1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1960s decade.
The year's most prominent event, the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, where astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon.
Contents
Events
January
January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
January 5 – Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to London's Gatwick Airport, killing 50 of the 62 people on board and two of the home's occupants.
January 12 – The New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16–7 in Super Bowl III.
January 14 – An explosion aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 28 and injures 314.
January 16 – First successful docking of two crewed spacecraft in orbit and the first transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another (by a space walk) between Soviet craft Soyuz 5 and Soyuz 4.
January 18 – Failure of Soyuz 5's service module to separate correctly causes a near-fatal re-entry (not publicly acknowledged until 1997) but the module makes a hard landing in the Ural Mountains.
January 19 – End of the siege of the University of Tokyo, marking the beginning of the end for the 1968–69 Japanese university protests.
January 20 – Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th president of the United States of America.
January 22 – Attempted assassination of Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, by deserter Viktor Ilyin. One person is killed, several are injured; Brezhnev escapes unharmed. Very little is publicly admitted about the incident by the Soviet authorities at this time.
January 27
Fourteen men, 9 of them Jews, are executed in Baghdad for spying for Israel.
Reverend Ian Paisley, Northern Irish Unionist leader and founder of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster is jailed for three months for illegal assembly.
February
February 4 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is elected Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
February 8
The Allende meteorite explodes over Mexico.
After 147 years, the last weekly issue of The Saturday Evening Post is published in the United States. (The magazine is later briefly resurrected as a monthly magazine.)
February 9 – The Boeing 747 "jumbo jet" is flown for the first time, taking off from the Boeing airfield at Everett, Washington.
February 13 – Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) terrorists bomb the Montreal Stock Exchange.
February 14 – Pope Paul VI issues Mysterii Paschalis, a motu proprio, deleting many names from the Roman calendar of saints (including Valentine, who was celebrated on this day).
February 17 – Aquanaut Berry L. Cannon dies of carbon dioxide poisoning while attempting to repair the SEALAB III habitat off San Clemente Island, California.
February 24 – The Mariner 6 Mars probe is launched from the United States.
February 28 – The 1969 Portugal earthquake hits Portugal, Spain and Morocco.
March
March 2
In Toulouse, France the first Concorde test flight is conducted.
Soviet and Chinese forces clash at a border outpost on the Ussuri River.
March 3
Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 (James McDivitt, Rusty Schweickart, David Scott) to test the lunar module.
In a Los Angeles court, Sirhan Sirhan admits that he killed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.
March 13 – Apollo program: Apollo 9 returns safely to Earth after testing the Lunar Module.
March 16 – Viasa Flight 742 crashes into a neighborhood in Maracaibo, Venezuela, shortly after taking off for Miami; all 84 people on board the DC-9 jet are killed along with 71 people on the ground.
March 17
Golda Meir becomes the first female prime minister of Israel.
The Longhope life-boat is lost after answering a mayday call during severe storms in the Pentland Firth between Orkney and the northern tip of Scotland; the entire crew of 8 die.
March 18 – An annular solar eclipse is visible in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and is the 49th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 129.
March 20
One hundred of the 105 passengers and crew on a United Arab Airlines flight, most of them Muslim pilgrims returning to Aswan from Mecca, are killed when the Ilyushin-18 turboprop crashes during a sandstorm.
April
April 3 – The Mass of Paul VI is promulgated in the Catholic Church by the Pope.
April 4 – Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
April 7 – RFC series begins with Network Working Group RFC 1 on ARPANET host software.
April 8 – The Montreal Expos become Major League Baseball's first team outside the United States.
April 9 – Fermín Monasterio Pérez is murdered by ETA in Biscay, Spain; the 4th victim in the name of Basque nationalism.
April 15 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a US reconnaissance aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
April 17 – Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is found guilty of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
April 20 – British troops arrive in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
April 22 – English sailor Robin Knox-Johnston becomes the first person to sail around the world solo without stopping.
April 28 – Charles de Gaulle steps down as president of France after suffering defeat in a referendum the day before.
May
May 10 – The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as Hamburger Hill, begins during the Vietnam War.
May 13 – May 13 Incident: Race riots occur in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
May 14 – Colonel Muammar Gaddafi visits Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
May 15 – An American teenager known as 'Robert R.' dies in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, of a baffling medical condition. In 1984 it will be identified as the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America.
May 16 – Venera program: Soviet space probe Venera 5 lands on Venus.
May 17 – Venera program: Soviet space probe Venera 6 begins to descend into Venus's atmosphere, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
May 18 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 (Gene Cernan, Tom Stafford, John Young) is launched. It is to be a full rehearsal for the Moon landing, stopping 15 kilometers short of actually reaching the lunar surface.
May 20 – United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California.
May 21 – Rosariazo: Civil unrest breaks out in Rosario, Argentina, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
May 22 – Apollo program: Apollo 10's lunar module flies to within 15,400 m of the Moon's surface.
May 26
The Andean Pact (Andean Group) is established.
Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth, after a successful 8-day test of all the components needed for the upcoming first crewed Moon landing.
June
June 3 – While operating at sea on SEATO maneuvers, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne accidentally rams and slices into the American destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in the South China Sea, killing 74 American seamen.
June 5 – An international communist conference begins in Moscow.
June 8
Francisco Franco orders the closing of the Gibraltar–Spain border and communications between Gibraltar and Spain in response to the 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum. The border remains closed until a partial reopening on December 15, 1982.
U.S. President Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu meet at Midway Island. Nixon announces that 25,000 U.S. troops will be withdrawn by September.
June 15 – Georges Pompidou is elected President of France.
June 17 – After a 23-game match, Boris Spassky defeats Tigran Petrosian to become the World Chess Champion in Moscow.
June 24 – The United Kingdom and Rhodesia sever diplomatic relations, after the Rhodesian constitutional referendum.
June 27 – Gay intercourse is officially legalized in Canada.
June 28 – The Stonewall riots, a milestone in the modern gay rights movement in the United States, began in New York City.
July
July 7 – French is made equal to English throughout the Canadian national government.
July 8 – Vietnam War: The first U.S. troop withdrawals are made.
July 14
Football War: After Honduras loses an association football match against El Salvador, rioting breaks out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant workers. Of the 300,000 Salvadoran workers in Honduras, tens of thousands are expelled, prompting a brief Salvadoran invasion of Honduras. The OAS works out a cease-fire on July 18, which takes effect on July 20.
The Act of Free Choice for West Irian commences in Merauke, Indonesia.
July 16 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 (Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins) lifts off from Cape Kennedy in Florida towards the first crewed landing on the Moon.
July 19
Chappaquiddick incident: US Senator Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge into a tidal pond after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy does not report the accident for nine or ten hours.
John Fairfax lands in Hollywood Beach, Florida, United States and becomes the first person to row across an ocean solo, after 180 days spent at sea on board the 25' ocean rowboat Britannia (left Gran Canaria on January 20, 1969).
July 20
Apollo program Moon landing: At 3:17 pm ET (20:17 UTC) Apollo 11's Lunar Module Eagle lands on the Moon's surface. At 10:56 pm ET (02:56 UTC July 21), an estimated 650 million people worldwide, the largest television audience for a live broadcast at this time, watch in awe as Neil Armstrong takes his first historic steps on the surface.
1969 Tour de France: Belgian Eddy Merckx wins the cycle race for the first time.
August
August 2 – U.S. President Richard Nixon visits Romania, becoming the first incumbent U.S. president to visit a communist state since the start of the Cold War.
August 4
Vietnam War: At the apartment of French intermediary Jean Sainteny in Paris, U.S. representative Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Xuan Thuy begin secret peace negotiations. They eventually fail since the two sides cannot agree to any terms.
The Zodiac Killer adopts his persona in a letter in which he introduces himself with the phrase, "This is the Zodiac speaking."
August 5 – Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometres (2,190 mi)).
August 9 – On orders from Charles Manson, members of the Manson Family invade the Los Angeles home of film director Roman Polanski, and murder his pregnant wife, the actress Sharon Tate, and four others.
August 10 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four others, members of the Manson Family kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles.
August 13 – Serious border clashes occur between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.
August 14 – The Troubles: British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland to restore order following three days of political and sectarian violence, marking the beginning of the 37-year Operation Banner.
August 15–18 – The Woodstock Festival is held near White Lake, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.
August 17 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast of the United States, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 USD).
September
September 1
1969 Libyan coup d'état: A bloodless coup in Libya ousts King Idris and brings Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to power.
For Brazil, the Jornal Nacional was created on Monday, 1 September 1969.
September 2 – Ho Chi Minh, the president of Democratic Republic of Vietnam, died at the age of 79.
September 5 – Lieutenant William Calley is charged with six counts of premeditated murder for the 1968 My Lai Massacre deaths of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai, Vietnam.
September 9 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 853, a DC-9 airliner, collides in flight with a small Piper PA-28 airplane, and crashes near Fairland, Indiana, killing all 83 people in both aircraft.
September 11 – An annular solar eclipse is visible in Pacific Ocean and South America, and is the 41st solar eclipse of Solar Saros 134.
September 13 – Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! premieres on CBS, starting the Scooby-Doo franchise.
September 22–25 – An Islamic conference in Rabat, Morocco, following the al-Aqsa Mosque fire (August 21), condemns the Israeli claim of ownership of Jerusalem.
September 23 – China carries out an underground nuclear bomb test.
September 25 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference is founded.
September 26 – The Beatles release their eleventh studio album, Abbey Road in the United Kingdom
September 28 – 1969 West German federal election: The Social Democrats, led by Vice Chancellor Willy Brandt, and the Free Democrats led by Walter Scheel, formed a coalition government with Brandt as Chancellor, after the Social Democrats severed their relationship with Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger's Christian Democratic Union.
October
October 1
In Sweden, Olof Palme is elected Leader of the Social Democratic Worker's Party, replacing Tage Erlander as Prime Minister on October 14.
The Beijing Subway begins operation.
October 2 – A 1.2 megaton thermonuclear device is tested at Amchitka Island, Alaska. This test is code-named Project Milrow, the 11th test of the Operation Mandrel 1969–1970 underground nuclear test series. This test is known as a "calibration shot" to test if the island is fit for larger underground nuclear detonations.
October 5 – Sazae-san first airs on Fuji Television.
October 9–12 – Days of Rage: In Chicago, the Illinois National Guard is called in to control demonstrations involving the radical Weathermen, in connection with the "Chicago Eight" Trial.
October 11 – The Zodiac Killer shoots and kills taxi driver Paul Stine in the Presidio Heights neighborhood of San Francisco; this is the serial killer's last known murder.
October 11–16 – The New York Mets upset the Baltimore Orioles four games to one in the World Series.
October 15 –
DZKB-TV Channel 9, the Philippines' sixth TV station, is launched.
Vietnam War: Hundreds of thousands of people take part in Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam demonstrations across the United States.
October 17 – Willard S. Boyle and George Smith invent the CCD at Bell Laboratories (30 years later, this technology is widely used in digital cameras).
October 18th - Carravagio's Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence is stolen from the oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily.
November
November 3 – Süleyman Demirel of AP forms the new government of Turkey (31st government).
November 10 – The television series Sesame Street premiered on National Educational Television, becoming the most famous preschool television series of all time.
November 14
Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 12 (Pete Conrad, Richard Gordon, Alan Bean), the second crewed mission to the Moon.
The SS United States, the last active United States Lines passenger ship, is withdrawn from service.
November 15 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
November 17 – Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, to begin the SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.
November 19
Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms"), becoming the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.
Professional footballer Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.
Vietnam War: A Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, The Plain Dealer, publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
Richard Oakes returns with 90 followers to Alcatraz Island and begins a 19 month long occupation, lasting until June 1971.
November 21
December
December 1 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States since World War II is held. September 14 is the first of the 366 days of the year selected, meaning that anyone born on September 14 in the years from 1944 to 1951 would be the first to be summoned. On January 4, 1970, The New York Times will run a long article, "Statisticians Charge Draft Lottery Was Not Random".
December 2 – The Boeing 747 jumbo jet makes its first passenger flight. It carries 191 people, most of them reporters and photographers, from Seattle to New York City.
December 3 – Air France Flight 212, a Boeing 707 registered as F-BHSZ, crashed shortly after takeoff from Venezuela killing all 62 occupants on board. The cause of the accident is not yet known since the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) did not publish an investigation report. It will not be released until 2029, sixty years after the accident.
December 6 – Meredith Hunter is stabbed to death by Hells Angels at the Altamont Free Concert, an event which came to be viewed as the end of the hippie era and the de facto conclusion of late-1960s American youth culture.
December 12 – The Piazza Fontana bombing in Milan, Italy, kills 17 people and injures 88.
December 24
Charles Manson is allowed to defend himself at the Tate-LaBianca murder trial.
The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of North Sea.
Nigerian troops capture Umuahia. The last Biafran capital before its dissolution becomes Owerri.
December 27 – The Liberal Democratic Party wins 47.6% of the votes in the 1969 Japanese general election. Future prime ministers Yoshirō Mori and Tsutomu Hata and future kingmaker Ichirō Ozawa are elected for the first time.
Date unknown
Summer – Invention of Unix under the potential name "Unics" (after Multics).
Common African, Malagasy and Mauritian Organization (OCAMM) (Organisation Commune Africaine Malgache et Mauricienne) is established.
International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, a maritime treaty, is adopted.
Births
January
January 1 – Verne Troyer, American actor (d. 2018)
January 2
Robby Gordon, American racing driver
Tommy Morrison, American boxer (d. 2013)
Christy Turlington, American fashion model
January 3 – Michael Schumacher, German seven-time Formula One world champion
January 5 – Marilyn Manson, American rock musician
January 6 – Norman Reedus, American actor
January 7 – Alfredo Romero, Venezuelan activist
January 11
Kyōko Hikami, Japanese voice actress
Kyle Richards, American actress
January 13
Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, Mexican writer, wife of Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Stephen Hendry, British snooker player
January 14
Jason Bateman, American actor, director and producer
Dave Grohl, American rock drummer and composer
January 15
Meret Becker, German actress and musician
Nishantha Jayaweera, Sri Lankan politician, MP
February
February 1
Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer
Andrew Breitbart, American writer and publisher (d. 2012)
February 2 – Dambisa Moyo, Zambian-born economist
February 3 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
February 5
Bobby Brown, African-American singer
Michael Sheen, Welsh actor
February 6 – David Hayter, Canadian-American actor, voice actor, screenwriter, director, and producer
February 7 – Andrew Micallef, Maltese painter and musician
February 9 – Priyantha Weerasooriya, Sri Lankan police officer and 37th Inspector general
February 11 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress, director, producer and businesswoman
February 12
Darren Aronofsky, American filmmaker
Hong Myung-bo, South Korean footballer
Brad Werenka, Canadian ice-hockey player
February 13
Ahlam, Emirati singer
JB Blanc, French voice actor
February 14 – Adriana Behar, Brazilian volleyball player
March
March 1 – Javier Bardem, Spanish actor
March 4
Annie Yi, Taiwanese actress
Patrick Roach, Canadian actor
March 7 – Brian Jamieson, American rower
March 10 – Paget Brewster, American actress
March 11
Terrence Howard, American actor and singer
Soraya, Colombian singer and multi-instrumentalist (d. 2006)
March 12
Graham Coxon, English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter
Akemi Okamura, Japanese voice actress
March 13 – Susanna Mälkki, Finnish conductor
March 15
Kim Raver, American actress
Timo Kotipelto, Finnish musician
Yutaka Take, Japanese jockey
March 16 – Markus Lanz, German-Italian television presenter
March 17 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (d. 2010)
March 18
Vasyl Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess grandmaster
Jimmy Morales, Guatemalan politician, 37th President of Guatemala
April
April 1
Fadl Shaker, Lebanese singer
Andrew Vlahov, Australian basketball player
April 2 – Ajay Devgn, Indian actor, director and producer
April 3
Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor
Lance Storm, Canadian professional wrestler
April 6 – Paul Rudd, American actor, comedian, writer and producer
April 11
Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer
Caren Miosga, German journalist and television presenter
Chisato Moritaka, Japanese singer
April 16 – Dawn Brancheau, American animal trainer (d. 2010)
April 18
Shannon Lee, Chinese-American actress
Susan Polgár, Hungarian chess player
April 20 – Marietta Slomka, German journalist
April 21 – Toby Stephens, English actor
April 23 – Yelena Shushunova, Soviet gymnast (d. 2018)
April 25
Vanessa Beecroft, Italian artist
Gina Torres, American actress
May
May 1 – Wes Anderson, American filmmaker
May 2
Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer.
Corinna Schumacher, German animal rights activist and accomplished horse rider
May 4 – Rabindra Prasad Adhikari, Nepalese politician (d. 2019)
May 5 – Hideki Irabu, Japanese baseball player (d. 2011)
May 6 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer
May 7 – Katerina Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
May 9 – Amber, German musician
May 10 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer
May 13
Nikos Aliagas, French-born television host
Brian Carroll (aka Buckethead), American guitarist
May 14 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
May 16
David Boreanaz, American actor
Tucker Carlson, American political commentator
Steve Lewis, American athlete
May 19 – Teresa Ribera, Spanish politician
May 21 – Georgiy Gongadze, Ukrainian journalist (d. 2000)
June
June 3 – Takako Minekawa, Japanese musician, composer and writer
June 4 – Rob Huebel, American comedian
June 5 – Brian McKnight, American musician
June 7
Alina Astafei, Romanian-German high jumper
Prince Joachim of Denmark
Kim Rhodes, American actress
June 8 – J. P. Manoux, American actor
June 11
Peter Dinklage, American actor
Steven Drozd, American rock drummer
Anatoliy Povedenok, Kazakh football player
June 12
Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (d. 2007)
Heinz-Christian Strache, Austrian politician
June 13 – Søren Rasted, Danish musician
June 14
Eugene Chung, Korean-American football player
Steffi Graf, German tennis player
June 15
Ice Cube, African-American rapper and actor
Oliver Kahn, German football goalkeeper
July
July 2
Jenni Rivera, Mexican-American singer-songwriter, producer and actress (d. 2012)
Tim Rodber, English rugby player
July 3
Gedeon Burkhard, German actor
Shawnee Smith, American actress
July 5
John LeClair, American hockey player
RZA, American rapper and record producer
July 7
Sylke Otto, German luger
Joe Sakic, Canadian hockey player
Cree Summer, American-Canadian actress and singer
July 8 – Sugizo, Japanese guitarist and singer
July 9
Munkhbayar Dorjsuren, Mongolian-German sport shooter
Agnieszka Kłopotek, Polish politician and zootechnician
July 10
Gale Harold, American actor
Hossan Leong, Singaporean stage and screen actor, television host, radio deejay and comedian
Jonas Kaufmann, German operatic tenor
Rami Makhlouf, Syrian businessman
August
August 1 – Graham Thorpe, English cricketer (d. 2024)
August 2
Jan Axel Blomberg, Norwegian drummer
Fernando Couto, Portuguese footballer
August 3 – Anne Marie DeLuise, Canadian actress
August 4
Max Cavalera, Brazilian musician and singer (Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, ex-Sepultura)
Michael DeLuise, American actor
August 6 – Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003)
August 8 – Faye Wong, Hong Kong singer and actress
August 10
Brian Drummond, Canadian voice actor
Emily Symons, Australian actress
August 11
Vanderlei de Lima, Brazilian long-distance runner
Ashley Jensen, British actress
August 12 – Tanita Tikaram, German-born British singer-songwriter
August 13 – Midori Ito, Japanese figure skater
August 14 – Chris Pérez, American guitarist
August 15
Justin Broadrick, British musician
September
September 3 – Robert Karlsson, Swedish golfer
September 4
Giorgi Margvelashvili, politician; 4th President of the Republic of Georgia
Noah Taylor, Australian actor
Alexander Paul Coe, Welsh DJ and record producer
September 6
Michellie Jones, Australian triathlete
Cece Peniston, American musician
September 7 – Diane Farr, American actress
September 8
Mojtaba Khamenei, Iranian politician and Shia cleric, Supreme leader
Gary Speed, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 2011)
September 8 – Rachel Hunter, New Zealand model and actress
September 12
Ángel Cabrera, Argentine golfer
Shigeki Maruyama, Japanese golfer
September 13
Tyler Perry, American actor, film director and screenwriter
Shane Warne, Australian cricketer (d. 2022)
September 14 – Bong Joon-ho, South Korean film director and screenwriter
October
October 1
Zach Galifianakis, American actor and stand-up comedian
Marcus Stephen, President of Nauru
Igor Ulanov, Russian hockey player
October 3
Gwen Stefani, American singer, actress and television host
Tetsuya, Japanese rock musician
October 5
Elizabeth Azcona Bocock, Honduran politician
M. A. Muhit, Bangladeshi politician
October 6
Muhammad V of Kelantan, 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia and Sultan of Kelantan
Ogün Temizkanoğlu, Turkish footballer
October 7 – Benny Chan Ho Man, Hong Kong actor
October 9
Jun Akiyama, Japanese professional wrestler
PJ Harvey, British singer-songwriter
Steve McQueen, English film director, producer and screenwriter
Chan Chun Sing, Singaporean politician
October 10
Brett Favre, American football player
Wendi McLendon-Covey, American actress
November
November 1 – Gary Alexander, American basketball player
November 2
Reginald Arvizu (aka Fieldy Snuts), American bassist
Madhushree, Indian playback singer
November 3 – Robert Miles, Swiss-born Italian record producer and DJ (d. 2017)
November 4
Tony Burke, Australian politician, Leader of the House (2022-present)
Sean Combs, American rapper and entrepreneur
Matthew McConaughey, American actor
November 7
Michelle Clunie, American actress
Hélène Grimaud, French pianist
November 8 – Jonathan Slavin, American actor and activist
November 9 – Allison Wolfe, American musician
November 10
Faustino Asprilla, Colombian football player
Jens Lehmann, German football player
Ellen Pompeo, American actress
November 12
Tomas N'evergreen, Danish singer
Rob Schrab, American actor and comic book creator
December
December 1 – Richard Carrier, American historian
December 4 – Jay-Z, African-American rapper
December 5
Sajid Javid, British Pakistani politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Catherine Tate, English actress, comedian, and writer
December 9
Bixente Lizarazu, French footballer
Jakob Dylan, American singer-songwriter
December 11 – Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster
December 16 – Michelle Smith, Irish swimmer
December 17
Laurie Holden, Canadian and American actress, producer and human rights activist
Chuck Liddell, American mixed martial arts fighter
Ismail Qasim Naji, Somali politician
December 18
Santiago Cañizares, Spanish footballer
Mille Petrozza, German-Italian rock vocalist and guitarist (Kreator)
December 19
Richard Hammond, British television presenter
Lauren Sánchez, American news anchor
Deaths
January
January 1 – Barton MacLane, American actor (b. 1902)
January 3 – Commodore Cochran, American Olympic athlete (b. 1902)
January 4 – Paul Chambers, American jazz bassist (b. 1935)
January 6 – Shalva Nutsubidze, Georgian philosopher, historian, rustvelologist, literary critic, translator, and public figure (b. 1888)
January 8 – Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)
January 12
Lionel Hitchman, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1901)
Roberto Noble, Argentine politician, journalist and publisher (b. 1902)
January 19 – Jan Palach, Czech student (b. 1948)
January 27 – Charles Winninger, American actor (b. 1884)
January 29 – Allen Dulles, American director of the Central Intelligence Agency (b. 1893)
January 30 – Dominique Pire, Belgian Dominican friar, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1910)
January 31 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
February
February 2 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
February 3
Eduardo Mondlane, leader of the Mozambique nationalist organization FRELIMO (b. 1920)
Al Taliaferro, American Disney comics artist (b. 1905)
C. N. Annadurai, Indian politician and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (b. 1909)
February 5 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1902)
February 9 – George "Gabby" Hayes, American actor (b. 1885)
February 13 – Florence Mary Taylor, English-born Australian architect (b. 1879)
February 14 – Vito Genovese, Italian-American mobster (b. 1897)
February 18 – Dragiša Cvetković, 13th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1893)
February 19 – Madge Blake, American actress (b. 1899)
February 20 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
February 23
King Saud of Saudi Arabia, (b. 1902)
Madhubala, Indian actress (b. 1933)
February 25 – Jan Zajíc, Czech student (b. 1950)
February 26
Levi Eshkol, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
March
March 3
Ali Jawdat al-Aiyubi, 11th Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1886)
Fred Alexander, American tennis player (b. 1880)
March 6 – Óscar Osorio, Salvadorian military leader, 32nd President of El Salvador (b. 1910)
March 11
Daniel E. Barbey, American admiral (b. 1889)
John Wyndham, English author (b. 1903)
March 14 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-American artist (b. 1898)
March 15 – Miles Malleson, English actor (b. 1888)
March 24 – Joseph Kasavubu, 1st President of Congo-Léopoldville (b. 1917)
March 25 – Max Eastman, American writer (b. 1883)
March 26 – John Kennedy Toole, American author (b. 1937)
March 28 – Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general and politician, 34th President of the United States (b. 1890)
April
April 2 – Fortunio Bonanova, Spanish actor and singer (b. 1895)
April 5
Alberto Bonucci, Italian actor and director (b. 1918)
Rómulo Gallegos, Venezuelan novelist and politician, 48th President of Venezuela (b. 1884)
April 9 – FS Hussain, Pakistani aerobatic pilot who fought in World War II (b. 1924)
April 10 – Harley Earl, American designer and executive (b. 1893)
April 15 – Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen consort of Spain (b. 1887)
April 20 – Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (b. 1914)
April 21 – Trisno Sumardjo, Indonesian writer, translator, and painter (b. 1916)
April 26 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist and founder of aikido (b. 1883)
April 27 – René Barrientos, Bolivian general and statesman, 47th President of Bolivia (helicopter crash) (b. 1919)
April 28 - Marie-Louise Paris, French engineer who founded l'Institut électro-mécanique féminin in 1925 (b. 1889)
May
May 2 – Franz von Papen, 22nd Chancellor of Germany and 26th Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1879)
May 3
Karl Freund, German cinematographer (b. 1890)
Zakir Husain, Indian politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
May 4 – Sir Osbert Sitwell, English writer (b. 1892)
May 14
Enid Bennett, American actress (b. 1893)
Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1880)
May 15 – Robert Rayford, American HIV/AIDS victim (b. 1953)
May 18 – Camille Drevet, French anti-colonialist, feminist activist and pacifist (b. 1881)
May 21 – William Lincoln Bakewell, American explorer (b. 1888)
May 23 – Jimmy McHugh, American composer (b. 1894)
May 24
Mitzi Green, American actress (b. 1920)
Fritz Skullerud, Norwegian long-distance runner and station master (b. 1885)
May 26 – Paul Hawkins, Australian racing driver (b. 1937)
May 27
Muhammad Fareed Didi, Sultan of Maldives (b. 1901)
Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (b. 1926)
June
June 1 – Ivar Ballangrud, Norwegian Olympic speed skater (b. 1904)
June 4 – Rafael Osuna, Mexican professional tennis player (b. 1938)
June 8 – Robert Taylor, American actor (b. 1911)
June 11 – John L. Lewis, President of the United Mine Workers of America (b. 1880)
June 12 – Aleksandr Deyneka, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1899)
June 13 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (b. 1899)
June 14 – Wynonie Harris, American blues, rhythm and blues, singer (b. 1915)
June 16 – Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, British field marshal and 17th Governor General of Canada (b. 1891)
June 18 – Edgar Anderson, American botanist (b. 1897)
June 19 – Natalie Talmadge, American actress (b. 1896)
June 20 – Mohamed Siddiq El-Minshawi, Egyptian Qur'anic reciter (b. 1920)
June 22 – Judy Garland, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
June 23 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (b. 1907)
July
July 2 – Mikio Naruse, Japanese film director (b. 1905)
July 3 – Brian Jones, British rock musician (b. 1942)
July 5
Ben Alexander, American actor (b. 1911)
Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (b. 1884)
Walter Gropius, German architect (b. 1883)
Lambert Hillyer, American film director (b. 1889)
Tom Mboya, Kenyan politician (b. 1930)
Leo McCarey, American film director (b. 1898)
July 9 – Raizō Tanaka, Japanese admiral (b. 1892)
July 15 – Peter van Eyck, German actor (b. 1911)
July 17 – Ichikawa Raizō VIII, Japanese actor (b. 1931)
July 24 – Witold Gombrowicz, Polish novelist and dramatist (b. 1904)
July 25 – Otto Dix, German painter (b. 1891)
July 28
Frank Loesser, American songwriter (b. 1910)
Ramón Grau, president of Cuba (b. 1882)
August
August 5 – Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg (b. 1873)
August 6 – Theodor W. Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1903)
August 8 – Choi Seung-hee, Korean modern dancer (b. 1911)
August 9
C. F. Powell, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
Constantin Ion Parhon, Romanian politician (b. 1874)
Jay Sebring, American celebrity hair stylist (b. 1933)
Sharon Tate, American actress and model (b. 1943)
August 13 – Nicolás Fasolino, Argentine Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1887)
August 14 – Leonard Woolf, English writer (b. 1880)
August 17
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect (b. 1886)
Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
August 20 – Marty Barry, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1905)
August 26 – Ismail al-Azhari, 2nd Prime Minister, 3rd President of Sudan (b. 1900)
August 27
Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (b. 1884)
Erika Mann, German writer (b. 1905)
September
September 2
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese Communist politician, 1st Prime Minister of North Vietnam and 1st President of North Vietnam (b. 1890)
Norman Manley, Premier of Jamaica (b. 1893)
September 3 – John Lester, American cricketer (b. 1871)
September 6 – Arthur Friedenreich, Brazilian footballer (b. 1892)
September 8
Bud Collyer, American radio and television personality (b. 1908)
Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer (b. 1868)
September 12 – Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr., American general (b. 1888)
September 19 – Rex Ingram, American actor (b. 1895)
September 22
Adolfo López Mateos, Mexican politician, 48th President of Mexico, 1958-1964 (b. 1909)
Aleksandras Stulginskis, Lithuanian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Lithuania (b. 1885)
September 27 – Nicolas Grunitzky, 2nd President of Togo (b. 1913)
September 28 – Nicolae Dăscălescu, Romanian general (b. 1884)
October
October 3 – Skip James, American blues singer (b. 1902)
October 6 – Walter Hagen, American golf champion (b. 1892)
October 7
Natalya Lisenko, Russian actress (b. 1884)
Ture Nerman, Swedish communist leader (b. 1886)
October 12 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian figure skater (b. 1912)
October 16 – Leonard Chess, Polish-American record company executive, co-founder of Chess Records (b. 1917)
October 21
Jack Kerouac, American author (b. 1922)
Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician (b. 1882)
October 22 – Vittorio Tur, Italian admiral (b. 1882)
October 23 - Tommy Edwards, American singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
October 26 – Gyula Mándi, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1899)
October 29 – Francisco Orlich Bolmarcich, 34th President of Costa Rica (b. 1907)
October 31 – Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río, 26th President of Ecuador, leader during World War II (b. 1893)
November
November 1 – Pauline Bush, American actress (b. 1886)
November 5 – Lloyd Corrigan, American actor (b. 1900)
November 8
Dave O'Brien, American actor (b. 1912)
Vesto M. Slipher, American astronomer (b. 1875)
November 12
William F. Friedman, American cryptanalyst (b. 1891)
Liu Shaoqi, President of China (b. 1898)
November 13 – Iskander Mirza, Pakistani politician, 1st President of Pakistan (b. 1899)
November 18 – Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., American politician (b. 1888)
November 21
Norman Lindsay, Australian painter (b. 1879)
Mutesa II of Buganda, Kabaka of Buganda and 1st President of Uganda (b. 1924)
December
December 1 – Magic Sam, American musician (b. 1937)
December 2
José María Arguedas, Peruvian novelist, poet and anthropologist (b. 1911)
Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet military commander (b. 1881)
December 4 – Fred Hampton, American activist (b. 1948)
December 5
Princess Alice of Battenberg (b. 1885)
Claude Dornier, German airplane builder, founder of Dornier Flugzeugwerke (b. 1884)
December 6 – João Cândido, Brazilian sailor, led the Revolt of the Lash (b. 1880)
December 7
Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player and restaurateur (b. 1897)
Eric Portman, English actor (b. 1901)
December 8 – Karl Fiehler, German Nazi politician and mayor of Munich (b. 1895)
December 13
Spencer Williams Jr., American actor (b. 1893)
Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral (b. 1886)
December 21 – Georges Catroux, French Army general and colonial governor (b. 1877)
December 22
Josef von Sternberg, Austrian film director (b. 1894)
Nobel Prizes
Physics – Murray Gell-Mann
Chemistry – Derek Barton, Odd Hassel
Medicine – Max Delbrück, Alfred Hershey, Salvador Luria
Literature – Samuel Beckett
Peace – International Labour Organization
Economics – Ragnar Frisch, Jan Tinbergen