørretranders, Danish author
June 21
- Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician
- Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer-songwriter
- Leigh McCloskey, American actor
- Michel Platini, French retired football player and President of UEFA
June 22 – Glenn Danzig, American rock singer (The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
June 23 – Alan J. Gow, Australian-born British motorsport executive
June 24 – Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga
June 25 – Mike McShane, American actor, comedian and voice actor
June 26 – Yoko Gushiken, Japanese boxer
June 27
- Isabelle Adjani, French actress
- Brad Diller, American cartoonist
June 30 – Amelia Kyambadde, Ugandan politician

July

July 1
- Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
- Nikolai Demidenko, Russian classical pianist
- Li Keqiang, Premier of the People's Republic of China
- Lisa Scottoline, American novelist
July 2 – Stephen Walt, American political scientist
July 3
- John Cramer, American game show announcer
- Matt Keough, American baseball player
July 5
- Sebastian Barry, Irish playwright, novelist and poet
- Henry Lee Summer, American singer
July 7 – Rolf Saxon, American actor
July 8 – Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
July 9
- Lindsey Graham, American politician, lawyer, former U.S. Army soldier, U.S. Senator (R-Sc.), and unsuccessful 2016 presidential candidate
- Fred Norris, American radio personality
- Jimmy Smits, American actor
July 11 – Balaji Sadasivan, Singaporean politician and neurosurgeon
July 18 – Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
July 19 – Toborr Kristina Tomlinsen, American-Canadian voice actress and singer
July 21
- Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine football player and manager
- Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
- Béla Tarr, Hungarian film director
July 22
- Willem Dafoe, American actor
- Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani politician
July 25 – Iman, Somalian model
July 26 – Michele Pillar, American Christian musician
July 27 – Allan Border, Australian cricketer
July 31 – Jakie Quartz, French singer

August

August 2 – Caleb Carr, American writer
August 3 – Roger Gifford, Lord Mayor of London 2013
August 4
- Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer
- Billy Bob Thornton, American actor, director and screenwriter
August 6
- Gordon J. Brand, English golfer
- Ron Davis, American baseball player
August 7
- Wayne Knight, American actor and comedian
- David Learner, British actor
- Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
August 8 – Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
August 9 – Doug Williams, American football quarterback
August 10 – Mel Tiangco, Philippine television host and newscaster 24 Oras
August 12
- Heintje Simons, Dutch singer and actor
- Gish Jen, American fiction writer
August 13 – Daryl, American magician
August 14 – Gillian Taylforth, English television actress
August 17 – Richard Hilton, American businessman
August 19
- Peter Gallagher, American actor
- Terry Harper, American baseball player
August 20 – Agnes Chan, Hong Kong-born TV personality in Japan
August 22
- Chiranjeevi, Indian actor
- Gordon Liu, Chinese actor
August 24 – Mike Huckabee, American politician, former Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate
August 27
- Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
- Sergey Khlebnikov, Soviet speed skater (d. 1999)
August 30
- Mayumi Muroyama, Japanese manga artist
- Helge Schneider, comedian, jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist, author, film and theatre director
August 31
- Olek Krupa, Polish actor
- Edwin Moses, American athlete

September

September 1
- Billy Blanks, American martial artist; inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program
- Bruce Foxton, English musician
September 2
- Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
- Claus Kleber, German television journalist
- Natalya Petrusyova, Soviet speed skater
- Michelle Yim, Hong Kong actress
September 4 – Hiroshi Izawa, Japanese actor
September 6 – Raymond Benson, American author
September 7 – Efim Zelmanov, Russian mathematician
September 9 – John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
September 12 – Peter Scolari, American actor and comedian
September 15
- Željka Antunović, Croatian politician
- Brendan O'Carroll, Irish actor and comedian
- Bruce Reitherman, American filmmaker and voice actor
- Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer
September 16
- Janet Ellis, British children's TV presenter
- 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 24 – Shinbo Nomura, Japanese manga artist
September 25
- Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German football player
- Zucchero Fornaciari, Italian singer-songwriter
September 28 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician

October

October 2 – Philip Oakey, English rock musician (The Human League)
October 3 – Tommy Wiseau, American film director and actor, known for the 2003 "dark comedy" (The Room)
October 5
- Jean-Jacques Lafon, French singer-songwriter
- Caroline Loeb, French singer and actress
October 7 – Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese American cellist
October 8
- Bill Elliott, American racing driver
- Darrell Hammond, Comedian (SNL)
October 13 – Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
October 15
- James B. Aguayo-Martel, Mexican-born physician, surgeon, scientist and inventor
- Kulbir Bhaura, Indian-born British field hockey player
- Tanya Roberts, American actress
- Emily Yoffe, American journalist and advice columnist
October 18
- Hiromi Go, Japanese singer
- Timmy Mallett, English television presenter
October 19 – LaSalle Ishii, Japanese television personality
October 21
- Yasukazu Hamada, Japanese politician
- Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (d. 1997)
October 24
- Karen Austin, American actress
- Katherine Knight, Australian mariticide
October 25 – Glynis Barber, South African-born British actress
October 28
- Bill Gates, American businessman and co-founder of Microsoft
- Indra Nooyi, Indian business executive
October 29
- Kevin DuBrow, American rock singer (d. 2007)
- Roger O'Donnell, English rock keyboardist
- Etsuko Shihomi, Japanese actress
October 30 – Jeremy Black, British historian
October 31 – Eduardo V. Manalo, 3rd Executive Minister (Tagapamahalang Pangkalahatan) of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ)

November

November 1 – Joe Arroyo, Colombian salsa and tropical music singer (d. 2011)
November 2 – Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
November 3
- Teresa De Sio, Italian singer-songwriter
- Phil Simms, American football player
- Yukihiko Tsutsumi, Japanese film director
November 4 – Moulana Ghousavi Shah, Sufi teacher and author, Secretary General of The Conference of World Religions
November 4 – Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
November 5
- Pedro Brieger, Argentine journalist and sociologist.
- Kris Jenner, American television personality
- Karan Thapar, Indian journalist, political analyst and commentator
November 6 – Maria Shriver, American television journalist, host; First Lady of California
November 7 – Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
November 9 – Karen Dotrice, Guernsey-born child actress
November 10 – Roland Emmerich, German film director, Richard Burton, Welsh stage and cinema actor
November 11 – Jigme Singye Wangchuck, King of Bhutan
November 13 – Whoopi Goldberg, American actress and comedian
November 14 – Koichi Nakano, Japanese bicycle racer
November 17 – Peter Cox, English singer-songwriter (Go West)
November 19 – Dianne de Leeuw, Dutch figure skater
November 20 – Ray Ozzie, American computer programmer
November 21
- Kyle Gann, American composer and music critic
- Cedric Maxwell, American basketball player
November 22 – George Alagiah, Ceylonese-born British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter
November 23
- Steven Brust, American author
- Ludovico Einaudi, Italian pianist and composer
November 24
- Sir Ian Botham, English cricketer
- Najib Mikati, Lebanese politician, 2-Time Prime Minister of Lebanon
November 25 – Bruno Tonioli, film, music video and theater choreographer
November 26 – Tracy Hickman, American author
November 27 – Bill Nye, American science presenter and public television host
November 28 – Alessandro Altobelli, Italian football player
November 29 – Howie Mandel, Canadian actor and game show host
November 30
- Michael Beschloss, American historian
- Kevin Conroy, American voice actor
- Billy Idol, born William Broad, English rock singer

December

December 3
- Melody Anderson, Canadian actress and social worker
- Steven Culp, American actor
December 4 – Maurizio Bianchi, Italian musician
December 7 – Priscilla Barnes, American actress
December 8
- Ian Greig, South African-born English cricketer
- Martin Semmelrogge, German actor
December 9 – Asashio Tarō IV, Japanese sumo wrestler
December 12 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek politician and businesswoman
December 16
- Chiharu Matsuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter
- Rob Levin, American founder of the freenode IRC network (d. 2006)
December 17 – Brad Davis, American basketball player
December 21 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
December 23
- Keith Comstock, American baseball player
- Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet
December 24
- Mizuho Fukushima, Japanese politician
- Clarence Gilyard, American actor and college professor
December 27 – Barbara Olson, American television commentator (d. 2001)
December 28 – Liu Xiaobo, Chinese literary critic and human rights activist
December 31 – Jim Tracy, American baseball player

Date unknown

Mark Marderosian, American cartoonist
Anacleto Rapping, American photographer and pedagogue
Sergey Zimov, Russian geophysicist and creator of Pleistocene Park

Deaths

January

January 1 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian scientist (b. 1894)
January 2 – José Antonio Remón Cantera, President of Panama (assassinated) (b. 1908)
January 6 – Yevgeny Tarle, Soviet historian (b. 1874)
January 11 – Rodolfo Graziani, Italian general (b. 1882)
January 15
- Johannes Baader, German artist (b. 1875)
- Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
January 18 – August Duesenberg, German-born American automobile manufacturer (b. 1879)
January 20 – Robert P. T. Coffin, American poet (b. 1892)
January 21 – Archie Hahn, American athlete (b. 1880)
January 24 – Ira Hayes, U.S. Marine flag raiser on Iwo Jima (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

February 11 – Ona Munson, American actress (b. 1903)
February 12
- Thomas J. Moore, Irish-American film actor (b. 1883)
- S. Z. Sakall, Hungarian actor (b. 1883)
February 20 – Oswald Avery, American physician and medical researcher (b. 1877)
February 23 – Paul Claudel, French poet, dramatist, and diplomat (b. 1868)
February 27 – Trixie Friganza, American actress (b. 1870)

March

March 3 – Katharine Drexel, American Roman Catholic saint (b. 1858)
March 8 – William C. deMille, American screenwriter and director (b. 1878)
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 16 – Nicolas de Staël, Russian painter (b. 1914)
March 23 – Artur da Silva Bernardes, 12nd President of Brazil (b. 1875)
March 30 – Ylla, Hungarian photographer (b. 1911) (jeep accident)

April

April 7 – Theda Bara, American film actress (b. 1885)
April 10 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French Jesuit priest, philosopher, paleontologist and geologist (b. 1881)
April 11 – Clifton Sprague, American admiral (b. 1896)
April 13 – Peyton C. March, United States Army General (b. 1864)
April 18 – Albert Einstein, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
April 25 – Constance Collier, stage and screen actress; acting coach (b. 1878)

May

May 2 – Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, 10th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1872)
May 4
- Louis Charles Breguet, French aircraft designer and builder and early aviation pioneer (b. 1880)
- George Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
May 10
- Tommy Burns, American boxer (b. 1881)
- John Radecki, Australian stained-glass artist (b. 1865)
May 11 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
May 14
- Charles Pelot Summerall, American general (b. 1867)
- Anwar Wagdi, Egyptian actor and filmmaker (b. 1904)
May 16 – James Agee, American writer (b. 1909)
May 17 – Owen Roberts, American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1875)
May 18 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (b. 1875)
May 22 – Richard "Skeets" Gallagher, American actor (b. 1891)
May 26 – Alberto Ascari, Italian race-car driver (accident) (b. 1918)
May 30 – Bill Vukovich, American race-car driver (accident) (b. 1918)

June

June 5
- Pattillo Higgins, American oil pioneer and businessman (b. 1863)
- Herbert Stanley, Governor of Northern Rhodesia, Ceylon and Southern Rhodesia (b. 1872)
June 11 – Walter Hampden, American actor (b. 1879)
June 17 – Carlyle Blackwell, American actor (b. 1884)
June 19 – Adrienne Monnier, French poet (b. 1892)
June 26 – Engelbert Zaschka, German helicopter pioneer (b. 1895)
June 29 – Max Pechstein, German painter (b. 1881)