1953

This article is about the year 1953. For the 1996 album by Soul-Junk, see 1953 (album).

1953

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956

1953 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1953 MCMLIII
Ab urbe condita	2706
Armenian calendar	1402 ԹՎ ՌՆԲ
Assyrian calendar	6703
Baháʼí calendar	109–110
Balinese saka calendar	1874–1875
Bengali calendar	1360
Berber calendar	2903
British Regnal year	1 Eliz. 2 – 2 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2497
Burmese calendar	1315
Byzantine calendar	7461–7462
Chinese calendar	壬辰年 (Water Dragon) 4650 or 4443     — to — 癸巳年 (Water Snake) 4651 or 4444
Coptic calendar	1669–1670
Discordian calendar	3119
Ethiopian calendar	1945–1946
Hebrew calendar	5713–5714
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2009–2010
- Shaka Samvat	1874–1875
- Kali Yuga	5053–5054
Holocene calendar	11953
Igbo calendar	953–954
Iranian calendar	1331–1332
Islamic calendar	1372–1373
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 28 (昭和２８年)
Javanese calendar	1884–1885
Juche calendar	42
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4286
Minguo calendar	ROC 42 民國42年
Nanakshahi calendar	485
Thai solar calendar	2496
Tibetan calendar	阳水龙年 (male Water-Dragon) 2079 or 1698 or 926     — to — 阴水蛇年 (female Water-Snake) 2080 or 1699 or 927

1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1953rd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 953rd year of the 2nd millennium, the 53rd year of the 20th century, and the 4th year of the 1950s decade.

Events

January

Main article: January 1953

• January 1 - American country music singer-songwriter Hank Williams dies in his car age 29 from alcohol abuse and drug problems following an undiagnosed case of spina bifida occulta on his way to a concert at Canton, Ohio.

• January 5 – Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot has its public stage première in French, as En attendant Godot, at the Théâtre de Babylone in Paris.
• January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
• January 7 – United States President Harry S. Truman announces the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
• January 9 – In Montréal, Marguerite Pitre is the thirteenth, and last, woman hanged in Canada.
• January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo.
• January 13 – "Doctors' plot": The state newspaper Pravda publishes an article alleging that many of the most prestigious physicians in the Soviet Union, mostly Jews, are part of a major plot to poison the country's senior political and military leaders.
• January 14
  • Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugoslavia.
  • The CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel first meets, to discuss the UFO phenomenon.
• January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying.
• January 19 – 71.1% of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy, to watch Lucy give birth to Little Ricky, which is more people than those who tuned into Dwight Eisenhower's inauguration the next day. This record has yet to be broken.
• January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is sworn in, as the 34th President of the United States.
• January 22 – The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway.
• January 24
  • Mau Mau Uprising: Rebels in Kenya kill the Ruck family (father, mother, and six-year-old son).
  • Walter Ulbricht announces that agriculture will be collectivized in East Germany.
• January 28 – Derek Bentley is executed for murder, at Wandsworth Prison in London.
• January 31–February 1 – The North Sea flood of 1953 kills 1,836 people in the southwestern Netherlands (especially Zeeland), 307 in the United Kingdom, and several hundred at sea, including 133 on the ferry MV Princess Victoria in the Irish Sea.

February

Main article: February 1953

• February 1 – The surge of the North Sea flood continues from the previous day.
• February 3 – Batepá massacre: Hundreds of native creoles, known as forros, are massacred in São Tomé, by the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners.
• February 5 – Walt Disney's feature film Peter Pan premieres.
• February 11
  • President Dwight D. Eisenhower refuses a clemency appeal for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.
  • The Soviet Union breaks diplomatic relations with Israel, after a bomb explosion at the Soviet Embassy, in reaction to the 'Doctors' plot'.
• February 12 – The Nordic Council is inaugurated.
• February 13 – Transsexual Christine Jorgensen returns to New York, after successful sex reassignment surgery in Denmark.
• February 16 – The Pakistan Academy of Sciences is established in Pakistan.
• February 19 – Georgia approves the first literature censorship board in the United States.
• February 25 – Jacques Tati's film, Les Vacances de M. Hulot, is released in France, introducing the gauche character of Monsieur Hulot.
• February 28
  • James Watson and Francis Crick of the University of Cambridge announce their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule.
  • Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia sign the Balkan Pact.

March

Main article: March 1953

• March 1
  • Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke, after an all-night dinner with Soviet Union interior minister Lavrentiy Beria and future premiers Georgi Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin, and Nikita Khrushchev. The stroke paralyzes the right side of his body and renders him unconscious, until his death on March 5.
  • Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg is made deputy constable and lieutenant governor of Windsor Castle.
• March 6 – Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin, as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• March 8 – The Thieves World, which had been transformed into the Russian mafia, are freed from prisons by the Malenkov regime, ending the Bitch Wars.
• March 13 – The United Nations Security Council nominates Dag Hammarskjöld from Sweden, as United Nations Secretary General.
• March 14 – Nikita Khrushchev is selected First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
• March 17 – The first nuclear test of Operation Upshot–Knothole is conducted in Nevada, with 1,620 spectators at 3.4 km (2.1 mi).
• March 18 – The Yenice–Gönen earthquake affects western Turkey, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing at least 1,070 deaths, and $3.57 million in damage.
• March 19 – The 25th Academy Awards Ceremony is held (the first one broadcast on television).
• March 25–26 – Lari Massacre in Kenya: Mau Mau rebels kill up to 150 Kikuyu natives.
• March 26 – Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine.
• March 29 – A fire at the Littlefield Nursing Home in Largo, Florida, kills 33 persons, including singer-songwriter Arthur Fields.

April

Main article: April 1953

April 25: DNA double helix described.

• April 7 – Dag Hammarskjöld is elected United Nations Secretary-General.
• April 8 – Jomo Kenyatta is sentenced to 7 years in prison, for the alleged organization of the Mau Mau Uprising.
• April 10 – The Melbourne Knights is founded as Croatia SC, in Melbourne.
• April 13
  • Ian Fleming publishes his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale, in the United Kingdom.
  • German football team SG Dynamo Dresden is founded.
• April 16
  • President Eisenhower delivers his "Chance for Peace" speech, to the National Association of Newspaper Editors.
  • A four-story building in Chicago belonging to the Habar Corporation catches fire, killing 35 employees.
• April 17 – Mickey Mantle hits a 565-foot (172 m) home run at Griffith Stadium, in Washington, D.C. Mantle's home run is believed to be the longest home run in baseball history, by many historians.
• April 20 – Frank Sinatra and arranger Nelson Riddle began their first recording sessions together at Capitol Records, which results in some of the defining recordings of Sinatra's career.
• April 25 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid", their description of the double helix structure of DNA.

May

May 29: Mount Everest conquered.

• May 2 – Hussein is crowned King of Jordan.
• May 5 – Aldous Huxley first tries the psychedelic hallucinogen mescaline, inspiring his book The Doors of Perception.
• May 9
  • France agrees to the provisional independence of Cambodia, with King Norodom Sihanouk.
  • Australian Senate election, 1953: The Liberal/Country Coalition Government, led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies, holds their Senate majority, despite gains made by the Labor Party, led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first occasion where a Senate election is held without an accompanying House Of Representatives election.
• May 10 – The town of Chemnitz, East Germany becomes Karl Marx Stadt.
• May 11 – Waco tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado hits in the downtown section of Waco, Texas, killing 114.
• May 15 – The Standards And Recommended Practices (SARPS) for Aeronautical Information Service (AIS) are adopted by the ICAO Council. These SARPS are in Annex 15 to the Chicago Convention, and 15 May is celebrated by the AIS community as “World AIS Day”.
• May 18 – At Rogers Dry Lake, Californian Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to exceed Mach 1, in a North American F-86 Sabre at 652.337 mph (566.865 kn; 1,049.835 km/h).
• May 25 – Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its only nuclear artillery test: Upshot-Knothole Grable.
• May 29 – Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand, and Tenzing Norgay from Nepal, become the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

June

June 2: Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, crowned.

June 19: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed.

Main article: June 1953

• June 1 – Uprising in Plzeň: Currency reform causes riots in Czechoslovakia.
• June 2 – Elizabeth II is crowned queen of the United Kingdom, at Westminster Abbey.
• June 7 – Italian general election: the Christian Democracy party wins a plurality in both legislative houses.
• June 7-9 – Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence: A single storm-system spawns 46 tornadoes of various sizes, in 10 states from Colorado to Massachusetts, over 3 days, killing 246.
• June 8
  • On the second day of the Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, a tornado kills 115 in Flint, Michigan; it will be the last to claim more than 100 lives, until the 2011 Joplin tornado.
  • Austria and the Soviet Union open diplomatic relations.
• June 9
  • On the third day of the Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence, a tornado spawned from the same storm system as the Flint tornado the day before hits in Worcester, Massachusetts, killing 94.
  • CIA Technical Services Staff head Sidney Gottlieb approves of the use of LSD in an MKUltra subproject.
• June 13 – Hungarian Prime Minister Mátyás Rákosi is replaced by Imre Nagy.
• June 16 – The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia open diplomatic relations.
• June 17 – Workers' Uprising in East Germany: The Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin, to quell a rebellion.
• June 18
  • Egypt declares itself a republic.
  • Tachikawa air disaster: A United States Air Force Douglas C-124 Globemaster II crashes just after takeoff from Tachikawa Airfield near Tokyo, Japan, killing all 129 people on board in the worst air crash in history up to this time, and the first with a confirmed death toll exceeding 100.
• June 19
  • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed at Sing Sing Prison in New York, for conspiracy to commit espionage.
  • The Baton Rouge bus boycott begins.
• June 30
  • The first Chevrolet Corvette is built at Flint, Michigan.
  • The first roll-on/roll-off ferry crossing of the English Channel, Dover–Boulogne, takes place.

July

Main article: July 1953

• July 3 – The first ascent of Nanga Parbat in the Pakistan Himalayas, the world's ninth highest mountain, is made by Austrian climber Hermann Buhl alone.
• July 4 – Strikes and riots hit coal mining regions in Poland.
• July 5 – The European Economic Community (EEC) holds its first assembly in Strasbourg, France.
• July 9 – The U.S. Treasury formally renames the Bureau of Internal Revenue; the new name (which had previously been used informally) is the Internal Revenue Service.
• July 10 – The Soviet official newspaper Pravda announces that Lavrentiy Beria has been deposed as head of the NKVD.
• July 17 – The greatest recorded loss of United States midshipmen in a single event results from an aircraft crash near NAS Whiting Field.
• July 23 – Howard Hawks's musical film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, is released by 20th Century Fox.
• July 26
  • Fidel Castro and his brother lead a disastrous assault on the Moncada Barracks, preliminary to the Cuban Revolution.
  • The Short Creek raid is carried out, on a polygynous Mormon sect in Arizona.
• July 27 – The Korean War ends, with the Korean Armistice Agreement: The United Nations Command (Korea) (United States), People's Republic of China and North Korea sign an armistice agreement at Panmunjom, and the north remains communist, while the south remains capitalist.

August

Main article: August 1953

• August 5 – Operation Big Switch: Prisoners of war are repatriated after the Korean War.
• August 8
  • Soviet prime minister Georgi Malenkov announces that the Soviet Union has a hydrogen bomb.
  • The London Agreement on German External Debts is concluded, cancelling 50% of repayable war debt by the Federal Republic of Germany to its creditors.
• August 12
  • The 1953 Ionian earthquake of magnitude 7.2 totally devastates Cephalonia and most of the other Ionian Islands, in Greece's worst natural disaster in centuries.
  • Soviet atomic bomb project: "Joe 4", the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon, is detonated at Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakh SSR.
• August 13 – Four million workers go on strike in France, to protest against austerity measures.
• August 17 – The first planning session of Narcotics Anonymous is held in Southern California (see October 5).
• August 18 – The second of the Kinsey Reports, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, is published in the United States.
• August 19 – Cold War: The CIA helps to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran, and retain Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on the throne (see Operation Ajax).
• August 20
  • The French government ousts King Mohammed V of Morocco, and exiles him to Corsica.
  • The United States returns to West Germany 382 ships it had captured during World War II.
• August 25 – The French general strike ends.

September

Main article: September 1953

• September 4 – The discovery of REM sleep is first published, by researchers Eugene Aserinsky and Nathaniel Kleitman.
• September 5 – The United Nations rejects the Soviet Union's suggestion to accept the People's Republic of China as a member.
• September 7 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes head of the Soviet Central Committee.
• September 12 – U.S. Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy marries Jacqueline Lee Bouvier at St. Mary's Church, in Newport, Rhode Island.
• September 23 – The Pact of Madrid is signed by Francoist Spain and the United States of America, ending a period of virtual isolation for Spain.
• September 25 – The first German prisoners of war return from the Soviet Union to West Germany.
• September 26 – Rationing of cane sugar ends in the UK.

October

Main article: October 1953

• October – The UNIVAC 1103 is the first commercial computer to use random-access memory.
• October 5
  • Earl Warren is appointed Chief Justice of the United States, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
  • The first meeting of Narcotics Anonymous is held (the first planning session was held August 17).
• October 6 – UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, is made a permanent specialized agency of the United Nations.
• October 9
  • West German federal election, 1953: Konrad Adenauer is re-elected as German chancellor.
  • Fearing communist influence in British Guiana, the British Government suspends the constitution, declares a state of emergency, and militarily occupies the colony.
• October 10
  • Roland (Monty) Burton wins the 1953 London to Christchurch air race, in under 23 hours flying time.
  • The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea is concluded in Washington, D.C.
• October 12 – The play The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial opens at Plymouth Theatre, New York.
• October 22 – Laos becomes independent from France.
• October 23 – Alto Broadcasting System in the Philippines makes the first television broadcast in southeast Asia, through DZAQ-TV. Alto Broadcasting System is the predecessor of what will later become ABS-CBN Corporation.
• October 30 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document of the United States National Security Council NSC 162/2, which states that the United States' arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

November

Main article: November 1953

• November 5 – David Ben-Gurion resigns as prime minister of Israel.
• November 9 – Cambodia becomes independent from France.
  • The Laotian Civil War begins between the Kingdom of Laos and the Pathet Lao, all the while resuming the First Indochina War against the French Army in a Two-front war.
  • Saudi King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud dies.
• November 20
  • The Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket, piloted by Scott Crossfield, becomes the first manned aircraft to reach Mach 2.
  • Authorities at the Natural History Museum, London announce that the skull of Piltdown Man (allegedly an early human discovered in 1912) is a hoax.
• November 20–22 – First Indochina War: Operation Castor – In a massive airborne operation in Vietnam, French forces establish a base at Điện Biên Phủ.
• November 21 – Puerto Williams is founded in Chile, as the southernmost settlement of the world.
• November 25 – England loses 6–3 to Hungary at Wembley Stadium, their first ever loss to a continental team at home.
• November 29 – First Indochina War: Battle of Dien Bien Phu – French paratroopers consolidate their position at Điện Biên Phủ.
• November 30 – Kabaka crisis: Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda, is deposed and exiled to London, by Sir Andrew Benjamin Cohen, Governor of Uganda.

December

Main article: December 1953

December 30: Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines, inaugurated.

• December – Hugh Hefner publishes the first issue of Playboy magazine in the United States, featuring a centerfold nude photograph of Marilyn Monroe; it sells 54,175 copies at $.50 each.
• December 2 – The United Kingdom and Iran reform diplomatic relations.
• December 6 – With the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Arturo Toscanini performs what he claims is his favorite Beethoven symphony, Eroica, for the last time. The live performance is broadcast across the United States on radio, and later released on records and CD.
• December 7 – A visit to Iran by American Vice President Richard Nixon sparks several days of riots, as a reaction to the August 19 overthrow of the government of Mohammed Mossadegh by the U.S.-backed Shah. Three students are shot dead by police in Tehran. This event becomes an annual commemoration.
• December 8 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers his Atoms for Peace address, to the United Nations General Assembly.
• December 10 – Albert Schweitzer is given the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.
• December 17 – The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves color television (using the NTSC standard).
• December 23 – The Soviet Union announces officially that Lavrentiy Beria has been executed.
• December 24 – Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge collapses at Tangiwai, New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River; 151 are killed.
• December 25 – The Amami Islands are returned to Japan, after 8 years of United States military occupation.
• December 30 – Ramon Magsaysay becomes the 7th President of the Philippines.

Date unknown

• The Japanese 10 yen coin is issued with serrated edges for a 5-year period, beginning in 1953. All 10 yen coins since have had smooth edges.
• Heavy massive rain, landslides, and flooding in western and southwestern Japan kill an estimated 2,566, and injure 9,433, mainly at Kizugawa, Wakayama, Kumamoto, and Kitakyushu (June–August).
• A meat packing industry on worldwide, JBS was founded in Goias State, Brazil.
• China First Building Corporation, as predecessor part of China State Construction Engineering, founded in Beijing.

Births

January

Gary Johnson

Pat Benatar

Desi Arnaz Jr.

Jeffrey Epstein

Paul Allen

Anders Fogh Rasmussen

• January 1
  • Afonso Dhlakama, Mozambican politician (d. 2018)
  • Gary Johnson, American businessman, politician and 29th Governor of New Mexico
• January 2 – Vincent Racaniello, American virologist
• January 4 – George Tenet, American Central Intelligence Agency director
• January 5
  • Pamela Sue Martin, American actress
  • Mike Rann, Australian politician
• January 6
  • Danny Pearson, American singer (d. 2018)
  • Malcolm Young, Australian musician (d. 2017)
• January 8 – Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
• January 10
  • Pat Benatar, American rock singer (Hit Me With Your Best Shot)
  • Bobby Rahal, American race car driver
• January 13 – John Wake, English cricketer
• January 15
  • Kent Hovind, American creation science evangelist
  • Randy White, American football player
• January 16 – Robert Jay Mathews, American neo-Nazi, founder of the terrorist group The Order (d. 1984)
• January 18 – B. K. Misra, Indian neurosurgeon
• January 19
  • Desi Arnaz Jr., American actor and musician
  • Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player, politician
• January 20 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and sex offender (d. 2019)
• January 21
  • Paul Allen, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Microsoft (d. 2018)
  • Glenn Kaiser, American Christian blues-rock, heavy metal, R&B singer, songwriter and guitarist
• January 22
  • Myung-whun Chung, South Korean conductor, pianist
  • Jim Jarmusch, American director
• January 23
  • Dušan Nikolić, Yugoslav footballer (d. 2018)
  • Robin Zander, American singer, guitarist (Cheap Trick)
• January 26
  • Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark, Secretary General of NATO
  • Lucinda Williams, American singer, songwriter
• January 28 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player, executive
• January 29
  • Peter Baumann, German keyboard player, songwriter (Tangerine Dream)
  • Paulin Bordeleau, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Lynne McGranger, Australian actress
  • Juan Paredes, Mexican boxer
  • Pierre Jacob, Canadian politician (d. 2018)
  • Louie Pérez, American singer, songwriter and guitarist
  • Fred Riebeling, Australian politician
  • Grażyna Szmacińska, Polish chess player
  • Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
  • Yorie Terauchi, Japanese actress
  • Hwang Woo-suk, South Korean veterinarian, academic
• January 31 – Sergei Ivanov, Russian first deputy prime minister and minister of defense

February

Mary Steenburgen

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

Michael Bolton

José María Aznar

Ian Khama

• February 2 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
• February 4 – Kitarō, Japanese New Age musician
• February 5 – Valerie Carter, American singer, songwriter (d. 2017)
• February 7 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player (d. 1998)
• February 8 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress (Time After Time), (Back to the Future Part III)
• February 9
  • Ciarán Hinds, Irish actor
  • Rick Wagoner, American automotive executive
• February 10 – June Jones, American quarterback, current NCAA Football head coach at Southern Methodist University
• February 11
  • Vittorio Fusari, Italian chef (d. 2020)
  • Jeb Bush, American politician, 43rd Governor of Florida
• February 12 – Nabil Shaban, British disabled actor
• February 14 – Sergey Mironov, Russian statesman, Speaker of the Federation Council
• February 19
  • Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentine lawyer and politician, former President of Argentina (2007–2015) and Vice President of Argentina (2019–present)
  • Massimo Troisi, Italian actor, film director (d. 1994)
• February 20 – Riccardo Chailly, Italian orchestral conductor
• February 21 – William Petersen, American actor
• February 22 – Geoffrey Perkins, British comedy producer, writer and actor (d. 2008)
• February 25
  • José María Aznar, Prime Minister of Spain
  • Martin Kippenberger, German artist
• February 26
  • Lin Ching-hsuan, Taiwanese writer (d. 2019)
  • Michael Bolton, American surburbia singer (Time, Love and Tenderness)
• February 27
  • Ian Khama, 4th President of Botswana
  • Yolande Moreau, Belgian actress, writer and director
• February 28
  • Paul Krugman, American economist
  • Ricky Steamboat, American professional wrestler
  • Osmo Vänskä, Finnish orchestral conductor

March

Ron Jeremy

Isabelle Huppert

Lenín Moreno

Chaka Khan

• March 1 – Richard Bruton, Irish politician, economist
• March 2
  • Russell Feingold, U. S. Senator
• March 3
  • Arthur Antunes Coimbra, Brazilian footballer, manager
  • Robyn Hitchcock, British singer, songwriter
  • Agustí Villaronga, Spanish filmmaker
• March 4
  • Emilio Estefan, Cuban percussionist
  • Rose Laurens, French singer, songwriter (d. 2018)
  • Kay Lenz, American actress
  • Ray Price, Australian rugby player
• March 5 – Tokyo Sexwale, South African businessman, politician, anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner
• March 6
  • Jan Kjærstad, Norwegian author
  • Jacklyn Zeman, American actress
• March 10 – Debbie Brill, Canadian high jumper
• March 11
  • László Bölöni, Romanian footballer
  • Bernie LaBarge, Canadian guitarist/vocalist
• March 12
  • Carl Hiaasen, American author
  • Ron Jeremy, American pornographic actor, filmmaker, actor, and stand-up comedian
  • Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepalese politician
• March 14 – Johan Ullman, Swedish medical doctor, physicist and inventor
• March 15 – Kumba Iala, Guinea-Bissauan politician, 3rd President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2014)
• March 16
  • Bryan Duncan, American Christian musician
  • Isabelle Huppert, French actress
  • Richard Stallman, American free software proponent
• March 17 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino revolutionary (d. 2001)
• March 18 – Takashi Yoshimatsu, Japanese composer
• March 19 – Lenín Moreno, Ecuadorian politician, 44th President of Ecuador
• March 20 – Sándor Csányi, Hungarian business executive, banker
• March 23 – Chaka Khan, African-American soul singer (I Feel For You)
• March 24
  • Louie Anderson, American comedian
  • Mathias Richling, German comedian
• March 26
  • Lincoln Chafee, American politician
  • Elaine Chao, American politician, wife of Senator Mitch McConnell
• March 28 – Melchior Ndadaye, 4th President of Burundi (d. 1993)

April

Guy Verhofstadt

Linda Martin

Rick Moranis

• April 2
  • Jim Allister, Irish politician
  • Rosemary Bryant Mariner, American naval aviator (d. 2019)
• April 3
  • Sandra Boynton, American author, songwriter, and illustrator
  • Russ Francis, American football player
  • James Smith, American boxer
• April 4 – Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
• April 6 – Andy Hertzfeld, American computer programmer
• April 9
  • John Howard, English singer, songwriter
  • Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer (d. 2017)
• April 10
  • Sheila Andrews, American country music singer (d. 1984)
  • Heiner Lauterbach, German actor
• April 11
  • Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium
  • Andrew Wiles, British-born mathematician
• April 13 – Stephen Byers, English Labour Party politician, Secretary of State for Transport
• April 14 – Eric Tsang, Hong Kong actor
• April 16
  • Geoffrey Oryema, Ugandan musician (d. 2018)
  • Peter Garrett, Australian musician, politician
  • J. Neil Schulman, American writer, activist
• April 17 – Linda Martin, Irish singer, television presenter and Eurovision Song Contest 1992 winner
• April 18 – Rick Moranis, Canadian actor (Second City Television)
• April 19 – Ruby Wax, American-born British-based performer
• April 20 – Sebastian Faulks, British novelist
• April 22 – Juhani Komulainen, Finnish composer
• April 24
  • Eric Bogosian, American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist
  • Tim Woodward, English actor
• April 25 – Ron Clements, American animation director, producer
• April 28
  • Roberto Bolaño, Chilean author (d. 2003)
  • Kim Gordon, American rock musician
• April 29
  • Nikolai Budarin, Russian cosmonaut
  • Bill Drummond, South African-born British artist and musician (The KLF, K Foundation etc.)
• April 30 – Merrill Osmond, American pop singer

May

Tony Blair

Alex Van Halen

Norodom Sihamoni

Pierce Brosnan

Danny Elfman

• May 2
  • Valery Gergiev, Russian-Ossetian conductor
  • Jamaal Wilkes, American basketball player
• May 3 – Ibrahim Zakzaky, Nigerian Shia-Islam cleric
• May 4 – Salman Hashimikov, Soviet heavyweight wrestler
• May 5 – Dieter Zetsche, German auto executive
• May 6
  • Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • Graeme Souness, Scottish footballer, manager
  • Lynn Whitfield, African-American actress
• May 7 – Ian McKay, British soldier, (VC recipient) (d. 1982)
• May 8
  • Billy Burnette, American musician
  • Alex Van Halen, Dutch-born American rock musician
• May 11 – David Gest, American entertainer, producer and television personality (d. 2016)
• May 14
  • Michael Hebranko, American exemplar of morbid/mortal obesity (d. 2013)
  • Norodom Sihamoni, King of Cambodia
• May 15
  • George Brett, American Major League Baseball player
  • Mike Oldfield, English composer (Tubular Bells)
• May 16
  • Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor
  • Richard Page, American musician
• May 17 – Luca Prodan, Italian–Scottish musician and singer (d. 1987)
• May 19 – Victoria Wood, English comic performer (d. 2016)
• May 20 – Robert Doyle, Australian politician
• May 23 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, 4th Prime Minister of Rwanda (d. 1994)
• May 24 – Alfred Molina, English actor
• May 26
  • Kay Hagan, American lawyer, banking executive, and politician (d. 2019)
  • Michael Portillo, English politician
• May 29
  • Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor (d. 2008)
  • Danny Elfman, American composer
• May 30 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor
• May 31 – Kathie Sullivan, American singer

June

Johnny Clegg

Ivo Sanader

Tim Allen

Xi Jinping

Benazir Bhutto

Cyndi Lauper

• June 1
  • David Berkowitz, American serial killer
  • Diana Canova, American actress, adjunct professor
• June 2
  • Keith Allen, British actor
  • Cornel West, African-American philosopher, political activist, social critic, author
• June 3 – Erland Van Lidth De Jeude, Dutch-born wrestler, opera singer and actor (d. 1987)
• June 4
  • Paul De Meo, American screenwriter, producer (d. 2018)
  • Susumu Ojima, Japanese entrepreneur
• June 5 – Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer
• June 7
  • Johnny Clegg, South African Zulu musician and anthropologist (d. 2019)
  • Dougie Donnelly, Scottish television broadcaster
• June 8 – Ivo Sanader, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia
• June 10 – John Edwards, American politician
• June 11
  • Peter Bergman, American actor
  • Barbara Minty, American model
• June 12 – Michael Donovan, Canadian voice actor
• June 13
  • Tim Allen, American actor, comedian (Home Improvement)
  • Atso Almila, Finnish conductor, composer
• June 14 – Hana Laszlo, Israeli actress and comedian
• June 15
  • Antonia Rados, Austrian television journalist
  • Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China
• June 19
  • Ken Davitian, Armenian–American actor, comedian and restaurateur
  • Lesley Nicol, English actress
• June 20 – Ulrich Mühe, German actor (d. 2007)
• June 21 – Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2007)
• June 22
  • Wim Eijk, Dutch archbishop
  • Cyndi Lauper, American singer (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)
• June 23
  • Armen Sarkissian, 4th President of Armenia
  • Steven Scarborough, American gay pornographic film director
  • Pake McEntire, American country music artist
• June 24
  • Vanessa Campbell, American actor, singer
  • Ivo Lill, Estonian artist
• June 26
  • James Wong, Malaysian footballer
  • Kristján L. Möller, Icelandic politician
  • Wee Choo Keong, Malaysian politician
  • Neil Record, British businessman, author and economist
• June 27
  • Hartmut Flöckner, German swimmer
  • Efraín Morales Sánchez, Mexican politician
  • Kem Sokha, Cambodian politician, activist
• June 29
  • Dorin Dănilă, Romanian admiral
  • Don Dokken, American rock singer, musician
  • Colin Hay, Scottish-born Australian singer, songwriter (Men at Work)
  • Lonnie Nielsen, American professional golfer
  • Ivan Malakhov, Russian politician
• June 30 – Joan Lin, Taiwanese actress

July

Sangay Ngedup

Lawrence Gonzi

Leon Spinks

Mindy Sterling

Jean Bertrand-Aristide

Mila Mulroney

Jeff Fatt

Najib Abdul Razak

• July 1
  • Pat Donovan, American football offensive lineman
  • Lawrence Gonzi, 11th Prime Minister of Malta
  • David Gulpilil, Australian traditional dancer and actor
  • Mike Haynes, American football player
  • Jadranka Kosor, Croatian politician
  • Nasir Ali Mamun, Bengali portrait photographer
  • Sangay Ngedup, Prime Minister of Bhutan
  • Mohammad Tofiq Rahim, Iraqi Kurdish politician
  • Alan Sunderland, English footballer
• July 2 – Nacer Sandjak, Algerian footballer and manager
• July 3
  • Lotta Sollander, Swedish alpine skier
  • Les Strong, English association footballer
• July 4
  • Wong Siu-yee, Hong Kong politician
  • Santiago Formoso, Spanish-American soccer defender
• July 6
  • Nanci Griffith, American folk singer, songwriter
  • Mike Riley, NFL and NCAA football head coach
  • Marcela Váchová, Czech artistic gymnast
• July 7 – Eleri Rees, Welsh judge
• July 9
  • François Diederich, Luxembourgish chemist
  • Peter Land, New Zealand actor, singer
• July 10
  • Rik Emmett, Canadian singer, songwriter and lead guitarist (Triumph)
  • Édouard Guillaud, French Naval Officer and Admiral
• July 11
  • Angélica Aragón, Mexican actress
  • Leon Spinks, African-American boxer
  • Mindy Sterling, American actress
  • Wu Shu-chen, Taiwanese politician
  • Piyasvasti Amranand, Thailand's Energy Minister
• July 12 – Alessi Brothers, American pop rock singer-songwriter duo
• July 13
  • Gil Birmingham, Native American actor
  • David Thompson, American basketball player
• July 14
  • Bebe Buell, American model and singer
  • Katsuya Okada, Japanese politician
• July 15
  • Sultanah Haminah, Malaysian royal consort
  • Mohamad Shahrum Osman, Malaysian politician
  • Jean-Bertrand Aristide, President of Haiti
  • Raisul Islam Asad, Bangladeshi actor
  • Mila Pivnicki, wife of Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney
  • Neda Arnerić, Serbian film actress (d. 2020)
• July 16 – Ahmad Fuad Ismail, Malaysian politician; 9th mayor of Kuala Lumpur
• July 17 – Nuria Bages, Mexican actress
• July 19
  • Paula Saldanha, Brazilian journalist, presenter, writer, illustrator and environmentalist
  • Pasquale Valentini, Sammarinese politician
  • Shōichi Nakagawa, Japanese politician (d. 2009)
• July 21
  • Jeff Fatt, Australian musician, former member of The Wiggles
  • Sylvia Chang, Taiwanese actress
• July 23 – Najib Abdul Razak, 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia
• July 24
  • Tadashi Kawamata, Japanese contemporary artist
  • Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator
• July 25 – Tim Gunn, American fashion expert
• July 26 – Robert Phillips (guitarist), American classical guitarist
• July 27 – Yahoo Serious, Australian filmmaker
• July 29
  • Ken Burns, American documentary filmmaker
  • Geddy Lee, Canadian rock musician (Rush)
• July 31
  • Tōru Furuya, Japanese voice actor
  • James Read, American actor

August

Hulk Hogan

Carlos Mesa

James Horner

Wolfgang Hohlbein

Peter Horton

Marcia Clark

• August 1
  • Robert Cray, American musician
  • Steven Krasner, American sportswriter
• August 2 – Butch Patrick, American child actor and musician
• August 3 – Randy Scruggs, American music producer, songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
• August 4 – Antonio Tajani, Italian politician, President of the European Parliament
• August 5
  • Rick Mahler, American baseball player (d. 2005)
  • David J. Sugarbaker, American physician (d. 2018)
• August 8 – Nigel Mansell, English 1992 Formula 1 world champion
• August 9 – Jean Tirole, French Nobel Prize-winning economist
• August 10 – Richard Cansino, American voice actor
• August 11 – Hulk Hogan, American professional wrestler
• August 12
  • Carlos Mesa, President of Bolivia
  • Teddi Siddall, American actress (d. 2018)
• August 14
  • Cliff Johnson, American game designer
  • James Horner, American film composer (d. 2015)
• August 15
  • Wolfgang Hohlbein, German writer of science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction
  • Martin Manley, American sports writer and statistician (d. 2013)
  • Carol Thatcher, English television personality
  • Sir Mark Thatcher, English businessman
• August 16 – Kathie Lee Gifford, American singer and actress
• August 17
  • Noni Hazlehurst, Australian actress and presenter
  • Herta Müller, German Nobel Prize-winning writer
• August 18 – Louie Gohmert, American politician
• August 19 – Benoît Régent, French actor (d. 1994)
• August 20
  • Peter Horton, American actor and director
  • Mike Jackson, member of the Texas Senate
• August 21 – Géza Szőcs, Hungarian poet and politician
• August 24 – Ron Holloway, American tenor saxophonist
• August 26
  • Edward Lowassa, 8th Prime Minister of Tanzania
  • Pat Sharkey, Irish footballer
• August 27
  • Alex Lifeson, Canadian rock musician (Rush)
  • Peter Stormare, Swedish actor
• August 29 – James Quesada, Nicaraguan-born anthropologist
• August 30
  • Robin Harris, American comedian and actor (d. 1990)
  • Robert Parish, American basketball player
• August 31
  • György Károly, Hungarian author (d. 2018)
  • Marcia Clark, American prosecutor, author, television correspondent and television producer

September

Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs

Tommy Shaw

• September 2 – John Zorn, American musician
• September 4
  • Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, African-American actor
  • Fatih Terim, Turkish footballer and manager
• September 6 – Anne Lockhart, American actress
• September 7 – Mammootty, Indian actor
• September 8 – Stu Ungar, American poker player (d. 1998)
• September 10 – Amy Irving, American actress
• September 11
  • Renée Geyer, Australian singer
  • Tommy Shaw, American guitarist and singer
  • Lesley Visser, American sportscaster and journalist
• September 12
  • Nan Goldin, American photographer
  • Stephen Sprouse, American fashion designer, artist, and photographer (d. 2004)
• September 13 – Ann Dusenberry, American film actress
  • Doug Worgul, American novelist
• September 14 – Harold Covington, American political activist (d. 2018)
• September 17 – Altaf Hussain, Pakistani politician
• September 18 – Betsy Boze, American dean and CEO, Kent State University at Stark
• September 19 – Probal Dasgupta, Indian linguist and Esperantist
• September 20
  • Steve Tom, American actor
  • Ricci Martin, American musician and singer (d. 2016)
• September 21
  • Andrew Heermans, American musician, recording engineer, music producer
  • Kevin Tamati, New Zealand rugby league player
• September 22
  • Ségolène Royal, French politician
  • David Wohl, American television and film actor
• September 23 – Alexey Maslov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces
• September 27 – Greg Ham, Australian rock musician (Men at Work)
• September 29
  • Denis Potvin, Canadian Hall of Fame hockey player
  • Randy West, American radio personality and game show announcer
• September 30 – Deborah Allen, American singer

October

Tico Torres

Greg Evigan

Tito Jackson

Robert Picardo

• October 1
  • Grete Waitz, Norwegian athlete (d. 2011)
  • Klaus Wowereit, German politician
• October 2 – Brandon Wilson, American author and explorer
• October 4 – Kerry Sherman, American actress
• October 7 – Tico Torres, American Drummer (Bon Jovi)
• October 9 – Tony Shalhoub, American actor
• October 10 – Midge Ure, Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and producer
• October 12
  • Les Dennis, British comedian and television presenter
  • Serge Lepeltier, French politician
• October 14
  • Greg Evigan, American actor
  • Shelley Ackerman, American astrologer, actress, writer
• October 15
  • Tito Jackson, African-American singer and guitarist (The Jackson 5)
  • Larry Miller, American actor and comedian
• October 16 – Martha Smith, American model and actress
• October 20 – Bill Nunn, African-American actor (d. 2016)
• October 21
  • Charlotte Caffey, American guitarist and songwriter
  • Keith Green, American-born Christian piano player (d. 1982)
  • Peter Mandelson, British politician and member of the Labour Party
  • Hugh Wolff, American orchestral conductor
• October 22 – Loyiso Nongxa, South African mathematician
• October 24
  • Christoph Daum, German footballer and manager
  • Steven Hatfill, American physician, virologist and bio-weapons expert
  • David Wright, British composer and producer, co-founder of AD Music
• October 26 – Keith Strickland, American musician (The B-52's)
• October 27
  • Paul Alcock, English football referee (d. 2018)
  • Peter Firth, British actor
  • Robert Picardo, American actor
• October 29
  • Lorelei King, American-born actress
  • Batton Lash, American comic book writer and artist (d. 2019)
• October 31 – Michael J. Anderson, American actor

November

Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Dominique de Villepin

Kevin Nealon

Steve Bannon

Boris Grebenshchikov

Curtis Armstrong

• November 1
  • Darrell Issa, American businessman and Congressman
  • Susan Tse, Hong Kong actress and opera singer
  • Bruce Poliquin, American politician
• November 2 – Tom Lyle, American comics artist (d. 2019)
• November 3
  • Koji Horaguchi, Japanese rugby union player (d. 1999)
  • Dennis Miller, American comedian and radio host
  • Kate Capshaw, American actress
• November 4
  • Carlos Gutierrez, American politician
  • Peter Lord, British film producer and director
  • Van Stephenson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
• November 5 – Florentino V. Floro, Filipino dwarf judge
• November 7 – Ottfried Fischer, German actor and Kabarett artist
• November 8 – John Musker, American animation director
• November 11
  • Andy Partridge, British musician and frontman of the band XTC
  • Harley Venton, American actor
• November 13
  • Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico (2018—present)
  • Waswo X. Waswo, American photographer
  • Diana Weston, English actress
  • Mokhtar Dahari, Malaysian footballer (d. 1991)
• November 14 – Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France
• November 15 – Alexander O'Neal, American singer
• November 16 – Griff Rhys Jones, Welsh comedian, writer, actor and television presenter
• November 18
  • Jan Kuehnemund, American guitarist (Vixen) (d. 2013)
  • Alan Moore, English writer and magician
  • Kevin Nealon, American actor and comedian
  • Kath Soucie, American actress and voice actress
• November 19
  • Robert Beltran, American actor
  • Tom Villard, American actor (d. 1994)
• November 23 – Francis Cabrel, French singer
• November 24
  • Glenn Withrow, American actress
  • Tod Machover, American composer
• November 25 – Graham Eadie, Australian rugby league player
• November 27
  • Steve Bannon, American political figure
  • Richard Stone, American composer (d. 2001)
  • Boris Grebenshchikov, Russian rock musician
  • Curtis Armstrong, American actor
  • Lyle Mays, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2020)
• November 28 – Pamela Hayden, American voice actress
• November 29
  • Alex Grey, American artist
  • Vlado Kreslin, Slovenian singer
  • Christine Pascal, French actress, director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
  • Rosemary West, British serial killer
  • Moshe Ivgy, Moroccan-born Israeli actor
• November 30 – June Pointer, American singer (The Pointer Sisters) (d. 2006)

December

Kim Basinger

John Malkovich

Bill Pullman

Leonel Fernández

Thomas Bach

• December 2 – Joel Fuhrman, American certified family physician
• December 6
  • Geoff Hoon, British Labour Party politician
  • Tom Hulce, American actor and theater producer
  • Gary Ward, American baseball player
• December 8
  • Kim Basinger, American actress and fashion model
  • Norman G. Finkelstein, American political scientist
  • Sam Kinison, American comedian (d. 1992)
• December 9
  • John Malkovich, American actor and film director
  • Hiromitsu Ochiai, former Japanese baseball player and manager
• December 11
  • Richard Carter, Australian actor (d. 2019)
  • Thampi Kannanthanam, Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor (d. 2018)
• December 13
  • Ben Bernanke, American economist, Federal Reserve System chairman
  • Bob Gainey, Canadian hockey player
  • Pat Torpey, American drummer (Mr. Big) (d. 2018)
• December 14
  • Gail Matthius, American actress, voice actress, and comedian
  • Vangelis Meimarakis, Greek lawyer and politician, 4th Greek Minister for National Defence
• December 16 – Héctor Timerman, Argentine journalist and politician (d. 2018)
• December 17
  • Ikue Mori, Japanese drummer, composer and graphic designer
  • Bill Pullman, American actor
• December 18
  • Kevin Beattie, English footballer (d. 2018)
  • Khas-Magomed Hadjimuradov, Chechen bard
• December 21 – András Schiff, Hungarian concert pianist and conductor
• December 22
  • David Leisner, American guitarist and composer
  • Bern Nadette Stanis, African-American actress
• December 23
  • Nuria Bages, Mexican stage and television actress
  • Marián Geišberg, Slovak actor (d. 2018)
  • Martha Wash, American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
• December 24 – Timothy Carhart, American actor
• December 26
  • Leonel Fernández, President of the Dominican Republic
  • Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Estonian politician, 4th President of Estonia
• December 27 – Gina Lopez, Filipino environmentalist and philanthropist (d. 2019)
• December 28
  • Richard Clayderman, French pianist
  • Tatsumi Fujinami, Japanese professional wrestler
• December 29
  • Thomas Bach, 9th President of the International Olympic Committee
  • Stanley Williams, American gang member (d. 2005)
• December 30
  • Dana Key, American Christian musician, guitarist and preacher (DeGarmo and Key) (d. 2010)
  • Meredith Vieira, American journalist and game show host
• December 31
  • James Remar, American actor
  • Michael Hedges, American composer and guitarist (d. 1997)

Date unknown

• Julieta Egurrola, Mexican actress.
• Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, 6th President of Mauritania (d. 2017)
• Lan Jun, Chinese politician

Deaths

January

Hank Williams

Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu

James Scullin

• January 1
  • Maksim Purkayev, Soviet general (b. 1894)
  • Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1923)
• January 2 – Guccio Gucci, founder of Gucci (b. 1881)
• January 4
  • Arthur Hoyt, American actor (b. 1874)
  • Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, Japanese prince (b. 1902)
• January 5 – Mitchell Hepburn, Canadian politician, 11th Premier of Ontario (b. 1896)
• January 7
  • Henry Diesen, Norwegian admiral (b. 1883)
  • Osa Johnson, American adventurer and documentary filmmaker (b. 1894)
• January 8 – Charles Edward Merriam, American political scientist (b. 1874)
• January 9 – Marguerite Pitre (aka Madame le Corbeau), Canadian murderer (b. 1909)
• January 13 – Sir Edward Marsh, English polymath and civil servant (b. 1872)
• January 16 – Israel Goldstine, New Zealand lawyer and politician (b. 1898)
• January 21 – Mary Mannering, early 20th century English stage actress (b. 1876)
• January 28 – James Scullin, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
• January 29 – Sir Reginald Wingate, British army general and colonial administrator (b. 1861)
• January 30 – Lionel Belmore, English actor (b. 1867)

February

Iuliu Maniu

Francesco Saverio Nitti

• February 1 – William Sydney Marchant, British colonial official (b. 1894)
• February 2 – Alan Curtis, American actor (b. 1909)
• February 5 – Iuliu Maniu, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1873)
• February 9 – Cecil Hepworth, English director (b. 1874)
• February 12 – Hal Colebatch, Australian politician (b. 1872)
• February 19
  • Nobutake Kondō, Japanese admiral (b. 1886)
  • Richard Rushall, British businessman (b. 1864)
• February 20 – Francesco Saverio Nitti, Italian economist and political figure, 24th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1868)
• February 21 – Konrad Krafft von Dellmensingen, Bavarian general (b. 1862)
• February 23 – Sir Cecil Hunter-Rodwell, British colonial administrator (b. 1874)
• February 24 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (b. 1875)
• February 25 – Sergei Winogradsky, Russian scientist (b. 1856)
• February 27 – Paul Hurst, American actor (b. 1888)

March

Joseph Stalin

Klement Gottwald

Jim Thorpe

• March 2 – James Lightbody, American middle-distance runner (b. 1882)
• March 3 – James J. Jeffries, American boxing champion (b. 1875)
• March 5
  • Herman J. Mankiewicz, American writer and producer (b. 1897)
  • Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (b. 1891)
  • Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (b. 1878)
• March 7 – Edward Sedgwick, American director (b. 1892)
• March 13 – Johan Laidoner, Commander-in-chief of the Estonian Army (b. 1884)
• March 14 – Klement Gottwald, 5th President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1896)
• March 15 – Carl Stockdale, American actor (b. 1874)
• March 20 – Graciliano Ramos, Brazilian writer (b. 1892)
• March 21 – Toni Wolff, Swiss psychoanalyst (b. 1888)
• March 23
  • Raoul Dufy, French painter (b. 1875)
  • Oskar Luts, Estonian writer and playwright (b. 1887)
• March 24
  • Queen Mary, consort of George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
  • Paul Couturier, French priest (b. 1881)
• March 28 – Jim Thorpe, Native-American athlete and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1887)
• March 31 – Ivan Lebedeff, Russian actor (b. 1895)

April

King Carol II of Romania

Stanisław Wojciechowski

• April 2
  • Jean Epstein, French film director (b. 1897)
  • Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885)
• April 4 – King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
• April 9
  • Eddie Cochems, American father of the forward pass in football (b. 1877)
  • Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher (b. 1891)
  • Stanisław Wojciechowski, 2nd President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1869)
• April 11
  • Boris Kidrič, 1st Prime Minister of Slovenia (b. 1912)
  • Kid Nichols, American baseball player (Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1869)
• April 20 – Erich Weinert, German writer, member of the Communist Party of Germany (b. 1890)
• April 27 – Maud Gonne, English-born Irish republican revolutionary, memoirist; spouse of John MacBride (b. 1866)
• April 29 – Kiki de Montparnasse, French artists' model (b. 1901)

May

Django Reinhardt

Damaso Berenguer

• May 1 – Everett Shinn, American painter (b. 1876)
• May 8 – Anna Rüling, German journalist, "the first known lesbian activist" (b. 1880)
• May 16
  • Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian military officer and statesman, 45th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1874)
  • Django Reinhardt, Belgian jazz musician (b. 1910)
• May 19 – Dámaso Berenguer, Spanish soldier and Prime Minister (b. 1873)
• May 21 – Ernst Zermelo, German logician and mathematician (b. 1871)
• May 27 – Jesse Burkett, American baseball player (Cleveland Spiders) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1868)
• May 29 – Man Mountain Dean, American professional wrestler (b. 1891)
• May 30 – Dooley Wilson, American actor (b. 1886)
• May 31 – Vladimir Tatlin, Soviet painter and architect (b. 1885)

June

Norman Ross

• June 1 – Alex James, Scottish football (soccer) player (b. 1901)
• June 5
  • William Farnum, American actor (b. 1876)
  • Bill Tilden, American tennis champion (b. 1893)
  • Roland Young, English actor (b. 1887)
• June 9 – Godfrey Tearle, American actor (b. 1884)
• June 15 – Henry Scattergood, American cricketer (b. 1877)
• June 18 – René Fonck, French aviator, top Allied World War I Flying Ace (b. 1894)
• June 19
  • Harold Cazneaux, Australian photographer (b. 1878)
  • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American communist spies (b. 1918 and 1915, respectively) (executed on same day)
  • Norman Ross, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1896)
• June 22 – Bill Lange, American sports coach. (b. 1897)
• June 23 – Albert Gleizes, French artist and theoretician (b. 1881)
• June 30 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator of children's books (b. 1874)

July

Dumarsais Estime

• July 1 – Totius, Afrikaans poet. (b. 1877)
• July 9 – Annie Kenney, British working-class suffragette (b. 1879)
• July 11 – Oliver Campbell, American tennis player (b. 1871)
• July 12 – Herbert Rawlinson, English actor (b. 1885)
• July 16 – Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer and historian (b. 1870)
• July 17 – Maude Adams, American actress (b. 1872)
• July 20 – Dumarsais Estimé, 30th President of Haiti (b. 1900)
• July 26 – Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and Prime Minister (b. 1883)
• July 29 – Richard William Pearse, New Zealand airplane pioneer (b. 1877)
• July 31 – Robert A. Taft, American politician, United States Senate Majority Leader (b. 1889)

August

File:Янис Мендрикс.jpg

Jānis Mendriks

• August 1 – Jānis Mendriks, Soviet Roman Catholic priest (b. 1907)
• August 7 – Abner Powell, Major League Baseball player (b. 1860)
• August 11 – Tazio Nuvolari, Italian racing driver (b. 1892)
• August 15 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist (b. 1875)
• August 22 – Jim Tabor, American baseball player (b. 1916)
• August 25 – Jessie Aspinall, Australian doctor, first female junior medical resident at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (b. 1880)
• August 30
  • Gaetano Merola, Italian conductor (b. 1881)
  • Maurice Nicoll, British psychiatrist (b. 1884)

September

Mary Brewster Hazelton

File:Edwin-hubble.jpg

Edwin Hubble

• September 2 – General Jonathan Wainwright, American Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1883)
• September 5 – Francis Ford, American actor and director (b. 1881)
  • Richard Walther Darré, Nazi SS General (b. 1895)
• September 7 – Nobuyuki Abe, Japanese Prime Minister and military leader (b. 1875)
• September 8 – Fred M. Vinson, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1890)
• September 12
  • Hugo Schmeisser, German weapons designer (b. 1884)
  • Lewis Stone, American actor (b. 1879)
• September 13 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, American painter (b. 1868)
• September 15 – Erich Mendelsohn, German architect (b. 1887)
• September 17 – Wenxiu, consort of China's last emperor Puyi (b. 1909)
• September 24 – Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba, Spanish aristocrat (born 1878)
• September 26 – Xu Beihong, Chinese painter (b. 1895)
• September 27 – Hans Fritzsche, senior Nazi official, one of only three acquitted at the Nuremberg trials (b. 1900)
• September 28 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (b. 1889)
• September 30
  • Robert Mawdesley, British actor (b. 1900)
  • Lewis Fry Richardson, English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist and pacifist (b. 1881)

October

Hjalmar Hammarskjold

• October 3 – Arnold Bax, English composer (b. 1887)
• October 6 – Porter Hall, American actor (b. 1888)
• October 8
  • Nigel Bruce, British character actor (b. 1895)
  • Kathleen Ferrier, British contralto (b. 1912)
• October 11 – Pauline Robinson Bush, younger sister of President George W. Bush (b. 1949)
• October 12 – Hjalmar Hammarskjöld, Swedish politician, 13th Prime Minister of Sweden, leaders of World War I (b. 1862)
• October 13 – Millard Mitchell, American actor (b. 1903)
• October 14 – Arthur Wimperis, English illustrator and playwright (b. 1874)
• October 20 – Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, British air chief marshal (b. 1878)
• October 25 – Holger Pedersen, Dutch linguist (b. 1867)
• October 27 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (b. 1873)

November

Louise DeKoven Bowen

Eugene O'Neill

• November 5 – Harry A. Marmer, Ukrainian-born American mathematician and oceanographer (b. 1885)
• November 8
  • Ivan Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
  • John van Melle, Dutch-born author (b. 1883)
• November 9
  • Louise DeKoven Bowen, American philanthropist and activist (b. 1859)
  • King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1876)
  • Dylan Thomas, Welsh poet and author (b. 1914)
• November 18 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, American composer (b. 1901)
• November 21 – Larry Shields, American musician (b. 1893)
• November 22 – Syed Sulaiman Nadvi, Indian/Pakistani historian, biographer, littérateur and scholar of Islam (b. 1884)
• November 27 – Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• November 28 – Rudolf Bauer, German-born painter (b. 1889)
• November 29
  • Ernest Barnes, English mathematician, scientist and theologist (b. 1874)
  • Sam De Grasse, Canadian actor (b. 1875)
  • Milt Gross, American comic book illustrator and animator (b. 1895)
• November 30 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (b. 1879)

December

Şükrü Saracoğlu

• December 2 – Radu Băldescu, Romanian general (b. 1888)
• December 5
  • Ray Paddock, American farmer and politician (b. 1877)
  • Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1911)
• December 10 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born Islamic scholar and translator (b. 1872)
• December 14 – Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American writer (b. 1896)
• December 19 – Robert Andrews Millikan, American physicist Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
• December 21 – Nicholas H. Heck, American geophysicist, oceanographer and surveyor (b. 1882)
• December 23 – Lavrentiy Beria, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Soviet Union (executed) (b. 1899)
• December 25
  • William Haselden, English cartoonist (b. 1872)
  • Lee Shubert, Polish-born theater owner and operator (b. 1871)
• December 27
  • Şükrü Saracoğlu, 9th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1887)
  • Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (b. 1894)
• December 31 – Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)

Date unknown

• Ioan Popovici, Romanian general (b. 1865)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Frits (Frederik) Zernike
• Chemistry – Hermann Staudinger
• Medicine – Hans Adolf Krebs, Fritz Albert Lipmann
• Literature – Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
• Peace – George Catlett Marshall