1964

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s
Years:	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967

1964 by topic
Subject
Animation Anime Archaeology Architecture Art Aviation Awards Comics Film Literature Poetry Meteorology Music Country Jazz Rail transport Radio Science Spaceflight Sports Football Television, British
By country
Australia Belgium Bulgaria Brazil Canada People's Republic of China France Germany India Ireland Iran Israel Japan Kuwait Luxembourg Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Singapore South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Thailand Turkey United Kingdom United States
Lists of leaders
Sovereign states Sovereign state leaders Territorial governors Religious leaders Law
Birth and death categories
Births Deaths
Establishments and disestablishments categories
Establishments Disestablishments
Works category
Works Introductions

1964 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1964 MCMLXIV
Ab urbe condita	2717
Armenian calendar	1413 ԹՎ ՌՆԺԳ
Assyrian calendar	6714
Bahá'í calendar	120–121
Balinese saka calendar	1885–1886
Bengali calendar	1371
Berber calendar	2914
British Regnal year	12 Eliz. 2 – 13 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2508
Burmese calendar	1326
Byzantine calendar	7472–7473
Chinese calendar	癸卯年 (Water Rabbit) 4660 or 4600     — to — 甲辰年 (Wood Dragon) 4661 or 4601
Coptic calendar	1680–1681
Discordian calendar	3130
Ethiopian calendar	1956–1957
Hebrew calendar	5724–5725
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2020–2021
- Shaka Samvat	1885–1886
- Kali Yuga	5064–5065
Holocene calendar	11964
Igbo calendar	964–965
Iranian calendar	1342–1343
Islamic calendar	1383–1384
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 39 (昭和３９年)
Javanese calendar	1895–1896
Juche calendar	53
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4297
Minguo calendar	ROC 53 民國53年
Nanakshahi calendar	496
Thai solar calendar	2507
Tibetan calendar	阴水兔年 (female Water-Rabbit) 2090 or 1709 or 937     — to — 阳木龙年 (male Wood-Dragon) 2091 or 1710 or 938

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1964.

1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1964th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 964th year of the 2nd millennium, the 64th year of the 20th century, and the 5th year of the 1960s decade.

Events

• January 1
  • The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.^[1]
  • The first edition of the long-running TV music programme Top of the Pops is broadcast on BBC Television in the UK.^[2]
• January 5
  • U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona announces that he will seek the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.^[3]
  • In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople meet in Jerusalem.
• January 7 – A British firm, the Leyland Motor Corp., announces the sale of 450 buses to the Cuban government, challenging the United States blockade of Cuba.
• January 8 – In his first State of the Union Address, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson declares a "War on Poverty".
• January 9 – Martyrs' Day: Armed clashes between United States troops and Panamanian civilians in the Panama Canal Zone precipitate a major international crisis, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and 4 U.S. soldiers.
• January 11 – United States Surgeon General Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one's health (the first such statement from the U.S. government).^[4]
• January 12
  • Zanzibar Revolution: The predominantly Arab government of Zanzibar is overthrown by African nationalist rebels; a United States Navy destroyer evacuates 61 U.S. citizens.
  • Routine U.S. naval patrols of the South China Sea begin.
• January 13 – Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, resulting in 100 deaths.
• January 15
  • The nightclub Whisky a Go Go opens its doors on Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California, United States. Johnny Rivers leads the first house band at the club, which helps pave the club's way to international fame and contributes to the beginning of rock n' roll on the Strip.^[5]
  • Teamsters negotiate the first national labor contract in the United States.
  • Major League Baseball executives vote to hold a free agent amateur draft, officially known as Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in New York City.
  • San Francisco Giants make champion outfielder Willie Mays the highest-paid player in baseball when they sign him to a new $105,000 per season contract.
• January 16 – The musical Hello, Dolly! opens in New York's St. James Theatre.
• January 17
  • John Glenn announces that he will seek the Democratic Party nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.
  • Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. in the United States.^{[citation needed]} It will be published by George Allen & Unwin in the United Kingdom on November 23.
• January 18 – Plans to build the New York City World Trade Center are announced.
• January 20 – Meet the Beatles!, the first Beatles album from Capitol Records in the United States, is released ten days after Chicago's Vee-Jay Records releases Introducing... The Beatles. The two record companies battle it out in court for months, eventually coming to a conclusion.^[6]
• January 22 – Kenneth Kaunda is inaugurated as the first Prime Minister of Northern Rhodesia.^[7]
• January 23
  • Pope Paul VI institutes the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. During this celebration the Pope reminds the universal Church that still today salvation comes to everyone. It continues to be celebrated every Fourth Sunday of Easter (also known as Good Shepherd Sunday).
  • Thirteen years after its proposal and nearly two years after its passage by the United States Senate, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
  • Arthur Miller's After the Fall opens Off-Broadway. A semi-autobiographical work, it arouses controversy over his portrayal of late ex-wife Marilyn Monroe.
• January 27
  • France and the People's Republic of China announce their decision to establish diplomatic relations.
  • U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith, 66, announces her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
• January 28 – A U.S. Air Force jet training aircraft that strays into East Germany is shot down by Soviet fighters near Erfurt; all three crew men are killed.^[8][9]
• January 29–February 9 – The 1964 Winter Olympics are held in Innsbruck, Austria.
• January 29
  • The Soviet Union launches two scientific satellites, Elektron I and II, from a single rocket.
  • Ranger 6 is launched by NASA, on a mission to carry television cameras and crash-land on the Moon.
• January 30 – General Nguyễn Khánh leads a bloodless military coup d'état, replacing Dương Văn Minh as Prime Minister of South Vietnam.

February

• February 1 – The Beatles vault to the #1 spot on the U.S. singles charts for the first time, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand", starting the British Invasion in the United States.
• February 3 – Protesting against alleged de facto school racial segregation, Black and Puerto Rican groups in New York City boycott public schools.
• February 4 – The Government of the United States authorizes the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, outlawing the poll tax.^[10]
• February 5 – India backs out of its promise to hold a plebiscite in the disputed territory of Kashmir. In 1948, India had taken the issue of Kashmir to the United Nations Security Council and offered to hold a plebiscite in the held Kashmir under UN supervision.
• February 6 – Cuba cuts off the normal water supply to the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in reprisal for the U.S. seizure 4 days earlier of 4 Cuban fishing boats off the coast of Florida.
• February 7
  • An all-white jury in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, trying Byron De La Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers in June 1963, reports that it cannot reach a verdict, resulting in a mistrial.^[11]
  • The Beatles arrive from the UK at New York City's JFK International Airport, receiving a tumultuous reception from an estimated 4,000, marking the first occurrence of "Beatlemania" in the United States.^[12] The "Fab Four" stayed in suites 1260, 1263, 1264 and 1273 of the Plaza Hotel.^[13]
• February 9 – The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, marking their first live performance on American television. Seen by an estimated 73,000,000 viewers, the appearance becomes the catalyst for the mid-1960s "British Invasion" of American popular music.
• February 10 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: 82 Australian sailors die when an aircraft carrier and a destroyer collide off New South Wales, Australia.
• February 11
  • Greeks and Turks begin fighting in Limassol, Cyprus.^[14]
  • The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with France because of French recognition of the People's Republic of China.
• February 17 – Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a military coup and his arch-rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place. However, French intervention restores M'ba's government the next day.^[15]
• February 23 – Chrysler's second generation Hemi racing engine is showcased at the Daytona 500. The 426 hemi-powered Plymouth of Richard Petty (#43) wins. Hemi-powered Plymouths finish in first, second and third places.^[16]
• February 25 – Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) beats Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Florida, and is crowned the heavyweight champion of the world.^[17]
• February 26 – U.S. politician John Glenn withdraws from the race for the Democratic Party Senate nomination, following a domestic accident.^[18]
• February 27 – The Italian government asks for help to keep the Leaning Tower of Pisa from toppling over.^[19]
• February 29 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces that the United States has developed a jet airplane (the A-11), capable of sustained flight at more than 2,000 miles per hour (3,200 km/h) and of altitudes of more than 70,000 feet (21,000 m).

March

• March 4 – President of the US Teamsters, Jimmy Hoffa is convicted by a federal jury of jury tampering in 1962 and receives a jail sentence.^[20]
• March 6
  • Constantine II becomes King of Greece, upon the death of his father King Paul.
  • Malcolm X, suspended from the Nation of Islam, says in New York City that he is forming a black nationalist party.
  • Boxer Cassius Clay announces the change of his name to Muhammad Ali.^[21]
• March 9
  • New York Times Co. v Sullivan (376 US 254 1964): The United States Supreme Court rules that under the First Amendment, speech criticizing political figures cannot be censored.
  • London Fisheries Convention signed, giving signatories the right of full access to fishing grounds within 12 nautical miles of the western European coastline.
  • The first Ford Mustang is manufactured, by the Ford Motor Company, in Dearborn, Michigan, United States.^[22]
• March 10
  • Soviet military forces shoot down an unarmed reconnaissance bomber that had strayed into East Germany; the 3 U.S. flyers parachute to safety.
  • Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., United States Ambassador to South Vietnam, wins the New Hampshire Republican primary.
• March 12 – Malcolm X leaves the Nation of Islam.
• March 13 – The New York Times misreports that 38 neighbors of Kitty Genovese, 28, fail to respond to her cries as she is being stabbed to death in Queens, New York City, prompting investigation into the bystander effect.
• March 14 – A Dallas, Texas, jury finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
• March 15 – Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor marry (for the first time) in Montreal.
• March 18 – 1964 Moscow protest: Approximately 50 Moroccan students break into the embassy of Morocco in the Soviet Union and stage an all‐day sit-in protesting against sentencing of eleven people to death for the alleged assassination attempt of King Hassan II of Morocco.
• March 19 – The American Jerrie Mock is the first woman to fly solo around the world from March 19 to April 17.
• March 20–June 6 – The first United Nations Conference on Trade and Development takes place.
• March 20 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organization) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
• March 21 – Non ho l'età by Gigliola Cinquetti (music by Nicola Salerno, text by Mario Panzeri) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 for Italy.
• March 26 – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara delivers an address that reiterates American determination to give South Vietnam increased military and economic aid, in its war against the Communist insurgency.
• March 27 (Good Friday) – The Great Alaskan earthquake, the second-most powerful known (and the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history) at a magnitude of 9.2, strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.^[23]
• March 28
  • King Saud of Saudi Arabia abdicates the throne.^[24] His brother, Prince Faisal, does not officially assume the throne until November.
  • Radio Caroline becomes the United Kingdom's first "Pirate" radio station, broadcasting from a ship anchored just outside UK territorial waters on the east coast.
• March 30 – Merv Griffin's game show Jeopardy! debuts on NBC; Art Fleming is its first host.
• March 31 – The military overthrows Brazilian President João Goulart in a coup, starting 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil. It ends in 1985.

April

• April 1 – Deployed military rule in Brazil ends the government of democratically elected president, João Goulart.
• April 2 – Mrs. Malcolm Peabody, 72, mother of Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody, is released on $450 bond after spending two days in a St. Augustine, Florida, jail, for participating in an anti-segregation demonstration there.
• April 4
  • The Beatles hold the top 5 positions in the Billboard Top 40 singles in America, an unprecedented achievement. The top songs in America as listed on April 4, in order, are: "Can't Buy Me Love", "Twist and Shout", "She Loves You", "I Want to Hold Your Hand", and "Please Please Me".

• April 6 – Jigme Palden Dorji, premier of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, is shot dead by an unidentified assassin in Puncholing, near the Indian border.
• April 7 – IBM announces the System/360.
• April 8
  • Four of 5 railroad operating unions in the United States strike against the Illinois Central Railroad without warning, bringing to a head a 5-year dispute over railroad work rules.
  • Gemini 1 is launched, the first unmanned test of the 2-man spacecraft.
  • From Russia with Love premiers in U.S. movie theaters.
• April 9 – The United Nations Security Council adopts by a 9–0 vote a resolution deploring a British air attack on a fort in Yemen 12 days earlier, in which 25 persons have been reported killed.
• April 10 – Demolition of the Polo Grounds sports stadium commences in New York City.
• April 11 – The Brazilian Congress elects Field Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco as President of Brazil.
• April 12 – In Detroit, Malcolm X delivers a speech entitled "The Ballot or the Bullet"
• April 13
  • The 36th Academy Awards ceremony is held. Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American to win an Academy Award in the category Best Actor in a Leading Role in Lilies of the Field.
• April 14 – A Delta rocket's third-stage motor ignites prematurely in an assembly room at Cape Canaveral, killing 3.
• April 16 – In the Assize Court at Buckingham, UK, sentences totalling 307 years are passed on twelve men who stole £2,600,000 in used bank notes, after holding up the night train from Glasgow to London in August 1963 – a heist that becomes known as the Great Train Robbery.^[25][26]
• April 17
  • In the United States, the Ford Mustang is officially unveiled to the public.
  • Shea Stadium opens in Flushing, New York.
• April 19 – In Laos, the coalition government of Prince Souvanna Phouma is deposed by a right-wing military group, led by Brig. Gen. Kouprasith Abhay. Not supported by the United States, the coup is ultimately unsuccessful, and Souvanna Phouma is reinstated, remaining as Prime Minister until 1975.
• April 20
  • U.S. President Lyndon Johnson in New York, and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, simultaneously announce plans to cut back production of materials for making nuclear weapons.
  • Nelson Mandela makes his "I Am Prepared to Die" speech at the opening of the Rivonia Trial, a key event for the anti-apartheid movement.
  • In the UK, BBC Two television starts broadcasting for the first time.
• April 22
  

  April 22: 1964 New York World's Fair
  • British businessman Greville Wynne, imprisoned in Moscow since 1963 for spying, is exchanged for Soviet spy Gordon Lonsdale.^[27]
  • The 1964 New York World's Fair opens to celebrate the 300th anniversary of New Amsterdam being taken over by British forces under the Duke of York (later King James II) and being renamed New York in 1664. The fair runs until October 18, 1964, and reopens April 21, 1965, finally closing October 17, 1965. Although not internationally sanctioned, due to being within ten years of the Seattle World's Fair in 1962, so that some countries decline to attend, many have pavilions with exotic crafts, art and food.)
• April 25 – Thieves steal the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark (Henrik Bruun confesses in 1997).
• April 26 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.^[28]

May

• May – The first fatality occurs at Disneyland in California, United States: a 15-year-old boy is injured while riding the Matterhorn Bobsleds and dies three days later as a result of his injuries.
• May 1 – At 4:00 a.m., John George Kemeny and Thomas Eugene Kurtz run the first computer program written in BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level programming language which they have created.^[29] BASIC is eventually included on many computers and even some games consoles.
• May 2
  • Vietnam War: Attack on USNS Card – An explosion caused by Viet Cong commandos causes carrier USNS Card to sink in the port of Saigon.^[30]
  • Some 400–1,000 students march through Times Square, New York, and another 700 in San Francisco, in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War. Smaller marches also occur in Boston, Seattle, and Madison, WI.
  • United States Senator Barry Goldwater receives more than 75% of the votes in the Texas Republican presidential primary.
  • Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, hitchhiking in Meadville, Mississippi, are kidnapped, beaten, murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their badly decomposed bodies are found by chance in July during the search for missing activists Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
• May 4 – The United States Congress recognizes Bourbon whiskey as a "distinctive product of the United States".
• May 7
  • Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
  • At a mail rockets demonstration by Gerhard Zucker on Hasselkopf Mountain near Braunlage (Lower Saxonia, Germany), three people are killed by a rocket explosion.
• May 9 – South Korean President Park Chung-hee reshuffles his Cabinet, after a series of student demonstrations against his efforts to restore diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.
• May 11 – Terence Conran opens the first Habitat store on London's Fulham Road.
• May 12 – Twelve young men in New York City publicly burn their draft cards to protest the Vietnam War; the first such act of war resistance.^[31][32]
• May 22 – U.S. President Lyndon Johnson makes a speech at the University of Michigan, introducing the concept of the "Great Society".^[33]
• May 23 – Madeline Dassault, 63, wife of a French plane manufacturer and politician, is kidnapped while leaving her car in front of her Paris home; she is found unharmed the next day in a farmhouse 27 miles (43 km) from Paris.^[34]
• May 24–25 – The crowd at a football match in Lima, Peru riots over a referee's decision in the Peru-Argentina game; 319 are killed, 500 injured.
• May 26 – Nelson Rockefeller defeats Barry Goldwater in the Oregon Republican primary, slowing but not stalling Goldwater's drive toward the nomination.
• May 27 – Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru dies; he is later succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri.
• May 27 – The ongoing Colombian Conflict starts.
• May 28 – The Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is released by the Arab League.
• May 29 – Having having deposed them in a January coup, South Vietnamese leader Nguyen Khanh had rival Generals Tran Van Don and Le Van Kim convicted of "lax morality".^[35][36]
• May 30 – Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald are killed in a fiery crash during the 1964 Indianapolis 500.

June

• June 2
  • Senator Barry Goldwater wins the California Republican primary, making him the overwhelming favorite for the party's nomination as President of the United States.^[37]
  • Five million shares of stock in the Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat) are offered for sale at $20 a share, and the issue is quickly sold out.
• June 3 – South Korean President Park Chung-hee declares martial law in Seoul, after 10,000 student demonstrators overpower police.
• June 6 – With a temporary order, the rocket launches at Cuxhaven are terminated.
• June 9 – In a federal Court in Kansas City, Kansas, 28 year-old army deserter George John Gessner is convicted of passing United States secrets to the Soviet Union.
• June 10
  • The U.S. Senate votes cloture of the Civil Rights Bill after a 75-day filibuster.
  • The Deacons for Defense and Justice (Black self-defense organization) is founded in Jonesboro, Louisiana.
• June 11
  • Greece rejects direct talks with Turkey over Cyprus.
  • Cologne school massacre: In Cologne, West Germany, Walter Seifert attacks students and teachers in an elementary school with a flamethrower, killing 10 and injuring 21.
• June 12
  • Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton announces his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the Presidency of the United States, as part of a 'stop-Goldwater' movement.
  • Nelson Mandela and 7 others are sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa, and sent to the Robben Island prison.^[38]
• June 19 – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, 32, is seriously injured in a private plane crash at Southampton, Massachusetts; the pilot is killed.
• June 20 – The Ford GT40 makes its first appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It does not see its first victory, however, until 2 years 1966. At the same event, the AC Cobra wins its class in its second Le Mans appearance.
• June 21
  • Civil rights movement: Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner – Three Congress of Racial Equality workers, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney, are abducted and murdered near Philadelphia, Mississippi, by local members of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan with local law enforcement officials involved in the conspiracy. Their bodies are not found until August 4.
  • Spain beats the Soviet Union 2–1 to win the 1964 European Nations Cup.
  • Jim Bunning pitches a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies, the first in the National League since 1880.
• June 26 – Moise Tshombe returns to the Democratic Republic of the Congo from exile in Spain.

July

• July 2 – President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, officially abolishing racial segregation in the United States.
• July 6 – Malawi receives its independence from the United Kingdom.^[39]
• July 16 – At the Republican National Convention in San Francisco, in a speech written for him by Karl Hess, U.S. presidential nominee Barry Goldwater declares that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice", and "moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue".^[40]
• July 18
  • Six days of race riots begin in Harlem, New York, United States, apparently prompted by the shooting of a teenager.^[41]
  • Judith Graham Pool publishes her discovery of cryoprecipitate, a frozen blood clotting product made from plasma primarily to treat hemophiliacs around the world.^[42]
  • "False Hare" is the final Warner Bros. cartoon with "target" titles.
• July 19 – Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister and military leader Nguyễn Khánh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.^[43]
• July 20
  • Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack a provincial capital, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
  • The National Movement of the Revolution is established in the Republic of the Congo, becoming the country's sole legal political party.^[44]
• July 21 – Race riots begin in Singapore between ethnic Chinese and Malays.^[45]
• July 22 – The second meeting of the Organisation of African Unity is held.
• July 24 – There is a minor criticality accident at a United Nuclear Corporation Fuels recovery plant in Wood River Junction, Richmond, Rhode Island. 37-year-old Robert Peabody dies two days after the incident.
• July 27 – Vietnam War: The U.S. sends 5,000 more military advisers to South Vietnam, bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
• July 31 – Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the Moon (images are 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from Earth-bound telescopes).

August

• August 1 – The final Looney Tune, "Señorella and the Glass Huarache", is released before the Warner Bros. Cartoon Division is shut down by Jack Warner.
• August 2 – Vietnam War: United States destroyer Maddox is attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks one gunboat, while the other two leave the battle.
• August 5
  • Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow – Aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
  • The Simba rebel army in the Democratic Republic of the Congo captures Stanleyville, and takes 1,000 Western hostages.
• August 7 – Vietnam War: The United States Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.^[46]
• August 8 – A Rolling Stones gig in Scheveningen gets out of control. Riot police end the gig after about fifteen minutes, upon which spectators start to fight the riot police.^[47]
• August 13 – The last judicial hanging in the United Kingdom takes place when murderers Gwynne Owen Evans and Peter Anthony Allen are executed at Walton Prison in Liverpool.^[48]
• August 16 – Vietnam War: In a coup, General Nguyễn Khánh replaces Dương Văn Minh as South Vietnam's chief of state and establishes a new constitution, drafted partly by the U.S. Embassy.^[49]
• August 17 – Margaret Harshaw, Metropolitan Opera soprano, sings the role of Turandot in Puccini's opera Turandot at the New York World's Fair.
• August 18 – The International Olympic Committee bans South Africa from the Tokyo Olympics on the grounds that its teams are racially segregated.^[50]
• August 20 – The International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium (Intelsat) began to work.
• August 22
  • Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist and Vice Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, addresses the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention, challenging the all-white Mississippi delegation.
  • Goalkeeper Derek Foster of Sunderland becomes the youngest-ever player to play in the Football League, aged 15 years and 185 days.
• August 24–27 – The Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City nominates incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson for a full term, and U.S. Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota as his running mate.
• August 27 – Walt Disney's Mary Poppins has its world premiere in Los Angeles. It will go on to become Disney's biggest moneymaker, and winner of 5 Academy Awards, including a Best Actress. It is the first Disney film to be nominated for Best Picture.
• August 28–30 – Philadelphia 1964 race riot: Tensions between African American residents and police lead to 341 injuries and 774 arrests.

September

• September 2 – Indian Hungry generation poets, including Malay Roy Choudhury, are arrested on charges of conspiracy against the state and obscenity in literature.^[51]
• September 4 – The Forth Road Bridge opens over the Firth of Forth.^[52]
• September 10 – The African Development Bank (AfDB) is founded.^[53]
• September 11 – In Jacksonville, Florida, during a tour of the United States, John Lennon announces that the Beatles will not play to a segregated audience.^[54]
• September 14
  • The third period of the Second Vatican Council opens.
  • The London Daily Herald ceases publication, replaced by The Sun.
• September 17 – The James Bond film Goldfinger opens in the UK.
• September 18 – In Athens, King Constantine II of Greece marries Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, who becomes Europe's youngest Queen at age 18 years, 19 days.
• September 20 – At the autumnal equinox, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) is founded in England.
• September 21
  • The island of Malta obtains independence from the United Kingdom.
  • The North American XB-70 Valkyrie makes its first flight at Palmdale, California.
• September 24 – The Warren Commission, the first official investigation of the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, submits its written report.^[55]
• September 25 – The Mozambican War of Independence is launched by FRELIMO.^[56]
• September 26 – The sitcom Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver as Gilligan premieres on CBS in the United States.

October

• October – Dr. Robert Moog demonstrates the prototype Moog synthesizer.^[57]
• October 1
  • Three thousand student activists at University of California, Berkeley, surround and block a police car from taking a CORE volunteer arrested for not showing his ID, when he violated a ban on outdoor activist card tables. This protest eventually explodes into the Berkeley Free Speech Movement.
  • The Shinkansen high-speed rail system, the world's first such system, is inaugurated in Japan, for the first sector between Tokyo and Osaka.
• October 2 – The Kinks release their first album, Kinks, in the United Kingdom.
• October 5
  • Twenty-three men and thirty-one women escape to West Berlin through a narrow tunnel under the Berlin Wall.
  • Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh begin an 8-day visit to Canada.
• October 10–24 – The 1964 Summer Olympics are held in Tokyo, Japan, the first in an Asian country.
• October 12 – The Soviet Union launches Voskhod 1 into Earth orbit as the first spacecraft with a multi-person crew and the first flight without space suits. The flight is cut short and lands again on October 13 after 16 orbits.
• October 14 – American civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr. becomes the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States.
• October 14–15 – Nikita Khrushchev is deposed as leader of the Soviet Union; Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin assume power.
• October 15
  • The Labour Party wins the parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom, ending 13 years of Conservative Party rule. The new prime minister is Harold Wilson.^[58]
• October 16
  • Harold Wilson becomes British Prime Minister after leading the Labour Party to a narrow election win over the Conservative government of Sir Alec Douglas-Home, which has been in power for 13 years and had four different leaders during that time.^[59]
  • 596 (nuclear test): The People's Republic of China explodes an atomic bomb in Sinkiang.
• October 18 – The New York World's Fair closes for the year (it reopens April 21, 1965).
• October 21 – The film version of the hit Broadway stage musical My Fair Lady premieres in New York City.^[60] The movie stars Audrey Hepburn in the role of Eliza Doolittle and Rex Harrison repeating his stage performance as Professor Henry Higgins (which will win him an Academy Award for Best Actor). The film will win seven other Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
• October 22
  • Canada: A Federal Multi-Party Parliamentary Committee selects a design to become the new official Flag of Canada.
  • A 5.3 kiloton nuclear device is detonated at the Tatum Salt Dome, 21 miles (34 km) from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as part of the Vela Uniform program. This test is the Salmon phase of the Atomic Energy Commission's Project Dribble.
• October 24 – Northern Rhodesia, a former British protectorate, becomes the independent Republic of Zambia, ending 73 years of British rule.
• October 26 – Eric Edgar Cooke becomes the last man executed in Western Australia, for murdering 8 citizens in Perth between 1959 and 1963.
• October 27 – In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, rebel leader Christopher Gbenye takes 60 Americans and 800 Belgians hostage.
• October 29 – A collection of irreplaceable gemstones, including the 565-carat (113.0 g) Star of India, is stolen from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

November

• November 1 – Mortar fire from North Vietnamese forces rains on the Bien Hoa Air Base, killing four U.S. servicemen, wounding 72, and destroying five B-57 jet bombers and other planes.
• November 3
  • 1964 United States presidential election: Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater with over 60 percent of the popular vote.
  • The Bolivian government of President Víctor Paz Estenssoro is overthrown by a military rebellion led by General Alfredo Ovando Candía, commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
• November 5 – Mariner program: Mariner 3 spacecraft is launched from Cape Kennedy but fails.^{[clarification needed]}
• November 10 – Australia partially reintroduces compulsory military service due to the Indonesian Confrontation.
• November 13 – Bob Pettit (St. Louis Hawks) becomes the first American National Basketball Association player to score 20,000 points.
• November 19 – The United States Department of Defense announces the closing of 95 military bases and facilities, including Fort Jay, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
• November 21
  • Second Vatican Council: The third period of the Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes. Lumen gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is promulgated.^[61]
  • The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge across New York Bay opens to traffic (the world's longest suspension bridge at this time).^[62]
• November 24 – Belgian paratroopers and mercenaries capture Stanleyville, but a number of hostages die in the fighting, among them American Evangelical Covenant Church missionary Dr. Paul Carlson.
• November 28
  • Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 space probe from Cape Kennedy toward Mars to take television pictures of that planet in July 1965.
  • Vietnam War: United States National Security Council members, including Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and Maxwell Taylor, agree to recommend a plan for a 2-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam, to President Lyndon B. Johnson.
  • France performs an underground nuclear test at Ecker, Algeria.

December

• December 1 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz takes office as President of Mexico.
• December 3
  • Berkeley Free Speech Movement: Police arrest about 800 students at the University of California, Berkeley, following their takeover of and massive sit-in at the Sproul Hall administration building. The sit-in most directly protested the U.C. Regents' decision to punish student activists for what many thought had been justified civil disobedience earlier in the conflict.^[63]
  • The Danish football club Brøndby IF is founded as a merger between the two local clubs Brøndbyøster Idrætsforening and Brøndbyvester Idrætsforening. The club wins the national championship Danish Superliga 10 times, and the Danish Cups six times, after joining the Danish top-flight football league in 1981.
• December 5 – Australian Senate election, 1964: The Liberal/Country Coalition Government led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies hold their status quo, while the Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell lose one seat to the Democratic Labor Party, who hold the balance of power in the Senate alongside independent Reg Turnbull.
• December 6 – The 1-hour stop-motion animated special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on the popular Christmas song, is broadcast for the first time, on NBC. It becomes a Christmas tradition in the United States, still being shown on television more than 50 years later.^[64]
• December 10 – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.^[65]
• December 11 – Che Guevara addresses the United Nations General Assembly.^[66] A bazooka attack is launched at the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.
• December 12 – Jamhuri Day: Kenya becomes a republic, with Jomo Kenyatta as its first President.
• December 14 – Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964): The U.S. Supreme Court rules that, in accordance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, establishments providing public accommodation must refrain from racial discrimination.
• December 18
  • In the wake of deadly riots in January over control of the Panama Canal, the U.S. offers to negotiate a new canal treaty.
  • The deadly Christmas flood of 1964 begins, affecting the United States' Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California. It continues until January 7 and results in 19 deaths, damage to 10 towns, serious damage to 20 major highway and county bridges, and the loss of 4,000 head of livestock.^[67]
• December 21 – The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark supersonic attack aircraft, developed for the U.S. Air Force, makes its first flight, at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.^[68]
• December 22
  • A cyclone in the Palk Strait destroys the Indian town of Dhanushkodi, killing 1800 people.^[69]
  • The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird makes its first flight at Palmdale, California.
• December 23 – Wonderful Radio London becomes the United Kingdom's fourth "Pirate" radio station, broadcasting from MV Galaxy (a former US Navy minesweeper) anchored off the east coast of England, with an American-style Top 40 ("Fab 40") playlist of popular records.
• December 24 – The Brinks Hotel in Saigon, Vietnam, is bombed by the Viet Cong, resulting in the deaths of two US soldiers and injuries to a further 60 people, including civilians.^[70]
• December 30 – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is established as a permanent organ of the UN General Assembly.^[71]

Date unknown

• Spring – First recognition of cosmic microwave background radiation as a detectable phenomenon.^[72]
• Jerome Horwitz synthesizes zidovudine (AZT), an antiviral drug which will later be used in treating HIV.^[73]
• Farrington Daniels becomes an early advocate of solar energy in his book Direct Use of the Sun's Energy, published by Yale University Press in the United States.^[74]
• Rudi Gernreich designs the original monokini topless swimsuit in the U.S.^[75]
• The Vishva Hindu Pariṣad is founded in India.^[76]
• The Pontiac GTO, the first vehicle officially dubbed a "muscle car", debuts as a trim level of the Tempest.

Births

January

• January 1 – Moussa Dadis Camara, Guinean general and 3rd President of Guinea
• January 2
  • Noriah Kasnon, Malaysian politician (d. 2016)
  • Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019)^[77]
• January 4
  • Alexandre Fadeev, Soviet figure skater
  • Dot Jones, American actress and retired athlete
• January 5 – Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Spanish golfer^[78]
• January 6
  • Henry Maske, German boxer^[79]
  • Anthony Scaramucci, American financier, entrepreneur, and political figure^[80]
• January 7 – Nicolas Cage, American actor^[81]
• January 12 – Jeff Bezos, American Internet entrepreneur^[82]
• January 13 – Penelope Ann Miller, American actress
• January 17
  • Michelle Fairley, Northern Irish actress^{[citation needed]}
  • Michelle Obama, American attorney and author, former First Lady of the United States^[83]
• January 20
  • Márcia Cabrita, Brazilian actress (d. 2017)
  • Koko Pimentel, Filipino politician, 28th President of the Senate of the Philippines^[84]
  • Fareed Zakaria, American journalist
• January 23 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress
• January 27 – Bridget Fonda, American actress^[85]
• January 31 – Jeff Hanneman, American rock guitarist (Slayer) (d. 2013)

February

• February 1
  • Sharon Bruneau, Canadian bodybuilder and fitness competitor
  • Eli Ohana, Israeli football player, and club chairman^[86]
• February 5
  • Laura Linney, American actress
  • Duff McKagan, American rock musician, songwriter
  • Martha Fiennes, English film director
• February 6 – Gord Downie, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 2017)^[87]
• February 8 – German Gref, Minister of Economics and Trade of Russia
• February 10 – Francesca Neri, Italian actress
• February 11
  • Sarah Palin, American politician, former Governor of Alaska^[88]
  • Ken Shamrock, American mixed martial arts fighter
• February 15 − Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (d. 1997)^[89]
• February 16
  • Bebeto, Brazilian footballer
  • Christopher Eccleston, British actor^[90]
  • Valentina Yegorova, Russian distance runner^[91]
• February 18 − Matt Dillon, American actor and film director
• February 19
  • Jennifer Doudna, American biochemist^[92]
  • Jonathan Lethem, American author
• February 22 − Diane Charlemagne, English singer (52nd Street, Urban Cookie Collective) (d. 2015)
• February 24
  • Todd Field, American actor and director
  • Ute Geweniger, German swimmer
• February 25 – Lee Evans, British comedian and actor
• February 28 – Djamolidine Abdoujaparov, Uzbekistan cyclist

March

• March 4 – Emilia Eberle, Romanian artistic gymnast
• March 7
  • Bret Easton Ellis, American author
  • Vladimir Smirnov, Kazakh cross-country skier^[93]
  • Wanda Sykes, African-American comedian and actress
• March 9 – Juliette Binoche, French actress
• March 10
  • Edith Lucie Bongo, First Lady of Gabon (d. 2009)
  • Neneh Cherry, Swedish-born singer-songwriter
  • Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, British prince and third son (youngest child) of Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh
• March 11 – Vinnie Paul, American drummer (Pantera, Damageplan, Hellyeah) (d. 2018)
• March 16
  • Pascal Richard, Swiss road bicycle racer^[94]
  • Gore Verbinski, American film director
• March 17 – Rob Lowe, American actor^[95]
• March 18
  • Bonnie Blair, American speed skater^[96]
  • Rozalla, Zambian singer^{[citation needed]}
• March 19 – Yoko Kanno, Japanese composer
• March 24 – Liz McColgan, British long-distance runner athlete^[97]
• March 25 – LisaGay Hamilton, American actress
• March 30
  • Vera Zimmermann, Brazilian actress
  • Tracy Chapman, African-American singer^[98]
  • Ian Ziering, American actor

April

• April 1 – Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
• April 3
  • Nigel Farage, English politician
  • Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist^[99]
  • Yelena Ruzina, Russian Olympic athlete^[100]
• April 4 – David Cross, American actor and comedian^[101]
• April 6 – David Woodard, American businessman
• April 7 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-born actor^[102]
• April 8 – Lisa Guerrero, Hispanic American actress, model and sportscaster/reporter
• April 9 – Doug Ducey, American politician, 23rd Governor of Arizona
• April 10 – Hiroshi Tsuburaya, Japanese actor (d. 2001)
• April 14 – Jim Grabb, American tennis player^[103]
• April 16 – Esbjörn Svensson Swedish jazz pianist (d. 2008)
• April 17
  • Wisdom Mumba Chansa, Zambian football player (d. 1993)
  • Maynard James Keenan, American singer, actor, and winemaker, frontman of Tool
  • Rachel Notley, Canadian politician, Premier of Alberta 2015-2019^[104]
• April 20
  • Andy Serkis, English actor
  • Crispin Glover, American actor
  • Sean A. Moore, American writer (d. 1998)
• April 21
  • Ludmila Engquist, Russian-born Swedish hurdler^[105]
  • Michael Louden, American actor (d. 2004)
  • Ahmed Radhi, Iraqi footballer (d. 2020)
• April 24
  • Cedric the Entertainer, American actor and comedian
  • Djimon Hounsou, Beninese actor and model
• April 25 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist and comedian
• April 28 – L'Wren Scott, American fashion designer (d. 2014)
• April 29 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-born actor^{[citation needed]}
• April 30
  • Misa Watanabe, Japanese voice actress
  • Abhishek Chatterjee, Indian actor

May

• May 1 – Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed-skater^[106]
• May 5
  • Heike Henkel, German Olympic athlete^[107]
  • Minami Takayama, Japanese voice actress and singer (Two-Mix and DoCo)
• May 8 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress and president of the Screen Actors Guild^[108]
• May 10 – Orna Datz, Israeli singer, actress and television presenter
• May 13
  • Ronnie Coleman, American retired professional IFBB bodybuilder, 8x Mr Olympia
  • Stephen Colbert, American comedian, political commentator, and television personality; host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• May 20 – Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, British aristocrat, author, print journalist and broadcaster. Younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales.
• May 21 – Rui Maria de Araújo, East Timorese politician
• May 23 – Ruth Metzler-Arnold, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• May 24 – Adrian Moorhouse, British swimmer^[109]
• May 25 – Ray Stevenson, Northern Irish-born actor
• May 26 – Lenny Kravitz, American singer, songwriter, and actor^[110]
• May 28 – Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer^[111]
• May 29 – Arumugam Thondaman, Sri Lankan politician (d. 2020)
• May 30 – Tom Morello, American musician and political activist (Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, Prophets of Rage)

June

• June 3
  • James Purefoy, British actor
  • Kerry King, American guitarist (Slayer)
• June 5 – Rick Riordan, American author^[112]
• June 7
  • Gia Carides, Greek-Australian actress
  • Petr Hruška, Czech poet
• June 9 – Gloria Reuben, Canadian-American actress^[113]
• June 10
  • Ben Daniels, English actor^[114]
• June 13
  • Kathy Burke, English actress and comedian
  • Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Lithuanian basketball player^[115]
• June 15
  • Courteney Cox, American actress
  • Michael Laudrup, Danish footballer and manager
• June 17 – Michael Gross, German swimmer
• June 18 – Uday Hussein, eldest child of Saddam Hussein (d. 2003)
• June 19 – Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• June 20
  • Ethella Chupryk, Ukrainian pianist (d. 2019)
  • Michael Landon Jr., American actor, director, writer, and producer
• June 21
  • Doug Savant, American actor
  • Patrice Bailly-Salins, French biathlete
  • Dean Saunders, Welsh football manager and former professional footballer
  • Kiyoshi Okuma, Japanese football player and manager
• June 22
  • Amy Brenneman, American actress
  • Dan Brown, American author
  • Miroslav Kadlec, Czech football defender
  • Nico Jalink, Dutch footballer and football manager
  • Henrik Mestad, Norwegian actor
• June 23
  • Astrid Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan actress
  • Tomonohana Shinya, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • Joss Whedon, American screenwriter
• June 24 – Günther Mader, Austrian alpine ski racer
• June 25 – Johnny Herbert, English racing driver
• June 26 – Tommi Mäkinen, Finnish rally driver
• June 30
  • Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, Danish aristocrat
  • Ivan Trojan, Czech actor

July

• July 1
  • Yu Long, Chinese conductor
  • Bernard Laporte, French rugby player and coach
  • Loli Sánchez, Spanish basketball player
  • Chie Satō, Japanese voice actress
• July 2 – Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Cuban-born American baseball players; twin brothers
• July 3
  • Joanne Harris, English novelist
  • Aleksei Serebryakov, Russian-Canadian actor^{[citation needed]}
  • Peyton Reed, American television and film director
  • Yeardley Smith, American actress, voice actress, comedian, writer and artist
• July 4 – Edi Rama, 33rd Prime Minister of Albania^[116]
• July 5
  • Ronald D. Moore, American screenwriter and television producer
  • Stephen H. Scott, Canadian neuroscientist and engineer
• July 6 – Kim Jee-woon, South Korean film director and screenwriter
• July 9 – Courtney Love, American musician/actress
• July 11
  • Craig Charles, British actor
  • Goran Radaković, Serbian actor
• July 13 – Pascal Hervé, French road racing cyclist^[117]
• July 15
  • Tetsuji Hashiratani, Japanese football player and manager
  • Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji, Malaysian politician
• July 16 – Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist^[118]
• July 17 – Heather Langenkamp, American actress
• July 18 – Wendy Williams, African-American talk show host^[119]
• July 19
  • Teresa Edwards, American basketball player^[120]
  • Miyeegombyn Enkhbold, Mongolian politician
• July 20
  • Chris Cornell, American singer (Soundgarden, Audioslave, Temple of the Dog) (d. 2017)
  • Dean Winters, American actor
  • Deon Lotz, South African actor
• July 21
  • Ross Kemp, British actor
  • Susan Swift, American actress
• July 22
  • John Leguizamo, Colombian-American actor, stand-up comedian, producer, playwright and screenwriter
  • David Spade, American comedian, actor and television personality
• July 24
  • Barry Bonds, African-American baseball player^[121]
  • Pedro Passos Coelho, 118th Prime Minister of Portugal ^[122]
• July 26
  • Sandra Bullock, American actress and film producer^[123]
  • Anne Provoost, Belgian author
• July 28 – Lori Loughlin, American actress
• July 30
  • Vivica A. Fox, American actress
  • Jürgen Klinsmann, German football player and manager^[124]
• July 31 – C.C. Catch, Dutch-born German singer

August

• August 2 – Mary-Louise Parker, American actress^[125]
• August 3
  • Lucky Dube, South African reggae musician (d. 2007)^[126]
  • Joan Higginbotham, African-American astronaut and engineer
  • Abhisit Vejjajiva, 27th Prime Minister of Thailand^[127]
• August 7 – Tom McGrath, American voice actor, animator, screenwriter, and film director
• August 8
  • Giuseppe Conte, Italian Prime Minister
  • Nina Hoekman, Dutch draughts player (d. 2014)
• August 15 – Melinda Gates, American philanthropist^[128]
• August 22 – Mats Wilander, Swedish tennis player^[129]
• August 24 – Salizhan Sharipov, Russian cosmonaut
• August 25
  • Maxim Kontsevich, Russian mathematician^[130]
  • Blair Underwood, American actor and director
• August 26] – Torsten Schmitz, German boxer

September

• September 1
  • Brian Bellows, Canadian ice hockey player
  • Ray D'Arcy, Irish radio and television host
  • Nabeel Rajab, Bahraini activist
• September 2
  • Andrea Illy, Italian businessman
  • Keanu Reeves, Canadian actor and musician^[131]
• September 6 – Rosie Perez, American actress and comedian
• September 7
  • Eazy-E, American rapper (d. 1995)
  • Andy Hug, Swiss Seidokaikan karateka and kickboxer (d. 2000)^[132]
• September 10
  • Jack Ma, Chinese business magnate and billionaire internet entrepreneur
  • Yegor Letov, Russian singer (d. 2008)^[133]
• September 13 – Simegnew Bekele, Ethiopian engineer and public administrator (d. 2018)
• September 15 – Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia
• September 16 – Molly Shannon, American actress
• September 19
  • Yvonne Vera, Zimbabwean actress (d. 2005)
  • Trisha Yearwood, American country singer
• September 20 – Maggie Cheung, Hong Kong actress
• September 21 – Jorge Drexler, Uruguayan musician
• September 23
  • Josefa Idem, German-born Italian kayaker
  • Koshi Inaba, Japanese singer (B'z)
• September 24
  • Jeff Krosnoff, American race car driver (d. 1996)
  • Rafael Palmeiro, Cuban-American baseball player
• September 25
  • Anita Barone, American actress
  • Kikuko Inoue, Japanese singer and voice actress
  • Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Spanish novelist (d. 2020)
• September 26 – Scott Brower, American ice hockey goaltender (d. 1998)
• September 28 – Janeane Garofalo, American actress and comedian
• September 30 – Monica Bellucci, Italian actress and model

October

• October 2 – Makharbek Khadartsev, Russian free-style wrestler^[134]
• October 3 – Clive Owen, English actor
• October 4 – Yvonne Murray, Scottish athlete^[135]
• October 6 – Tom Jager, American swimmer^[136]
• October 9
  • Guillermo del Toro, Mexican film director
  • Martín Jaite, Argentine tennis player^[137]
• October 10 – Maxi Gnauck, German gymnast^[138]
• October 12 – Francisco Gattorno, Cuban-Mexican actor
• October 19
  • Whiteson Changwe, Zambian footballer (d. 1993)
  • Jorge Luis González, Cuban boxer
• October 20 – Kamala Harris, American politician, 49th Vice President of the United States^[139]
• October 22
  • Dražen Petrović, Croatian basketball player (d. 1993)
  • Paul McStay, Scottish footballer^[140]
• October 24 – Rosana Arbelo, Spanish singer and composer
• October 25
  • Nicole Seibert, German singer, Eurovision Song Contest 1982 winner^[141]
  • Kevin Michael Richardson, African-American actor and voice actor
  • Andreas Münzer, Austrian bodybuilder (d. 1996)
• October 31 – Marco van Basten, Dutch footballer and manager

November

• November 1 – Sophie B. Hawkins, American singer-songwriter
• November 3 – Paprika Steen, Danish actress^[142]
• November 5 – Famke Janssen, Dutch actress, director, screenwriter, and former fashion model^{[citation needed]}
• November 7 – Dana Plato, American actress (d. 1999)
• November 10 – Magnús Scheving, Icelandic producer
• November 11
  • Ai-Ai delas Alas, Filipino actress
  • Calista Flockhart, American actress
• November 12
  • David Ellefson, American rock bassist (Megadeth)
  • Michael Kremer, American development economist, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences^[143]
  • Barbara Stühlmeyer, German musicologist, church musician and writer
• November 13 – Tzufit Grant, Israeli actress
• November 14
  • Rev Run, African-American rapper (Run–D.M.C.)
  • Patrick Warburton, American actor and voice artist
• November 16
  • Diana Krall, Canadian jazz pianist and singer^[144]
  • Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Italian-French actress
• November 17 – Mitch Williams, American baseball player
• November 18 – Rita Cosby, American television personality
• November 19 – Phil Hughes, Irish footballer and coach
• November 20
  • Leonardo Medeiros, Brazilian actor
  • Doug Ford, 26th Premier of Ontario^[145]
• November 23 – Erika Buenfil, Mexican actress and singer^[146]
• November 24 – Conleth Hill, Irish actor
• November 26 – Vreni Schneider, Swiss alpine skier
• November 27
  • Adam Shankman, American film director, producer, dancer, author, actor, and choreographer
  • Robin Givens, African-American actress
  • Ronit Elkabetz, Israeli actress, writer and filmmaker (d. 2016)
• November 28
  • Giorgi Bagaturov, Georgian-Armenian chess grandmaster
  • Michael Bennet, American lawyer, businessman and politician, senior U.S. Senator of Colorado
  • Jorge Capitanich, Argentine politician
  • Ken Charlery, St Lucian international footballer
  • Naoto Hori, Japanese football player
  • Paul Kostacopoulos, American college baseball coach
  • Eugene Licorish, Grenadian long jumper
  • Michelle McKormick, American talk radio personality
  • Oscar Muñoz, Colombian wrestler
  • Zurab Sturua, Georgian chess grandmaster
  • Roy Tarpley, American basketball player
  • Craig Wilson, American baseball third baseman
• November 29
  • Don Cheadle, African-American actor
  • Cork Graham, American author

December

• December 1 – Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
• December 3
  • Darryl Hamilton, American baseball player (d. 2015)
  • Scott George Huckabay, American guitarist
• December 4
  • Sertab Erener, Turkish singer-songwriter, Eurovision Song Contest 2003 winner
  • Marisa Tomei, American actress
• December 7 – Roberta Close, Brazilian transgender model
• December 8 – Teri Hatcher, American actress, writer, presenter and singer
• December 9
  • Hape Kerkeling, German actor, presenter and comedian
  • Johannes B. Kerner, German TV personality and sportscaster
  • Paul Landers, German rock musician (Rammstein)^[147]
• December 10 – Edith González, Mexican actress (d. 2019)
• December 13 – Hide, Japanese musician (d. 1998)^[148]
• December 16 – Heike Drechsler, German track-and-field athlete^[149]
• December 17 – Frank Musil, Czech ice hockey player and scout
• December 18
  • Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler and actor
  • Pierre Nkurunziza, 8th President of Burundi (d. 2020)
• December 19 – Arvydas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
• December 22 – Mike Jackson, former MLB pitcher
• December 23 – Eddie Vedder, American rock singer (Pearl Jam)^[150]
• December 26 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
• December 27 – Theresa Randle, American actress
• December 30 – George Newbern, American actor and voice actor
• December 31 – Michael McDonald, American actor and comedian

Deaths

January

• January 7 – Cyril Davies, British blues musician (b. 1932)
• January 8 – Julius Raab, Austrian politician, 14th Chancellor of Austria (b. 1891)
• January 9 – Halide Edib Adıvar, Turkish novelist (b. 1884)
• January 11 – Bechara El Khoury, 2nd Prime Minister of Lebanon and 6th President of Lebanon (b. 1890)
• January 15
  • Tawfiq Canaan, Palestinian doctor (b. 1882)
  • Jack Teagarden, American jazz trombonist (b. 1905)
• January 17 – T. H. White, British author (b. 1906)
• January 19 – Joe Weatherly, NASCAR championship driver (b. 1922)
• January 21
  • Joseph Baumgartner, German politician (b. 1904)
  • Joseph Schildkraut, Austrian actor (b. 1896)
• January 22
  • Lissy Arna, German actress (b. 1900)
  • Marc Blitzstein, American composer (b. 1905)^[151]
• January 23
  • Benedetta Bianchi Porro, Italian Roman Catholic laywoman and venerable (b. 1936)
  • Lucila Gamero de Medina, Honduranian novelist (b. 1873)
• January 24 – Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, Nigerian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1903)
• January 27
  • Norman Z. McLeod, American film director (b. 1898)
  • Waite Phillips, American oil man, banker and real estate investor (b. 1883)
• January 29
  • Adolfo Diaz Recinos, 2-time President of Nicaragua (b. 1875)
  • Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
• January 31
  • Louis Allen, American civil rights activist and businessman (b. 1919)
  • Kanysh Satbayev, Kazakh academician and geologist (b. 1899)

February

• February 3
  • Infante Alfonso, Duke of Calabria (b. 1901)
  • Giuseppe Amato, Italian producer, director and screenwriter (b. 1899)
• February 5 – Matilde Moisant, American pilot (b. 1878)
• February 6 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and 1st President of the Philippines (b. 1869)
• February 7 – Sofoklis Venizelos, Greek politician, three-time Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1894)
• February 8
  • Boshirō Hosogaya, Japanese admiral (b. 1888)
  • Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (b. 1888)
• February 10 – Eugen Sänger, Austrian aerospace engineer (b. 1905)
• February 12 – Gerald Gardner (Wiccan), founder of Wiccan religion (b. 1884)
• February 13 – Paulino Alcántara, Filipino-Spanish footballer (b. 1896)
• February 15 – Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, French theologian (b. 1877)
• February 18 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor of the snowmobile and founder of Bombardier Inc. (b. 1907)
• February 22 – Verrier Elwin, British anthropologist and missionary (b. 1902)
• February 25
  • Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian-American sculptor (b. 1887)
  • Johnny Burke, American lyricist (b. 1908)
  • Mariano Jesús Cuenco, Filipino politician and writer (b. 1888)
  • Maurice Farman, French aircraft designer (b. 1877)
  • Grace Metalious, American writer (b. 1924)^[152]
• February 27 – Orry-Kelly, Australian-born costume designer (b. 1897)
• February 29 – Frank Albertson, American actor (b. 1909)

March

• March 1 – Davíð Stefánsson, Icelandic poet (b. 1895)
• March 6
  • Paul of Greece, King of Greece (b. 1901)
  • Edward Van Sloan, American actor (b. 1882)
• March 9 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (b. 1870)
• March 12 – Abbās al-Aqqād, Egyptian journalist (b. 1889)
• March 13 – Friedrich Lahrs, German architect (b. 1880)
• March 18
  • Sigfrid Edström, Swedish industrialist, 4th President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1870)
  • Norbert Wiener, American mathematician (b. 1894)
• March 19 – Leo Maximilian Baginski, German entrepreneur (b. 1891)
• March 20 – Brendan Behan, Irish poet and writer (b. 1923)
• March 22 – Addison Richards, American actor (b. 1887)
• March 23 – Peter Lorre, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1904)
• March 25 – Alfredo Bigatti, Argentine sculptor (b. 1898)
• March 30 – Birinchi Kumar Barua, Indian folklorist (b. 1890)

April

• April 1 – Božidar Kunc, Yugoslav composer (b. 1903)
• April 3 – Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern-Emden (b. 1891)
• April 4 – Georgia Caine, American actress (b. 1876)
• April 5 – Douglas MacArthur, U.S. Army general, Supreme Allied Commander in Japan after World War II (b. 1880)
• April 6 – Jigme Palden Dorji, 1st Prime Minister of Bhutan (b. 1919)
• April 7 – Bruce W. Klunder, American Presbyterian minister and civil right activist (b. 1937)
• April 13 – Veit Harlan, German film director (b. 1899)
• April 14
  • Tatyana Afanasyeva, Soviet mathematician and physicist (b. 1876)
  • Rachel Carson, American biologist and environmental writer (b. 1907)^[153]
• April 18
  • Fumio Asakura, Japanese sculptor (b. 1883)
  • Ben Hecht, American screenwriter (b. 1894)
• April 20 – Dimitar Ganev, Bulgarian communist politician, head of the State (b. 1890)
• April 24 – Gerhard Domagk, German bacteriologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (declined) (b. 1895)
• April 26 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet (b. 1882)
• April 29
  • J. M. Kerrigan, Irish actor (b. 1884)
  • Wenceslao Fernández Flórez, Spanish journalist and novelist (b. 1885)

May

• May 2 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-born politician (b. 1879)
• May 5 – Tadao Ikeda, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1905)
• May 6 – José Maza Fernández, Chilean politician, lawyer and diplomat (b. 1889)
• May 8 – Kichisaburō Nomura, Japanese admiral and diplomat (b. 1877)
• May 10 – Carol Haney, American dancer and actress (b. 1924)
• May 13 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (b. 1906)
• May 17 – Steve Owen, American football coach (New York Giants) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1898)
• May 20 – Rudy Lewis, American rhythm and blues singer (b. 1936)
• May 21 – James Franck, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
• May 27 – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian politician, 1st Prime Minister of India (b. 1889)
• May 30
  • Dave MacDonald, American sports car driver (b. 1936)
  • Eddie Sachs, American auto racing driver (b. 1927)
  • Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-born American physicist (b. 1898)

June

• June 3
  • Raoul Magrin-Vernerey, French army officer (b. 1892)
  • Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
• June 6
  • Vasile Atanasiu, Romanian general (b. 1886)
  • Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. 1886)
  • Robert Warwick, American actor (b. 1878)
• June 7
  • Violet Attlee, Countess Attlee, wife of former British PM Clement Attlee (b. 1895)
  • Charlie Llewellyn, first non-white South African Test cricketer (b. 1876)
• June 8 – Carlos Quintanilla , 37th President of Bolivia (b. 1888)
• June 9 – Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Canadian-born newspaper publisher and politician (b. 1879)
• June 11
  • Catharine Carter Critcher, American painter (b. 1868)
  • John Eke, Swedish Olympic athlete (b. 1886)^[154]
  • Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Thai field marshal and 3rd Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1897)
• June 18 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (b. 1890)
• June 21
  • James Chaney, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
  • Andrew Goodman, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
  • Michael Schwerner, American civil rights activist (b. 1939)
• June 24 – Stuart Davis, American painter (b. 1892)^[155]
• June 25 – Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect (b. 1888)
• June 27
  • Salvatore Aldisio, Italian politician (b. 1890)
  • Mona Barrie, English actress (b. 1909)
• June 29 – Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist (b. 1928)

July

• July 1 – Pierre Monteux, French conductor (b. 1875)
• July 2 – Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, American race car driver and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame (b. 1929)
• July 4 – Hank Sylvern, U.S. radio personality (b. 1908)
• July 6 – Zeng Junchen, Sichuan's 'King of Opium' (b. 1888)
• July 7 – Lillian Copeland, American athlete (b. 1904)
• July 11 – Maurice Thorez, leader of the French Communist Party (b. 1900)
• July 13 – Stephen Galatti, Director of AFS, American Field Service (b. 1888)
• July 14 – Prince Axel of Denmark (b. 1888)
• July 15 – Luis Batlle Berres, Uruguayan political figure, 30th President of Uruguay (b. 1897)
• July 16 – Alfred Junge, German-born art director (b. 1886)
• July 21 – Jean Fautrier, French painter and sculptor (b. 1898)
• July 22
  • Leonid Baratov, Soviet director (b. 1895)
  • Gildo Bocci, Italian actor (b. 1886)
• July 23 – Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, Burmese poet and politician (b. 1876)
• July 26 – William A. Seiter, American film director (b. 1890)
• July 29 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (b. 1885)
• July 31 – Jim Reeves, American country singer (b. 1923)

August

• August 3 – Flannery O'Connor, American writer (b. 1925)^[156]
• August 6 – Sir Cedric Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1893)
• August 7 – Aleksander Zawadzki, Polish political figure, 12th President of Poland (b. 1899)
• August 9 – Fontaine Fox, American cartoonist (b. 1884)
• August 11 – André Aymard, French historian (b. 1900)
• August 12
  • Isidro Fabela, Mexican judge and politician (b. 1882)
  • Ian Fleming, British writer (b. 1908)
  • Ernst Kühnel, German art historian (b. 1882)
  • Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov, Soviet astronomer and inventor (b. 1896)
• August 13 – Mushtaq Hussain Khan, Indian musician (b. 1878)
• August 14 – Johnny Burnette, American singer (b. 1934)
• August 18 – Mohammad Gul Khan Momand, Afghani politician (b. 1885)
• August 20 – Anthony de Francisci, Italian-born American sculptor (b. 1887)
• August 21 – Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party (b. 1893)
• August 22 – Symeon Lukach, Soviet Eastern Catholic bishop, martyr and blessed (b. 1893)
• August 23 – Estella Canziani, British painter (b. 1887)
• August 27 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedian, known as part of the comedy duo Burns and Allen (b. 1895)
• August 28 – Lumsden Hare, Irish-born actor, theatre director, and theatre producer
• August 30 – Aleksei Aleksandrovich Grechkin, Soviet commander (b. 1893)
• August 31 – Peter Lanyon, British painter (b. 1918)

September

• September 2
  • Glenn Albert Black, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
  • Francisco Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese military officer and politician, 12th President of Portugal (b. 1894)
  • Alvin Cullum York, American hero of World War I (b. 1887)
• September 5 – Angel Cruchaga Santa María, Chilean writer (b. 1893)
• September 6 – San Tiago Dantas, Brazilian journalist (b. 1911)
• September 9
  • Sir George Abercromby, 8th Baronet, British baronet (b. 1886)
  • Herschel Bennett, American baseball player of St. Louis Browns (b. 1896)
• September 15 – Herbert Heywood, American actor (b. 1881)
• September 18
  • Clive Bell, English art critic (b. 1881)
  • Seán O'Casey, Irish writer (b. 1880)^[157]
• September 21 – Otto Grotewohl, East German Communist politician, 1st Prime Minister of the German Democratic Republic (b. 1894)
• September 23 – Fred M. Wilcox, American film director (b. 1907)
• September 28
  • Nacio Herb Brown, American songwriter (b. 1896)
  • Harpo Marx, American comedian, actor, mime artist, and musician (b. 1888)
• September 29 – Fred Tootell, American Olympic athlete (b. 1902)

October

• October 1 – Ernst Toch, Austrian composer (b. 1887)
• October 10 – Eddie Cantor, American actor, comedian and dancer (b. 1892)
• October 15 – Cole Porter, American composer and lyricist (b. 1891)
• October 19 – Russ Brown, American actor (b. 1892)
• October 20 – Herbert Hoover, American politician, 31st President of the United States (b. 1874)
• October 21 – Margaret Gibson, American actress (b. 1894)
• October 22
  • Khawaja Nazimuddin, Pakistani political figure, 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1894)
  • Whip Wilson, American actor (b. 1911)
• October 25 – Joe Henderson, American rhythm and blues and gospel music singer (b. 1937)
• October 26 – Eric Edgar Cooke, Australian serial killer (b. 1931)
• October 27
  • Pierre Cartier, French jeweller (b. 1878)
  • Rudolph Maté, Polish cinematographer (b. 1898)
• October 29
  • Claudio Ermelli, Italian actor (b. 1892)
  • Henry Larsen, Canadian explorer (b. 1899)

November

• November 2
  • Charles Walter Allfrey, British general (b. 1895)
  • José Ramón Guizado, Panamanian politician, 17th President of Panama (b. 1899)
• November 5
  • Mabel Lucie Attwell, British illustrator (b. 1879)
  • John S. Robertson, Canadian film director (b. 1878)
• November 6 – Hans von Euler-Chelpin, German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1873)
• November 10
  • Jimmie Dodd, American actor and television personality (b. 1910)
  • Sam Newfield, American movie director (b. 1899)
• November 11
  • Franciszek Barda, Polish Roman Catholic clergyman and servant of God (b. 1880)
  • Juan de Dios Filiberto, Argentine violinist (b. 1885)
  • Eduard Steuermann, Austrian-American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
• November 12 – Rickard Sandler, Swedish politician, 20th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1884)
• November 13 – Oskar Becker, German philosopher (b. 1889)
• November 14 – Heinrich von Brentano, German politician (b. 1904)
• November 18 – Tommaso Besozzi, Italian journalist (b. 1903)
• November 21 – Catherine Bauer Wurster, American architect and public housing advocate (b. 1905)
• November 24 – William O'Dwyer, American diplomat and politician, 100th Mayor of New York City (b. 1890)
• November 25 – Clarence Kolb, American actor (b. 1874)
• November 28 – Charles Meredith, American actor (b. 1894)
• November 29 – Anne de Vries, Dutch writer (b. 1904)

December

• December 1
  • Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta, Congolese Roman Catholic religious sister (b. 1939)
  • J. B. S. Haldane, British geneticist (b. 1892)
• December 2 – Pina Pellicer, Mexican actress (b.1934)
• December 3 – Charles P. Snyder, American admiral (b. 1879)
• December 5 – V. Veerasingam, Ceylon Tamil teacher and politician (b. 1892)
• December 6 – Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough (b. 1877)
• December 9 – Dame Edith Sitwell, British poet (b. 1887)
• December 10 – Mariano Rossell y Arellano, Guatemalan clergyman (b. 1894)
• December 11
  • Sam Cooke, American singer and songwriter (b. 1931)^[158]
  • Alma Schindler Mahler, wife of Gustav Mahler (b. 1879)
• December 13 – Ernesto Almirante, Italian actor (b. 1877)
• December 14
  • William Bendix, American actor (b. 1906)
  • Francisco Canaro, Uruguayan-born composer (b. 1888)
• December 15 – C. J. Hambro, Norwegian politician and journalist (b. 1885)
• December 17 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
• December 21
  • Algernon Kingscote, Australian tennis champion (b. 1888)
  • Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (b. 1880)
• December 22 – Rosa Borja de Ycaza, Ecuadorian writer (b. 1889)
• December 24 – Kuksha of Odessa, Eastern Orthodox priest (b. 1875)
• December 27 – Francesco Spoto, Italian priest (b. 1924)
• December 28 – Cliff Sterrett, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
• December 29 – Vladimir Favorsky, Russian artist and engraver (b. 1886)
• December 31
  • Gertrude Michael, American actress (b. 1911)
  • Ólafur Thors, Icelandic politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
  • Henry Maitland Wilson, British field marshal (b. 1881)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Charles Hard Townes, Nicolay Gennadiyevich Basov, Aleksandr Prokhorov
• Chemistry – Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
• Physiology or Medicine – Konrad Bloch, Feodor Lynen
• Literature – Jean-Paul Sartre
• Peace – Martin Luther King Jr.

References