1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March 1961 issue, this was the first "upside-up" year—i.e., one in which the numerals that form the year look the same as when the numerals are rotated upside down—since 1881, and the last until 6009.

Events of 1961

January

• January 1 – The farthing, used since the 13th century, ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

• January 3 – President Dwight Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba.

• January 3 – At the National Reactor Testing Station near Idaho Falls, Idaho, atomic reactor SL-1 explodes, killing 3 military technicians.

• January 5 – Italian sculptor Alfredo Fioravanti marches into the U.S. Consulate in Rome, and confesses that he was part of the team that forged the Etruscan terracotta warriors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• January 7 – Following a 4-day conference in Casablanca, 5 African chiefs of state announce plans for a NATO-type African organization to ensure common defense. The Charter of Casablanca involves the Casablanca Group: Morocco, the United Arab Republic, Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.

• January 8 – In France, a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies on independence for Algeria.

• January 9 – British authorities announce that they have discovered a large Soviet spy ring in London.

• January 17 – President Dwight Eisenhower gives his final State of the Union Address to Congress. In a Farewell Address the same day, he warns of the increasing power of a "military-industrial complex".

• January 17 – Patrice Lumumba is assassinated.

• January 20 – John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.

• January 24 – A U.S. B-52 Stratofortress, with two nuclear bombs, crashes near Goldsboro, North Carolina.

• January 24 – Musician Bob Dylan reportedly makes his way to New York City after bumming a ride in Madison, Wisconsin. Dylan is likely on his way to visit his idol Woody Guthrie. He later finds fame in the Greenwich Village protest folk music scene.

• January 25 – In Washington, DC John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential news conference. In it, he announces that the Soviet Union has freed the 2 surviving crewmen of a USAF RB-47 reconnaissance plane shot down by Soviet flyers over the Barents Sea July 1, 1960 (see RB-47H shot down).

• January 25 – Acting to halt 'leftist excesses,' a junta composed of 2 army officers and 4 civilians takes over El Salvador, ousting another junta that had ruled for 3 months.

• January 26 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician, the first woman to hold this appointment.

• January 30 – President John F. Kennedy delivers his first State of the Union Address.

• January 31 – Ham the Chimp, a 37-pound (17-kg) male, is rocketed into space aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, in a test of the Project Mercury capsule, designed to carry United States astronauts into space.

February

• February 1 – The United States launches its first test of the Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile.

• February 3 – China buys grain from Canada for $60 million.

• February 4 – The Portuguese Colonial War begins in Angola.

• February 5 – February 9 – In Congo, President Joseph Kasavubu names Joseph Ileo as the new Prime Minister.

• February 9 – The Beatles perform for their first time at the Cavern Club.

• February 12 – The U.S.S.R. launches Venera 1 towards Venus.

• February 13 – The Congo government announces that villagers have killed Patrice Lumumba.

• February 14 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized in Berkeley, California.

• February 15 – President Kennedy warns the Soviet Union to avoid interfering with the United Nations pacification of the Congo.

• February 15 – A Sabena Boeing 707 crashes near Brussels, Belgium, killing 73, including the entire United States figure skating team and several coaches.

• February 25 – The last public trams in Sydney, Australia, cease operation, bringing to an end the Southern Hemisphere's largest tramway network.

• February 26 – Hassan II is pronounced King of Morocco.

March

• March 1 – President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.

• March 1 – Uganda becomes self-governing by holding its first general elections.

• March 3 – Hassan II is crowned King of Morocco.

• March 8 – Max Conrad circumnavigates the earth in 8 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes, setting a new world record.

• March 8 – The first U.S. Polaris submarines arrive at Holy Loch.

• March 13 – Black and white £5 notes cease to be legal tender in the UK.

• March 13 – A dam bursts on the Dnieper River in the USSR, killing 145.

• March 13 – United States delegate to the UNSC Adlai Stevenson votes against Portuguese policies in Africa.

• March 13 – President of the United States John F. Kennedy proposes a long-term "Alliance for Progress" between the United States and Latin America.

• March 13 Cyprus joins the Commonwealth of Nations, becoming the first small country in the Commonwealth.

• March 15 – South Africa withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.

• March 15 – The Union of Peoples of Angola, led by Holden Roberto, attacks strategic locations in the north of Angola. These events result in the beginning of the colonial war with Portugal.

• March 18 – A ceasefire takes effect in the Algerian War of Independence.

• March 18 – Nous les amoureux by Jean-Claude Pascal (music by Jacques Datin, text by Maurice Vidalin) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1961 for Luxembourg.

• March 29 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.

• March 30 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.

April

• April 5 – The New Guinea Council of Western Papua is installed.

• April 8 – The British passenger ship Dara blows up and sinks off Dubai. 238 passengers and crew are killed.

• April 11 – The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.

• April 12 – Vostok 1: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.

• April 12 – Albert Kalonji takes the title Emperor Albert I Kalonji of South Kasai.

• April 13 – In Portugal, a coup attempt against António de Oliveira Salazar fails.

• April 17 – The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba begins; it fails by April 19.

• April 17 – The 33rd Academy Awards ceremony is held.

• April 18 – Portugal sends to Angola its first military reinforcement.

• April 20 – Fidel Castro announces that the Bay of Pigs invasion has been defeated.

• April 22 – Algiers putsch: Four French generals who oppose de Gaulle's policies in Algeria fail in a coup attempt.

• April 23 – Judy Garland performs in a legendary comeback concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

• April 24 – The Swedish ship Regalskeppet Vasa is removed from the water after being sunk 333 years earlier.

• April 27 – President Kennedy a delivers revealing speech: The President and the Press: Address before the American Newspaper Publishers Association

May

• May 4 – U.S. Freedom Riders begin interstate bus rides to test the new U.S. Supreme Court integration decision.

• May 5 – Mercury program: Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space aboard Mercury-Redstone 3.

• May 6 – Tottenham Hotspur F.C. become the first team in the 20th century to win the English league and cup double.

• May 8 – Briton George Blake is sentenced to 42 years imprisonment for spying.

• May 14 – American civil rights movement: A Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.

• May 15 – Heinrich Matthaei alone performs the Poly-U-Experiment and is the first human to recognize and understand the genetic code. This is the birthdate of modern genetics.

• May 16 – Park Chung Hee takes over in a military coup in South Korea.

• May 19 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (however, the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and does not send back any data).

• May 21 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.

• May 24 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.

• May 25 – Apollo program: President Kennedy announces before a special joint session of Congress his goal to put a man on the Moon before the end of the decade.

• May 27 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaya, holds a press conference in Singapore, announcing his idea to form the Federation of Malaysia, comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo (Sabah).

• May 28 – Peter Benenson's article "The Forgotten Prisoners" is published in several internationally read newspapers. This is later considered the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

• May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, totalitarian despot of the Dominican Republic since 1930, is killed in an ambush, putting an end to the second longest-running dictatorship in Latin American history.

• May 31 – In France, rebel generals Maurice Challe and Andre Zelelr are sentenced to 15 years in prison.

• May 31 – South Africa officially leaves the Commonwealth of Nations.

• May 31 – President John F. Kennedy and Charles De Gaulle meet in Paris.

June

• June 1 – Ethiopia experiences her most devastating earthquake of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 6.7. The town of Majete is destroyed, 45% of the houses in Karakore collapse, 17 kilometers (11 miles) of the main road north of Karakore are damaged by landslides and fissures, and 5,000 inhabitants in the area are left homeless.

• June 4 – Vienna summit: John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev meet during 2 days in Vienna. They discuss nuclear tests, disarmament and Germany.

• June 17 – A Paris-to-Strasbourg train derails near Vitry-le-François; 24 are killed, 109 injured.

• June 17 – The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.

• June 19 – The British protectorate ends in Kuwait and it becomes an emirate.

• June 21 – Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev requests asylum in France while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet.

• June 22 – Moise Tshombe is released for lack of evidence of connection to the murder of Patrice Lumumba.

• June 25 – Iraqi president Abdul Karim Kassem announces he is going to annex Kuwait.

• June 27 – Kuwait requests British help; the United Kingdom sends in troops.

July

• July 4 – The Soviet submarine K-19 reactor leak occurs in the North Atlantic.

• July 5 – The first Israeli rocket, Shavit 2, is launched.

• July 8 – A mine explosion in Czechoslovakia leaves 108 dead.

• July 21 – Mercury program: Gus Grissom, piloting the Mercury-Redstone 4 capsule Liberty Bell 7, becomes the second American to go into space (sub-orbital). Upon splashdown, the hatch prematurely opens, and the capsule sinks (it is recovered in 1999).

• July 31 – At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs, when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain (the only tie until 2002 in MLB All-Star Game history).

• July 31 – Ireland submits the first ever application to join the then European Economic Community.

August

• August – USA founds Alliance for Progress.

• August 1 – The Six Flags over Texas theme park officially opens to the public.

• August 6 – Vostok 2: Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov becomes the second human in space in more than one day.

• August 7 – Vostok 2 with Titov onboard lands in Soviet Union.

• August 10 – Britain applies for membership in the European Economic Community.

• August 13 – Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

• August 21 – Jomo Kenyatta is released from prison in Kenya.

September

• September 10 – During the F1 Italian Grand Prix on the circuit of Monza, German Wolfgang Von Trips, driving a Ferrari, crashes into a stand, killing 14 spectators and himself.

• September 14 – The new military government of Turkey sentences 15 members of the previous government to death.

• September 17 – Military rulers in Turkey hang former president Adnan Menderes.

• September 17 – September 18 – UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in an air crash en route to Katanga, Congo.

• September 21 – In France, the OAS slips an anti-de Gaulle message into TV programming.

• September 24 – The old Deutsche Opernhaus in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is returned to its newly rebuilt house as the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

• September 28 – A military coup in Damascus, Syria effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.

October

• October 1 – Baseball player Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hits his 61st home run in the last game of the season, against the Boston Red Sox, beating the 34-year-old record held by Babe Ruth.

• October 10 – A volcanic eruption on Tristan da Cunha causes the whole population to be evacuated.

• October 12 – The death penalty is abolished in New Zealand.

• October 17 – Paris massacre of 1961: French police in Paris attack about 30,000 protesting a curfew applied solely to Algerians. The official death toll is 3, but human rights groups claim 240 dead.

• October 18 – West Side Story is released as a film.

• October 19 – The Arab League takes over protecting Kuwait; the last British troops leave.

• October 25 – The first edition of Private Eye, the British satirical magazine, is published.

• October 27 – An armistice begins in Katanga, Congo.

• October 27 – Mongolia and Mauritania join the United Nations.

• October 27 – A standoff between Soviet and American tanks in Berlin, Germany heightens Cold War tensions.

• October 29 – RBS Channel 7, the Philippines' third TV station, is launched.

• October 30 – Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates a 58-megaton yield hydrogen bomb known as Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya. It remains the largest ever man-made explosion.

• October 31 – Hurricane Hattie devastates Belize City, Belize killing over 270. After the hurricane, the capital moves to the inland city of Belmopan.

• October 31 – Joseph Stalin's body is removed from the Lenin Mausoleum.

November

• November – The Fantastic Four #1 comic debuts, launching the Marvel Universe and revolutionizing the American comic book industry.

• November 1 – The Hungry generation Movement is launched in Calcutta, India.

• November 1 – The Interstate Commerce Commission's federal order banning segregation at all interstate public facilities officially comes into effect.

• November 2 – Kean opens at Broadway Theater in New York City for 92 performances.

• November 3 – The UN General Assembly unanimously elects U Thant acting Secretary General.

• November 6 – The U.S. government issues a stamp honoring the 100th birthday of James Naismith.

• November 9 – Neil Armstrong records a world record speed in a rocket plane of 6,587 km/h flying a X-15.

• November 10 – Catch-22 is first published by Joseph Heller.

• November 11 – Congolese soldiers murder 13 Italian United Nations pilots.

• November 11 – Stalingrad is renamed Volgograd.

• November 17 – Michael Rockefeller, son of New York Governor, and later Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, disappears in the jungles of New Guinea.

• November 18 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

• November 20 – The funeral of longtime House Speaker Sam Rayburn is held in Washington, DC. Two former Presidents (Truman, Eisenhower) and one future one (Lyndon B. Johnson) join President Kennedy in paying their respects.

• November 30 – The Soviet Union vetoes Kuwait's application for United Nations membership.

December

• December 1 – Netherlands New Guinea raises the new Morning Star flag and changes its name to West Papua.

• December 2 – Cold War: In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro announces he is a Marxist-Leninist, and that Cuba will adopt socialism.

• December 5 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives support to the Volta Dam project in Ghana.

• December 9 – Tanganyika gains independence and declares itself a republic, with Julius Nyerere as its first President.

• December 9 – The Australian government of Robert Menzies is re-elected for a sixth term.

• December 10 – The Soviet Union severs diplomatic relations with Albania.

• December 10 – Nobel Prize: Melvin Calvin is awarded the Nobel Prize for the process of photosynthesis.

• December 11 – The Vietnam War officially begins, as the first American helicopters arrive in Saigon along with 400 U.S. personnel.

• December 11 – Adolf Eichmann is pronounced guilty of crimes against humanity by a panel of 3 Israeli judges.

• December 15 – An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in The Holocaust.

• December 17 – India occupies Goa.

• December 17 – A circus tent fire in Niteroi, Brazil kills 323.

• December 18 – India occupies the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu.

• December 19 – Goa is officially ceded to India after 400 years of Portuguese rule.

• December 19 – Indonesian president Sukarno announces that he will take West Irian by force if necessary.

• December 21 – In Congo, Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe recognizes the Congolese constitution.

• December 23 – Luxembourg's national holiday, the Grand Duke's Official Birthday, is set on June 23 by Grand Ducal decree.

• December 30 – Congolese troops capture Albert Kalonji of South Kasai (who soon escapes).

• December 31 – Ireland's first national television station, Telefís Éireann (later RTÉ), begins broadcasting.

Undated

• "Barbie" gets a boyfriend when the "Ken" doll is introduced.

Births

January–February

• January 1 – Mark Wingett, British actor

• January 1 – Sam Backo, Australian rugby league footballer

• January 2 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress

• January 2 – Todd Haynes, American film director

• January 5 – Iris DeMent, American singer-songwriter

• January 8 – Calvin Smith, American athlete

• January 11 – Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen (Károly), Archduke, Prince Imperial of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary

• January 13 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress

• January 13 – Suggs, British rock singer (Madness)

• January 14 – Mike Tramp, Danish rock singer (White Lion)

• January 17 – Maia Chiburdanidze, Georgian chess player

• January 18 – Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player

• January 24 – Guido Buchwald, German football player

• January 24 – Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress

• January 26 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player

• January 28 – Arnaldur Indridason, Icelandic writer

• January 30 – Dexter Scott King, son of Martin Luther King, Jr.

• January 31 – Lloyd Cole, British singer and songwriter

• February 1 – Volker Fried, German field hockey player

• February 3 – Jim Balsillie, Canadian CEO and philanthropist

• February 3 – Gretel Killeen, Australian author and TV presenter

• February 8 – Vince Neil, American singer

• February 9 – John Kruk, American baseball player and commentator

• February 9 – Jussi Lampi, Finnish musician and actor

• February 10 – George Stephanopoulos, American political consultant and commentator

• February 11 – Mary Docter, American speed skater

• February 11 – Carey Lowell, American actress

• February 13 – Henry Rollins, American musician

• February 13 – Richard Tyson, American actor

• February 14 – Latifa, Tunisian singer

• February 16 – Andy Taylor, British rock musician (Duran Duran)

• February 22 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist

• February 25 – Davey Allison, American race car driver (d. 1993)

• February 27 – James Worthy, American basketball player and analyst

• February 28 – Mark Latham, Australian politician

March–April

• March – Reggie Fils-Aime, American businessperson

• March 3 – John Matteson, Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer

• March 4 – Ray Mancini, American boxer

• March 4 – Steven Weber, American actor

• March 4 – Roger Wessels, South African golfer

• March 8 – Camryn Manheim, American actress

• March 9 – Mike Leach, American college football coach

• March 9 – Rick Steiner, American professional wrestler

• March 10 – Mike Bullard, American hockey player

• March 10 – Laurel Clark, American astronaut (d. 2003)

• March 10 – Mitch Gaylord, American gymnast

• March 10 – Bobby Petrino, American football coach

• March 14 – Gary Dell'Abate, American radio producer

• March 16 – Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league player

• March 17 – Umayya Abu-Hanna, Palestine-born Finnish writer and politician

• March 21 – Lothar Matthäus, German footballer

• March 21 – Kassie Wesley DePaiva, American actress

• March 23 – Helmi Johannes, Indonesian television newscaster

• March 27 – Ellery Hanley, English rugby league player and coach

• March 27 – Tak Matsumoto, Japanese guitarist (B'z)

• March 28 – Byron Scott, American basketball player and coach

• March 29 – Amy Sedaris, American actress, comedian and writer

• March 29 – Gerardo Teissonniere, Puerto Rican pianist

• April 1 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer, Britain's Got Talent contestant

• April 2 – Christopher Meloni, American actor

• April 3 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian

• April 5 – Lisa Zane, American actress

• April 6 – Gene Eugene, Canadian actor and singer

• April 7 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player

• April 12 – Lisa Gerrard, Australian musician

• April 14 – Neil Dougherty, American basketball coach

• April 17 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader

• April 17 – Daphna Kastner, Canadian actress

• April 18 – Jane Leeves, English actress

• April 20 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player

• April 20 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor

• April 23 – George Lopez, American actor and comedian

• April 26 – Anthony Cumia, American radio personality

• April 27 – Moana Pozzi, Italian porn actress (d. 1994)

• April 28 – Futoshi Matsunaga, Japanese serial killer

• April 29 – Fumihiko Tachiki, Japanese seiyuu

• April 30 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner

May–June

• May 2 – Stephen Daldry, British film director

• May 2 – Steve James, English snooker player

• May 3 – Joe Murray, American animator

• May 5 – Hiroshi Hase, Japanese professional wrestler

• May 6 – George Clooney, American actor

• May 7 – Robert Spano, American conductor and pianist

• May 8 – Janet McTeer, British actress

• May 8 – Akira Taue, Japanese professional wrestler

• May 10 – Danny Carey, American rock drummer

• May 12 – Billy (William H) Duffy, English rock guitarist (The Cult)

• May 13 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player and actor

• May 14 – Tim Roth, English actor

• May 17 – Enya (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin), Irish musician

• May 27 – Peri Gilpin, American actress

• May 29 – Melissa Etheridge, American musician

• May 30 – Ralph Carter, American actor (Good Times)

• May 31 – Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player

• May 31 – Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician

• May 31 – Lea Thompson, American actress

• June 1 – Paul Coffey, Canadian hockey player

• June 2 – Dez Cadena, American musician

• June 3 – Lawrence Lessig, American academic and political activist

• June 5 – Anthony Burger, American musician and singer (d. 2006)

• June 5 – Rosie Kane, member of Scottish Parliament

• June 6 – Tom Araya, Chilean-born rock musician (Slayer)

• June 9 – Michael J. Fox, Canadian actor

• June 10 – Kim and Kelley Deal, American musicians

• June 14 – "Boy George" O'Dowd, British musician and producer (Culture Club)

• June 15 – Kai Eckhardt, German bass guitarist

• June 15 – Dave McAuley, Northern Irish boxer

• June 18 – Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player

• June 21 – Manu Chao, French singer

• June 23 – Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist

• June 23 – David Leavitt, American novelist

• June 25 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian

• June 25 – Mike Breen, American broadcaster

• June 26 – Greg LeMond, American cyclist

• June 27 – Meera Syal, British-Indian comedienne and actress

• June 28 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player

• June 29 – Greg Hetson, American rock guitarist (Bad Religion, Circle Jerks)

July–August

• July 1 – Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American astronaut (d. 2003)

• July 1 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)

• July 1 – Carl Lewis, American athlete

• July 2 – Michael Lindsay, American voice actor

• July 4 – Andrew Zimmern, American television personality (Bizarre Foods)

• July 5 – Patrizia Scianca, Italian voice actress

• July 6 – Rick Price, Australian singer/songwriter

• July 7 – Eric Jerome Dickey, American writer

• July 8 – Toby Keith, American country music singer

• July 10 – Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong singer and actor

• July 12 – Ray Gillen, American singer (d. 1993)

• July 14 – Jackie Earle Haley, American actor

• July 17 – Jonathan Potts, Canadian actor

• July 19 – Maria Filatova, Soviet gymnast

• July 19 – Benoît Mariage, Belgian film director

• July 22 – Keith Sweat, American singer

• July 23 – Martin Gore, English rock musician and songwriter (Depeche Mode)

• July 25 – Hugo Teufel III, 2nd Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security

• July 26 – Keiko Matsui, Japanese pianist and composer

• July 30 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor

• August 3 – Nick Harvey, English politician

• August 4 – Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State of Missouri

• August 4 – Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

• August 4 – Lauren Tom, American actress

• August 5 – Clayton Rohner, American actor

• August 7 – Brian Conley, English TV presenter, comedian, singer & actor

• August 7 – Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast

• August 8 – Bruce Matthews, American football player

• August 8 – The Edge (David Howell Evans), Irish rock guitarist (U2)

• August 9 – John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand

• August 14 – Susan Olsen, American actress

• August 15 – Matt Johnson, English singer-songwriter

• August 18 – Bob Woodruff, American television journalist

• August 21 – Stephen Hillenburg, American animation writer and artist

• August 25 – Billy Ray Cyrus, American singer and actor

• August 26 – Daniel Lévi, French singer-songwriter, composer and pianist

• August 29 – Carsten Fischer, German field hockey player

September–October

• September 1 – Cécilia Rhode, Miss Sweden

• September 2 – Anthony Wong Chau Sang, Hong Kong actor

• September 2 – Eric Dickerson, American football player

• September 2 – Carlos Valderrama, Colombian footballer

• September 5 – Karim Abdul Razak, Ghanaian footballer

• September 6 – Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Norwegian rock guitarist (a-ha)

• September 6 – Scott Travis, American metal drummer (Judas Priest)

• September 7 – Kevin Kennedy, British actor

• September 11 – Elizabeth Daily, American actress

• September 11 – Virginia Madsen, American actress

• September 12 – Mylene Farmer, Canadian singer and songwriter

• September 13 – Dave Mustaine, American metal singer, guitarist (Megadeth)

• September 15 – Dan Marino, American football player

• September 15 – Lidia Yusupova, Chechen human-rights lawyer

• September 18 – James Gandolfini, American actor

• September 22 – Scott Baio, American actor

• September 22 – Bonnie Hunt, American actress, comedian, writer, director and television producer

• September 22 – Catherine Oxenberg, British actress

• September 23 – William C. McCool, U.S. Army Commander and astronaut (d. 2003)

• September 25 – Heather Locklear, American actress

• September 26 – Edward Kennedy Jr, son of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy

• September 27 – Andy Lau, Hong Kong actor and singer

• September 28 – Yordanka Donkova, Bulgarian athlete

• September 29 – Julia Gillard, Australian politician

• September 30 – Sally Yeh, Hong Kong singer and actress

• October 1 – Gary Ablett, Australian rules footballer

• October 1 – Robert Rey, Brazilian-American plastic surgeon and television personality

• October 1 – Rico Constantino, American professional wrestler

• October 2 – Edmond Yu, Chinese student (d. 1997)

• October 4 – Philippe Russo, French singer

• October 5 – Matthew Kauffman, American journalist and George Polk Award winner

• October 6 – Mark Shasha, American artist, author, illustrator

• October 8 – Ted Kooshian, American jazz pianist

• October 11 – Steve Young, American football player

• October 11 – Amr Diab, Egyptian singer

• October 11 – Neil Buchanan, English television presenter

• October 13 – Doc Rivers, American basketball player and coach

• October 16 – Randy Vasquez, American actor

• October 18 – Wynton Marsalis, American trumpeter and composer

• October 18 – Rick Moody, American writer

• October 24 – Dave Meltzer, American wrestling journalist

• October 25 – Pat Sharp, British radio DJ and host

• October 26 – Dylan McDermott, American actor

• October 29 – Randy Jackson, American musician

• October 31 – Alonzo Babers, American runner

• October 31 – Peter Jackson, New Zealand film director

• October 31 – Larry Mullen, Jr., Irish rock drummer (U2)

November–December

• November 1 – Anne Donovan, American basketball player

• November 2 – k.d. lang, Canadian singer and songwriter

• November 4 – Daron Hagen, American composer

• November 4 – Edward Knight, American composer

• November 4 – Ralph Macchio, American actor

• November 4 – Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish footballer and football manager

• November 5 – Gina Mastrogiacomo, American actress (d. 2001)

• November 9 – Jill Dando, British journalist and television presenter (d. 1999)

• November 11 – Jan Kuehnemund, American guitarist (Vixen)

• November 12 – Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast

• November 13 – Klayton, American rock musician

• November 14 – Jurga Ivanauskaitė, Lithuanian writer (d. 2007)

• November 15 – Ian Reid, Australian educator

• November 18 – Anthony Warlow, Australian singer

• November 19 – Meg Ryan, American actress

• November 20 – Dave Watson, English footballer

• November 22 – Mariel Hemingway, American actress

• November 22 – Randal L. Schwartz, American computer programmer

• November 24 – Arundhati Roy, Indian writer and activist

• December 3 – Marcelo Fromer, Brazilian guitarist

• December 4 – Frank Reich, American football player

• December 4 – Roy Dennis, American boy

• December 8 – Ann Coulter, American author, conservative commentator and attorney

• December 11 – Dave King, Irish-American singer

• December 12 – Sarah Sutton, British actress

• December 12 – Daniel O'Donnell, Irish singer

• December 15 – Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist and politician

• December 16 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (d. 1994)

• December 19 – Matthew Waterhouse, British actor

• December 19 – Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

• December 19 – Reggie White, American football player (d. 2004)

• December 20 – Mohammad Fouad, Arab singer and actor

• December 21 – Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor

• December 23 – Ezzat el Kamhawi, Egyptian novelist.

• December 24 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan

• December 25 – Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator

• December 26 – John Lynch, Northern Irish actor

• December 29 – Jim Reid, Scottish musician

• December 30 – Douglas Coupland, Canadian author

• December 30 – Sean Hannity, American radio/television host and conservative commentator

• December 30 – Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete

Deaths

January–June

• January 4 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)

• January 9 – Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1867)

• January 10 – Dashiell Hammett, American writer (b. 1894)

• January 14 – Barry Fitzgerald, American actor (b. 1888)

• January 21 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1887)

• January 24 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)

• January 26 – Stan Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900)

• January 30 – Dorothy Thompson, American journalist (b. 1893)

• February 2 – Anna May Wong, Chinese-American actress (b. 1907)

• February 3 – Viscount Dunrossil, Australian governor-general (b. 1893)

• February 7 – William Duncan, American actor (b. 1879)

• February 11 – Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)

• February 17 – Nita Naldi, American actress (b. 1897)

• February 20 – Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)

• February 22 – Nick LaRocca, American jazz musician (b. 1889)

• February 26 – King Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)

• March 3 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)

• March 6 – George Formby, British singer, comedian & actor (b. 1904)

• March 8 – Sir Thomas Beecham, English conductor (b. 1879)

• March 8 – Gala Galaction, Romanian writer (b. 1879)

• March 12 – Belinda Lee, English actress (b. 1935)

• March 17 – Susanna M. Salter, first woman mayor in the United States (b. 1860)

• March 23 – Valentin Bondarenko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1937)

• March 26 – Carlos Duarte Costa, founder of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (b. 1888)

• April 6 – Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)

• April 7 – Vanessa Bell, English artist and interior designer (b. 1879)

• April 9 – Ahmet Zog, King of Albania (b. 1895)

• April 21 – James Melton, American tenor (b. 1904)

• April 24 – Lee Moran, American actor (b. 1888)

• April 25 – George Melford, American actor (b. 1877)

• April 27 – Roy Del Ruth, American film director (b. 1893)

• May 3 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French phenomenological philosopher (b. 1908)

• May 6 – Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet and philosopher (b. 1895)

• May 13 – Gary Cooper, American actor (High Noon) (b. 1901)

• May 14 – Albert Sévigny, Canadian politician (b. 1881)

• May 16 – George A. Malcolm, American jurist & educator (b. 1881)

• May 22 – Joan Davis, American actress (b. 1907)

• May 30 – Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)

• May 31 – Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)

• June 2 – George S. Kaufman, American playwright (b. 1889)

• June 6 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (b. 1875)

• June 14 – Eddie Polo, Austro-American dramatist (b. 1875)

• June 16 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician (b. 1904)

• June 17 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)

• June 24 – George Washington Vanderbilt III, American philanthropist (b. 1914)

• June 25 – John A D McCurdy, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia & pilot (b. 1886)

• June 30 – Lee DeForest, American inventor (b. 1873)

July–December

• July 1 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (b. 1894)

• July 2 – Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (suicide) (b. 1899)

• July 4 – Franklyn Farnum, American actor (b. 1878)

• July 6 – Woodall Rodgers, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1890)

• July 17 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player (b. 1886)

• July 23

• *Esther Dale, American actress (b. 1885)

• *Valentine Davies, American screenwriter (b. 1905)

• August 4 – Maurice Tourneur, French film director (b. 1873)

• August 8 – Mei Lanfang, Beijing opera star (b. 1894)

• August 20 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)

• August 26 – Gail Russell, American actress (b. 1924)

• August 30 – Charles Coburn, American actor (b. 1877)

• September 1 – Eero Saarinen, Finnish architect (b. 1910)

• September 10 – Leo Carrillo, American actor (b. 1880)

• September 11 – George Irving, American actor (b. 1874)

• September 17 – Adnan Menderes, Turkish prime minister (executed) (b. 1899)

• September 18 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish Secretary General of the United Nations, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1905)

• September 22 – Marion Davies, American actress (b. 1897)

• September 24 – Sumner Welles, American diplomat (b. 1892)

• September 25 – Frank Fay, American actor (b. 1897)

• September 26 – Juanita Hansen, American actress (b. 1895)

• October 1 – Donald Cook, American actor (b. 1901)

• October 4 – Metropolitan Benjamin (Fedchenkov), Orthodox missionary and writer, Exarch of Russian Church in North America (b. 1880)

• October 4 – Max Weber, Polish-American artist (b. 1881)

• October 11 – Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)

• October 13

• *Dun Karm Psaila, Maltese writer (b. 1871)

• *Maya Deren, Russian-born filmmaker (b. 1917)

• *Zoltán Korda, Hungarian screenwriter and director (b. 1895)

• October 14 – Harriet Shaw Weaver, English political activist (b. 1876)

• October 22 – Joseph Schenck, Russian-born film studio executive (b. 1878)

• November 1 – Mordecai Ham, American evangelist (b. 1877)

• November 2 – James Thurber, American humorist (b. 1894)

• November 15 – Elsie Ferguson, American actress (b. 1883)

• November 16 – Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1882)

• November 24 – Ruth Chatterton, American actress (b. 1893)

• December 2 – Herbert Pitman, British sailor, third officer of the RMS Titanic (b. 1877)

• December 6 – Frantz Fanon, philosopher (b. 1925)

• December 13 – Anna Mary Robertson Moses aka Grandma Moses, painter & centogenerean (b. 1860)

• December 20 – Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)

• December 20 – Earle Page, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)

• December 23 – Kurt Meyer, German Waffen-SS officer (b. 1910)

• December 25 – Otto Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)

• December 28 – Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, second wife of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, was First Lady of the United States from 1915 to 1921.

• December 29 – Sibyl Morrison, first female barrister in New South Wales, Australia (b. 1895)