Wikipedia / 1957
Wikipedia / 1957
Events
January
January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany.
January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having handled the ball in Test cricket.
January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns on health grounds.
January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.
January 15 – The film Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth, is released in Japan.
January 16 – Global hotel brand Marriott opens its first hotel, the Marriott Motor Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.
January 20 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).
January 26 – The Ibirapuera Planetarium (the first in the Southern Hemisphere) is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.
February
February 2 – President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage across the Indus River, near Sukkur.
France prohibits U.N. involvement in Algeria.
The first nuclear-powered submarine, , logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. It is decommissioned on March 3, 1980.
A coal gas explosion at the giant Bishop Coal Mine in Bishop, Virginia, United States, kills 37 men.
February 6 – The Soviet Union announces that Swedish envoy Raoul Wallenberg had died in a Soviet prison ("possibly of a heart attack"), on July 17, 1947
February 10 – The Confederation of African Football is founded, at a meeting in Khartoum.
February 15 – Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union.
February 16 – Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal opens at cinemas in Sweden.
February 17 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri, United States, kills 72 people.
Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
The last person to be executed in New Zealand, Walter James Bolton, is hanged at Mount Eden Prison for poisoning his wife.
February 23 – The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc opens in Dakar.
March
Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.
Sud Aviation forms, from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest).
March 3 – Net als toen, sung by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, lyrics by Willy van Hemert), wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 (held at Frankfurt), for the Netherlands.
United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent nation of Ghana.
Zodi Ikhia founds the Nigerien Democratic Front (FDN) in Niger.
March 8 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.
March 14 – President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.
March 17 – 1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash: Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash.
March 22 – A United States Air Force Boeing C-97 disappears somewhere over the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Japan. All 67 people and the aircraft remain missing to this day.
March 25 – The Treaty of Rome (Patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC; predecessor of the European Union) between Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
March 27 – The 29th Academy Awards Ceremony is held in Hollywood. Around the World in 80 Days wins Best Picture.
April
April – IBM sells the first compiler for the Fortran scientific programming language.
April 1 – The first new conscripts join the .
April 5 – The Communist Party of India wins the elections in Kerala, making E. M. S. Namboodiripad its first chief minister.
April 9 – Egypt reopens the Suez Canal to all shipping.
April 12 – The United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self-rule on January 1, 1958.
April 13 – The 1957 alleged Jordanian military coup attempt against Hussein Bin Talal is made by Ali Abu Nuwar.
The Distant Early Warning Line is handed over by contractors to the U.S. and Canadian military.
White Rock secedes from Surrey, British Columbia, following a referendum.
April 17 – Suspected English serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams is found not guilty of murder, at the Old Bailey.
April 24–25 – The 1957 Fethiye earthquakes occur on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.
April 30 – The solar eclipse of April 30, 1957, a non-central annular solar eclipse that does not have a northern path limit, takes place. This is the last of 57 umbral solar eclipses of Solar Saros 118.
May
May 2 – "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika", written by Cornelis Jacobus Langenhoven, becomes the South African national anthem, replacing "God Save the Queen", which is retained as a royal anthem.
May 8 South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem begins a state visit to the United States, his regime's main sponsor.
Operation Grapple: At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb, which fails to detonate properly.
Stanley Matthews plays his final international game, ending an English record international career of almost 23 years.
May 16 – Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new Secretary General of NATO.
May 24 – May 24 incident: Anti-American riots erupt in Taipei, Taiwan.
May 30 – Real Madrid beats Fiorentina 2–0 at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, to win the 1956–57 European Cup (football).
June
June 1 – Launch of the first Ayanami-class destroyer warship by the JMSDF.
June 9 – Broad Peak, on the China-Pakistan border, is first ascended.
June 21 – John Diefenbaker becomes the 13th Prime Minister of Canada.
June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, U.S., killing 400 people.
July
The International Geophysical Year begins.
The University of Waterloo is founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Hugh Everett III publishes the first scientifically founded many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Production of the Citroën Traction Avant automobile, begun in 1934, ceases.
July 6 – At the age of fifteen, Paul McCartney meets John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, at the St Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton.
July 11 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV becomes the 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims at age 20. His grandfather Sir Sultan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III appoints Prince Karim in his will.
July 14 – Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.
July 16 – United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
July 23 – Asghar Khan becomes the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force and the world's youngest Air Vice Marshal at 36 years old.
July 25 – Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba as its first president.
The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, a high point of the Khrushchev Thaw, opens in Moscow.
Heavy rains and mudslides at Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, kill 992.
July 29 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
August
August 4 – Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins this season) his record 5th world drivers championship, including his 4th consecutive championship (also a record); these 2 records endure for nearly half a century.
August 31 – The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom, subsequently celebrated as Malaysia's National Day. Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan, becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya. The country's new Constitution had come into force on August 27. The Alliance Party and its successor are the ruling coalition until 2018.
September
September 5 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista’s forces bomb anti-government riots in Cienfuegos.
September 9 – The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is enacted, establishing the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Olav V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father Haakon VII.
September 26 – West Side Story, a new musical by Leonard Bernstein with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, opens on Broadway in New York City.
September 29 – The Kyshtym disaster occurs at the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant in Russia.
October
October 1 – The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.
Space Age – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth.
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow delta wing interceptor aircraft is unveiled.
October 9 – The Jodrell Bank radio telescope in Cheshire, England, is controlled from its control room for the first time.
October 10 – Windscale fire: Fire at the Windscale nuclear reactor on the north-west coast of England releases radioactive material into the surrounding environment, including iodine-131.
October 11 – The orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) is first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer at the MIT Computation Center as part of Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
October 20 – Two trains collide at Yarımburgaz in Turkey; 95 die.
October 27 – Celâl Bayar is re-elected president of Turkey.
November
November 1 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at this time, opens in the United States, to connect Michigan's two peninsulas.
November 3 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, with the first animal to orbit the Earth, a dog named Laika, on board. There is no technology available to return her to Earth.
Flooding in the Po Valley of Italy leads to flooding also in Venice.
Gordon Gould invents the laser.
Yugoslavia announces the end of an economic boycott of Francoist Spain (although it does not reinstitute diplomatic relations).
1957 Aquila Airways Solent crash: A flying boat crash on the Isle of Wight leaves 45 dead.
November 16 – Adnan Menderes of the Democrat Party forms the new government of Turkey (23rd government, last government formed by DP and Menderes).
Indonesian president Sukarno survives a grenade attack at the Cikini School in Jakarta, but several children are killed.
1957 New Zealand general election: The Labour Party defeats the governing National Party, with Walter Nash succeeding Keith Holyoake as Prime Minister.
December
December 1 – In Indonesia, Sukarno announces the nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.
The Lewisham rail crash in London, UK, leaves 92 people dead.
1957 Bayankhongor Earthquake in Mongolia kills 30+ people
December 5 – All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.
December 6 – The first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, when the Vanguard rocket blows up on the launch pad.
December 10 – Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson receives the Nobel Peace Prize, for his peacekeeping efforts in the United Nations.
December 18 – A violent F5 tornado wipes out the entire community of Sunfield, Illinois.
December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.
Date unknown
Mao Zedong admits that 800,000 "class enemies" had been summarily liquidated in China between 1949 and 1954.
Gruppe SPUR, an artistic collaboration, is founded in Germany.
Raja Fashions, a tailoring business, is founded in Hong Kong.
The so-called 'mound of Midas', the Great Tumulus near Gordium, is excavated.
Three new neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces are released: Folio (designed by Konrad Bauer and Walter Baum), Neue Haas Grotesk (designed by Max Miedinger) and Univers (designed by Adrian Frutiger); all will be influential in the International Typographic Style of graphic design.
Albeit the practice was in decline since the late 19th Century, and illegal since 1912, the very last new case of Chinese foot binding was reported this year.
Births
January
January 1 - Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian-American DJ and record producer
January 3 – Bojan Križaj, Slovenian alpine skier
January 4 – Patty Loveless, American country music singer
January 6 – Nancy Lopez, American golfer
Katie Couric, American television host
Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey goaltender
Julian Solís, Puerto Rican former world bantamweight champion boxer
January 8 – David Lang, American composer
Bryan Robson, English footballer
Claude Criquielion, Belgian bike racer (d. 2015)
January 12 – John Lasseter, American director, writer and animator
Lorrie Moore, American writer
Daniel Scioli, Argentine politician and sportsman
January 14 – Anchee Min, Chinese writer
January 15 – Mario Van Peebles, Mexican-born African-American actor and director
January 16 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor
January 17 – Steve Harvey, African-American comedian, television host, radio personality and actor
January 19 – Kenneth McClintock, former Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
Mike Bossy, Canadian hockey player (d. 2022)
Godfrey Thoma, Nauruan politician
January 23 – Princess Caroline of Monaco, Princess of Hanover
January 26 – Road Warrior Hawk, American professional wrestler (d. 2003)
Frank Miller, American comic book writer
Janick Gers, British heavy metal guitarist
January 29 – Grażyna Miller, Polish poet
January 30 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
February
February 1 – Dennis Brown, Jamaican reggae singer (d. 1999)
February 2 – Phil Barney, French singer
February 5 – Jackie Woodburne, Australian actress
Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
Robert Townsend, African-American actor, comedian, director, and writer
February 8 – Cindy Wilson, American rock singer (The B-52's)
February 9 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
February 14 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish lyric soprano
February 16 – LeVar Burton, African-American actor
February 17 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer, composer, harpist (Mummers' Dance)
Marita Koch, German athlete
Vanna White, American game show presenter (Wheel of Fortune)
Falco, Austrian rock musician (Rock Me Amadeus) (d. 1998)
Ray Winstone, British actor
February 20 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey coach
Ria Brieffies, Dutch singer (d. 2009)
Charlie Brandt, American serial killer (d. 2004)
February 25 – Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singaporean politician, 9th President of Singapore
Danny Antonucci, Canadian creator of the Cartoon Network show Ed, Edd n Eddy
Timothy Spall, English actor
Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer
John Turturro, American actor, writer and director
March
March 4 – Mykelti Williamson, American actor
March 5 – Mark E. Smith, English singer (d. 2018)
March 6 – Eddie Deezen, American actor and comedian
March 8 – Clive Burr, British heavy metal drummer (d. 2013)
Isabelle Olivieri, French agricultural engineer and biologist (d. 2016)
Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician
Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born terrorist and founder of al-Qaeda (d. 2011)
Hans-Peter Friedrich, German politician
Qasem Soleimani, Iranian general (d. 2020)
Isabel Ordaz, Spanish actress
Val Demings, American politician
Marlon Jackson, African-American singer
Joaquim de Almeida, Portuguese actor
Park Overall, American film and television actress
Steve Witkoff, American real estate investor, former lawyer, and diplomat
March 18 – György Pazdera, Hungarian rock bassist (Pokolgép)
March 19 – Christopher Murray, American actor
Vanessa Bell Calloway, African-American actress
Spike Lee, African-American film director and actor
Theresa Russell, American actress
Chris Wedge, American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor
March 22 – Michael Mosley, British television and radio journalist, producer, presenter and writer (d. 2024)
Edna Molewa, South African politician (d. 2018)
Robbie James, Welsh footballer
Amanda Plummer, American actress
March 27 – Stephen Dillane, English actor
March 28 – Paul Eiding, American actor and voice actor
March 29 – Christopher Lambert, French-American actor
Shen Yi-ming, Taiwanese Air Force general officer (d. 2020)
Ian Shelton, Canadian astronomer who discovered SN 1987A
March 31 – Marc McClure, American actor
April
J. Karjalainen, Finnish rock musician
Denise Nickerson, American actress and receptionist (d. 2019)
April 2 – Giuliana De Sio, Italian actress
April 4 – Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director
April 5 – Ivan Corea, Sri Lankan autism campaigner
April 8 – Henry Cluney, Irish musician
April 9 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (d. 2011)
April 12 – Vince Gill, American singer-songwriter
April 14 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, conductor and composer
April 17 – Afrika Bambaataa, American DJ and producer (d. 2026)
April 19 – Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman
Herbert Wetterauer, German artist and author
Faustin-Archange Touadéra, 8th President of the Central African Republic
Kenji Kawai, Japanese composer
April 24 – Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-British Labour Party politician and convicted sex offender
Eric Bristow, English darts player (d. 2018)
Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, 7th Prime Minister and 8th President of Burkina Faso
April 28 – Dinorah de Jesús Rodriguez, Cuban-born experimental filmmaker
Daniel Day-Lewis, English-born actor
Timothy Treadwell, American environmentalist and filmmaker (d. 2003)
May
May 1 – Jo Jorgensen, American libertarian politician and academic
May 5 – Richard E. Grant, English actor
May 10 – Sid Vicious (John Beverley), English punk rock bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
May 13 – Carrie Lam, Hong Kong civil servant
May 14 – Daniela Dessì, Italian operatic soprano (d. 2016)
Kevin Von Erich, American professional wrestler
Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque Lehendakari (Prime Minister)
Joan Benoit, American Olympic gold medal-winning marathon runner
Pipiet Senja, Indonesian writer (d. 2025)
Bob Suter, American professional ice hockey player (d. 2014)
May 17 – Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish rock singer and songwriter (Leevi and the Leavings) (d. 2003)
Michael Cretu, Romanian–German new-age musician (Enigma)
Frank Plasberg, German journalist and television presenter
Rebecca Jones, Mexican actress
Judge Reinhold, American actor
Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
Shinji Morisue, Japanese gymnast
Gary Sweet, Australian actor
May 23 – Jimmy McShane (aka Baltimora), Northern Irish singer and dancer (d. 1995)
John Harrington, American professional ice hockey player
Walter Moers, German comic artist and writer
John G. Rowland, American Republican politician, Governor of Connecticut and felon
François Legault, Canadian politician, Premier of Quebec
Pontso Sekatle, Lesotho academic and politician
May 27 – Siouxsie Sioux, born Susan Ballion, English post-punk singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
May 28 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player
May 29 – Ted Levine, American actor
June
June 1 – Dorota Kędzierzawska, Polish film director
June 3 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player
June 5 – Kim Tai-chung, Korean martial artist and former actor and Bruce Lee double (d. 2011)
June 7 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer and songwriter
Scott Adams, American cartoonist (Dilbert) (d. 2026)
Dimple Kapadia, Indian actress
Timothy Busfield, American actor
Gamal Al-Ghandour, Egyptian football referee
Javed Miandad, Pakistani cricketer
Tarek Shawki, Egyptian academic, 25th Minister of Education and Technical Education in Egypt
June 14 Maxi Jazz, British musician, rapper, singer-songwriter and DJ (d. 2022)
June 15 – Seppo Pääkkönen, Finnish actor
June 19 – Anna Lindh, Swedish politician (d. 2003)
Michael Bowen, American actor
Luis Antonio Tagle, Filipino cardinal, Archbishop of Manila
June 23 – Frances McDormand, American actress
June 25 – William Goh, Archbishop of Singapore
June 27 – Erik Hamrén, Swedish football player
June 29 – Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmen politician, 2nd President of Turkmenistan
June 30 – Silvio Orlando, Italian actor
July
Jenny Seagrove, English actress
M. Nasir, Singaporean-Malaysian poet, singer-songwriter, composer, producer, actor and film director
Dmitry Nazarov, Soviet-Russian actor
July 5 – Doug Wilson, Canadian ice hockey
July 7 – Mohd Puad Zarkashi, Malaysian politician
Paul Merton, English writer, actor, comedian, radio and television presenter
Marc Almond, English singer
Kelly McGillis, American actress
Cindy Sheehan, American anti-war activist
Tô Lâm, Vietnamese politician
July 12 – Rick Husband, American astronaut (d. 2003)
Lília Cabral, Brazilian actress
Cameron Crowe, American writer and film director
July 17 – Shinobu Otake, Japanese actress
July 18 – Nick Faldo, British golfer
Jon Lovitz, American actor and comedian
Stefan Löfven, 33rd Prime Minister of Sweden
July 23 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (d. 2004)
July 24 – Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Uzbek politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Uzbekistan and 2nd President of Uzbekistan
Yuen Biao, Hong Kong actor
Nana Visitor, American actress
July 27 – Hansi Müller, German footballer
Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast
Fumio Kishida, 100th Prime Minister of Japan
August
August 2 – Lo' Lo' Mohd Ghazali, Malaysian politician (d. 2011)
August 7 – Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast
August 9 – Melanie Griffith, American actress
August 10 – Juli Básti, Hungarian actress
August 15 – Željko Ivanek, Slovenian-American actor
Tim Farriss, Australian rock guitarist (INXS)
Laura Innes, American actress and director
Phil Murphy, American politician
August 17 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater
Carole Bouquet, French actress
Denis Leary, American comedian and actor
August 19 – Li-Young Lee, Indonesian-born poet
August 20 – Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player
August 22 – Steve Davis, British snooker player
August 24 – Stephen Fry, British comedian, author and actor
August 25 – Simon McBurney, British actor, writer and theatre director
Dr. Alban, Nigerian-born Swedish singer
Uzo, Nigerian-American film producer and director
August 27 – Bernhard Langer, German golfer
Rick Rossovich, American actor
Daniel Stern, American actor
Ai Weiwei, Chinese artist, philosopher
Grzegorz Ciechowski, Polish musician (d. 2001)
Shirō Sagisu, Japanese composer
August 30 – Manu Tuiasosopo, American football player
Gina Schock, American drummer (The Go-Go's)
Ingrid Washinawatok, Native American activist (d. 1999)
September
September 1 – Gloria Estefan, Cuban-born American singer
September 6 – José Sócrates, 117th Prime Minister of Portugal
September 7 – Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish athlete
September 8 – Ricardo Montaner, Argentine-born Venezuelan singer
September 11 – Preben Elkjær, Danish footballer
Jan Egeland, Norwegian politician, diplomat and humanitarian
Kadim Al Sahir, Iraqi singer
Rachel Ward, English-born actress
Hans Zimmer, German composer
Cesare Bocci, Italian actor
Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer
September 16 – David McCreery, Irish footballer
September 18 – Mark Wells, American professional ice hockey player
September 20 – Sabine Christiansen, German journalist and television presenter
Ethan Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor
Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor
Mark Johnson, American professional ice hockey player and coach
Dalia Reyes Barrios, Venezuelan art collector
September 24 – Brad Bird, American animator, director, writer, producer and voice actor
September 25 – Michael Madsen, American actor (d. 2025)
September 26 – Luigi De Canio, Italian footballer and football manager
September 27 – Peter Sellars, American theatre director
September 29 – Andrew Dice Clay, American comedian
September 30 – Fran Drescher, American actress
October
October 4 – Bill Fagerbakke, American actor
October 5 – Bernie Mac, African-American stand-up comedian and actor (d. 2008)
October 7 – Jayne Torvill, British ice dancer and Olympian
Magdalena Cajías, Bolivian academic, historian, and politician
October 9 – Herman Brusselmans, Belgian novelist, poet, playwright and columnist
October 10 – Rumiko Takahashi, Japanese manga artist
Dawn French, British comedian
Eric Keenleyside, Canadian actor
October 12 – Clémentine Célarié, French actress
Mira Nair, Indian born-American film maker
Stacy Peralta, American director and skateboarder
October 20 – Manuel Huerga, Spanish film director and screenwriter
Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
Steve Lukather, American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer
October 22 – Daniel Melingo, Argentine musician
October 24 – John Kassir, American actor and comedian
October 25 – Nancy Cartwright, American voice actress (Bart Simpson from The Simpsons)
Julie Dawn Cole, English actress and psychotherapist
Bob Golic, American football player
Jeff East, American actor
Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwanese film director
Ahmet Kaya, Turkish folk singer (d. 2000)
Stephen Morris, British drummer
October 29 – Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor (Homer Simpson from The Simpsons)
Richard Jeni, American stand-up comedian and actor (d. 2007)
Kevin Pollak, American actor
Shirley Phelps-Roper, American political and religious activist
Robert Pollard, American musician
November
November 1 – Peter Ostrum, American actor and veterinarian
November 3 – Dolph Lundgren, Swedish actor and martial artist
Aleksandr Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast
November 5 – Jon-Erik Hexum, American actor (d. 1984)
Cam Clarke, American voice actor and singer
Ciro Gomes, Brazilian lawyer and politician
Klaus Kleinfeld, German business executive
Lori Singer, American actress and musician
November 7 – Christopher Knight, American actor
November 9 – Magalvi Estaba, Venezuelan politician
November 10 – George Lowe, American voice actor and comedian
Vince DiCola, American composer
Ana Pastor, Spanish politician
November 12 – Cécilia Attias, wife of French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy
Greg Abbott, American attorney and politician
Roger Ingram, American jazz musician, author, educator, trumpet designer
November 14 – Gregg Burge, American tap dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
November 15 – Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist
November 18 – Olivia Heussler, Swiss photojournalist
Tom Virtue, American actor
Stefan Bellof, German racing driver (d. 1985)
John Eriksen, Danish footballer (d. 2002)
Sophie Lorain, Canadian actress, director and producer
Don Newman, American basketball coach and player (d. 2018)
Alan Stern, principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto
November 23 – William Kaelin Jr., American cellular biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
November 24 – Denise Crosby, American screen actress
Kevin Kamenetz, American politician (d. 2018)
Matthias Reim, German singer-songwriter
Kenny Acheson, Irish race car driver
Edda Heiðrún Backman, Icelandic actress, singer, director and artist (d. 2016)
Caroline Kennedy, American author, attorney and daughter of 35th President John F. Kennedy
November 30 – Colin Mochrie, Scottish-born Canadian comedian
December
Tjahjo Kumolo, Indonesian politician (d. 2022)
Vesta Williams, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
December 3 – Maxim Korobov, Russian businessman and politician
December 4 – Eric S. Raymond, American open source software advocate
Thomas Brinkman, American politician
Andrew Cuomo, American politician
December 7 – Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Nigerian career-diplomat, President of the United Nations General Assembly (2019)
José Luis Gil, Spanish actor and voice actor
Peter O'Mara, Australian jazz guitarist and composer
Donny Osmond, American singer and actor (The Osmonds)
Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (d. 2012)
Paul Hardcastle, English musician
December 12 – Sheila E., American percussionist, singer, author, and actress
December 13 – Steve Buscemi, American actor
December 15 – Laura Molina, American artist, musician and actress
December 16 – Nikolaos Michaloliakos, Greek politician, founder and leader of Golden Dawn, a neo-nazi party
December 17 – Doug Parker, Canadian voice actor and voice director
Kevin McHale, American basketball player
Billy Bragg, British singer
Joyce Hyser, American actress
Anna Vissi, Greek singer
Tom Henke, American baseball player
Ray Romano, American actor and comedian
December 25 – Shane MacGowan, English-born Irish Celtic punk singer-songwriter (The Pogues) (died 2023)
December 29 – Oliver Hirschbiegel, German film director
Matt Lauer, American newscaster
Joanna Pacuła, Polish actress
Deaths
January
January 4 – Theodor Körner, Austrian statesman, 5th President of Austria (b. 1873)
January 10 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
January 14 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, English army officer and colonial administrator (b. 1874)
Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
January 20 – James Brendan Connolly, American Olympic athlete (b. 1868)
Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)
William Eythe, American actor (b. 1918)
José Linhares, Brazilian lawyer, 15th President of Brazil (b. 1886)
Mamoru Shigemitsu, Japanese diplomat and politician (b. 1887)
February
February 1 – Friedrich Paulus, German field marshal (b. 1890)
February 2 – Julia Morgan, American architect (b. 1872)
February 4 – Miguel Covarrubias, Mexican painter (b. 1904)
Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
John von Neumann, Hungarian-born American mathematician (b. 1903)
February 9 – Miklós Horthy, Austro-Hungarian admiral and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (b. 1868)
February 10 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
Josef Hofmann, Polish-born pianist and composer (b. 1876)
Sir John Townsend, Irish mathematical physicist (b. 1868)
Dedan Kimathi, Kenyan rebel leader, executed (b. 1920)
Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)
February 19 – Märta Torén, Swedish actress (b. 1925)
February 20 – Sadri Maksudi Arsal, Turkish politician and academic (b. 1878)
February 25 – Bugs Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)
March
March 4 – Larbi Ben M'hidi, Algerian revolutionary leader (executed in Paul Aussaresses custody) (b. 1923)
March 5 – William Cameron Menzies, American film production designer (b. 1896)
March 6 – Sir Alexander Godley, British general (b. 1867)
March 7 – Wyndham Lewis, English painter (b. 1882)
János Esterházy, Hungarian politician in Czechoslovakia (b. 1901)
Othmar Schoeck, Swiss composer (b. 1886)
March 11 – Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (b. 1888)
March 12 – Josephine Hull, American actress (b. 1877)
March 14 – Eugenio Castellotti, Italian racing driver (car crash) (b. 1930)
March 16 – Constantin Brâncuși, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
March 17 – Ramon Magsaysay, 7th President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
Édouard Herriot, French politician, 66th Prime Minister of France (b. 1872)
Max Ophüls, German film director and writer (b. 1902)
Gheorghe Tătărescu, Romanian politician, 36th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1886)
Jack B. Yeats, Irish artist (b. 1871)
March 29 – Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)
March 31 – Gene Lockhart, Canadian actor (b. 1891)
April
April 3 – Ned Sparks, Canadian character actor (b. 1883)
April 4 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat (b. 1909)
April 6 – Pierina Morosini, Italian Roman Catholic laywoman, martyr and blessed (b. 1931)
Dorothy Sebastian, American actress (b. 1903)
Pedro Segura y Sáenz, Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1880)
April 15 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)
Pieter van der Hoog, Dutch bacteriologist, dermatologist, and Islamicist (b. 1888)
Johnny Torrio, Italian-born American gangster (b. 1882)
April 23 – Roy Campbell, South African poet (b. 1901)
April 24 – Elizabeth Hesselblad, Swedish nurse and Roman Catholic saint (b. 1870)
April 25 – Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani, Emir of Qatar (b. 1880)
April 26 – Elinor Fair, American actress (b. 1903)
May
May 1 – Grant Mitchell, American actor (b. 1874)
May 2 – Joseph McCarthy, American senator (b. 1908)
May 4 – Katie Johnson, British actress (b. 1878)
Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer (b. 1877)
Zenón Noriega Agüero, Peruvian general, interim President of Peru (b. 1900)
Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
Heinrich Campendonk, German-Dutch painter and graphic designer (b. 1889)
May 12 – Erich von Stroheim, Austrian actor and director (b. 1885)
May 13 – Michael Fekete, Hungarian-born Israeli mathematician (b. 1886)
May 14 – Marie Vassilieff, Soviet artist (b. 1884)
May 16 – Eliot Ness, American Prohibition agent (b. 1903)
May 17 – Francesco Balilla Pratella, Italian composer (b. 1880)
May 20 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-British classical scholar and intellectual (b. 1866)
May 21 – Aleksandr Vertinsky, Russian singer and actor (b. 1889)
May 29 – James Whale, English film director (b. 1889)
May 31 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
June
Luisa Casati, Italian patron of the arts (b. 1881)
Russell Hicks, American actor (b. 1895)
June 6 – Kulyash Baiseitova, Soviet composer (b. 1912)
June 12 – Jimmy Dorsey, American jazz musician (b. 1904)
June 13 – Irving Baxter, American athlete (b. 1876)
June 15 – Princess Norina Matchabelli, Italian perfumier (b. 1881)
Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)
Augusto Samuel Boyd, 20th President of Panama (b. 1879)
June 21 – Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
June 23 – Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum, Syrian patriarch (b. 1887)
June 24 – František Kupka, Czech painter and graphic artist (b. 1871)
Alfred Döblin, German writer (b. 1878)
Malcolm Lowry, English poet and novelist (b. 1909)
Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1924)
Vivienne de Watteville, British travel writer and adventurer (b. 1900)
July
July 3 – Judy Tyler, American actress (b. 1932)
July 8 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (b. 1879)
July 10 – Sholem Asch, Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist and essayist (b. 1880)
July 11 – Aga Khan III, 48th Nizari Imam (b. 1877)
George Cleveland, Canadian actor (b. 1885)
James M. Cox, Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920 (b. 1870)
July 23 – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sicilian writer (b. 1896)
Metodija Andonov-Čento, Macedonian statesman (b. 1902)
Sacha Guitry, Russian-born French playwright, actor and director (b. 1885)
July 26 – Carlos Castillo Armas, Guatemalan military officer and politician, 28th President of Guatemala (b. 1914)
Edith Abbott, American social worker, educator and author (b. 1876)
Mike O'Dowd, American boxer (d. 1895)
July 31 – Solanus Casey, beatified American priest (b. 1870)
August
August 3 – Devdas Gandhi, youngest son of Mahatma Gandhi (b. 1900)
August 4 – Washington Luís, 13th President of Brazil (b. 1869)
August 5 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
August 7 – Oliver Hardy, American actor (b. 1892)
August 10 – Leo Bagrow, Russian-born historian of cartography (b. 1881)
August 11 – Rudolf Weigl, Polish biologist (b. 1883)
August 16 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
August 19 – David Bomberg, British Vorticist painter (b. 1890)
August 20 – Julio Lozano Díaz, President of Honduras (b. 1885)
Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1899)
Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian oceanographer (b. 1888)
August 23 – Eugène Schueller, French chemist and entrepreneur (b. 1881)
August 30 – Harold Gatty, Australian aviator (b. 1903)
September
September 1 – Dennis Brain, English French horn player (b. 1921)
September 16 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (b. 1864)
September 20 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
September 21 – King Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)
September 22 – Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)
October
October 3 – Lőrinc Szabó, Hungarian poet (b. 1900)
October 8 – Hassiba Ben Bouali, Algerian militant (b. 1938)
October 13 – Erich Auerbach, German philologist (b. 1892)
October 19 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist (b. 1892)
October 20 – Jack Buchanan, British actor (b. 1891)
October 23 – Frederick Burton, American actor (b. 1871)
October 24 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer (b. 1905)
Albert Anastasia, American gangster (b. 1902)
Lord Dunsany, Irish author (b. 1878)
Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (b. 1883)
October 27 – Giovanni Battista Caproni, Italian aeronautical, civil and electrical engineer, aircraft designer and industrialist (b. 1886)
José Patricio Guggiari, Paraguayan politician, 32nd President of Paraguay (b. 1884)
Louis B. Mayer, American film studio mogul, former head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (b. 1885)
November
November 2 – Ted Meredith, American Olympic athlete (b. 1891)
Charles Brabin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1882)
Wilhelm Reich, Austrian psychoanalyst (b. 1897)
Joseph Canteloube, French composer and singer (b. 1879)
Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í leader (b. 1897)
Grigore Preoteasa, Romanian activist (b. 1915)
November 7 – Hasui Kawase, Japanese painter and printmaker (b. 1883)
November 11 – Masao Maruyama, Japanese general (b. 1889)
November 13 – Antonín Zápotocký, 6th President and 15th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1884)
November 15 – Andrzej Bursa, Polish poet (b. 1932)
November 17 – Cora Witherspoon, American actress (b. 1890)
November 18 – Rudolf Diels, German Nazi civil servant and Gestapo chief (b. 1900)
Prince George of Greece and Denmark, high commissioner of the Cretan State (b. 1869)
Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
November 25 – William V. Pratt, American admiral (b. 1869)
Billy Bevan, Australian actor (b. 1887)
Petros Voulgaris, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1884)
November 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (b. 1897)
November 30 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)
December
December 2 – Harrison Ford, American silent film actor (b. 1884)
December 4 – Sir John Lavarack, Australian general, Governor of Queensland (b. 1885)
December 6 – Robert Esnault-Pelterie, French aircraft designer and pioneer rocket theorist (b. 1881)
Maurice McLoughlin, American tennis champion (b. 1890)
Napoleon Zervas, Greek World War II Resistance leader (b. 1891)
December 11 – Musidora, French actress (b. 1889)
December 15 – Alfonso Bedoya, Mexican actor (b. 1904)
December 17 – Dorothy L. Sayers, British crime writer, poet, playwright and essayist (b. 1893)
December 21 – Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)
December 24 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1894)
December 25 – Charles Pathé, French film pioneer (b. 1863)
December 31 – Óscar Domínguez, Spanish painter (b. 1906)
Nobel Prizes
References