1952

This article is about the year 1952. For other uses, see 1952 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

1952 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1952 MCMLII
Ab urbe condita	2705
Armenian calendar	1401 ԹՎ ՌՆԱ
Assyrian calendar	6702
Baháʼí calendar	108–109
Balinese saka calendar	1873–1874
Bengali calendar	1359
Berber calendar	2902
British Regnal year	16 Geo. 6 – 1 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2496
Burmese calendar	1314
Byzantine calendar	7460–7461
Chinese calendar	辛卯年 (Metal Rabbit) 4648 or 4588     — to — 壬辰年 (Water Dragon) 4649 or 4589
Coptic calendar	1668–1669
Discordian calendar	3118
Ethiopian calendar	1944–1945
Hebrew calendar	5712–5713
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2008–2009
- Shaka Samvat	1873–1874
- Kali Yuga	5052–5053
Holocene calendar	11952
Igbo calendar	952–953
Iranian calendar	1330–1331
Islamic calendar	1371–1372
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 27 (昭和２７年)
Javanese calendar	1883–1884
Juche calendar	41
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4285
Minguo calendar	ROC 41 民國41年
Nanakshahi calendar	484
Thai solar calendar	2495
Tibetan calendar	阴金兔年 (female Iron-Rabbit) 2078 or 1697 or 925     — to — 阳水龙年 (male Water-Dragon) 2079 or 1698 or 926

1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1952nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 952nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 52nd year of the 20th century, and the 3rd year of the 1950s decade.

1952 Summer Olympic Games

Events

January

• January 25 – British Army officers attack an Egyptian police base in Ismailia, resulting in the deaths of 50 Egyptian police officers and 4 British Army personnel.
• January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

February

• February 2 – Groundhog Day tropical storm forms just north of Cuba, moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day as a gale-force storm and transitions to a tropical storm over the Atlantic (only Atlantic tropical storm on record in February).
• February 6
  • Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the British Dominions: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon. The princess, who is on a visit to Kenya when she hears of the death of her father, King George VI, aged 56, takes the title Elizabeth II.
  • In the United States of America, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
• February 7 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom at St James's Palace, London, England.
• February 14 – February 25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.
• February 18 – Greece and Turkey join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
• February 20
  • Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball, by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
  • Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national identity cards, introduced in 1939.
• February 21 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest, which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.
• February 25 – The Parícutin active volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico, ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava, and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro.
• February 26
  • United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has an atomic bomb.
  • Vincent Massey is sworn in, as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.

March

• March 7 – NME goes on sale for the first time in the United Kingdom.
• March 10 – General Fulgencio Batista re-takes power in Cuba in a coup.
• March 15 – 16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall in one day up to that time.
• March 20 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
• March 21
  • The last two executions in the Netherlands take place.
  • Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is elected Prime Minister of the Gold Coast.
  • Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.
• March 22 – Wernher von Braun publishes the first in his series of articles titled Man Will Conquer Space Soon!, including ideas for crewed flights to Mars and the Moon.
• March 27
  • Konrad Adenauer survives an assassination attempt.
  • A legislative Assembly election is held in Coorg.
• March 29 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces that he will not seek reelection.

April

• April 4
  • In the Hague Tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth $3 billion from Germany.
  • West Ice accidents: During a severe storm in the West Ice, east of Greenland, 78 seal hunters on 5 Norwegian seal hunting vessels vanish without a trace.
• April 7 – The American Research Bureau reports that the I Love Lucy episode, "The Marriage License", was the first TV show in history to be seen in around 10,000,000 homes, the evening the episode aired.
• April 8 – Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer: The U.S. Supreme Court limits the power of the President to seize private business, after President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States, just before the 1952 steel strike begins.
• April 9 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.
• April 11
  • Battle of Nanri Island: The Republic of China seizes the island from the People's Republic of China.
  • Bolivian National Revolution: Rebels take over Palacio Quemado.
• April 15 – The United States B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.
• April 18
  • Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform.
  • West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations.
• April 26 – United States Navy aircraft carrier Wasp collides with destroyer Hobson while on exercises in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 175 men.
• April 28 – The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the war between Japan and the Allies, and simultaneously ending the occupation of the four main Japanese islands by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
• April 29 – Lever House officially opens at 390 Park Avenue in New York City, heralding a new age of commercial architecture in the United States. Designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it is the first International Style skyscraper.

May

• May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its own army.
• May 2 – The first passenger jet flight route opens between London and Johannesburg.
• May 3 – U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.
• May 6 – Farouk of Egypt has himself announced as a descendant of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.
• May 13 – Pandit Nehru forms his first government in India.
• May 15 – Diplomatic relations are established between Israel and Japan at the level of legations.
• May 18 – Ann Davison becomes the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.

June

• June 1
  • The Roman Catholic Church bans the books of André Gide.
  • Navigation opens on the Volga–Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.
• June 13 – "Catalina affair": Soviet MiG-15 fighter planes shoot down a Swedish military Douglas C-47 Skytrain, carrying out signals intelligence gathering operations over the Baltic Sea, killing all 8 crew; three days later they shoot down a Catalina flying boat, searching for possible survivors.
• June 14
  • The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
  • Myxomatosis is introduced to Europe, on the French estate of Dr. Paul-Félix Armand-Delille.
• June 15 – Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is published in English-language translation.
• June 19 – The Special Forces (United States Army) are created.
• June 21 – The Philippine School of Commerce, through a government act, is converted to the Philippine College of Commerce (later the Polytechnic University of the Philippines).
• June 26 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties.
• June 27 – Decree 900 in Guatemala orders the redistribution of uncultivated land.
• June 28 – The First Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952.

July

France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands form the European Coal and Steel community, the foundation organization which would become the European Union.

• July 3 – The ocean liner SS United States makes her maiden crossing of the Atlantic.
• July 13 – East Germany announces the formation of its National People's Army.
• July 19 – August 3 – The 1952 Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland.
• July 21 – The 7.3 M_w Kern County earthquake strikes California's southern Central Valley with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.
• July 23
  • The European Coal and Steel Community is established.
  • General Mohammed Naguib leads The Free Officers (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser – the real power behind the coup) in the overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt.
• July 25 – Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.
• July 26
  • Argentine First Lady Eva Peron dies of cancer at age 33 and goes on to achieve saintly status in Argentina.
  • Farouk of Egypt abdicates to Fuad II

August

• August 5 – The Treaty of Taipei between Japan and the Republic of China goes into effect, to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
• August 11 – The Jordanian Parliament forces King Talal of Jordan to abdicate due to mental illness; he is succeeded by his son King Hussein.
• August 12 – Night of the Murdered Poets: 13 Soviet Jewish poets are executed.
• August 13 – Japan joins the IMF.
• August 14 – West Germany joins the IMF and the World Bank.
• August 16 – Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.
• August 22 – The most damaging shock of the 1952 Kern County earthquake sequence strikes with a moment magnitude of 5.8, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). This event damages several hundred buildings in Bakersfield, California, with total additional losses of $10 million, with two associated deaths and some injuries.
• August 23 – Kitty Wells becomes the first woman to score a number 1 hit on the American country charts, with the song "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels".
• August 26 – A British passenger jet makes a return crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the same day.
• August 27 – Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg: Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.
• August 29 – Composer John Cage's 4′33″, during which the performer does not play, premieres in Woodstock, New York.
• August 30 – The last Finnish war reparations are sent to the Soviet Union.
• August 31 – The Grenzlandring racetrack closes in Wegberg, Germany.

September

• September 2 – Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform the first open-heart surgery, at the University of Minnesota.
• September 6 – Television debuts in Canada, as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs.
• September 8 – CBC Toronto debuts.
• September 10 – The European Parliamentary Assembly (from March 1962, the European Parliament) opens.
• September 15 – The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia.
• September 18 – The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.
• September 19 – The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country, after a trip to England.
• September 30 – The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published.

October

• October 3 – The first British nuclear weapon is detonated in Australia, making the United Kingdom the third nuclear weapons state.
• October 8
  • Negotiations for a ceasefire in Korea are postponed.
  • The Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash in England kills 112 people.
• October 12 – The Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority is founded in New York City, at Panhellenic Tower.
• October 14 – The United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City, designed by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.
• October 16 – Limelight opens in London; writer/actor/director/producer Charlie Chaplin arrives by ocean liner; in transit, his re-entry permit to the United States is revoked by J. Edgar Hoover.
• October 17 – 17 October affair: Indonesian troops led by General Nasution surround the presidential palace, seeking the dismissal of the People's Representative Council; Sukarno avoids confrontation.
• October 19
  • Alain Bombard begins to sail from the Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them December 23.
  • John Bamford, aged 15, rescues victims of a house fire, and becomes the youngest person to be awarded the George Cross.
• October 20 – Martial law is declared in Kenya, due to the Mau Mau uprising.

November

• November 1 – Nuclear testing and Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.

The explosion of the first hydrogen bomb.

• November 4
  • The 9.0 M_w Severo-Kurilsk earthquake hits the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). A tsunami took the lives of more than 2,300 people.
  • 1952 United States presidential election: Republican General Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democratic Governor of Illinois Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).
  • The U.S. National Security Agency is founded.
  • Pace-Finletter MOU 1952: A Memorandum of understanding is signed between "...Air Force Secretary Finletter and Army Secretary Pace that established a fixed wing weight limit [for the Army] of five thousand pounds empty, but weight restrictions on helicopters were eliminated..."
• November 18 – Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya, for an alleged connection to the Mau Mau Uprising.
• November 20
  • The first official passenger flight over the North Pole is made, from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.
  • The first successful sex reassignment surgery is performed in Copenhagen, making George Jorgensen Jr. become Christine Jorgensen.
• November 25 – Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2021, it will be continuing next door at the St. Martin's Theatre, and remains the longest continuously running production of a play in history.
• November 29 – Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise, by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

December

• December 1
  • Adolfo Ruiz Cortines takes office as President of Mexico.
  • The New York Daily News carries a front-page story announcing that Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark, has become the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment operation.
• December 4 – December 9 – The Great Smog of London: A severe air-pollution event kills an estimated 12,000 people.
• December 10 – Albert Schweitzer is given the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.
• December 14 – The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.
• December 20 – The crash of a U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.
• December 25 – One West German soldier is killed in a shooting incident in West Berlin.
• December 26 – Joseph Ivor Linton, the first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Emperor of Japan.
• December 30 – An RAF Avro Lancaster bomber crashes in Luqa, Malta after an engine failure, killing three crew members and a civilian on the ground.

Date unknown

• Nearly 58,000 cases of polio are reported in the U.S.; 3,145 die, and 21,269 are left with mild to disabling paralysis.
• The Nordic Council agrees to the unrestricted transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.
• The National Prohibition Foundation is incorporated in Indiana.
• Supramar launched the first commercial high-speed craft, a hydrofoil.
• Säynätsalo Town Hall in Finland, designed by Alvar Aalto, is completed.
• The influential multistory residential building, Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, France, designed by Le Corbusier, is completed.
• The American Embassy School of New Delhi is founded.
• Swedish paratrooper training school Fallskärmsjägarna (FJS) is established.
• 13-year-old Jimmy Boyd's record of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is released, selling 3 million records.
• Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the professional wrestling promotion that will later evolve into the modern day WWE, is founded by Jess McMahon and Toots Mondt.
• During the Mau Mau Uprising, the poisonous latex of the African milk bush is used to kill cattle, in an incident of Biological warfare.

Births

January

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani

Sammo Hung

Marek Belka

Dave Fennoy

Asma Jahangir

• January 1
  • Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar
  • Jury Zacharanka, Belarusian politician
• January 2
  • Makoto Nakajima, Japanese bureaucrat, Commissioner of the Japan Patent Office
  • Ng Man-tat, Hong Kong actor
  • Elvira Saadi, Soviet gymnast
• January 3 – Jim Ross, American wrestling announcer
• January 7 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong martial arts superstar, producer and director
• January 9 – Marek Belka, 11th Prime Minister of Poland
• January 12
  • Charles Faulkner, American life coach, motivational speaker, trader and author
  • Walter Mosley, American author
• January 14
  • Maureen Dowd, American journalist
  • Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, 60th Prime Minister of Romania
• January 15
  • Boris Blank, Swiss musician
  • Muhammad Wakkas, Bangladeshi teacher and parliamentarian
  • Skay Beilinson, Argentinian guitar player
• January 16 – H.R.H. Prince Ahmed Fuad Farouk (Fuad II), the last King of Egypt & Sudan, Nubia, Kordofan and Darfur
• January 17 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician, composer, producer, and actor (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
• January 18 – Wim Rijsbergen, Dutch footballer
• January 19
  • Beau Weaver, American male voice actor
  • Bruce Jay Nelson, American computer scientist (d. 1999)
  • Michel Plante, Canadian ice hockey left winger
  • Nadiuska, German television actress
• January 20 – Dave Fennoy, African-American voice actor
• January 21
  • Marco Camenisch, Swiss environmental activist
  • Louis Menand, American writer, critic
• January 22 – Ace Vergel, Filipino actor (d. 2007)
• January 24 – Raymond Domenech, French football player, manager
• January 25
  • Sara Mandiano, French singer, songwriter
  • Peter Tatchell, Australian-born British human rights activist
  • Lee Strobel, an American Christian author and a former investigative journalist.
• January 27
  • Brian Gottfried, American tennis player
  • Asma Jahangir, Pakistani human rights activist, lawyer (d. 2018)
• January 28 – Tomokazu Miura, Japanese actor
• January 29 – Klaus-Peter Hanisch, German footballer (d. 2009)
• January 30 – Valery Khalilov, Russian military band conductor (d. 2016)
• January 31 – Jan Hofer, German journalist, broadcast news analyst, and television presenter

February

Park Geun-hye

Jenny Shipley

Mark Fuhrman

Lee Hsien Loong

Tomislav Nikolić

• February 1 – Stan Kasten, American baseball executive, President of the Washington Nationals
• February 2 – Park Geun-hye, President of South Korea
• February 4
  • Abdalá Bucaram, 38th President of Ecuador
  • Jenny Shipley, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• February 5 – Mark Fuhrman, American police detective, author and radio host
• February 7
  • John Hickenlooper, American politician, 42nd Governor of Colorado
  • Wyngard Tracy, Filipino talent manager (d. 2010)
  • Tony Liu, Chinese actor
• February 8
  • Daisuke Gōri, Japanese voice actor (d. 2010)
  • Nora Miao, Hong Kong actress
• February 10 – Lee Hsien Loong, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
• February 12 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor (d. 2010)
• February 14
  • Sushma Swaraj, Indian politician (d. 2019)
  • Nancy Keenan, American president of NARAL
• February 15
  • Nikolai Sorokin, Soviet, Russian actor, theatre director (d. 2013)
  • Tomislav Nikolić, 4th President of Serbia
• February 16 – James Ingram, African-American R&B musician (d. 2019)
• February 17
  • Garry Chalk, British voice actor
  • Javier Urruticoechea, Spanish footballer (d. 2001)
• February 19
  • Gary Seear, New Zealand rugby union player (d. 2018)
  • Amy Tan, American novelist (The Joy Luck Club)
• February 20 – João Calvão da Silva, Portuguese politician (d. 2018)
• February 21
  • Vitaly Churkin, Russian diplomat (d. 2017)
  • Elisha Obed, Bahamian boxer (d. 2018)
• February 22
  • William Frist, U.S. Senator, heart surgeon
  • Saufatu Sopoanga, 8th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (d. 2020)
  • Marcos Caruso, Brazilian author, director, screenwriter and actor
• February 23 – Miyuki Nakajima, Japanese singer-songwriter
• February 24 – Maxine Chernoff, American poet, novelist and editor
• February 25 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)
• February 29
  • Gary the Retard, American member of The Wack Pack (The Howard Stern Show)
  • Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television's first female African-American primetime weather anchor

March

Morgan Tsvangirai

Douglas Adams

Harvey Weinstein

Bob Costas

• March 1 –
• Martin O'Neill, Northern Irish footballer,
• Roy Marten, Indonesian actor.
• March 2 – Laraine Newman, American comedian (Saturday Night Live)
• March 4
  • Scott Hicks, Australian film director
  • Ronn Moss, American actor
  • Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer
• March 7 – Viv Richards, West Indian cricketer
• March 10 – Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (d. 2018)
• March 11 – Douglas Adams, English author (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) (d. 2001)
• March 13
  • Ágnes Rapai, Hungarian writer
  • Wolfgang Rihm, German composer
• March 15 – Howard Devoto, British singer
• March 16
  • Alice Hoffman, American novelist
  • Philippe Kahn, French-American businessman, inventor
• March 17 – Perla, Paraguayan-Brazilian singer
• March 18 - Mike Webster, American football player (d. 2002)
• March 19 – Harvey Weinstein, American film producer
• March 22 – Bob Costas, American sports announcer
• March 23
  • Kim Stanley Robinson, American author
  • Rex Tillerson, United States Secretary of State
  • Villano III, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 2018)
• March 24 – Reinhard Genzel, German astrophysicist, Nobel Prize recipient
• March 25
  • Jung Chang, Chinese-born author, historian
  • Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician, politician
• March 26 – Didier Pironi, French racing driver (d. 1987)
• March 27 – Maria Schneider, French actress (d. 2011)
• March 28 – Keith Ashfield, Canadian politician (d. 2018)
• March 29 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer (d. 2012)
• March 30 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer, coach
• March 31
  • Dermot Morgan, Irish actor, comedian (d. 1998)
  • Vanessa del Rio, American actress
  • Frank De Martini, American architect (d. 2001)

April

Annette O'Toole

Steven Seagal

Billy West

Jean-Paul Gaultier

Mary McDonnell

• April 1
  • Poh Ah Tiam, Malaysian politician, businessman and community leader (d. 2007)
  • Annette O'Toole, American actress
  • Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher (d. 2020)
• April 2 – Lennart Fagerlund, Swedish cyclist
• April 4
  • Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
  • Gary Moore, Northern Irish musician (d. 2011)
  • Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater
  • Pat Burns, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2010)
• April 5 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor
• April 6 – Marilu Henner, American actress (Taxi) and writer
• April 7 – Nichita Danilov, Romanian writer
• April 10 – Steven Seagal, American actor (Under Siege)
• April 11
  • Peter Windsor, British sports reporter
  • Qamar Zaman, Pakistani squash player
• April 12 – Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
• April 14 – Mickey O'Sullivan, Irish sportsman
• April 15
  • Glenn Shadix, American actor (d. 2010)
  • Sam McMurray, American actor
• April 16
  • Bill Belichick, American football coach
  • Chaz Jankel, English singer, multi-instrumentalist
  • Billy West, American voice actor
  • Dušan Pavél, Bosnian politicians and rugby union
• April 17
  • Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (d. 2016)
  • Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster, paramilitary leader (d. 2000)
• April 19 – Alexis Arguello, Nicaraguan boxer, politician (d. 2009)
• April 20 – Eric Pickles, British politician
• April 21 – Cheryl Gillan, British politician (d. 2021)
• April 22 – Marilyn Chambers, American porn actress (Behind the Green Door) (d. 2009)
• April 23 – Jean-Dominique Bauby, French journalist and author (d. 1997)
• April 24 – Jean-Paul Gaultier, French Haute couture, Prêt-à-Porter fashion designer
• April 25
  • Lane Caudell, American actor
  • Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
  • Vladislav Tretiak, Russian icehockey player
• April 26 – Spice Williams-Crosby, American actress, stunt performer
• April 27 – George Gervin, American basketball player
• April 28
  • Gerald Barry, Irish composer
  • Mary McDonnell, American actress
• April 29 – Dave Valentin, American Latin jazz flautist (d. 2017)

May

Robert Zemeckis

David Byrne

George Strait

Mr. T

Anne-Marie David

• May 1 – Mike Thornton, British politician
• May 2
  • Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator, broadcaster
  • Christine Baranski, American actress
  • Isla St Clair, Scottish singer
• May 3
  • Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born mathematician
  • Allan Wells, Scottish athlete
• May 4 – Michael Barrymore, British comedian, TV presenter
• May 6
  • Gregg Henry, American actor, musician
  • Michael O'Hare, American actor (d. 2012)
• May 8 – Ronnie Dapo, American child actor
• May 10
  • Roland Kaiser, German singer
  • Manuel Mora Morales, Spanish director, writer
• May 11
  • Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress
  • Frances Fisher, British-born American actress
  • Mike Lupica, American sports journalist
  • Renaud, French composer
• May 12 – Christopher Gaze, British voice actor
• May 13 – John Kasich, Governor of Ohio
• May 14
  • Robert Zemeckis, American film director (Back to the Future)
  • David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter (Talking Heads)
• May 15 – Chazz Palminteri, American actor
• May 18
  • Diane Duane, American writer
  • Ryūzaburō Ōtomo, Japanese voice actor
  • George Strait, American country musician
• May 19 – Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager
• May 20 – Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer
• May 21 – Mr. T, African-American actor (The A-Team)
• May 23 – Anne-Marie David, French singer, Eurovision Song Contest 1973 winner
• May 24 – Sybil Danning, Austrian actress
• May 26 – David Meece, American Christian musician
• May 28 – Victoria Cunningham, American actress, Playboy Playmate
• May 30 – Alexander Toradze, Georgian-born American pianist (d. 2022)

June

Bronisław Komorowski

Liam Neeson

George Papandreou

Idriss Déby

John Goodman

Graham Greene

• June 4
  • Scott Wesley Brown, American Christian musician
  • Bronisław Komorowski, President of Poland
• June 7
  • Hubert Auriol, French racing driver (d. 2021)
  • Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor (Schindler's List)
  • Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer, Nobel Prize winner
• June 9 – Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese musician, singer (Yellow Magic Orchestra)
• June 14 – Pat Summitt, American basketball coach (d. 2016)
• June 16
  • George Papandreou, Greek politician
  • Gino Vannelli, Canadian singer, songwriter
• June 17
  • Sergio Marchionne, Italian-Canadian executive (d. 2018)
  • Sarbjit Singh Chadha, Indian enka singer
  • Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach and executive
• June 18
  • Idriss Déby Itno, President of Chad (d. 2021)
  • Carol Kane, American actress
  • Miriam Flynn, American actress, voice actress
  • Isabella Rossellini, Italian model, actress
• June 20
  • John Goodman, American actor (Roseanne)
  • Kōichi Mashimo, Japanese anime director
  • Vikram Seth, Indian novelist
• June 21
  • Dave Downs, American professional baseball player
  • Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricket captain
  • Marcella Detroit, American singer (Shakespears Sister)
• June 22
  • Phil Nicholls, English professional footballer
  • Franco Cucinotta, Italian professional footballer
  • Graham Greene, Canadian actor
  • Alastair Stewart, British newsreader
  • Santokh Singh, Malaysian footballer
• June 23
  • Marv Kellum, American football player
  • Peter Whiteside, British modern pentathlete
• June 24
  • Ladislas Lozano, French-Spanish football coach, retired player
  • Stephen Pusey, British-born artist
• June 25
  • Péter Erdő, Hungarian cardinal
  • Tim Finn, New Zealand singer, songwriter
  • Leonard Lance, American politician
• June 26
  • Michele McDonald, American nurse, model and beauty pageant titleholder (d. 2020)
  • Simon Mann, British Army officer, mercenary
  • William Arthur Pailes, American astronaut
• June 27
  • Douglas Unger, American novelist
  • Mary Rosenblum, American science fiction and mystery author (d. 2018)
• June 28 – Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete (d. 2013)
• June 29 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player
• June 30
  • Stein Olav Hestad, Norwegian footballer
  • Patrick Pinney, American actor, voice actor
  • David Garrison, American actor

July

Brian George

Dan Aykroyd

Álvaro Uribe

Ahmed Nazif

Marky Ramone

Terry O'Quinn

David Hasselhoff

Vajiralongkorn

• July 1
  • Brian George, Israeli-English actor, voice artist, comedian and singer
  • David Arkenstone, American composer, performer
  • Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live)
  • Robert Baer, American author
  • Dale Hayes, South African professional golfer
  • Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, American drummer (d. 2018)
• July 2
  • Linda M. Godwin, American scientist
  • Ahmed Ouyahia, Algerian politician
  • Marco Piccinini, Monegasque sport personality, businessman, and politician
• July 3
  • Laura Branigan, American singer, actress ("Self Control") (d. 2004)
  • Lu Colombo, Italian singer
  • Andy Fraser, English musician (d. 2015)
  • Rohinton Mistry, Indian writer
• July 4
  • Álvaro Uribe, President of Colombia
  • John Waite, English singer, musician
• July 5 – Hillbilly Jim, American professional wrestler, radio host
• July 6
  • Grant Goodeve, American male voice actor
  • Adi Shamir, Modern cryptographer
  • Ani Yudhoyono, 6th First Lady of Indonesia (d. 2019)
  • Kim Chul-soo, South Korean footballer
  • Jennifer Savidge, American actress
• July 7
  • Li Hongzhi, Chinese-American founder, spiritual leader of Falun Gong
  • Alain Cortes, French modern pentathlete
  • Cheryl Gould, American journalist
• July 8
  • Marianne Williamson, American spiritual teacher, author and lecturer
  • Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt
  • Knud Arne Jürgensen, Danish music, theater and ballet historian
• July 9 – John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host (Entertainment Tonight)
• July 10
  • Yōko Asagami, Japanese voice actress
  • Evelio Leonardia, Filipino politician
  • Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Indian politician
• July 11 – Stephen Lang, American actor
• July 12
  • Voja Antonić, Serbian inventor, writer
  • Liz Mitchell, Jamaican-born singer (Boney M.)
• July 13 – Ricardo Boechat, Argentine-Brazilian journalist, anchor and radio announcer (d. 2019)
• July 14 – Yutaka Mizutani, Japanese actor, singer
• July 15
  • Marky Ramone, American musician
  • Terry O'Quinn, American actor
  • Yuriko Koike, Japanese politician (Governor of Tokyo)
• July 16 – Stewart Copeland, American rock musician (The Police)
• July 17 – David Hasselhoff, American actor (Knight Rider)
• July 18 – Albert Camille Vital, Malagasy Army officer, politician and civil engineer
• July 19 – Allen Collins, American rock musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1990)
• July 21 – Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Malaysian Minister of Finance
• July 23 – John Rutsey, Canadian musician (d. 2008)
• July 24
  • Kamrul Hasan Bhuiyan, Bangladeshi military officer, writer (d. 2018)
  • Gus Van Sant, American film director
• July 25 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese Architect
• July 26 — Hezi Leskali, Israeli poet and artist (d. 1994)
• July 28 – Vajiralongkorn, King of Thailand (Rama X)
• July 31 – João Barreiros, Portuguese author

August

Zoran Đinđić

Hun Sen

Patrick Swayze

Jonathan Frakes

Paul Reubens

Geoff Downes

• August 1 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian politician (d. 2003)
• August 2 – Arthur "Art" James, American former MLB baseball outfielder
• August 3 – Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer
• August 4
  • Estanislau da Silva, East Timorese politician
  • Moya Brennan, Irish singer
• August 5
  • Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia
  • Louis Walsh, Irish music producer, reality TV show judge
• August 6 – Wojciech Fortuna, Polish ski jumper
• August 7 – Kees van Prooijen, Dutch artist and music theorist
• August 8 – Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author
• August 12 – Charlie Whiting, British motorsports director (d. 2019)
• August 15 – Ahmed Zulfikar, Egyptian entrepreneur (d. 2010)
• August 16 – Reginald VelJohnson, American actor
• August 17 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentine tennis player
• August 18
  • Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (d. 2009)
  • Pete Richens, British screenwriter (d. 2018)
• August 19 – Jonathan Frakes, American actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• August 21
  • Joe Strummer, British rock musician (The Clash) (d. 2002)
  • Jiří Paroubek, 6th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
• August 23 – Steven Allan Brown, American punk rock musician (Tuxedomoon)
• August 24 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician, poet
• August 25
  • Geoff Downes, British keyboardist (Asia)
  • Charles M. Rice, American virologist, Nobel Prize recipient
• August 26
  • Bryon Baltimore, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Michael Jeter, American film, stage, and television actor (d. 2003)
• August 27
  • Martin Manley, American sports writer and statistician
  • Paul Reubens, American actor, writer and comedian (Pee-Wee Herman)
  • Roger Stone, American lobbyist
• August 28
  • Rita Dove, American poet (1987 Pulitzer Prize, United States Poet Laureate 1993–95)
  • Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman
• August 31
  • Eli Gorenstein, Israeli actor, voice actor and cellist
  • Lee Hyla, American composer
  • Hilary Farr, British-Canadian actress, designer

September

Neil Peart

Mickey Rourke

Nile Rodgers

Manuel Zelaya

• September 2
  • Jimmy Connors, American tennis player
  • Yuen Wah – Hong Kong martial actor
• September 4 – Rishi Kapoor, Indian actor (d. 2020)
• September 6 – Lucky Enam, Bangladeshi television, theater actress
• September 8 – Patrick Prosser, Scottish computer scientist
• September 9 – Angela Cartwright, British-American child actress, photographer and painter (Lost in Space)
• September 10 – Paulo Betti, Brazilian actor
• September 12
  • Sergey Karaganov, Russian political scientist
  • Neil Peart, Canadian rock drummer (Rush) (d. 2020)
• September 16
  • Karen Muir, South African swimmer (d. 2013)
  • Fatos Nano, Albanian prime minister
  • Mickey Rourke, American film actor, former boxer
• September 17 – Harold Solomon, American tennis player
• September 18 – Nile Rodgers, African-American musician, songwriter, composer, and guitarist
• September 19 – George Warrington, president of Amtrak (1998–2002); executive director of NJ Transit (2002–07) (d. 2007)
• September 20 – Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras
• September 21 – Anneliese Michel, German Roman Catholic believed possessed by demons (d. 1976)
• September 22
  • Oliver Mtukudzi, Zimbabwean musician (d. 2019)
  • Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia
• September 23
  • Jim Morrison, American baseball player
  • Peter Schrank, political cartoonist
• September 24
  • Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, American politician
  • Mark Sandman, American rock musician, artist (d. 1999)
• September 25
  • Jimmy Garvin, American professional wrestler
  • bell hooks, American author, academic, feminist, and social activist (d. 2021)
  • Christopher Reeve, American actor, activist (Superman) (d. 2004)
• September 26 – Predrag Miletić, Serbian actor
• September 27
  • Didier Dubois, French mathematician
  • Katie Fforde, British writer
• September 28 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch actress (d. 2012)
• September 29
  • Max Sandlin, American politician
  • Gábor Csupó, Hungarian-American animator, writer, director, producer and graphic designer
• September 30 – Jack Wild, English actor (H.R. Pufnstuf) (d. 2006)

October

Imran Khan

Vladimir Putin

Jeff Goldblum

Roberto Benigni

• October 2 – Robin Riker, American actress, author
• October 5
  • Clive Barker, British author
  • Harold Faltermeyer, German musician
  • Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan
  • Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan
  • Duncan Regehr, Canadian actor
• October 6 – Matthew Sweeney, Irish poet (d. 2018)
• October 7
  • Ivo Gregurević, Croatian actor (d. 2019)
  • Mary Badham, American actress
  • Vladimir Putin, 2-Time President of Russia
  • Ludmilla Tourischeva, Soviet gymnast
• October 9 – Sharon Osbourne, English actress, TV host and author
• October 12 – Advent Bangun, Indonesian karateka, actor (d. 2018)
• October 13
  • Mundo Earwood, American country music singer, songwriter (d. 2014)
  • Beverly Johnson, African-American model, actress and businesswoman
  • John Lone, Hong Kong actor
  • Richard Malanjum, Malaysian jurist and lawyer
• October 14
  • Harry Anderson, American actor, comedian, and magician (Night Court) (d. 2018)
  • Kaija Saariaho, Finnish composer
  • Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet gymnast (d. 2011)
  • Rick Aviles, American actor (d. 1995)
• October 16 – Ron Taylor, American actor (d. 2002)
• October 18
  • Andy Johnson, American football player (d. 2018)
  • Chuck Lorre, American sitcom creator
• October 19 – Verónica Castro, Mexican actress, entertainer
• October 20 – Eliane Giardini, Brazilian actress
• October 21 – Patti Davis, American actress and author
• October 22 – Jeff Goldblum, American actor
• October 23 – Steven Tandy, Australian stage, television and film actor
• October 24
  • Mark Gray, American country singer, songwriter (d. 2016)
  • David Weber, American science-fiction, fantasy author
• October 26 – Andrew Motion, English poet
• October 27
  • Roberto Benigni, Italian actor, screenwriter, and film director
  • Hazell Dean, British pop, dance musician
  • Francis Fukuyama, American political scientist
  • Topi Sorsakoski, Finnish singer
• October 28 – Annie Potts, American actress

November

Roseanne Barr

Jim Cummings

David Petraeus

Bill Farmer

Randy Savage

Shigeru Miyamoto

Mandy Patinkin

• November 2 – Laurence D. Fink, American business investor
• November 3
  • David Ho, Taiwanese-American AIDS researcher
  • Michael Shea, American child actor
  • Roseanne Barr, American actress, comedian (Roseanne)
  • Jim Cummings, American voice actor
• November 4
  • Vittorio Amandola, Italian actor and voice actor (d. 2010)
  • Jeff Lorber, American jazz keyboardist, composer and record producer
• November 5
  • Oleh Blokhin, Ukrainian football player and manager
  • Brian Muehl, American puppeteer
  • Bill Walton, American basketball player, commentator
• November 6 – Michael Cunningham, American writer
• November 7
  • Geraldo Alckmin, Brazilian politician
  • David Petraeus, American general
• November 8
  • Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist
  • Alfre Woodard, African-American actress, producer and political activist
• November 9 – Gladys Requena, Venezuelan politician
• November 13 – Art Malik, Pakistani-born British actor
• November 14
  • Bill Farmer, American voice actor, comedian
  • Maggie Roswell, American actress
• November 15 – Randy Savage, American professional wrestler (d. 2011)
• November 16
  • Roger Bisby, English journalist
  • Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer
• November 17
  • Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player
  • Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa
• November 18 – John Parr, English singer, songwriter and guitarist
• November 23 – Sharon O'Neill, New Zealand singer-songwriter and pianist
• November 24 – Ilja Richter, German actor, voice actor, television presenter, singer and author
• November 27 – Buddy Rose, American professional wrestler (d. 2009)
• November 28 – S. Epatha Merkerson, African-American actress (Law and Order)
• November 29 – John D. Barrow, English cosmologist, theoretical physicist and mathematician (d. 2020)
• November 30
  • Keith Giffen, American comic book writer, artist
  • Mandy Patinkin, American actor, singer

December

Michael Dorn

Allan Simonsen

CCH Pounder

• December 1
  • Rick Scott, American politician, 45th Governor of Florida, U.S. Senator (Florida)
  • Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, educator, and philanthropist (d. 2019)
  • Stephen Poliakoff, British playwright, director and scriptwriter
• December 2 – Peter Kingsbery, American singer, songwriter (Cock Robin)
• December 3
  • Bruno Jonas, German Kabarett artist, actor
  • Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Malaysian politician
• December 6
  • Chuck Baker, American Major League Baseball player
  • Nicolas Bréhal, French novelist, literary critic
  • Charles Bronson, English criminal (has been referred to as the "most violent prisoner in Britain")
  • Edward Etzel, American Olympic Champion
  • Joe Harris, American football linebacker
  • Christian Kulik, Polish football player
  • Craig Newmark, American businessman, founded Craigslist
  • Shio Satō, Japanese manga artist
  • Jeff Schneider, American Major League Baseball pitcher
  • David L. Spector, American cell, molecular biologist
• December 8 – Richard Walsh, English actor
• December 9 – Michael Dorn, African-American actor (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• December 10 – Susan Dey, American actress
• December 12
  • Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, Canadian politician
  • Sarah Douglas, English actress
  • Cathy Rigby, American actress and gymnast
• December 13
  • Karl Howman, English actor
  • Junkyard Dog, American pro wrestler (d. 1998)
• December 15
  • Julie Taymor, American film, theater, and opera director, costume designer
  • Hwang Woo-suk, South Korean biomedical scientist
  • Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer, coach
• December 16 – Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer
• December 20
  • Ray Bumatai, American musician, singer, recording artist and actor (d. 2005)
  • Jenny Agutter, English actress
  • Faisal Al-Fayez, Prime Minister of Jordan
• December 25
  • CCH Pounder, Guyanese–American actress
  • Isa Bakar, Malaysian football player (d. 2010)
  • Youssouf Ouédraogo, 6th Prime Minister of Burkina Faso (d. 2017)
• December 26
  • Jon Glover, British actor
  • Riki Sorsa, Finnish singer (d. 2016)
• December 27
  • Jay Hill, Canadian politician
  • David Knopfler, British musician
  • Tovah Feldshuh, American actress
• December 28
  • Arun Jaitley, Indian politician (d. 2019)
  • Hemant Shesh, Indian Hindi Writer
• December 29
  • Efron Etkin, Israeli actor and voice actor (d. 2012)
  • Külliki Saldre, Estonian actress
  • Philip Hearnshaw, Australian filmmaker (d. 2012)
• December 30 – June Anderson, American soprano

Deaths

January

Antonia Maury

Curly Howard

Sveinn Björnsson

• January 1 – Henri Albert Hartmann, French surgeon (b. 1860)
• January 2 – Gustave Francq, Canadian typographer and trade unionist (b. 1871)
• January 4 – Constant Permeke, Belgian painter (b. 1886)
• January 5 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1869)
• January 6 – Sofoklis Dousmanis, Greek naval officer (b. 1868)
• January 8 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer (b. 1866)
• January 9 – Andrea Cassulo, Italian Roman Catholic priest and missionary (b. 1869)
• January 11
  • Stanisław Stempowski, Polish politician (b. 1870)
  • Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)
• January 14 – Almas Ildyrym, Soviet poet (b. 1907)
• January 16 – Paolo Grilli, Italian sculptor and painter (b. 1857)
• January 18 – Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1903)
• January 19 – Archduke Maximilian Eugen of Austria (b. 1895)
• January 22 – Andrés Luna de San Pedro, Filipino architect (b. 1887)
• January 24 – Duke York, American actor (b. 1908)
• January 25
  • Sveinn Björnsson, 1st President of Iceland (b. 1881)
  • François Gagnepain, French botanist (b. 1866)
  • Polly Moran, American actress (b. 1883)
• January 26
  • Zubeida Begum, Indian actress (b. 1926)
  • André Cheron, American actor (b. 1880)
  • Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Marshal of the Mongolian People's Republic, Prime Minister of the Mongolian People's Republic (b. 1895)
• January 27 – Fannie Ward, American actress (b. 1872)
• January 28
  • Thomas Hicks, American runner (b. 1876)
  • Nicolae Constantin Batzaria, Ottoman statesman, Romanian writer (b. 1874)

February

Patriarch Callistratus of Georgia

King George VI

Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola

Theodoros Pangalos

• February 2
  • João Guilherme Fischer, Brazilian diplomat and scientist (b. 1876)
  • Charles de Rochefort, French actor (b. 1879)
  • Patriarch Callistratus of Georgia (b. 1866)
• February 3 – Harold L. Ickes, United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
• February 4 – Federico Henríquez y Carvajal, Dominican writer (b. 1848)
• February 6
  • Ioan Carlaonț, Romanian general (b. 1885)
  • King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
• February 7
  • Sebastião da Gama, Portuguese poet (b. 1924)
  • Philip G. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)
  • Pete Henry, American football player (Canton Bulldogs) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1897)
• February 9 – Arthur Hayes-Sadler, British admiral (b. 1865)
• February 11 – Matija Murko, Yugoslav scholar (b. 1861)
• February 14
  • Molly Malone, American actress (b. 1888)
  • John Sheehan, American actor (b. 1885)
• February 15 – Enzo de Muro Lomanto, Italian tenor (b. 1902)
• February 17 – Edvige Carboni, Italian Roman Catholic laywoman, mystic and venerable (b. 1880)
• February 18 – Enrique Jardiel Poncela, Spanish playwright and novelist (b. 1901)
• February 19
  • Lawrence Grant, British actor (b. 1870)
  • Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
• February 20 – Carlos Julio Arosemena Tola, 28th President of Ecuador (b. 1888)
• February 21 – Francis Xavier Ford, American Roman Catholic bishop, missionary, servant of God and reverend (b. 1892)
• February 24 – Tadeusz Vetulani, Polish agriculturalist (b. 1897)
• February 26
  • Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general and politician, dictator and President of Greece (b. 1878)
  • Josef Thorak, Austrian-born German sculptor (b. 1889)
• February 27 – Helena Concannon, Irish historian, writer, scholar and politician (b. 1878)
• February 28 - Albert Forster, Gauleiter of Danzig during WW2 executed for war crimes (b. 1902)
• February 29 – Quo Tai-chi, Chinese diplomat (b. 1888)

March

Andries Jan Pieters

Don Stephen Senanayake

King Jigme Wangchuck

• March 1
  • Masao Kume, Japanese playwright, novelist and poet (b. 1891)
  • Gregory La Cava, American film director (b. 1892)
• March 2 – Ole E. Benson, American politician (b. 1866)
• March 3 – Antonieta de Barros, Brazilian journalist and politician (b. 1901)
• March 5 – Sir Charles Sherrington, British physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
• March 7 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893)
• March 9 – Alexandra Kollontai, Russian revolutionary (b. 1872)
• March 12
  • Hugh Herbert, American actor and comedian (b. 1887)
  • Duke Siegfried August in Bavaria (b. 1876)
• March 13 – Võ Thị Sáu, Vietnamese schoolgirl (b. 1933)
• March 18 – Isaak Mazepa, Soviet politician (b. 1884)
• March 19 – Robert Guérin, French administrator, 1st President of FIFA (b. 1876)
• March 21 – Andries Jan Pieters, Dutch criminal (b. 1916)
• March 22
  • Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)
  • Don Stephen Senanayake, 1st Prime Minister of Ceylon (b. 1884)
• March 26 – J.P. McGowan, Australian actor and director (b. 1880)
• March 28 – Sir Fraser Russell, Governor of Southern Rhodesia (b. 1876)
• March 30
  • Sir Jigme Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b. 1905)
  • Nikos Beloyannis, Greek Communist (b. 1915)
• March 31
  • Bo McMillin, American football player and coach (b. 1895)
  • Walter Schellenberg, German Nazi intelligence official (b. 1910)
  • Roland West, American film director (b. 1885)
  • Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)

April

• April 1 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian novelist and dramatist (b. 1878)
• April 2
  • Antonio Cortis, Spanish tenor (b. 1891)
  • Julio Enrique Moreno, acting President of Ecuador (b. 1879)
• April 3 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (b. 1866)
• April 5
  • Charles Collett, British chief mechanical engineer (Great Western Railway) (b. 1871)
  • Sir John Tilley, British diplomat (b. 1869)
• April 8 – Tadeusz Estreicher, Polish cryogenics pioneer (b. 1871)
• April 10 – Frederic Austin, British teacher and composer (b. 1872)
• April 15
  • Bruno Barilli, Italian actor and composer (b. 1880)
  • Viktor Chernov, Russian revolutionary, leader of the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party (b. 1873)
• April 19 – Steve Conway, British singer (b. 1921)
• April 21
  • Leslie Banks, British actor (b. 1890)
  • Sir Stafford Cripps, British Labour politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)
• April 23
  • Nikolai Alekseev, Soviet-born Greek Orthodox priest and saint (b. 1869)
  • Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (b. 1887)
• April 27 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician (b. 1865)
• April 29 – Manuel Portela Valladares, Spanish political figure (b. 1868)
• April 30 – Shigenori Kuroda, Japanese general (b. 1887)

May

Maria Montessori

Juan Bautista Pérez

• May 2
  • Lagertha Broch, Norwegian illustrator (b. 1864)
  • Matrona Nikonova, Soviet Orthodox nun and saint (b. 1881)
• May 3 – Juan Carlos Blanco Acevedo, Uruguayan politician (b. 1879)
• May 5 – Alberto Savinio, Italian writer (b. 1891)
• May 6 – Maria Montessori, Italian educator (b. 1870)
• May 7 – Juan Bautista Pérez, Venezuelan lawyer, magistrate and politician, 43rd President of Venezuela (b. 1869)
• May 8 – William Fox, Austro-Hungarian-born film producer (b. 1879)
• May 9 – Canada Lee, American actor (b. 1907)
• May 10
  • Clark L. Hull, American psychologist (b. 1884)
  • Gino Boccasile, Italian illustrator (b. 1901)
• May 11 – Giovanni Tebaldini, Italian composer (b. 1864)
• May 15
  • Albert Bassermann, German actor (b. 1867)
  • Tadeusz Breyer, Polish sculptor (b. 1874)
  • Italo Montemezzi, Italian composer (b. 1875)
• May 16 – Antonio Correa Cotto, Puerto Rican outlaw (b. 1926)
• May 18 – Masakazu Nakai, Japanese aesthetician (b. 1900)
• May 19
  • Luigi Fabris, Italian sculptor (b. 1883)
  • Bangalore Nagarathnamma, Indian singer (b. 1878)
• May 21 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
• May 22 – Peter Ermakov, Russian Bolshevik leader (b. 1884)
• May 23 – Georg Schumann, German composer (b. 1866)
• May 29 – Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko, Ukrainian army officer (b. 1878)

June

Thomas Walsh

Sergei Merkurov

Felix Calonder

• June 1
  • John Dewey, American philosopher (b. 1859)
  • Malcolm St. Clair, American filmmaker (b. 1897)
• June 2 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect (b. 1880)
• June 6 – Thomas Walsh, American Roman Catholic archbishop and reverend (b. 1873)
• June 8 – Sergey Merkurov, Soviet sculptor (b. 1881)
• June 9
  • Félix Pérez Cardozo, Paraguayan musician (b. 1908)
  • Luigi Puccianti, Italian physicist (b. 1875)
• June 10
  • Hilda Hongell, Finnish architect (b. 1867)
  • Frances Theodora Parsons, American naturalist (b. 1861)
• June 12
  • Oleksiy Bazyuk, Bosnian Greek-Catholic hierarch (b. 1873)
  • Genovevo de la O, Mexican revolutionary leader (b. 1876)
  • Michael von Faulhaber, German Cardinal Archbishop of Munich (b. 1869)
• June 13 – Emma Eames, American soprano (b. 1865)
• June 14 – Felix Calonder, Swiss politician, 36th President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1863)
• June 15
  • Zofia Kirkor-Kiedroniowa, Polish activist (b. 1872)
  • Krystyna Skarbek (aka Christine Granville), Polish-born British SOE operative during World War II (b. 1908)
• June 17 – Jack Parsons, American rocket engineer (b. 1914)
• June 18 – Heinrich Schlusnus, German baritone (b. 1888)
• June 24 – Sir George Pearce, Australian politician (b. 1870)
• June 26 – Theodor Becker, German actor (b. 1880)
• June 27 – Elmo Lincoln, American actor (b. 1889)
• June 30 – Eugenio de Liguoro, Italian actor and director (b. 1899)

July

Pedro Lascuráin

Eva Perón

Reverend and Servant of God Guillermo Tritschler y Córdova

• July 2 – Ciro Grassi, Italian composer (b. 1868)
• July 3 – Carl Tanzler, German-born radiology technologist (b. 1877)
• July 4 – Walter Long, American actor (b. 1879)
• July 5 – Alison Skipworth, British actress (b. 1863)
• July 10 – Rued Langgaard, Danish composer and organist (b. 1893)
• July 20 – Isabelle LaMal, American actress (b. 1886)
• July 21
  • Catherine Chisholm, British physician (b. 1878)
  • Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican diplomat, 34th President of Mexico (b. 1856)
• July 22
  • Harry Carter, American actor (b. 1879)
  • Antonio María Valencia, Colombian composer (b. 1902)
• July 24 – Henry Hallett, British actor (b. 1888)
• July 26
  • Edward Ellis, American actor (b. 1870)
  • Eva Perón, Argentine political leader, and First Lady to and partner in power of President Juan Perón (b. 1919)
• July 29 – Guillermo Tritschler y Córdova, Mexican Roman Catholic prelate, reverend and servant of God (b. 1878)
• July 31
  • Waldemar Bonsels, German writer (b. 1880)
  • Takashi Hishikari, Japanese general (b. 1871)

August

Alberto Hurtado

Hiranuma Kiichirō

• August 1 – Andrew Higgins, American boatbuilder and industrialist (b. 1886)
• August 2 – J. Farrell MacDonald, American actor and director (b. 1875)
• August 5 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (b. 1917)
• August 6
  • Betty Allan, Australian statistician and biometrician (b. 1905)
  • Francis Pegahmagabow, Canadian military officer (b. 1889)
• August 11
  • Riccardo Martin, American tenor (b. 1874)
  • Dave Sands, Australian boxer (b. 1926)
• August 12 – Peretz Markish, Soviet-born Israeli poet (b. 1895)
• August 15 – Armida Barelli, Italian Roman Catholic laywoman and venerable (b. 1882)
• August 18
  • Alberto Hurtado, Chilean Jesuit priest and saint (b. 1901)
  • Ralph Byrd, American actor (b. 1909)
• August 22 – Hiranuma Kiichirō, Japanese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1867)
• August 23 – Henri Coutière, French zoologist (b. 1869)
• August 26 – Giovanni Cazzani, Italian Roman Catholic archbishop and servant of God (b. 1867)
• August 29
  • Euphrasia Eluvathingal, Indian Carmelite nun and saint (b. 1877)
  • Anton Piëch, Austrian lawyer, son-in-law of Ferdinand Porsche (b. 1894)
• August 30 – Arky Vaughan, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1912)
• August 31 – Henri Bourassa, Canadian political leader and publisher (b. 1868)

September

José Vicente de Freitas

Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg

• September 4
  • Wilhelmus Zakaria Johannes, Indonesian doctor (b. 1895)
  • Józef Węgrzyn, Polish actor (b. 1884)
• September 5 – Fernando Luis García, American marine (killed in action) (b. 1929)
• September 6
  • José Vicente de Freitas, Portuguese military officer and politician, 98th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1869)
  • Gertrude Lawrence, English actress (b. 1898)
• September 7 – Maria Shkapskaya, Soviet poet (b. 1891)
• September 9
  • Lizinka Dyrssen, Swedish activist (b. 1866)
  • Jonas H. Ingram, American admiral (b. 1886)
• September 13 – Hermann Hummel, German chemist and politician (b. 1876)
• September 14 – Larry Mann, American racing driver (b. 1930)
• September 16
  • Nicolae Păiș, Romanian admiral (b. 1887)
  • Hugo Raudsepp, Estonian playwright (b. 1883)
• September 19 – Maria Matos, Portuguese actress (b. 1886)
• September 22 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish jurist and academic, 1st President of Finland (b. 1865)
• September 23 – Ray Mala, American actor (b. 1906)
• September 24 – Eiichi Sugimoto, Japanese economist (b. 1901)
• September 26 – George Santayana, Spanish writer (b. 1863)
• September 30 – Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, American businessman and politician (b. 1879)

October

Hattie McDaniel

Billy Hughes

• October 3 – Zavel Kwartin, Soviet-born Israeli composer (b. 1874)
• October 4 – Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist (b. 1885)
• October 8 – Arturo Rawson, Argentine military officer and politician, 26th President of Argentina (b. 1885)
• October 11 – Jack Conway, American film producer and director (b. 1887)
• October 13 – Margaret Crosfield, British palaeontologist and geologist (b. 1859)
• October 19
  • Edward S. Curtis, American photographer, ethnologist, and film director (b. 1868)
  • Huang Jiguang, Chinese soldier (b. 1931)
  • Ernst Streeruwitz, Austrian businessman and politician, 6th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1874)
• October 20 – Basil Radford, British actor (b. 1897)
• October 21 – Leonardo Ruiz Pineda, Venezuela lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
• October 22 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874)
• October 23 – Susan Peters, American actress (b. 1921)
• October 24 – Frederick Jacobi, American composer (b. 1891)
• October 25 – Sergei Bortkiewicz, Soviet Romantic composer and pianist (b. 1877)
• October 26
  • Hattie McDaniel, American actress (b. 1893)
  • Myrtle McAteer, American tennis player (b. 1878)
• October 27 – Ludwig Fahrenkrog, German writer, playwright and artist (b. 1867)
• October 28 – Billy Hughes, Australian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)
• October 29 – Henri Rouvière, French anatomist (b. 1876)

November

Chaim Weizmann

• November 1 – Dixie Lee, American singer (b. 1911)
• November 2
  • Mehmet Esat Bülkat, Ottoman general (b. 1862)
  • Henry Edwards, British actor (b. 1882)
• November 3 – Louis Verneuil, French playwright and screenwriter (b. 1893)
• November 6 – Charles de Chambrun, French diplomat and writer (b. 1875)
• November 8
  • Harold Innis, Canadian communications scholar (b. 1894)
  • Hugh Prosser, American actor (b. 1900)
• November 9 – Chaim Weizmann, Jewish biochemist, Zionist leader and Israeli statesman, 1st President of Israel (b. 1874)
• November 10 – John Roche, American actor (b. 1893)
• November 11
  • Eugene Bossilkov, Bulgarian Roman Catholic priest, bishop, martyr and blessed (b. 1900)
  • Josaphat Chichkov, Bulgarian Orthodox priest, martyr and blessed (b. 1884)
  • Kamen Vitchev, Bulgarian Orthodox and Assumptionist priest, martyr and blessed (b. 1893)
• November 15
  • Vasyl Krychevsky, Ukrainian painter (b. 1873)
  • Vincent Scotto, French composer (b. 1874)
• November 18 – Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)
• November 20 – Benedetto Croce, Italian critic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1866)
• November 21
  • William Green, American labor leader (b. 1873)
  • Henriette Roland Holst, Dutch poet and socialist (b. 1869)
  • William D. Upshaw, American temperance movement leader (b. 1866)
• November 22 - Otto Dietrich, Nazi SS General (b. 1897)
• November 25 – Antonio Guarnieri, Italian conductor (b. 1880)
• November 26
  • Sven Hedin, Swedish explorer, geographer and geopolitician (b. 1865)
  • Carlo Lazzarini, Australian politician (b. 1880)
• November 27 – Zhou Xuechang, Chinese politician (b. 1898)
• November 28 – Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, consort of Victor Emmanuel III (b. 1869)
• November 29
  • Vladimir Ipatieff, Soviet chemist (b. 1867)
  • Vida Milholland, American activist (b. 1888)
• November 29 – Barbu Alinescu, Romanian general (b. 1890)

December

Vittorio Emanuele Orlando

• December 1 – Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Italian statesman, 23rd Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1860)
• December 2 – Miguel Osório de Almeida, Brazilian physician and scientist (b. 1890)
• December 3 – Vladimír Clementis, Czechoslovak minister, politician, publicist, literary critic and author (b. 1902)
• December 4
  • Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, Italian writer and journalist (b. 1882)
  • Karen Horney, German psychoanalyst (b. 1885)
• December 6
  • Andrey Aleksandrovich Gershun, Soviet physicist (b. 1903)
  • Louis Lapicque, French neuroscientist (b. 1866)
  • Dumitru Popovici, Romanian historian (b. 1902)
• December 8 – Charles Lightoller, British merchant marine officer, second officer of RMS Titanic (b. 1874)
• December 12
  • Erika Aittamaa, Swedish artisan (b. 1866)
  • Billy Cook, American criminal (b. 1928)
  • Bedrich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)
• December 14
  • Teixeira de Pascoaes, Portuguese poet, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1877)
  • Fartein Valen, Norwegian composer (b. 1887)
• December 15
  • Goscombe John, British sculptor (b. 1860)
  • Emmanuel Boleslaus Ledvina, American Roman Catholic prelate, bishop and reverend (b. 1868)
• December 16 – Leonid Yachenin, Soviet politician (b. 1897)
• December 18
  • Garimella Satyanarayana, Indian poet (b. 1893)
  • Ernst Stromer, German paleontologist (b. 1871)
• December 19 – Pehr G. Holmes, American politician (b. 1881)
• December 25
  • Bernardino Molinari, Italian conductor (b. 1880)
  • Herman Sörgel, German architect (b. 1885)
• December 26 – Lyn Harding, British actor (b. 1867)
• December 27 – Henri Winkelman, Dutch general (b. 1876)
• December 28
  • Carlo Agostini, Italian Roman Catholic prelate and reverend (b. 1871)
  • Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen consort of Christian X of Denmark (b. 1879)
• December 29 – Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)
• December 30
  • Luke McNamee, American admiral and Governor of Guam (b. 1871)
  • Gabriel Skagestad, Norwegian theologian, Roman Catholic priest, bishop and reverend (b. 1879)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell
• Chemistry – Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge
• Medicine – Selman Abraham Waksman
• Literature – François Mauriac
• Peace – Albert Schweitzer