Events of 1957

January

• January 1

• *The Saarland joins West Germany.

• *An Irish Republican Army attack on the Brookeborough police barracks leads to the deaths of Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon.

• *Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini suffers the stroke that leads to his death a little over 2 weeks later.

• January 2 – The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge to form the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.

• January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.

• January 4 – After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly Magazine is published.

• January 5 – Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having handled the ball in test match cricket.

• January 6 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the 3rd and final time. He is only shown from the waist up, even during the gospel segment, singing "Peace In The Valley". Ed Sullivan describes Elvis thus: "This is a real decent, fine boy. We've never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we've had with you. You're thoroughly all right."

• January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns.

• January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

• January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.

• January 13 – Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.

• January 16 – The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.

• January 20 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States.

• January 22

• *Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).

• *The New York City "Mad Bomber," George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.

• January 23 – Ku Klux Klan members force truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River; he drowns as a result.

• January 26 – The Ibirapuera Planetarium (the first in the Southern Hemisphere) is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

• January 31 – Three students on a junior high school playground in Pacoima, California are among the 8 persons killed following a mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet, in the skies above the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.

February

• February 2 – President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage across the river Indus near Sukkur.

• February 4

• *France prohibits U.N. involvement in Algeria.

• *The first nuclear-powered submarine, the , logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".

• February 15 – Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of the Soviet Union.

• February 16

• *The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m., is abolished in the United Kingdom.

• *Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal opens in Sweden.

• February 17 – A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.

• February 18

• *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

Flag of Ghana, the first country in colonial Africa to gain independence

• March 1

• *U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma.

• *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).

• *Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is published.

• March 3 – Net als toen by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, text by Willy van Hemert) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1957 for the Netherlands.

• March 6 – United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent nation of Ghana.

• March 7 – The United States Congress approves the Eisenhower Doctrine.

• March 8 – Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.

• March 10 – Floodgates of The Dalles Dam are closed, inundating Celilo Falls and ancient Indian fisheries along the Columbia River in Oregon.

• March 13 – The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery.

• March 14 – President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.

• March 17 – Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash.

• March 20 – The French newspaper L'Express reveals that the French army tortures Algerian prisoners.

• March 25 – The Treaty of Rome (patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC) (see European Union).

• March 26 – 22-year-old Elvis Presley buys Graceland on 3734 Bellevue Boulevard (Highway 51 South) for $100,000. He and his family move from the house on 1034 Audubon Drive.

• March 27 – The 29th Academy Awards ceremony is held.

• March 31 – Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, the team's only musical written especially for television, is telecast live and in color by CBS, starring Julie Andrews in the title role. The production is seen by millions, but this 1957 version is not be telecast again for more than 40 years, when a kinescope of it is shown.

April

• April – IBM sells the first compiler for the FORTRAN scientific programming language.

• April 1 – The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.

• 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.

• *Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, printed in England, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity.

• April 17 – Suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams is found not guilty of murder at the Old Bailey.

• April 24 – Patrick Moore presents the first episode of The Sky at Night, a BBC television programme for astronomy enthusiasts.

May

• May 2 – Vincent Gigante fails to assassinate mafioso Frank Costello in Manhattan.

• May 3 – Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.

• May 15

• *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 – Anti-American riots erupt in Taipei, Taiwan.

June

• June 9 – Broad Peak, on the China-Pakistan border, is first ascended.

• June 15 – Oklahoma celebrates its semi-centennial statehood. A brand new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere is buried in a time capsule (to be opened 50 years later on June 15, 2007).

• June 21 – John Diefenbaker becomes Canada's 13th prime minister.

• June 25 – The United Church of Christ is formed in Cleveland, Ohio by the merger of the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

• June 27 – Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, killing 400 people.

July

• July

• *The International Geophysical Year begins.

• *The is founded in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

• July 6 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, 3 years before forming the Beatles.

• July 9 – Elvis Presley's Loving You opens in theaters.

• July 11 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan 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 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 25 – Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba its first president.

• July 28

• *The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, a high point of The Thaw, kicks off in Moscow.

• *Heavy rains and mudslides at Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan kill 992.

• July 28 – A strong earthquake shakes Mexico City and Mexican port city Acapulco.

• 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 that 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 5 – American Bandstand, a local dance show produced by WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, joins the ABC Television Network.

• August 21 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces a 2-year suspension of nuclear testing.

• August 28 – United States Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) sets the record for the longest filibuster with his 24-hour, 18-minute speech railing against a civil rights bill.

• August 31 – The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom. Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya.

September

• September 1 – 175 die in Jamaica's worst railway disaster.

• September 3 – The Wolfenden Report on homosexuality is published in the United Kingdom.

• September 4

• *American Civil Rights Movement – Little Rock Crisis: Governor Orville Faubus of Arkansas calls out the US National Guard, to prevent African-American students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.

• *The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel on what the company proclaims as "E Day".

• September 5 – The first edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road goes on sale.

• September 9 – Catholic Memorial High School opens its doors for the first time in Boston, Massachusetts.

• September 21

• *Olav V becomes King of Norway on the death of Haakon VII.

• *The sailing ship Pamir sinks off the Azores in a hurricane.

• September 23 – The Academy Award-winning movie The Three Faces of Eve is released.

• September 24 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to provide safe passage into Central High School for the Little Rock Nine.

• September 29 – Kyshtym disaster occurs in Russia.

October

• October 2 – David Lean's film The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in the UK.

• October 4

• *Space Age – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth.

• *Canada's Avro Arrow is unveiled to the public.

• October 9 – Neil H. McElroy is sworn in as United States Secretary of Defense.

• October 10

• *U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he is refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.

• *A fire at the Windscale power station in the UK releases radioactive material into the surrounding environment, including Iodine-131.

• October 11

• *The Jodrell Bank Radio telescope opens in Cheshire, UK.

• *The orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) is first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer by teams at The M.I.T. Computation Center and Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

• October 21

• *Two trains collide in Turkey; 95 die.

• *The U.S. military sustains its first combat fatality in Vietnam, Army Capt. Hank Cramer of the 1st Special Forces Group.

• October 23 – Morocco begins its invasion of Ifni.

• October 25 – Mafia boss Albert Anastasia is assassinated in a barber shop, at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York City.

• October 27 – Celal Bayar is re-elected president of Turkey.

• October 31 – Toyota begins exporting vehicles to the U.S., beginning with the Toyota Crown and the Toyota Land Cruiser

November

• November 1 – The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's two peninsulas.

• November 3 – Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2, with the first animal in space (a dog named Laika) on board.

• November 6 – Jailhouse Rock opens nationally and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety.

• November 7 – Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.

• November 13

• *Gordon Gould invents the laser.

• *Flooding in the Po River valley of Italy leads to flooding also in Venice.

• November 14 – Apalachin Meeting: American Mafia leaders meet in Apalachin, New York at the house of Joseph Barbara; the meeting is broken up by a curious patrolman.

• November 15

• *A plane crash in the Isle of Wight leaves 43 dead.

• *Yugoslavia announces the end of an economic boycott of Franco's Spain (although it does not reinstitute diplomatic relations).

• November 16

• *Serial killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin.

• *Oklahoma celebrates its 50th anniversary of statehood. Notre Dame beats the Oklahoma Sooners 7–0 to end the Sooners record 47 straight college football winning streak.

• November 25 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower has a stroke.

• November 30 – Indonesian president Sukarno survives a grenade attack at the Cikini School in Jakarta, but six children are killed.

December

• December 1 – In Indonesia, Sukarno announces the nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.

• December 4 – The Lewisham train disaster in the UK leaves 92 dead.

• December 5 – All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.

• December 6 – First U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, the rocket blowing up on the launch pad.

• December 18 – The Bridge on the River Kwai is released in the U.S. It goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Additional Oscars go to Alec Guinness (Best Actor) and David Lean (Best Director), among others. This is Lean's first Oscar for directing.

• December 19 – Meredith Willson's classic musical The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, debuts on Broadway.

• December 20 – The Boeing 707 airliner flies for the first time.

• December 22 – The CBS afternoon anthology series Seven Lively Arts presents Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker on U.S. television for the first time.

Undated

• The Consumers' Association is founded in the United Kingdom.

• The Civil Rights Commission is established in the USA under the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

• Citroën stops production of its Traction Avant motor car (production started in 1934).

• Gruppe SPUR is founded.

• The Confederation of African Football is founded.

• Operation Dropshot: The United States formulates a first strike strategy against the Soviet Union.

• Mao Zedong admits that 800,000 "class enemies" have been summarily liquidated between 1949 and 1954.

• The so-called 'mound of Midas', the Great Tumulus near Gordium, is excavated.

Ongoing

• Cold War

• Algerian War (1954–62)

• Cuban Revolution (1956–59)

• Malayan Emergency (1948–60)

• Mau Mau Uprising (1952–60)

Environmental change

• The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.

• The Asian Flu pandemic begins in China.

Births

January

• January 1

• *Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish actress

• *Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor

• January 4 – Charles Allen, British television magnate

• January 6 – Nancy Lopez, American golfer

• January 7

• *Nicholson Baker, American novelist

• *Katie Couric, American television host

• *Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey goaltender

• *Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer

• January 9 – Bibie, Ghanaian singer

• January 11 – Bryan Robson, English footballer

• January 12 – John Lasseter, American director, writer, and animator

• January 13 – Lorrie Moore, American writer

• January 14 – Anchee Min, Chinese writer

• January 15

• *Mario Van Peebles, American actor and director

• *Patrick Dixon, British business guru and author

• January 17 – Steve Harvey, American actor

• January 21 – Greg Ryan, American soccer coach

• January 22

• *Mike Bossy, Canadian hockey player

• *Rene Requiestas, Filipino comedian (d. 1993)

• *Godfrey Thoma, Nauruan politician

• January 23 – Princess Caroline of Monaco

• January 24 – Adrian Edmondson, British comedian

• January 29 – Grazyna Miller, Polish poet

• January 30 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)

February

• February 2 – Phil Barney, French singer

• February 4 – Elaine Carbines, Member of the Australian Labor Party

• February 5 – Jackie Woodburne, Australian actress

• February 6 – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian

• February 8 – Cindy Wilson, American rock singer (The B-52's)

• February 9 – Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager

• February 11 – Mitchell Symons, British writer

• February 16

• *LeVar Burton, American actor

• *James Ingram, American singer

• February 17 – Loreena McKennitt, Canadian singer, composer, harpist

• February 18

• *Vanna White, American game show presenter

• *Marita Koch, German athlete

• February 19 – Falco, Austrian rock musician (d. 1998)

• February 20 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey coach

• February 23 – Ria Brieffies, Dutch singer (d. 2009)

• February 27 – Viktor Markin, Russian athlete

• February 28 – Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer

March

• March 3 – Eric Walters, Canadian author

• March 4

• *Rick Mast, American NASCAR driver

• *Jim Dwyer, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner

• March 9 – Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician

• March 10 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born Islamic extremist

• March 11 – Rob Paulsen, American voice actor

• March 12 – Marlon Jackson, American singer

• March 17 – Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer

• March 18 – György Pazdera, Hungarian rock bassist (Pokolgép)

• March 20 – Spike Lee, American film director and actor

• March 29 – Christopher Lambert, French actor

• March 31 – Alan Duncan, British politician

April

• April 1

• *J. Karjalainen, Finnish rock musician

• *Denise Nickerson, American child actress

• 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 – Severiano Ballesteros, Spanish golfer

• April 11 – Michael Card, American Christian musician

• April 12 – Suzzanne Douglass, American actress

• April 14 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, conductor and composer

• April 18 – Genie (feral child), "Genie", American feral child

• April 22 – Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov, Russian businessman

• April 25 – Eric Bristow, English darts player

• April 27 – Michel Barrette, Canadian actor and stand-up comedian

• April 29 – Daniel Day-Lewis, English-born actor

May

• May 3

• *William Clay Ford, Jr., American automobile executive

• *Jo Brand, English comedian

• May 10 – Sid Vicious, English rock bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)

• May 14 – Big Van Vader, American professional wrestler

• May 15 – Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque Lehendakari (Prime Minister)

• May 16 – Jean Benoit, American Olympic gold medal-winning marathon runner

• May 17 – Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish rock singer and songwriter (Leevi and the Leavings) (d. 2003)

• May 21

• *Judge Reinhold, American actor

• *Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress

• May 22

• *Gary Sweet, Australian actor

• *Shinji Morisue, Japanese gymnast

• May 23 – Jimmy McShane (aka Baltimora), Northern Irish dancer (d. 1995)

• May 24 – Walter Moers, German comic artist and writer

• May 26 – Pontso Sekatle, Lesotho academic and politician

• May 27 – Siouxsie Sioux, British rock singer (Siouxsie & the Banshees)

• May 28 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player

• May 29 – Jeb Hensarling, American politician

June

• June 1 – Dorota Kędzierzawska, Polish film director

• June 2 – King Lizzard, American entertainer

• June 3 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player

• June 7 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer and songwriter

• June 8 – Scott Adams, American cartoonist (Dilbert)

• June 10 – Hidetsugu Aneha, Japanese architect

• June 12

• *Timothy Busfield, American actor

• *Javed Miandad, Pakistani cricketer

• June 14 – Debbie Arnold, British actress and voice artiste

• June 15 – Seppo Pääkkönen, Finnish actor

• June 19

• *Anna Lindh, Swedish politician (d. 2003)

• *Maxwell Fraiser, African-British rapper for Faithless, DJ

• June 23 – Frances McDormand, American actress

• June 27

• *John Bolaris, American meteorologist

• *Georgi Parvanov, President of Bulgaria

• June 28 – Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player

July

• July 1 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player

• July 2 – Bret Hart, Canadian professional wrestler

• July 3

• *Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)

• *Ken Ober, American actor and game show host

• July 9

• *Marc Almond, English singer

• *Kelly McGillis, American actress

• July 13 – Cameron Crowe, American writer and film director

• July 17 – Fern Britton, British television presenter

• July 18 – Nick Faldo, British golfer

• July 21 – George Landress, American songwriter, music producer and sound engineer

• July 23 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (d. 2004)

• July 26

• *Nana Visitor, American actress

• *Yuen Biao, Hong Kong actor

• July 27 – Hansi Muller, German footballer

• July 29 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast

August

• August 6 – Jim McGreevey, 52nd Governor of New Jersey

• August 7 – Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast

• August 9 – Melanie Griffith, American actress

• August 11 – Richie Ramone, American rock drummer (The Ramones)

• August 14 – Peter Costello, Australian politician

• August 17 – Robin Cousins, British figure skater

• August 18

• *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 27 – Bernhard Langer, German golfer

• August 28 – Daniel Stern, American actor

• August 29 – Grzegorz Ciechowski, Polish musician (d. 2001)

• August 30 – Manu Tuiasosopo, American football player

• August 31 – Ingrid Washinawatok, Native American activist (d. 1999)

September

• September 1 – Gloria Estefan, Cuban-born American singer

• September 8

• *Ricardo Montaner, Argentine-born Venezuelan singer

• *Heather Thomas, American actress and activist

• September 11 – Brad Bird, American animator and director

• September 11 – Preben Elkjaer Larsen, Danish footballer

• September 12 – Rachel Ward, British actress

• September 13 – Vinny Appice, American drummer

• September 16 – David McCreery, Irish footballer

• September 21

• *Ethan Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor

• *Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister

• September 22 – Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor

• September 26 – Luigi De Canio, Italian footballer and football manager

• September 28 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician

• September 30 – Fran Drescher, American actress

October

• October 4 – Alexander Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast

• October 5 – Bernie Mac, American stand-up comedian and actor (d. 2008)

• October 7 – Jayne Torvill, British ice skater

• october 8 – Ewan Stewart, Scottish actor

• October 11 – Dawn French, British comedian

• October 14 – Kenny Neal, American guitarist

• October 15 – Stacy Peralta, American director and former skateboarder

• October 21 – Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

• October 26 – Bob Golic, American football player

• October 27 – Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwanese film director

• October 29 – Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor

• October 30 – Richard Jeni, American comedian (d. 2007)

• October 31

• *Robert Pollard, American musician

• *Brian Stokes Mitchell, American actor and singer

November

• November 5 – Jon-Erik Hexum, American actor (d. 1984)

• November 6 – Klaus Kleinfeld, German business executive

• November 7 – Christopher Knight, American actor

• November 14 – Gregg Burge, American tap dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)

• November 15 – Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist

• November 17 – Debbie Thrower, British TV news presenter

• November 18 – Olivia Heussler, Swiss photojournalist

• November 24 – Denise Crosby, American actress

• November 27 – Kenny Acheson, Irish race car driver

• November 30 – Colin Mochrie, Scottish-born Canadian comedian

December

• December 4 – Eric S. Raymond, American open source software advocate

• December 6 – Thomas Brinkman, American politician

• December 9

• *Donny Osmond, American pop singer

• *Peter O’Mara, Australian jazz guitarist and composer

• December 10 – Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor

• December 13 – Steve Buscemi, American actor

• December 15 – Laura Molina, American artist, musician and actress

• December 19 – Kevin McHale, American basketball player

• December 20

• *Billy Bragg, British singer

• *Joyce Hyser, American actress

• *Anna Vissi, Greek singer

• December 21

• *Tom Henke, American baseball player

• *Ray Romano, American actor and comedian

• December 24 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

• December 25 – Shane McGowan, Irish singer and songwriter (The Pogues)

• December 30 – Matt Lauer, American newscaster

Deaths

January–March

• January 10 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)

• January 14 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)

• January 16 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)

• January 20 – James Connolly, American athlete (b. 1868)

• January 26

• *Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)

• *William Eythe, American actor (b. 1918)

• February 1 – Friedrich Paulus, German field marshal (b. 1890)

• February 8

• *Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)

• *John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (b. 1903)

• February 9

• *Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and regent (b. 1868)

• *John Axon, British railwayman and hero (b. 1900)

• February 10 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)

• February 16 – Józef Hofmann, Polish-born pianist and composer (b. 1876)

• February 18

• *Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)

• *Walter James Bolton, Last person to be executed in New Zealand (b. 1888)

• February 19 – Märta Torén, Swedish actress (b. 1926)

• February 23 – Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)

• February 25

• *Bugs Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)

• *B.P. Schulberg, American film producer (b. 1892)

• March 5 – William Cameron Menzies, American film production designer (b. 1896)

• March 7 – Wyndham Lewis, English painter (b. 1882)

• March 8 – János Esterházy, Hungarian politician in Czechoslovakia (b. 1901)

• March 11 – Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (b. 1888)

• March 12 – Josephine Hull, American actres (b. 1886)

• March 14 – Eugenio Castellotti, Italian racing driver (car crash) (b. 1930)

• March 16 – Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)

• March 17 – Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)

• March 25 – Max Ophüls, German film director and writer (b. 1902)

• March 29 – Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)

• March 31 – Gene Lockhart, Canadian actor (b. 1891)

April–June

• April 3 – Ned Sparks, Canadian character actor (b. 1883)

• April 4 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat (b. 1909)

• April 5 – Alagappa Chettiar, Indian philanthropist (b. 1909)

• April 8 – Dorothy Sebastian, American actress (b. 1903)

• April 15 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)

• April 16 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American gangster (b. 1882)

• April 26 – Elinor Fair, American actress (b. 1903)

• May 1 – Grant Mitchell, American actor (b. 1874)

• May 2 – Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)

• May 7 – Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer (b. 1877)

• May 9 – Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)

• May 12 – Erich von Stroheim, Austrian actor and director (b. 1885)

• May 14 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (b. 1884)

• May 16 – Eliot Ness, American policeman (b. 1903)

• May 29 – James Whale, American film director (b. 1889)

• May 31 – Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)

• June 1

• *Luisa Casati, Italian patron of the arts (b. 1881)

• *Feliksas Baltušis-Žemaitis, Lithuanian military leader (b. 1897)

• *Russell Hicks, American actor (b. 1895)

• June 12

• *Robert Alton, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1906)

• *Jimmy Dorsey, American jazz musician (b. 1904)

• June 13 – Irving Baxter, American athlete (b. 1876)

• June 15 – Princess Norina Matchabelli, Italian perfumier (b. 1880)

• June 17 – Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)

• June 21 – Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)

• June 26 – Alfred Döblin, German writer (b. 1878)

• June 27 – Malcolm Lowry, English novelist (b. 1909)

• June 27 – Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1924)

July–September

• July 4 – Judy Tyler, American actress (b. 1933)

• July 8 – Grace Coolidge, wife of United States President Calvin Coolidge (b. 1879)

• July 11 – Aga Khan III, 48th Nizari Imam (b. 1877)

• July 15

• *George Cleveland, Canadian actor (b. 1885)

• *Vasily Maklakov, Russian liberal politician and parliamentary orator (b. 1869)

• July 23 – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sicilian writer (b. 1896)

• July 24

• *Metodija Andonov-Čento, Macedonian statesman (b. 1902)

• *Sacha Guitry, Russian-born playwright, actor, and director (b. 1885)

• July 28 – Edith Abbott, American social worker, educator, and author (b. 1876)

• August 5 – Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)

• August 7 – Oliver Hardy, American actor (b. 1892)

• August 16 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)

• August 19 – David Bomberg, Vorticist painter (b. 1890)

• August 20 – Julio Lozano Díaz, President of Honduras (b. 1885)

• August 30 – Harold Gatty, Australian aviator (b. 1903)

• September 1 – Dennis Brain, English French horn player (b. 1921) (car crash)

• September 9 – Muhammad al-Muqri, grand vizier of Morocco (b. ?1844)

• September 16 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (b. 1864)

• September 20 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)

• September 21 – Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)

• September 22 – Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)

• September 28 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician (b. 1888)

October–December

• October 19 – Vere Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist (b. 1892)

• October 20 – Jack Buchanan, British actor (b. 1891)

• October 24

• *Christian Dior, French fashion designer (b. 1905)

• *Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, South African artist (b. 1886)

• October 25

• *Albert Anastasia, American gangster (b. 1902)

• *Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (b. 1878)

• October 26 – Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)

• October 29 – Louis B. Mayer, American studio mogul and former head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (b. 1885)

• November 3 – Charles Brabin, American director and screenwriter (b. 1882)

• November 4

• *William Haywood, British architect (b. 1876)

• *Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í leader (b. 1897)

• November 17 – Cora Witherspoon, American actress (b. 1890)

• November 24 – Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)

• November 25 – Raymond Griffith, American actor (b. 1895)

• November 26 – Billy Bevan, Australian actor (b. 1887)

• November 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (b. 1897)

• November 30 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)

• December 2 – Harrison Ford, American silent film actor (b. 1884)

• December 8 – Reginald Sheffield, English actor (b. 1901)

• December 10 – Maurice McLoughlin, American tennis champion (b. 1890)

• December 11 – Musidora, French actress (b. 1889)

• December 21 – Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)

• December 24 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)

• December 25 – Stanley Vestal, American writer, poet, historian (b. 1877)

• December 26 – Charles Pathé, French film pioneer (b. 1863)

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1957

• List of ship commissionings in 1957

• List of ship decommissionings in 1957

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee

• Chemistry – Lord Alexander R. Todd

• Physiology or Medicine – Daniel Bovet

• Literature – Albert Camus

• Peace – Lester Bowles Pearson

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Around the World in Eighty Days, Michael Todd

• Best Director: George Stevens, Giant

• Best Foreign Language Film: La strada, Italy

• Best Actor: Yul Brynner, The King and I

• Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia

• Best Supporting Actor: Anthony Quinn, Lust for Life

• Best Supporting Actress: Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind

• Best Original Screenplay: The Red Balloon, Albert Lamorisse

• Best Adapted Screenplay: Around the World in Eighty Days, James Poe and John Farrow and S.J. Perelman

• Best Motion Picture Story: The Brave One, Dalton Trumbo

• Best Black-and-White Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg, Somebody Up There Likes Me

• Best Color Cinematography: Lionel Lindon, Around the World in 80 Days