1948

January

• January 1
  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) inaugurated.
  • Railways of Britain are nationalized to form British Railways.
  • The Constitution of the Italian Republic goes into effect.
  • The latest Constitution of New Jersey goes into effect.
• January 4 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister.
• January 5
  • Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).
  • The first Kinsey Report, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, is published in the United States.
• January 7 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
• January 12 – Mahatma Gandhi begins his fast-unto-death in Delhi to stop communal violence during the Partition of India.
• January 17 – A truce is declared between nationalist Indonesian and Dutch troops in Java.
• January 22 – British foreign secretary Ernest Bevin proposes the formation of a Western Union between Britain, France, and the Benelux countries to stand up against the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Brussels is signed March 17 as a consequence, a predecessor to NATO.
• January 26 – Teigin poison case: a man masquerading as a doctor poisons 12 of 16 bank employees of the Tokyo branch of Imperial Bank and takes the money; artist Sadamichi Hirasawa is later sentenced to death for the crime, but is never executed.
• January 29
  • The Pakistan Socialist Party is founded in Karachi.
  • DC-3 aircraft crash at Los Gatos Creek, near Coalinga, California, kills four US citizens and 28 deportees, commemorated in a protest song ("Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)") by Woody Guthrie.
• January 30
  • Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Indian pacifist and leader Mahatma Gandhi is shot by Nathuram Godse in New Delhi.
  • Orville Wright of the pioneering aviators the Wright Brothers dies in Dayton, Ohio.
  • 1948 Winter Olympics open in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
• January 31 – The British crown colony of the Malayan Union, Penang and Malacca form the Federation of Malaya.^[1]

February

• February 1
  • The Soviet Union begins to jam Voice of America broadcasts.
  • Proclamation of the Federation of Malaya.
• February 4 – Ceylon (later known as Sri Lanka) becomes an independent kingdom within the British Commonwealth.
• February 16 – Miranda, innermost of the large moons of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.^[2]
• February 18 – Éamon de Valera, Irish head of government since 1932, loses power to an opposition coalition. John A. Costello is appointed Taoiseach by President Seán T. O'Kelly.
• February 19 – The Conference of Youth and Students of Southeast Asia Fighting for Freedom and Independence convenes in Calcutta.
• February 21 – The United States stock car racing organization NASCAR is founded by Bill France, Sr. with other drivers.^[3]
• February 22 – The first of the Ben Yehuda Street bombings in Jerusalem kills between 49 and 58 civilians and injures between 140 and 200.
• February 25 – 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état: Edvard Beneš, President of Czechoslovakia, cedes control of the country to the Communist Party, a day celebrated by that regime as "Victorious February" (Czech: Vítězný únor; Slovak: Víťazný Február) until November 1989.
• February 28
  • Accra Riots: Riots take place in Accra, capital of the British colony of Gold Coast, when a peaceful protest march by ex-servicemen is broken up by police, leaving several members of the group dead, among them Sergeant Adjetey, one of the leaders.
  • The 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of India convenes in Calcutta.

March

• March 8 – McCollum v. Board of Education: The United States Supreme Court rules that religious instruction in public schools violates the U.S. Constitution.
• March 12 – The Costa Rican Civil War begins.
• March 16 – The largest flood in the history of Brampton, Ontario, occurs.^[4]
• March 17
  • Treaty of Brussels signed by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, providing for economic, social and cultural collaboration and collective self-defence.
  • The Hells Angels motorcycle gang is founded in California.
• March 18 – The Round Table Conference in The Hague, Netherlands for the preparation of the decolonization process for Aruba and the other Dutch Colonies. Aruba presents the mandate of the Aruban People for Aruba to become an Independent Country, under the souvereignty of the House of Orange, based on Aruba's first state constitution presented officially since August 1947, and a (4th) Member State of the future Dutch Commonwealth.
• March 20
  • Singapore holds its first elections.
  • Renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini makes his television debut, conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in an all-Wagner program in the United States.
  • The 20th Academy Awards ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Gentleman's Agreement wins the Academy Award for Best Picture.

April

• April 1 – Physicists Ralph Asher Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper about the Big Bang.^[5]
• April 3
  • United States President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, which authorizes $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
  • Jeju Uprising – residents revolt on Jeju island, South Korea, eventually leading to the deaths of between 14,000 and 30,000.
  • Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is played on television in its entirety for the first time in a series of concerts featuring Arturo Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in the United States. The chorus is conducted by Robert Shaw.
• April 5 – 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Haganah launches Operation Nachshon; beginning of the 1948 Palestinian exodus.
• April 7– The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
• April 9
  • Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further 10 years of violence (La Violencia) across Colombia.
  • The Deir Yassin massacre takes place in British Mandatory Palestine.
• April 13 – The Hadassah medical convoy massacre takes place in British Mandatory Palestine.
• April 16 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is founded as the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC).
• April 18 – Italian general election, 1948:: The first democratic general election with universal suffrage is held in Italy. The Christian Democracy party achieves a majority over the Popular Democratic Front Communist-Socialist coalition.
• April 19
  • Burma joins the United Nations.
  • The American Broadcasting Company (otherwise known as ABC) begins television services, on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia (now WPVI-TV).
• April 22
  • Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: Battle of Haifa – The Jewish paramilitary group Haganah captures Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
  • WTVR begins television services. WTVR is the first TV station south of Washington D.C., giving it the nickname "The South's First Television station".
• April 24 – The Costa Rican Civil War ends.
• April 30 – Organization of American States (OAS) founded.
• April 30 – The English-built Land Rover is unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show.

May

• May – The RAND Corporation is established as an independent nonprofit policy research and analysis institution in the United States.
• May 4 – Laurence Olivier's film version of Hamlet makes its world premiere in London.
• May 11 – Luigi Einaudi becomes President of the Italian Republic.

Israeli Declaration of Independence, 1948

• May 14 – The Israeli Declaration of Independence is made. David Ben-Gurion becomes the first prime minister, a provisional position that will become formalized on February 14, 1949.
• May 15
  • 1948 Arab–Israeli War: The British Mandate of Palestine is officially terminated; expeditionary forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria and Iraq invade Israel and clash with Israeli forces.
  • The murder of a 3-year-old girl in Blackburn, England, leads to the fingerprinting of more than 40,000 men in the city in an attempt to find the murderer.^[6]
  • Australian cricket team in England in 1948: The touring Australians set an all-time first-class record by scoring 721 runs in a day against Essex.
• May 16 – Chaim Weizmann is elected as the first President of Israel.
• May 18 – The first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
• May 22 – The Soviets launch Operation Vesna, the largest Lithuanian deportation to Siberia.
• May 25 – The United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) is founded at Ellinwood Malate Church in Manila.
• May 26 – The United States Congress passes Public Law 557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as the auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
• May 28 – Daniel François Malan defeats Jan Smuts and becomes Prime Minister of South Africa, ushering in the era of apartheid, which is finally dismantled by F. W. de Klerk in 1994.
• May 30 – A dike along the Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon, within minutes; 15 people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

June

• June 3 – The Palomar Observatory telescope is finished in California.
• June 10 – Hasan Saka forms the new government of Turkey. (17th government; Hasan Saka had served twice as a prime minister)
• June 11 – The first monkey astronaut, Albert I, is launched into space from White Sands, New Mexico.
• June 15 – Chinese newspaper, Renmin Ribao (People's Daily), a first issue of published in Pingshan, Hebei Province, China.
• June 16
  • Three armed men hijack the Cathay Pacific passenger plane Miss Macao and shoot the pilot; the plane crashes, killing 26 of 27 people on board.
• June 17 – A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Airlines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
• June 18
  • Malayan Emergency: A state of emergency is declared in the Malayan Union due to a communist insurgency.
  • LP record – Columbia Records introduced its long playing 33⅓ rpm phonograph format.
• June 20 – The U.S. Congress recesses for the remainder of 1948, after an overtime session closes at 7:00 a.m. (to be shortly interrupted by Truman's recall from Congressional recess for July 20, 1948).
• June 21
  • The Deutsche Mark becomes official currency of the future Federal Republic of Germany.
  • The Manchester Baby becomes the first stored-program computer to successfully execute a program.
• June 22
  • The ship HMT Empire Windrush brings a large group of Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Tilbury near London, the start of a large wave of immigration to Britain.
  • David Lean's Oliver Twist, based on Charles Dickens's famous novel, premieres in the UK. It is banned for 3 years in the U.S. because of alleged antisemitism in depicting master criminal Fagin, played by Alec Guinness.

Airplane C-54 at airport Berlin-Tempelhof.

• June 24
  • Cold War: The Berlin Blockade begins.
  • The first World Health Assembly of the World Health Organization is held in Geneva.
• June 26
  • William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor.
  • The Berlin Airlift begins.
• June 28
  • The Cominform Resolution marks the beginning of the Informbiro period in Yugoslavia and the Soviet/Yugoslav split.
  • The 6.8 M_w Fukui earthquake strikes Fukui, Japan. 3,769 dead, 22,203 injured.

July

• July 5 – The National Health Service Acts are enacted in United Kingdom.
• July 6 – The world's first Air Car-ferry service is flown by a Bristol Freighter of Silver City Airways from Lympne to Le Touquet.
• July 13 – The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches reach an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church.
• July 15
  • Attempted assassination of Palmiro Togliatti, general secretary of the Italian Communist Party results in numerous strikes all over the country.
  • First London chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous is founded.
• July 20 – Cold War:
  • President Harry S. Truman issues the second peacetime military draft in the United States, amid increasing tensions with the Soviet Union (the first peacetime draft occurred in 1940 under President Roosevelt)
  • Eugene Dennis, William Z. Foster, and ten other CPUSA leaders are arrested and charged under the Alien Registration Act
• July 22 – The Dominion of Newfoundland votes to join Canada after a referendum.
• July 26 – U.S. President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, ending racial segregation in the United States Armed Forces.
• July 28 – Around 200 die in explosion at a chemical plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
• July 29 – The 1948 Summer Olympics begin in London, the first since the 1936 Summer Olympics
• July 31
  • At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated
  • Elizabeth Bentley appears under subpoena before HUAC regarding Communist espionage; implicates Whittaker Chambers

August

• August 1 – The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
• August 3 – Whittaker Chambers appears under subpoena before HUAC and alleges that several former U.S. Federal official were communists, including Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss
• August 5 – Alger Hiss appears before HUAC to deny the allegations of Whittaker Chambers
• August 10 – August 23 – The Herrenchiemsee Convent prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany
• August 12 – Babrra massacre: About 600 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement were shot dead on the orders of the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province, Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri, on Babrra ground in the Hashtnagar region of Charsadda District, North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan.
• August 13 – Harry Dexter White and Donald Hiss refute allegations of Communism by Whittaker Chambers before HUAC.
• August 14 – 1948 Ashes series: The Australian batsman Don Bradman, playing his last Test cricket match, against England at The Oval, is bowled by Eric Hollies for a duck; however, "The Invincibles" win the match by an innings and 149 runs, and The Ashes 4-0.
• August 15 – The southern half of Korea is established as the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
• August 17 – HUAC holds a private session between Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers
• August 18 – Danube Commission created by Belgrade Convention (enters into force 11 May 1949).
• August 20 – Lee Pressman, Nathan Witt, and John Abt, represented by Harold I. Cammer, plead the Fifth Amendment in response to allegations of Communism by Whittaker Chambers before HUAC
• August 23 – The World Council of Churches is established.
• August 24 – The first meeting of the charter members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) is held.^[7]
• August 25 – HUAC holds its first-ever televised congressional hearing, featuring "Confrontation Day" between Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss
• August 27 – Whittaker Chambers states that Alger Hiss was a communist on Meet the Press radio

September

• September 4 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
• September 5 – Robert Schuman becomes Prime Minister of France.
• September 6 – Juliana is formally inaugurated to succeed her mother as queen regnant of the Netherlands.
• September 9 – The northern half of Korea is formally declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), with Kim Il-sung as prime minister.
• September 11 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder and first Governor-General of Pakistan, dies. Pakistan is in a state of shock as it mourns the departure of the father of the nation. The day is a public holiday nationwide.
• September 13–18 – Indian annexation of Hyderabad ("Operation Polo"): The princely state of Hyderabad is invaded by the Indian Armed Forces in a "police action" in the aftermath of Pakistani leader Jinnah's death. The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his state which is amalgamated into the newly-independent Dominion of India; thousands are killed as a result of this event.
• September 13 – Margaret Chase Smith is elected United States Senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House Of Representatives and the United States Senate.
• September 17 – Lehi members, also known as the Stern Gang, assassinate Swedish count Folke Bernadotte, United Nations Mediator in Palestine, in Jerusalem.
• September 18 – Inaugural motor race at Goodwood Circuit, West Sussex, England.
• September 20 – Establishment of the city of Rabwah in Pakistan.
• September 27 – Alger Hiss files a slander suit against Whittaker Chambers for his August 27 radio statement in the United States.
• September 29 – Laurence Olivier's film of Hamlet opens in the US.

October

• October 5 – The International Union for the Protection of Nature (known today as International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN) was established in Fontainebleau, France.
• October 6 – The 7.3 M_s Ashgabat earthquake kills 10,000–110,000.
• October 10 – R-1 missile on test becomes the first Soviet launch to enter space.
• October 16 – The 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in the American Midwest, is founded.
• October 20 – Brandeis University is formally founded in Massachusetts, US.
• October 26 – Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
• October 28 – The Al-Dawayima massacre begins.

November

• November 1
  • Foley Square trial of Eugene Dennis and ten other CPUSA leaders begins in New York City.
  • Athenagoras I is elected 268th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
• November 2 – United States presidential election, 1948: Democratic incumbent Harry S. Truman defeats Republican Thomas E. Dewey, "Dixiecrat" Strom Thurmond, and Progressive party's Henry A. Wallace
• November 12 – In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials to death, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.
• November 15 – Louis Stephen St. Laurent becomes Canada's 12th prime minister.
• November 16
  • Operation Magic Carpet to transport Jews from Yemen to Israel begins.
  • The University of the Andes (Universidad de los Andes) is founded in Bogotá, Colombia.
• November 17
  • Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi divorces his second wife, the former Princess Fawzia of Egypt.
  • Whittaker Chambers produces secret government papers handwritten and typewritten by Alger Hiss during pretrial examination.
• November 20 – Geoffrey B. Orbell rediscovers the Takahē, last seen 50 years previously, near Lake Te Anau, New Zealand.
• November 24 – In Venezuela, president Rómulo Gallegos is ousted by a military junta.
• November 27 – The Calgary Stampeders defeat the Ottawa Rough Riders 12–7 before 20,013 fans at Toronto's Varsity Stadium to win their first Grey Cup and complete the only perfect season to date in Canadian Football.

December

• December 1 – José Figueres Ferrer abolishes the army in Costa Rica, making it the first country in history to do so.
• December 2 – The United States House Un-American Activities Committee subpoenas and retrieves the "Pumpkin Papers" from the farm of Whittaker Chambers.
• December 6 – Richard Nixon displays microfilm from the "Pumpkin Papers" to the press.
• December 9 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Genocide Convention.
• December 10 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• December 11–12 – Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali massacre: Scots Guards shoot 24 Chinese villagers in Malaya.
• December 15 – The United States Department of Justice indicts Alger Hiss on two counts of perjury.
• December 17 – The Finnish Security Police is established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.
• December 19 – In the American National Football League, the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the Chicago Cardinals 7–0 to win the championship.
• December 20
  • Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
  • Laurence Duggan falls to his death from the 16th storey window of his Manhattan office.
• December 23 – Seven Japanese military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.
• December 26
  • The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
  • Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
• December 28 – A Muslim Brotherhood member assassinates Egyptian Prime Minister Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi.
• December 30 – The musical Kiss Me, Kate opens for the first of 1,077 performances in New York City.
• December 31 – Arab-Israeli War: Israeli troops drive Egyptians from the Negev.

Date unknown

• Casimir effect predicted by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir.
• The Fresh Kills Landfill, the world's largest, opens on Staten Island, New York.
• The Oakridge Transit Centre opens in Vancouver, British Columbia.
• The Slovak city Gúta is renamed Kolárovo.
• The Tunnel of Vielha is opened in the Aran Valley, Spanish Pyrenees.
• Last recorded sighting of the Caspian tiger in Kazakhstan.
• A pack of wolves kills about 40 children in Darovskoy District, in Russia.^[8]
• Charles Warrell creates the first I-Spy books in the United Kingdom.
• Rev. W. Awdry's third book, James the Red Engine, is published in the United Kingdom.
• Last edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum is published in the Vatican.
• Inspired by World War II fighter planes, Cadillac introduces the first automobile to sport tailfins.
• The inaugural 6 Hours of Watkins Glen sports car endurance race is held in the United States.

January

Ichirou Mizuki

John Carpenter

Carl Weathers

Davíð Oddsson

Charles Taylor

Paul Jabara

• January 2
  • Judith Miller, American journalist
  • Joyce Wadler, American writer and memoirist
  • Deborah Watling, English actress (d. 2017)
• January 5
  • Wally Foreman, Australian media icon (d. 2006)
  • Ted Lange, American actor and director
• January 7
  • Kenny Loggins, American rock singer
  • Ichirou Mizuki, Japanese voice actor
• January 10
  • Donald Fagen, American rock keyboardist
  • Teresa Graves, American actress and comedian (d. 2002)
  • Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist
• January 11
  • Hiroshi Wajima, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2018)
  • Larry Harvey, American co-founder of Burning Man (d. 2018)
• January 12
  • Kenny Allen, English footballer
  • Anthony Andrews, English actor
• January 14
  • T Bone Burnett, American record producer and musician
  • Muhriz of Negeri Sembilan, Yamtuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan
  • Carl Weathers, American actor and football player
• January 15 – Ronnie Van Zant, American rock musician (d. 1977)
• January 16
  • John Carpenter, American film director, producer, screenwriter and composer
  • Gregor Gysi, German politician
  • Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
  • Tsuneo Horiuchi, Japanese baseball pitcher and manager
• January 17 – Davíð Oddsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
• January 18 – M. C. Gainey, American actor
• January 19
  • Frank McKenna, Premier of New Brunswick and Canadian Ambassador
  • Michael J. Jackson, English actor
• January 23
  • Katharine Holabird, American writer
  • Mitoji Yabunaka, Japanese politician
• January 27 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian dancer
• January 28 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
• January 29 – Marc Singer, Canadian actor
• January 30 – Paul Magee, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• January 31
  • Paul Jabara, American actor, singer and songwriter (d. 1992)
  • Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician

February

Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo

Alice Cooper

Christopher Guest

Barbara Hershey

Teller

Bernadette Peters

Ken Foree

• February 1 – Rick James, American Motown performer (d. 2004)
• February 2
  • Ina Garten, American cooking author
  • Roger Williamson, British race car driver (d. 1973)
• February 3
  • Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorean Catholic bishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Henning Mankell, Swedish crime novelist (d. 2015)
• February 4
  • Alice Cooper, American hard rock singer and musician
  • Ram Baran Yadav, President of Nepal
• February 5
  • Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish football manager
  • Christopher Guest, American actor, screenwriter, director and composer
  • Barbara Hershey, American actress
  • Tom Wilkinson, English actor
• February 9
  • Greg Stafford, American game designer and publisher (d. 2018)
  • David Hayman, Scottish film, television and stage actor and director
• February 10
  • Ûssarĸak K'ujaukitsoĸ, Greenlandic Inuit politician and human rights activist (d. 2018)
  • John Magnier, Irish businessman and thoroughbred racehorse breeder
• February 11 – Chris Rush, American stand-up comedian
• February 12 – Raymond Kurzweil, American inventor and author
• February 13 – Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American film actress
• February 14
  • Jackie Martling, American comedian and radio personality
  • Wally Tax, Dutch musician (d. 2005)
  • Raymond Teller, American illusionist and magician, one half of the duo Penn & Teller
  • Yehuda Shoenfeld, Israeli physician and autoimmunity researcher
• February 17
  • György Cserhalmi, Hungarian actor
  • José José, Mexican singer and actor
• February 18 – Sinéad Cusack, Irish actress
• February 19
  • Pim Fortuyn, Dutch politician and author (d. 2002)
  • Tony Iommi, English heavy metal guitarist
• February 20 – Jennifer O'Neill, American model and actress
• February 22
  • John Ashton, American actor
  • Leslie H. Sabo Jr., American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1970)
• February 24
  • Jayalalithaa, Indian politician and film actress (d. 2016)
  • Walter Smith, Scottish football manager
• February 25 – Danny Denzongpa, Indian actor
• February 28
  • Steven Chu, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • Mike Figgis, American director, screenwriter and composer
  • Kjell Isaksson, Swedish pole vaulter
  • Bernadette Peters, American actress and singer
  • Mercedes Ruehl, American actress
  • Alfred Sant, Leader of Malta Labour Party (1992–) and Prime Minister of Malta (1996–1998)
• February 29
  • Khalid Salleh, Malaysian actor and poet (d. 2018)
  • Ken Foree, American actor
  • Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer

March

Shakin' Stevens

Eddy Grant

James Taylor

Billy Crystal

Sérgio Vieira de Mello

Steven Tyler

Andrew Lloyd Webber

Al Gore

Rhea Perlman

• March 2
  • R. T. Crowley, American pioneer of electronic commerce
  • Rory Gallagher, Irish musician (d. 1995)
  • Jeff Kennett, Australian politician
• March 4
  • Lindy Chamberlain, Australian author
  • James Ellroy, American writer
  • Tom Grieve, American baseball player
  • Leron Lee, American baseball player
  • Chris Squire, English bassist (Yes) (d. 2015)
  • Shakin' Stevens, Welsh singer
  • Brian Cummings, American voice actor
• March 5
  • Eddy Grant, Guyanese British singer and musician
  • Elaine Paige, English singer and actress
• March 6 – Anna Maria Horsford, American actress
• March 9
  • László Lovász, Hungarian mathematician
  • Jeffrey Osborne, American singer
• March 11 – Dominique Sanda, French actress
• March 12 – James Taylor, American singer-songwriter
• March 14 – Billy Crystal, American actor and comedian
• March 15 – Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
• March 17 – William Gibson, American/Canadian writer
• March 20
  • John de Lancie, American actor
  • Bobby Orr, Canadian hockey player
  • Helene Vannari, Estonian actress
• March 22
  • Inri Cristo, Brazilian educator who claims to be Jesus Christ reincarnated
  • Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
  • Andrew Lloyd Webber, English composer
• March 25 – Bonnie Bedelia, American actress
• March 26
  • Nash the Slash, born James Jeffrey Plewman, Canadian musician (d. 2014)
  • Steven Tyler, American singer-songwriter (Aerosmith)
• March 28
  • Jayne Ann Krentz, American novelist
  • Dennis Unkovic, American author
  • Dianne Wiest, American actress
• March 29
  • Mike Heideman, American basketball coach (d. 2018)
  • Bud Cort, American actor
• March 30 – Eddie Jordan, Irish founder of Jordan Grand Prix
• March 31
  • Al Gore, American environmentalist and politician, 45th Vice President of the United States under Bill Clinton, and 2000 Democratic nominee for president
  • Rhea Perlman, American actress

April

Carlos Salinas de Gortari

Terry Pratchett

• April 1 – Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican singer and actor
• April 2
  • Bob Lienhard, American basketball player (d. 2018)
  • Roald Als, Danish cartoonist
• April 3 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician and 53rd President of Mexico
• April 4
  • Squire Parsons, American gospel singer/songwriter
  • Dan Simmons, American fantasy and science fiction author
• April 5 – Neil Portnow, President of The Recording Academy (NARAS).
• April 7 – John Oates, American rock singer and guitarist (Hall & Oates)
• April 12
  • Jeremy Beadle, English TV presenter (d. 2008)
  • Don Fernando, director and actor of pornographic films
  • Joschka Fischer German politician
  • Marcello Lippi, Italian football player and manager
• April 13
  • Nam Hae-il, 25th Chief of Naval Operations of the Republic of Korea Navy
  • Mikhail Shufutinsky, Soviet and Russian singer, actor, TV presenter
• April 15 – Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
• April 16
  • Ammar El Sherei, Egyptian music icon and celebrity (d. 2012)
  • Kazuyuki Sogabe, Japanese voice actor (d. 2006)
• April 17
  • Jan Hammer, Czechoslovakian composer, pianist and keyboardist
  • Peter Jenni, Swiss experimental particle physicist
• April 21 – Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist (after whom Flammer syndrome is named)
• April 27
  • Amrit Kumar Bohara, Nepalese politician
  • Si Robertson, American reality star
• April 28
  • Terry Pratchett, English comic fantasy and science fiction author (d. 2015)
  • Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
• April 29 – Michael Karoli, German musician (d. 2001)

May

George Tupou V

Steve Winwood

Bob Woolmer

Brian Eno

Grace Jones

Leo Sayer

Klaus Meine

Stevie Nicks

Svetlana Alexievich

John Bonham

• May 2
  • Vladimir Matorin, Russian opera singer
  • Larry Gatlin, American singer/songwriter
• May 3
  • William H. Miller, historian
  • Chris Mulkey, American actor
• May 4
  • Jan Kantůrek, Czech translator (d. 2018)
  • Tanya Falan, American singer
  • King George Tupou V of Tongo (d. 2012)
• May 5
  • Joe Esposito, American singer-songwriter
  • Richard Pacheco, American pornographic actor
  • Bill Ward, English rock drummer
• May 8
  • Dame Felicity Lott, English soprano
  • Stephen Stohn, Canadian television producer
• May 9
  • Steven W. Mosher, American social scientist and author
  • Calvin Murphy, American basketball player and analyst
• May 11 – Shigeru Izumiya, Japanese musician
• May 12
  • Steve Winwood, English rock singer
  • Lindsay Crouse, American actress
• May 14 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-born English cricket coach (d. 2007)
• May 15
  • Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese professional baseball pitcher
  • Brian Eno, English musician and record producer
• May 16 – Jesper Christensen, Danish actor
• May 18 – Mikko Heiniö, Finnish composer
• May 19 – Grace Jones, Jamaican singer and actress
• May 20 – Tesshō Genda, Japanese voice actor
• May 21
  • D'Jamin Bartlett, American musical theatre actress
  • Elizabeth Buchan, English writer
  • Jonathan Hyde, Australian-born English actor
  • Leo Sayer, English rock musician
• May 25 – Klaus Meine, German singer (Scorpions)
• May 26
  • Dayle Haddon, Canadian model and actress
  • Stevie Nicks, American rock singer and songwriter
• May 27 – Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant
• May 29 – Michael Berkeley, English composer
• May 31
  • Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian writer of literary reportage, Nobel Prize laureate
  • John Bonham, English rock drummer of Led Zeppelin (d. 1980)

June

Andrzej Sapkowski

Kathy Bates

• June 1
  • Powers Boothe, American actor (d. 2017)
  • Tom Sneva, American race car driver and Indianapolis 500 winner
• June 2 – Jerry Mathers, American actor
• June 4
  • Bob Champion, English jump jockey
  • David Haskell, American actor (d. 2000)
• June 6 – Richard Sinclair, English musician (Caravan)
• June 8
  • Jürgen von der Lippe, German television presenter, actor and comedian
  • Jad Azkoul, Lebanese-American classical guitarist
• June 9
  • Gudrun Schyman, Swedish politician
  • Gary Thorne, American play-by-play announcer
• June 11 – Dave Cash, American baseball player
• June 13 – Garnet Bailey, Canadian hockey player and scout (d. 2001)
• June 14 – Laurence Yep, American author
• June 15 – Paul Michiels, Belgian singer-songwriter
• June 17 – Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player
• June 19
  • Nick Drake, English musician (d. 1974)
  • Lea Laven, Finnish singer
  • Phylicia Rashad, American actress
• June 20
  • Alan Longmuir, Scottish musician (d. 2018)
  • Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
• June 21
  • Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
  • Jovan Aćimović, Serbian football player
  • Raffaello Martinelli, Italian prelate
  • Philippe Sarde, French film composer
  • Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
  • Wolfgang Seel, German football player
  • Greg Hyder, American professional basketball player
• June 22
  • Madeleine Meilleur, Canadian politician
  • Takashi Sasano, Japanese actor
  • Shōhaku Okumura, Japanese Soto Zen
  • Peter Prijdekker, Dutch swimmer
  • Sue Roberts, American professional golfer
  • Todd Rundgren, American rock singer and record producer
  • Curtis Johnson, American football cornerback
  • Franciszek Smuda, Polish football coach
  • Panagiotis Xanthakos, Greek sports shoote
  • Colin Waldron, English football defender
• June 23
  • Larry Coker, American football player and coach
  • Jim Heacock, American defensive coordinator
  • Luther Kent, American blues singer
  • Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
• June 24
  • Stephen Martin, Australian politician, senior academic and rugby league referee
  • Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player
  • Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda
  • Dave Orchard, South African cricketer
  • Eigil Sørensen, Danish cyclist
  • Jürgen Stars, German footballer
  • Jenny Wood, Zimbabwean swimmer
• June 25
  • Kenn George, American businessman
  • Michael Lembeck, American actor, television and film director
  • Tom Rideout, Canadian politician
• June 26
  • David Vaughan, Welsh professional golfer
  • John Pratt, English professional footballer
  • Pablo Anaya Rivera, Mexican politician
• June 27
  • Vennira Aadai Nirmala, Tamil actress
  • Michael J. Barrett, Guamanian politician
  • Camile Baudoin, American rock guitarist
• June 28
  • Deborah Moggach, English writer
  • Kathy Bates, American actress
  • Jimmy Thomson, Scottish professional footballer
  • Brian Rowan, Scottish professional footballer
• June 29
  • Helge Karlsen, Norwegian football player
  • Fred Grandy, American actor and politician
  • Usha Prashar, Baroness Prashar, crossbench member of the House of Lords
  • Leo Burke, Canadian professional wrestler
  • Vic Brooks, English cricketer
  • Danny Adcock, Australian actor
• June 30
  • Alice Wong, Canadian politician
  • Dag Fornæss, Norwegian speed skater
  • Peter Rossborough, English rugby union international
  • Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Australian Indigenous community
  • Vladimir Yakunin, Russian official, head of state-run Russian Railways company
  • Raymond Leo Burke, American cardinal prelate

July

Jeremy Spencer

Richard Simmons

Rubén Blades

Cat Stevens

Peggy Fleming

Jean Reno

• July 1
  • Ever Hugo Almeida, Paraguayan footballer
  • John Ford, English-born rock musician (Strawbs), writer of "Part of the Union"
  • Michael McGimpsey, Northern Ireland politician
• July 2
  • Mario Villanueva, Mexican politician
  • Saul Rubinek, German-Canadian character actor, director, producer and playwright
• July 3 – Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
• July 4
  • René Arnoux, French racing driver
  • Louis Raphaël I Sako, Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church
  • Ed Armbrister, Bahamian outfielder in Major League Baseball
  • Nazmul Hussain, Indian first-class cricketer
  • Jeremy Spencer, British musician
• July 5
  • Tony DeMeo, American football coach and player
  • Dave Lemonds, American baseball player
  • Salomon Juan Marcos Issa, Mexican politician
  • Lojze Peterle, Slovenian politician
• July 6
  • Nathalie Baye, French film, television and stage actress
  • Jeff Webb, American professional basketball player
  • Arnaldo Baptista, Brazilian rock musician and composer
  • Brad Park, Canadian NHL Defenseman
  • Sid Smith, American football offensive lineman
  • Eiko Segawa, Japanese female enka singer and actress
  • Jan van der Veen, Dutch professional association football player
• July 7
  • Jerry Sherk, American football defensive tackle
  • Jean LeClerc, Québécois actor
  • Jean-Marie Colombani, French journalist
  • Tan Lee Meng, Singaporean jurist
  • Stuart Varney, British-American economic consultant
  • Luis Estrada, Mexican football league forward and an Olympian
• July 8 – Raffi, Egyptian-born children's entertainer
• July 10
  • Theo Bücker, German football manager and a player
  • Rich Hand, American professional baseball player
  • Mick Coop, English professional football right back
• July 12
  • Jay Thomas, American actor (d. 2017)
  • Richard Simmons, American television personality and fitness expert
• July 13
  • Don Sweet, Canadian star football kicker
  • Alf Hansen, Norwegian rower
  • Robert A. Underwood, Guamanian politician and educator
• July 14 – Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, Zulu king
• July 15 – Richard Franklin, Australian film director (d. 2007)
• July 16
  • Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer, actor and musician
  • Rita Barberá, Spanish politician, Mayor of Valencia (d. 2016)
  • Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
  • Jeff Van Wagenen, American professional golfer
  • Lars Lagerbäck, Swedish football manager and player
• July 17
  • Alan Sieler, Australian cricketer
  • Doug Berry, American Canadian football coach
• July 18 – Hartmut Michel, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• July 20
  • Muse Watson, American actor
  • Maroun Elias Nimeh Lahham, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Tunis
• July 21
  • Beppe Grillo, Italian activist, blogger, comedian and actor
  • Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
  • Cat Stevens, born Steven Georgiou, later known as Yusuf Islam, British singer, musician
  • Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
  • Teruzane Utada, Japanese music executive producer and attendant
  • Mikhail Zadornov, Russian stand-up comedian and writer
  • Snooty, male Florida manatee (d. 2017)
• July 22
  • Susan Eloise Hinton, American author
  • Otto Waalkes, German comedian and actor
• July 23 – John Cushnahan, Northern Irish politician
• July 25
  • Steve Goodman, American Grammy Award-winning folk music singer and songwriter (d. 1984)
  • Tony Cline, American football player (d. 2018)
• July 27 – Peggy Fleming, American figure skater
• July 28
  • Gerald Casale, American director and singer (Devo)
  • Sally Struthers, American actress and spokeswoman
• July 30
  • Jean Reno, French actor
  • Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian composer and musician (d. 2010)
• July 31 – Jonathan Dollimore, English academic sociologist and cultural theorist

August

Jean-Pierre Raffarin

Tipper Gore

Robert Plant

Sgt. Slaughter

Lewis Black

• August 1 – Jim Carroll, American author, poet and musician (d. 2009)
• August 2
  • Dennis Prager, American radio talk show host and author
  • Bob Rae, Canadian politician
• August 3 – Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Prime Minister of France
• August 7 – James P. Allison, American immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• August 12 – Mizengo Pinda, 9th Prime Minister of Tanzania
• August 13 – Kathleen Battle, American soprano
• August 14 – Joseph Marcell, English actor
• August 15 – George Ryton, Singapore-born English Formula One engineer
• August 18 – Sean Scanlan, Scottish actor (d. 2017)
• August 19
  • Robert Hughes, Australian actor
  • Tipper Gore, Second Lady of the United States
• August 20
  • John Noble, Australian actor
  • Robert Plant, English singer (Led Zeppelin)
  • Barbara Allen Rainey (born Barbara Ann Allen), American aviator, first female pilot in the U.S. armed forces (d. 1982)
• August 23 – Lev Zeleny, Soviet and Russian physicist
• August 24
  • Jean Michel Jarre, French electronic musician
  • Sauli Niinisto, Finnish politician, 12th President of Finland
  • Kim Sung-il, Chief of Staff of the Republic of Korea Air Force
  • Vicente Sotto III, Filipino actor, host and politician
• August 25 – Tony Ramos, Brazilian actor
• August 27 – Sgt. Slaughter, American professional wrestler
• August 30
  • Lewis Black, American comedian
  • Fred Hampton, American activist (d. 1969)
  • Victor Skumin, Russian scientist, Professor
• August 31
  • Cyril Jordan, American musician
  • Holger Osieck, German football manager

September

Sitiveni Rabuka

John Ritter

Jeremy Irons

George R. R. Martin

Phil Hartman

Olivia Newton-John

Bryant Gumbel

• September 1 – James Rebhorn, American actor (d. 2014)
• September 2
  • Christa McAuliffe, American teacher and astronaut (d. 1986)
  • Nate Archibald, American basketball player
  • Terry Bradshaw, American football player and sportscaster
• September 3
  • Don Brewer, American drummer (Grand Funk Railroad)
  • Levy Mwanawasa, Zambian president (d. 2008)
• September 4
  • Samuel Hui, Hong Kong singer
  • Michael Berryman, American actor
• September 5 – Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
• September 7 – Susan Blakely, American actress
• September 8 – Great Kabuki, Japanese professional wrestler
• September 10
  • Judy Geeson, English actress
  • Bob Lanier, American basketball player
  • Margaret Trudeau, born Margaret Sinclair, wife and mother of Prime Ministers of Canada
  • Charlie Waters, American football player
• September 11 – John Martyn, born Iain McGeachy, British folk-rock guitarist (d. 2009)
• September 13
  • Nell Carter, American singer and actress (d. 2003)
  • Sitiveni Rabuka, 3rd Prime Minister of Fiji
• September 16 – Ron Blair, American bassist (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
• September 17 – John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)
• September 19
  • Jeremy Irons, English actor
  • Nadezhda Tkachenko, Soviet pentathlete
• September 20
  • Rey Langit, Filipino journalist and radio host
  • George R. R. Martin, American speculative fiction author
• September 22
  • Denis Burke, Australian politician
  • Mark Phillips, army captain and equestrian, first husband of Anne, Princess Royal
  • Jim Byrnes, American voice actor, blues musician and actor
• September 23 – José Lavat, Mexican voice actor (d. 2018)
• September 24 – Phil Hartman, Canadian actor and comedian (d. 1998)
• September 25
  • Cäcilia Rentmeister, German art historian and gender researcher
  • Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Russian oligarch
• September 26
  • Maurizio Gucci, Italian businessman and murder victim (d. 1995)
  • Olivia Newton-John, English-born Australian singer and actress
• September 27
  • Michele Dotrice, English actress
  • A Martinez, American actor and singer
• September 29
  • Mark Farner, American rock guitarist and singer (Grand Funk Railroad)
  • Bryant Gumbel, African-American television broadcaster
  • Theo Jörgensmann, German jazz clarinetist
  • Burton Richardson, American game show announcer

October

Johnny Ramone

Chris de Burgh

Robert Jordan

Margot Kidder

Akira Kushida

• October 1 – Sir Peter Blake, New Zealand yachtsman (k. 2001)
• October 2
  • Avery Brooks, American actor and musician
  • Persis Khambatta, Indian actress and model (d. 1998)
  • Chris LeDoux, American singer and rodeo star (d. 2005)
  • Donna Karan, American fashion designer
• October 4
  • Meg Bennett, American soap opera writer
  • Iain Hewitson, New Zealand-Australian chef, restaurateur, author, and television personality
• October 6 – Gerry Adams, Northern Irish politician
• October 7
  • Stephen Rucker, American composer
  • Diane Ackerman, American poet and essayist
• October 8
  • Johnny Ramone, American guitarist (Ramones) (d. 2004)
  • Baldwin Spencer, 3rd Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
• October 9
  • Jackson Browne, American rock musician
  • Ciarán Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist
  • Oliver Hart, English-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 11 – Cynthia Clawson, American gospel singer
• October 13
  • John Ford Coley, American rock musician
  • Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pakistani musician (d. 1997)
  • Ted Poe, American politician
• October 14
  • Engin Arık, Turkish nuclear physicist (d. 2007)
  • David Ruprecht, American actor and writer (Supermarket Sweep)
• October 15
  • Renato Corona, Filipino jurist and lawyer (d. 2016)
  • Chris de Burgh, born Christopher Davison, Argentine-born Anglo-Irish singer-songwriter
• October 16 – Leo Mazzone, American baseball coach
• October 17
  • Robert Jordan, American novelist (d. 2007)
  • Margot Kidder, Canadian actress (d. 2018)
  • Akira Kushida, Japanese singer
  • George Wendt, American actor
• October 18 – Hans Köchler, Austrian philosopher
• October 19 – Patrick Simmons, American musician (The Doobie Brothers)
• October 21
  • Tom Everett, American actor
  • Allen Vigneron, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Detroit
• October 22
  • Lynette Fromme, American attempted assassin of Gerald Ford
  • Debbie Macomber, American author
• October 23 – Sir Gerry Robinson, Irish-born British businessman
• October 25
  • Dave Cowens, American basketball player and coach
  • Dan Gable, American wrestler and coach
• October 26 – Toby Harrah, American baseball player
• October 28 – Telma Hopkins, American actress and singer
• October 29 – Kate Jackson, American actress
• October 30 – Garry McDonald, Australian actor, satirist, and comedian

November

Lulu

Amadou Toumani Touré

Hassan Rouhani

Charles, Prince of Wales

Michel Suleiman

• November 1 – Anna Stuart, American actress
• November 3 – Lulu, born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, Scottish singer and actress
• November 4
  • Delia Casanova, Mexican actress
  • Amadou Toumani Touré, President of Mali
• November 5
  • Charles Bradley, American singer (d. 2017)
  • Bob Barr, American politician
  • Zacharias Jimenez, Filipino Roman Catholic bishop (d. 2018)
  • Dallas Holm, American Christian musician
  • William Daniel Phillips, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• November 6 – Glenn Frey, American guitarist and singer (The Eagles) (d. 2016)
• November 7 – Jim Houghton, American actor and director
• November 9 – Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazilian football player and manager
• November 10 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (d. 2005)
• November 12
  • Hassan Rouhani, 7th President of Iran
  • Richard Roberts, American evangelist and son of Oral Roberts
• November 13
  • Humayun Ahmed, Bengali-language writer.
  • Lockwood Smith, New Zealand politician
• November 14
  • Charles, Prince of Wales, born Prince Charles of Edinburgh, heir apparent to the British throne and son of Elizabeth II (at this time Duchess of Edinburgh) and The Duke of Edinburgh
  • Robert Ginty, American actor and director (d. 2009)
  • Dee Wallace, American actress
• November 15 – James Kemsley, Australian cartoonist and actor (d. 2007)
• November 16
  • Chi Coltrane, American musician
  • Ken James, Australian actor
  • Mutt Lange, Rhodesian-born record producer
  • Mate Parlov, Yugoslav Olympic boxer (d. 2008)
• November 17 – Howard Dean, American politician
• November 19 – Rance Allen, American gospel singer and preacher
• November 20
  • Harlee McBride, American actress
  • John R. Bolton, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and National Security Advisor
  • Barbara Hendricks, American singer
  • Richard Masur, American actor, director; president of Screen Actors Guild
• November 21 – Michel Suleiman, President of Lebanon
• November 23
  • Dominique-France Picard, also known as Princess Fadila of Egypt, wife of King Fuad II of Egypt and the Sudan
  • Ron Bouchard, American NASCAR driver (d. 2015)
  • Gabriele Seyfert, East German figure skater
• November 24 – Joe Howard, American actor
• November 25 – Antoine Sfeir, Franco-Lebanese journalist and a professor (d. 2018)
• November 26 – Elizabeth Blackburn, Australian-American biologist and winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• November 27 – James Avery, American actor (d. 2013)
• November 28 – Agnieszka Holland, Polish director and screenwriter

December

Ozzy Osbourne

JoBeth Williams

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

Kim Beazley

Samuel L. Jackson

Gérard Depardieu

• December 2
  • T. Coraghessan Boyle, American writer
  • Toninho Horta, Brazilian singer and musician
  • Christine Westermann, German television and radio host, journalist and author
• December 3
  • Rick Cua, American singer and evangelist
  • Ozzy Osbourne, English singer (Black Sabbath)
• December 6
  • Keke Rosberg, Finnish Formula One champion
  • Marius Müller-Westernhagen, German actor and musician
  • JoBeth Williams, American actress and director
• December 7
  • Gary Morris, American country singer and actor
  • Tony Thomas, American television producer
  • Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
• December 10 – Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
• December 11 – Chester Thompson, American rock drummer
• December 12 – Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, 20th President of Portugal
• December 13
  • Lillian Board, South African-born English Olympic athlete (d. 1970)
  • Ted Nugent, American rock guitarist and singer
  • David O'List, English rock guitarist
• December 14
  • Lester Bangs, American music journalist (d. 1982)
  • Kim Beazley, Australian politician
• December 19 – Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player
• December 20 – Alan Parsons, English songwriter, musician and record producer
• December 21
  • Samuel L. Jackson, African-American actor and film producer
  • Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
• December 22
  • Noel Edmonds, English TV presenter and DJ
  • Flip Mark, American child actor
  • Lynne Thigpen, American actress (d. 2003)
• December 23 – Jim Ferguson, American guitarist, composer, educator, author and music journalist
• December 25
  • Queen Alia (d. 1977)
  • Barbara Mandrell, American country singer
• December 27
  • Ronnie Caldwell, American soul music and rhythm and blues musician (d. 1967)
  • Gérard Depardieu, French actor
• December 28
  • Dick Siegel, American songwriter
  • Mary Weiss, American singer (The Shangri-Las)
• December 29 – Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland First Minister
• December 31
  • Stephen Cleobury, English composer and conductor
  • Joe Dallesandro, American model and actor
  • Sandy Jardine, Scottish professional footballer playing for Rangers and Hearts and representing Scotland (d. 2014)
  • Donna Summer, African-American singer and actress (d. 2012)

Date unknown

Judy Nylon

• Archana Bhattacharyya, Indian physicist
• Miguel Cabrera Cabrera, Spanish architect and politician
• Vicatan, born Vicente Doria Catan Jr., Filipino comic book artist (d. 2004)
• Gudo Hoegel, German actor and voice actor
• Phalon Jones, American soul music and rhythm and blues musician (d. 1967)
• John Blair Moore, American comic book artist
• Johnny Nicholas, American blues musician
• Judy Nylon, American artist and musician
• Edward Rutherfurd, born Francis Edward Wintle, English novelist

January

Giuseppe Giaccardo

King Tomislav II of Croatia

Mohandas Gandhi

Orville Wright

• January 1 – Edna May, American actress (b. 1878)
• January 2 – Vicente Huidobro, Chilean poet (b. 1893)
• January 4 – Anna Kallina, Austrian actress (b. 1874)
• January 5 – Mary Dimmick Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison (b. 1858)
• January 7
  • Charles C. Wilson, American actor (b. 1894)
  • Maria de Maeztu Whitney, Spanish educator and feminist (b. 1882)
• January 8
  • Charles Magnusson, Swedish producer and screenwriter (b. 1878)
  • Kurt Schwitters, German artist (b. 1887)
  • Edward Stanley Kellogg, 16th Governor of American Samoa (b. 1870)
• January 19 – Tony Garnier, French architect (b. 1869)
• January 21
  • Eliza Moore, last person born into slavery in the United States (b. 1843)
  • Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (b. 1876)
• January 24
  • Bill Cody, American actor (b. 1891)
  • Giuseppe Giaccardo, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1896)
  • Maria Mandl, Austrian criminal (b. 1912)
• January 26 – Georg Bruchmüller, influential German artillery officer (b. 1863)
• January 28 – Anna Maria Gove, American physician (b. 1867)
• January 29 – King Tomislav II of Croatia (b. 1900)
• January 30
  • Nigel De Brulier, British actor (b. 1877)
  • Arthur Coningham, British air force air marshal (disappeared) (b. 1895)
  • Mahatma Gandhi, Leader of Indian independence movement, (assassinated) (b. 1869)
  • Herb Pennock, American baseball player (New York Yankees) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1894)
  • Orville Wright, American co-inventor of the airplane (b. 1871)
• January 31 – John T. Daniels, American Coast Guardsman, took the Wright brothers first flight photograph (b. 1873)

February

Laura Wheeler Waring

Karl Valentin

Sergei Eisenstein

Patriarch Nicodim of Romania

• February 1 – Jatindramohan Bagchi, Indian (Bengali) poet (b. 1878)
• February 2 – Bevil Rudd, South African athlete (b. 1894)
• February 3 – Laura Wheeler Waring, African-American painter, known for Harlem Renaissance portraits (b. 1887)
• February 4 – Otto Praeger, American postal official who implemented U.S. Airmail (b. 1871)
• February 8 – Samuel P. Bush, American businessman and industrialist (b. 1863)
• February 9
  • Burns Mantle, American theatre critic (b. 1873)
  • Karl Valentin, German actor (b. 1882)
• February 11
  • Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet film director (b. 1898)
  • Isaac Isaacs, 9th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1855)
• February 12 – Theodor Caspari, Norwegian poet, novelist, writer, literary critic and teacher (b. 1853)
• February 14 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1876)
• February 15 – Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Indian poet (b. 1904)
• February 17 – Enrique Finochietto, Argentine academic, physician and inventor (b. 1881)
• February 18 – Renato Balestrero, Italian racecar driver (b. 1898)
• February 23 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-born inventor of shorthand (b. 1866)
• February 25
  • Alfredo Baldomir, Uruguayan politician, soldier and architect, 27th President of Uruguay, leader of World War II (b. 1884)
  • Alexander du Toit, South African geologist (b. 1878)
  • Felix Krueger, German psychologist (b. 1874)
  • Juan Esteban Montero, Chilean political figure and 20th President of Chile (b. 1879)
• February 27
  • Charles Gifford, New Zealand astronomer, explorer and teacher (b. 1861)
  • Patriarch Nicodim of Romania (b. 1864)
• February 28 – Camila Quiroga, Argentine actress (b. 1891)

March

Blessed Piero Folli

• March 1 – Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné, French general (b. 1913)
• March 4 – Antonin Artaud, French playwright, actor and director (b. 1896)
• March 6 – Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (suicide) (b. 1914)
• March 8 – Piero Folli, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1881)
• March 10
  • Zelda Fitzgerald, American wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald (b. 1900)
  • Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (b. 1886)
• March 14
  • Giuseppina Catanea, Italian Roman Catholic religious professed and blessed (b. 1894)
  • Senge Motomaro, Japanese poet (b. 1888)
• March 17 – Paul Dupuy, French historian and biographer (b. 1856)
• March 23 – Kōzō Satō, Japanese admiral (b. 1871)
• March 24
  • Nikolai Berdyaev, Soviet religious leader and political philosopher (b. 1874)
  • Giovanni Cuomo, Italian politician, lawyer and teacher (b. 1874)
  • Paolo Thaon di Revel, former admiral of the Royal Italian Navy (b. 1859)
  • Sabbas of Kalymnos, Greek Orthodox priest and saint (b. 1862)
• March 30 – Giovanni Ceirano, Italian industrialist and automotive pioneer (b. 1865)
• March 31 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Austrian journalist and author (b. 1885)

April

Manuel Roxas

Kantaro Suzuki

Mitsumasa Yonai

• April 2
  • Biagio Biagetti, Italian painter (b. 1877)
  • Baba Sawan Singh, Indian saint known as "The Great Master" (b. 1858)
• April 5 – Angelo Joseph Rossi, American political figure and Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1878)
• April 7 – Isabel Andreu de Aguilar, Puerto Rican writer, educator, philanthropist and activist (b. 1887)
• April 8 – Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, Palestinian Arab nationalist (b. 1907)
• April 9
  • George Carpenter, 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
  • Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (assassinated) (b. 1903)
• April 15 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino statesman, 5th President of the Philippines (b. 1892)
• April 17 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
• April 19 – Mikhail Rostovtsev, Soviet actor (b. 1872)
• April 20 – Mitsumasa Yonai, Japanese admiral and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1880)
• April 21 – Carlos López Buchardo, Argentine composer (b. 1881)
• April 22 – Prosper Montagné, French chef and author (b. 1865)
• April 23 – Prince Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (b. 1863)
• April 24 – Manuel Ponce, Mexican composer (b. 1882)
• April 25 – Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, Uruguayan composer, journalist and pianist (b. 1897)
• April 30 – Alfredo Miguel Aguayo Sánchez, Puerto Rican educator and writer (b. 1866)

May

Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington

Dame May Whitty

• May 2 – Ángel Maria Herrera, Panamanian educator (b. 1859)
• May 3 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish nobleman, assassin of Minister Ritavuori (b. 1876)
• May 9
  • Viola Allen, American actress (b. 1867)
  • Frank Leigh, British actor (b. 1876)
• May 13
  • Milan Begović, Yugoslavian writer (b. 1876)
  • Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (b. 1920)
• May 15
  • André Dauchez, French painter (b. 1870)
  • Father Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-born American Roman Catholic priest, founder of Boys Town and monsignor (b. 1886)
• May 16 – Muhammad Habibullah, Indian politician (b. 1869)
• May 18 – Francisco Alonso, Spanish composer (b. 1887)
• May 19 – Maximilian Lenz, Austrian painter and sculptor (b. 1860)
• May 21 – Jacques Feyder, French filmmaker (b. 1885)
• May 22 – Claude McKay, Jamaican-born American writer and poet (b. 1889)
• May 26 – Émile Gaston Chassinat, French egyptologist (b. 1868)
• May 28 – Unity Mitford, British socialite; friend of Adolf Hitler (b. 1914)
• May 29 – Dame May Whitty, British actress (b. 1865)
• May 30 – József Klekl, Slovene politician in Hungary (b. 1874)

June

Nasib al-Bitar

Prince Sabahaddin

• June 1 – José Vianna da Motta, Portuguese pianist, teacher and composer (b. 1868)
• June 2 – Viktor Brack, German doctor (b. 1904), executed by hanging for warcrimes
  • Karl Brandt, German S.S. officer (b. 1904)
  • Rudolf Brandt, German S.S. officer (b. 1909)
  • Karl Gebhardt, German S.S. officer (b. 1897)
  • Waldemar Hoven, German S.S. officer (b. 1903)
  • Joachim Mrugowsky, German S.S. officer (b. 1905)
  • Wolfram Sievers, German S.S. officer (b. 1905)
• June 6 – Louis Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1864)
• June 8 – Giacomo Albanese, Italian mathematician (b. 1890)
• June 13 – Osamu Dazai, Japanese writer (b. 1909)
• June 16 – Eugênia Álvaro Moreyra, Brazilian journalist, actress and director (b. 1898)
• June 25
  • Bento de Jesus Caraça, Portuguese mathematician, economist, statistician (b. 1901)
  • William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
• June 26
  • Nasib al-Bitar, Palestine jurist (b. 1890)
  • Lilian Velez, Filipino actress (murder) (b. 1924)
• June 30 – Prince Sabahaddin (b. 1879)

July

Albert Bates

Charles Fillmore

• July 1 – Assunta Marchetti, Italian Roman Catholic religious professed and blessed
• July 4
  • Albert Bates, American criminal (b. 1893)
  • Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian writer (b. 1882)
• July 5
  • Georges Bernanos, French writer (b. 1888)
  • Charles Fillmore, American Protestant mystic (b. 1854)
  • Carole Landis, American actress player (b. 1919)
• July 9
  • James Baskett, American actor (Uncle Remus in Disney's Song of the South) (b. 1904)
  • Alcibiades Diamandi, Greek political figure (b. 1893)
• July 11
  • King Baggot, American actor (b. 1879)
  • Franz Weidenreich, German anatomist and physical anthropologist (b. 1873)
• July 14
  • Harry Brearley, British inventor of stainless steel (b. 1871)
  • Marguerite Moreno, French actress (b. 1871)
• July 15 – John J. Pershing, American general (b. 1860)
• July 17 – Ildebrando Zacchini, Maltese painter, inventor and traveller (b. 1868)
• July 18
  • May Moss, Australian women's rights activist (b. 1869)
  • Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1877)
• July 21 – Arshile Gorky, Soviet-born painter (b. 1904)
• July 22 – Sud Mennucci, Brazilian journalist and educator (b. 1882)
• July 23 – D. W. Griffith, American film director (The Birth Of A Nation) (b. 1875)
• July 24 – Pencho Zlatev, Bulgarian general, 25th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1881)
• July 26 – Antonin Sertillanges, French Catholic philosopher and spiritual writer (b. 1863)
• July 27 – Joe Tinker, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1880)
• July 28 – Susan Glaspell, American playwright (b. 1882)
• July 31 – Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, mistress of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (b. 1891)

August

Babe Ruth

Mariette Rheiner Garner

Mikhail Tarkhanov

• August 3 – Tommy Ryan, American boxing champion (b. 1870)
• August 7 – Charles Bryant, American actor (b. 1879)
• August 10
  • Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (b. 1873)
  • Andrew Brown, Scottish soccer coach (b. 1870)
• August 13 – Edwin Maxwell, Irish actor (b. 1886)
• August 16 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player (New York Yankees) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1895)
• August 17 – Mariette Rheiner Garner, Second Lady of the United States (b. 1869)
• August 18 – Mikhail Tarkhanov, Soviet actor (b. 1877)
• August 26 – George Anderson, American actor (b. 1886)
• August 27
  • Cissie Cahalan, Irish trade union, feminist and suffragette (b. 1876)
  • Charles Evans Hughes, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1862)

September

Edvard Benes

Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria

Raffaele Rossi

Prince Adalbert of Prussia

• September 1 – Muhammad VII al-Munsif, ruler of Tunisia 1942–43 (b. 1881)
• September 2 – Sylvanus G. Morley, American scholar and World War I spy (b. 1883)
• September 3 – Edvard Beneš, Czechoslovakian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia and 2-time President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1884)
• September 5 – Richard C. Tolman, American mathematical physicist (b. 1881)
• September 7 – André Suarès, French poet and critic (b. 1868)
• September 10 – Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, Tsar of Bulgaria (b. 1861)
• September 11 – Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder and first Governor General of Pakistan (b. 1876)
• September 12
  • Rupert D'Oyly Carte, British hotelier, theatre owner and impresario (b. 1876)
  • Carlo Servolini, Italian artist (b. 1876)
• September 13 – Paul Wegener, German actor, film director, and screenwriter; one of the pioneers of German Expressionism (b. 1874)
• September 17
  • Ruth Benedict, American anthropologist and folklorist (b. 1887)
  • Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (assassinated) (b. 1895)
  • Emil Ludwig, German-born Swiss historian and biographer (b. 1881)
  • Raffaele Rossi, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal, eminence and servant of God (b. 1876)
• September 20 – Husain Salaahuddin, Famous Mahl writer (b. 1881)
• September 22 – Prince Adalbert of Prussia (b. 1884)
• September 24 – Warren William, American actor (b. 1894)
• September 25 – Toyoaki Horiuchi, Japanese general (b. 1900)
• September 26 – Gregg Toland, American cinematographer (b. 1904)
• September 27 – Frank Cellier, British actor (b. 1884)
• September 30
  • Vasily Kachalov, Soviet actor (b. 1875)
  • Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (b. 1861)

October

Franz Lehár

• October 1 – Phraya Manopakorn Nititada, 1st Prime Minister of Siam (b. 1884)
• October 2 – Mary Ryan, American actress (b. 1885)
• October 4 – Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, Pakistani politician (b. 1879)
• October 5 – Umberto Coromaldi, Italian painter (b. 1870)
• October 10 – Saif Ali Janjua, Pakistani commander (b. 1922)
• October 12
  • Susan Sutherland Isaacs, British educational psychologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1885)
  • Albert Power, Australian Roman Catholic and Jesuit priest and reverend (b. 1870)
• October 13 – Samuel S. Hinds, American actor (b. 1875)
• October 14 – Dale Fuller, American actress (b. 1885)
• October 15 – Edythe Chapman, American actress (b. 1863)
• October 16 – Maria Olga de Moraes Sarmento da Silveira, Portuguese feminist and writer (b. 1881)
• October 18 – Walther von Brauchitsch, German field marshal (b. 1881)
• October 19 – Mehmet Suphi Kula, Turkish general (b. 1881)
• October 21 – Elissa Landi, Italian actress (b. 1904)
• October 22
  • Guillaume de Jerphanion, French Jesuit, epigrapher, geographer, photographer, linguist and archaeologist (b. 1877)
  • Alexander Piorkowski, German SS officer (b. 1904)
  • William Royland, British baronet
• October 24
  • Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (b. 1870)
  • Peter Murdoch, Australian politician (b. 1865)
• October 31 – Mary Nolan, American actress (b. 1905)

November

Archduke Peter Ferdinand of Austria

Bela Miklos

• November 4
  • Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, British-born American businessman (b. 1874)
  • Filippo Perlo, Italian Roman Catholic prelate and missionary (b. 1873)
• November 7 – David Leland, American actor (b. 1932)
• November 8 – Archduke Peter Ferdinand of Austria (b. 1874)
• November 9 – Edgar Kennedy, American actor (b. 1890)
• November 10
  • Julius Curtius, German politician and diplomat (b. 1877)
  • Jack Nelson, American actor and director (b. 1882)
• November 11 – Fred Niblo, American film director (b. 1874)
• November 12 – Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
• November 17 – Oerip Soemohardjo, Indonesian general (b. 1893)
• November 21 – Béla Miklós, Hungarian military officer and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1890)
• November 23 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1900)
• November 28 – D. D. Sheehan, Irish politician (b. 1873)
• November 29
  • Maria Koppenhöfer, German actress (b. 1901)
  • Roberto Omegna, Italian cinematographer and director (b. 1876)
• November 30 – Franco Vittadini, Italian composer (b. 1884)

December

Matthew Charlton

João Tamagnini Barbosa

Hideki Tojo

• December 3
  • Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, South African politician (b. 1894)
  • Luis Orrego Luco, Chilean politician, lawyer, novelist and diplomat (b. 1866)
  • Chano Pozo, Cuban percussionist (b. 1915)
• December 8 – Matthew Charlton, Australian politician (b. 1866)
• December 15 – João Tamagnini Barbosa, Portuguese military officer and politician, 69th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1883)
• December 20 – C. Aubrey Smith, British actor (b. 1863)
• December 23 – Japanese war leaders (hanged):
  • Kenji Doihara, general (b. 1883)
  • Kōki Hirota, diplomat and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1878)
  • Seishirō Itagaki, military officer (b. 1885)
  • Heitarō Kimura, general (b. 1888)
  • Iwane Matsui, general (b. 1878)
  • Akira Mutō, general (b. 1892)
  • Hideki Tojo, general, 40th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1884)
• December 26 – John Westley, American actor (b. 1878)
• December 28
  • Muhammad Saleh Akbar Hydari, Indian civil servant and politician (b. 1894)
  • Mahmoud an-Nukrashi Pasha, Egyptian political figure, 27th Prime Minister of Egypt (assassinated) (b. 1888)
• December 29 – Guido Di Ruggiero, Italian philosopher, professor and politician (b. 1888)
• December 31 – Sir Malcolm Campbell, English land and water racer (b. 1885)