1963
| 1963 by topic |
| Subject: Archaeology – Architecture – Art – Aviation – Comics – Film – Literature (Poetry) – Meteorology – Music (Country) – Rail transport – Radio – Science – Sports – Television |
| Countries: Australia – Canada – People's Republic of China – Ecuador – France – Germany – Greece – India – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Japan – Luxembourg – Malaysia – Mexico – New Zealand – Norway – Pakistan – Philippines – Singapore – South Africa– Soviet Union – UK – USA |
| Leaders: Sovereign states – State leaders – Religious leaders – Law |
| Categories: Births – Deaths – Works – Introductions – Establishments – Disestablishments – Awards |
|
1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1963
January
- January-February - Heavy snow results in many houses and buildings collapsed by heavy snow on roofs in northwestern Japan. At least 231 reported died. (from January to February). An express train delayed 106 hours 30 minutes arrived at Tokyo, because of heavy snow and adverse weather.
- January 1
- Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy), Japan's first serialized animated series based on the popular manga, debuts on Japanese television station Fuji TV.
- Bogle-Chandler case: CSIRO scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove River, Sydney.
- January 14
- George C. Wallace becomes governor of Alabama. In his inaugural speech, he defiantly proclaims "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever!"[1][2]
- The locomotive Flying Scotsman (British Railways No. 60103) makes its last scheduled run, before going into the hands of Alan Pegler for preservation.
- January 22 – France and Germany sign the Elysée Treaty.
- January 26 – The Australia Day shootings rock Perth, Western Australia; 2 people are shot dead and 3 others injured by Eric Edgar Cooke.
- January 28 – African American student Harvey Gantt enters Clemson University in South Carolina, the last U.S. state to hold out against racial integration.
- January 29 – French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes the United Kingdom's entry into the EEC.
February
- February 8 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy Administration.
- February 10 – Five Japanese cities located on the northernmost part of Kyūshū are merged and become the city of Kitakyūshū, with a population of more than 1 million.
- February 11 – The CIA's Domestic Operations Division is created.
- February 12 – Northwest Airlines flight 705 crashes in the Florida Everglades killing everyone aboard.
- February 19 – The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique launches the reawakening of the Women's Movement in the United States as women's organizations and consciousness-raising groups spread.
- February 21 – An earthquake destroys the village of Barce, Libya, killing 900.
- February 27
- February 28 – Dorothy Schiff resigns from the New York Newspaper Publisher's Association, feeling that the city needs at least one paper. Her paper, the New York Post, resumes publication on March 4.
March
- March
- March 4 – In Paris, 6 people are sentenced to death for conspiring to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle pardons 5 of them but the other conspirator is executed by firing squad a few days later.
- March 5 – In Camden, Tennessee, country music superstar Patsy Cline (Virginia Patterson Hensley) is killed in a plane crash along with fellow performers Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and Cline's manager and pilot Randy Hughes, while returning from a benefit performance in Kansas City, Kansas for country radio disc jockey "Cactus" Jack Call.
March 27: British Rail network, as it would have become, if "Beeching axe" plans had been fully implemented (only bolded rail lines would have remained).
April
- April 1 – The longrunning soap opera General Hospital debuted on ABC.
- April 3 – SCLC volunteers kick off the Birmingham campaign against segregation with a sit-in.
- April 7 – Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a socialist republic, and Josip Broz Tito is named President for Life.
- April 8 – The 35th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
- April 10 – The U.S. nuclear submarine Thresher sinks 220 miles east of Cape Cod; all 129 crewmen die.
- April 12 – Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth and others are arrested in a Birmingham protest for "parading without a permit".
- April 12 – The Soviet nuclear powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish Straits. Although severely damaged, both vessels make it to port.
- April 15 – 70,000 marchers arrive in London from Aldermaston, to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.
- April 16 – Martin Luther King, Jr. issues his Letter from Birmingham Jail.
- April 20 – In Quebec, Canada, members of the terrorist group Front de libération du Québec, bomb a Canadian Army recruitment center, killing night watchman Wilfred V. O'Neill.
- April 21–23 – The first election of the Supreme Institution of the Bahá'í Faith (known as the Universal House of Justice, whose seat is at the Bahá'í World Centre on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel) is held.
- April 22 – Lester Bowles Pearson becomes the 14th Prime Minister of Canada.
- April 25 – Sandra Elise Organ, noted choreographer, and Houston Ballet's first African-American ballerina, born in Omaha, Nebraska.
- April 28 – A general election is held in Italy.
- April 29- Buddy Rogers becomes the first WWF Champion.
May
- May 1 – The Coca-Cola Company debuts its first diet drink, TaB cola.
- May 2
- Thousands of African Americans, many of them children, are arrested while protesting segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor later unleashes fire hoses and police dogs on the demonstrators.
- Berthold Seliger launches near Cuxhaven a 3 stage rocket with a maximum flight altitude of more than 62 miles (the only sounding rocket developed in Germany).
- May 4 – The Le Monde Theater fire in Dioirbel, Senegal kills 64.
- May 8
- Dr. No, the first James Bond film, is shown in U.S. theaters.
- Hue Vesak shootings: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam opens fire on Buddhists who defy a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, the birthday of Gautama Buddha, killing nine. Earlier, President Ngo Dinh Diem allowed the flying of the Vatican flag in honour of his brother, Archibishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.
- May 13 – A smallpox outbreak hits Stockholm, Sweden, lasting until July.
- May 15 – Mercury program: NASA launches Gordon Cooper on Mercury 9, the last mission (on June 12 NASA Administrator James E. Webb tells Congress the program is complete).
- May 23 – Fidel Castro visits the Soviet Union.
- May 25 – The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- May 27 – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's second studio album, and most influential, released by Columbia Records.
June
July
August
- August 5 – The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
- August 8 – The Great Train Robbery of 1963 takes place in Buckinghamshire, England.
- August 15 – President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.
- August 18 – American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
- August 21
- Xa Loi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalise Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
- Cable 243: In the wake of the Xa Loi Pagoda raids, the Kennedy administration orders the US Embassy, Saigon to explore alternative leadership in South Vietnam, opening the way towards a coup against Diem.
- August 22 – American test pilot Joe Walker again achieves a sub-orbital spaceflight according to international standards, this time by piloting the X-15 to an altutude of 67.0 miles (107.8 kilometers).
- August 28 – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his I Have A Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an audience of at least 250,000, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
September
- September – Marvel Comics releases the first ever X-Men comic book
- September 5 – British prostitute Christine Keeler is arrested for perjury. On December 6 she is sentenced to 9 months in prison.
- September 6 – The Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
- September 7 – The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
- September 10 – Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano is indicted for murder (he is captured 43 years later, on April 11, 2006).
- September 15 – American civil rights movement: The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in Birmingham, Alabama, kills 4 and injures 22.
- September 16 – Malaysia is formed through the merging of the Federation of Malaya and the British crown colony of Singapore, North Borneo (renamed Sabah) and Sarawak.
- September 16 – In Fort-Lamy, Chad, demonstrations are quelled with 300 dead.
- September 18 – Rioters burn down the British Embassy in Jakarta, to protest the formation of Malaysia.
- September 23 – King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals is established by a Saudi Royal Decree as the College of Petroleum and Minerals.
- September 24 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the nuclear test ban treaty.
- September 25 – The Denning Report on the Profumo affair is published in Great Britain.
- September 29
October
November
- November 22
- The Beatles' second U.K. album, With The Beatles, is released
- John F. Kennedy assassination: In Dallas, Texas, United States President John F. Kennedy is assassinated, Texas Governor John B. Connally is seriously wounded, and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson becomes the 36th President. All television coverage for the next three days is devoted to the assassination, its aftermath, the procession of the horsedrawn casket to the Capitol Rotunda, and the funeral of President Kennedy. Stores and businesses shut down for the entire weekend and Monday, in tribute.
- November 23
- November 24 – Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of John F. Kennedy, is shot dead by Jack Ruby in Dallas, Texas on live national television. Later that night, a hastily arranged program, A Tribute to John F. Kennedy from the Arts, featuring actors, opera singers, and noted writers, all performing dramatic readings and/or music, is telecast on ABC-TV.
- November 24 – Vietnam War: New U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson confirms that the United States intends to continue supporting South Vietnam militarily and economically.
- November 25 – U.S. President Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Schools around the nation do not have class on that day, millions watch the funeral on live international television.
- November 29 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
- November 29 – Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 831, a Douglas DC-8 carrying 118, crashes into a wooded hillside after taking-off from Dorval International Airport near Montreal, killing all on board (the worst air disaster for many years in Canada's history).
December
- December 3 – The Warren Commission begins its investigation.
- December 4 – The second period of Second Vatican Council closes.
- December 5 – The Seliger Forschungs-und-Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH demonstrates rockets for military use to military representatives of non-NATO-countries near Cuxhaven. Although these rockets land via parachute at the end of their flight and no allied laws are violated, the Soviet Union protests this action.
- December 8
- A lightning strike causes the crashing of Pan Am Flight 214 near Elkton, Maryland, killing 81 people.
- Frank Sinatra Jr. is kidnapped at Harrah's Lake Tahoe.
- December 10 – In the United States, the X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled. Also on this date: Chuck Yeager "while testing an NF-104A rocket-augmented aerospace trainer, he narrowly escaped death when his aircraft went out of control at 108,700 feet (nearly 21 miles up) and crashed. He parachuted to safety at 8,500 feet after vainly battling to gain control of the powerless, rapidly falling craft. In this incident he became the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights.”
- December 12 – Kenya becomes independent, with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister.
- December 19 – Zanzibar gains independence from Great Britain as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.
- December 21 – Cyprus Emergency: Inter-communal fighting erupts between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots.
- December 22 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira, with the loss of 128 lives.
- December 25
- Walt Disney releases his 18th feature-length animated motion picture The Sword in the Stone, about the boyhood of King Arthur. It is the penultimate animated film personally supervised by Disney.
- İsmet İnönü of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (28th government, coalition partners; independents, İnönü has served 10 ten times as a prime minister, this is his last government)
- December 26 – I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There are released in the U.S., marking the beginning of full-scale Beatlemania.
Undated
- David. H. Frisch and J. H. Smith prove that the radioactive decay of mesons is slowed by their motion (see Einstein's special relativity and general relativity).
- The Semi Automatic Ground Environment is fully deployed.
- TAT-3 cable goes into operation.
- Ivan Sutherland writes the revolutionary Sketchpad program and runs it on the Lincoln TX-2 computer at MIT.
- Construction of Moscow's Ostankino Tower begins.
- Harvey Ball invents the ubiquitous smiley face symbol.
- The Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) is founded.
- The IEEE Computer Society is founded.
- The Urdu typewriter keyboard is standardised by the Central Language Board in Pakistan.
Births
January
- January 2
- David Cone, American baseball player
- Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
- January 6 – Tony Halme, Finnish boxer and politician (d. 2010)
- January 13 – Jiang Wen, Chinese actor
- January 14 – Steven Soderbergh, American film director
- January 16 – James May, English motoring journalist and television show host
- January 18 – Ian Crook, English footballer
- January 20 – Firebreaker Chip, American professional wrestler
- January 21
- Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian basketball player
- Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player
- January 23 – Gail O'Grady, American actress
- January 24 – Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
- January 26
- Chin Siu Ho, Hong Kong actor
- José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
- Riddell Akua, Nauruan politician
- January 30 – Thomas Brezina, Austrian author
February
- February 2 – Eva Cassidy, American vocalist (d. 1996)
- February 3 – Gretel Killeen, Australian journalist
- February 4 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss alpine skier
- February 11 – Diane Franklin, American actress
- February 17 – Michael Jordan, American basketball player
- February 18 – Rob Andrew, English rugby union player
- February 19 – Seal, English singer
- February 20 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player
- February 21 – William Baldwin, American actor
- February 22 – Vijay Singh, Fiji golfer
March
- March 1 – Russell Wong, American actor
- March 2 – Tuff Hedeman, American PRCA World Champion Bull Rider
- March 3 – Martin Fiz, Spanish long-distance runner
- March 4 – Daniel Roebuck, American actor
- March 5 – Joel Osteen, American televangelist and son of John Osteen
- March 6 – Gary L. Stevens, American jockey
- March 7 – Kim Ung-yong, Korean child prodigy
- March 12 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner
- March 13 – Fito Páez, Argentine musician
- March 14 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer
- March 15 – Bret Michaels, American rock singer (Poison)
- March 17 – Alex Fong, Hong Kong actor
- March 18 – Vanessa L. Williams, American beauty queen, actress, and singer
- March 20
- Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
- Kathy Ireland, American model and actress
- March 21 – Ronald Koeman, Dutch football player and manager
- March 22 – Susan Ann Sulley, British musician
- March 26 – Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Japanese writer
- March 27
- Charly Alberti, Argentinian musician
- Quentin Tarantino, American actor, director, writer, and producer
- Xuxa, Brazilian television personality
- March 29 – Elle Macpherson, Australian supermodel
April
- April 3 – Criss Oliva, American metal guitarist (savatage), – Karl Beattie, Director, Husband Of Yvette Fielding
- April 4
- Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
- Graham Norton, Irish comedian and talk show host
- Frank Yallop, Canadian footballer
- April 8 – Julian Lennon, British musician son of John Lennon
- April 9 – Joe Scarborough, American newscaster
- April 10 – Doris Leuthard, Swiss Federal Councillor
- April 11 – Chris Ferguson, American poker player
- April 12 – Michael English, American Christian musician
- April 13 – Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player
- April 16 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer
- April 17 – Joel Murray, American actor
- April 18
- April 21
- Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004)
- Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
- April 24 – Tõnu Trubetsky, Estonian rock musician (Vennaskond)
- April 26
- Jet Li, Chinese martial artist and actor
- Colin Scotts, Australian-born American football player
- April 27
- Cali Timmins, Canadian actress
- Russell T Davies, Welsh television producer and writer
- April 30 – Michael Waltrip, American race car driver
May
- May 1 – Benjamin LaGuer, American prisoner proclaiming innocence for more than two decades
- May 2 – Ray Traylor, American professional wrestler ("Big Bossman") (d. 2004)
- May 5 – James LaBrie, Canadian vocalist (Dream Theater)
- May 9 – Gary Daniels, British martial artist and actor
- May 11 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (d. 2009)
- May 12 – Jerry Trimble, American actor and martial artist
- May 16
- Jon Coffelt, American artist
- Mercedes Echerer, Austrian actress and politician
- May 19 – Yazz, English singer
- May 23 – Wally Dallenbach Jr., American race car driver and announcer
- May 24
- Joe Dumars, American basketball player
- Rich Rodriguez, American football coach
- May 25
- Mike Myers, Canadian actor and comedian
- Eha Rünne, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower
- May 26 – Clive Cowdery, English insurance entrepreneur
June
- June 5 – Joe Rudán, Hungarian heavy metal singer
- June 6 – Jason Isaacs, British actor
- June 9 – Johnny Depp, American actor
- June 12
- Warwick Capper, Australian rules footballer
- Jerry Lynn, American professional wrestler
- June 13 – Bettina Bunge, German tennis player
- June 14 – Graham Brown, Canadian Athlete ("The Rug")
- June 15 – Helen Hunt, American actress
- June 16 – James Fullington, American professional wrestler ("The Sandman)
- June 17 – Greg Kinnear, American actor
- June 18 – Bruce Smith, American football player
- June 20 – Amir Derakh, American musician
- June 22 – Randy Couture, American mixed martial arts fighter
- June 23 – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
- June 24
- Mike Wieringo, American comic-book artist (d. 2007)
- Preki, Serbia-born American footballer
- June 25
- June 26 – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian businessman, former Komsomol activist and oligarch
- June 29 – Anne-Sophie Mutter, German violinist
- June 30 – Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist, composer, and bandleader
July
- July 4 – Christopher George Kennedy, American son of Robert F. Kennedy
- July 6 – Miguel De Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, Basque separatist
- July 11 – Lisa Rinna, American actress
- July 16 – Phoebe Cates, American actress
- July 17
- Letsie III, King of Lesotho
- Matti Nykanen, Finnish ski jumper
- July 18 – Allen Sarven, American professional wrestler (Al Snow)
- July 24
- Julie Krone, American jockey
- Karl Malone, American basketball player
- July 27 – Donnie Yen, Hong Kong actor and martial artist
- July 28 – Gregory Henriquez, Canadian architect
- July 29 – Graham Poll, English football referee
- July 29 – Jim Beglin, Irish football commentator
- July 30 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress
- July 30 – Chris Mullin, American basketball player and executive
August
- August 1 – Coolio, American rapper
- August 2 – Laura Bennett, American fashion designer
- August 3 – James Hetfield, American musician (Metallica)
- August 6 – Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker
- August 7 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (d. 1963)
- August 8 – Stephen Walkom, Canadian ice hockey official and executive
- August 9 – Whitney Houston, American singer
- August 15 – Valery Levaneuski, entrepreneur, politician, former political prisoner
- August 19 - John Stamos, American actor
- August 22 – Tori Amos, American singer
- August 23
- Hans-Henning Fastrich, German field hockey player
- Kenny Wallace, American race car driver
- August 24 – Hideo Kojima, Japanese video-game director
- August 26
- Michael Tao, Hong Kong actor
- Liu Huan, Chinese singer
- August 30 – Michael Chiklis, American actor
- August 30 – Phil Mills, British race car driver
- August 31
- Todd Carty, British actor
- The Egyptian Lover, American rapper, DJ and producer
September
- September 1 – Carola Smit, Dutch musician
- September 6 – Geert Wilders, Dutch politician
- September 7 – Eric Wright (Eazy-E), American rapper (d. 1995)
- September 8 – Li Ning, Chinese gymnast
- September 10 – Randy Johnson, American baseball player
- September 11 – Joey Dedio, American actor
- September 12 – Norberto Barba, American cinematographer and film director
- September 16 – Richard Marx, American pop/rock singer
- September 17 – Masahiro Chono, Japanese professional wrestler
- September 19 – Jarvis Cocker, English rock musician (Pulp)
- September 21
- Cecil Fielder, American baseball player
- Angus MacFadyen, Scottish actor
- September 28 - Steve Blackman, American professional wrestler
- September 29
- Dave Andreychuk, Canadian hockey player
- Les Claypool, American bassist (Primus)
October
- October 1 – Mark McGwire, American baseball player
- October 5 – Laura Davies, English golfer
- October 5 – Ronni Le Tekrø, Norwegian guitarist (TNT)
- October 6 – Elisabeth Shue, American actress
- October 10
- October 12
- Satoshi Kon, Japanese anime director
- Alan McDonald, Northern Irish footballer
- Mabi de Almeida, Angolan professional football coach
- October 17 – Norm MacDonald, Canadian comedian
- October 22 – Brian Boitano, American figure skater
- October 23
- Thomas Di Leva, Swedish singer
- Wilson Yip, Hong Kong actor and director
- October 25 – John Levén, Swedish bassist (Europe)
- October 26 – Natalie Merchant, American singer, songwriter, and musician
- October 27 – Feyyaz Uçar, Turkish footballer
- October 28
- Mark Kwok, Hong Kong actor
- Lauren Holly, American actress
- October 30 – Kristina Wagner, American actress
- October 31
- Fred McGriff, American baseball player
- Johnny Marr, English musician
- Dermot Mulroney, American actor
- Rob Schneider, American actor
November
- November 1
- Rick Allen, British rock musician (Def Leppard)
- Mark Hughes, Welsh football player & manager
- Katja Riemann, German actress
- November 2
- Craig Saavedra, American filmmaker
- Bobby Dall, American rock bassist (Poison)
- November 4 – Lena Zavaroni, Scottish entertainer (d. 1999)
- November 7 – John Barnes, Jamaican-born English footballer
- November 11 – Kip James, American professional wrestler
- November 13 – Vinny Testaverde, American football player
- November 15 – Benny Elias, Australian rugby player
- November 16 – Meenakshi Seshadri, Indian dancer & actress
- November 18 – Dante Bichette, American baseball player
- November 19
- Terry Farrell, American actress
- Jon Potter, British field hockey player
- Peter Schmeichel, Danish football player
- November 21 – Nicollette Sheridan, English actress
- November 22 – Winsor Harmon, American actor
- November 23 – Troy Hurtubise, Canadian inventor
- November 25
- Holly Cole, Canadian jazz singer
- Bernie Kosar, American football player
December
- December 2 – Ann Patchett, American novelist
- December 3 – Terri Schiavo, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 2005)
- December 4 – Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian pole vaulter
- December 7 – Mark Bowen, Welsh footballer
- December 8
- Toshiaki Kawada, Japanese professional wrestler
- Greg Howe, American guitarist
- December 13 – Jake White, South African rugby coach
- December 13 – Uwe-Jens Mey, German speed skater
- December 14
- Cynthia Gibb, American actress
- Vytautas Juozapaitis, Lithuanian baritone, pedagogue (professor) and TV host
- December 16
- Benjamin Bratt, American actor
- Jeff Carson, American singer
- December 18
- Pauline Ester, French singer
- Charles Oakley, American basketball player
- Brad Pitt, American actor
- December 21
- Govinda Ahuja, Indian actor and politician
- Jacques Simonet, Belgian politician (d. 2007)
- December 22
- Bryan Gunn, Scottish footballer
- Luna H. Mitani, Japanese-American Surrealist painter
- December 23
- Jim Harbaugh, American football player
- Donna Tartt, American author
- December 26 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-born rock drummer (Metallica)
- December 29
- Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
- Sean Payton, American football coach
- December 30 – Kim Hill, American Christian singer
Deaths
January
- January 2
- January 5
- Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, heart attack after cataract surgery (b. 1896)
- Erik Strandmark, Swedish film actor, plane crash (b. 1919)
- January 6
- Frank Tuttle, American film director (b. 1892)
- Stark Young, American teacher, playwright, novelist, painter, literary critic, and essayist (b. 1881)
- January 7 – Erik Lundqvist, Swedish athlete (b. 1908)
- January 13
- Sonny Clark, American jazz pianist, heart attack (b. 1931)
- Sylvanus Olympio, 1st President of Togo, assassination (b. 1902)
- January 18 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, British mathematician (b. 1899)
- January 21 – Al St. John, American actor, heart attack (b. 1893)
- January 23 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor and medallic artist (b. 1908)
- January 24
- Otto Harbach, American lyricist and librettist (b. 1873)
- Kenneth Western, part of The Western Brothers (b. 1899)
- January 25 – Marion Sunshine, American actoress (b. 1894)
- January 26 – Ole Olsen, American actor, kidney ailment (b. 1892)
- January 27 – Evelyn Francisco, silent film actress (b. 1904)
- January 28
- John Farrow, American film director, heart attack (b. 1904)
- Jean Piccard, Swiss-born chemist and engineer (b. 1884)
- January 29
- January 30
- January 31 – Ossie Vitt, professional baseball player and manager (b. 1890)
February
- February 1
- Louis D. Lighton, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1895)
- Wyndham Standing, English actor (b. 1880)
- February 2 – William Gaxton, star of vaudeville, film, and theatre, cancer (b. 1893)
- February 6 – Piero Manzoni, Italian artist, heart attack (b. 1933)
- February 8 – George Dolenz, American actor, heart attack (b. 1908)
- February 9 – Abd al-Karim Qasim, Prime minister of Iraq, shot to death (b. 1914)
- February 11 – Sylvia Plath, American poet and novelist, suicide (b. 1932)
- February 15
- Bump Hadley, Major League Baseball pitcher (b. 1904)
- Edgardo Donato, Uruguayan tango composer and orchestra leader (b. 1897)
- Louis J. Gasnier, French film director (b. 1875)
- February 16 – László Lajtha, Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist and conductor (b. 1892)
- February 18
- February 19 – Benny Moré, Cuban singer, cirrhosis (b. 1919)
- February 20
- Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor, cancer (b. 1914)
- Jacob Gade, Danish violinist and composer (b. 1879)
- Bill Hinchman, professional baseball player (b. 1883)
- February 22 – Arthur Guy Empey, soldier, author, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1883)
- February 24 – Herbert Asbury, American journalist and writer, from a chronic lung disease (b. 1889)
- February 28 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball player (b. 1891)
March
- March 1 – Irish Meusel, American professional baseball player (b. 1893)
- March 4 – William Carlos Williams, American writer, stroke (b. 1883)
- March 5
- March 7 – Joachim Holst-Jensen, Norwegian film actor (b. 1880)
- March 11
- Ignat Bednarik, Romanian painter (b. 1882)
- Joe Judge, American professional baseball player (b. 1894)
- March 16 – Archduchess Elisabeth Marie of Austria (b. 1883)
- March 17
- Thomas L. Lennon, screenwriter (b. 1896)
- Lizzie Miles, African American blues singer, heart attack (b. 1895)
- March 18 – Wanda Hawley, American actress (b. 1895)
- March 22
- Cilly Aussem, German tennis champion (b. 1909)
- Abraham Ellstein, American composer for Yiddish entertainments (b. 1907)
- March 23 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1887)
- March 25 – Felix Adler, American screenwriter, abdominal cancer (b. 1884)
- March 26 – Jean Bruce, French writer, car accident (b. 1921)
- March 27 – Harry Piel, German actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer (b. 1892)
- March 28 – Frank J. Marion, American motion picture pioneer (b. 1869)
- March 29 – Wilcy Moore, American professional baseball player (b. 1897)
- March 31 – Harry Akst, American songwriter (b. 1894)
April
- April 3 – Alma Richards, American Olympic gold medalist (b. 1890)
- April 4 – Jason Robards, Sr., American stage and screen actor, heart attack (b. 1892)
- April 6 – Otto Struve, Russian–American astronomer (b. 1897)
- April 7 – Amedeo Maiuri, Neapolitan archaeologist (b. 1886))
- April 9
- Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
- Benno Moiseiwitsch, Jewish-Ukrainian pianist (b. 1890)
- April 12 – Felix Y. Manalo, First Filipino Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (b. 1886)
- April 13 – Luis Somoza Debayle, 50th President of Nicaragua (b. 1922)
- April 14 – Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian Historian, writer, and scholar (b. 1893)
- April 14 – Arthur Jonath, German Olympic athlete (b. 1909)
- April 30
May
- May 1 – Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer, Father of Philippine National Language and Grammar (b. 1879)
- May 2 – Van Wyck Brooks, American literary critic and writer (b. 1886)
- May 6 – Monty Woolley, American actor (b. 1888)
- May 7 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American engineer and physicist (b. 1881)
- May 11 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- May 12 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)
- May 12 – Aiden Wilson Tozer, American Protestant pastor (b. 1897)
- May 18 – Ernie Davis, American football player, first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy (b. 1939)
- May 24 – Elmore James, American blues guitarist (b. 1918)
- May 31 – Edith Hamilton, German-born author (b. 1867)
June
July
- July 6 – Georg, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1899)
- July 10 – Teddy Wakelam, English sports broadcaster and rugby union player (b. 1893)
- July 12 – Slatan Dudow, Bulgarian film director (b. 1903)
- July 18 – Jack Solomon, American restaurateur (b. 1896)
August
- August 1 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
- August 2 – Oliver La Farge, American writer (b. 1901)
- August 4 – Tom Keene, American actor (b. 1896)
- August 9 – Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, American infant son of President and Mrs. Kennedy
- August 10
- Estes Kefauver, American politician (b. 1903)
- Ernst Wetter, Swiss Federal Councillor (b. 1877)
- August 11 – Clem Bevans, American actor (b. 1879)
- August 17 – Richard Barthelmess, American actor (b. 1895)
- August 18 – Clifford Odets, American playwright (b. 1906)
- August 20 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (b. 1879)
- August 22 – William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, British businessman and a philanthropist (b. 1877)
- August 23 - Larry Keating, American actor (b. 1896)
- August 24 – James Kirkwood, Sr., American film director (b. 1875)
- August 27 – Allama Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi, Indian founder of the Khaksar Movement (b. 1888)
- August 27 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American civil rights activist (b. 1868)
- August 30 – Guy Burgess, British spy, one of the Cambridge Five (b. 1911)
- August 31 – Georges Braque, French painter (b. 1882)
September
October
November
December
- December 2
- Sabu, Indian-American actor (b. 1924)
- Thomas J. Hicks, American runner (b. 1875)
- December 5 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905)
- December 12 – Theodor Heuss, 5th President of Germany (b. 1884)
- December 12 – Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese filmmaker (b. 1903)
- December 14 – Dinah Washington, African-American jazz/blues singer (b. 1924)
- December 15 – Rikidōzan, Korea-born Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1924)
- December 21 – Jack Hobbs, English cricketer (b. 1882)
- December 25 – Tristan Tzara, French poet (b. 1896)
- December 28 – Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)
- December 28 – A. J. Liebling, American journalist (b. 1904)
- December – Andy Kennedy, Northern Ireland footballer (b. 1897)
Nobel Prizes
Academy Awards
- Best Picture: Lawrence of Arabia, Sam Spiegel
- Best Foreign Language Film: Les Dimanches de Ville d'Avray, France
- Best Documentary Feature: Black Fox: The True Story of Adolf Hitler, Louis Clyde Stoumen
- Best Director: David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
- Best Actor: Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird
- Best Actress: Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker
- Best Supporting Actor: Ed Begley, Sweet Bird of Youth
- Best Supporting Actress: Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker
- Best Original Screenplay: Ennio De Concini; Alfredo Giannetti; Pietro Germi, Divorzio all'italiana
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Horton Foote, To Kill a Mockingbird
- Best Original Score: Lawrence of Arabia, Maurice Jarre
- Best Original Song: Days of Wine and Roses from Days of Wine and Roses, Music by Henry Mancini; Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Notes
