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1955

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1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1955th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 955th year of the 2nd millennium, the 55th year of the 20th century, and the 6th year of the 1950s decade.

Events[edit]

January[edit]

• January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.^[1]
• January 17 – USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.^[2]
• January 18–20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).^[3]
• January 22 – In the United States, The Pentagon announces a plan to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), armed with nuclear weapons.
• January 23 – The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17, near Birmingham, England.
• January 25 – The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.
• January 28 – The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Taiwan from the People's Republic of China.

February[edit]

• February 10 – The United States Seventh Fleet helps the Republic of China evacuate the Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen IslandstoTaiwan.
• February 16 – Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
• February 19 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established, at a meeting in Bangkok.
• February 22 – In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,077.
• February 24 – The Baghdad Pact (CENTO), originally known as Middle East Treaty Organization (METO), is signed between Iraq and Turkey.^[4]

March[edit]

• March 2 – Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old African-American girl, refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to a white woman after the driver demands it. She is carried off the bus backwards, while being kicked, handcuffed and harassed on the way to the police station. She becomes a plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle (1956), which rules bus segregation to be unconstitutional.
• March 5
  • WBBJ-TV signs on the air in Jackson, Tennessee, with WDXI as its initial call-letters, to expand American commercial television in mostly rural areas.
  • Elvis Presley makes his television debut on "Louisiana Hayride", carried by KSLA-TV Shreveport in the United States.^[5]
• March 7 – The Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, which had opened in 1954 starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC-TV, with its original cast, as an installment of Producers' Showcase. It is also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV, almost exactly as it was performed on stage. This program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to this time, and it becomes one of the first great TV family musical classics.
• March 17 – Richard RiotinMontreal: 6,000 people protest the suspensionofFrench Canadian ice hockey star Maurice Richard of the Montreal Canadiens by the National Hockey League, following a violent incident during a match.
• March 19 – KXTV signs on the air in Sacramento, California, as the 100th commercial television station in the United States.
• March 20 – The movie adaptation of Evan Hunter's novel Blackboard Jungle premieres in the United States, featuring the famous single "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.

April[edit]

• April 1 – EOKA starts a resistance campaign against British rule in the Crown colonyofCyprus.
• April 5
  • Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, due to ill-health, at the age of 80.
  • Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become Mayor of Chicago, by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
• April 6 – Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• April 10 – In the American National Basketball Association championship, the Syracuse Nationals defeat the Fort Wayne Pistons 92–91 in Game 7, to win the title.
• April 11
  • The Taiwanese Kuomintang put a bomb on the airplane Kashmir Princess, killing 16 but failing to assassinate the People's Republic of China leader, Zhou Enlai.
  • Taekwondo, a form of Korean martial arts, is officially recognized ^{[clarification needed]} in South Korea.^{[citation needed]}
• April 12 – The Salk polio vaccine, having passed large-scale trials earlier in the United States, receives full approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
• April 14
  • The Detroit Red Wings win the Stanley Cup in North American ice hockey for the 7th time in franchise history, but will not win again until 1997.
  • A7.1 earthquake shakes the Chinese city of Kangding leaving 70 dead.
• April 15 – The first franchised McDonald's restaurant is opened by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.^[6]
• April 16 – The Burma-Japan Peace Treaty, signed in RangoononNovember 5, 1954, comes into effect, formally ending a state of war between the two countries.
• April 17 – Imre Nagy, the communist Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.
• April 18–24 – The Asian-African Conference is held in Bandung, Indonesia.

May[edit]

• May 5 – West Germany becomes a sovereign country, recognized by Western countries such as France, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.
• May 6 – The Western European Union Charter becomes effective.
• May 7 – Newcastle United F.C. beat Manchester City F.C. 3–1 to win the 1955 FA Cup final in English Association football.
• May 9
  • West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
  • A young Jim Henson introduces the earliest version of Kermit the Frog (made in March), in the premiere of his puppet show Sam and Friends, on WRC-TVinWashington, D.C.
• May 11 – Japanese National Railways' ferry Shiun Maru sinks after a collision with sister ship Uko Maru, in thick fog off Takamatsu, Shikoku, in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan; 166 passengers (many children) and 2 crew members are killed. This event is influential in plans to construct the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge (built 1986–98).
• May 12 – New York's Third Avenue Elevated runs its last train between Chatham Square in Manhattan and East 149th Street in the Bronx, thus ending elevated train service in Manhattan.
• May 14
  • Eight Communist Bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty in Warsaw, Poland, that is called the Warsaw Pact (it will be dissolved in 1991).
  • Warrington win the British Rugby League Championship title for the third time; they will not win it again within the following 60 years.
• May 15
  • The Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's national sovereignty, is concluded between the 4 occupying powers following World War II (the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France) and Austria, setting it up as a neutral country.
  • Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy become the first people to reach the summit of Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, on the 1955 French Makalu expedition. The entire team of climbers reaches the summit over the next two days.^[7]
• May 18 – Free movement of residents between North and South Vietnam ends.^[8]
• May 25 – Joe Brown and George Band are the first to climb Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, as part of the British Kangchenjunga expedition led by Charles Evans.

June[edit]

• June 7 – The television quiz program The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS-TV in the United States, with Hal March as the host.
• June 11 – Le Mans disaster: Eighty-three people are killed and at least 100 are injured, after two race cars collide in the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans.
• June 13 – Mir mine, the first diamond mine in the Soviet Union, is discovered.
• June 16
  • Lady and the Tramp, the Walt Disney company's 15th animated film, premieres in Chicago.
  • The Argentine Navy drops bombs over Plaza de Mayo and shoots unarmed civilians in an attempt to kill the then president Juan Perón.
• June 26 – The Freedom Charter of the anti-apartheid South African Congress Alliance is adopted, at a Congress of the PeopleinKliptown.
• June 30 – The Simonstown Agreement provides for control of the naval base at Simon's Town in the Union of South Africa to transfer from the British Royal Navy to the South African Navy.^[9]

July[edit]

• July 1 – Transformation from the Imperial Bank of India to the State Bank of India is given legal recognition through an Act of the Parliament of India.
• July 7 – The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.
• July 13 – Ruth Ellisishanged for murder in London, becoming the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom.
• July 17
  • The Disneyland theme park opens in Anaheim, California, an event broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company television network.
  • The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially, partially powering Arco, Idaho, from the U.S. National Reactor Testing Station; on July 18, Schenectady, New York, receives power from a prototype nuclear submarine reactor at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory.^[10]
• July 18 – Illinois Governor William Stratton signs the Loyalty Oath Act, that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath to the State of Illinois and the United States or lose their jobs.
• July 18–23 – Geneva Summit between the United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France.
• July 22 – In Long Beach, California (United States), Hillevi RombinofSweden is crowned Miss Universe.
• July 27 – El Al Flight 402 from Vienna (Austria) to Tel Aviv, via Istanbul, is shot down over Bulgaria. All 58 passengers and crewmen aboard the Lockheed Constellation are killed.
• July 28 – The first Interlingua Congress is held in Tours, France, leading to the foundation of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.

August[edit]

• August 1 – The prototype Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft first flies, in Nevada.
• August 18
  • The First Sudanese Civil War begins.
  • The first meeting of the Organization of Central American States (Spanish: Organización de Estados Centroamericanos, ODECA) is held, in Antigua Guatemala.
• August 19 – Hurricane Diane hits the northeastern United States, killing over 200 people and causing over $1 billion in damage.
• August 20 – Hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
• August 22 – Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
• August 25 – The last Soviet Army forces leave Austria.
• August 26 – Satyajit Ray's film Pather Panchali is released in India.
• August 27 – The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published, in London.
• August 28 – Black 14-year-old Emmett Tillislynched and shot in the head for allegedly whistling at a white woman in Money, Mississippi; his white murderers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, are acquitted by an all-white jury.

September[edit]

• September 2 – Under the guidance of Dr. Humphry Osmond, Christopher Mayhew ingests 400 mg of mescaline hydrochloride and allows himself to be filmed as part of a Panorama special for BBC TV in the U.K. that is never broadcast.
• September 3 – Little Richard records "Tutti Frutti" in New Orleans; it is released in October.
• September 6 – Istanbul pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
• September 10 – The long-running Western television series Gunsmoke debuts, on the CBS network in the United States.
• September 14 – Pope Pius XII elevates many of the apostolic vicariates in Africa to Metropolitan Archdioceses.
• September 15 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in Paris, by Olympia Press.
• September 16
  • The military coup to unseat President Juan Perón of Argentina is launched at midnight.
  • A Soviet Navy Zulu-class submarine becomes the first to launch a ballistic missile.
• September 18 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the uninhabited Atlantic island of Rockall.
• September 19–21 – President of Argentina Juan Perón is ousted in a military coup.
• September 19 – Hurricane Hilda kills about 200 people in Mexico.
• September 21–30 – Hurricane Janet, one of the strongest North Atlantic tropical cyclones on record, sweeps the Lesser Antilles and Mexico, causing more than 1,020 deaths.^[11]
• September 22 – Commercial television starts in the United Kingdom with the Independent Television Authority's first ITV franchises beginning broadcasting in London, ending the BBC monopoly.
• September 23 – A 6.8 earthquake shakes the Chinese county of Huili, leaving 728 dead and 1,547 injured.
• September 24
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States, suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver, Colorado. Vice President Nixon serves as Acting President while Eisenhower recovers.
  • Founder of Swiss watchmaker Glycine Watch SA, Eugène Meylan, age 64, is murdered.^[12]
• September 30 – Actor James Dean is killed when his automobile collides with another car at a highway junction, near Cholame, California.

October[edit]

• October 2 – Alfred Hitchcock Presents debuts on the CBS TV network in the United States.
• October 3 – The Mickey Mouse Club debuts on the ABC-TV network in the United States.
• October 4 – The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, South Korea.
• October 5 – Disneyland Hotel opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
• October 11 – 70-mm film for projection is introduced, with the theatrical release of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical film, Oklahoma!.
• October 14 – The Organization of Central American States secretariat is inaugurated.
• October 20 – Disc jockey Bill RandleofWERE (Cleveland) is the key presenter of a concert at Brooklyn High School (Ohio), featuring Pat Boone and Bill Haley & His Comets, and opening with Elvis Presley (Elvis's first filmed performance), for a documentary on Randle titled The Pied Piper of Cleveland.
• October 26
  • After the last Allied troops have left Austria, and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, the country declares its permanent neutrality.
  • Ngô Đình Diệm proclaims Vietnam to be a republic, with himself as its President (following the State of Vietnam referendumonOctober 23), and forms the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
• October 27 – The film Rebel Without a Cause, starring James Dean, is released in the United States.
• October 29 – Soviet battleship Novorossiysk explodes at moorings in Sevastopol Bay, killing 608 (the Soviet Union's worst naval disaster to date).

November[edit]

• November 1
  • Official start date of the Vietnam War between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and Republic of Vietnam; the north is allied with the Viet Cong.^[13]
  • A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B, over Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board.
• November 3 – The Rimutaka Tunnel opens on the New Zealand Railways, at 5.46 mi (8.79 km), the longest in the Southern Hemisphere at this time.
• November 15 – The Democratic Party of Japan and Japan Liberal Party merge to form the Japan Liberal Democratic Party, beginning the "1955 System".^[14]
• November 19 – C. Northcote Parkinson first propounds 'Parkinson's law', in The Economist.
• November 20 – Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS-TV network in the United States.
• November 23 – The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean are transferred from British to Australian control.
• November 26 – The British Governor of Cyprus declares a state of emergency on the island.
• November 27 – The Westboro Baptist Church holds its first service in Topeka, Kansas.

December[edit]

• December 1 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refuses to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger, and is arrested, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott.
• December 4 – The International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations is founded in Luxembourg.
• December 5
  • The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge, to become the AFL–CIO.
  • The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama, by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and other Black ministers to coordinate the Montgomery bus boycott by Black people.
• December 9 – Adnan MenderesofDP forms the new government of Turkey (22nd government).
• December 10 – 1955 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal/Country Coalition Government is re-elected with a substantially increased majority, defeating the Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt. This election comes in the immediate aftermath of the devastating split in the Labor Party, which leads to the formation of the Democratic Labor Party. The DLP will preference against Labor, and keep the Coalition in office until 1972.
• December 14
  • The Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, in New York State, opens to traffic.
  • Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sri Lanka join the United Nations simultaneously, after several years of moratorium on admitting new members that began during the Korean War.
• December 19 – Australian comedian Barry Humphries first introduces his character Edna Everage on stage in Melbourne.^[15]
• December 20 – Cardiff is declared by the British Government as the capital of Wales.
• December 22 – American cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes, forty-six.
• December 31
  • General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make a profit of over 1 billion dollars in 1 year.
  • Austria becomes independent, under terms of the May 15 Austrian State Treaty.

World population[edit]

• World population: 2,755,823,000
  • Africa: 246,746,000
  • Asia: 1,541,947,000
  • Europe: 575,184,000
  • South America: 190,797,000
  • North America: 186,884,000
  • Oceania: 14,265,000

Births[edit]

January[edit]

• January 1
  • Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
  • Bonnie Arnold, American film producer
  • Mary Beard, English classicist
  • Akissi Kouamé, Ivorian army general (d. 2022)
  • Simon Schaffer, English academic and historian of science and philosophy
  • Ghulam Abbas, Pakistani radio, television, and film singer
  • Mulatu Teshome, Ethiopian politician and 8th President of Ethiopia
  • Joseph Abiodun Balogun, Nigerian-American academic
• January 3 – Hill Carrow, American-born sports tourism executive
• January 4 – Mark Hollis, English musician (d. 2019)^[16]
• January 5 – Mamata Banerjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal
• January 6
  • Rowan Atkinson, English comic actor
  • Richard Corbett, British politician, served as final Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP)
• January 7 – Belinda Meuldijk, Dutch actress
• January 8
  • Mike Reno, Canadian musician
  • Charles Gordon-Lennox, British aristocrat and owner of Goodwood Estate
• January 9
  • Michiko Kakutani, American literary critic
  • J. K. Simmons, American actor
  • Bruce Boudreau, Canadian ice hockey coach and former player
• January 10
  • Volker Mosblech, German politician (d. 2024)
  • Michael Schenker, German guitarist (Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group)
  • Jimmy Vivino, American guitarist
  • Eva Aariak, Canadian Inuk politician
• January 11
  • Max Lucado, American Christian author and minister
  • Mick Cocks, Australian musician (d. 2009)
• January 12 – Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Canadian politician
• January 13
  • Paul Kelly, Australian musician
  • Jay McInerney, American writer
  • Patrick M. Walsh, U.S. Navy admiral, Commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet
• January 15
  • Andreas Gursky, German photographer
  • Enrico Mentana, Italian journalist
  • Thierry Breton, French business executive, politician, writer and Commissioner for Internal Market
  • Jim Caldwell, American professional football coach
• January 16
  • Mary Karr, American poet
  • J. S. G. Boggs, American artist
• January 17
  • Steve Earle, American crossover singer-songwriter
  • Katalin Karikó, Hungarian-born biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate^[17]
• January 18
  • Kevin Costner, American actor, producer and director
  • Frankie Knuckles, American disk jockey and record producer (d. 2014)
  • Marilyn Mazur, Danish percussionist
  • Lionel Barber, English journalist
• January 19
  • Sir Simon Rattle, English orchestral conductor^[18]
  • Avraham Burg, Israeli author, politician and businessman
  • Paul Rodriguez, Mexican American actor and comedian
• January 20
  • Wyatt Knight, American actor (d. 2011)
  • McKeeva Bush, Caymanian politician
• January 21 – Jeff Koons, American artist^[19]
• January 22
  • Sonja Morgenstern, German figure skater
  • Neil Bush, American businessman and investor
• January 24 – Lalan Singh, Indian politician and Member of Parliament
• January 25
  • Olivier Assayas, French film director
  • Rick Bowness, Canadian former professional ice hockey coach and player
  • Piedad Córdoba, Colombian lawyer and politician (d. 2024)
• January 26
  • Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor
  • Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American rock musician (Van Halen) (d. 2020)
  • Lucía Méndez, Mexican film actress
• January 27
  • John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
  • Ratnottama Sengupta, Indian journalist
• January 28
  • Vinod Khosla, Indian-born American venture capitalist
  • Nicolas Sarkozy, 23rd President of France^[20]
• January 29
  • Rachid Mouffouk, Algerian sculptor
  • Femi Pedro, Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria
  • Pierre Bordage, French science fiction author
• January 30
  • Mychal Thompson, Bahamian basketball player
  • John Baldacci, American politician
• January 31
  • Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player^[21]
  • Terry Haskins, American politician
  • Guido Barbujani, Italian population geneticist, evolutionary biologist and literary author

February[edit]

• February 1
  • Hans Werner Olm, German television and film comedian
  • Larry Catá Backer, Cuban-American legal scholar and professor of law and international affairs
• February 2 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet, writer and translator (d. 2022)
• February 3
  • Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
  • Izzeldin Abuelaish, Canadian-Palestinian doctor and author
• February 4
  • Joseph D. Kernan, American military officer, Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
  • Nabil Bonduki, Brazilian architect, urban planner, university professor, author, and politician
  • Julie Brown, American Attorney and retired distance runner
• February 5 – Mary Chen, Taiwanese environmentalist and politician
• February 6
  • Michael Pollan, American journalist
  • Irinej Dobrijević, American-born Serbian Bishop of Australia and New Zealand
  • Sabahat Akkiraz, Turkish folk singer
• February 7
  • Miguel Ferrer, American actor (d. 2017)
  • Steven Gould, American science fiction writer
  • Rolf Benirschke, American football player
• February 8
  • Janusz Cisek, Polish historian (d. 2020)
  • Jim Neidhart, American professional wrestler (d. 2018)
  • John Grisham, American novelist
  • Ethan Phillips, American actor
  • Xu Bing, Chinese artist
• February 9
  • Charles Shaughnessy, English actor
  • Jerry Beck, American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer
• February 10
  • Chris Adams, English wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
  • Pablo Borges Delgado, Cuban artist
  • Jim Cramer, American television personality
  • Greg Norman, Australian golfer
  • Back Alley John, Canadian musician (d. 2006)
• February 12
  • David Owen Brooks, American convicted murderer (d. 2020)
  • Bill Laswell, American bass guitarist
• February 13 – Hank Risan, American scientist
• February 14
  • Guillermo Francella, Argentine actor
  • Mitsuhisa Taguchi, Japanese footballer (d. 2019)
• February 15
  • Janice Dickinson, American model, photographer, author and talent agent
  • Christopher McDonald, American actor
• February 16
  • Bradley Byrne, American business attorney and politician, Alabama
  • Shivpal Singh Yadav, Indian politician and educationist
• February 17 – Mo Yan, Chinese writer
• February 18 – Cheetah Chrome, American musician
• February 19
  • Jeff Daniels, American actor
  • Siri Hustvedt, American novelist
• February 20 – Mack Wilberg, American composer
• February 21 – Kelsey Grammer, American actor and comedian
• February 22
  • David Axelrod, American political analyst
  • Edward Burtynsky, Canadian photographer and artist
• February 23 – Flip Saunders, American basketball coach (d. 2015)
• February 24
  • Deborah Coyne, Canadian constitutional lawyer
  • Steve Jobs, American businessman and founder of Apple Computer (d. 2011)
  • Alain Prost, French four-time Formula 1 world champion
  • Joan Fontcuberta, Spanish conceptual artist and photographer
  • Eddie Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2020)
• February 25 – Leann Hunley, American television actress
• February 27
  • Grady Booch, American software engineer
  • Peter Christopherson, English musician
• February 28 – Gilbert Gottfried, American stand-up comedian and actor (d. 2022)

March[edit]

• March 1
  • Sir Timothy Laurence, English vice admiral and second husband of Anne, Princess Royal
  • Denis Mukwege, Congolese gynecologist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
  • David Cortés, Bolivian educator, politician, and trade unionist (d. 2015)
• March 2
  • Shoko Asahara, Japanese cult leader (Aum Shinrikyo) (d. 2018)
  • Dale Bozzio, American rock and pop vocalist
• March 3
  • Kent Derricott, Canadian TV personality in Japan
  • Jaspal Bhatti, Indian television personality (d. 2012)
  • Albert Chan, Hong Kong politician
• March 4
  • Dominique Pinon, French actor
  • Tim Costello, Australian Baptist minister
• March 5
  • Julien Dray, French politician
  • Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian (Penn & Teller)
  • Deddy Mizwar, Indonesian politician, actor, movie Director
• March 6
  • Wendy Boglioli, American Olympic gold medallist swimmer (1976)
  • Jay Ilagan, Filipino actor (d. 1992)
  • Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (d. 1994)
  • Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (d. 2015)
• March 7
  • Michael Jan Friedman, American novelist and comic book writer
  • Tommy Kramer, American football player
• March 8 – Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
• March 9
  • Ornella Muti, Italian actress
  • Franco Uncini, Italian motorcycle racer
• March 10
  • Yousra, Egyptian actress and singer
  • Marianne Rosenberg, German singer
• March 11 – Nina Hagen, German pop singer
• March 12 – Richard Martini, American film director
• March 13
  • Bruno Conti, Italian football player
  • Gail Grandchamp, American female boxer
  • Glenne Headly, American actress of film, stage and television (d. 2017)
  • Milovan Bojić, Serbian medical doctor, administrator, and politician
• March 14
  • Stephen R. Bissette, American comics artist
  • Daniel Bertoni, Argentine footballer
  • Nigel Biggar, British Anglican priest, theologian, and ethicist
• March 15
  • Robert Kabbas, Egyptian-born Australian Olympic silver medallist weightlifter
  • Dee Snider, American rock singer (Twisted Sister)
• March 16
  • Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
  • Tina Beattie, British Christian theologian, writer and broadcaster
  • Jiro Watanabe, Japanese former world super flyweight champion boxer
  • Bob Ley, American sports anchor and reporter
  • Petr Aven, Russian businessman, economist and politician
  • Michael L. Brown, American author and radio host
• March 17
  • Cynthia McKinney, American politician, activist
  • Gary Sinise, American actor, producer and director
  • Mark Boone Junior, American character actor
• March 18
  • Carlos Enrique Trinidad Gómez, Guatemalan Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2018)
  • Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
  • Dwayne Murphy, American baseball player
  • Paul Chan Mo-po, Hong Kong politician and accountant
• March 19
  • Pino Daniele, Italian music artist (d. 2015)
  • Bruce Willis, American actor
  • Simon Yam, Hong Kong actor
  • John Burnside, Scottish writer
  • Mike Coffman, American politician, businessman, and veteran
• March 20
  • Eric Schiller, American chess player and author (d. 2018)
  • Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
• March 21
  • Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian congressman and politician, 38th President of Brazil
  • Philippe Troussier, French football coach
  • Bärbel Wöckel, East German sprinter
• March 22
  • Lena Olin, Swedish actress
  • Pete Sessions, American politician
  • Valdis Zatlers, 7th President of Latvia
  • Wally Badarou, French musician
• March 23
  • Moses Malone, American basketball player (d. 2015)
  • Susan Schwab, American politician, who served under President George W. Bush as United States Trade Representative
• March 24
  • Kim Johnston Ulrich, American actress
  • Candy Reynolds, American tennis player^[22]
  • Celâl Şengör, Turkish geologist
• March 25
  • Wendy Larry, American head coach of the Old Dominion University Lady Monarchs women's basketball team
  • Daniel Boulud, French chef and restaurateur
  • Patty Brard, Dutch entertainer and entrepreneur of Indo descent
• March 26
  • Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Dean Dillon, American country musician and songwriter
• March 27 – Mariano Rajoy, Prime Minister of Spain
• March 28
  • Reba McEntire, American country singer and actress
  • John Alderdice, Northern Ireland politician
• March 29
  • Earl Campbell, American football player
  • Margaret Cuomo, American radiologist
  • Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
  • Christopher Lawford, American author, actor and activist (d. 2018)
  • Marina Sirtis, English actress
  • Henry Bellingham, British politician
• March 30
  • Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Filipina film director (d. 2012)
  • Randy VanWarmer, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
  • Humberto Vélez, Mexican voice actor
• March 31
  • Philip Dimitrov, Bulgarian politician
  • Angus Young, lead guitarist of Australian rock group AC/DC

April[edit]

• April 1 – Ockie Oosthuizen, South African rugby union player (d. 2019)
• April 2
  • Sirindhorn, Princess Royal of Thailand
  • Chellie Pingree, Democratic politician, Maine's 1st congressional district
• April 3 – Mick Mars, American rock guitarist (Mötley Crüe)
• April 4
  • Casey Biggs, American actor
  • John Bird, Canadian engineer, scientist, and journalist
• April 5
  • Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist (d. 2024)
  • Anthony Horowitz, English novelist and screenwriter
  • Lazarus Chakwera, Malawian politician, theologian, and President of Malawi and minister of defence
• April 6 – Michael Rooker, American actor
• April 7
  • Bruno Zaremba, French footballer (d. 2018)
  • Grace Hightower, American philanthropist, actress and singer
  • Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
  • Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager
  • Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
• April 8
  • Kane Hodder, American actor
  • Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
  • Ricky Bell, American professional football player (d. 1984)
  • Glen Burtnik, American singer, songwriter, entertainer and multi-instrumentalist
• April 9 – Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
• April 10 – Philip J. Hanlon, American mathematician and computer science, 18th President of Dartmouth College
• April 11
  • Kevin Brady, American politician, Texas's 8th congressional district
  • Michael Callen, American singer, songwriter, composer, author, and AIDS activist (d. 1993)
• April 12
  • Fred Ryan, chief executive officer of The Washington Post
  • Jean-Louis Aubert, French musician
• April 13
  • Steve Camp, American Christian musician
  • Hideki Saijo, Japanese singer and actor (d. 2018)
  • José Alperovich, Argentine politician
  • Ole von Beust, German politician
• April 14
  • Don Roos, American screenwriter
  • Binod Chaudhary, Nepalese billionaire businessman, politician and philanthropist
• April 15
  • Tommy Castro, American blues guitarist
  • Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (d. 1997)^[23]
  • Jeff Golub, American jazz guitarist (d. 2015)
• April 16
  • Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg^[24]
  • DJ Kool Herc, Jamaican American DJ
  • Bruce Bochy, MLB manager and former baseball player
• April 17
  • Rob Bolland, Dutch musician, songwriter and music producer (Bolland & Bolland)
  • Pete Shelley, English punk rock singer-songwriter, musician (Buzzcocks) (d. 2018)
  • Dave VanDam, American voice actor and impressionist (d. 2018)
• April 18 – Bobby Castillo, American baseball player (d. 2014)
• April 19 – Ahmoo Angeconeb, Canadian Ojibwe artist (d. 2017)
• April 20
  • Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Nigerian-born British photographer (d. 1989)
  • Svante Pääbo, Swedish evolutionary geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine^[25]
  • Dermot Ahern, Irish former Fianna Fáil politician
• April 21
  • Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
  • Toninho Cerezo, Brazilian footballer and coach
• April 23
  • Judy Davis, Australian actress
  • Ludovikus Simanullang, Indonesian Roman Catholic bishop (d. 2018)
  • Fumi Hirano, Japanese voice actress and essayist
  • Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
  • Paul J. McAuley, British botanist and science fiction author
• April 24 – John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
• April 25
  • Karon O. Bowdre, United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.
  • John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
  • Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
• April 26
  • Chen Daoming, Chinese actor
  • Gisele Ben-Dor, Uruguayan-American-Israeli orchestra conductor
  • Rod Blum, American businessman and politician
• April 27
  • James Risen, American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author
  • Eric Schmidt, American software engineer and businessman, CEO of Google (2001-2011)
  • Jing Yidan, Chinese former television host
• April 28
  • Saeb Erekat, Palestinian diplomat (d. 2020)
  • Eddie Jobson, English musician
  • William Kentridge, South African artist
• April 29
  • Richard Epcar, American voice actor
  • Kate Mulgrew, American actress
  • Yūko Tanaka, Japanese actress
  • Leslie Jordan, American actor, comedian, writer, and singer (d. 2022)
• April 30 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter