1958: Difference between revisions

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1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1958th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 958th year of the 2nd millennium, the 58th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1950s decade.

• January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.^[1]
• January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.^[2]
• January 4
  • Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles.^[3]
  • Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls to Earth from its orbit, and burns up.^[4]
• January 13 – Battle of Edchera: The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol.^[5]
• January 18 - The first of Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic is telecast by CBS. The Emmy-winning series (one concert approximately every 3 months except for the summer) will run for more than 14 years. It will make Bernstein's name a household word, and the most famous conductor in the U.S.^[6]
• January 27 – A Soviet-American executive agreement on cultural, educational and scientific exchanges, also known as the "Lacy–Zarubin Agreement", is signed in Washington, D.C.^[7]
• January 28 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen files a patent for the iconic plastic Lego brick. From its foundation, his company will make 400 billion Lego elements.^[8]
• January 31 – The first successful American satellite, Explorer 1, is launched into orbit.

• February 1 – Egypt and Syria unite, to form the United Arab Republic.^[9]
• February 5 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated as the first president of the United Arab Republic.
• February 6 – Seven Manchester United footballers are among the 21 people killed in the Munich air disaster in West Germany, on the return flight from a European Cup game in Yugoslavia. 23 people survive, but 4 of them, including manager Matt Busby and players Johnny Berry and Duncan Edwards, are in serious condition. Busby and Berry will pull through, although Berry will never play again. Edwards dies a fortnight later.^[10]
• February 11 - Marshal Chen Yi succeeds Zhou Enlai as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
  • Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African American woman hired as a flight attendant. Hired by Mohawk Airlines, her career lasts only 6 months, due to another discriminatory barrier – the airline's ban on married flight attendants.
• February 14 – The Hashemite Kingdoms of Iraq and Jordan unite in the Arab Federation, with King Faisal II of Iraq as head of state.
• February 17 – Pope Pius XII declares Saint Clare the patron saint of television.
• February 20 – A test rocket explodes at Cape Canaveral.
• February 21 – A peace symbol is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom, commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.
• February 23
  • Cuban rebels kidnap five-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio, releasing him 28 hours later.
  • Arturo Frondizi is elected president of Argentina.
• February 24 – In Cuba, Fidel Castro's Radio Rebelde begins broadcasting from Sierra Maestra.
• February 25 – Bertrand Russell launches the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
• February 28 – One of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history occurs at Prestonburg, Kentucky; 27 are killed.

• March 1
  • Turkish passenger ship Üsküdar capsizes and sinks in the Gulf of İzmit, Turkey; at least 300 die.
  • Two medium-size airlines, FarEastern Airways of Japan and Nippon Helicopter Transport, are merged to become All Nippon Airways (ANA) which begins operation in Japan.^[11]
• March 2 – A British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition team, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs, completes the first overland crossing of the Antarctic, using snowcat caterpillar tractors and dogsled teams, in 99 days, via the South Pole.
• March 8 – The USS Wisconsin is decommissioned, leaving the United States Navy without an active battleship for the first time since 1896 (she is recommissioned October 22, 1988).
• March 11 – A U.S. B-47 bomber accidentally drops an atom bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Without a fissile warhead, its conventional explosives destroy a house and injure several people.
• March 17 – The Convention on the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) enters into force, founding the IMCO as a specialized agency of the United Nations.
• March 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
• March 19
  • The Monarch Underwear Company fire occurs in New York, United States, killing 24 people.
  • Warner Bros. Records, the company of which would later become Warner Records, is founded by its namesake, Warner Bros. Pictures.
• March 24 – The U.S. Army inducts Elvis Presley as U.S. Private #53310761.
• March 25 – Canada's Avro Arrow makes its maiden flight.
• March 26
  • The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
  • The 30th Academy Awards Ceremony takes place; The Bridge on the River Kwai wins 7 awards, including Academy Award for Best Picture.
• March 27 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.

• April 1 – The BBC Radiophonic Workshop is established.
• April 3 – In Cuba, Castro's revolutionary army begins its attacks on Havana.
• April 4
  • The first protest march by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament from London, UK, to Aldermaston, Berkshire, begins from Trafalgar Square.^[12]
  • Cheryl Crane, daughter of actress Lana Turner, fatally stabs her mother's gangster lover Johnny Stompanato at their home in Los Angeles, United States (the stabbing is eventually ruled as self-defense).^[13]
• April 6 – Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari divorces the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, after she is unable to produce any children.
• April 13 – The satellite Sputnik 2 (launched November 3, 1957) disintegrates during reentry from orbit.^[14]
• April 14 – Van Cliburn wins the International Tchaikovsky Competition for pianists in Moscow, breaking Cold War tensions.^[15]
• April 15 – The San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8–0 at San Francisco's Seals Stadium in the first Major League Baseball regular season game ever played in California.
• April 17 – King Baudouin of Belgium officially opens the world's fair in Brussels, also known as Expo 58. The Atomium forms the centrepiece.
• April 20 – The Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey, after defeating US team the Boston Bruins in 6 games.
• April 21 – United Airlines Flight 736 is involved in a mid-air collision with a U.S. Air Force F-100F jet fighter in what is now Enterprise, Nevada; all 49 persons in both aircraft are killed.

• May 1
  • Arturo Frondizi becomes President of Argentina.^[16]
  • U.S. space scientist James van Allen announces the discovery of Earth's magnetosphere.^[17]
  • The Nordic Passport Union comes into force.
• May 9 – Actor-singer Paul Robeson, whose passport has been reinstated, sings in a sold-out one-man recital at Carnegie Hall. The recital is such a success, that Robeson gives another one at Carnegie Hall a few days later; but, after this, Robeson is seldom seen in public in the United States again. His Carnegie Hall concerts are later released on records and on CD.
• May 10 – Interviewed in the Chave d'Ouro café, when asked about his rival António de Oliveira Salazar, Humberto Delgado utters one of the most famous comments in Portuguese political history: "Obviamente, demito-o! (Obviously, I'll sack him!)".
• May 12 – A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• May 13
  • Crisis in France: French Algerian protesters seize government offices in Algiers, leading to a military coup.
  • During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
• May 15 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
• May 18 – An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h).
• May 20 – The Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista launches a counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.
• May 21 – United Kingdom Postmaster General Ernest Marples announces that from December, Subscriber Trunk Dialling will be introduced in the Bristol area.^[18]
• May 22 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first American elected official to be broadcast on color television.
• May 23 – Explorer 1 ceases transmission.
• May 28 – Real Madrid beats A.C. Milan 3–2 at Heysel Stadium, Brussels and wins the 1957–58 European Cup.
• May 30 – The bodies of unidentified United States soldiers killed in action during World War II and the Korean War are buried at the Tomb of the Unknowns, in Arlington National Cemetery.

• June 1
  • Charles de Gaulle is brought out of retirement at Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to lead France by decree for 6 months.
  • Iceland extends its fishing limits to 12 miles (22.2 km).
• June 2 – In San Simeon, California, Hearst Castle opens to the public for guided tours.^[19]
• June 4 – French President Charles de Gaulle visits Algeria.
• June 8 – The SS Edmund Fitzgerald is launched; she will be the largest Lake freighter for more than a dozen years.
• June 15 – Pizza Hut is founded by Dan and Frank Carney, in Wichita, Kansas.
• June 16 – Imre Nagy and other leaders of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1956 are hanged for treason, following secret trials.
• June 20 – The iron barque Omega of Callao, Peru (built in Liverpool, 1887), sinks on passage carrying guano from the Pachacamac Islands for Huacho, the world's last full-rigged ship trading under sail alone.^[20]
• June 27 – The Peronist Party becomes legal again in Argentina.
• June 29 – Brazil beats Sweden 5–2 in the final game, to win the football World Cup in Sweden.
• June 30 – The Ifni War ends in Spanish Sahara.

• July – The plastic hula hoop is first marketed in the United States.
• July 3 – 1958 US–UK Mutual Defence Agreement signed in Washington, D.C.
• July 5 – Gasherbrum I, the 11th highest mountain in the world, is first ascended.
• July 7 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
• July 9 – 1958 Lituya Bay megatsunami: A 7.8 M_w  strike-slip earthquake in Southeast Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reaches 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay.
• July 10 – The first parking meters are installed in Britain.
• July 11 – Count Michael Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde, direct descendant of Samuel Aba, King of Hungary, age 60, is pistol-whipped and murdered over a few hectares of land by Czechoslovak Communists, during the collectivization process at his residence in Olcsvar, Slovakia.
• July 12
  • The Beatles, at this time known as The Quarrymen, pay 17 shillings and 6 pence to have their first recording session where they record Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger", a song written by Paul McCartney and George Harrison.
  • Henri Cornelis becomes Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, the last Belgian governor prior to independence.
• July 14 – July 14 Revolution in Iraq: King Faisal is killed. Abd al-Karim Qasim assumes power.
• July 15 – In Lebanon, 5,000 United States Marines land in the capital Beirut in support of the pro-Western government.^[21]
• July 24 – Fourteen life peerages, the first under the Life Peerages Act 1958, are created in the United Kingdom.^[22]
• July 26
  • Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched in the United States.^[23]
  • Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom announces that she is giving her son and heir apparent The Prince Charles the customary title of Prince of Wales.^[24] The announcement is made at the end of the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Cardiff.
• July 29 – The U.S. Congress formally creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).^[25]
• July 31 – The Tibetan resistance movement against rule by China receives support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency.

• August 3 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.
• August 6 – Australian athlete Herb Elliott clips almost 3 seconds off the world record for the mile run at Santry Stadium, Dublin, recording a time of 3 minutes 54.5 seconds.
• August 12 – The Federal Switchblade Act is enacted in the United States.
• August 14 – KLM Flight 607-E, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, crashes into the sea with 99 people aboard.
• August 17 – The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.
• August 18
  • Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
  • Brojen Das from East Pakistan swims across the English Channel in a competition, the first Bangali as well as the first Asian to ever do it. He is first among 39 competitors.
• August 21 – October 15 – Illinois observes the centennial of the Lincoln–Douglas debates.
• August 23
  • Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins, with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
  • President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal Aviation Act, transferring all authority over aviation in the US to the newly created Federal Aviation Agency (FAA, later renamed Federal Aviation Administration).
• August 25 – Instant noodles go on sale for the first time in Japan.
• August 26 – A general strike is called in Paraguay.
• August 27 – Operation Argus: The United States begins nuclear tests over the South Atlantic.
• August 30 – September 1 – Notting Hill race riots: Riots occur between blacks and whites in Notting Hill, London, UK.^[26]

• September – The University of New Orleans begins classes as the first racially integrated public university in the Southern United States.
• September 1
  • The first Cod War begins, between the United Kingdom and Iceland.
  • Grange School is established in GRA Ikeja, Lagos.
• September 2
  • Hendrik Verwoerd becomes the 6th Prime Minister of South Africa.
  • China's first television broadcasts start at Beijing Television Station, a predecessor of China Central Television.^[27]　
• September 4 – Jorge Alessandri is the winner of Chile's presidential election.
• September 6 – Paul Robeson performs in concert at the Soviet Young Pioneer camp Artek.
• September 12 – Jack Kilby invents the first integrated circuit, while working at Texas Instruments.
• September 14 – Two rockets designed by German engineer Ernst Mohr (the first German post-war rockets) reach the upper atmosphere.
• September 27
  • Typhoon Ida kills at least 1,269 in Honshū, Japan.
  • Hurricane Helene, the worst storm of the North Atlantic hurricane season, reaches category 4 status.
• September 28 – In France, a majority of 79% says yes to the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
• September 30 – The U.S.S.R. performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya.

• October – GoldStar, as predecessor for LG Electronics, founded in South Korea.^[28]
• October 1
  • Tunisia and Morocco join the Arab League.
  • NASA starts operations and replaces the NACA in the United States.
• October 2 – Guinea declares itself independent from France.
• October 4
  • The new Constitution of France is signed into law, establishing the French Fifth Republic.
  • British Overseas Airways Corporation uses the new De Havilland Comet jets, to become the first airline to fly jet passenger services across the Atlantic.
• October 11 – Pioneer 1, the second and most successful of the 3 project Able space probes, becomes the first spacecraft launched by the newly formed NASA.
• October 13 – Penny Coelen is crowned as Miss World 1958 during the 8th Miss World Pageant, the first South African to win the title.
• October 16 – The long-running BBC Television children's programme Blue Peter is first broadcast.^[29]
• October 17 – An Evening with Fred Astaire, the first television show recorded on color videotape, is broadcast on NBC in the United States.^[30]
• October 18 – The first video game, “Tennis for Two,” invented by William Higinbotham, is introduced at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Visitors' Day Exhibit in the United States.^{[citation needed]}
• October 21 – The Life Peerages Act entitles women to sit in the British House of Lords for the first time. The Baronesses Swanborough (Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading) and Wootton (Barbara Wootton, Baroness Wootton of Abinger) are the first to take their seats.
• October 23 – The Nobel Committee announces Russian novelist Boris Pasternak as the winner of the 1958 Prize for Literature.
• October 26 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 makes its first transatlantic flight.
• October 28 – Pope John XXIII succeeds Pope Pius XII, as the 261st pope.

• November 3
  • The new UNESCO building, World Heritage Centre, is inaugurated in Paris.
  • Jorge Alessandri is sworn in as President of Chile.
• November 10 – The bossa nova is born in Rio de Janeiro, with João Gilberto's recording of Chega de Saudade.
• November 10 – Harry Winston donates the Hope Diamond to the Smithsonian Institution.
• November 18 – En route to Rogers City, Michigan, the Lake freighter SS Carl D. Bradley breaks up and sinks in a storm on Lake Michigan; 33 of the 35 crewmen on board perish.
• November 20 – The Jim Henson Company is founded as Muppets, Inc. in the United States.
• November 22 – 1958 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a slightly increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. This is the first election where television was used as a medium for communicating with voters. Evatt will eventually resign as Labor leader and will be replaced by his deputy Arthur Calwell.
• November 25 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French colonial empire.
• November 28 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French colonial empire.
• November 30 – Gaullists win the French parliamentary election.

• December 1
  • Adolfo López Mateos takes office as President of Mexico.
  • Our Lady of the Angels School fire: At least 90 students and 3 nuns are killed in a fire in Chicago.
• December 5
  • Subscriber trunk dialling (STD) is inaugurated in the United Kingdom by the Queen, when she dials a call from Bristol to Edinburgh and speaks to the Lord Provost.^[31]
  • Prime Minister Harold Macmillan personally inspects and opens the United Kingdom's first ever motorway, the Preston Bypass, to traffic for the first time. (The bypass becomes part of the M6 and M55 Motorways, and is significantly upgraded in the mid 1990s.) 11 months later the M1, M45 and M10 Motorways open.
• December 9 – The right-wing John Birch Society is founded in the United States by Robert W. Welch Jr., a retired candy manufacturer.
• December 14 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first ever to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.
• December 15 – Arthur L. Schawlow and Charles H. Townes of Bell Laboratories publish a paper in Physical Review Letters setting out the principles of the optical laser. "The Research Frontier". Air University Quarterly Review (October). U.S. Air University: 113. 1961.</ref>
• December 16
  • A fire breaks out in the Vida Department Store in Bogotá, Colombia and kills 84 persons.
  • Soviet polar pilot V. M. Perov on Li-2 rescues four Belgian polar explorers, led by Gaston de Gerlache, who have survived a plane crash in Antarctica 250 km from their base five days earlier.^[32]
• December 18
  • The United States launches SCORE, the world's first communications satellite.
  • The Bell XV-3 Tiltrotor makes the first true mid-air transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.
• December 19 – A message from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is broadcast from the SCORE satellite.
• December 21 – General Charles de Gaulle is elected president of France with 78.5% of the votes.
• December 24 – 1958 BOAC Bristol Britannia crash: A BOAC Bristol Britannia (312 G-AOVD) crashes near Winkton, England, during a test flight, killing nine people. Three crew members survive.^[33]
• December 28 – In American football, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants 23–17 to win the NFL Championship Game, the first to go into sudden death overtime and "The Greatest Game Ever Played".^[34]
• December 29 – Rebel troops under Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.^[35]
• December 30 – The Guatemalan Air Force fires on Mexican fishing boats which had strayed into Guatemalan territory, triggering the Mexico–Guatemala conflict.
• December 31
  • Tallies reveal that, for the first time, the total of passengers carried by air this year exceeds the total carried by sea in transatlantic service.
  • Fulgencio Batista resigns as President of Cuba.

• Denatonium, the bitterest substance known, is discovered. It is used as an aversive agent in products such as bleach to reduce the risk of children drinking them.
• The Japanese 10 yen coin ceases having serrated edges after a 5-year period beginning in 1953. All 10 yen coins since have smooth edges.
• The British Rally Championship in motor sport begins its first year.
• The PBA Tour is established by the Professional Bowlers Association at its headquarters in Seattle for ten-pin bowling.
• Based on birth rates (per 1,000 population), the post-war baby boom ends in the United States as an 11-year decline in the birth rate begins (the longest on record in that country).

• January 1
  • Hamza Yusuf, American Islamic scholar
  • Grandmaster Flash, African-American hip-hop/rap DJ
• January 2 – Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist
• January 4 – Matt Frewer, Canadian-American actor (Max Headroom)
• January 6 – Shlomo Glickstein, Israeli tennis player^[36]
• January 7 – Yasmin Ahmad, Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter (died 2009)
• January 8 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
• January 9
  • Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish militant, would-be assassin of Pope John Paul II
  • Stephen Neale, British philosopher
• January 10 – Samira Said, Moroccan singer^[37]
• January 12
  • Arun Govil, Indian television actor
  • Christiane Amanpour, British-Iranian journalist and television host
• January 13
  • Ricardo Acuña, Chilean tennis player
  • Juan Pedro de Miguel, Spanish handball player (died 2016)
• January 15 – Boris Tadić, Serbian president^[38]
• January 20 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, martial artist and reality show participant
• January 21 – Hussein Saeed Mohammed, Iraqi football player
• January 24 – Jools Holland, British musician
• January 26
  • Anita Baker, American soul and R&B singer
  • Ellen DeGeneres, American actress, comedian, and television host^[39]
• January 28 – Maitê Proença, Brazilian actress
• January 31 – Mamoon al-Farkh, Syrian actor and theatre director (died 2020)

• February 4 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish writer (died 2005)
• February 5 – Fabrizio Frizzi, Italian television presenter (died 2018)
• February 8 – Marina Silva, Brazilian politician
• February 9
  • Cyrille Regis, English footballer (died 2018)
  • Walid al-Kubaisi, Norwegian-Iraqi author, journalist, translator, film director and government scholar (died 2018)
• February 10
  • Ricardo Gareca, Argentine footballer and manager
  • Michael Weiss, jazz pianist and composer
• February 11 – Regina Maršíková, Czechoslovakian tennis player
• February 12 – Grant McLennan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2006)
• February 13 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
• February 14
  • Grant Thomas, Australian rules footballer
  • Francisco Javier López Peña, Basque separatist
• February 16
  • Ice-T, American rapper, songwriter, and actor
  • Andriy Bal, Ukrainian football player and coach (died 2014)
  • Nancy Donahue, American fashion model and entrepreneur
• February 20 – Jamal Hamdan, Lebanese actor and voice actor
• February 21
  • Jack Coleman, American actor and screenwriter^[40]
  • Denise Dowse, American actress and director
  • Mary Chapin Carpenter, American singer^[41]
• February 26
  • Silva Zurleva, Bulgarian journalist (died 2020)
  • María Casal, Spanish actress
  • Susan Helms, American astronaut^[42]
• February 27
  • Max Crivello, Italian artist
  • Maggie Hassan, U.S. Senator from New Hampshire
  • Nancy Spungen, American groupie and girlfriend of Sid Vicious (died 1978)
• February 28 – Natalya Estemirova, Russian activist (died 2009)

• March 3 – Miranda Richardson, English actress
• March 4 – Patricia Heaton, American actress^[43]
• March 5 – Andy Gibb, English singer, songwriter, performer, and teen idol (died 1988)
• March 7 – Rik Mayall, English comedian and actor (died 2014)^[44]
• March 8 – Gary Numan, British singer
• March 10
  • Sharon Stone, American actress and producer
  • Frankie Ruiz, Puerto Rican singer (died 1998)
• March 14
  • Bruno Dumont, French film director and screenwriter
  • Albert II, Prince of Monaco
• March 20 – Holly Hunter, American actress
• March 21 – Gary Oldman, English actor and filmmaker
• March 24 – Roland Koch, German politician
• March 26
  • Elio de Angelis, Italian racing driver (died 1986)
  • Hala Fouad, Egyptian actress (died 1993)
• March 27 – Jessica Soho, Philippine television celebrity and reporter
• March 28
  • Bart Conner, American gymnast^[45]
  • Curt Hennig, American professional wrestler (died 2003)
• March 30
  • Lucy Turnbull, Lord Mayor of Sydney, wife of Malcolm Turnbull
  • Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor and comedian
• March 31
  • Dietmar Bartsch, German politician
  • Lisa Michelson, American voice actress (died 1991)

• April 3 – Alec Baldwin, American actor
• April 4
  • Cazuza, Brazilian poet, singer and composer (d. 1990)
  • Constance Shulman, American actress
  • Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Thai billionaire businessman (d. 2018)
• April 9 – Nadey Hakim, British-Lebanese surgeon and sculptor ^{[46][self-published source?]}
• April 10 – Yefim Bronfman, Russian-born pianist
• April 11
  • Hussniya Jabara, Israeli Arab politician
  • Luc Luycx, Belgian coin designer
• April 12 – Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgarian athlete
• April 14 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
• April 15 – Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer and musician^[47]
• April 21
  • Andie MacDowell, American actress
  • Yoshito Usui, Japanese manga artist (Crayon Shin-chan) (d. 2009)
• April 24 – Susan Tsvangirai, Spouse of the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (d. 2009)^[48]
• April 25 – Luis Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica^[49]
• April 26 – Giancarlo Esposito, Italian-American actor
• April 29 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress^[50]

• May 4 – Keith Haring, American artist (died 1990)
• May 5 – Robert DiPierdomenico, Australian rules footballer
• May 10
  • Rick Santorum, American politician^[51]
  • Ellen Ochoa, American astronaut, first Hispanic woman to go into space
• May 12 – Dries van Noten, Belgian designer^[52]
• May 20
  • Jane Wiedlin, American musician and actress
  • Judy Kuhn, American actress and singer
• May 23
  • Drew Carey, American comedian and actor^[53]
  • Lea DeLaria, American comedian and actress
• May 25 – Paul Weller, English singer-songwriter
• May 26
  • Margaret Colin, American actress
  • Timo Korhonen, Finnish classical guitarist
• May 27
  • Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter
  • Gus Rodríguez, Mexican actor, screenwriter, producer, director, gamer, and video game journalist (died 2020)
• May 29
  • Annette Bening, American actress
  • Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, filmmaker and political activist (died 2011)
• May 30 – Marie Fredriksson, Swedish rock guitarist and singer-songwriter (died 2019)^[54]

• June 1 – Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Mongolian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Mongolia
• June 2 – Lex Luger, former American professional wrestler
• June 3 – Margot Käßmann, Lutheran theologian, German bishop
• June 5 – Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, Comoroan businessman and politician, President of Comoros
• June 7 – Prince, African-American musician (died 2016)
• June 14
  • Masami Yoshida, Japanese athlete (died 2000)
  • Eric Heiden, American speed skater
• June 15 – Wade Boggs, American baseball player
• June 17 – Jello Biafra, American punk musician and activist (Dead Kennedys)
• June 18 – Peter Altmaier, German jurist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
• June 19 – Sergei Makarov, Russian ice-hockey player and coach
• June 20 – Teiyū Ichiryūsai, Japanese voice actress
• June 22
  • Rocío Banquells, Mexican pop singer and actress^[55]
  • Bruce Campbell, American actor, producer, writer and director^[56]
• June 24 – Tommy Lister Jr., American actor and professional wrestler (died 2020)^[57]
• June 25 – Serik Akhmetov, 8th Prime Minister of Kazakhstan
• June 27 – Magnus Lindberg, Finnish composer
• June 28 – Félix Gray, French singer and songwriter
• June 29 – Rosa Mota, Portuguese long-distance runner
• June 30
  • Karl Friesen, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer
  • Irina Vorobieva, Russian pair skater
  • Vasil Yakusha, Belarusian rower

• July 1 – Tom Magee, Canadian world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor
• July 2
  • Pavan Malhotra, Indian actor
  • Rainer Hasler, Liechtensteiner footballer (died 2014)
• July 3 – Didier Mouron, Swiss artist
• July 5
  • Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli politician
  • Bill Watterson, American cartoonist (Calvin and Hobbes)
  • Kyoko Terase, Japanese voice actress
• July 6 – Jennifer Saunders, British comedian and actress
• July 7 – Michala Petri, Danish recorder player
• July 8
  • Kevin Bacon, American actor
  • Neetu Singh, Indian actress
• July 10
  • Salleh Said Keruak, Malaysian politician
  • Chileshe Kapwepwe, Zambian accountant and corporate executive
  • Fiona Shaw, Irish actress
  • Jaka Singgih, Indonesian businessman and politician
• July 12 – Valery Kipelov, Russian music artist and composer
• July 13 – Arun Pandian, Indian film actor, director, producer and politician
• July 14 – Jujie Luan, Chinese-Canadian fencer
• July 15
  • Christian Dornier, French mass murderer
  • Jörg Kachelmann, Swiss presenter, journalist and entrepreneur in the meteorological field^[58]
• July 16
  • Michael Flatley, Irish-born dancer
  • Sabine de Bethune, Belgian politician
• July 17 – Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong second wave filmmaker
• July 18 – Malou de Guzman, Filipino stage, television and film actress
• July 19
  • Azumah Nelson, Ghanaian boxer
  • Jonathan Lee, Taiwanese musician
• July 20 – Bala Garba Jahumpa, Gambian politician
• July 22 – Tatsunori Hara, Japanese professional-baseball coach and player
• July 26 – Jesús Barrero, Mexican actor and voice actor (died 2016)
• July 27
  • Kimmo Hakola, Finnish composer
  • Margarethe Schreinemakers, German television presenter
  • Christopher Dean, British ice dancer and Olympian
• July 28
  • Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (died 1981)
  • Deon van der Walt, South African tenor (died 2005)
• July 30 – Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter
• July 31 – Mark Cuban, American entrepreneur and basketball team owner^[59]

• August 1
  • María Ignacia Benítez, Chilean politician (died 2019)
  • Adrian Dunbar, Irish actor and director
• August 2 – Shō Hayami, Japanese voice actor and singer
• August 3 – Lambert Wilson, French actor
• August 5 – Andriy Fedetskyi, Ukrainian football player (died 2018)
• August 7
  • Bruce Dickinson, English musician (Iron Maiden)
  • Russell Baze, Canadian/American champion jockey
• August 10 – Rami Hamdallah, Palestine politician
• August 13 – Lizzie Grey, American musician (died 2019)
• August 15
  • Chiharu Suzuka, Japanese voice actress
  • Roger Rose, American voice actor
• August 16
  • Angela Bassett, African-American actress
  • Madonna, American-born singer, songwriter, and actress
• August 17 – Belinda Carlisle, American singer
• August 18
  • Reg E. Cathey, African-American actor (died 2018)
  • Madeleine Stowe, American actress
• August 19 – Brendan Nelson, Australian politician
• August 22 – Colm Feore, American-born Canadian actor
• August 24 – Steve Guttenberg, American actor
• August 25 – Tim Burton, American film director
• August 27 – Normand Brathwaite, African-Canadian comedian and television and radio host
• August 29
  • Michael Jackson, African-American singer, songwriter and dancer (died 2009)
  • Lenny Henry, English comedian and actor
• August 31 – Julie Brown, American actress

• September 2 – Zdravko Krivokapić, Montenegrin politician, Prime Minister of Montenegro
• September 6 – Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor and author^[60]
• September 10
  • Chris Columbus, American film director/writer/producer
  • Siobhan Fahey, Irish singer (Bananarama, Shakespears Sister)
• September 11 – Julia Nickson-Soul, Singapore actress
• September 13 – Paweł Przytocki, Polish conductor
• September 14 – Jeff Crowe, New Zealand cricketer
• September 16 – Jennifer Tilly, Canadian/American actress
• September 17 – Janez Janša, 2-Time Prime Minister of Slovenia
• September 18 – Rachid Taha, Algerian singer and activist (died 2018)
• September 19 – Lita Ford, British musician
• September 21 – Bruno Fitoussi, French poker player
• September 22
  • Andrea Bocelli, Italian tenor
  • Joan Jett, American rock musician
• September 24
  • Kevin Sorbo, American actor
  • Eamonn Healy, Irish chemist
• September 27
  • Shaun Cassidy, American actor, producer and screenwriter
  • Irvine Welsh, Scottish writer
• September 29
  • Eduardo Cunha, Brazilian politician, former President of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
  • Tom Buhrow, German journalist and intendant of the WDR

• October 3 – Chen Yanyin, Chinese sculptor
• October 5 – Neil deGrasse Tyson, American astrophysicist and science communicator
• October 8 – Ursula von der Leyen, German politician, President of the European Commission^[61]
• October 10 – Tanya Tucker, American singer
• October 13 – Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist (died 2018)^[62]
• October 14 – Peter Kloeppel, German television journalist
• October 16
  • Noel Cleal, Australian rugby league player
  • Tim Robbins, American actor and film director
• October 17 – Alan Jackson, American country singer and songwriter
• October 20
  • Scott Hall, American professional wrestler
  • Mark King, English pop-rock guitarist and singer (Level 42)
  • Viggo Mortensen, Danish-American actor^[63]
• October 25 – Kornelia Ender, German swimmer^[64]
• October 26 – Pascale Ogier, French actress (died 1984)
• October 27 – Simon Le Bon, English rock singer
• October 28 – Raúl Pellegrin, Chilean revolutionary, leader of Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front (died 1988)
• October 29
  • Blažej Baláž, Slovak painter
  • Stefan Dennis, Australian actor & singer
• October 31 – Jeannie Longo, French cyclist

• unknown date – Geng Yanbo, Chinese politician
• November 5 – Robert Patrick, American actor
• November 7 – Dmitry Kozak, Russian politician and deputy Prime Minister of Russia
• November 10 – Vicky Rosti, Finnish singer, former Eurovision contestant
• November 12
  • Megan Mullally, American actress, singer and media personality
  • Hiromi Iwasaki, Japanese singer
• November 14 – Sergio Goyri, Mexican actor
• November 16
  • Sooronbay Jeenbekov, President of Kyrgyzstan
  • Marg Helgenberger, American actress
  • Boris Krivokapić, Serbian academic
• November 17 – Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, American actress and singer
• November 18
  • Laura Miller, American politician
  • Oscar Nunez, Cuban-American actor and comedian
• November 18 – Daniel Brailovsky, Argentine-born Israeli footballer and manager^[65]
• November 22
  • Jamie Lee Curtis, American actress
  • Ibrahim Ismail of Johor, Sultan of Johor
• November 25 – Alice Cohen, American singer and fine artist
• November 27 – Tetsuya Komuro, Japanese music producer and songwriter
• November 30 – Juliette Bergmann, Dutch bodybuilder

• December 1
  • Charlene Tilton, American actress
  • Javier Aguirre, Mexican football player and manager^[66]
• December 2 – Mina Asami, Japanese actress
• December 6 – Nick Park, English filmmaker and animator
• December 10
  • Cornelia Funke, German author
  • Annelore Zinke, East German gymnast
• December 11 – Nikki Sixx, American rock musician
• December 12
  • Monica Attard, Australian journalist
  • Lucie Guay, Canadian canoer
  • Dag Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian musician
  • Sheree J. Wilson, American actress
• December 14 – François Zocchetto, French politician
• December 15 – Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (died 1998)
• December 16 – Katie Leigh, American voice actress
• December 18 – Julia Wolfe, American composer
• December 25
  • Dimi Mint Abba, Mauritanian musician and singer (died 2011)
  • Rickey Henderson, African-American baseball player
  • Alannah Myles, Canadian singer-songwriter
• December 26 – Mieko Harada, Japanese actress
• December 29 – Lakhdar Belloumi, Algerian football player
• December 31 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress

• January 1 – Edward Weston, American photographer (born 1886)
• January 3 – Cafer Tayyar Eğilmez, Turkish general (born 1877)
• January 4 – Archie Alexander, American designer and governor (born 1888)^[67]
• January 7
  • Margaret Anglin, American stage actress (born 1876)
  • Petru Groza, Romanian politician, 46th Prime Minister of Romania and head of the State (born 1884)
• January 8
  • Mary Colter, American architect (born 1869)^[68]
  • Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (born 1883)
• January 9 – Karl Reinhardt, German philologist. (born 1886)
• January 13
  • Jesse L. Lasky, American film producer (born 1880)
  • Edna Purviance, American actress (born 1895)
• January 16 – Aubrey Mather, English actor (born 1885)
• January 19 – Cândido Rondon, Brazilian military officer (born 1865)
• January 20 – Ataúlfo Argenta, Spanish conductor and pianist (born 1913)
• January 27 – Prince Oskar of Prussia (born 1888)
• January 30
  • Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (born 1878)
  • Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer and manufacturer (born 1888)

• February 1 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
• February 6 – British footballers killed in Munich air disaster
  • Geoff Bent (born 1932)
  • Roger Byrne (born 1929)
  • Eddie Colman (born 1936)
  • Mark Jones (born 1933)
  • David Pegg (born 1935)
  • Frank Swift (born 1913)
  • Tommy Taylor (born 1932)
  • Liam "Billy" Whelan (born 1935)
• February 7 – Walter Kingsford, English actor (born 1882)
• February 10 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete (born 1899)
• February 11 – Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst (born 1879)
• February 13
  • Christabel Pankhurst, English suffragette (born 1880)^[69]
  • Georges Rouault, French painter (born 1871)
  • Helen Twelvetrees, American actress (born 1908)
• February 14 – Prince Heinrich of Bavaria (born 1922)
• February 16 – Situ Qiao, Chinese painter (born 1902)
• February 17 – Marguerite Snow, American actress (born 1889)
• February 20 – Thurston Hall, American actor (born 1882)
• February 21
  • Henryk Arctowski, Polish scientist and explorer (born 1871)
  • Duncan Edwards English footballer, died from injuries sustained in the Munich air disaster (born 1936)
• February 27 – Harry Cohn, American film producer (born 1891)

• March 1 – Giacomo Balla, Italian painter (born 1871)
• March 6 – Anton Reinthaller, Austrian right wing politician (born 1895)
• March 11 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman (born 1891)
• March 12 – Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (born 1878)
• March 17 – Bertha De Vriese, Belgian physician (born 1877)
• March 21 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American writer (born 1923)
• March 22 (in plane crash)
  • Mike Todd, American film producer (born 1909)
  • Art Cohn, American screenwriter (born 1909)
• March 23
  • Charlotte Walker, American actress (born 1876)
  • Florian Znaniecki, Polish philosopher and sociologist (born 1882)
• March 24
  • Herbert Fields, American librettist and screenwriter (born 1897)
  • Alexandros Hatzikyriakos, Greek admiral and politician (born 1874)^[70]
• March 25
  • Adegoke Adelabu, Nigerian politician (born 1915)
  • Tom Brown, American musician (born 1888)
• March 26 – Phil Mead, English cricketer (born 1887)
• March 28
  • W. C. Handy, African-American blues composer (born 1873)
  • Chuck Klein, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (born 1904)

• April 2
  • Willie Maley, Scottish football player and manager (born 1868)
  • Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (born 1900)
• April 4 – María Luisa Sepúlveda, Chilean composer (born 1898)
• April 5 – Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria (born 1884)
• April 8
  • Alcibíades Arosemena, Panamanian politician, 15th President of Panama (born 1883)
  • George Jean Nathan, American drama critic (born 1882)
  • Frank Eaton, American Deputy Marshal (born 1860)
  • Frank Kingdon-Ward, English botanist and explorer (born 1885)
• April 15 – Estelle Taylor, American actress (born 1894)
• April 16 – Rosalind Franklin, English crystallographer (born 1920)
• April 17 – Rita Montaner, Cuban singer, pianist and actress (born 1900)
• April 18 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (born 1872)
• April 19 – Billy Meredith, Welsh footballer (born 1874)

• May 2 – Henry Cornelius, South African-born director (born 1913)
• May 3 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (born 1889)
• May 5 – James Branch Cabell, American writer (born 1879)
• May 7
  • Joan Comorera, Spanish politician (born 1894)
  • Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian composer, organist and choir conductor (born 1880)
• May 18 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and essayist (born 1881)
• May 19
  • Ronald Colman, English actor (born 1891)
  • Marie Pujmanová, Czechoslovak poet and novelist (born 1893)
  • Jadunath Sarkar, Indian historian (born 1870)
• May 20 – Frédéric François-Marsal, 59th Prime Minister of France (born 1874)
• May 22 – Sir Richmond Palmer, British lawyer and colonial administrator (born 1877)
• May 26 – Constantin Cantacuzino, Romanian aviator (born 1905)
• May 29 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1881)

• June 2
  • Townsend Cromwell, American oceanographer (plane crash) (born 1922)
  • Bell M. Shimada, American fisheries scientist (plane crash) (born 1922)
• June 6
  • Lloyd Hughes, American actor (born 1897)
  • Virginia Pearson, American actress (born 1886)
• June 8 – Nicola da Gesturi, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (born 1882)
• June 9 – Robert Donat, English actor (born 1905)
• June 13 – Edwin Keppel Bennett, British writer (born 1887)
• June 14 – Ibrahim Hashem, Jordanian lawyer and politician, 3-time Prime Minister of Jordan (born 1888)
• June 16
  • Alexander Chervyakov, Prime Minister of the Byelorussian SSR (born 1892)
  • Imre Nagy, Hungarian politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (executed) (born 1896)
  • Nereu Ramos, Brazilian politician, 20th President of Brazil (born 1888)
• June 20 – Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)
• June 21
  • Herbert Brenon, American film director (born 1880)
  • Robert L. Ghormley, American admiral (born 1883)
• June 24 – George Orton, Canadian athlete (born 1876)
• June 27 – Vytautas Augustauskas, Soviet educator (born 1904)
• June 28 – Alfred Noyes, English poet (born 1880)

• July 2 – Martha Boswell, American singer (born 1905)
• July 3 – Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, English politician, 4th Governor-General of New Zealand (born 1867)
• July 5 – Patriarch Vikentije II (born 1890)
• July 9 – James H. Flatley, American naval aviator and admiral (born 1906)
• July 14 (killed during coup d'état):
  • King Faisal II of Iraq (born 1935; assassinated)^[71]
  • 'Abd al-Ilah, Prince of Iraq (born 1913; assassinated)^[71]
• July 15 – Nuri al-Said, Iraqi politician, 7th Prime Minister of Iraq (born 1888)
• July 18 – Henri Farman, pioneer French aviator and aircraft company founder (born 1874)
• July 20 – Franklin Pangborn, American actor (born 1889)
• July 24 – Mabel Ballin, American actress (born 1887)
• July 25 – Harry Warner, American studio executive (born 1881)
• July 26 – Iven Carl Kincheloe Jr., American Korean War fighter ace and test pilot (born 1928)
• July 27 – Claire Lee Chennault, American aviator and general, leader of the Flying Tigers (born 1893)
• July 30 – William A. Glassford, American admiral (born 1886)

• August 2 – Michele Navarra, Italian Sicilian Mafia boss (born 1905)
• August 3 – Peter Collins, British Formula 1 driver (born 1931)
• August 4 – Mario Zanin, Italian Roman Catholic prelate and monsignor (born 1890)
• August 8 – Barbara Bennett, American actress (born 1906)
• August 9 – Felipe Boero, Argentine composer (born 1884)
• August 12 – Augustus Owsley Stanley, American politician, Governor of Kentucky (born 1867)
• August 14
  • Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (born 1900)
  • Gladys Presley, American mother of Elvis Presley (born 1912)
• August 16
  • José Domingues dos Santos, Portuguese politician, 89th Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1885)
  • Paul Panzer, German actor (born 1872)
• August 18 – Bonar Colleano, American actor (born 1924)
• August 21
  • Stevan Hristić, Yugoslav composer (born 1885)
  • Kurt Neumann, German film director (born 1908)
• August 22 – Roger Martin du Gard, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1881)
• August 24
  • Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (born 1876)
  • J. G. Strijdom, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (born 1893)
• August 26 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (born 1872)
• August 27 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901)
• August 29 – Marjorie Flack, American artist, illustrator and writer (born 1897)

• September 3 – Sir Giffard Le Quesne Martel, British army general (born 1889)
• September 11
  • Hans Grundig, German artist (born 1901)
  • Robert W. Service, Scottish-born Canadian poet (born 1874)
• September 16 – Alma Bennett, American actress (born 1904)
• September 23
  • Alfred Piccaver, British-born American operatic tenor (born 1884)
  • Walter Friedrich Otto, German classical philologist (born 1874)
• September 25 – John B. Watson, American psychologist (born 1878)
• September 27 – Adolfo Salazar, Spanish historian, composer and diplomat (born 1890)
• September 30 – Estate Tatanashvili, Soviet general (born 1902)

• October 9 – Pope Pius XII (born 1876)
• October 11 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (born 1876)
• October 14 – Douglas Mawson, Australian geologist and polar explorer (born 1882)
• October 15 – Jack Norton, American actor (born 1882)
• October 16 – Michalis Souyioul, Greek composer (born 1906)
• October 17
  • Celso Benigno Luigi Costantini, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and eminence (born 1876)
  • Charlie Townsend, English cricketer (born 1876)
  • Paul Outerbridge, American photographer (born 1896)
• October 24 – G. E. Moore, British philosopher of (Principia Ethica) (born 1873)
• October 26 – Herbert A. Bartholomew, American farmer and politician (born 1871)
• October 29 – Zoë Akins, American playwright, poet and author (born 1886)

• November 4 – Sam Zimbalist, American film producer (born 1904)
• November 8 – C. Ganesha Iyer, Ceylon Tamil Philologist (born 1878)
• November 11 – André Bazin, French film critic and theorist (born 1918)
• November 15 – Tyrone Power, American actor (born 1914).^[72]
• November 16 – Samuel Hopkins Adams, American writer (born 1871)
• November 19 – Vittorio Ambrosio, Italian general (born 1879)
• November 24
  • Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1864)^[73]
• November 27
  • Artur Rodziński, Polish conductor (born 1892)
  • Georgi Damyanov, Bulgarian Communist political, Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly and head of the State (born 1892)
• November 30 – Oscar C. Badger II, American admiral (born 1890)

• December 1 – Boots Mallory, American actress (born 1913)
• December 4 – José María Caro Rodríguez, Chilean Roman Catholic cardinal and eminence (born 1866)
• December 5
  • Willie Applegarth, British Olympic athlete (born 1890)
  • Patras Bokhari, Pakistani humorist (born 1898)
• December 8 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (born 1888)
• December 11 – Alberto Meschi, Italian anarchist (born 1879)
• December 12
  • Slobodan Jovanović, Serbian intellectual and politician (born 1869)
  • Milutin Milanković, Yugoslav mathematician, astronomer, climatologist and geophysicist, (born 1879)
  • Albert Walsh, Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (born 1900)
• December 13 – Tim Moore, American comedian (born 1887)
• December 15 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900)
• December 21
  • Lion Feuchtwanger, German novelist and playwright (born 1884)
  • H. B. Warner, English actor (born 1876)
• December 27 – Mustafa Merlika-Kruja, 16th Prime Minister of Albania (born 1887)
• December 29 – Doris Humphrey, American dancer and choreographer (born 1895)

• Physics – Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, and Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm
• Chemistry – Frederick Sanger
• Physiology or Medicine – George Wells Beadle, Edward Lawrie Tatum, and Joshua Lederberg^[74]
• Literature – Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
• Peace – Georges Pire