Wikipedia / 1948
Wikipedia / 1948
Events
January
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
The current Constitutions of Italy and of New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) go into effect.
The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways.
January 4 Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the 'Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister.
January 5 In the United States:
Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game).
The first Kinsey Report, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, is published.
January 7 Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified flying object.
January 12 Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi, to stop communal violence during the Partition of India.
January 17 A truce is declared between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java.
January 22 British foreign secretary Ernest Bevin proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France and the Benelux countries to stand up against the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Brussels is signed March 17 as a consequence, a predecessor to NATO.
January 26 Teigin poison case: a man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 of 16 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadamichi Hirasawa is later sentenced to death for the crime, but is never executed.
January 29 A DC-3 aircraft crash at Los Gatos Creek, near Coalinga, California, kills 4 US citizens and 28 deportees, commemorated in a protest song ("Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)") by Woody Guthrie.
Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is shot by Nathuram Godse in New Delhi.
The 1948 Winter Olympics open in St Moritz, Switzerland.
January 31 The British crown colony of the Malayan Union, Penang and Malacca form the Federation of Malaya.
February
The Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.
The Federation of Malaya is proclaimed.
February 4 Ceylon (later known as Sri Lanka) becomes an independent country, within the British Commonwealth adopting King George VI as the King of Ceylon.
February 11 General Douglas Gracey becomes Commander-in-chief of Pakistan Army.
February 16 Miranda, innermost of the large moons of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.
February 18 Éamon de Valera, Irish head of government from 1918 to 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach by President Seán T. O'Kelly, until 1960.
February 19 The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convenes in Calcutta.
February 21 The United States stock car racing organization NASCAR is founded by Bill France Sr. with other drivers.
February 22 The first of the Ben Yehuda Street bombings in Jerusalem kills between 49 and 58 civilians and injures between 140 and 200.
February 25 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état: Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia, cedes control of the country to the Communist Party, a day celebrated by that regime as "Victorious February" (; ) until November 1989.
Accra Riots: Riots take place in Accra, capital of the British colony of Gold Coast, when a peaceful protest march by ex-servicemen is broken up by police, leaving several members of the group dead, among them Sergeant Adjetey, one of the leaders.
The 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of India convenes in Calcutta.
March
March 8 McCollum v. Board of Education: The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution.
March 12 The Costa Rican Civil War begins.
The Treaty of Brussels is signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, providing for economic, social and cultural collaboration and collective self-defence.
The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California.
March 18 The Round Table Conference convenes in The Hague, Netherlands, to prepare the decolonization process for the Caribbean island of Aruba and the other Dutch Colonies. Aruba presents the mandate of the Aruban People for Aruba to become an independent country, under the sovereignty of the House of Orange, based on Aruba's first state constitution presented officially since August 1947, and a (4th) member state of the future Dutch Commonwealth.
Singapore holds its first elections.
Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program in the United States.
The 20th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.
March 25 The United States Proposal for Temporary United Nations Trusteeship for Palestine is announced by Harry S. Truman.
April
April Children's Bargain Town, a predecessor of toy and child-related retailer Toys "R" Us, is founded in Washington, D.C., United States.
April 1 Physicists Ralph Asher Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper, about the Big Bang.
United States President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $5billion in aid for 16 countries.
Jeju Uprising: Residents revolt on Jeju Island, South Korea, eventually leading to the deaths of between 14,000 and 30,000.
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is played on television in its entirety for the first time, in a series of concerts featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the United States. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.
April 5 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Haganah launches Operation Nachshon, provoking the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight.
April 6 The Finno-Soviet Treaty is signed in Moscow.
April 7 The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
Liberal politician Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo) and a further 10 years of violence (La Violencia) across Colombia.
The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in British Mandatory Palestine.
April 13 The Hadassah medical convoy massacre takes place, in British Mandatory Palestine.
April 15 Pan American World Airways flight 1-10 crashes on approach to Shannon Airport in Ireland, killing all but one of the thirty-one passengers and crew.
April 16 The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is founded, as the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC).
April 18 Italian general election, 1948: The first democratic general election with universal suffrage is held in Italy. The Christian Democracy party achieves a majority over the Popular Democratic Front Communist-Socialist coalition.
Burma joins the United Nations.
The American Broadcasting Company (otherwise known as ABC) begins television services, on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia (later WPVI-TV).
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Battle of Haifa Jewish paramilitary group Haganah captures Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
WTVR begins television services. WTVR is the first TV station south of Washington D.C., giving it the nickname "The South's First Television station".
April 23 First National Games of Pakistan held in Karachi.
April 24 The Costa Rican Civil War ends.
The Organization of American States (OAS) is founded.
The English-built Land Rover is unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show.
May
May The RAND Corporation is established, as an independent nonprofit policy research and analysis institution, in the United States.
May 9 Solar eclipse of May 9, 1948: An annular solar eclipse is visible in Japan and South Korea, and is the 32nd solar eclipse of Solar Saros 137. This eclipse is very short, lasting just 0.3 seconds. The path width is just about 200 meters wide (approximately 218 yards).
May 11 Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.
May 14 The Israeli Declaration of Independence is made. David Ben-Gurion becomes the first prime minister, a provisional position that will become formalized on February 14, 1949.
1948 Arab–Israeli War: The British Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated; expeditionary forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria and Iraq invade Israel and clash with Israeli forces after declaring war.
The murder of June Anne Devaney a 3-year-old girl in Blackburn, England. To solve the crime, officers take 46,253 sets of fingerprints before identifying her murderer.
Australian cricket team in England in 1948: The touring Australiansns set an all-time first-class record, by scoring 721 runs in a day against Essex.
Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel
New York City Fire Department Rescue 5 is founded for Staten Island.
May 18 The first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanjing.
May 22 The Soviets launch Operation Vesna, the largest Lithuanian deportation to Siberia.
May 25 The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) is founded at Ellinwood Malate Church in Manila.
May 26 The United States Congress passes Public Law 557 which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
May 28 Daniel François Malan defeats Jan Smuts and becomes Prime Minister of South Africa, which starts the era of apartheid (which is finally dismantled by F. W. de Klerk in 1994).
May 29 The Casimir effect is predicted by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
May 30 A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon, within minutes; 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
June
June 1 Puma, a global sports goods brand, is founded in Bavaria, West Germany, by Rudolf Dassler, having split from his brother "Adi".
June 3 The Palomar Observatory telescope is finished in California.
June 10 Hasan Saka forms the new government of Turkey. (17th government; Hasan Saka had served twice as a prime minister)
June 11 The first monkey astronaut, Albert I, is launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico.
June 15 Chinese newspaper Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) is first published in Pingshan County, Hebei.
June 17 United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing 43 and injuring 84 people on board.
Malayan Emergency: A state of emergency is declared in the Federation of Malaya, due to a communist insurgency.
Columbia Records introduces its rpm long playing phonograph format.
June 20 The U.S. Congress recesses for the remainder of 1948, after an overtime session closes at 7:00a.m. (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948).
The Deutsche Mark becomes the official currency of the future Federal Republic of Germany.
The Manchester Baby in England becomes the first stored-program computer to successfully execute a program.
The ship brings more than 800 Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Tilbury near London, the start of a large wave of immigration to Britain.
David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It is banned for 3 years in the U.S., because of alleged antisemitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.
Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.
The first World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization is held in Geneva.
William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
The Berlin Airlift begins.
The Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and the Soviet/Yugoslav split.
The 6.8 Fukui earthquake strikes Fukui, Japan; 3,769 are killed, 22,203 injured.
Lotte Group, a global conglomerate in Northeast Asia (South Korea and Japan), is founded.
July
July 5 The National Health Service in the United Kingdom begins functioning, giving the right to universal healthcare, free at point of use.
July 6 The world's first Air Car-ferry service is flown by a Bristol Freighter of Silver City Airways, from Lympne to Le Touquet across the English Channel.
July 13 The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches reach an agreement, leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church.
July 14 The attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party, results in numerous strikes all over the country.
July 15 The first London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous is founded.
July 16 Three armed men hijack the Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot; the plane crashes, killing 26 of 27 people on board.
President Harry S. Truman issues the second peacetime military draft in the United States, amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union (the first peacetime draft occurred in 1940 under President Roosevelt)
Eugene Dennis, William Z. Foster and ten other Communist Party USA leaders are arrested and charged under the Alien Registration Act.
July 22 The Dominion of Newfoundland votes to join Canada, after a referendum.
July 26 U.S. President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
July 28 Around 200 die in an explosion at a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
July 29 The 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London, the first since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin.
At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
American defector Elizabeth Bentley, previously working on behalf of the Soviet Union, appears under subpoena before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of the United States House of Representatives regarding Communist espionage; she implicates Whittaker Chambers.
July–October Claude E. Shannon publishes "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" in Bell System Technical Journal (US), regarded as a foundation of information theory and all modern digital communications, which also leads to the adoption of the term bit.
August
August 3 Whittaker Chambers appears under subpoena before the HUAC and alleges that several former U.S. Federal officials were communists, including Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss.
August 5 Alger Hiss appears before the HUAC, to deny the allegations of Whittaker Chambers.
August 1023 The Herrenchiemsee convention prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.
August 12 Babrra massacre: About 600 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are shot dead on the orders of the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province, Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri, on Babrra ground in the Hashtnagar region of Charsadda District, North-West Frontier Province (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan.
August 13 Harry Dexter White and Donald Hiss refute allegations of Communism by Whittaker Chambers, before the HUAC.
August 14 1948 Ashes series: Australian batsman Don Bradman, playing his last Test cricket match, against England at The Oval, is bowled by Eric Hollies for a duck (leaving his career Test batting average at 99.94); however, "The Invincibles" win the match by an innings and 149 runs, and The Ashes 4–0.
August 14 Beaver drop, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game program to relocate beavers from Northwestern Idaho to the Chamberlain Basin in Central Idaho. The program involves parachuting beavers into the Chamberlain Basin.
August 15 The southern half of Korea is established as the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
August 17 The HUAC holds a private session between Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers.
August 18 The Danube Commission is created by the Belgrade Convention (enters into force 11 May 1949).
August 19 Toho strikes: A sitdown strike at Toho film studio in Tokyo ends after the studio is surrounded by 2,000 police and a platoon of U.S. Eighth Army soldiers.
August 20 Lee Pressman, Nathan Witt and John Abt, represented by Harold I. Cammer, plead the Fifth Amendment, in response to allegations of Communism by Whittaker Chambers before the HUAC.
August 23 The World Council of Churches is established in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
August 24 The first meeting of the charter members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) is held.
August 25 The HUAC holds its first-ever televised congressional hearing, featuring "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss.
August 27 Whittaker Chambers states that Alger Hiss was a communist on Meet the Press radio.
September
September 4 Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
September 5 Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.
September 6 Juliana is formally inaugurated to succeed her mother as queen regnant of the Netherlands.
September 9 The northern half of Korea is formally declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), with Kim Il Sung as prime minister.
September 11 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder and first Governor-General of Pakistan, dies. Pakistan is in a state of shock as it mourns the departure of the father of the nation. The day is a public holiday nationwide.
September 1318 Indian annexation of Hyderabad ("Operation Polo"): The princely state of Hyderabad is invaded by the Indian Armed Forces in a "police action", in the aftermath of Pakistani leader Jinnah's death. The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his state, which is amalgamated into the newly independent Dominion of India; thousands are killed as a result of this event.
September 13 – Margaret Chase Smith of Maine is elected United States Senator, becoming the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
September 17 Lehi members, also known as the Stern Gang, assassinate Swedish count Folke Bernadotte, United Nations Mediator in Palestine, in Jerusalem.
September 18 An inaugural motor race is held at Goodwood Circuit, West Sussex, England.
September 20 The city of Rabwah is established in Pakistan.
September 27 Alger Hiss files a slander suit against Whittaker Chambers, for his August 27 radio statement in the United States.
September 29 Laurence Olivier's film of Hamlet opens in the U.S.
October
October 5 The International Union for the Protection of Nature (later known as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, IUCN) is established in Fontainebleau, France.
October 6 1948 Ashgabat earthquake: A 7.3 earthquake near Ashgabat, Soviet Turkmenistan kills 10,000–110,000.
October 10 The R-1 missile on test becomes the first Soviet launch to enter space.
October 16 The 57th Street Art Fair in Chicago, the oldest juried art fair in the American Midwest, is founded.
October 19 – Presidents North Carolina Gave the Nation, a monument honoring three presidents of the United States, was dedicated at the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina.
October 20 Brandeis University is formally founded in Massachusetts.
October 26 Donora Smog of 1948: A killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
October 29 1948 Arab–Israeli War: Massacres of Palestinian Arab villagers by the Israel Defense Forces:
Al-Dawayima massacre: Between 30 and 145 are killed.
Safsaf massacre: At least 52 are killed.
October 30 Gozo luzzu disaster: A luzzu fishing boat overloaded with passengers capsizes and sinks in the Gozo Channel off Qala, Gozo, Malta, killing 23 of the 27 people on board.
November
The Foley Square trial of Eugene Dennis and ten other CPUSA leaders begins, in New York City.
Athenagoras I is elected the 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
A boiler and ammunition explosion aboard merchant ship Xuan Huai evacuating troops of the Republic of China Army from Yingkou, China for Taiwan causes thousands of deaths.
November 2 1948 United States presidential election: Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats Republican Thomas E. Dewey, "Dixiecrat" Strom Thurmond and Progressive party candidate Henry A. Wallace.
November 12 In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.
November 15 Louis Stephen St. Laurent becomes Canada's 12th prime minister.
Operation Magic Carpet to transport Jews from Yemen to Israel begins.
The University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) is founded in Bogotá, Colombia.
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi divorces his second wife, the former Princess Fawzia of Egypt.
Whittaker Chambers produces secret government papers, handwritten and typewritten by Alger Hiss, during pretrial examination.
November 20 Geoffrey B. Orbell rediscovers the Takahē, last seen 50 years previously, near Lake Te Anau, New Zealand.
November 24 In Venezuela, president Rómulo Gallegos is ousted by a military junta.
November 27 The Calgary Stampeders defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders 12–7 before 20,013 fans at Toronto's Varsity Stadium, to win their first Grey Cup and complete the only perfect season to date in Canadian football.
December
December 1 José Figueres Ferrer abolishes the army in Costa Rica, making it the first country in history to do so.
December 2 The United States House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenas and retrieves the "Pumpkin Papers" from the farm of Whittaker Chambers.
December 4 Chinese liner sinks after an explosion occurs at the stern, which is thought to have been caused by a Japanese mine from World War 2, killing up to 3920 people.
December 6 Richard Nixon displays microfilm from the "Pumpkin Papers" to the press.
December 9 The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Genocide Convention.
December 10 The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
December 1112 Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali massacre: Scots Guards shoot 24 Chinese villagers in Malaya.
December 15 The United States Department of Justice indicts Alger Hiss, on two counts of perjury.
December 17 The Finnish Security Police is established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
December 19 In the American National Football League, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Chicago Cardinals 7–0, to win the championship.
Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
American economist and former State Department official and spy for the Soviet Union Laurence Duggan falls to his death, from the 16th story window of his Manhattan office.
December 23 Seven Japanese military and political leaders, convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, are executed by Allied occupation authorities, at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.
The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
December 28 A Muslim Brotherhood member assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi.
December 30 The musical Kiss Me, Kate opens for the first of 1,077 performances in New York City.
December 31 Arab-Israeli War: Israeli troops drive Egyptians from the Negev.
Date unknown
The Fresh Kills Landfill, the world's largest, opens on Staten Island, New York.
The Slovak city Gúta is renamed Kolárovo.
The Vielha Tunnel is opened, giving access to the Val d'Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees; at this time it is the longest road tunnel in the world.
The Oakridge Transit Centre opens in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The last recorded sighting is made of the Caspian tiger, in Kazakh SSR.
A pack of wolves kills about 40 children in Darovskoy District, in Russia.
The last edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum is published in the Vatican.
Charles Warrell creates the first I-Spy books in the United Kingdom.
Rev. W. Awdry's third book, James the Red Engine, is published in the United Kingdom.
Inspired by World War II fighter planes, Cadillac introduces the first automobile to sport tailfinss.
The inaugural 6 Hours of Watkins Glen sports car endurance race is held in the United States.
Births
January
January 1 Allan Alcorn, American engineer
Judith Miller, American journalist
Joyce Wadler, American writer, memoirist
Deborah Watling, English actress (d. 2017)
January 3 – Wanda Seux, Paraguayan vedette, dancer and actress (d. 2020)
Wally Foreman, Australian media icon (d. 2006)
Ted Lange, African-American actor, director (The Love Boat)
Guy Gardener, American astronaut
Bob Wise, Governor of West Virginia
Kenny Loggins, American rock singer (Footloose)
Ichirou Mizuki, Japanese voice actor (d. 2022)
Remu Aaltonen, Finnish musician
Donald Fagen, American rock keyboardist (Steely Dan)
Teresa Graves, African-American actress and comedian (Get Christie Love) (d. 2002)
Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist
Hiroshi Wajima, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2018)
Terry Goodkind, American writer (d. 2020)
Danne Larsson, Swedish musician
Kenny Allen, English footballer
Anthony Andrews, English actor
V. Krishnasamy, Malaysian footballer (d. 2020)
Françoise David, Canadian spokesperson
T Bone Burnett, American record producer, musician
Muhriz of Negeri Sembilan, Yamtuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan
Carl Weathers, African-American actor, football player (Rocky IV, Action Jackson) (d. 2024)
January 15 Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
John Carpenter, American film director, producer, screenwriter and composer
Gregor Gysi, German politician
Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
Tsuneo Horiuchi, Japanese baseball pitcher, manager
Billy T. James, New Zealand comedian, musician and actor (d. 1991)
January 18 M. C. Gainey, American actor
Lawrence Cartwright, Bahamian politician
Robert Llewellyn Lyons, Canadian politician
Nancy Kress, American science fiction writer
Jerry L. Ross, American air engineer
Katharine Holabird, American writer
Mitoji Yabunaka, Japanese politician
Miklós Németh, Hungarian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Hungary from 1988 until 1990
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian dancer
Ilkka Kanerva, Finnish politician (d. 2022)
Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
January 29 Marc Singer, Canadian actor (V)
Akira Yoshino, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
Paul Magee, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
Paul Jabara, American actor, singer and songwriter (d. 1992)
Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
February
February 1 Rick James, African-American urban singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer (d. 2004)
Ina Garten, American cooking author
Roger Williamson, British race car driver (d. 1973)
Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Henning Mankell, Swedish crime novelist (d. 2015)
Alice Cooper, American hard rock singer and musician (School's Out)
Jim Dornan, Northern Irish obstetrician and gynecologist (d. 2021)
Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish football manager (d. 2024)
Christopher Guest, American actor, screenwriter, director and composer (National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live)
Barbara Hershey, American actress (Beaches)
Tom Wilkinson, English actor (d. 2023)
Susan Doran, British historian
Jimmy Greenspoon, American keyboardist, composer (Three Dog Night) (d. 2015)
February 8 Dan Seals, American musician (d. 2009)
David Hayman, Scottish film, television and stage actor, director
Greg Stafford, American game designer, publisher (d. 2018)
Ûssarĸak K'ujaukitsoĸ, Greenlandic Inuk politician, human rights activist (d. 2018)
John Magnier, Irish businessman, thoroughbred racehorse breeder
February 11 Chris Rush, American stand-up comedian
February 12 Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor, author
February 13 Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American film actress (d. 2022)
Jackie Martling, American comedian, radio personality
Raymond Teller, American illusionist and magician, one half of the duo Penn & Teller
Yehuda Shoenfeld, Israeli physician, autoimmunity researcher
February 15 – Larry DiTillio, American film and TV series writer (d. 2019)
February 16 – Eckhart Tolle, German-Canadian spiritual author
György Cserhalmi, Hungarian actor
February 18 Sinéad Cusack, Irish actress
Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician, author (d. 2002)
Tony Iommi, English heavy metal guitarist
Elizabeth Sackler, American activist
Raúl Grijalva, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (d. 2025)
February 20 Jennifer O'Neill, American model, actress
February 21 – Christian Vander (musician), French drummer, founder of progressive rock/Zeuhl group Magma
John Ashton, American actor (d. 2024)
Leslie H. Sabo Jr., American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1970)
Jayalalithaa, Indian politician, film actress (d. 2016)
Walter Smith, Scottish football manager (d. 2021)
February 25 Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
Mike Figgis, American director, screenwriter and composer
Kjell Isaksson, Swedish pole vaulter
Bernadette Peters, American actress, singer
Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
Alfred Sant, Leader of Malta Labour Party (1992–), Prime Minister of Malta (1996–1998)
Khalid Salleh, Malaysian actor, poet (d. 2018)
Ken Foree, American actor
Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer
March
March 1 Gopanarayan Das, Indian politician (d. 2022)
R. T. Crowley, American pioneer of electronic commerce
Rory Gallagher, Irish musician (d. 1995)
Jeff Kennett, Australian politician
Steve Wilhite, American computer scientist, developer of the GIF image format at CompuServe in 1987 (d. 2022)
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, Australian author (A Cry in the Dark)
James Ellroy, American writer
Tom Grieve, American baseball player
Leron Lee, American baseball player
Chris Squire, English bassist (Yes) (d. 2015)
Shakin' Stevens, Welsh singer
Brian Cummings, American voice actor
Eddy Grant, Guyanese British singer, musician ("Electric Avenue")
Elaine Paige, English singer, actress
March 6 Anna Maria Horsford, African-American actress (Amen)
Sinta Nuriyah, 4th First Lady of Indonesia, wife of Abdurrahman Wahid
Jonathan Sacks, British Orthodox rabbi, philosopher, theologian, author and politician (d. 2020)
László Lovász, Hungarian mathematician
Jeffrey Osborne, American singer ("On the Wings of Love")
March 10 Doug Clark, American serial killer (d. 2023)
Dominique Sanda, French actress
March 12 James Taylor, American singer, songwriter ("Fire and Rain")
March 13 Maurice A. de Gosson, Austrian mathematician
March 14 – Billy Crystal, American actor, comedian
March 15 Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
March 16 Margaret Weis, American science fiction writer
March 17 William Gibson, American/Canadian writer
Jessica B. Harris, American historian and journalist
Bobby Whitlock, American singer, songwriter and musician (d. 2025)
John de Lancie, American actor
Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player
Helene Vannari, Estonian actress (d. 2022)
Inri Cristo, Brazilian educator who claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated
Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist (CNN)
Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer (Jesus Christ Superstar)
March 25 Bonnie Bedelia, American actress
Nash the Slash (b. James Jeffrey Plewman), Canadian musician (d. 2014)
Steven Tyler, American rock singer, songwriter (Aerosmith)
Gayyur Yunus, Azerbaijani painter
Jayne Ann Krentz, American novelist
Dianne Wiest, American actress
Mike Heideman, American basketball coach (d. 2018)
March 30 Eddie Jordan, Irish founder of Jordan Grand Prix (d. 2025)
Rhea Perlman, American actress (Cheers)
Al Gore, American politician and environmentalist, 45th Vice President of the United States
April
April 1 Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican singer, actor
Bob Lienhard, American basketball player (d. 2018)
Roald Als, Danish cartoonist
April 3 Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist, politician and 53rd President of Mexico (1988–1994)
Squire Parsons, American gospel singer, songwriter (d. 2025)
Dan Simmons, American fantasy, science fiction author (d. 2026)
Berry Oakley, American musician (d. 1972)
April 5 Neil Portnow, American President of The Recording Academy (NARAS)
Arnie Robinson, American Olympic Long jump champion (d. 2020)
John Oates, American rock singer, guitarist (Hall & Oates)
Pietro Anastasi, Italian football player (d. 2020)
April 9 Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
April 10 Fauzi Bowo, Indonesian politician and diplomat, governor of Jakarta
Jeremy Beadle, English TV presenter (d. 2008)
Don Fernando, American pornographic film actor, director
Joschka Fischer, German politician
Marcello Lippi, Italian football player, manager
Nam Hae-il, 25th Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy
Mikhail Shufutinsky, Soviet, Russian singer, actor and TV presenter
April 15 Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
Ammar El Sherei, Egyptian music icon, celebrity (d. 2012)
Kazuyuki Sogabe, Japanese voice actor (d. 2006)
Jan Hammer, Czech-American composer, pianist and keyboardist
Peter Jenni, Swiss experimental particle physicist
April 20 Paul Milgrom, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
Paul Davis, American singer, songwriter (Cool Night) (d. 2008)
Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist (after whom Flammer syndrome is named)
April 24 István Szívós, Hungarian water polo player (d. 2019)
Amrit Kumar Bohara, Nepalese politician
Frank Abagnale, American con man, imposter
Si Robertson, American reality star, preacher, hunter, outdoorsman and U.S. Army veteran
Terry Pratchett, English comic fantasy, science fiction author (d. 2015)
Marcia Strassman, American actress, singer (Welcome Back, Kotter) (d. 2014)
Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)
John Batchelor, American author and radio host
April 30 Jocelyne Saab, Lebanese journalist, film director (d. 2019)
May
Vladimir Matorin, Russian opera singer
Larry Gatlin, American singer, songwriter
William H. Miller, American maritime historian
Chris Mulkey, American actor
Jan Kantůrek, Czech translator (d. 2018)
Tanya Falan, American singer
King George Tupou V of Tonga (d. 2012)
Joe Esposito, American singer, songwriter
Richard Pacheco, American pornographic actor
Bill Ward, English rock drummer
May 7 – Susan Atkins, convicted murderer and ex-follower of Charles Manson (d. 2009)
Dame Felicity Lott, English soprano
Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer
Steven W. Mosher, American social scientist, author
Calvin Murphy, American basketball player, analyst
May 10 Meg Foster, American actress
Pam Ferris, Welsh actress
Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
Steve Winwood, English rock singer ("Higher Love")
Lindsay Crouse, American actress
May 14 Bob Woolmer, Indian-born English cricket coach (d. 2007)
Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese professional baseball pitcher
Brian Eno, English musician, record producer
May 16 Jesper Christensen, Danish actor
May 17 Penny DeHaven, American country singer (d. 2014)
Olivia Harrison, American author and film producer
Mikko Heiniö, Finnish composer
May 19 Grace Jones, Jamaican singer, actress
May 20 Tesshō Genda, Japanese voice actor
D'Jamin Bartlett, American musical theatre actress
Elizabeth Buchan, English writer
Jonathan Hyde, Australian-born English actor
Carol Potter, American actress
Leo Sayer, English rock musician ("When I Need You")
May 23 Gary McCord, American professional golfer
May 25 Klaus Meine, German singer (Scorpions)
Dayle Haddon, Canadian model, actress (d. 2024)
Stevie Nicks, American rock singer, songwriter (Fleetwood Mac)
May 27 Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant
May 29 Michael Berkeley, English composer
May 30 Paul L. Schechter, American astronomer and cosmologist
Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian writer of literary reportage, Nobel Prize laureate
Lynda Bellingham, English actress, broadcaster and author (d. 2014)
John Bonham, English rock drummer (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
June
Powers Boothe, American actor (Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones) (d. 2017)
Tom Sneva, American race car driver, Indianapolis 500 winner
June 2 Jerry Mathers, American actor (Leave It to Beaver)
June 3 Carlos Franzetti, Argentine composer and arranger
Bob Champion, English jump jockey
David Haskell, American actor (d. 2000)
June 6 Richard Sinclair, English musician (Caravan)
June 7 Jim C. Walton, American business person, (Walmart)
Jürgen von der Lippe, German television presenter, actor and comedian
Jad Azkoul, Lebanese-American classical guitarist
Gudrun Schyman, Swedish politician
Gary Thorne, American play-by-play announcer
June 10 Subrata Roy, Indian businessman (d. 2023)
June 12 Sadegh Zibakalam, Iranian academic reformist
June 13 Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player, scout (d. 2001)
June 14 Laurence Yep, American author
June 15 Paul Michiels, Belgian singer, songwriter
June 16 Terry Schofield, American basketball player
June 17 Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player
June 18 Sherry Turkle, American science/social studies professor
Eliezer Halfin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)
Nick Drake, English musician (d. 1974)
Lea Laven, Finnish singer
Phylicia Rashad, African-American actress (The Cosby Show)
Véronique de Montchalin, French politician
Diana Mara Henry, American freelance photojournalist
Alan Longmuir, Scottish musician (d. 2018)
Tina Sinatra, American singer, actress, film producer and memoirist
Don Airey, British musician
Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (d. 2011)
Jovan Aćimović, Serbian football player
Raffaello Martinelli, Italian prelate
Philippe Sarde, French film composer
Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
Wolfgang Seel, German football player
Greg Hyder, American professional basketball player
Takashi Sasano, Japanese actor
Shōhaku Okumura, Japanese Soto Zen
Peter Prijdekker, Dutch swimmer
Sue Roberts, American professional golfer
Todd Rundgren, American rock singer, record producer (Hello It's Me)
Curtis Johnson, American football cornerback
Franciszek Smuda, Polish football coach
Panagiotis Xanthakos, Greek sports shoote
Colin Waldron, English football defender
Larry Coker, American football player, coach
Jim Heacock, American defensive coordinator
Luther Kent, American blues singer
Stephen Martin, Australian politician, senior academic and rugby league referee
Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player
Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda
Dave Orchard, South African cricketer
Eigil Sørensen, Danish cyclist
Jürgen Stars, German footballer
Jenny Wood, Zimbabwean swimmer
Kenn George, American businessman
Michael Lembeck, American actor, television and film director
Tom Rideout, Canadian politician
David Vaughan, Welsh professional golfer
John Pratt, English professional footballer
Pablo Anaya Rivera, Mexican politician
Vennira Aadai Nirmala, Tamil actress
Michael J. Barrett, Guamanian politician
Camile Baudoin, American rock guitarist
Deborah Moggach, English writer
Kathy Bates, American actress (Misery)
Jimmy Thomson, Scottish professional footballer
Brian Rowan, Scottish professional footballer
Danny Adcock, Australian actor
Vic Brooks, English cricketer
Leo Burke, Canadian professional wrestler
Fred Grandy, American actor, politician (The Love Boat)
Helge Karlsen, Norwegian football player
Ian Paice, English musician (Deep Purple)
Usha Prashar, Baroness Prashar, crossbench member of the House of Lords
Alice Wong, Canadian politician
Dag Fornæss, Norwegian speed skater
Peter Rossborough, English rugby union international
Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Australian Indigenous community leader (d. 2023)
Vladimir Yakunin, Russian official, head of state-run Russian Railways Company
Raymond Leo Burke, American cardinal, prelate
July
Ever Hugo Almeida, Paraguayan footballer
John Ford, English-born rock musician (Strawbs), writer of Part of the Union
Michael McGimpsey, Northern Ireland politician
Mario Villanueva, Mexican politician
Saul Rubinek, German-Canadian character actor, director, producer and playwright
July 3 Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
René Arnoux, French racing driver
Louis Raphaël I Sako, Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church
Ed Armbrister, Bahamian Major League Baseball outfielder
Nazmul Hussain, Indian first-class cricketer
Jeremy Spencer, British musician
Tony DeMeo, American football coach, player
Dave Lemonds, American baseball player
Salomon Juan Marcos Issa, Mexican politician
Lojze Peterle, Slovenian politician
William Hootkins, American actor (d. 2005)
Nathalie Baye, French actress
Jeff Webb, American professional basketball player
Arnaldo Baptista, Brazilian rock musician, composer
Brad Park, Canadian NHL Defenseman
Sid Smith, American football offensive lineman
Eiko Segawa, Japanese female enka singer, actress
Jan van der Veen, Dutch professional association football player
Jerry Sherk, American football defensive tackle
Jean LeClerc, Québécois actor
Jean-Marie Colombani, French journalist
Tan Lee Meng, Singaporean jurist
Stuart Varney, British-American economic consultant
Luis Estrada, Mexican football league forward, Olympic athlete
Theo Bücker, German football manager, player
Mick Coop, English professional football right back
Rich Hand, American professional baseball player
Richard Simmons, American television personality, fitness expert (d. 2024)
Jay Thomas, American actor (d. 2017)
Alf Hansen, Norwegian rower
Daphne Maxwell Reid, African-American actress
Don Sweet, Canadian star football kicker
Robert A. Underwood, Guamanian politician, educator
July 14 Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, Zulu king (d. 2021)
Enriqueta Basilio, Mexican track and field athlete (d. 2019)
Richard Franklin, Australian film director (d. 2007)
Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer, actor and musician
Rita Barberá, Spanish politician, Mayor of Valencia (d. 2016)
Lars Lagerbäck, Swedish football manager, player
Jeff Van Wagenen, American professional golfer
Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
Doug Berry, American Canadian football coach
Alan Sieler, Australian cricketer
July 18 Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
Muse Watson, American actor
Maroun Elias Nimeh Lahham, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tunis
Beppe Grillo, Italian activist, blogger, comedian and actor
Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
Cat Stevens (b. Steven Georgiou, later known as Yusuf Islam), British singer, musician
Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist (Doonesbury)
Teruzane Utada, Japanese music executive producer, attendant
Mikhail Zadornov, Russian stand-up comedian, writer
Anders Berglund, Swedish arranger/composer, conductor and producer
Susan Eloise Hinton, American author
Otto Waalkes, German comedian, actor
July 23 John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician
Steve Goodman, American Grammy Award-winning folk music singer, songwriter (d. 1984)
Tony Cline, American football player (d. 2018)
July 27 Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
Gerald Casale, American director, singer (Devo)\
Georgia Engel, American actress (d. 2019)
Meir Shalev Israeli writer and newspaper columnist for the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. Shalev's books have been translated into 26 languages (d.2023)
Jean Reno, French actor
Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian composer, musician (d. 2010)
July 31 Jonathan Dollimore, English academic sociologist, cultural theorist
August
Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host, author
Bob Rae, Canadian politician
August 3 Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France
August 4 Giorgio Parisi, Italian theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
August 7 James P. Allison, American immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
August 8 – Wincey Willis, British broadcaster (d. 2024)
August 12 Mizengo Pinda, 9th Prime Minister of Tanzania
August 13 Kathleen Battle, African-American soprano
August 14 Joseph Marcell, English actor
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Iranian cleric, politician (d. 2018)
George Ryton, Singapore-born English Formula One engineer
Sean Scanlan, Scottish actor (d. 2017)
Robert Hughes, Australian actor
Deana Martin, American singer and actress
John Noble, Australian actor
Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin)
Barbara Allen Rainey (b. Barbara Ann Allen), American aviator, first female pilot in the U.S. armed forces (d. 1982)
Sharon M. Draper, American children's book author (Out of My Mind)
Peter Starkie, Australian rock guitarist (Skyhooks, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons)
David Marks, American guitarist (The Beach Boys)
Carolyn L. Mazloomi, American quilter and art historian
August 23 Lev Zeleny, Soviet, Russian physicist
Jean-Michel Jarre, French electronic musician
Sauli Niinistö, Finnish politician, 12th President of Finland
Kim Sung-il, Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Air Force
Vicente Sotto III, Filipino actor, host and politician
August 25 Tony Ramos, Brazilian actor
August 27 Sgt. Slaughter, American professional wrestler
Lewis Black, American comedian
Fred Hampton, American activist (d. 1969)
Victor Skumin, Russian scientist, professor
Cyril Jordan, American musician
Holger Osieck, German football manager
September
September 1 James Rebhorn, American actor (d. 2014)
Nate Archibald, American basketball player
Terry Bradshaw, American football player, sportscaster
Christa McAuliffe, American teacher and astronaut (d. in Space Shuttle Challenger disaster 1986)
Don Brewer, American drummer (Grand Funk Railroad)
Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian president (d. 2008)
September 4 Michael Berryman, American actor
September 5 Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat, politician
September 6 Sam Hui, Hong Kong singer
Susan Blakely, American actress
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi (d. 2022)
September 8 The Great Kabuki, Japanese professional wrestler
Judy Geeson, English actress
Bob Lanier, American basketball player (d. 2022)
Margaret Trudeau (b. Margaret Sinclair), wife and mother of Prime Ministers of Canada
Charlie Waters, American football player
September 11 John Martyn (b. Iain McGeachy), British folk-rock guitarist (d. 2009)
September 12 Mah Bow Tan, Singaporean politician
Nell Carter, African-American singer, actress (Gimme a Break!) (d. 2003)
Sitiveni Rabuka, 3rd Prime Minister of Fiji
Kathleen Lloyd, American actress
September 16 Ron Blair, American rock bassist (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
Aidan Nichols, English Dominican priest and academic
John Ritter, American actor (Three's Company) (d. 2003)
September 18 Jean-Louis Pichon, French actor
Jeremy Irons, English actor
Nadiya Tkachenko, Soviet pentathlete
Rey Langit, Filipino journalist, radio host
George R. R. Martin, American speculative fiction author
Denis Burke, Australian politician
Jim Byrnes, American voice actor, blues musician and actor
Mark Phillips, British army captain, equestrian and first husband of Anne, Princess Royal
September 23 José Lavat, Mexican voice actor (d. 2018)
September 24 Phil Hartman, Canadian actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live) (d. 1998)
Cäcilia Rentmeister, German art historian, gender researcher
Vasile Șirli, Romanian musical composer and producer
Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Russian oligarch
Maurizio Gucci, Italian businessman, murder victim (d. 1995)
Olivia Newton-John, English-born Australian singer, actress (d. 2022)
Vladimír Remek, Czech politician and cosmonaut
Michele Dotrice, English actress
A Martinez, American actor, singer
Mark Farner, American rock guitarist, singer (Grand Funk Railroad)
Bryant Gumbel, African-American television broadcaster (The Today Show)
Theo Jörgensmann, German jazz clarinetist (d. 2025)
October
Mark Landon, American actor (d. 2009)
Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman (d. 2001)
Avery Brooks, American actor, musician
Persis Khambatta, Indian actress, model (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) (d. 1998)
Chris LeDoux, American singer, rodeo star (d. 2005)
Donna Karan, American fashion designer
Meg Bennett, American soap opera writer
Iain Hewitson, New Zealand-Australian chef, restaurateur, author and television personality
October 5 Russell Mael, American singer (Sparks)
Wendell Ladner, American basketball player (d. 1975)
Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician
October 7 Diane Ackerman, American poet, essayist
Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (Ramones) (d. 2004)
Jackson Browne, American rock musician ("Running on Empty")
Ciarán Carson, Northern Irish poet, novelist
Oliver Hart, English-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate
Margie Alexander, American gospel, soul singer (d. 2013)
Cynthia Clawson, American gospel singer
Rick Parfitt, English musician (Status Quo) (d. 2016)
Stephen Shepich, American politician and former member of the Michigan House of Representatives in 1993 and 1994 (d. 2013)
John Ford Coley, American rock musician ("I'd Really Love to See You Tonight")
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani musician (d. 1997)
David Ruprecht, American actor, writer (Supermarket Sweep)
Renato Corona, Filipino jurist, lawyer (d. 2016)
Chris de Burgh, born Christopher Davison, Argentine-born Anglo-Irish singer, songwriter
Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
Hema Malini, Indian actress, writer, director, producer, dancer and politician
Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
Margot Kidder, Canadian actress (Superman) (d. 2018)
Akira Kushida, Japanese singer
Ng Jui Ping, Singaporean entrepreneur, previously army general (d. 2020)
George Wendt, American actor (Cheers) (d. 2025)
Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher
Ntozake Shange, African-American playwright and poet (d. 2018)
October 19 Patrick Simmons, American musician (The Doobie Brothers)
Tom Everett, American actor
Lynette Fromme, American attempted assassin of Gerald Ford
Debbie Macomber, American author
October 23 Sir Gerry Robinson, Irish-born British businessman (d. 2021)
Dave Cowens, American basketball player, coach
Dan Gable, American wrestler, coach
Dan Issel, American basketball player and coach
October 26 Toby Harrah, American baseball player
October 28 Telma Hopkins, African-American actress, singer (Tony Orlando and Dawn)
Giuseppe Chirichiello, Italian economist and university professor
Frans de Waal, Dutch primatologist. (d. 2024)
Kate Jackson, American actress (Charlie's Angels)
October 30 Garry McDonald, Australian actor, satirist and comedian
November
November 1 Anna Stuart, American actress
November 3 Lulu (b. Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie), Scottish singer, actress (To Sir, with Love)
Delia Casanova, Mexican actress
Amadou Toumani Touré, 3rd President of Mali (d. 2020)
Charles Bradley, African-American singer (d. 2017)
Bob Barr, American politician
Dallas Holm, American Christian musician
Zacharias Jimenez, Filipino Roman Catholic bishop (d. 2018)
Khalid Ibrahim Khan, Pakistani politician (d. 2018)
William Daniel Phillips, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
November 6 Glenn Frey, American guitarist, singer (Eagles) (d. 2016)
November 7 Jim Houghton, American actor and director (d. 2024)
Viktor Matviyenko, Ukrainian footballer, coach (d. 2018)
Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazilian football player, manager
Kelly Harmon, American actress and model
November 10 Mário Viegas, Portuguese actor and poetry reciter (d. 1996)
November 11 Vincent Schiavelli, American character actor and food writer (d. 2005)
Skip Campbell, American politician (d. 2018)
Richard Roberts, American evangelist, son of Oral Roberts
Humayun Ahmed, Bengali-language writer
Lockwood Smith, New Zealand politician
King Charles III of the United Kingdom
Robert Ginty, American actor, producer, screenwriter and director (d. 2009)
Dee Wallace, American actress
November 15 James Kemsley, Australian cartoonist, actor (d. 2007)
Chi Coltrane, American musician (Thunder and Lightning)
Ken James, Australian actor
Mutt Lange, Rhodesian-born record producer
Mate Parlov, Yugoslav Olympic boxer (d. 2008)
November 18 Dom Irrera, American actor and stand-up comedian
November 19 Rance Allen, African-American gospel singer and preacher (d. 2020)
Harlee McBride, American actress
John R. Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., National Security Advisor
Barbara Hendricks, American singer
Richard Masur, American actor, director and president of the Screen Actors Guild
Alphonse Mouzon, American jazz drummer (d. 2016)
Michel Suleiman, President of Lebanon
November 22 – Saroj Khan, Indian dance choreographer (d. 2020)
Dominique-France Picard (aka Princess Fadila of Egypt), wife of King Fuad II of Egypt and the Sudan
Ron Bouchard, American NASCAR driver (d. 2015)
Gabriele Seyfert, East German figure skater
Bonfoh Abass, Togolese politician and President of Togo (d. 2021)
November 24 Joe Howard, American actor
November 25 Antoine Sfeir, Franco-Lebanese journalist, professor (d. 2018)
Elizabeth Blackburn, Australian-American biologist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Gayle McCormick, American singer (Smith) (d. 2016)
Marianne Muellerleile, American actress
November 28 Agnieszka Holland, Polish film, television director and screenwriter
December
T. Coraghessan Boyle, American fiction writer
Rajat Gupta, Indian-American businessman
Patricia Hewitt, British Labour Party politician
Toninho Horta, Brazilian singer, musician
Christine Westermann, German television, radio host, journalist and author
Rick Cua, American singer, evangelist
Ozzy Osbourne, British heavy metal singer (Black Sabbath) (d. 2025)
December 5 Saburō Shinoda, Japanese actor (Ultraman Taro)
Keke Rosberg, Finnish Formula One champion
Marius Müller-Westernhagen, German actor, musician
JoBeth Williams, American actress, director
Gary Morris, American country singer, actor
Tony Thomas, American television and film producer
Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
December 10 Abu Abbas, Palestine Liberation Front founder (d. 2004)
Shinji Tanimura, Japanese musician (d. 2023)
Chester Thompson, American rock drummer
December 12 Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, 20th President of Portugal
Lillian Board, South African-born English Olympic athlete (d. 1970)
Ted Nugent, American rock guitarist, singer, conservative political commentator (Cat Scratch Fever)
David O'List, English rock guitarist
Lester Bangs, American music journalist (d. 1982)
Kim Beazley, Australian politician
Dee Wallace, American actress
Melanie Chartoff, American actress and singer (Rugrats)
Charlie Scott, American basketball player
December 18 Edmund Kemper, American serial killer
December 19 Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player
Orchidea De Santis, Italian actress
Abdulrazak Gurnah, Zanzibar-born novelist, Nobel Prize laureate
Alan Parsons, English songwriter, musician and record producer
Samuel L. Jackson, American actor, film producer
Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician, cabaret artist
Noel Edmonds, English TV presenter, DJ
Steve Garvey, American baseball player
Flip Mark, American child actor
Lynne Thigpen, American actress (Godspell) (d. 2003)
December 23 Jim Ferguson, American guitarist, composer, educator, author and music journalist
December 24 Antoni Pietkiewicz, Polish engineer, businessperson and politician
Alia Al-Hussein, queen consort of Jordan (d. 1977)
Barbara Mandrell, American country singer, musician and actress
Ronnie Caldwell, American soul music, rhythm and blues musician (d. 1967)
Gérard Depardieu, French actor
December 28 Mary Weiss, American pop singer (The Shangri-Las) (d. 2024)
December 29 Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland First Minister
Stephen Cleobury, English choral conductor (d. 2019)
Joe Dallesandro, American model, actor
Sandy Jardine, Scottish professional footballer, playing for Rangers and Hearts and representing Scotland (d. 2014)
Donna Summer, African-American singer, actress (Love to Love You Baby) (d. 2012)
Deaths
January
Anna Kallina, Austrian actress (b. 1874)
Norman Dawe, Canadian sports executive (b. 1898)
January 5 Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison (b. 1858)
Charles C. Wilson, American actor (b. 1894)
Maria de Maeztu Whitney, Spanish educator, feminist (b. 1882)
Edward Stanley Kellogg, 16th Governor of American Samoa (b. 1870)
Charles Magnusson, Swedish producer, screenwriter (b. 1878)
Kurt Schwitters, German artist (b. 1887)
Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (b. 1891)
January 12 Herbert Allen Farmer, American criminal (b. 1891)
January 15 Josephus Daniels, American diplomat and newspaper editor (b. 1862)
January 19 Tony Garnier, French architect (b. 1869)
Eliza Moore, last person born into slavery in the United States (b. 1843)
Naomasa Sakonju, Japanese admiral and war criminal (executed) (b. 1890)
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
Maria Mandl, Austrian concentration camp guard and war criminal (executed) (b. 1912)
Georg Bruchmüller, German artillery officer (b. 1863)
John Lomax, American musicologist and folklorist (b. 1867)
Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard and war criminal (executed) (b. 1902)
Anna Maria Gove, American physician (b. 1867)
January 29 King Tomislav II of Croatia (b. 1900)
Sir Arthur Coningham, British air force air marshal (disappeared) (b. 1895)
Mahatma Gandhi, Leader of Indian independence movement, (assassinated) (b. 1869)
Orville Wright, American co-inventor of the airplane (b. 1871)
February
Thomas W. Lamont, American banker (b. 1870)
Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (b. 1894)
Otto Praeger, American postal official, implemented U.S. Airmail (b. 1871)
Edward Stanley, British politician (b. 1865)
February 5 Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (b. 1883)
February 8 Samuel P. Bush, American businessman, industrialist (b. 1863)
February 9 Karl Valentin, German actor (b. 1882)
Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet film director (b. 1898)
Sir Isaac Isaacs, 9th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1855)
February 13 Pietro d'Acquarone, Italian soldier, entrepreneur and politician (b. 1890)
February 15 Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Indian poet (b. 1904)
February 23 John Robert Gregg, Irish-born inventor of shorthand (b. 1867)
Alfredo Baldomir, Uruguayan politician, soldier, architect, 27th President of Uruguay and World War II leader (b. 1884)
Alexander du Toit, South African geologist (b. 1878)
Juan Esteban Montero, Chilean political figure, 20th President of Chile (b. 1879)
February 26 – John B. Creeden, American Catholic priest and Jesuit (b. 1871)
March
Antonin Artaud, French playwright, actor and director (b. 1896)
Elsa Brändström, Swedish nurse (b. 1888)
March 9 – Edgar de Wahl, Estonian educator and inventor of Interlingue (b. 1867)
Zelda Fitzgerald, American wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald (b. 1900)
Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovak Foreign Minister (b. 1886)
March 16 – León S. Morra, Argentine physician and university professor (b. 1882)
George Milne, 1st Baron Milne, British field marshal (b. 1866)
Eddy Chandler, American actor (b. 1894)
Nikolai Berdyaev, Soviet religious leader, political philosopher (b. 1874)
Paolo Thaon di Revel, Italian admiral (b. 1859)
March 25 Joseph M. Reeves, American admiral (b. 1872)
March 29 Harry Price, English psychic researcher (b. 1881)
March 31 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist, author (b. 1885)
April
Biagio Biagetti, Italian painter (b. 1877)
Sawan Singh, Indian saint known as "The Great Master" (b. 1858)
Angelo Joseph Rossi, American political figure, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1878)
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American socialite and philanthropist (b. 1874)
April 7 Isabel Andreu de Aguilar, Puerto Rican writer, educator, philanthropist and activist (b. 1887)
April 8 Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, Palestinian Arab nationalist (b. 1907)
April 9 Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (assassinated) (b. 1903)
April 14 W. H. Ellis, American attorney and politician (b. 1867)
Radola Gajda, Czech military commander and politician (b. 1892)
Manuel Roxas, Filipino statesman, 5th President of the Philippines (b. 1892)
April 17 Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
April 19 Mikhail Rostovtsev, Soviet actor (b. 1872)
April 20 Mitsumasa Yonai, Japanese admiral and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1880)
Carlos López Buchardo, Argentine composer (b. 1881)
Aldo Leopold, American conservationist (b. 1887)
April 22 Prosper Montagné, French chef and author (b. 1865)
April 24 Manuel Ponce, Mexican composer (b. 1882)
April 25 Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, Uruguayan composer, journalist and pianist (b. 1897)
April 30 Alfredo Miguel Aguayo Sánchez, Puerto Rican educator, writer (b. 1866)
May
May 9 – Viola Allen, American actress (b. 1867)
May 11 – Ed Ricketts, American marine biologist (b. 1897)
Milan Begović, Yugoslavian writer (b. 1876)
André Dauchez, French painter (b. 1870)
Father Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-born American Roman Catholic priest, founder of Boys Town and monsignor (b. 1886)
Toyoaki Horiuchi, Japanese general, Class B war criminal suspect (executed) (b. 1900)
May 16 Muhammad Habibullah, Indian politician (b. 1869)
Francisco Alonso, Spanish composer (b. 1887)
Mary Hayes Davis, American writer and newspaper publisher (b. c.1884)
May 19 Maximilian Lenz, Austrian painter and sculptor (b. 1860)
May 20 George Beurling, Canadian fighter pilot and flying ace (b. 1921)
May 21 Jacques Feyder, French filmmaker (b. 1885)
May 22 Claude McKay, Jamaican-born American writer and poet (b. 1889)
May 25 Witold Pilecki, Polish resistance leader (executed) (b. 1901)
May 26 Émile Gaston Chassinat, French egyptologist (b. 1868)
May 28 Unity Mitford, British socialite; friend of Adolf Hitler (b. 1914)
May 29 Dame May Whitty, British actress (b. 1865)
May 30 József Klekl, Slovene politician in Hungary (b. 1874)
June
June 1 José Vianna da Motta, Portuguese pianist, teacher and composer (b. 1868)
Viktor Brack, German doctor (executed) (b. 1904)
Karl Brandt, German S.S. officer (executed) (b. 1904)
Rudolf Brandt, German S.S. officer (executed) (b. 1909)
Karl Gebhardt, German S.S. officer (executed) (b. 1897)
Waldemar Hoven, German S.S. officer (executed) (b. 1903)
Joachim Mrugowsky, German S.S. officer (executed) (b. 1905)
Wolfram Sievers, German S.S. officer (executed) (b. 1905)
June 6 Louis Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1864)
June 8 Giacomo Albanese, Italian mathematician (b. 1890)
Osamu Dazai, Japanese writer (b. 1909)
Jim McCairns, English pilot with the Royal Air Force (b. 1919)
June 14 Gertrude Atherton, American author (b. 1857)
June 16 Eugênia Álvaro Moreyra, Brazilian journalist, actress and director (b. 1898)
June 19 Adolphus Andrews, American Navy admiral (b. 1879)
June 25 Bento de Jesus Caraça, Portuguese mathematician, economist and statistician (b. 1901)
Nasib al-Bitar, Palestine jurist (b. 1890)
Lilian Velez, Filipino actress (murdered) (b. 1924)
June 30 Prince Sabahaddin (b. 1879)
July
July 1 Assunta Marchetti, Italian Roman Catholic religious professed and blessed
Albert Bates, American criminal (b. 1893)
Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian writer (b. 1882)
Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)
Charles Fillmore, American Protestant mystic (b. 1854)
Carole Landis, American actress (b. 1919)
María de la Ossa de Amador, First Lady of Panama (b.1855)
July 9 Alcibiades Diamandi, Greek political figure (b. 1893)
King Baggot, American actor (b. 1879)
Franz Weidenreich, German anatomist, physical anthropologist (b. 1873)
Harry Brearley, British inventor of stainless steel (b. 1871)
Marguerite Moreno, French actress (b. 1871)
July 15 John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
July 17 Ildebrando Zacchini, Maltese painter, inventor and traveller (b. 1868)
July 18 Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director, screenwriter (b. 1877)
July 21 Arshile Gorky, Soviet-born American painter (b. 1904)
July 22 Sud Mennucci, Brazilian journalist, educator (b. 1882)
July 23 D. W. Griffith, American film director (The Birth of a Nation) (b. 1875)
July 24 Pencho Zlatev, Bulgarian general, 25th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1881)
July 26 Antonin Sertillanges, French Catholic philosopher, spiritual writer (b. 1863)
July 27 Joe Tinker, American baseball player, MLB Hall of Fame member (b. 1880)
July 28 Susan Glaspell, American playwright (b. 1876)
July 30 Sophonisba Breckinridge, American lawyer, reformer, social scientist and activist (b. 1866)
July 31 Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, mistress of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. 1891)
August
August 3 Tommy Ryan, American boxing champion (b. 1870)
August 4 Mileva Marić, Serbian physicist and mathematician, wife of Albert Einstein (b. 1875)
August 7 Charles Bryant, American actor (b. 1879)
Andrew Brown, Scottish soccer coach (b. 1870)
Montague Summers, English writer (b. 1880)
August 11 Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (b. 1873)
August 13 Edwin Maxwell, Irish actor (b. 1886)
August 16 Babe Ruth, American baseball player (New York Yankees), MLB Hall of Fame member (b. 1895)
August 26 George Anderson, American actor (b. 1886)
Cissie Cahalan, Irish trade union, feminist and suffragette (b. 1876)
Charles Evans Hughes, 11th Chief Justice of the United States, 1916 Republican presidential candidate (b. 1862)
August 30 Kristine Bonnevie, Norwegian biologist and politician (b. 1872)
August 31 Andrei Zhdanov, Soviet politician (b. 1896)
September
Feng Yuxiang, Chinese warlord and general (b. 1882)
Moncef Bey, ruler of Tunisia (1942–43) (b. 1881)
Charles A. Beard, American historian (b. 1874)
September 2 Sylvanus Morley, American scholar, World War I spy (b. 1883)
September 3 Edvard Beneš, Czech politician, 4th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia and 2-time President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1884)
September 5 Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (b. 1881)
September 7 André Suarès, French poet, critic (b. 1868)
September 10 Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (b. 1861)
September 11 Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder, first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876)
Rupert D'Oyly Carte, British hotelier, theatre owner and impresario (b. 1876)
Carlo Servolini, Italian artist (b. 1876)
September 13 Paul Wegener, German actor, film director and screenwriter, a pioneer of German Expressionism (b. 1874)
Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist, folklorist (b. 1887)
Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (assassinated) (b. 1895)
Emil Ludwig, German-born Swiss historian, biographer (b. 1881)
Raffaele Rossi, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, eminence and servant of God (b. 1876)
September 20 Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian writer (b. 1881)
Florence Merriam Bailey, American ornithologist, birdwatcher, and writer (b. 1863)
September 24 Warren William, American actor (b. 1894)
September 26 Gregg Toland, American cinematographer (b. 1904)
September 27 Frank Cellier, British actor (b. 1884)
Vasily Kachalov, Soviet actor (b. 1875)
October
Francisco Rodrigues da Cruz, Portuguese priest (b. 1859)
Phraya Manopakorn Nititada, 1st Prime Minister of Siam (b. 1884)
October 2 Simon de Graaff, Dutch civil servant, politician (b. 1866)
October 9 – Edmund Anscombe, New Zealand architect (b. 1874)
October 12 – Susan Sutherland Isaacs, English educational psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1885)
October 13 – Samuel S. Hinds, American actor (b. 1875)
October 14 – Dale Fuller, American actress (b. 1885)
October 15 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
October 16 Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, German general (b. 1870)
October 18 – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (b. 1881)
Elissa Landi, Italian actress (b. 1904)
Irving T. Bush, American industrialist (b. 1869)
October 24 – Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (b. 1870)
October 31 – Mary Nolan, American actress (b. 1902)
November
Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, British-born American businessman (b. 1874)
Filippo Perlo, Italian Roman Catholic prelate and missionary (b. 1873)
November 7 David Leland, American actor (b. 1932)
November 9 Edgar Kennedy, American actor (b. 1890)
Julius Curtius, German politician, diplomat (b. 1877)
Jack Nelson, American actor, director (b. 1882)
Mikhail Andreyev, Russian ethnographer and linguist (b. 1873)
Fred Niblo, American film director (b. 1874)
Noel Pemberton Billing, British aviator, inventor, publisher and MP (d. 1881)
November 12 Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
November 17 Oerip Soemohardjo, Indonesian general (b. 1893)
November 20 – Robert Mallard, African-American lynching victim (b. 1918)
November 21 Béla Miklós, Hungarian military officer, politician and 38th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1890)
Hack Wilson, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs), MLB Hall of Fame member (b. 1900)
Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher (b. 1885)
November 27 Jack Delaney, Canadian boxer (b. 1900)
November 28 D. D. Sheehan, Irish politician (b. 1873)
Maria Koppenhöfer, German actress (b. 1901)
Roberto Omegna, Italian cinematographer, director (b. 1876)
November 30 Franco Vittadini, Italian composer (b. 1884)
December
Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, South African politician (b. 1894)
Luis Orrego Luco, Chilean politician, lawyer, novelist and diplomat (b. 1866)
Chano Pozo, Cuban percussionist (b. 1915)
December 8 Matthew Charlton, Australian politician (b. 1866)
December 10 Na Hyesŏk, Korean feminist, painter, and writer (b. 1896)
December 12 Templeton Crocker, American patron and collector (b. 1884)
December 15 João Tamagnini Barbosa, Portuguese military officer, politician and 69th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1883)
December 19 Amir Sjarifuddin, Indonesian politician, journalist, and second prime minister of Indonesia (b. 1907)
December 20 C. Aubrey Smith, British actor (b. 1863)
December 21 Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (b. 1878)
December 23 Japanese war leaders (hanged):
Kenji Doihara, general (b. 1883)
Kōki Hirota, diplomat and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
Seishirō Itagaki, military officer (b. 1885)
Heitarō Kimura, general (b. 1888)
Iwane Matsui, general (b. 1878)
Akira Mutō, general (b. 1892)
Hideki Tojo, general, 40th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1884)
John Westley, American actor (b. 1878)
Milagros Benet de Mewton, Puerto Rican teacher and suffragist (b. 1868)
Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, Indian civil servant, politician (b. 1894)
Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha, Egyptian political figure, 27th Prime Minister of Egypt (assassinated) (b. 1888)
George Ault, American painter (b. 1891)
Denton Welch, English author and painter (b. 1915)
December 31 Sir Malcolm Campbell, English land, water racer (b. 1885)
Date Unknown
Frederick J. Bacon, American musician (b. 1871)
Nobel Prizes
Peace not awarded
References