1959 Explained

For other uses see 1959 (disambiguation).

The year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.__TOC__

Events of 1959

January

See also January 1959

January 1 - Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
January 2
January 2 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, The Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
January 2 - Castro's troops approach Havana.
January 2 - Soviet Union successfully launches Luna 1 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
January 3 - The island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
January 3 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
January 4 - In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
January 4 - In Léopoldville, 42 people are killed during food fights between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako Party.
January 6 - Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
January 8 - Charles De Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.
January 12 - The Caves of Nerja are discovered in Spain.

January 13 - Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
January 22 - Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine in Port Griffith, Pennsylvania; 12 miners are killed.
January 25 - Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.
January 29 - Walt Disney releases Sleeping Beauty.

February

See also February 1959

February 1 - A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.
February 3 - A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all 4 occupants on board, including pilot Roger Peterson. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie".
February 6 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
February 9 - Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones)
February 13 - TAT-2 cable goes into operation.
February 16 - Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
February 16 - A blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.
February 17 - The United States launches the Vanguard II weather satellite.
February 18 - Jesús Sosa Blanco, murderer of 108 people, is executed in Cuba.
February 18 - Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
February 19 - The United Kingdom decides to grant Cyprus its independence.
February 20 - The Canadian Government cancels the CF-105 Arrow project.
February 22 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
February 26 - Author Walter Mene throws acid on a Rubens painting in Munich.

March

See also March 1959

March 1 - The USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia are struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
March 1 - Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
March 8 - The Marx Brothers make their last TV appearance, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery.
March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts.
March 10 - A Tibetan uprising against 10 years of Chinese occupation erupts in Lhasa.
March 11 - Een beetje by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, text by Willy van Hemert) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for the Netherlands.
March 11 - A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York.
March 12 - The first solid gold "Glaussen Pennies" are producted.
March 17 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, starts to flee Tibet and travels to India.
March 18 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
March 19 - Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963), in the Maldives Islands.
March 31 - Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida is dedicated and opens its gates.
March 31 - The Dalai Lama arrives in Tibet.

April

April 6 - The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held.
April 9 - NASA announces its selection of 7 military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
April 10 - Japanese Prince Akihito marries Shōda Michiko.
April 25 - The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
April 27 - National People's Congress elects Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as a successor of Mao Zedong.

May

May - The first Ten Tors event is held in Dartmoor.
May - Import tariffs are lifted in the United Kingdom.
May 2 - 1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest defeats Luton Town 2-1.
May 18 - The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.
May 24 - British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.
May 28 - Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.

June

June 3 - Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
June 5 - A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former ministers are re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
June 8 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
June 9 - The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
June 14 - A 3-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic, consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro, whose purpose is to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but 4 are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than 2 years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 revolutionaries.
June 18 - The film The Nun's Story, based on the best-selling novel, is released. Audrey Hepburn stars as the title character; she later says that this is her favorite film role. The film is a box-office hit, and is nominated for several Oscars.
June 23
June 23 - Sean Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
June 23 - Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only 9 years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumes a scientific career).
June 26 - Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
June 26 - Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a film based on H.T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, after world premiering in Ireland.

July

July 1 - The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway by Canada and the United States, officiated by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
July 2 - Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
July 4 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
July 7 - At 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. The rare event (which will next occur on October 1, 2044) is used for determining the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
July 8 - Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
July 15 - A strike occurs against the U.S. steel industry.
July 17 - The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.
July 22 - Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease comes to the conclusion that mercury is the cause.
July 24 - At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."
July 25 - The SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Bleriot's first crossing by heavier-than-air craft.

August

August 4 - Martial law is declared in Laos.
August 7 - Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
August 7 - United States The Roseburg Oregon Blast kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
August 8 - A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.
August 14 - Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from space.
August 15 - Cyprus gains independence.
August 17 - The Hebgen Lake Earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
August 21 - Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
August 24 - Cyprus joins the United Nations.
August 26 - The original Mini designed by Sir Alec Issigonis is launched.

September

September 14 - Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to crash on the Moon.
September 17 - The first Navy Navigation Satellite System Transit 1A is launched but fails to reach orbit.
September 23 - The M/S Princess of Tasmania (Australia’s first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry) makes its maiden voyage across the Bass Strait.
September 25 - Ceylon's prime minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is assassinated.
September 26 - Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.
September 30 - Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.

October

October 2 - Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
October 7 - The U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever photos of the far side of the Moon.
October 12
October 12 - At the national APRA Congress in Peru, a group of leftist radicals is expelled from the party; they later form APRA Rebelde.
October 12 - A large-scale diamond robbery takes place in London.
October 13 - The United States launches Explorer 7.
October 21 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) opens to the public.
October 31 - Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.
October 31 - Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow that he will never return to the United States.

November

November 2 - The first section of the M1 motorway opens between the present junctions 5 and 18.
November 12 - The Warner Bros. epic The Miracle, very loosely based on the 1911 stage pantomime produced by Max Reinhardt, is released. It is a critical and financial bomb.
November 15 - The Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas is brutally murdered.
November 18 - MGM's widescreen, multimillion dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards - a record held until 1998, when 1997's Titanic becomes the first film to equal the record.

December

December 1 - Cold War - Antarctic Treaty: 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
December 2 - Malpasset Dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Frejus, killing 412.
December 13 - Three years after its first telecast, MGM's The Wizard of Oz is shown on television for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.
December 14 - Makarios III is selected the first president of Cyprus.

Undated

Pantyhose is introduced by Glen Raven Mills.
The Workers World Party is founded by Sam Marcy.
The first known human with HIV dies in the Congo. PMID 9468138
The current (as of 2006) design of the Japanese 10 yen coin is put into circulation.
The Caspian Tiger becomes extinct in Iran.

Ongoing

Algerian War (1954-62)
Cold War (1945-91)
First Sudanese Civil War (1955-72)
Marshall Plan
Mau Mau Uprising (1952-60)
Vietnam War (1959-75)

Fictional

The events of the movie Grease take place.

Births

January-February

January 1 - Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros
January 5 - Clancy Brown, American actor
January 6 - Andrew Johnson, English artist.
January 9 - Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
January 9 - Mark Martin, American NASCAR driver
January 12 - Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter & Roxette guitarist
January 16 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer (Paradise)
January 17 - Susanna Hoffs, American rock lead singer (The Bangles)
January 17 - Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer
January 21 - Paulo Miklos, Brazilian singer and actor
January 21 - Alex McLeish, Birmingham City and ex-Scotland manager
January 27 - Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster (Countdown)
January 31 - Kelly Moore, American race car driver
February 2 - Jari Tervo, Finnish author
February 3 - Lol Tolhurst, British rock drummer/keyboardist (The Cure)
February 3 - UliUli Fifita, Professional Wrestler aka(Haku/Meng)
February 4 - Lawrence Taylor, American football player
February 4 - Pamelyn Ferdin, former child actress & animal activist
February 6 - Ken Nelson, English record producer
February 10 - Dennis Gentry, American football player
February 14 - Renée Fleming, American soprano
February 16 - John McEnroe, American tennis player
February 22 - Kazi Uzair, Pakistani pediatrician, student leader (d. 1989)
February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
February 26 - Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player

March-April

March 4 - Rick Ardon, Australian news presenter
March 4 - Irina Strakhova, Russian race walker
March 6 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
March 8 - Aidan Quinn, Irish/American actor
March 9 - Giovanni di Lorenzo, German-Italian journalist and talk show host
March 10 - Mike Wallace, American race car driver
March 15 - Harold Baines, American baseball player
March 16 - Flavor Flav, American rapper
March 16 - Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
March 17 - Danny Ainge, American basketball player, coach, and baseball player
March 17 - Paul Black, American rock singer
March 18 - Luc Besson, French film producer, writer, and director
March 18 - Irene Cara, American singer
March 20 - Steve Borden, American wrestler
March 20 - Steve McFadden, British actor
March 21 - Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
March 22 - Matthew Modine, American actor
March 23 - Catherine Keener, American actress
March 29 - Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
March 29 - Perry Farrell, American musician
April 2 - Badou Zaki, Morrocan football player and manager
April 3 - David Hyde Pierce, American actor
April 10 - Brian Setzer, American rock guitarist (Stray Cats)
April 11 - Ana María Polo, Cuban-born judge and television personality
April 15 - Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
April 16 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
April 20 - Clint Howard, American actor and producer
April 21 - Robert Smith, British rock musician (The Cure)
April 21 - Jerry Only, American rock bassist (The Misfits)
April 22 - Catherine Mary Stewart, Canadian actress
April 22 - Ryan Stiles, American actor
April 22 - Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager
April 25 - Tony Phillips, American baseball player
April 27 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
April 30 - Stephen Harper, Canadian politician and present Prime Minister (2006- )

May-June

May 2 - Alan Best, Canadian animation director and producer
May 3 - Uma Bharati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
May 3 - Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
May 5 - Ian McCulloch, English rock singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
May 5 - Steve Stevens, American guitarist
May 5 - Peter Molyneux, British game programmer
May 5 - Brian Williams, American news anchor
May 10 - Victoria Rowell, American actress
May 14 - Patrick Bruel, French singer
May 15 - Andrew Eldritch, British rock musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
May 17 - Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach
May 17 - Jim Nantz, American sports announcer
May 19 - Nicole Brown Simpson, American ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim (d. 1994)
May 20 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer (d. 1997)
May 20 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
May 21 - Brian Lenihan, Jnr, Irish politician
May 22 - Steven Morrissey, British singer
May 24 - Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-born hockey player (d. 1985)
May 27 - Katherine Lanpher, American journalist
May 29 - Adrian Paul, British actor
June 8 - Bernard White, Sri Lankan-born American actor, screenwriter and film director
June 8 - Scott W. Roberts, American popularizer of astronomy
June 9 - Miles O'Brien, American television news anchor, pilot
June 10 - Eliot Spitzer, American politician and former governor of New York
June 11 - Hugh Laurie, British actor and comedian
June 11 - Magnum T.A., American professional wrestler
June 12 - John Linnell, American rock musician (They Might Be Giants)
June 14 - Marcus Miller, American bassist
June 22 - Wayne Federman, American comedian, actor, and author
June 22 - Ed Viesturs, American mountaineer
June 26 - Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and comedian
June 27 - Clint Boon, British rock musician (Inspiral Carpets)
June 30 - Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor

July-August

July 3 - Julie Burchill, British journalist
July 6 - Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
July 7 - Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
July 9 - Jim Kerr, Scottish rock singer (Simple Minds)
July 9 - Kevin Nash, American professional wrestler
July 11 - Richie Sambora, American musician
July 11 - Suzanne Vega, American singer
July 13 - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
July 16 - Gary Anderson, American football player
July 18 - Mel Purcell, American tennis player
July 26 - Rick Bragg, American writer
July 26 - Kevin Spacey, American actor
July 27 - Hugh Green, American football player
July 29 - Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
July 29 - Ruud Janssen, Dutch artist
August 1 - Joe Elliott, British rock singer (Def Leppard)
August 2 - Apollonia Kotero, American actress and singer
August 3 - Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
August 4 - Robbin Crosby, American rock guitarist (Ratt) (d. 2002)
August 8 - Christoph Theinert, German cellist and composer
August 10 - Rosanna Arquette, American actress
August 11 - Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer
August 11 -Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese investor
August 13 - Danny Bonaduce, American actor and disc jockey
August 14 - Magic Johnson, American basketball player
August 15 - Scott Altman, American astronaut
August 17 - Jonathan Franzen, American author
August 17 - Brad Wellman, American baseball player
August 18 - June Angela, Asian-American actress, singer, and dancer
August 21 - Jim McMahon, American football player
August 25 - Sönke Wortmann, German film director
August 27 - Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
August 29 - Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
August 29 - Stephen Wolfram, British scientist
August 30 - Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian footballer and actor
August 31 - Tony DeFranco, Canadian singer

September-October

September 1 - Kenny Mayne, American sportscaster
September 2 - Guy Laliberté, Canadian Cirque du soleil founder
September 4 - Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
September 8 - Daler Nazarov, Tajik composer, singer, and actor
September 14 - Morten Harket, Norwegian rock singer (a-ha)
September 17 - Charles Lawson, Irish actor
September 18 - Sérgio Britto, Brazilian singer and keyboardist
September 21 - Dave Coulier, American actor
September 21 - Stan Van Gundy, American basketball coach
September 28 - Dantes Tsitsi, Nauruan politician
September 29 - Benjamin Sehene, Rwandan writer
September 30 - Ettore Messina, Italian basketball coach
October 1 - Youssou N'Dour, Senegalese singer
October 1 - Brian P. Cleary, American humorist, author, poet
October 3 - Fred Couples, American golfer
October 3 - Greg Proops, American comedian
October 3 - Jack Wagner, American actor
October 4 - Chris Lowe, British musician
October 7 - Lourdes Flores, Peruvian politician
October 7 - Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
October 9 - Michael Pare, American actor
October 10 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
October 13 - Marie Osmond, American pop singer
October 15 - Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
October 15 - Emeril Lagasse, American chef and restaurant owner
October 17 - Ron Drummond, American writer, editor, and music historian
October 17 - Richard Roeper, American film critic
October 21 - Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
October 21 - Tony Ganios, American actor
October 23 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist
October 25 - Christina Amphlett, Australian rock singer (Divinyls)
October 26 - Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
October 27 - Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach
October 31 - Neal Stephenson, American writer

November-December

November 2 - Said Aouita, Moroccan athlete
November 5 - Bryan Adams, Canadian singer and photographer
November 7 - Billy Gillispie, American basketball coach
November 8 - Selçuk Yula, Turkish football player and top scorer
November 9 - Tony Slattery, British comedian and actor
November 10 - Linda Cohn, American sports reporter
November 10 - Mackenzie Phillips, American actress
November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
November 17 - William R. Moses, American actor
November 18 - Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
November 19 - Allison Janney, American actress
November 23 - Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
November 25 - Charles Kennedy, British politician
November 28 - Judd Nelson, American actor
November 29 - Kim Delaney, American actress
November 29 - Platon Lebedev, Russian executive
November 30 - Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
December 1 - Billy Childish, English painter, writer and musician
December 1 - Wally Lewis, Australian sport identity
December 6 - Satoru Iwata, Japanese president of Nintendo
December 13 - Johnny Whitaker, American actor
December 20 - Sandra Cisneros, Mexican-born author
December 21 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
December 21 - Martin Meenan, Irish schoolteacher and playwrite
December 22 - Bernd Schuster, German footballer and manager
December 24 - Keith Deller, English darts player
December 27 - Gerina Dunwich, American author
December 31 - Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (d. 1981)
December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor
December 31 - Baron Waqa, Nauruan politician and composer

Date unknown

Willie Doherty, Irish artist

Deaths

January-March

January 2 - William D. Francis, Australian botanist (b. 1889)
January 3 - Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, novelist and translator (b. 1887)
January 21 - Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
January 21 - Carl Switzer, American actor ("Alfalfa" in Our Gang) (b. 1927)
January 22 - Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
January 28 - Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
February 1 - Frank Shannon, American actor (b. 1874)
February 3 - Killed in the crash of a private plane:
- The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), American rock singer (b. 1930)
- Buddy Holly, American rock singer (b. 1936)
- Ritchie Valens, American rock singer (b. 1941)
February 3 - Vincent Astor, American philanthropist (b. 1891)
February 4 - Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
February 11 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (b. 1922)
February 14 - Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (b. 1898)
February 15 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
February 23 - Luis Palés Matos, Puerto Rican poet (b. 1898)
February 26 - Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, eldest grandchild of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1891)
February 28 - Maxwell Anderson, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
March 3 - Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
March 4 - Maxey Long, American athlete (b. 1878)
March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
March 29 - Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)

April-June

April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
May 5 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
May 14 - Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)
May 16 - Elisha Scott, Irish footballer (b. 1894)
May 18 - Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Antarctic explorer (b. 1886)
May 18 - Enrique Guaita, Argentinian footballer (b. 1910)
May 24 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
May 30 - Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz, Argentinian journalist (b. 1898)
June 9 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
June 16 - George Reeves, American TV actor (b. 1914)
June 18 - Ethel Barrymore, American stage & screen actress (b. 1879)
June 23 - Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (b. 1920)

July - September

July 11 - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
July 15 - Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (b. 1880)
July 17 - Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
July 25 - King Mutara III of Rwanda (b. c. 1912)
August 5 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
August 6 - Preston Sturges, American film director and writer (b. 1898)
August 15 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901)
August 16 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
August 19 - Claude Grahame White, British aviation pioneer (b. 1879)
August 19 - Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
August 28 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
September 7 - Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Québec (b. 1890)
September 25 - Solomon Bandaranaike, prime minister of Ceylon (b. 1899)
September 28 - Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (b. 1901)

October-December

October 6 - Bernard Berenson, American art historian (b. 1865)
October 7 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)
October 14 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
October 16 - George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)
October 18 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
October 19 - Ebrahim Hakimi, Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1871)
October 22 - Joseph Cahill, Australian politician (b. 1891)
October 28 - Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932)
November 2 - Michael Considine, Australian politician (b. 1885)
November 15 - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
November 17 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
November 21 - Max Baer, American boxer and actor (b. 1909)
November 24 - Dally Messenger, Australian rugby league player (b. 1883)
December 4 - Hubert Marischka, Austrian film director (b. 1882)
December 22 - Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (b. 1901)

Nobel prizes

Academy Awards

Best Picture: Gigi
Best Director: Vincente Minnelli, Gigi
Best Actor: David Niven, Separate Tables
Best Supporting Actor: Burl Ives, The Big Country
Best Actress: Susan Hayward, I Want To Live!
Best Supporting Actress: Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
Best Original Story and Screenplay: Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith, The Defiant Ones
Best Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium: Alan Jay Lerner, Gigi