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Years :	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
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Years:	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965

1962 by topic:

Arts

Architecture - Art - Film - Literature Music (Country, UK) - Television - Home video

Science and technology

Archaeology - Aviation - Birding/Ornithology Meteorology - Rail transport - Radio - Science

By country

Australia - Canada - France - Germany - India Ireland - Malaysia - Mexico - New Zealand - Pakistan Singapore - South Africa - UK - Wales - Zimbabwe

Other topics

Awards - Sport - Law - State leaders - Religious leaders - Video gaming

Birth and death categories

Births - Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments - Disestablishments

1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). In Chinese Zodiac, the "year" of the Ox ended on February 4, 1962 and the "year" of the Tiger began on February 5, 1962.

Contents 1 Events 1.1 January 1.2 February 1.3 March 1.4 April 1.5 May 1.6 June 1.7 July 1.8 August 1.9 September 1.10 October 1.11 November 1.12 December 1.13 Unknown dates 2 Births 2.1 January 2.2 February 2.3 March 2.4 April 2.5 May 2.6 June 2.7 July 2.8 August 2.9 September 2.10 October 2.11 November 2.12 December 3 Deaths 3.1 January-May 3.2 June-September 3.3 October-December 4 Nobel prizes 5 Fields Medalists

Events

January

• January 1 - Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand
• January 3 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
• January 4 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board
• January 5 - The first record by The Beatles "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan is released by Polydor
• January 8 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC)
• January 9 - Trade pact between Cuba and the Soviet Union
• January 10 - Avalanche on Nevado Huascarán in Peru; 4000 deaths
• January 11 - Volcano erupts in the Peruvian Andes and causes an avalanche that buries 3000
• January 12 - Indonesian army confirms that it has began operations in West Irian
• January 13 - Albania allies itself with the People's Republic of China
• January 16 - Military coup in the Dominican Republic
• January 19 - Counter-coup in the Dominican Republic - old government returns except for the new president Rafael Bonnelly
• January 22 - The Organization of American States (OAS) suspends Cuba's membership
• January 24 - East German government readopts conscription
• January 24 - OAS bomb in French foreign ministry
• January 26 - Mafioso Lucky Luciano dies at the Naples Airport
• January 26 - Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles
• January 27 - Soviet government changes all place names honoring Molotov, Kaganovich and Georgi Malenkov
• January 30 - Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas" are killed when their famous seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit, Michigan

February

• February 2 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align
• February 3 - US announces its trade embargo with Cuba
• February 4 - The Sunday Times becomes the first paper to print a colour supplement
• February 5 - French President Charles De Gaulle calls for allowing Algeria to be an independent nation
• February 6 - Negotiations between U.S. Steel and the U.S. Commerce Department are underway.
• February 7 - The United States Government bans all US-related Cuban imports and exports
• February 9 - Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation opens
• February 10 - February 10 - Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel in Berlin
• February 12 - Six members of the Committee of 100 of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament are found guilty of a breach of the Official Secrets Act
• February 14 - First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy takes television viewers on a tour of the White House
• February 15 - Urho Kekkonen re-elected president of Finland
• February 16/February 17 - Heavy storm flood on Germany's North Sea coast, mainly around Hamburg, more than 300 people die, thousands losing their homes
• February 17 - Flooding in North Sea coasts
• February 20 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes becoming the first American to orbit the Earth
• February 23 - 12 European countries form European Space Agency

March

• March 1 - An American Airlines Boeing 707 crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport after its rudder separates from the tail, with loss of all life on board
• March 2 - Military coup in Burma
• March 8-12 - In Geneva, France and Algerian FLN begin negotiations
• March 15 - Katangan prime minister Moise Tshombe begins negotiations to rejoin Congo
• March 19 - Armistice begins in Algeria
• March 18 - France and Algeria sign an agreement in Evian ending the Algerian War. See Évian Accords.
• March 19 - Armistice in Algeria - however, Organisation de l'armée secrète continues its terrorist attacks against Algerians
• March 23 - Scandinavian States of Nordic Council sign Helsinki Convention on Nordic Co-operation
• March 24 - OAS leader Edmond Jouahud arrested in Oran
• March 26 - France shortens the term for military service from 26 months to 18

April

• April 1 - Phillip Schofield, British TV presenter
• April 3 - Nehru elected de facto prime minister of India
• April 4 - James Hanratty is hanged in Bedford Gaol for A6 murder - many believe he was innocent
• April 6 - Belgium reforms diplomatic relations with Congo
• April 7 - Author Milovan Djilas arrested in Yugoslavia
• April 8 - In France, the Évian Accords are adopted in a referendum with a majority of 90%.
• April 10 - In Los Angeles, the first MLB game is played at Dodger Stadium.
• April 13 - OAS leader Edmond Jouhaud sentenced to death in France
• April 14 - Cuban military tribunal convicts 1179 Bay of Pigs attackers
• April 18 - Commonweath Immigration Bill in the United Kingdom removes free immigration from the citizens of member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
• April 20 - OAS leader Raoul Salan arrested in Algiers
• April 21 - Seattle's Century 21 World's Fair opened.
• April 26 - The Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon

May

• May 2 - OAS bomb explodes in Algeria - this and other attacks kill 110 and injure 147
• May 5 - 12 East Germans escape via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall
• May 14 - Juan Carlos marries the Greek Princess Sophia in Athens
• May 14 - Milovan Djilas, former vice-president of Yugoslavia, is given further sentence for publishing Conversations with Stalin
• May 23 - Drilling for new Montreal, Quebec subway commences
• May 23 - Founder of the French terrorist Organisation de l'armée secrète, Raoul Salan, is sentenced to life imprisonment in France
• May 24 - In Lima, Peru, unpopular referee ruling in a Peru-Argentina soccer match leads to riot and panic - 300 dead, over 500 injured
• May 24 - Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule
• May 25 - Consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral
• May 29 - Negotiations between OAS ja FLA lead to real armistice
• May 31 - Adolf Eichmann hanged in Israel

June

• June 3 - An air crash occurs at Orly Airport in Paris - an Air France Boeing 707 over-runs runway, 130 of 132 passengers confirmed dead, two stewardesses survive.
• June 11 - President John F. Kennedy gives commencement address at Yale University.
• June 11 - Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin become the only prisoners to apparently successfully escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island. There is no conclusive evidence that they survived the attempt.
• June 15 - Students for a Democratic Society complete the Port Huron Statement.
• June 17 – OAS signs a truce with FLN in Algeria but a day later announces that it will continue the fight on behalf of French Algerians.
• June 17 - Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 to win the 1962 World Cup.
• June 22 An Air France Boeing 707 jet crashes into terrain during bad weather in Guadeloupe, West Indies, killing all 113 on board. The Airline's second fatal accident in just 3 weeks.

• June 25 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Engel v. Vitale that prayers in public schools are unconstitutional.
• June 26 - Two-day steel strike begins in Italy in support of increased wages and 5-day working week.
• June 30 - Last soldiers of the French Foreign Legion leave Algeria.

July

• July 1 - Independence of Rwanda and Burundi
• July 1 – Supporters of Algerian independence win 99% majority in referendum
• July 1 - Another heavy smog over London
• July 2 - Charles De Gaulle accepts Algerian independence - France recognizes it the next day
• July 5 - Algeria becomes independent from France.
• July 6 - Irish broadcaster, Gay Byrne, presents his first edition of The Late Late Show. Byrne would go on to present the show for 37 years making it the longest running talk show in the world
• July 10 - AT&T's Telstar, the world's first commercial communications satellite, is launched into orbit - it is activated the next day
• July 12 - The Rolling Stones make their debut at London's Marquee Club, number 165 Oxford Street, opening for Long John Baldry
• July 13 - in what the press dubs "the Night of the Long Knives" United Kingdom Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses one-third of his Cabinet
• July 17 - Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site
• July 20 - French and Tunisia reform diplomatic relations
• July 22 - Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed
• July 23 - Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal
• July 28 - Locust swarm threatens Delhi
• July 31 - Algeria proclaims independence; Ahmed Ben Bella is the first President
• July 31 - Crowd assaults the rally of the right-wing Union Movement of Sir Oswald Mosley in London

August

• August 5 - Film actress and sex icon , Marilyn Monroe is found dead in her Los Angeles, California home after apparently overdosing on sleeping pills
• August 5 - South African government arrests Nelson Mandela in Howick and charges him with incinement to rebellion
• August 6 - Jamaica becomes independent
• August 15 - The Netherlands recognizes that Irian Jaya is part of Indonesia
• August 16 - Algeria joins the Arab League
• August 17 - East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin
• August 22 - Failed assassination attempt against Charles De Gaulle
• August 23 - John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell
• August 24 - Group of armed Cuban refugee fire at hotel in Havana from a speedboat
• August 27 - NASA launches the Mariner 2 space probe
• August 31 - Trinidad and Tobago become independent

September

• September 1 - Referendum in Singapore supports Malayan Federation
• September 1 - Typhoon Wanda strikes Hong Kong, at least 130 died and more than 600 were wounded.
• September 2 - Soviet Union agrees to send arms to Cuba
• September 8 - Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a Constitution.
• September 12 - President John F. Kennedy declares the USA will get a man on the moon by the end of the decade
• September 16 - Malaysia formed with Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo
• September 21 - Border conflict between China and India erupts into fighting
• September 21 - New Musical Express, a British music magazine, publishes a story about two 13 year old schoolgirls, Sue and Mary, releasing a disc on Decca, adding, “A Liverpool group, The Beatles, have recorded 'Love Me Do' for Parlophone, set for October 5 release.”
• September 26 - Civil war erupts in Yemen
• September 27 - Flash flood in Barcelona, Spain kills more than 440.
• September 27 - Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring released, giving rise to the modern environmentalist movement
• September 28 - Prime minister Ahmed Ben Bella founds the first government in Algeria
• September 29 - The Canadian Alouette 1, the first satellite built outside the United States and Soviet Union, is launched from Vandenberg AFB in California
• September 30 - CBS broadcasts the final episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, marking the end of the Golden Age of Radio

October

• October 1 - The first black student James Meredith registers in University of Mississippi escorted by Federal marshals
• October 5 - French National Assembly censures the proposed referendum to sanction presidential elections by popular mandate; prime minister Georges Pompidou resigns, but President de Gaulle asks him to stay in office
• October 8 - German Der Spiegel magazine publishes an article about Bundeswehr's bad preparedness - Spiegel scandal erupts
• October 8 - Algeria is accepted into United Nations
• October 9 - Uganda becomes independent within the Commonwealth of Nations
• October 10 - Der Spiegel publishes an article on a NATO exercise criticizing the weakness of the West German army (the offices of the paper are occupied by the police on the 16th)
• October 11 - Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years
• October 12 - Infamous Columbus Day Storm strikes the U. S. Pacific Northwest with wind gusts up to 170 mph (270 km/h); 46 dead, 11 billion board feet (26 million m³) of timber blown down, $230 million U.S. in damages
• October 13 - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opens on Broadway.
• October 14 - Cuban Missile Crisis begins: A U-2 flight over Cuba takes photos of Soviet nuclear weapons being installed. A stand-off then ensues the next day between the United States and the Soviet Union, putting the entire world under threat of a nuclear war
• October 26 - Spiegel scandal - German police occupies Der Spiegel offices in Hamburg
• October 28 - Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that he had ordered the removal of Soviet missile bases in Cuba
• October 28 - a referendum in France favours the election of the president by universal suffrage
• October 31 - the UN General Assembly requests the United Kingdom to suspend enforcement of the new constitution in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), but the constitution comes into effect on November 1

November

• November 1 - Soviets begins dismantling their missiles in Cuba
• November 3 - First Personal computer invented
• November 5 - Franz Josef Strauß, the West German defence minister, is relieved of his duties over the Spiegel affair because it is alleged that he was involved in police action against the magazine
• November 5 - Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Egypt following a period of unrest partly caused by the defection of several Saudi princes to Egypt
• November 5 - A coal mining disaster in Ny-Ålesund kills 21 people. The Norwegian government is forced to resign in the aftermath of this accident in August, 1963
• November 6 - Apartheid: The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation
• November 7 - Richard M. Nixon loses the California governor's race. In his concession speech, he states that this is his "last press conference" and that "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around any more"
• November 17 - In Washington, DC, US President John F. Kennedy dedicates Dulles International Airport
• November 20 - Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, US President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
• November 26 - Spiegel scandal - German police ends its occupation of Der Spiegel offices
• November 27 - Charles De Gaulle orders Georges Pompidou to form a government
• November 29 - An agreement is signed between Britain and France to develop the Concorde supersonic airliner
• November 30 - The United Nations General Assembly elects U Thant of Burma as the new UN Secretary-General

December

• December 2 - Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress
• December 7 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his formerly autocratic power to several advisory and legislative councils.
• December 8 - Closing of first period of Second Vatican Council
• December 8 - In Brunei sheik Azaharin rebels - it lasts only one day
• December 8 - North Kalimantan National Army revolts in Brunei – first stirrings of Indonesian Confrontation
• December 9 - Tanganyika (now Tanzania) becomes a republic within the Commonwealth, with Julius Nyerere as president
• December 11 - Formation in West Germany of coalition government of Christian Democrats, Christian Socialists, and Free Democrats
• December 14 - US spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus, becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet
• December 19 - Britain acknowledges the right of Nyasaland (now Malawi) to secede from the Central African Federation
• December 19 - The last foreign-occupied territory of India, Daman and Diu integrated into India
• December 22 - "Big Freeze" in Britain - no frost-free nights until March 5 1963
• December 24 - Cuba releases last of the 1113 participants of the Bay of Pigs Invasion to USA in exchange of food worth $53 million
• December 30 - United Nations troops occupy the last rebel positions in Katanga; Moise Tshombe moves to South Rhodesia

Unknown dates

• American ad man Martin K. Speckter invents the interrobang, a new English-language punctuation mark
• Sino-Indian War border dispute involving two of the world's largest nations (between India and the People's Republic of China)
• University of Szeged assumed the name of the great Hungarian poet, Attila József, who was a student here in the 1920s.
• A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess, was first released.

Births

January

• January 5 - Joe Monzo, American composer
• January 14 - Michael McCaul, American politician
• January 17 - Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
• January 18 - Jeff Yagher, American actor
• January 21 - Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
• January 30 - King Abdullah II of Jordan

February

• February 1 - Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese guitarist
• February 4 - Clint Black, American musician
• February 5 - Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress
• February 6 - Axl Rose, American singer (Guns N' Roses)
• February 7 - Garth Brooks, American musician
• February 7 - Eddie Izzard, British actor and comedian
• February 8 - Malorie Blackman, British-born author
• February 10 - Bobby Czyz, American boxer
• February 10 - Cliff Burton, American bassist (Metallica) (d. 1986)
• February 11 - Sheryl Crow, American singer
• February 12 - Jimmy Kirkwood, Irish-born field hockey player
• February 12 - Nana Ioseliani, Georgian chess player
• February 13 - Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, American politician
• February 17 - Lou Diamond Phillips, American actor
• February 18 - Julie Strain, American actress and model
• February 21 - Vanessa Feltz, British television presenter
• February 21 - Chuck Palahniuk, American author
• February 21 - David Foster Wallace, American writer
• February 22 - Steve Irwin, Australian herpetologist and television personality
• February 24 - Michelle Shocked, American musician
• February 27 - Adam Baldwin, American actor
• February 27 - Grant Show, American actor

March

• March 2 - Jon Bon Jovi, American singer, songwriter, and actor
• March 3 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American athlete
• March 3 - Herschel Walker, American football player
• March 8 - Michael Graham, American singer, entertainer
• March 7 - Taylor Dayne, American singer
• March 12 - Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
• March 15 - Terence Trent D'Arby, American-born singer
• March 17 - Clare Grogan, Scottish actress and singer
• March 18 - Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor
• March 19 - Ivan Calderón, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player (d. 2003)
• March 20 - Stephen Sommers, American film director
• March 21 - Matthew Broderick, American actor
• March 21 - Rosie O'Donnell, American comedian, actress, talk show host, and publisher
• March 23 - Steve Redgrave, English rower
• March 26 - John Stockton, American basketball player
• March 30 - MC Hammer, American rapper

April

• April 1 - Phillip Schofield, British TV presenter
• April 2 - Mark Shulman, American children's author
• April 9 - Imran Sherwani, British field hockey player
• April 10 - Steve Tasker, American football player
• April 11 - Vincent Gallo, American actor
• April 12 - Art Alexakis, American singer and musician (Everclear)
• April 15 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan hurdler
• April 16 - Ian MacKaye, American musician
• April 19 - Al Unser, Jr., American race car driver
• April 20 - Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr., Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf from The Howard Stern Show (d. 2001)
• April 23 - John Hannah, Scottish actor
• April 24 - Steve Roach, champion rugby league prop forward.

May

• May 2 - Jimmy White, British snooker player
• May 3 - Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
• May 9 - David Gahan, English singer (Depeche Mode)
• May 10 - David Fincher, American film director
• May 12 - Emilio Estevez, American actor
• May 13 - Eduardo Palomo, Mexican actor (d. 2003)
• May 17 - Lise Lyng Falkenberg, Danish writer
• May 17 - Craig Ferguson, Scottish actor
• May 20 - Mike Jeffries, American soccer coach
• May 24 - Gene Anthony Ray, American actor (d. 2003)
• May 26 - Bobcat Goldthwait, American actor and comedian
• May 27 - Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer

June

• June 2 - Clyde Drexler, American basketball player
• June 5 - Jeff Garlin, American comedian
• June 8 - Nick Rhodes, English musician (Duran Duran)
• June 10 - Gina Gershon, American actress
• June 13 - Ally Sheedy, American actress
• June 19 - Paula Abdul, American dancer, choreographer, and singer
• June 26 - Bussunda, Brazilian comedian (d. 2006)
• June 29 - Amanda Donohoe, English actress
• June 30 - Tony Fernandez, baseball player

July

• July 3 - Tom Cruise, American actor
• July 3 - Thomas Gibson, American actor
• July 5 - Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Indonesian terrorist
• July 19 - Anthony Edwards, American actor
• July 31 - Wesley Snipes, American actor

August

• August 1 - Robert Clift, British field hockey player
• August 4 - Roger Clemens, baseball player
• August 5 - Patrick Ewing, Jamaican-born basketball player
• August 6 - Michelle Yeoh, Hong Kong actress
• August 9 - Kevin Mack, American football player
• August 16 - Robert Henderson, South Carolina businessman
• August 20 - Sophie Aldred, British actress and television presenter
• August 20 - James Marsters, American actor
• August 24 - Craig Kilborn, American talk show host
• August 25 - David Packer, American actor
• August 29 - Rebecca De Mornay, American actress

September

• September 1 - Ruud Gullit, Dutch footballer
• September 5 - Peter Wingfield, Welsh actor
• September 11 - Elizabeth Daily, American actress
• September 15 - Earnest Byner, American football player
• September 17 - Baz Luhrmann, Australian film director
• September 24 - Jack Dee, British comedian
• September 25 - Aida Turturro, American actress
• September 26 - Melissa Sue Anderson, American actress
• September 26 - Tracey Thorn, British singer
• September 28 - Grant Fuhr, Canadian hockey player
• September 30 - Frank Rijkaard, Dutch football player and manager

October

• October 1 - Esai Morales, American actor
• October 5 - Caron Keating, British TV presenter (d. 2004)
• October 11 - Joan Cusack, American actress and comedienne
• October 11 - Nicola Bryant, British actress
• October 13 - T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh, American actress and comedian
• October 13 - Kelly Preston, American actress
• October 13 - Jerry Rice, American football player
• October 16 - Flea, Australian actor and bassist (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• October 16 - Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Russian baritone
• October 19 - Evander Holyfield, American boxer
• October 23 - Doug Flutie, American football player
• October 23 - Mike Tomczak, American football player
• October 25 - Nick Hancock, British actor and television presenter
• October 26 - Cary Elwes, British actor
• October 27 - Ang Peng Siong, Singapore sportsman
• October 30 - Courtney Walsh, West Indian Cricketer

November

• November 1 - Anthony Kiedis, American singer (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
• November 1 - Magne Furuholmen, Norwegian keyboardist (a-ha)
• November 2 - Ron McGovney, American bassist (Formerly of Metallica)
• November 3 - Marilyn, British musician
• November 4 - Jeff Probst, American television personality
• November 11 - Demi Moore, American actress
• November 13 - Steve Altes, American humorist
• November 15 - Judy Gold, American comedian and actress
• November 19 - Jodie Foster, American actress and director
• November 21 - Steven Curtis Chapman, American musician
• November 24 - John Kovalic, Anglo-American cartoonist
• November 27 - Samantha Bond, British actress
• November 28 - Jon Stewart, American actor and comedian
• November 29 - Andrew McCarthy, American actor
• November 30 - Bo Jackson, American football and baseball player
• November 30 - Daniel Keys Moran, American writer

December

• December 1 - Shōzō Hayashiya (9th), Japanese rakugoka, tarento and seiyū
• December 5 - José Cura, Argentine tenor
• December 8 - Marty Friedman, American guitarist
• December 9 - Felicity Huffman, American actress
• December 10 - Scott Capurro, American comedian
• December 11 - Ben Browder, American actor
• December 12 - Tracy Austin, American tennis player
• December 22 - Ralph Fiennes, English actor
• December 25 - Dean Cameron, American actor
• December 28 - Michel Petrucciani, French musician (d. 1999)
• December 28 - Marco Marella, Italian illustrator
• December 30 - Alessandra Mussolini, Italian politician

Deaths

January-May

• January 13 - Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (b. 1919)
• January 20 - Robinson Jeffers, American poet (b. 1887)
• January 26 - Lucky Luciano, American gangster (b. 1897)
• January 29 - Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (b. 1875)
• February 5 - Jacques Ibert, French composer (b. 1890)
• February 10 - Eduard von Steiger, President of Switzerland (b. 1881)
• February 17 - Bruno Walter, German conductor (b. 1876)
• February 19 - Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek inventor (b. 1883)
• March 15 - Arthur Compton, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
• March 24 - Jean Goldkette, Greek-born musician (b. 1899)
• March 24 - Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
• April 10 - Michael Curtiz, Austrian-born film director (b. 1886)
• April 10 - Stuart Sutcliffe, English artist and musician (The Beatles) (b. 1940)
• April 13 - Culbert Olson, Governor of California (b. 1876)
• May 5 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (b. 1889)
• May 13 - Henry Trendley Dean, American dental researcher (b. 1893)
• May 27 - Egon Petri, German pianist (b. 1881)
• May 31 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (executed) (b. 1906)

June-September

• June 2 - Vita Sackville-West, English writer and landscape gardener (b. 1892)
• June 4 - Charles William Beebe, American oceanic pioneer (b. 1877)
• June 6 - Yves Klein, French painter (b. 1928)
• June 12 - John Ireland, English composer (b. 1879)
• June 13 - Eugène Aynsley Goossens, English composer (b. 1893)
• June 15 - Alfred Cortot, Swiss pianist (b. 1877)
• June 28 - Mickey Cochrane, baseball player (b. 1903)
• July 6 - William Faulkner, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
• July 6 - Archduke Joseph August of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1872)
• July 9 - Georges Bataille, French writer (b. 1897)
• July 12 - Roger Wolfe Kahn, American band leader (b. 1907)
• July 21 - G.M. Trevelyan, English historian (b. 1876)
• July 27 - Richard Aldington, English poet (b. 1892)
• August 5 - Marilyn Monroe, American actress (b. 1926)
• August 9 - Hermann Hesse, German-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
• August 15 - Lei Feng, Chinese soldier (b. 1940)
• September 3 - E. E. Cummings, American poet (b. 1894)
• September 6 - Hanns Eisler, German-born composer (b. 1898)
• September 7 - Isak Dinesen, Danish writer (b. 1885)

October-December

• October 6 - Tod Browning, American film director (b. 1882)
• October 9 - Milan Vidmar, Slovenian chess player (b. 1885)
• October 27 - Enrico Mattei, Italian politician (b. 1906)
• November 7 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (b. 1884)
• November 18 - Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
• November 28 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (b. 1880)
• November 29 - Erik Scavenius, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1877)
• December 6 - Janine Turner, American film actress (b. 1882)
• December 7 - Kirstin Flagstad, Norwegian soprano (b. 1895)
• December 15 - Charles Laughton, English actor and director (b. 1899)
• December 20 - Emil Artin, Austrian mathematician (b. 1898)
• December 24 - Wilhelm Ackermann, German mathematician (b. 1896)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Lev Davidovich Landau
• Chemistry - Max Ferdinand Perutz, John Cowdery Kendrew
• Physiology or Medicine - Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson, Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins
• Literature - John Steinbeck
• Peace - Linus Carl Pauling

Fields Medalists

• Lars Hörmander, John Milnor