1960

Events

January

• January 1 – Cameroon gains its independence from French-administered U.N. trusteeship.
• January 2 – U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
• January 6 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties.
• January 9 – Four groups apply to register as political parties in Iraq.
• January 9–11 – Aswan Dam construction begins in Egypt.
• January 10 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan makes the "Wind of Change" speech for the first time, to little publicity, in Accra, Gold Coast.
• January 14 – The Reserve Bank and Commonwealth Bank are created in Australia.
• January 15 – The first televised anime, Three Tales, debuts on NHK.
• January 19 – The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan is signed in Washington, D.C.
• January 21
• * Coalbrook mining disaster: A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
• * Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns upon landing at Montego Bay, Jamaica killing 37, the worst air disaster in Jamaica's history and the first for Avianca.
• January 22
• * In France, President Charles de Gaulle dismisses Jacques Massu as commander-in-chief of French troops in Algeria.
• * Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh descend into the Mariana Trench in the bathyscaphe Trieste, reaching the depth of 10,911 meters, and become the first human beings to reach the lowest spot on Earth.
• January 24 – A major insurrection occurs in Algiers, against French colonial policy.
• January 25 – In Washington, D.C., the National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the payola scandal, by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.
• January 28 – The National Football League announces expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season, and Minneapolis–St. Paul for the 1961 NFL season.
• January 30 – The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.

  February

• February 1 – In Greensboro, North Carolina, four black students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. Although they are refused service, they are allowed to stay at the counter. The event triggers many similar non-violent protests throughout the Southern United States, and six months later, the original four protesters are served lunch at the same counter.

• February 3 – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Harold Macmillan makes the Wind of Change speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town.
• February 5 – The first CERN particle accelerator becomes operational in Geneva, Switzerland.
• February 9
• * Adolph Coors III, the chairman of the board of the Coors Brewing Company, is kidnapped in the United States, and his captors demand a ransom of $500,000. Coors is later found murdered, and Joseph Corbett, Jr. is indicted for the crime.
• * Joanne Woodward receives the first star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• February 10 – A conference about the proposed independence of the Belgian Congo begins in Brussels, Belgium.
• February 11
• * The N-class blimp ZPG-3W of the U.S. Navy is destroyed, during a storm over Massachusetts.
• * Twelve Indian soldiers die in clashes with Red Chinese troops, along their small common border.
• February 13 – Gerboise Bleue: France tests its first atomic bomb, in the Sahara Desert of Algeria.
• February 18 – The 1960 Winter Olympics begin at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort, in Placer County, California.
• February 26 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery at Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
• February 29 – The 5.7 Agadir Earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X, destroying Agadir, and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.

  March

• March 2 – American comedian and producer Lucille Ball files for divorce from husband Desi Arnaz, after 19 years of marriage.
• March 3 – Elvis Presley returns home from Germany to the United States, after being away on military duty for 2 years.
• March 5
• * Alberto Korda takes his iconic photograph of Che Guevara, Guerrillero Heroico, in Havana.
• * Elvis Presley receives his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army.
• March 6
• * Vietnam War: The United States announces that 3,500 American soldiers will be sent to Vietnam.
• * The Canton of Geneva in Switzerland gives women the right to vote.
• March 17 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 crashes near Tell City, Indiana, killing all 63 on board.
• March 21 – The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa results in more than 69 dead, 300 injured.
• March 22 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser, in the United States.
• March 23 – Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev meets French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris.
• March 29 – "Tom Pillibi" by Jacqueline Boyer wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 for France.

  April

• April 1
• * Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.
• * The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.
• * The 1960 United States Census begins. There are 179,323,175 U.S. residents on this day. All people from Latin America are listed as white, including blacks from the Dominican Republic, European whites from Argentina and Mexicans who resemble Native Americans.
• April 4
• * At the 32nd Academy Awards Ceremony, Ben-Hur wins a record number of Oscars, including Best Picture.
• * Elvis Presley's song "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" is recorded for the first time.
• April 9 – Gunman David Pratt shoots South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd in Johannesburg, wounding him seriously.
• April 12 – Eric Peugeot, the youngest son of the founder of the Peugeot Corporation, is kidnapped in Paris. He is released on April 15, in exchange for $300,000 in ransom.
• April 13
• * The United States launches navigation satellite Transit I-b.
• * Proposed mass-production of the Blue Streak for the United Kingdom is cancelled.
• April 19 – April Revolution: South Korean students hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against President Syngman Rhee, eventually leading him to resign from that office.
• April 21 – In Brazil, the country's capital is relocated from the city of Rio de Janeiro to the new city, Brasília, in the highlands. The actual city of Rio de Janeiro becomes the State of Guanabara.
• April 27 – Togo gains independence from France, with the French-administered United Nations Trust Territory being terminated.

  May

• May 1
• * Several Soviet surface-to-air missiles shoot down an American Lockheed U-2 spy plane. Its pilot, Francis Gary Powers of the Central Intelligence Agency, is captured.
• * In India, this day is declared as 'Maharashtra Divas', i.e., Maharashtra Day.
• May 3
• * The European Free Trade Association is established.
• * The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, opens at New York City's Sullivan Street Playhouse, where it will play for 42 years.
• May 4
• * West German refugee minister Theodor Oberländer is dismissed, because of his Nazi past.
• * A. J. Liebling promulgates Liebling's Law in The New Yorker Magazine: "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."
• May 6 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960 into law.
• May 9 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announces that it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle's Enovid, making it the world's first approved oral contraceptive pill.
• May 10 – The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach Jr., completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the Earth.
• May 11 – In Buenos Aires, four Mossad agents abduct fugitive Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, in order that he can be taken to Israel and put on trial.
• May 13 – A joint Swiss and Austrian expedition makes the first ascent of the Asian mountain Dhaulagiri, the world's 7th highest mountain.
• May 14 – The Kenyan African National Congress Party is founded in Kenya, when 3 political parties join forces.
• May 15 – The satellite Sputnik 4 is launched into orbit by the Soviet Union.
• May 16
• * Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev demands an apology from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for the U-2 reconnaissance plane flights over the Soviet Union, thus aborting the summit meeting scheduled for Paris in 1960.
• * Theodore Maiman operates the first laser.
• May 18 – Real Madrid beats Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 at Hampden Park, Glasgow, and wins the 1959–60 European Cup in Association football.
• May 20 – In Japan, police carry away socialist members of the Diet of Japan. The Diet next approves a mutual security treaty with the United States.
• May 22 – The 9.4–9.6 Valdivia earthquake affects Chile with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII. This megathrust earthquake ruptures from Arauco to Chiloé Archipelago, causing the most powerful earthquake on record and a destructive basin-wide tsunami.
• May 23 – Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion announces that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been captured.
• May 27 – In Turkey, a bloodless military coup d'état removes President Celâl Bayar, and installs General Cemal Gürsel as the head of state.
• May 30 – Cemal Gürsel forms the new government of Turkey.

  June

• June 1 – New Zealand's first television station begins broadcasting, in the city of Auckland.
• June 5 – The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland.
• June 7 – U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy wins the California Democratic primary.
• June 9 – 1960 Pacific typhoon season: Typhoon Mary kills 1,600 people in China.
• June 15
• * Violent demonstrations at Tokyo University result in 182 arrests, 589 injuries.
• * The BC Ferries company, later to become the second-largest ferry operator in the world, commences service between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay, British Columbia, Canada.
• June 19 – The Associated Broadcasting Company is founded in the Philippines.
• June 20 – The short-lived Mali Federation, consisting of the Sudanese Republic and Senegal, gains independence from France.
• June 23 – Japanese prime minister Nobusuke Kishi announces his resignation.
• June 24 – Joseph Kasa-Vubu is elected as the first President of the independent Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• June 26
• * The State of Somaliland receives its independence from the United Kingdom. Five days later, it unites as scheduled with the Trust Territory of Somalia, to form the Somali Republic.
• * The Malagasy Republic, now Madagascar, becomes independent from France.
• June 28 – King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand arrives in Washington, D.C. for a 4-day royal visit to the U.S.
• June 30
• * The Belgian Congo receives its independence from Belgium, as the Republic of the Congo. A civil war follows shortly.
• * Public demonstrations by democratic and left forces, against Italian government support of the post-fascist Italian Social Movement, are heavily suppressed by police.

  July

• July 1
• * Ghana becomes a republic, and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President.
• * Cold War: A Soviet Air Force MiG-19 fighter plane flying north of Murmansk, Russia, over the Barents Sea, shoots down a six-man RB-47 Stratojet reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force. Four of the U.S. Air Force officers are killed, and the two survivors are held prisoner in the Soviet Union.
• * The Trust Territory of Somaliland gains its independence from Italy. Concurrently, it unites as scheduled with the five-day-old State of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic.
• July 4 - Following the admission of the State of Hawaii as the 50th state in August 1959, the new 50-star Flag of the United States is first officially flown over Philadelphia.
• July 10 - The Soviet Union national football team defeats the Yugoslavian national football team 2–1 in Paris, to win the first UEFA European Championship.
• July 11
• * Congo Crisis: Moise Tshombe declares the Congolese province of Katanga independent. He requests and receives help from Belgium.
• * Harper Lee publishes her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, which later wins the Pulitzer Prize for the best American novel of 1960.
• July 12 - Chin Peng is exiled from Malaysia to Thailand, and the Malayan state of emergency is lifted.
• July 13 - U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy is nominated for President of the United States, at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
• July 14 - The United Nations Security Council decides to send troops to Katanga, to oversee the withdrawal of Belgian troops.
• July 20 - Ceylon elects Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike as its Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
• July 21 - Francis Chichester, English navigator and yachtsman, arrives at New York City aboard his yacht, Gypsy Moth II, crossing the Atlantic Ocean solo in a new record of just 40 days.
• July 25 - The Woolworth Company's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, the location of a sit-in that has sparked demonstrations by Negroes across the Southern United States, serves a meal to its first black customer.
• July 25-28 - In Chicago, the 1960 Republican National Convention nominates Vice President Richard Nixon as its candidate for President of the United States, and Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., as its candidate to become the new vice-president.

  August

• August 1 – Dahomey becomes independent from France.
• August 3 – Niger becomes independent from France.
• August 5 – Upper Volta becomes independent from France.
• August 6
• * Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo against Cuba, Fidel Castro nationalizes all American and foreign-owned property in Cuba.
• * In the Republic of the Congo , Albert Kalonji declares the independence of the Autonomous State of South Kasai.
• August 7
• * The Ivory Coast becomes independent from France.
• * The world's first standard gauge passenger preserved railway, the Bluebell Railway, opens to the public in southern England.
• August 9 – The government of Laos is overthrown in a coup.
• August 11 – Chad becomes independent from France.
• August 12 – Dr. Seuss publishes Green Eggs and Ham.
• August 13 – Ubangi-Shari becomes independent from France, as the Central African Republic. It later becomes the Central African Empire.
• August 15 – Middle Congo becomes independent from France, as the Republic of Congo.
• August 16
• * The Mediterranean island of Cyprus receives its independence from the United Kingdom.
• * Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at an altitude of about 102,800 feet. Kittinger sets world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16.0 miles before opening his parachute; first space dive, and fastest speed attained by a human being without mechanical or chemical assistance, about 982 k.p.h. Kittinger survives more or less uninjured. He is also the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon, and the first man fully to witness the spherical curvature of the Earth.
• August 17
• * The newly named Beatles begin a 48-night residency at the Indra Club in Hamburg, West Germany.
• * Gabon becomes independent from France.
• * The trial of American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.
• August 18 – United States president Dwight Eisenhower is briefed on the Congo crisis at a meeting with the U.S. National Security Council, and asks whether the U.S. "can't get rid of this guy".
• August 19
• * Cold War: In Moscow, American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage.
• * Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches the satellite Sputnik 5, with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants. This satellite returns to earth the next day and all animals are recovered safely.
• August 20 – Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
• August 25 — The 1960 Summer Olympic Games begin in Rome.
• August 29 – Hurricane Donna kills 50 people, in Florida and New England.

  September

• September 1
• * Sultan Hisamuddin Alam Shah, Sultan of Selangor and 2nd Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Tuanku Syed Putra, Raja of Perlis.
• * Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the company's history.
• September 2 – The first elections of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration are held. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
• September 5
• * 1960 Summer Olympic Games: Muhammad Ali wins the gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing.
• * Congolese President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismisses Patrice Lumumba's entire government, and also places Lumumba under house arrest.
• * Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal.
• September 6 – William Hamilton Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell, two American cryptologists, announce their defection to the Soviet Union at a press conference in Moscow.
• September 8 – In Huntsville, Alabama, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center.
• September 9 – The first regular season game in the American Football League takes place at Boston's Nickerson Field. The Denver Broncos defeat the Boston Patriots, 13–10.
• September 10 – 1960 Summer Olympic Games: Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wins the gold medal in the marathon, running barefoot in a world time, and becoming the first person from Sub-Saharan Africa to win Olympic gold.
• September 14
• * Colonel Joseph Mobutu takes power in Republic of the Congo via a military coup.
• * The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is founded.
• * The countries of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela form OPEC.
• September 21 — Mexican President Adolfo López Mateos nationalizes the country's electrical system.
• September 22 – Mali, the sole remaining member of the "Mali Federation", declares its full independence as the Republic of Mali.
• September 26 – The leading candidates for President of the United States, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, participate in the first televised debate.
• September 30 – The Flintstones aired its series premiere on the ABC network.

  October

• October 1
• * Nigeria becomes independent from the United Kingdom, and Nnamdi Azikiwe becomes its first native-born Governor General.
• * Cameroon declares independence from the United Kingdom.
• October 3 – Jânio Quadros is elected President of Brazil, for a five-year term.
• October 5 – White South Africans vote to make the country a republic.
• October 7 – Nigeria becomes the 99th member of the United Nations.
• October 12
• * Cold War: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, his way of protesting the discussion of the Soviet Union's policies toward Eastern Europe.
• * Inejiro Asanuma, chairman of the Japan Socialist Party, is assassinated by Otoya Yamaguchi, using a wakizashi, during a political debate in Tokyo, being taped for broadcast on Japanese television.
• October 13
• * The third John F. Kennedy – Richard M. Nixon Presidential Debate takes place.
• * The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the New York Yankees in the seventh game of the World Series on Bill Mazeroski's series-clinching home run.
• October 14
• * Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy first suggests the idea for the Peace Corps of the United States.
• * The Premier of New South Wales officially opens Warragamba Dam, one of the world's largest domestic water supply dams.
• October 24 – Nedelin catastrophe: A large rocket explodes on the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, killing at least 92 people of the Soviet space program.
• October 26 – Robert F. Kennedy telephones Coretta Scott King, the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and secures King's release from jail for a traffic violation in Atlanta.
• October 29 – In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay wins his first professional boxing match.
• October 30 – Dr. Michael Woodruff carries out the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom, at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

  November

• November 2 – Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity, in the U.K. case of D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.
• November 8 – 1960 United States presidential election: In a close race, Democratic U. S. Senator John F. Kennedy is elected over Republican U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon, to become the second youngest man to serve as President of the United States, and the youngest man elected to this position.
• November 10 – Édith Piaf's recording of "Non, je ne regrette rien" is released in France.
• November 13 – Sammy Davis Jr., marries Swedish actress May Britt.
• November 14
• * Belgium threatens to leave the United Nations, over criticism of its policy concerning the Republic of the Congo.
• * Stéblová train disaster: A head-on collision between two trains in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia, kills 118 people.
• November 15 – A Polaris missile is test-launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• November 22 – The United Nations supports the government of Joseph Kasavubu and Joseph Mobutu, in the Republic of the Congo.
• November 24 – National Basketball Association player Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia 76ers gets 55 rebounds in a game versus the Boston Celtics.
• November 28 – Mauritania becomes independent of France.

  December

• December – The African and Malagasy Organisation for Economic Cooperation is established.
• December 1
• * Patrice Lumumba, deposed premier of the Republic of the Congo, is arrested by the troops of Colonel Joseph Mobutu.
• * A Soviet satellite containing live animals and plants is launched into orbit. Due to a malfunction, it burns up during re-entry.
• December 2
• * The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, talks with Pope John XXIII for about one hour in Vatican City. This is the first time that a chief of the Anglican Church had ever visited the Pope.
• * U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the use of $1.0 million for the relief and resettlement of Cuban refugees, who had been arriving in Florida at the rate of about 1,000 per week.
• December 4 – The admission of Mauritania to the United Nations is vetoed by the Soviet Union.
• December 5
• *Pierre Lagaillarde, who led the insurrections in 1958 and 1960 in Algeria, fails to appear in court in Paris, France. He has reportedly fled with his four fellow defendants to Spain, en route to Algeria.
• * Boynton v. Virginia: The Supreme Court of the United States declares that segregation in public transportation is illegal in the United States.
• December 7 – The United Nations Security Council is called into session by the Soviet Union, in order to consider Soviet demands for the Security Council to seek the immediate release of former Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.
• December 8 – For the first time, Mary Martin's Peter Pan is presented as a stand-alone 2-hour special on NBC, instead of as part of an anthology series. This version, rather than being presented live, is shown on videotape, enabling NBC to repeat it as often as they wish without having to restage it. Although nearly all of the adult actors repeat their original Broadway roles, all of the original children have, ironically, outgrown their roles and are replaced by new actors.
• December 9
• * French President Charles de Gaulle's visit to Algeria is bloodied by European and Muslim rioters, in Algeria's largest cities. These riots cause 127 deaths.
• * The classic British TV soap opera Coronation Street premieres. Planned as a 13-part drama, it becomes such a success among viewers it will continue past its 10,000th episode in its 60th anniversary year, being shown six times a week.
• December 11 – MGM's The Wizard of Oz is rerun on CBS only a year after its previous telecast, thus beginning the tradition of annual telecasts of the film.
• December 12 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds a lower Federal Court ruling that the State of Louisiana's racial segregation laws are unconstitutional, and overturns them.
• December 13
• * 1960 Ethiopian coup attempt: While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Kebur Zabagna leads a military coup against his rule, proclaiming that the emperor's son, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen Taffari, is the new emperor.
• * The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua announce the formation of the Central American Common Market.
• * The U.S. Navy's Commander Leroy Heath and Lieutenant Larry Monroe establish a world flight-altitude record of 91,450 feet, with payload, in an A-5 Vigilante bomber carrying, and better the previous world record by over four miles.
• December 14
• * Antoine Gizenga proclaims in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that he has taken over as the country's premier.
• * The first tied test is held by the West Indian cricket team in Australia in Brisbane.
• December 15
• * King Mahendra of Nepal deposes the democratic government in his country, and takes direct control himself.
• * King Baudouin of Belgium marries Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.
• December 16
• * Secretary of State Christian Herter announces that the United States will commit five nuclear submarines and eighty Polaris missiles to the defense of the NATO countries,1 010by the end of 1963.
• * New York mid-air collision: A United Airlines DC-8 collides in mid-air with a TWA Lockheed Constellation over Staten Island in New York City. All 128 passengers and crewmembers on the two airliners, and six people on the ground, are killed.
• December 17 – Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia overcome the coup that began on December 13, returning the reins to the Emperor upon his return from a trip to Brazil. The Emperor absolves his own son of any guilt.
• December 19 – Fire sweeps through the USS Constellation, to become the U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier, while she is under construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; killing 50 workers and injuring 150.
• December 27 – France sets off its third A-bomb test at its nuclear weapons testing range near Reggane, Algeria.
• December 31 – Last day on which the farthing, a coin first minted in England in the 13th century, is legal tender in the United Kingdom.

  World population

• World population: 3,021,475,000
• * Africa: 277,398,000
• * Asia: 1,701,336,000
• * Europe: 604,401,000
• * Latin America: 218,300,000
• * North America: 204,152,000
• * Oceania: 15,888,000

  Births

January

• January 1
• * Mehdi Abbasov, Azerbaijani military
• * Jeff Taylor, American basketball player
• * Allen McKenzie, American rock musician
• * Almaz Sharman, President of the Academy of Preventive Medicine of Kazakhstan
• * Alexey Vyzmanavin, Russian chess Grandmaster
• January 2
• * Neal Jones, American film actor
• * Bernard Fowler, American musician
• * Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author and artist
• January 3
• * Washington César Santos, Brazilian footballer
• * Marla Glen, American singer
• * Alejandro Illescas, Mexican voice actor
• * Rick Kosick, American photographer
• January 4
• * Art Paul Schlosser, American comedian, singer and songwriter
• * Michael Stipe, American rock singer
• * Joseph P. Overton, American politician and philosopher
• * April Winchell, American writer and voice actress
• January 5 – Peter Oskam, Dutch politician
• January 6
• * Natalia Bestemianova, Soviet ice dancer, 1988 Olympic Champion
• * Kari Jalonen, Finnish ice hockey player
• * Howie Long, American football player
• * Nigella Lawson, English journalist, broadcaster, television personality, gourmet, and food writer
• * Miriam O'Callaghan, Irish media personality
• * Andrea Thompson, American actress
• January 7
• * David Marciano, American actor
• * Loretta Sanchez, American politician, United States Representative
• * Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian politician, diplomat
• January 8 – Dave Weckl, American jazz drummer
• January 9 – Michael Sis, American catholic bishop
• January 10
• * Jurrie Koolhof, Dutch footballer and manager
• * Negro Casas, Mexican professional wrestler
• * Brian Cowen, Taoiseach of Ireland
• * Jay Russell, American film director
• January 11 – Mike Turner, U.S. Representative for Ohio's 10th congressional district
• January 12
• * Oliver Platt, Canadian actor
• * Dominique Wilkins, American basketball player
• January 13
• * Eric Betzig, American physicist
• * Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Moroccan businessman
• * Bruno Heller, English screenwriter
• January 14 – Virginia Postrel, American political and cultural writer
• January 15
• * Kelly Asbury, American film director, screenwriter and voice actor
• * Natiq Hashim, Iraqi football player
• January 16
• * Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar, Malaysian politician, architect and entrepreneur
• * Richard Elliot, Scottish-born American saxophonist
• * Steve Erwin, American artist
• * Scot Kleinendorst, American ice hockey player
• January 17
• * Christopher R. Johnson, American computer scientist
• * Chatchai Plengpanich, Thai film and television actor
• January 18 – Mark Rylance, English actor, theatre director and playwright
• January 19
• * Joe Magnarelli, American jazz trumpeter
• * Eleanor Mondale, American radio personality, television host, and actress
• * Howard A. Stone, American professor
• January 20
• * Sabar Koti, Indian singer
• * Scott Thunes, American rock musician
• * Will Wright, American computer game designer
• January 21
• * Zé Beto, Portuguese footballer
• * Toxey Haas, American entrepreneur, founder of Haas Outdoors, Inc.
• * Mamoru Nagano, Japanese designer
• January 22
• * Stephen Hahn
• * Michael Hutchence, Australian rock musician
• January 23
• * Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer
• * Max Keiser, American broadcaster and film maker
• * Rob Garrison, American actor
• * Viktor Yanushevsky, Soviet–Belarusian football player
• January 24
• * Rick Leventhal, American news journalist
• * Abigail Disney, American documentary filmmaker
• January 25
• * Nancy Gibbs, American essayist
• * Miki Narahashi, Japanese voice actress
• January 26 – Charlie Gillingham, American keyboardist
• January 27 – Philip Rosenthal, American television writer and producer
• January 28
• * Ferrin Barr Jr., American professional wrestler
• * Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer and producer
• January 29
• * Gia Carangi, American model
• * Sean Kerly, British field hockey player
• * Greg Louganis, American diver
• January 30 – Louis "Cousin Vinny" Agnello, American morality writer
• January 31
• * Matt Kisber, Democratic politician in the U.S. state of Tennessee
• * Fernando Lorenzo, Uruguayan economist
• * Grant Morrison, Scottish comic book writer and playwright

  February

• February 1 – Lauren Passarelli, American musician and educator
• February 2
• * David Chabala, Zambia's first choice goalkeeper
• * Jari Porttila, Finnish sports journalist
• * Blair Tindall, American music journalist
• February 3
• * Marty Jannetty, American professional wrestler
• * Mike Kuglitsch, Wisconsin State Assembly
• * Joachim Löw, German football manager
• * Lucky Lamons, Oklahoma House of Representatives from the 66th district
• * Kerry Von Erich, American professional wrestler
• February 4
• * William J. Frank, Member of the Maryland House of Delegates, District 42
• * Siobhan Dowd, British writer and activist
• * Jenette Goldstein, American actress
• * Jonathan Larson, American composer and playwright
• February 5 – Bonnie Crombie, Canadian politician, former Member of Parliament
• February 6
• * Harry Thompson, English radio and television producer, comedy writer, novelist and biographer
• * Megan Gallagher, American theater actor
• February 7
• * Yasunori Matsumoto, Japanese voice actor
• * Robert Smigel, American actor, comedian, and puppeteer
• * James Spader, American actor
• February 8
• * Benigno Aquino III, 15th President of the Philippines
• * Alfred Gusenbauer, Chancellor of Austria
• * Stuart Hamm, American bass player
• February 9
• * Holly Johnson, English artist, musician, and writer
• * Frederik Ndoci, Albanian singer, songwriter, poet, writer, actor and international Recording artist
• * Peggy Whitson, American biochemistry researcher, and astronaut
• February 10
• * Robert Addie, English actor
• * Jim Kent, American research scientist
• * Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais - The Imam of The Grand Mosque in Mecca and the president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques.
• February 11 – Russ Freeman, American jazz guitarist
• February 12 – Barry Grodenchik, New York City Council member for the 23rd District
• February 13
• * Kate Banks, American children's writer
• * Pierluigi Collina, Italian football referee
• * Gary Patterson, American football coach
• * Matt Salinger, American actor
• * Yuriko Yamamoto, Japanese actress
• February 14
• * Jim Kelly, American football player
• * Olivia Cheng, Hong Kong actress
• * Eric Shea, American actor
• * Meg Tilly, American-Canadian actress and novelist
• February 15
• * Delilah Rene, American radio personality
• * Sarah Stevens, Member of North Carolina House of Representatives
• February 16
• * Cherie Chung, Hong Kong actress
• * Stephen Moore, American writer
• February 17 – Thom Adcox-Hernandez, American actor and voice actor
• February 18
• * Gazebo, Italian musician
• * Tony Anselmo, American animator and voice actor
• February 19
• * Prince Andrew, Duke of York, British prince and second son of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh
• * Jim Lawson, American comic book artist
• * Steve Poltz, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• * Bill Werkheiser, Georgia House of Representatives
• February 20
• * Kee Marcello, Swedish rock guitarist
• * Cándido Muatetema Rivas, 4th Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea
• * Wendee Lee, American voice actress
• February 21
• * Zé Beto, Portuguese footballer
• * Henry G. Brinton, American writer and minister
• * Laurent Petitguillaume, French radio and television host
• * Ricky Tosso, Peruvian actor
• February 22
• * Paul Abbott, English television screenwriter and producer
• * Brian Anthony Wilson, American film actor
• February 23
• * Naruhito, Emperor of Japan
• * Gary Beacom, Canadian figure skater and choreographer
• * Anna Gornostaj, Polish actress
• February 24 – Nick Esasky, American baseball player
• February 25 – David McGuinty, Canadian member of Parliament
• February 26 – Hannes Jaenicke, German actor
• February 27
• * Andrés Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player
• * Kara Kennedy, American television producer, daughter of Ted Kennedy
• * Stoney Jackson, American actor
• * Mary Jo Pehl, American writer, actress and comedian
• * Jeff Smith, American cartoonist
• February 28
• * Eric Buterbaugh, American florist
• * Tōru Ōkawa, Japanese voice actor
• * Dorothy Stratten, Canadian model and actress
• February 29
• * Mark Donnelly, Canadian singer
• * Steve Levitt, American actor
• * Richard Ramirez, American serial killer
• * Khaled, Algerian singer

  March

• March 1
• * Michael Bonacini, British-Canadian chef
• * Kelly Falkner, American chemical oceanographer
• * Art Smith, American chef
• March 2
• * Hector Calma, Filipino basketball player
• * Debra McMichael, American professional wrestling valet
• * Mikhail Tyurin, Russian cosmonaut.
• March 3 – Nancy Moritz, United States Circuit Judge
• March 4
• * Mikko Kuustonen, Finnish singer and songwriter
• * Reggie McElroy, American football player
• * John Mugabi, Ugandan boxer and World Junior Middleweight champion
• March 5 – Freddie Roach, American professional boxing trainer
• March 6 – Lisa Brown, American legal executive
• March 7
• * Joe Carter, American baseball player
• * Dana King, American broadcast journalist and sculptor
• * Ivan Lendl, Czech tennis player
• March 8
• * Finn Carter, American actress
• * Jeffrey Eugenides, American author
• March 9
• * Robert James Jonker, Chief United States District Judge
• * Matt Michels, Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota
• March 10
• * Aécio Neves, Brazilian economist and politician
• * Anne MacKenzie, Scottish broadcaster
• March 11
• * Sharon Jordan, American actress
• * Camille Turner, Canadian media and performance artist, curator, and educator.
• March 12
• * Minoru Niihara, Japanese singer
• * Courtney B. Vance, American actor
• March 13
• * Adam Clayton, Irish rock bassist
• * Joe Ranft, American animator and voice actor
• March 14 – Kirby Puckett, American baseball player
• March 15 — Rosa Beltrán, Mexican writer, lecturer, and academic.
• March 16
• * Jenny Eclair, British comedian, actress and novelist
• * John Hemming, British Liberal Democrat politician and businessman
• March 17 – Ruth Langsford, English television presenter
• March 18
• * Richard Biggs, American television and stage actor
• * Steve Kloves, American screenwriter
• March 19
• * Simo Aalto, Finnish magician
• * Joey Albert, Filipino pop and jazz singer
• * Shelly Burch, American actress
• * Eliane Elias, Brazilian jazz pianist
• * Cindy Frich, Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
• * Eric Hahn, American entrepreneur and computer software programmer
• * Michael Urbano, American musician and record producer
• March 20
• * Norm Magnusson, American artist
• * Norbert Pohlmann, German computer scientist
• * Yuri Shargin, Russian cosmonaut
• March 21
• * Ayrton Senna, Brazilian triple Formula One world champion
• * Robert Sweet, American rock drummer
• March 22
• * David Kauffman, American music artist, songwriter and producer for religious music
• March 23
• * Colin Scott, Australian rugby league player
• * Rafael Ferrer, American actor
• * Nicol Stephen, Scottish politician
• March 24
• * Jan Berglin, Swedish cartoonist
• * Kelly Le Brock, American-English model and actress
• * Nena, German singer
• * Annabella Sciorra, Italian-American actress
• * Chris Tashima, American actor and director
• March 25 - Brenda Strong, American actress
• March 26
• * Marcus Allen, American football player
• * Jennifer Grey, American actress
• * Jon Huntsman Jr., American businessman, diplomat, and politician
• March 27
• * Reed Gusciora, Mayor of Trenton
• * Jess Mowry, American author
• * Hans Pflügler, German footballer
• * Renato Russo, Brazilian singer
• March 28
• * James Rubin, American diplomat and journalist
• * Christine Sinicki, Democratic Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• March 29
• * Paddy Chew, Singaporean HIV/aids victim
• * Steve Feinberg, Chief Executive Officer of Cerberus Capital Management
• * Bill Mitchell, Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives
• * Kevin A. Ohlson, American judge
• * Hiromi Tsuru, Japanese voice actress
• March 30 – Bill Corbett, American writer
• March 31
• * Popa Chubby, American rock and blues singer
• * Michelle Nicastro, American actress

  April

• April 1
• * Michael Praed, British actor
• * Jennifer Runyon, American actress
• April 2
• * John Jantsch, American author
• * Linford Christie, British athlete
• April 3 – Marie Denise Pelletier, Canadian singer
• April 4
• * Murray Chandler, New Zealand chess grandmaster
• * Lorraine Toussaint, Trinidadian-American actress and producer
• * Hugo Weaving, Nigerian-born Australian actor
• April 5
• * Rüdiger Emshoff, German oral and maxillofacial surgeon
• * Larry McCray, American blues guitarist
• * Oliver Luck, American business executive, commissioner of XFL
• April 6
• * Warren Haynes, American musician, singer and songwriter
• * John Pizzarelli, American jazz guitarist and vocalist
• * Jane A. Rogers, American actress
• April 7
• * Elaine Miles, American actress
• * Timothy Parker, American puzzle editor
• * Julieta Schildknecht, Swiss-Brazilian photographer and journalist
• April 8 - John Schneider, American actor
• April 9 - Sam Moffie, American novelist
• April 10
• * Héctor Rivoira, Argentine football manager and player
• * Fabio Golfetti, Brazilian musician and record producer
• April 11
• * Marko Elsner, Slovenian footballer
• * Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist, television show host and comedian
• April 12
• * Abdoulatifou Aly, Malagasy-French politician
• * Ron MacLean, Canadian sportcaster
• April 13
• *Dinesh Kaushik, Indian politician
• *Rudi Völler, German footballer and manager
• April 14
• * Brad Garrett, American actor, comedian and voice actor
• * Myoma Myint Kywe, Burmese Writer and Historian
• April 15
• * Susanne Bier, Danish film director
• * Mikhail Kornienko, Russian cosmonaut
• * King Philippe of Belgium
• April 16
• * Wahab Akbar, Filipino politician
• * Rafael Benítez, Spanish football manager
• * Pierre Littbarski, German footballer and coach
• April 18
• * Jim Margraff, American football coach
• * Neo Rauch, German painter
• * J. Christopher Stevens, American diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Libya
• April 19 – Frank Viola, American baseball player
• April 20
• * John Altenburgh, American blues and jazz musician
• * Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuban politician, 17th President of Cuba
• April 21 – Jeannette Walls, American author and journalist
• April 22
• * Benjamín Gallegos Soto, Mexican pilot and politician
• * Gary Rhodes, British restaurateur and television chef
• * Randall L. Stephenson, American telecommunications executive
• April 23
• * Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
• * Steve Clark, English guitarist
• * David Gedge, English musician
• * Léo Jaime, Brazilian writer, actor and musician
• * Michael Lohan, American television personality; father of Lindsay Lohan
• April 26
• * Sorin Frunzăverde, Romanian politician
• * Dolly Hall, American film producer
• * Jonathan Rauch, American author and journalist
• April 27 – Misha Quint, Russian cellist
• April 28
• * John Cerutti, American baseball player and announcer
• * Elena Kagan, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• * Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman, powerlifter and bodybuilder
• * Ian Rankin, Scottish crime novelist
• April 29 – Steve Blum, American voice actor
• April 30 – David Miscavige, American church leader

  May

• May 1
• * Andy Thayer, American socialist, LGBTQ rights and anti-war activist
• * Bart Chilton, American civil servant
• May 2
• * Stephen Daldry, English film director
• * Gjorge Ivanov, President of Macedonia
• * Royce Simmons, Australian rugby league player and coach
• May 3
• * May Ayim, Afro-German poet, educator, and activist
• * Jaron Lanier, American computer philosophical writer
• May 4
• * Andrew Denton, Australian television presenter and comedian
• * Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria
• * Carl Hoffman, American journalist
• May 5
• * Jorge Quiroga, President of Bolivia
• * Douglas H. Wheelock, American engineer and astronaut
• May 6 – John Flansburgh, American singer-songwriter, half of alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants
• May 7 – Adam Bernstein, American music video/television director
• May 8
• * Eric Brittingham, American rock bassist
• * Patrick McKenna, Canadian actor and comedian
• May 9 – Tony Gwynn, American baseball player
• May 10
• * John Mieremet, Dutch underworld figure
• * Bono, Irish rock singer
• May 11 – Mark Burgess
• May 12 – Felicia C. Adams, American attorney, Northern District of Mississippi
• May 13 – Michael Savage, Irish-Canadian politician, Member of Parliament
• May 14
• * Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
• * Steve Williams, American professional wrestler
• May 15 – Julian Jarrold, English film and television director and producer
• May 16
• * Steve New, English pop music guitarist and singer
• * S. Shanmuganathan, Sri Lankan politician
• * Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician
• * Lovebug Starski, American rapper and disc jockey
• May 17
• * Tim Canova, American politician and law professor
• * John Payne, English actor and voice actor
• May 18
• * Tyka Nelson, American singer
• * Jari Kurri, Finnish hockey player
• * Yannick Noah, French tennis player
• May 19
• * Mark Ashton, Irish gay rights activist
• * Yazz, British pop singer
• May 20
• * John Billingsley, American actor
• * Tony Goldwyn, American actor, voice actor, and film director
• May 21
• * Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer
• * Kent Hrbek, American baseball player
• * John O'Brien, American author
• * Mark Ridgway, Australian cricketer
• * Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer
• May 21 – Mohanlal, Indian actor
• May 22 – Hideaki Anno, Japanese director
• May 23 – Linden Ashby, American actor
• May 24
• * Greg Conescu, Australian rugby league player
• * Guy Fletcher, British keyboardist
• * Doug Jones, American actor
• * Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress
• May 25
• * Wallace Roney, American jazz trumpeter
• * Amy Klobuchar, American politician
• * Oh Yun-kyo, South Korean footballer
• May 26 – Rob Murphy, American baseball player
• May 27
• * Alexander Bashlachev, Soviet poet and rock musician
• * D. Kupendra Reddy, Indian politician
• May 28 – Scott Rigell, American politician, Virginia U.S. Representative
• May 29
• * Lorena Borjas, Mexican-American transgender and immigrant rights activist
• * Thomas Baumer, Swiss economist, interculturalist and personality assessor
• * Neil Crone, Canadian actor
• May 30
• * Micah Barnes, Canadian pop singer-songwriter
• * Carmen Velasquez, American justice, New York City Civil Court
• May 31
• * Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player
• * Chris Elliott, American actor and comedian

  June

• June 1
• * Vladimir Krutov, Soviet hockey forward
• * Lucy McBath, American gun control advocate and politician
• * Elena Mukhina, Soviet artistic gymnast
• June 2
• * P. Balasubramaniam, Malaysian police officer
• * Tony Hadley, British pop musician and was lead singer of Spandau Ballet
• * Kyle Petty, American NASCAR driver and sports commentator
• * Maria Lourdes Sereno, Filipina jurist, 24th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• June 3
• * Jeff Colyer, American surgeon, Governor of Kansas
• * Catherine Davani, first female Papua New Guinean judge
• June 4
• * Suzy Aitchison, English actress
• * Paul Taylor, American musician
• * Bradley Walsh, English actor and comedian
• June 5
• * Paul Montgomery, American entrepreneur and inventor
• * Seiichi Endo, Japanese criminal
• June 6
• * Ervin A. Gonzalez, American attorney
• * Steve Vai, American guitarist
• June 7
• *Bill Prady, American television writer
• *Hirohiko Araki, Japanese manga artist, creator of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
• June 8
• * Gary Trousdale, American animator and film director
• * Diane Meredith Belcher, American concert organist, teacher, and church musician
• * Mick Hucknall, English rock singer and songwriter
• * Garth Smith, American pianist
• June 9 – Steve Paikin, Canadian journalist
• June 10 – Nandamuri Balakrishna, Indian actor
• June 11 – Mehmet Oz, Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon and television personality
• June 12 – Corynne Charby, French model, actress and singer
• June 13 – Jacques Rougeau, Canadian professional wrestler
• June 14 – Peter Mitchell, Australian newsreader
• June 15 – Michèle Laroque, French actress
• June 16 – Peter Sterling, Australian rugby league player
• June 17 – Thomas Haden Church, American actor and film director
• June 18
• * West Arkeen, American musician
• * Dan Buettner, American author
• June 19 – Laurent Gamelon, French actor
• June 20 – Julie Cooper, British politician, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom
• June 21
• * Kate Brown, American politician
• * Kevin Harlan, American sports announcer
• * Karl Erjavec, Slovenian lawyer and politician
• June 22
• *Adam Schiff, American attorney and politician, U.S. Representative of California's 28th district
• * Erin Brockovich, American environmental activist
• * Joseph Victor Gonzales, Malaysian choreographer
• June 23 – Per Morberg, Swedish actor, chef and news presenter
• June 24
• * Chris Knight, American singer-songwriter
• * Robert Stiff, Southern Rhodesia–British entrepreneur
• June 25
• * Frances Black, Irish singer and politician
• * Eve Gordon, American actress
• June 26 – Mauro Carlesse, Brazilian politician, Governor of Tocantins
• June 27
• * Jeremy Swift, English television actor
• * David Cholmondeley, 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley, British peer and filmmaker
• * Lü Jihong, Chinese singer
• * Michael Mayer, American theatre director, film director, television director and playwright
• June 28
• * John Elway, American football player
• * Richard Rycroft, English actor and comedian
• June 29 – Ivans Ribakovs, Latvian politician
• June 30
• * Anna Šišková, Slovak actress
• * David Headley, American-Pakistani terrorist
• * David Frum, Canadian-American political commentator
• * Tony Bellotto, Brazilian guitarist and writer
• * Diego Trujillo, Colombian actor
• * Vincent Klyn, New Zealand-born actor and surfer
• * Murray Cook, Australian musician and actor

  July

• July 1
• * Đorđe Đogani, Serbian singer
• * Kōji Ishii, Japanese voice actor
• * Mikael Håfström, Swedish film director and screenwriter
• * Helena Little, English actress
• * Dave Thompson, English stand-up comedian, actor and writer
• July 2
• * James Hirvisaari, Finnish politician
• * Michel Moore, American policeman
• July 3
• * Martyn J. Fogg, British physicist and geologist
• * Vince Clarke, British musician and composer
• * Perrine Pelen, French alpine skier
• * Håkan Loob, Swedish ice hockey player
• July 4
• * Mark Steel, English comedian, broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author
• * Sid Eudy, American professional wrestler
• * Barry Windham, American professional wrestler
• * Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian Formula One driver
• July 5
• * Jack Radcliffe, American pornographic film actor
• * Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor
• * Brad Loree, Canadian actor and stuntman
• * Hugo Rubio, Chilean football player
• * Bruce Lanoil, American actor and voice actor
• July 6
• * Ferenc Juhász, Minister of Defence for Hungary
• * Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukrainian politician
• July 7
• * Kevin A. Ford, American astronaut
• * Ralph Sampson, American basketball player
• * Billy Wright, Northern Irish paramilitary leader
• * Ying Da, Chinese actor and director
• * Yem Ponhearith, Cambodian politician
• July 8
• * Thilo Martinho, German composer and singer-songwriter
• * Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league player and coach
• * Duncan Roy, English film director and producer, script writer, art director and television personality
• * Eleanor Scott, British archaeologist and politician
• July 9
• * Yūko Asano, Japanese actress and singer
• * Charles Gavin, Brazilian drummer and producer
• * Wanda Vázquez Garced, Puerto Rican politician, Governor
• * Michael Feichtenbeiner, German football coach
• July 10
• * Roger Craig, American former football player
• * Martyn P. Casey, English-Australian rock bass guitarist
• * Ariel Castro, Puerto Rican-American kidnapper and rapist
• * Jeff Bergman, American voice actor, comedian and impressionist
• July 11
• * Terry Domburg, Australian rules footballer
• * David Baerwald, American singer-songwriter, composer, and musician
• * Kumar Gaurav, Indian film actor
• * Caroline Quentin, English actress and television presenter
• July 12 – Sully Díaz, Puerto Rican actress and singer
• July 13
• * Ian Hislop, British journalist and broadcaster
• * Frane Perišin, Croatian actor
• July 14
• * Kyle Gass, American music singer-songwriter-guitarist/actor
• * Jane Lynch, American actress, voice actress, author, singer and comedian
• * Michal David, Czech pop-singer, songwriter and producer
• * Taung Galay Sayadaw, Burmese buddhist monk
• * Angélique Kidjo, Beninese singer-songwriter and activist
• July 15
• * Dennis Storhøi, Norwegian actor
• * Martyn Joseph, Welsh singer-songwriter
• * Sergio Kato, Brazilian actor, television host, comedian and martial artist
• * Kim Alexis, American model and actress
• July 16
• * Cedric Foo, Singaporean politician and corporate executive
• * Jacqueline Gold, British businesswoman
• * Leila Kenzle, American actress
• * Todd Brown, American football player
• * PJ Powers, South African musician
• July 17
• * Robin Shou, Hong Kong martial artist and actor
• * Mark Burnett, British television and film producer
• * Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
• July 18
• * Lamine Guèye, Senegalese skier
• * Anne-Marie Johnson, American actress
• July 19
• * Kevin Haskins, English drummer
• * Ethan Canin, American author, educator, and physician
• * Atom Egoyan, Armenian-Canadian film maker
• * Steve Viksten, American television writer and voice actor
• * Terrie Hall, American anti-smoking advocate
• July 20 – Jonathon Morris, English actor and television presenter
• July 21
• * Ezequiel Viñao, Argentine-born composer
• * Fritz Walter, German footballer
• July 22
• * Torben Grael, Brazilian sailor
• * Djamel Menad, Algerian footballer
• * Daryl Shuttleworth, Canadian actor
• July 27 – Conway Savage, Australian rock musician
• July 28
• * Jonathan Gold, American food critic
• * Harald Lesch, German physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter, professor of physics
• July 30 – Richard Linklater, American director
• July 31
• * Dale Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• * Luca Ward, Italian actor and voice actor

  August

• August 1
• * Chuck D, American rapper
• * Professor Griff, American rapper
• * Maria Vidal, American singer-songwriter
• August 4
• * Dean Malenko, American professional wrestler
• * José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain
• * Tim Winton, Australian writer
• August 6 – Dale Ellis, American basketball player
• August 7
• * Rosana Pastor, Spanish actress
• * David Duchovny, American actor
• * Deborah Ellis, Canadian author
• August 8 – Ulrich Maly, German politician and Mayor of Nuremberg
• August 9 – Roger Marshall, American politician, Kansas's 1st congressional district
• August 10
• * Antonio Banderas, Spanish actor and film director
• * Kenny Perry, American golfer
• August 11 – J. F. Lawton, American screenwriter
• August 12 – Laurent Fignon, French road bicycle racer
• August 13
• * Koji Kondo, Japanese composer
• * Phil Taylor, English darts player
• August 14 – Sarah Brightman, English soprano singer and actress
• August 15 – Judy Holt, British television actress
• August 16
• * Timothy Hutton, American actor
• * Martha Moxley, American murder victim
• August 17 – Sean Penn, American actor and film director
• August 18 – Stuart Matthewman, English songwriter
• August 19 – Morten Andersen, American football player
• August 20 – Elizabeth Alda, American actress
• August 21 – Charles Dausabea, Solomon Islands politician
• August 22 – Regina Taylor, American actress
• August 23 – Chris Potter, Canadian actor and musician
• August 24
• * Cal Ripken Jr., American baseball player
• * Roberto Draghetti, Italian actor and voice actor
• August 25 – Marciano Cantero, Argentine singer and musician
• August 26
• * Branford Marsalis, African-American musician
• * Ola Ray, American actress and model
• August 27 – Gary Cohn, American business leader, 11th Director of the National Economic Council
• August 28 – Jodi Carlisle, American actress
• August 29
• * Chingiz Mustafayev, Azerbaijani journalist
• * Viire Valdma, Estonian actress
• August 30
• * Chalino Sánchez, Mexican singer and songwriter
• * Ranjit Khanwilkar, Indian cricket
• August 31 – Chris Whitley, American blues/rock singer-songwriter and guitarist

  September

• September 1 – Joseph Williams, American singer and film score composer
• September 2
• * Paul Sirba, American Roman Catholic prelate
• * John S. Hall, American poet and spoken-word artist
• September 4
• * Kim Thayil, American rock guitarist
• * Damon Wayans, African-American actor and comedian
• September 5 – Karita Mattila, Finnish soprano
• September 7
• * Phillip Rhee, American actor, producer and writer
• * Dušan Pašek, Slovak ice hockey player
• September 8 – Stefano Casiraghi, Italian speedboat racer, socialite, and businessman
• September 9
• * Mario Batali, American chef and host
• * Hugh Grant, English actor and activist
• * Bob Stoops, American football coach
• September 10 – Colin Firth, English actor
• September 11 – Annie Gosfield, American composer
• September 12
• * Evan Jenkins, American politician
• * Robert John Burke, American actor
• September 13
• * Kevin Carter, South African photojournalist
• * Greg Baldwin, American actor and voice actor
• September 14
• * Melissa Leo, American actress
• * Callum Keith Rennie, Canadian actor
• September 15 – Jimmy Bridges, American actor
• September 16
• * John Franco, American baseball player
• * Yianna Katsoulos, French singer
• September 17
• * Alan Krueger, American economist
• * Damon Hill, British 1996 Formula 1 world champion
• * Kevin Clash, American actor and puppeteer
• September 19 – Yolanda Saldívar, American murderer of tejano singer Selena
• September 21 – David James Elliott, Canadian-American actor
• September 22 – Scott Baio, American actor
• September 25
• * Eduardo Yáñez, Mexican film and television actor
• * Sam Whipple, American actor
• September 26 – Andre Harrell, American record executive, record producer, songwriter and rapper
• September 27 – David Gasman, American voice actor, translator, and voice director
• September 28 – Jennifer Rush, American singer
• September 29 – Alan McGee, British music industry mogul and musician
• September 30 – Blanche Lincoln, American politician

  October

• October 1
• * Peter Seabourne, English composer
• October 4
• * Ana Patricia Botín, Spanish banker
• * Billy Hatcher, American baseball player
• * Blake Nordstrom, American businessman
• October 5
• * Careca, Brazilian footballer
• * Hitomi Kuroki, Japanese actress
• * Daniel Baldwin, American actor
• October 6
• * Richard Jobson, Scottish rock singer-songwriter, filmmaker and television presenter
• * Toru Takahashi, Japanese race car driver
• October 9 – Marin Mazzie, American actress and singer
• October 12
• * Alexei Kudrin, Russian Minister of Finance
• * Hiroyuki Sanada, Japanese actor
• October 13 – Joey Belladonna, American heavy metal singer
• October 16
• * Leila Pinheiro, Brazilian singer, pianist and composer
• * Bob Mould, American musician
• October 17
• * Guy Henry, English actor
• * Bernie Nolan, Irish actress and singer
• * Grant Shaud, American actor
• October 18
• * Alex Ferrer, Cuban-American television personality, lawyer and judge
• * Jean-Claude Van Damme, Belgian actor and martial artist
• * Erin Moran, American actress
• October 19 – Kerry Sanders, American news correspondent
• October 21 – Paul Rugg, American voice actor and producer
• October 24
• * Wolfgang Güllich, German rockclimber
• * BD Wong, American actor
• * Jaime Garzón, Colombian journalist and comedian
• October 26 – Jouke de Vries, Dutch–Frisian politician
• October 28 – Landon Curt Noll, American astronomer, cryptographer and mathematician
• October 29
• * :pt:Lídia Brondi|Lídia Brondi, Brazilian actress and psychologist
• * Finola Hughes, British actress
• * Dieter Nuhr, German comedian
• October 30 – Diego Maradona, Argentine footballer
• October 31
• *Luis Fortuño, Puerto Rican politician, Governor of Puerto Rico
• *Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran

  November

• November 1 – Tim Cook, American businessman and current CEO of Apple, Inc
• November 2 – Anu Malik, Indian music director and singer
• November 3
• * Francis Beckwith, American philosopher
• * Karch Kiraly, American volleyball player
• November 4 – Siniša Glavašević, Croatian reporter
• November 5 – Tilda Swinton, British actress
• November 8
• * Michael Nyqvist, Swedish actor
• * Megan Cavanagh, American actress and voice actress
• November 9
• * Andreas Brehme, German football player and manager
• * Joëlle Ursull, Guadeloupean singer
• November 10 – Neil Gaiman, English author
• November 11 - Stanley Tucci, American actor and film director
• November 12
• * Maurane, Belgian singer and actress
• * Dave Hackett, professional skateboarder
• November 13 – Neil Flynn, American actor
• November 14
• * Tom Judson, American musical theatre actor and composer
• * Sylvia Bretschneider, German politician
• November 15 – Susanne Lothar, German actress
• November 17
• *Jonathan Ross, English television presenter
• *RuPaul, American drag queen and entertainer
• November 18
• * Ivans Klementjevs, Latvian canoeist
• * Elizabeth Perkins, American actress
• * Kim Wilde, English singer and gardener
• November 19
• * Miss Elizabeth, American professional wrestling valet
• * Hiroshi Naka, Japanese voice actor
• November 20 – Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor and television host
• November 24 – Amanda Wyss, American actress
• November 25
• * Robert Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
• * Amy Grant, American Christian and pop musician
• * John F. Kennedy Jr., American lawyer, journalist and son of 35th President John F. Kennedy
• November 26
• * Greg Berg, American actor and voice actor
• * Harold Reynolds, American baseball player and broadcaster
• November 27
• * Eike Immel, German football player and manager
• * Tim Pawlenty, American politician
• * Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2005 and 2007-2010
• November 29 – Cathy Moriarty, American actress
• November 30
• * Rich Fields, American television personality
• * Gary Lineker, English footballer and sports presenter

  December

• December 1 – Carol Alt, American model and actress
• December 2
• * Rick Savage, British rock musician
• * Sydney Youngblood, American singer
• December 3
• * Daryl Hannah, American actress and environmental activist
• * Igor Larionov, Russian ice hockey player
• * Julianne Moore, American actress and children's author
• * Mike Ramsey, American professional ice hockey player
• December 4 – Glynis Nunn, Australian athlete
• December 5
• * Brian Bromberg, American jazz bassist and composer
• * Jack Russell, American rock singer
• December 6 – Marco Antonio Adame, governor of Morelos, Mexico 2006-2012
• December 9
• * Steve Doll, American professional wrestler
• * Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor
• December 10
• * Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
• * Michael Schoeffling, American actor and model
• December 12
• * Lourdes Munguía, Mexican actress
• * Volker Beck, German politician
• December 14
• * Don Franklin, American actor
• * James Comey, American lawyer and former FBI director
• December 17 – Tarako, Japanese voice actress
• December 18
• * Hans-Jörg Criens, German footballer
• * Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
• December 22 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, American musician and graffiti painter
• December 24 – Fei Xiang, Chinese American singer
• December 26 – Temuera Morrison, New Zealand actor
• December 27
• * Maryam d'Abo, British actress
• * Fred Hammond, African-American gospel musician
• December 28
• * Ray Bourque, Canadian ice hockey player
• * John Fitzgerald, Australian tennis player
• December 29 – Dave Pelzer, American author
• December 30 – Heather Wilson, American soldier and politician; Secretary of the Air Force
• December 31
• * Steve Bruce, English footballer
• * John Allen Muhammad, African-American spree killer

  Deaths

January

• January 1
• * Gianni Franciolini, Italian director and screenwriter
• * Margaret Sullavan, American actress
• January 3 – Victor Sjöström, Swedish actor
• January 4
• * Albert Camus, French writer, Nobel Prize winner
• * Hugo Meurer, German admiral
• * Dudley Nichols, American screenwriter
• January 5 – Donald Knight, English cricketer
• January 7 – Dorothea Chambers, English tennis champion
• January 9 – Elsie J. Oxenham, English children's novelist
• January 10 – Arthur S. Carpender, American admiral
• January 11 – Isabel Emslie Hutton, Scottish nurse in Serbia during World War I and psychiatrist
• January 12 – Nevil Shute, English-born novelist
• January 17 – Andrew Kennaway Henderson, New Zealand illustrator, cartoonist and pacifist
• January 19 – Dadasaheb Torne, Indian filmmaker
• January 24
• * Matt Moore, Irish-American actor
• * Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor
• January 25
• * Diana Barrymore, American stage and film actress
• * Rutland Boughton, English composer
• * Beno Gutenberg, German-American seismologist
• January 27 – Osvaldo Aranha, Brazilian politician
• January 28 – Zora Neale Hurston, American folklorist, anthropologist, and author
• January 30 – J. C. Kumarappa, Indian economist

  February

• February 2 – Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha, Hindu teacher
• February 3 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor
• February 6 – Jesse Belvin, American urban singer
• February 7 – Igor Kurchatov, Soviet physicist
• February 8
• * J. L. Austin, British philosopher
• * Giles Gilbert Scott, British architect
• February 9 – Adolph Coors III
• February 10 – Aloysius Stepinac, Yugoslav Roman Catholic prelate
• February 11 – Ernő Dohnányi, Hungarian conductor
• February 12 – Jean-Michel Atlan, French painter
• February 14 – Masatomi Kimura, Japanese admiral
• February 20
• * Leonard Woolley, English archaeologist
• * Adone Zoli, Italian politician, 35th Prime Minister of Italy
• February 29
• * Jacques Becker, French director
• * Edwina Mountbatten, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, last Vicereine of India
• * Melvin Purvis, American lawman
• * Walter Yust, American encyclopedia editor

  March

• March 2 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general
• March 4 – Leonard Warren, American opera singer
• March 9 – Jack Beattie, Irish politician
• March 11
• * Roy Chapman Andrews, American explorer, adventurer and naturalist
• * Takuma Kajiwara, Japanese-born American photographer
• March 13
• * Louis Wagner, French Grand Prix racer, aviator
• * Yosef Zvi HaLevy, Israeli rabbi and judge
• March 14 – Oliver Kirk, American Olympic boxer
• March 22 – José Antonio Aguirre, Spanish politician
• March 23 – Franklin Pierce Adams, American journalist
• March 26 – Ian Keith, American actor
• March 27
• * Mario Talavera, Mexican songwriter
• * Gregorio Marañón, Spanish physician, scientist, historian and philosopher.

  April

• April 1 – Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, King of Malaysia
• April 3 – Norodom Suramarit, King of Cambodia
• April 5
• * Cuthbert Burnup, English sportsman
• * Peter Llewelyn Davies, namesake for Peter Pan
• * Alma Kruger, American actress
• April 10 – Arthur Benjamin, Australian composer
• April 17 – Eddie Cochran, American rock singer
• April 19 – Beardsley Ruml, American economist and tax plan author
• April 24
• * Hope Emerson, American actress, performer, and strongwoman
• * Max von Laue, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• * George Relph, English actor
• April 25
• * Amānullāh Khān, Emir and King of Afghanistan
• * Turan Emeksiz, Turkish student killed during the demonstrations
• April 26 – Gustaf Lindblom, Swedish Olympic athlete
• April 28 – Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Chilean army officer and political figure, 20th President of Chile

  May

• May 1 – Charles Holden, British architect
• May 2 – Caryl Chessman, American criminal
• May 3 – Masa Niemi, Finnish actor
• May 8
• * Hersch Lauterpacht, British international lawyer
• * J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician
• May 11 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American philanthropist
• May 12 – Prince Aly Khan, Pakistani United Nations ambassador
• May 14 – Lucrezia Bori, Spanish opera singer
• May 22 – İbrahim Çallı, Turkish painter
• May 23
• * Georges Claude, French inventor
• * The Great Gama, Punjabi wrestler
• May 24 – Avraham Arnon, Israeli educator and a recipient of the Israel Prize
• May 25 – Rafael Gómez Ortega, Spanish bullfighter
• May 27
• * James Montgomery Flagg, American artist and illustrator
• * George Zucco, English actor
• May 30 – Boris Pasternak, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• May 31 – Walther Funk, German Nazi politician

  June

• June 4
• * Józef Haller de Hallenburg, Polish general
• * Lucien Littlefield, American actor
• June 13 – Ken McArthur, South African athlete
• June 14 – Ana Pauker, Romanian communist politician
• June 17 – Arthur Rosson, English film director
• June 18 – Shalva Aleksi-Meskhishvili, Georgian politician
• June 19 – Chris Bristow, English race car driver
• June 20 – William E. Fairbairn, English soldier, police officer and hand-to-hand combat expert
• June 25
• * Walter Baade, German astronomer
• * Otto Ender, Austrian political figure, 8th Chancellor of Austria
• * Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player
• June 27 – Lottie Dod, English tennis player; Wimbledon women's champion, 1887–88, 1891–93
• June 28
• * Móric Esterházy, Hungarian aristocrat and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary
• * Jaume Vicens i Vives, Spanish historian

  July

• July 2 – Margherita Bagni, Italian actress
• July 6 – Aneurin Bevan, British politician
• July 12 – Francis Xavier Gsell, Australian Roman Catholic bishop and missionary
• July 14 – Maurice, 6th duc de Broglie, French physicist
• July 15
• * Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Italian cinematographer
• * Set Persson, Swedish politician
• * Lawrence Tibbett, American opera singer and actor
• July 16
• * Albert Kesselring, German field marshal
• * John P. Marquand, American novelist
• * Manuel Gamio, Mexican anthropologist and archaeologist
• July 17
• * Pavel Peter Gojdič, Czechoslovak Roman Catholic monk and blessed
• * Maud Menten, Canadian biochemist
• July 22
• * Buddy Adler, American film producer
• * Yan Xishan, Chinese warlord and politician
• July 24 – Hans Albers, German actor and singer
• July 26 – Cedric Gibbons, Irish-American art director
• July 27 – Georgi Kyoseivanov, 27th Prime Minister of Bulgaria
• July 28 – Enrique Amorim, Uruguayan novelist
• July 29 – Hasan Saka, 7th Prime Minister of Turkey

  August

• August 2 – Francesca French, British Protestant missionary
• August 5 – Arthur Meighen, 9th Prime Minister of Canada
• August 7
• * Walden L. "Pug" Ainsworth, American admiral
• * Luis Ángel Firpo, Argentine boxer
• August 9 – Richard Cramer, American actor
• August 10
• * Frank Lloyd, American film director
• * Oswald Veblen, American mathematician, geometer and topologist
• August 14 – Fred Clarke, American baseball player and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame
• August 17 – Charles W. Ryder, American general
• August 18 – Carlo Emilio Bonferroni, Italian mathematician
• August 22
• * Eduard Pütsep, Estonian wrestler
• * Johannes Sikkar, Estonian politician
• August 23
• * Jersey Flegg, English-Australian rugby league player and chairman
• * Oscar Hammerstein II, American librettist
• * Bruno Loerzer, German aviator and air force general
• August 27 – Stanley Clifford Weyman, American impostor
• August 28 – Charles Forbes, British admiral
• August 29
• * Hazza' al-Majali, Prime Minister of Jordan
• * Vicki Baum, Austrian writer
• * David Diop, French West African poet

  September

• September 1 – Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, King of Malaysia
• September 4 – Alfred E. Green, American film director
• September 8
• * Feroze Gandhi, Indian politician
• * Oscar Pettiford, American jazz string player
• September 9 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor
• September 11 – Edwin Justus Mayer, American screenwriter
• September 13 – Leó Weiner, Hungarian composer
• September 20
• * Ida Rubinstein, Russian ballet dancer
• * Ernest William Goodpasture, American pathologist and physician
• September 22 – Melanie Klein, Austrian-British psychoanalyst
• September 23 – Kathlyn Williams, American stage and silent film actress
• September 24 – Mátyás Seiber, Hungarian composer
• September 27 – Sylvia Pankhurst, English suffragette

  October

• October 5 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American anthropologist
• October 11 – Richard Cromwell, American film actor
• October 12 – Inejiro Asanuma, Japanese socialist politician
• October 14 – Abram Ioffe, Soviet physicist
• October 15
• * Henny Porten, German actress
• * Clara Kimball Young, American actress
• October 21
• * Katharine Stewart-Murray, Duchess of Atholl, Scottish aristocrat and politician
• * Ma Hongbin, Chinese warlord
• October 24
• * Mitrofan Nedelin, Soviet Chief Marshal of the Artillery, chief of the Strategic Missile Force, Hero of the Soviet Union
• * Yevgeny Ostashev, Soviet head of the 1st control polygon NIIP-5, Lenin prize winner
• October 31 – H. L. Davis, American fiction writer and poet

  November

• November 2
• *Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek conductor, pianist and composer
• * Julio Nakpil, Filipino composer and general
• * Otoya Yamaguchi, ultranationalist who assassinated Inejiro Asanuma, a politician and head of the Japan Socialist Party
• November 3
• * Bobby Wallace, American baseball player and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame
• * Sir Harold Spencer Jones, English astronomer
• November 5
• * Ward Bond, American actor
• * August Gailit, Estonian writer
• * Johnny Horton, American country singer
• * Mack Sennett, Canadian film producer and director
• * Erich Neumann, German psychologist
• November 6
• *Sir John Bonython, Australian businessman and politician
• * Erich Raeder, German World War II naval leader
• November 7 – A. P. Carter, American singer and songwriter
• November 9 - Ernst Wilhelm Bohle, German Nazi general
• November 12 – Lord Buckley, American monologist
• November 16
• * Paul Faure, French Socialist politician
• * Clark Gable, American actor
• November 19 – Phyllis Haver, American actress
• November 20 – Ya'akov Cohen, Israeli poet
• November 23 – Allen Hobbs, 32nd Governor of American Samoa
• November 24 – Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, sister of Tsar Nicholas II
• November 25 – Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa Mirabal, three Dominican revolutionaries
• November 26 – Helen Hellwig, American tennis player
• November 28
• * Richard Wright, American novelist
• * Dirk Jan de Geer, Dutch nobleman, lawyer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• November 29 – Sir Andrew Russell, New Zealand Army general

  December

• December 2 – Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, German architect, interior designer and designer
• December 5 – Hashim al-Atassi, Syrian statesman, 2nd Prime Minister of Syria and 4th President of Syria
• December 7
• * Virginia Balestrieri, Italian actress
• * Ioannis Demestichas, Greek admiral
• December 12 – Christopher Hornsrud, 11th Prime Minister of Norway
• December 13
• * John Charles Thomas, American opera singer
• * Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, African-American artist known for her sculpture
• December 14 – Gregory Ratoff, Russian actor and director
• December 20 – Sir Godfrey Ince, British civil servant
• December 22
• * Sophus Black, Danish telegraph manager and art collector
• * Ninian Comper, British architect
• December 25 – Alberto Maria de Agostini, Italian missionary
• December 26
• * Giuseppe Bellanca, Italian-American aircraft designer and company founder
• * Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher

  Date unknown

• Ion Codreanu, Romanian general

  Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Donald Arthur Glaser
• Chemistry – Willard Libby
• Physiology or Medicine – Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Medawar
• Literature – Saint-John Perse
• Peace – Albert Lutuli