Wikipedia / 1954
Wikipedia / 1954
Events
January
January 3 The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting.
January 7 Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM.
January 10 BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed.
January 12 Avalanchess in Austria kill more than 200.
January 15 Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya.
January 17 In Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties.
January 20 The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 member radio stations.
January 21 The first nuclear-powered submarine, the , is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower.
January 25 The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.
February
February 10 After authorizing $385million over the $400million already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against his country's intervention in Vietnam.
February 19 1954 transfer of Crimea: The Soviet Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the transfer of the Crimean Oblast from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.
February 23 The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
February 25 Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes premier of Egypt.
March
U.S. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test (Castle Bravo) has been conducted, on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The explosion produces a yield of 15 megatons TNT instead of the predicted 5 MT; the Japanese fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryū Maru is caught up inside the fallout zone, some 80 miles from the explosion with several of her crew members suffering from radiation sickness as a consequence.
U.S. Capitol shooting incident: Four Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in the United States House of Representatives chamber and wound 5; they are apprehended by security guards.
March 9 American journalists Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute See It Now documentary, entitled A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.
March 12 Finland and Germany officially end their state of war.
March 13 Việt Minh forces under General Võ Nguyên Giáp began a massive artillery bombardment on the French military, beginning the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the climactic battle of the First Indochina War.
March 19 Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory at Madison Square Garden in the first televised boxing prize fight to be shown in colour.
March 23 In Vietnam, the Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu. The remaining French Army units there are partially isolated.
The 26th Academy Awards Ceremony is held.
The Soviet Union recognises the sovereignty of East Germany. Soviet troops remain in the country.
March 27 The Castle Romeo nuclear test explosion is executed at Bikini Atoll, in the Marshall Islands.
The trial of A. L. Zissu and 12 other Zionist leaders ends with harsh sentences in Communist Romania.
Puerto Rico's first television station, WKAQ-TV, commences broadcasting.
March 29 A C-47 transport with French nurse Geneviève de Galard on board is wrecked on the runway at Dien Bien Phu.
March 30 The first operational subway line in Canada opens in Toronto.
April
The U.S. Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorize the founding of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
South Point School in India is founded, and becomes the largest school in the world by 1992.
April 3 Petrov Affair: Diplomat Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks for political asylum in Australia.
April 4 Legendary symphony conductor Arturo Toscanini experiences a lapse of memory during a concert broadcast live from Carnegie Hall in New York City. At this concert's end, his retirement is announced, and he never conducts in public again.
April 7 Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech, during a news conference.
April 8 A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
April 10 The modern form of value-added tax is first implemented by Maurice Lauré, joint director of the French tax authority, in France's Ivory Coast colony.
This day is denoted as the most boring day in the 20th century by True Knowledge, an answer engine developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe. No significant newsworthy events, births, or deaths are known to have happened on this day.
In a general election in Belgium, the dominant Christian Social Party wins 95 of the 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, and 49 of the 106 seats in the Senate. The government led by Jean Van Houtte loses their majority in parliament. The two other main parties, the Socialist and Liberal Party, subsequently form a rare "purple" government, with Achille Van Acker as Prime Minister.
April 12 Bill Haley & His Comets record "Rock Around the Clock" in their first session for American Decca in New York City; it is released on May 20 as a B-side, but only in 1955 becomes a #1 hit, helping to initiate the rock and roll craze.
Aneurin Bevan resigns from the British Labour Party's Shadow Cabinet in protest over his party's failure to oppose the rearmament of West Germany.
A Soviet spy ring in Australia is unveiled.
April 16 Vice President Richard Nixon announces that the United States may be "putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support".
The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees comes into force, defining the status of refugees and setting out the basis for granting right of asylum.
Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.
An international conference on Korea and Indo-China opens in Geneva.
Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai is released in Japan.
April 28 U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train Viet Minh guerrillas.
May
May 1 The Unification Church is founded in South Korea.
May 4 General Alfredo Stroessner deposes Federico Chaves in a coup d'état in Paraguay; from August 15 he will hold the office of President until 1989.
May 6 Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four minute mile, in Oxford, England.
May 7 First Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
May 8 The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is formed in Manila, Philippines.
May 11 U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declares that Indochina is important but not essential to the security of Southeast Asia, thus ending any prospect of American intervention on the side of France.
The Boeing 367-80, prototype for the later Boeing 707 jetliner, is rolled out in the United States, after about 2 years of development.
The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict is adopted in The Hague, Netherlands.
May 15 The Latin Union (Unión Latina) is created by the Convention of Madrid. Its member countries use the five Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. It suspended operations in 2012.
May 16 Beginning of the Kengir uprising in the Gulag.
Brown v. Board of Education (347 US 483 1954): The Supreme Court of the United States rules unanimously that segregated schools are unconstitutional.
The Royal Commission on the Petrov Affair in Australia begins its inquiry.
Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party forms the new (21st) government of Turkey.
May 20 Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected as the president of the Republic of China, by the National Assembly.
May 22 The common Nordic Labour Market act is signed.
May 26 A fire on board the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Bennington, off Narragansett Bay, Massachusetts, kills 103 sailors.
1954 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a decreased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. The election has come shortly after the Petrov Affair, arguably helping the Government survive what was initially predicted to be a defeat.
Creation and first meeting of the Bilderberg Group.
Diane Leather becomes the first woman to run a sub-five minute mile, in Birmingham, England.
June
June 6 The grand opening of the sculpture of Yuriy Dolgorukiy takes place in Moscow (this statue is one of the main monuments of Moscow).
June 7 English cryptanalyst, mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, age 41, commits suicide by cyanide poisoning.
June 9 McCarthyism: Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy, during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army, saying, "Have you, at long last, no decency?" The exchange results in the decline of McCarthy's popularity.
June 14 The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
June 15 The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.
June 17 A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in Guatemala.
June 18 Pierre Mendès France becomes prime minister of France.
Sarah Mae Flemming is expelled from a bus in South Carolina, for sitting in a white-only section.
Parker–Hulme murder case: Pauline Parker, 16 and her friend Juliet Hulme, 15, bludgeon Parker's mother to death using a brick, at Victoria Park in New Zealand.
Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than 35 years.
The world's first atomic power station opens at Obninsk, near Moscow.
July
The Common Nordic Labor Market Act comes into effect.
The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549ft. or 1,852 meters.
Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end.
"Miracle of Bern": West Germany beats Hungary 3–2 to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
July 10 Peter Thomson becomes the first Australian to win the British Open Golf Championship.
The Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), prototype of the Boeing 707 series, makes its maiden flight.
Juan Fangio, Argentine driver for German Grand Prix team Mercedes-Benz, makes a new fastest lap of the Silverstone Circuit in England, with an average speed of 100.35mph, the previous record being 100.16mph.
July 17 First Indochina War: Viet Minh troops successfully ambush the armoured French column 'G.M.42' in the Battle of Chu Dreh Pass in the Central Highlands. It is the last battle of the war.
July 19 Release of Elvis Presley's first single, a cover of "That's All Right", by Sun Records (recorded July 5 in Memphis, Tennessee).
July 21 First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference sends French forces to the south, and Vietnamese forces to the north, of a demarcation line. The agreement leads to the establishment of the North Vietnam regime and the state of South Vietnam.
July 29 The construction of Yad Vashem started in Jerusalem. It is an official memorial center to commemorate the victims of the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis and their accomplices in Europe.
July 29 The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three volumes in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings, is published in London.
July 31 1954 Italian expedition to K2: Italian mountaineers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni become the first to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, in the Karakoram range.
August
August 1 The First Indochina War ends with the Vietnam People's Army in North Vietnam, the Vietnamese National Army in South Vietnam, the Kingdom of Cambodia in Cambodia, and the Kingdom of Laos in Laos, emerging victorious against the French Army.
August 6 Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following an epileptic seizure. She is the first of the Canadian five to perish; three live into the 21st century.
August 16 The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published in the United States.
August 23 A United States Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules makes its first flight at Burbank, California, manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
August 24 Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas commits suicide, after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder his chief political opponent, Carlos Lacerda.
September
September 5 - KLM flight 633, a Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation named “Triton”, attempted to ditch into the river Shannon immediately after takeoff from Shannon Airport, Ireland. 28 of the 56 passengers and crew were killed
September 6 The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) treaty is signed in Manila, Philippines.
September 8 SEATO is established in Bangkok, Thailand.
September 9 The 6.7 Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The shock destroys Orléansville, leaving 1,243–1,409 dead, and 5,000 injured.
September 11 The Miss America Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time.
The Soviet Union carries out the Totskoye nuclear exercise.
English composer Benjamin Britten's chamber opera version of The Turn of the Screw receives its world premiere, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy.
September 17 William Golding's allegorical dystopian novel Lord of the Flies is published in London.
September 18 Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi is the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin.
September 20 The first Moomins comic strip is published in the London newspaper The Evening News.
September 24 The Cochabamba–Santa Cruz highway connecting western and eastern Bolivia is inaugurated.
September 25 Footscray Football Club wins their first Australian Football League Grand Final.
September 26 Japanese ferry Tōya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait. More than 1,100 people are killed, 7 other ships are wrecked, and at least nine others seriously damaged.
September 27 The Tonight Show first airs on live television on NBC in the United States being the first late night talk show.
September 30 The , the first nuclear-powered submarine in the world, is commissioned into the United States Navy.
October
Pre-Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000.
October 15 Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina
Texas Instruments announces the development of the first commercial transistor radio. The Regency TR-1 goes on sale the following month.
The comic strip Hi and Lois, by Mort Walker and Dik Browne, is launched in the United States.
Paris Agreement sets up the Western European Union to implement the Treaty of Brussels (1948), providing for mutual self-defence and other collaboration between Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Germany is granted admission to the NATO which becomes effective in 1955.
October 25 Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300.
October 26 Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdul Latif tries to kill Gamal Abdel Nasser.
October 31 Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.
November
November 1 The FLN attacks representative and public buildings of the French colonial power.
The dock workers' strike in the UK comes to an end.
The radio program Hancock's Half Hour, a pioneer in situation comedy, is first broadcast on BBC Radio (a television version will follow in 1956).
November 3 The first Godzilla film premieres in Tokyo.
November 5 Japan and Burma sign a peace treaty in Rangoon, to end their long-extinct state of war.
November 10 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), at the Arlington National Cemetery.
November 12 The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes permanently.
November 13 Great Britain defeats France, to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators
November 14 Egyptian president Muhammad Naguib is deposed, and Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him.
November 21 People's Action Party, an eventual dominative political party in Singapore, was established.
November 22 Berman v. Parker (348 U.S. 26): The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the federal slum clearance and urban renewal programs.
November 23 The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86 percent, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its peak level, reached just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
November 30 In Sylacauga, Alabama, a four-kilogram piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
December
December 1 The first Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens on the grounds of Los Angeles International Airport. It is the first hotel in the world built on an airport property.
Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67–22 to censure Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
The Taiwan-United States Mutual Defense Treaty is signed.
A German court dismisses charges against Werner Naumann, head of the Neo-Nazi Naumann Circle.
Väinö Linna's war novel The Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon sotilas) is published.
December 4 The first Burger King opens in Miami, Florida.
December 15 The Netherlands Antilles is created out of the Dutch Caribbean nations. It is dissolved between 1986 and 2010.
December 23 J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray perform the world's first successful kidney transplantation, in Boston, Massachusetts.
December 24 Laos gains full independence from France.
Date unknown
New Zealand engineer Sir William Hamilton develops the first pump-jet engine (the "Hamilton Jet") capable of propelling a jetboat.
The first electric drip brew coffeemaker is patented in Germany and named the Wigomat after its inventor Gottlob Widmann.
The Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race.
Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) are brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
The case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the supposedly antique frescoes in Marienkirche himself, goes to trial.
The TV dinner is introduced, by American entrepreneur Gerry Thomas.
In South Vietnam, the Viet Minh is reorganised into the Viet Cong.
After the death of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union starts releasing political prisoners and deportees from its Gulag prison camps.
Births
January
Thomas Aisu, Ugandan physician, educator (d. 2018)
Djimrangar Dadnadji, 16th prime minister of Chad (d. 2019)
January 3 Ross the Boss, American heavy metal/punk guitarist (d. 2026)
Tina Knowles, African-American fashion designer; mother of R&B singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles
Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
January 5 Alex English, American basketball player
January 6 Anthony Minghella, British film, theatre director (d. 2008)
Jodi Long, American actress
José María Vitier, Cuban music composer, pianist
January 8 Julieta Castellanos, Honduran sociologist
January 11 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
January 11 – Balachandra Menon, Indian Malayalam film director and actor
January 12 Howard Stern, American radio host
January 13 Trevor Rabin, South African–American musician
January 14 Masanobu Fuchi, Japanese professional wrestler
January 16 Morten P. Meldal, Danish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
January 17 Robert F. Kennedy Jr., environmental lawyer, 2024 United States presidential election candidate
Ted DiBiase, American professional wrestler
Katey Sagal, American actress and singer
Katharina Thalbach, German actress
January 21 Thomas de Maizière, German politician
January 22 Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer, songwriter
Edward Ka-Spel, British/Dutch singer and songwriter (The Legendary Pink Dots)
Peter Lampe, German theologian, historian
Bruno Metsu, French football coach (d. 2013)
Kaneto Shiozawa, Japanese voice actor (d. 2000)
Willy Telavi, 11th prime minister of Tuvalu
Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist
Oprah Winfrey, African-American actress, talk show hostess, producer and publisher
January 31 – Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)
February
February 1 Bill Mumy, American actor, musician (Lost in Space)
February 2 Christie Brinkley, American model
February 4 Andrei Karlov, Russian diplomat (d. 2016)
February 7 Dieter Bohlen, German music producer and singer-songwriter (Modern Talking, Blue System)
February 9 Gina Rinehart, Australian mining tycoon
February 11 Noriyuki Asakura, Japanese composer
Joseph Jordania, Georgian-Australian musicologist, academic
Evangelos Basiakos, Greek politician, long term MP, and minister
Tzimis Panousis, Greek comedian, singer, and author
February 13 Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
February 15 Matt Groening, American cartoonist (The Simpsons)
Iain Banks, Scottish author (d. 2013)
Michael Holding, Jamaican cricket player and commentator
Margaux Hemingway, American fashion model and actress (d. 1996)
Rene Russo, American actress, fashion model
Yuji Takada, Japanese free-style wrestler
Brian Houston, Australian-New Zealand pastor, author and founder of Hillsong Church
John Travolta, American actor
Jalaluddin Hassan, Malaysian actor
Messaouda Boubaker, Tunisian writer
Anthony Head, English actor, musician (d. 2026)
Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnap victim
February 24 Sid Meier, Canadian programmer, game designer, notable for the Civilization series
February 25 Gerardo Pelusso, Uruguayan football manager
March
Peter Spellos, American actor, voice actor
Catherine Bach, American actress (The Dukes of Hazzard)
Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer (The Andy Griffith Show, Happy Days)
Ed Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player
Gara Takashima, Japanese voice actress
Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress (SCTV) (d. 2026)
Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer
Willie Thorne, English snooker player (d. 2020)
March 6 Harald Schumacher, German football goalkeeper
Marie-Theres Nadig, Swiss alpine skier
David Wilkie, Scottish former world record holder, Olympic gold medallist swimmer (1976)
Bobby Sands, Irish republican hunger striker (d. 1981)
Kevin Wade, American screenwriter, television producer
March 13 The Baroness Amos, British politician
Massimo Bubola, Italian singer, songwriter
Craig Wasson, American actor
S.A. Griffin, American actor, poet
Nancy Wilson, American rock musician
Jimmy Nail, English singer, songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer
March 17 Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
March 18 James F. Reilly, American astronaut
March 20 Louis Sachar, American author
Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach
Hideyuki Hori, Japanese voice actor
Robert Carradine, American actor (d. 2026)
Donna Pescow, American actress, director (Angie)
Wendy Fulton, American actress
Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese voice actor
Clive Palmer, Australian mining tycoon
March 29 Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
April
April 1 Dieter Müller, German soccer player
April 2 Susumu Hirasawa, Japanese musician
April 5 Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist, radio/television personality
Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor, martial artist
Tony Dorsett, American football player
April 8 Gary Carter, American baseball player (d. 2012)
Steve Holt, Canadian musician
Dennis Quaid, American actor
Anacani, Mexican-born American singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
Angelika Hellmann, East German artistic gymnast
Bruce Sterling, American science fiction writer
April 16 Ellen Barkin, American actress
Norio Imamura, Japanese voice actor
Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler (d. 2015)
April 22 Jōji Nakata, Japanese voice actor
Peter Nyombi, Ugandan lawyer, politician (d. 2018)
Michael Moore, American filmmaker, political activist (Bowling for Columbine)
Suprapto Martosetomo, Indonesian diplomat
Randy Cross, American football analyst and former player
Herman Edwards, American football head coach
Frank Bainimarama, Fijian politician
April 28 Michael Daugherty, American composer
Jake Burton Carpenter, American founder of Burton Snowboards (d. 2019)
Kazuko Kurosawa, Japanese costume designer
Jerry Seinfeld, American actor, comedian and producer (Seinfeld)
April 30 – Jane Campion, New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director
May
Ray Parker Jr., American singer and songwriter
Maatia Toafa, 2-time prime minister of Tuvalu
May 2 Elliot Goldenthal, American composer
May 5 David Azulai, Israeli politician (d. 2018)
May 6 Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican writer
Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
Amy Heckerling, American film director
Diana Raab, American author
May 8 Pam Arciero, Hawaiian-born puppeteer (Sesame Street)
May 10 Amos Guttman, Israeli film director (d. 1993)
May 13 Johnny Logan, Australian-born Irish singer, composer and Eurovision Song Contest winner (1980, 1987)
María Dolores Katarain ("Yoyes"), Spanish Basque separatist leader (d. 1986)
Peter J. Ratcliffe, English cellular biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
Hōchū Ōtsuka, Japanese voice actor
May 20 David Paterson, American politician, 55th Governor of New York
May 22 Shuji Nakamura, Japanese electronics engineer
Tantely Andrianarivo, 11th prime minister of Madagascar (d. 2023)
Pauline Hanson, Australian politician
Lawrence M. Krauss, American theoretical physicist, science writer
Coney Reyes, Philippine film and television actress
May 29 Pankaj Kapur, Indian actor
June
Mattos Nascimento, Brazilian musician, singer, composer and trombonist
Dennis Haysbert, African-American actor
Chiyoko Kawashima, Japanese voice actress
June 4 Kazuhiro Yamaji, Japanese actor, voice actor
Nancy Stafford, American actress, Christian author
June 6 Harvey Fierstein, American actor
John Hagelin, American physicist, U.S. presidential candidate
Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada
June 10 Kurt Walker, American ice hockey player (d. 2018)
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian-born Director-General of the World Trade Organization
Andrzej Lepper, Polish politician (d. 2011)
June 14 Will Patton, American actor
Jim Belushi, American actor, comedian, singer and musician
Bob McDonnell, American politician
June 16 Sergey Kuryokhin, Russian pianist, composer, improvisor, performance artist and actor (d. 1996)
Ted Coombs, American artist
Kathleen Turner, American actress (Romancing the Stone)
Michael Anthony, American rock bassist (Van Halen)
Karlheinz Brandenburg, German electrical engineer, mathematician
Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, Israel's first astronaut (d. 2003)
Huda Zoghbi, American geneticist
June 21 Chip Ingram, American Christian pastor, author and orator
Chris Lemmon, American actor, author
Freddie Prinze, American actor, comedian (Chico and the Man) (d. 1977)
June 23 Carme Pinós, Spanish architect
James Plaskitt, British politician
June 24 Chang San-cheng, Taiwanese politician
Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Brazilian actor
Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Igor Lisovsky, Soviet pair skater
Abderrazak Kilani, Tunisian politician, lawyer
June 26 Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
Anita Zagaria, Italian actress
Jean-Serge Brisson, Canadian author and politician
Daniel Dantas, Brazilian actor
Ava Barber, American country singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
Alice Krige, South African actress and producer
Valentina Quintero, Venezuelan journalist, environmental activist, radio and television hostess.
Jai Jagadish, Indian film actor, director and producer
Rick Honeycutt, American baseball player, coach
Stephen Ouimette, Canadian actor, director
Mohammad A. Quayum, Bangladeshi academic, writer, editor, critic and translator
Wayne Swan, Australian politician
July
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, Somali politician
Pedro Guastavino, Argentine politician
Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese politician and lawyer
Ludmila Aslanian, Armenian chess player
Peter Randall-Page, British artist
Wendy Schaal, American actress
July 3 Pennie Lane Trumbull, American socialite, philanthropist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur
July 4 Anne Lambton, British actress
Don Stark, American actor
John Wright, New Zealand cricket captain
July 6 Willie Randolph, American baseball player, coach, manager
Robert M. Price, American theologian and writer, Cthulhu Mythos scholar and editor
Simon Anderson, Australian competitive surfer, surfboard shaper, and writer
Ursula Stephens, Australian politician
David Aaronovitch, English journalist, television presenter and author
Matthew Marsh, English actor
July 9 Kevin O'Leary, Canadian businessman, television personality, and political candidate
Andre Dawson, American baseball player
Michele Serra, Italian writer, journalist and satirist
Neil Tennant, British singer-songwriter, musician and journalist (Pet Shop Boys)
Yō Yoshimura, Japanese voice actor (d. 1991)
July 11 Alejandro Camacho, Mexican actor and producer
Lisa Pelikan, American actress
Paulo Saldiva, Brazilian professor, physician, pathologist and medical researcher
July 13 Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer
Tarak Dhiab, Tunisian footballer
Mario Kempes, Argentine footballer
Richard Bekins, American actor
Edward Natapei, Vanuatu politician and Prime Minister of Vanuatu (d. 2015)
J. Michael Straczynski, American author
July 18 Franziska Troegner, German actress
July 19 Verica Kalanović, Serbian politician
Lo Ta-yu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter
Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Vietnamese politician; 10th President of Vietnam, 7th Prime Minister of Vietnam
July 21 Otto Jespersen, Norwegian comedian, actor and television personality
July 22 Pierre Lebeau, Canadian actor
July 24 Jorge Jesus, Portuguese football player and coach
Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994)
Leonardo Daniel, Mexican actor and director
Philippe Alliot, French racing driver
Lynne Frederick, British actress (d. 1994)
August
Michael Badnarik, American software engineer and presidential candidate
James Gleick, American non fiction author of several award-winning books
Junpei Morita, Japanese actor and voice actor
August 2 David Tang, Hong Kong-British entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2017)
Dorottya Udvaros, Hungarian actress
François Valéry, French singer-songwriter and composer
Uwe Wittwer, Swiss artist
August 7 Susanna Javicoli, Italian actress (d. 2005)
August 9 Pete Thomas, British drummer for the Elvis Costello band
August 10 Kim Pyong Il, North Korean diplomat and son of Kim Il Sung
August 11 Joe Jackson, British singer-songwriter (Steppin' Out)
François Hollande, President of France 201217
Sam J. Jones, American actor
Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist
Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass guitar player (d. 2001)
Tõnu Kilgas, Estonian singer and actor
Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d. 2009)
Stanley A. McChrystal, U.S. Army general
August 16 James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Russian-Irish writer
Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey and music video producer (d. 2007)
Al Roker, American television personality and host
Richarda Schmeisser, East German artistic gymnast
Ian Bartholomew, English actor
Charles Busch, American director, writer and actor
Halimah Yacob, 8th president of Singapore
Joe Ochman, American actor and voice actor
Philippe Cataldo, French singer
Bruno Manser, Swiss environmental activist (d. 2005)
Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter
August 29 István Cserháti, Hungarian keyboardist (d. 2005)
Caroline Cossey, British model
September
September 1 Dave Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player
Andrej Babiš, Czech entrepreneur and politician, 12th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Vance DeGeneres, American actor
Zeta Emilianidou, Cypriot lawyer and politician (d. 2022)
Gai Waterhouse, Australian racehorse trainer
Humberto Zurita, Mexican actor, director and producer
September 6 Carly Fiorina, American businesswoman, CEO of HP (1999–2005) and Senator Ted Cruz's running mate in the 2016 presidential election
Corbin Bernsen, American actor
Michael Emerson, American actor
Francisco Guterres, 4th president of East Timor (d. 2026)
September 9 Mohsen Rezaee, Iranian politician
September 10 Mark W. Everson, American businessman; 46th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (2003–07)
September 13 – Steve Kilbey, English born Australian musician and artist
September 15 Nava Semel, Israeli author and playwright (d. 2017)
September 16 Ashrita Furman, American record breaker
Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007)
Philip J. Pierre, prime minister of St Lucia
Tommy Tuberville, US Senator
Julia Grant, British transgender activist (d. 2019)
Thomas S. Ray, American ecologist
Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, English drummer (Motörhead and Waysted) (d. 2015)
September 23 Cherie Blair, lawyer, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair
September 24 Lilian Mercedes Letona, Salvadoran guerrilla (d. 1983)
September 26 Kevin Kennedy, American baseball manager and television host
Steve Largent, American football player and congressman
Margot Wallström, Swedish politician
September 29 Masoud Pezeshkian, President of Iran
September 30 Barry Williams, American actor
October
October 1 Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
Eddie DeGarmo, American Christian keyboardist and producer
Dennis Eckersley, American baseball player
Al Sharpton, African-American civil rights activist, minister and radio talk show host
Dawayne Bailey, American musician
Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
Gurudas Kamat, Indian politician (d. 2018)
Wayne Watson, American Christian musician
October 6 Howard Hoffman, American voice actor
October 7 Robert A. Schuller, American televangelist and the son of Robert Schuller
Scott Bakula, American actor (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise)
John O'Hurley, American actor and game show host
Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor
David Lee Roth, American rock singer
October 11 - Vojislav Seselj, former deputy prime minister of Serbia
October 13 Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed secrets of its nuclear weapons program
October 14 Mohamad Sabu, Malaysian politician
October 15 Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
October 18 Yūji Mitsuya, Japanese voice actor
October 22 Ellen Gerstell, American voice actress
October 23 Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director
Doug Davidson, American actor
Mike Rounds, South Dakota politician
Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, Mozambican politician
Victor Ciorbea, 56th prime minister of Romania
Kathleen Cody, American actress
Mario Testino, Peruvian photographer
November
November 2 Angela Webber, Australian author, television writer, producer and comedian (d. 2007)
Adam Ant, British rock singer and musician
Brigitte Lin, Taiwanese actress
Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedian
Mike Gabriel, American animator and film producer
Alejandro Sabella, Argentine footballer and manager (d. 2020)
November 6 Karin Fossum, Norwegian crime fiction writer
Robin Beck, American singer
Kamal Haasan, Indian actor, dancer, film director, screenwriter, producer and politician
Jon Taffer, American bar consultant, television host and author
Michael D. Brown, first Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response, a division of the United States' Department of Homeland Security
Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British author, Nobel Prize laureate
November 11 Mary Gaitskill, American novelist
November 12 Rhonda Shear, American television hostess, actress and comedian
November 13 Chris Noth, American actor
Yanni, Greek musician
Robert Alberts, Dutch footballer and manager of Persib Bandung
Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
Bernard Hinault, French road bicycle racer
Condoleezza Rice, American politician, 66th United States Secretary of State
Stephen W. Burns, American actor (d. 1990)
November 16 Bruce Edwards, American golf caddy (d. 2004)
Kathleen Quinlan, American actress
Bruce Hornsby, American rock singer
Elizabeth Savalla, Brazilian actress
Roz Chast, American cartoonist
Patricia McPherson, American actress
Kimmy Robertson, American actress
November 28 Marty Grabstein, American actor and voice actor
November 29 Joel Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor
November 30 – Lawrence Summers, US economist, 71st US Treasury Secretary
November Pierre M'Pelé, African public health personality and writer
December
December 2 Dan Butler, American actor and voice actor
December 4 Tony Todd, American actor and producer (d. 2024)
December 6 Beat Furrer, Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor
December 8 Sumi Shimamoto, Japanese voice actress
December 9 Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg politician
Sylvester Clarke, West Indian cricketer (d. 1999)
Jermaine Jackson, African-American singer and actor
Prachanda, Nepalese Communist leader
Elizângela, Brazilian actress (d. 2023)
December 13 John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
December 15 Mark Warner, American politician
December 18 Ray Liotta, American actor and producer (Goodfellas) (d. 2022)
Sandra Cisneros, American writer
December 21 Chris Evert, American tennis player
December 23 Brian Teacher, American tennis player
December 24 José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President (1994–1998)
Roman Baskin, Estonian actor and director of stage and screen (d. 2018)
Annie Lennox, British pop musician and lead singer of Eurythmics
Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer (d. 2006)
Ozzie Smith, HOF baseball shortstop
Hajji Alejandro, Filipino singer and actor (d. 2025)
Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler (d. 2023
Denzel Washington, African-American actor
Tony Ables, American serial killer and robber
Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician
Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
December 31 Alex Salmond, Scottish politician (d. 2024)
Date not known
Marek Smurzyński, Polish translator, Persian language speaker and translator (d. 2009)
Deaths
January
January 1 José Millán-Astray, Spanish general, founder of the Spanish Legion (b. 1879)
January 5 – Lillian Rich, English actress (b. 1900)
January 8 Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (b. 1898)
John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, British politician (b. 1873)
Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
January 18 Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
January 31 - Florence Bates, American actress (b. 1888)
February
February 1 - Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer (b. 1890)
February 8 Laurence Trimble, American actor (b. 1885)
February 9 Mabel Paige, American actress (b. 1880)
February 12 Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
February 19 Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, 24th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1883)
February 21 William K. Howard, American film director (b. 1899)
March
Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
Will H. Hays, Namesake for the Hays Code (b. 1879)
March 9 Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (b. 1874)
March 12 Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (b. 1870)
March 13 Cesar Klein, German painter (b. 1876)
March 26 Louis Silvers, American film composer (b. 1889)
March 30 – Fritz London, German physicist (b. 1900)
April
Maud Barger-Wallach, American tennis player (b. 1870)
April 3 Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Portuguese diplomat and humanitarian (b. 1885)
April 7 Saburō Kurusu, Japanese diplomat (b. 1886)
April 10 Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862)
April 17 Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (b. 1900)
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski, Polish scientist and explorer who participated in the Belgian Antarctic expedition (b. 1872)
Thorvald Ellegaard, Danish track cyclist (b. 1877)
April 28 Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
May
May 5 Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (b. 1885)
May 6 B. C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
May 14 Heinz Guderian, German World War II general (b. 1888)
May 15 William March, American writer and soldier (b. 1893)
May 19 Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
May 22 Chief Bender, Native-American baseball player (b. 1884)
May 25 Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
May 26 Omer Nishani, Albanian medical doctor and political figure (b. 1887)
June
June 7 Alan Turing, British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and pioneer computer scientist (b. 1912)
June 9 Alain LeRoy Locke, American writer, philosopher and educator (b. 1885)
June 24 Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, 5th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1874)
June 30 Andrass Samuelsen, 1st prime minister of Faroe Islands (b. 1873)
July
Thea von Harbou, German actress (b. 1888)
Tomás Monje, 41st President of Bolivia (b. 1884)
Gabriel Pascal, Hungarian-born film producer and director (b. 1894)
Cornelia Sorabji, Indian-born lawyer (b. 1866)
Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
Irving Pichel, American actor and director (b. 1891)
July 14 Jacinto Benavente, Spanish dramatist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
July 16 Herms Niel, German composer (b. 1888)
July 17 Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster (b. 1895)
July 19 Hannes Meyer, Swiss architect (b. 1889)
July 28 Sōjin Kamiyama or "Sojin", Japanese film star during the silent film era (b. 1884)
August
August 2 – Harriet Mack, American politician (b. 1866)
August 11 Murray Kinnell, English actor (b. 1889)
August 14 Hugo Eckener, German president of the Zeppelin Dirigible Company (b. 1868)
August 19 Alcide De Gasperi, Italian statesman and Christian Democracy politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1881)
August 24 Getúlio Vargas, 14th and 17th President of Brazil (b. 1882)
September
September 2 Franz Leopold Neumann, German political activist and Marxist theorist (b. 1900)
September 3 Eugene Pallette, American actor (b. 1889)
September 5 Eugen Schiffer, German politician (b. 1860)
September 7 Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1885)
September 8 André Derain, French artist, painter and sculptor (b. 1880)
September 21 Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
September 25 Eugenio d'Ors, Spanish writer (b. 1881)
September 26 Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (b. 1868)
September 27 Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (b. 1881)
September 28 Bert Lytell, American actor (b. 1885)
September 29 Martin Wetzer, Finnish general (b. 1868)
October
October 9 Robert H. Jackson, United States Supreme Court associate justice and chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (b. 1892)
October 12 George Welch, American aviator (b. 1918)
October 19 Hugh Duffy, American baseball player (Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1866)
October 22 Jibanananda Das, Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in Bengali (b. 1899)
October 28 Austin Hobart Clark, American zoologist (b. 1880)
October 30 Wilbur Shaw, American racing driver (b. 1902)
November
November 3 Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
November 10 Édouard Le Roy, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1870)
November 11 Suzanne Noël, French plastic surgeon, the first female plastic surgeon in the world (b. 1878)
November 13 Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (b. 1881)
November 15 Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1878)
November 16 Albert Francis Blakeslee, American botanist (b. 1874)
November 20 Clyde Cessna, American aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer, founder of the Cessna Aircraft Corporation (b. 1879)
Moroni Olsen, American actor (b. 1889)
Andrey Vyshinsky, Russian jurist and diplomat, former Soviet Foreign Minister (b. 1883)
November 28 Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
November 30 Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
December
December 1 Fred Rose, American songwriter (b. 1898)
Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
Gladys George, American actress (b. 1904)
December 17 Marie Celeste, American soprano and actress (b. 1875)
December 20 James Hilton, English novelist (b. 1900)
Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)
Günther Quandt, German industrialist who founded an industrial empire that today includes BMW and Altana (b. 1881)
Nobel Prizes
Medicine John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
Peace The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
References