1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1976th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 976th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1970s decade.
Events
January
January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
January 16 – A locomotive crashes into the rear of a commuter train in Glenbrook, Australia, killing one person onboard and injuring ten others in the 1976 Glenbrook rail accident.
January 18 – Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War.
January 27
The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.
Western Sahara War: The First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara.
February
February 4
The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria.
The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured.
February 9 – The Australian Defence Force is formed by unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.
February 13 – General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup.
February 24 – Cuba's constitution of 1976 is enacted.
February 26 – The Spanish Armed Forces withdraw from Western Sahara.
February 27 – The Polisario Front, Western Sahara's national liberation movement, declares independence of the territory under the name "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic".
March
March – The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research, with the first purchaser being the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
March 1
U.K. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.
Bradford Bishop allegedly murders five of his family members in Bethesda, Maryland. The crime goes undiscovered for 10 days and the suspect is never caught. From 2014 to 2018 he is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
March 4
The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in Direct rule over Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom in London.
The Maguire Seven are found guilty in London of possessing explosives for use by the Provisional Irish Republican Army and subsequently jailed for 14 years; their convictions were overturned in 1991.
March 9 – A cable car disaster occurs when a supporting cable breaks in Cavalese, Italy, resulting in 43 deaths.
March 9–11 – Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, in Letcher County, Kentucky.
March 16 – Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
March 20 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974.
March 24
Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Perón.
A general strike takes place in the People's Republic of the Congo.
March 26
The Body Shop, the retail chain for skin care products and cosmetics founded by Anita Roddick, opens its first branch in Brighton, England.
March 27
The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.
The first 7.4 kilometres (4.6 mi) of the Washington Metro subway system opens.
March 29 – The military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla comes to power in Argentina.
March 31 – The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that patient in a persistent vegetative state in the Karen Ann Quinlan case can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.
April
April 1
Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California.
Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that have filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.
The Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by British astronomer Patrick Moore.
April 2 – Norodom Sihanouk is forced to resign as Head of State of Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot and is placed under house arrest.
April 3 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me.
April 5
James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Tiananmen Incident: Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed, provoking a police crackdown.
Segovia prison break: in Spain's largest prison break since the Spanish Civil War, 29 political prisoners escape from Segovia prison.
April 12
The 1976 West Bank local elections were held.
April 13
The Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion in Lapua, Finland kills 40.
The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
April 16 – As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
April 19 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yards (910 m) by the tornado and survived uninjured.
April 21 – The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne, Australia: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
April 25 – Portugal's new constitution is enacted.
April 29 – Sino-Soviet split: A concealed bomb explodes at the gates of the Soviet embassy in China, killing four Chinese. The targets were embassy employees, returning from lunch, but on this day they had returned to the embassy earlier.
May
May 1 – Neville Wran becomes Premier of New South Wales.
May 4
The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.
May 6 – An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.
May 9 – Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction is found hanged in an apparent suicide in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.
May 11
U.S. President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act.
An accident involving a tanker truck carrying anhydrous ammonia takes place in Houston, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 7 people.
May 13 – The Atari video arcade game Breakout is released.
May 16 – The Montreal Canadiens sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey.
May 21 – The Yuba City bus disaster, the second-worst bus crash in U.S. history, leaves 28 students and one teacher killed.
May 24
Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
The Judgment of Paris pits French vs. California wines in a blind taste-test in Paris, France. California wines win the contest, surprising the wine world and opening the wine industry to newcomers in several countries.
May 25 – U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in 3 Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon.
May 30 – Indianapolis 500 automobile race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 408 kilometres (254 mi).
May 31 – Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which it has previously supported.
June
June 1 – The United Kingdom and Iceland end the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters to 200 nautical miles in exchange for defined fishing rights.
June 2
A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.
The Philippine government opens relations with the Soviet Union.
June 4 – The Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 128–126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association Finals at the Boston Garden. In 1997, the game is selected by a panel of experts as the greatest of the NBA's first 50 years.
June 5 – The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the US, killing 11 people.
June 6 – The Double Six Crash, a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, kills everyone on board, including Sabahan Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens.
June 11 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh gathers 126 of the UK's leading engineers at Buckingham Palace to form the Fellowship of Engineering, later to be known as the Royal Academy of Engineering.
June 12 – Alberto Demicheli, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay after Juan María Bordaberry is deposed by the military.
June 13 – Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa, spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan.
June 16 – The Soweto uprising in South Africa begins.
June 20
Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. Ambassador.
General elections are held in Italy, resulting in the best result for the Communist Party (PCI) in a general election.
Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win Euro 76 when the game ends 2–2 after extra time.
June 25 – Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; they end on June 30.
June 26 – The CN Tower is opened in Toronto, the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.
June 27
G-6 is renamed "Group of 7" (G-7) with the inclusion of Canada.
Palestinian militants hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
The world's first known case of Ebola is recorded in Nzara, Sudan (now South Sudan).
June 29
Seychelles gains independence from the United Kingdom.
The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.
July
July 2 – North Vietnam dissolves the Provisional Government of South Vietnam and unites the two countries to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
July 3
Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment overturning the Furman v. Georgia case of 1972.
The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
July 4 – Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; Yonatan Netanyahu and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.
July 6 – The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
July 7
German left-wing women terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin.
David Steel becomes leader of the UK's Liberal Party in the aftermath of the scandal which forced out Jeremy Thorpe.
July 10
Four mercenaries, three British and one American, are shot by firing squad in Angola, following the Luanda Trial.
Seveso disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy, causes extensive pollution to a large area in the neighborhood of Milan, with many evacuations and a large number of people affected by the toxic cloud.
July 12 – In the United States:
California State University, Fullerton massacre: seven people are shot and killed, and two others are wounded in a mass shooting on campus at California State University, Fullerton.
Price Club, as predecessor of Costco, a worldwide membership-registration-only retailer, is founded in California.
July 15
Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. president at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
Twenty-six Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver are abducted and buried in a box truck within a quarry in Livermore, California. The captives dig themselves free after 16 hours. The quarry-owner's son and two accomplices are arrested for the crime.
July 16–20 – Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Société Generale Bank in Nice, France.
July 17
The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
July 18 – 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci earns the first of seven perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
July 19 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
July 20
Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
American criminal Gary Gilmore is arrested for murdering two men in Utah.
July 21 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, new British ambassador to the Irish Republic, and Judith Cooke, a Northern Ireland Office private secretary, in Dublin; two others are seriously wounded but survive.
July 26 – In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford.
July 27
The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with its former colony Uganda in response to the hijacking of Air France Flight 139.
Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, US, begin falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this will eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and will end in the deaths of 29 attendees.
July 28 – The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851.
July 29 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing one and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
July 30
Bruce Jenner wins the gold medal in the men's decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions in Association football.
July 31
NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses and killing 143 people.
August
August 1
The 1976 Summer Olympics ends in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Elizabeth II as its head of state with President Ellis Clarke.
Defending F1 World Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix after a huge accident that nearly cost him his life.
August 2 – A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel, in an incident at Priscilla's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder, involvement in a plot to kill several people (including Priscilla and a judge), and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen goes broke afterwards.
August 5 – The clock of "Big Ben" at the Palace of Westminster in London suffers internal damage and requires frequent repairs. The clock is stopped at times on 26 of the next 275 days.
August 6 – Former United Kingdom Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud, theft and forgery.
August 7 – Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
August 8 – As part of the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger, a dispersal draft is conducted to assign teams for the players on the two ABA franchises which have folded.
August 9 – The Selous Scouts of the Rhodesian Army conduct a cross-border raid into Nyadzonya, Mozambique in Operation Eland, an action that led to severe political and diplomatic consequences on Rhodesia.
August 11 – A sniper rampage in Wichita, Kansas on a Holiday Inn results in 3 deaths while 7 others are wounded.
August 14
Around 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized, becoming the third legal party in the country.
August 17 – The 8.0 Mw Moro Gulf earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.
August 18 – At Panmunjom, North Korea, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which has obscured their view.
August 19 – U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City.
August 24 – In Uruguay, the army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Gelman is later killed and his wife disappears.
August 25
Jacques Chirac resigns as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre.
Landslide disaster in Sau Mau Ping, Hong Kong.
August 26
The second known outbreak of Ebola virus occurs in Yambuku, Zaire.
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, resigns from various posts over a scandal involving alleged corruption in connection with business dealings with the Lockheed Corporation.
August 29 – The first Women in Print Conference is held in Omaha, Nebraska. Over 130 women from 80 feminist organizations and collectives attend the gathering, which was associated with the women in print movement.
August 30 – James Alexander George Smith McCartney is sworn in as the first chief minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
September
September 1
Cigarette and tobacco advertising is banned on Australian television and radio.
Aparicio Méndez, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay in the framework of a dictatorship.
The state of emergency in the Republic of Ireland legally still in force since 1939 is lifted.
September 3
Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photographs of the planet's surface.
A Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the Venezuelan Air Force crashed near Lajes Field, Azores Islands, Portugal, killing all 68 occupants on board.
September 6
Cold War: Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum in the United States.
Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years.
September 9 – Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong dies in Beijing after a series of heart attacks.
September 10 – Zagreb mid-air collision: A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (modern-day Zagreb, Croatia), killing all 176 aboard.
September 15 – Darryl Sittler scores the winning goal in the 1976 Canada Cup for Canada to win over Czechoslovakia in overtime, to win the first Canada Cup in ice hockey.
September 16
Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir.
Beginning with the Night of the Pencils, a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances followed by torture, rape, and murder of students under the Argentine dictatorship takes place.
September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a hangar in Palmdale, California, United States.
September 21
The Seychelles join the United Nations.
Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by Michael Townley, an agent linked with the National Intelligence Directorate of Chile.
September 24 – Patty Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in the armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974 (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months).
October
October 4 – The InterCity 125 high-speed train is introduced in the United Kingdom.
October 6
Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Fidel Castro terrorists, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados; all 73 people on board are killed.
Students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand are massacred, while protesting the return of ex-dictator Thanom Kittikachorn by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford incorrectly declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there is at the time).
The Cultural Revolution in China concludes upon the capture of the Gang of Four.
October 8 – Thorbjörn Fälldin replaces Olof Palme as Prime Minister of Sweden.
October 10 – Taiwan Governor Hsieh Tung-min is injured by a letter bomb from a pro-independence activist.
October 12 – The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party following the latter's death on September 9 from a heart attack.
October 13 – The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States have a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory).
October 19
The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon.
The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 19 years in the United States.
The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.
October 20 – The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana to Luling, Louisiana, killing 78 passengers and crew.
October 22 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the 5th President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defense.
October 26 – Transkei gains "independence" from South Africa.
November
November 2 – 1976 United States presidential election: Jimmy Carter narrowly defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
November 3 – Carrie, an American supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma, is premiered in 17 theaters in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area.
November 6 - Uttawar forced sterilisations: Mass vasectomy of nearly 800 men of Uttawar village, Palwal district, Haryana during India's Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi.
November 12 – Disappearance of Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew from Inverness in Scotland; this becomes Britain's longest-running missing persons case.
November 15 – The first megamouth shark is discovered off Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi.
November 19 – Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.
November 24 – 1976 Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake: Between 4,000 and 5,000 are killed in a 7.3 Ms earthquake at Van and Muradiye in eastern Turkey.
November 26
Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
The Warsaw Treaty Organization joint secretariat is established.
December
December 1
Angola joins the United Nations.
José López Portillo takes office as President of Mexico.
Sir Douglas Nicholls is appointed the 28th Governor of South Australia, the first Australian Aboriginal appointed to vice-regal office.
December 3 – Patrick Hillery is sworn in after being elected unopposed as the 6th President of Ireland.
December 5 – The Japanese general election takes place, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party loses its majority in the 511-member House of Representatives but remains the largest party with 249 seats.
December 8 – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the five Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of the Bronx, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Río.
December 10 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.
December 15
Samoa joins the United Nations.
Denis Healey announces to the British Parliament that he has successfully negotiated a £2.3bn loan from the International Monetary Fund.
December 23 – A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.
Date unknown
Random breath testing is introduced in Victoria (Australia).
The first laser printer is introduced by IBM (the IBM 3800).
The New Jersey Legislature passes legislation legalizing casinos in the shore town of Atlantic City commencing in 1978. After signing the bill into law, Governor Brendan Byrne declares "The mob is not welcome in New Jersey!" referring to the Mafia's influence at casinos in Nevada.
Marc Brown's Arthur's Nose is published.
Births
January
January 2 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress
January 3 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
January 4 – August Diehl, German actor
January 6
Johnny Yong Bosch, American actor
Agnieszka Stelmaszyk, Polish writer
January 8 – Jenny Lewis, American musician and actress
January 13
Michael Peña, American actor
Mario Yepes, Colombian football player
January 15 – Dorian Missick, American actor
January 16 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak swimmer
January 21 – Emma Bunton, English musician
January 23
Anne Margrethe Hausken, Norwegian orienteer
Angelica Lee, Taiwanese actress and singer
January 27 – Ahn Jung-hwan, South Korean footballer and television personality
January 28 – Rick Ross, American rapper
January 31 – Paul Scheer, American comedian and actor
February
February 1
Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Icelandic politician, 28th Prime Minister of Iceland
Muteba Kidiaba, Congolese football goalkeeper
Mat Rogers, Australian rugby league and rugby union player
February 2
Carlos Coste, Venezuelan free-diver
James Hickman, British swimmer
February 3
Isla Fisher, Australian actress
Tim Heidecker, American comedian
Tijana, Macedonian singer
February 4 – Cam'ron, African-American rapper
February 5
Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
Tony Jaa, Thai martial art film actor/choreographer/director
Brian Moorman, American football player
February 6 – Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast
February 9 – Charlie Day, American actor
February 10 – Lance Berkman, American baseball player
February 11 – Brice Beckham, American actor
February 12 – Silvia Saint, Czech actress
Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby union player
February 14 – Erica Leerhsen, American actress
February 15 – Brandon Boyd, American singer-songwriter and author
February 16
Kyo, Japanese rock musician (Dir En Grey)
Adam Simpson, Australian rules footballer
Janet Varney, American actress and comedian
February 17 – Svein Berge, Norwegian musician (Röyksopp)
February 18 – Chanda Rubin, American tennis player
February 20
Johanna Beisteiner, Austrian guitarist
Chris Cillizza, American journalist
February 21 – Michael McIntyre, British stand-up comedian
February 23
Aaron Aziz, Singaporean-born Malaysian actor
Kelly Macdonald, Scottish actress
February 24 – Zach Johnson, American golfer
February 25 – Rashida Jones, American actress, writer, model and musician
February 27
Yukari Tamura, Japanese voice actress
Sergei Semak, Russian football player and coach
February 28
Ali Larter, American actress and model
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge, Canadian actor
February 29
Ja Rule, American rapper
Mark Pollock, blind Irish adventurer and author
March
March 3
Fraser Gehrig, Australian rules footballer
Isabel Granada, Filipino actress and singer (d. 2017)
March 5 – Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
March 6 – Ken Anderson, American professional wrestler (Mr. Anderson)
March 8
Sergej Ćetković, Montenegrin singer
Gaz Coombes, English musician and singer-songwriter (Supergrass)
Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
March 9 – Yamila Diaz-Rahi, Argentinean model
March 10 – Miroslav Kostadinov, Bulgarian singer and songwriter
March 12 – Zhao Wei, Chinese singer and actress
March 13 – Danny Masterson, American actor
March 14 – Merlin Santana, American actor (d. 2002)
Phil Vickery, English rugby union player
March 16
Blu Cantrell, American R&B singer
Pál Dárdai, Hungarian football player and manager
Kim Johnsson, Swedish hockey player
Zhu Chen, Chinese chess grandmaster
March 17
Stephen Gately, Irish singer (Boyzone) (d. 2009)
Álvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
March 18
Emma Willis, English television presenter and former model
FanFan, American-born Taiwanese singer-songwriter
Eric Sorensen, American meteorologist and politician
March 19
Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress
Andre Miller, American basketball player
Alessandro Nesta, Italian football player
March 20 – Chester Bennington, American singer (Linkin Park) (d. 2017)
March 21 – Rachael MacFarlane, American actress and singer, sister of Seth MacFarlane
March 22
Anna Iberszer, Polish actress, dancer, and choreographer
Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
Shawty Lo, American rapper (d. 2016)
Kellie Shanygne Williams, American actress
Reese Witherspoon, American actress
March 23
Sir Chris Hoy, Scottish cyclist
Keri Russell, American actress
Sa Beining, Chinese host
March 24
Aaron Brooks, American football player
Peyton Manning, American football player
March 26 – Amy Smart, American actress
March 27
Brandon Johnson, American politician, mayor-elect of Chicago
Liu Limin, Chinese swimmer
March 29 – Jennifer Capriati, American tennis player
March 30
Jessica Cauffiel, American actress and singer
Ty Conklin, American ice-hockey player
Ayako Kawasumi, Japanese voice actress
April
April 1
Troy Baker, American actor and musician
David Oyelowo, English-American actor
Hazem El Masri, Lebanese-Australian rugby league player
April 2
Lucy Diakovska, German-Bulgarian pop singer
Daisuke Namikawa, Japanese voice actor
Rory Sabbatini, South African golfer
April 3 – Will Mellor, English actor
April 4
Emerson, Brazilian footballer
James Roday Rodriguez, American actor, director and screenwriter
Paula Yacoubian, Lebanese politician and journalist
April 5
Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer
Natascha Ragosina, Russian boxer
Henrik Stenson, Swedish golfer
Sterling K. Brown, African-American actor
April 6 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress
April 7 – Eric Wareheim, American comedian
April 10 – Jan Werner Danielsen, Norwegian singer (d. 2006)
April 12 – Andrei Lipanov, Russian ice skater
April 13
Glenn Howerton, American actor, producer and writer
Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
April 14 – Anna DeForge, American basketball player
April 15
Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice-hockey player
Steve Williams, British rower
April 16
David Lyons, Australian actor
Robert Dahlqvist, Swedish guitarist and vocalist (d. 2017)
Shu Qi, Taiwanese actress
April 18
Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
Sean Maguire, British actor and singer
April 19
Wyatt Cenac, American actor, writer and director
Kim Young-oh, South Korean illustrator
April 20
Joey Lawrence, American actor
Shay Given, Irish football goalkeeper
April 21 – Rommel Adducul, Filipino basketball player
April 22 – Michał Żewłakow, Polish footballer
April 23 – Darren Huckerby, English footballer
April 25
Tim Duncan, American basketball player
Denis Kartsev, Russian professional ice hockey player
Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player
Kim Jong-kook, South Korean singer, television personality
April 26 – Elisabet Reinsalu, Estonian actress
April 27 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
April 28 – Joseph N'Do, Cameroonian international footballer
April 29 – Kanaka Herath, Sri Lankan politician
May
May 1
Darius McCrary, American actor
Michele Frangilli, Italian archer
May 3
Beto, Portuguese footballer
Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
May 4 – Anza, Japanese actress and singer best known for playing the character of Sailor Moon in some Sailor Moon musical
May 5 – Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentine footballer and sports broadcaster
May 8 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian-American folk-pop singer
May 10
Rhona Bennett, American actress, singer and model
Rogério Oliveira da Costa, Brazilian-born football striker (d. 2006)
May 14 – Martine McCutcheon, British actress and singer
May 15
Mark Kennedy, Irish footballer
Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
Anže Logar, Slovenian politician, minister of foreign affairs
May 17 – Mayte Martínez, Spanish athlete
May 20 – Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan baseball player
May 23 – Ricardinho, Brazilian football player and coach
May 25
Stefan Holm, Swedish high jumper
Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
Erinn Hayes, American actress
Nadine Heredia, Peruvian politician, First Lady of Peru
May 26 – Paul Collingwood, English cricketer
May 28
Alexei Nemov, Russian gymnast
Liam O'Brien, American actor
May 31
Colin Farrell, Irish actor
Roar Ljøkelsøy, Norwegian ski jumper
June
June 2
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist
Tim Rice-Oxley, English rock musician/composer (Keane)
Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho
June 3 – Jamie McMurray, American race car driver
June 4
Alexei Navalny, Russian lawyer and political activist (d. 2024)
Nenad Zimonjić, Serbian tennis player
June 5
Aesop Rock, American hip-hop artist
Marc Worden, Canadian actor and voice actor
June 6
Emilie-Claire Barlow, Canadian actress and singer
Geoff Rowley, English skateboarder
June 7
Necro, American rapper
Nora Salinas, Mexican actress and model
Mirsad Türkcan, Serbian born-Turkish basketball player
June 8 – Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
June 10
Esther Ouwehand, Dutch politician, parliamentarian for the Party for the Animals
Mariana Seoane, Mexican actress
June 12 – Thomas Sørensen, Danish football goalkeeper
June 13
Kym Marsh, British singer (Hear'Say) and actress
Jason "J" Brown, British singer (5ive)
June 14 – Alan Carr, English comedian
June 16 – Tom Lenk, American actor
June 17
Estelle Folest, French politician
Peter Svidler, Russian chess grandmaster
June 18
Petri Haapimaa, Finnish footballer and coach
Brady Haran, Australian-British founder and cast of Numberphile channel
Blake Shelton, American singer
June 19 – Ryan Hurst, American actor
June 20 – Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer
June 21 – Antonio Cochran, American football player
June 22 – Mike O'Brien, American actor, writer and comedian
June 23
Brandon Stokley, American football player
Paola Suárez, Argentine tennis player
Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress
Patrick Vieira, French footballer
Gavin Williamson, British politician, Secretary of State for Education
June 25 – Maurren Maggi, Brazilian athlete and politician
June 26
Cédric Jimenez, French film producer, film director and screenwriter
Wilson Lima, Brazilian politician and journalist
Alexander Zakharchenko, Ukrainian separatist rebel (d. 2018)
June 27 – Joseph Sikora, American actor
June 28
Nawaf Al-Temyat, Saudi Arabian football (soccer) player
David Palmer, Australian squash player
Hesha Withanage, Sri Lankan politician
June 29
Annette Beutler, Swiss professional racing cyclist
Katsutoshi Domori, Japanese football player
Angelo Lekkas, Australian rules footballer
June 30
Tamara Sedmak, Swiss television presenter, model and actress
Jason Bostic, American football defensive back
Christine Schürrer, German serial killer
Gilbert Yvel, Dutch mixed martial artist
July
July 1
Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer
Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer
July 2
Kon Arimura, Malaysian-Japanese radio personality, film critic and film commentator
Krisztián Lisztes, Hungarian footballer
Tommy Pistol, American actor and director
July 3
Shane Lynch, Irish singer
Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist
Bobby Skinstad, Zimbabwean rugby union player
Andrea Barber, American actress
Henry Olonga, Zambian-Zimbabwean cricketer
July 4
Jo Chen, American-Taiwanese comic book artist and writer
Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
July 5
Jamie Elman, Canadian-American actor
Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer
Rufus Johnson, American rapper also known as Bizarre
July 7
Lina Teoh, Malaysian actress, television host and model
Bérénice Bejo, Argentine actress
Hamish Linklater, American actor and playwright
July 8
Ellen MacArthur, English yachtswoman
Grettell Valdez, Mexican television and film actress and fashion model
July 9
Fred Savage, American actor and director
Arturo Carmona, Mexican actor
Elliot Cowan, English actor
July 10
Edmílson, Brazilian footballer
Ludovic Giuly, French footballer
Adrian Grenier, American actor, musician and director
Elissa Slotkin, American politician
July 11 – Eduardo Nájera, Mexican basketball player
July 12
Anna Friel, English actress
Tracie Spencer, American R&B singer
Kyrsten Sinema, American politician
July 14 – Geraint Jones, Papua New Guinea cricketer
July 15
Diane Kruger, German actress
Gabriel Iglesias, American actor, voice actor and comedian
July 16
Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player
Bobby Lashley, American professional wrestler
July 17
Luke Bryan, American country music singer-songwriter
Marcos Senna, Brazilian born-Spanish footballer
Eric Winter, American actor and fashion model
July 18 – Elsa Pataky, Spanish actress and model
July 19
Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor
Eric Prydz, Swedish DJ and producer
July 20 – Alex Yoong, Malaysian racing driver
July 21
Cori Bush, American politician
David Eby, Canadian politician, 37th Premier of British Columbia
Tatyana Lebedeva, Russian long jumper
Jaime Murray, English actress
July 23 – Judit Polgár, Hungarian chess player
July 25 – Timur Mutsurayev, Chechen bard
July 26 – Pável Pardo, Mexican footballer
July 28 – Jacoby Shaddix, American singer
July 31 – Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer
August
August 1
Iván Duque, Colombian politician, 33rd President of Colombia
Don Hertzfeldt, American animator
Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer
Hasan Şaş, Turkish football player and coach
Amar Upadhyay, Indian television actor and model
August 2
Sam Worthington, English-Australian actor and producer
Kati Wilhelm, German biathlete
Pritam Singh, Singaporean lawyer and politician
August 4
Paul Goldstein, American tennis player
August 5 – Napoleon Beazley, juvenile offender (d. 2002)
August 6
Andero Ermel, Estonian actor
Soleil Moon Frye, American actress, director and screenwriter
Melissa George, Australian actress
Travis Kalanick, American businessman and computer programmer; co-founder of Uber
August 8 – JC Chasez, American singer ('N Sync)
August 9
Jessica Capshaw, American actress
Audrey Tautou, French actress
August 11
Iván Córdoba, Colombian football player and manager
Will Friedle, American actor, voice actor, writer and comedian
Jhong Hilario, Filipino actor, dancer, television host, and politician
August 12
Mikko Lindström, Finnish rock guitarist
Lina Rafn, Danish singer
August 14 – Maya Nasri, Lebanese actress and singer
August 15
Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopian Prime Minister, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
August 18
Lee Seung-yeop, South Korean baseball player
Bryan Volpenhein, American rower
August 21 – Liezel Huber, South African born-American tennis player
August 25 – Alexander Skarsgård, Swedish actor
August 27
Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
Carlos Moyá, Spanish tennis player
Mark Webber, Australian racing driver
August 29
Luana Piovani, Brazilian actress and model
Jon Dahl Tomasson, Danish footballer
August 30 – Cristian Gonzáles, Uruguayan-born Indonesian footballer
August 31 – Roque Júnior, Brazilian footballer
September
September 1
Marcos Ambrose, Australian racing driver
Ivano Brugnetti, Italian race walker
Sebastián Rozental, Chilean footballer
September 3
Jevon Kearse, American football player
Samuel Kuffour, Ghanaian footballer
Vivek Oberoi, Indian actor
September 4 – Brian Myrow, American baseball player
September 5 – Carice van Houten, Dutch actress
September 6
Naomie Harris, British actress
Mark Wilkerson, American musician
Robin Atkin Downes, English actor and voice actor
September 7 – Stevie Case, American video game celebrity
September 8 – Sjeng Schalken, Dutch tennis player
September 9
Mick Blue, Austrian pornographic actor and director
Emma de Caunes, French actress
Lúcia Moniz, Portuguese singer and actress
September 10 – Gustavo Kuerten, Brazilian tennis player
September 11 – Marco Rose, German football player and coach
September 12 – Maciej Żurawski, Polish footballer
September 13 – Puma Swede, Swedish pornographic actress
September 15 – Rob Wiethoff, American actor
September 16 – Tina Barrett, English singer (S Club 7)
September 17 – Nicole Reinhart, American track and road racing cyclist (d. 2000)
September 18 – Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer
September 19
Raja Bell, American basketball player
Isha Koppikar, Indian actress
Alison Sweeney, American actress
Sergey Tsinkevich, Belarusian footballer and referee
September 20
Jon Bernthal, American actor
Yui Horie, Japanese voice actress
Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress
September 23 – Rob James-Collier, British actor and model
September 24 – Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, American professional wrestling promoter
September 25
Chauncey Billups, American basketball player
Chiara Siracusa, Maltese singer, Eurovision Song Contest 2005 runner-up
September 26
Michael Ballack, German footballer
Kersti Heinloo, Estonian actress
September 27 – Francesco Totti, Italian footballer
September 28 – Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial arts fighter
September 29 – Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian footballer
October
October 1 – Danielle Bisutti, American actress and singer
October 2
Anita Kulcsár, Hungarian handball player (d. 2005)
Mandisa, American singer (d. 2024)
October 3 – Seann William Scott, American actor and producer
October 4
Mauro Camoranesi, Argentine born-Italian footballer
Alicia Silverstone, American actress
Ueli Steck, Swiss mountaineer (d. 2017)
October 5
Ramzan Kadyrov, Head of the Chechen Republic
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, Iraqi-born leader of the Islamic state (d. 2022)
October 6
Freddy García, Venezuelan baseball player
Barbie Hsu, Taiwanese actress and singer (d. 2025)
October 7
Taylor Hicks, American singer
Pekka Kuusisto, Finnish violinist
Gilberto Silva, Brazilian football player
Santiago Solari, Argentine football player and coach
October 9
Sam Riegel, American voice actor and director
Nick Swardson, American actor, stand-up comedian and screenwriter
October 10
Bob Burnquist, Brazilian skateboarder
Shane Doan, Canadian ice hockey player
October 11 – Emily Deschanel, American actress
October 12 – Kajsa Bergqvist, Swedish high jumper
October 14 – Chang Chen, Taiwanese actor
October 15 – Yoon Son-ha, South Korean actress
October 18 – Galder, Norwegian musician
October 19
Joe Duplantier, French musician
Dan Smith, Canadian ice-hockey player
Michael Young, American baseball player
Desmond Harrington, American actor
Omar Gooding, American actor
October 20
Dan Fogler, American actor, comedian and writer
Plamen Goranov, Bulgarian photographer, mountain climber and a Varna-based local protest leader (d. 2013)
October 21
Jeremy Miller, American actor
Andrew Scott, Irish actor
October 23
Cat Deeley, British television presenter
Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
October 25
Steve Jones, Northern Irish footballer
Anton Sikharulidze, Russian figure skater
October 26
Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish hockey player
Jeremy Wotherspoon, Canadian speed skater
Thurop Van Orman, American animator and voice actor
October 29
Stephen Craigan, Northern Irish footballer
Mark Sheehan, Irish guitarist (The Script) (d. 2023)
October 31
Guti, Spanish football player and coach
Piper Perabo, American actress
November
November 1
Chad Lindberg, American actor
Sam Presti, American basketball executive, general manager of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder since 2007
November 2 – Thierry Omeyer, French handball goalkeeper
November 5
Oleh Shelayev, Ukrainian footballer
Sean Brown, Canadian ice-hockey player
Sebastian Arcelus, American actor
November 6
Pat Tillman, American football player, victim of friendly fire (d. 2004)
Troy Hambrick, American football player
Wiley Wiggins, American actor
November 7 – Mark Philippoussis, Australian tennis player
November 8 – Brett Lee, Australian cricketer
November 9
Josh Kaufman, American singer-songwriter, winner of The Voice season 6
Federica De Bortoli, Italian voice actress
November 11 – Mike Leon Grosch, German singer
November 12
Tevin Campbell, American singer and actor
Mirosław Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
November 13 – Janine Leal, Venezuelan nutritionist, television presenter and model.
November 15 – Virginie Ledoyen, French actress
November 17 – Diane Neal, American actress
November 18 – Shagrath, Norwegian black metal musician (Dimmu Borgir)
November 19
Jack Dorsey, American software architect, businessman, co-founder of Twitter
Benny Vansteelant, Belgian duathlete (d. 2007)
November 20
Dominique Dawes, African-American Olympic gymnast
Ji Yun-nam, North Korean footballer
Laura Harris, Canadian actress
November 22
Torsten Frings, German footballer
Ville Valo, Finnish rock singer (HIM)
November 24
Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
Christian Laflamme, Canadian ice-hockey player
November 25
Donovan McNabb, American football player
Hienadz Shutau, Belarusian demonstrator (d. 2020)
November 26 – Maia Campbell, American actress and singer
November 27 – Jaleel White, African-American actor
November 28 – Ryan Kwanten, Australian actor and comedian
November 29
Chadwick Boseman, American actor and playwright (d. 2020)
Anna Faris, American actress
Ehren McGhehey, American stunt performer and actor
December
December 1
Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
Laura Ling, American journalist imprisoned by North Korea in 2009
December 3
Cornelius Griffin, American football player
Marcos Denner, Brazilian footballer
December 4 – Amie Comeaux, American country music singer (d. 1997)
December 5
Amy Acker, American actress
Rafaela Crespín Rubio, Spanish politician
Evonne Hsu, Taiwanese singer
December 6 – Alicia Machado, Venezuelan beauty queen, Miss Universe 1996
December 7
Mark Duplass, American actor, screenwriter and director
Georges Laraque, Canadian ice-hockey player
Derek Ramsay, Filipino actor and model
December 8
Zoe Konstantopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician
Dominic Monaghan, English-German actor
December 13
Mark Paston, New Zealand footballer
Radosław Sobolewski, Polish footballer
December 14 – Leland Chapman, American bail bondsman
December 16 – Osamu Sato, Japanese former professional boxer
December 17
Takeo Spikes, American football player
Dan Hageman, American screenwriter and television producer
December 18
Koyuki, Japanese actress
December 21 – Mirela Maniani, Greek javelin thrower
December 23
Jamie Noble, American professional wrestler
Amjad Sabri, Pakistani Qawwali singer (d. 2016)
Christopher Pizzey, English actor and comedian
December 24 – Ángel Matos, Cuban taekwondo athlete
December 25
Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish metal keyboardist (Nightwish)
Armin van Buuren, Dutch music producer and DJ
December 26
Nadia Litz, Canadian actress and producer
Dmitri Tertyshny, Russian professional ice hockey (d. 1999)
December 27 – Fernando Pisani, Canadian ice-hockey player
December 28 – Joe Manganiello, American actor
December 29 – Danny McBride, American actor, comedian and writer
Date unknown
Pedro X. Molina, Nicaraguan caricaturist
Deaths
January
January 3 – John Ainsworth-Davis, Welsh surgeon and athlete (b. 1895)
January 5
John A. Costello, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland (b. 1891)
Mal Evans, English road manager to the Beatles (b. 1935)
Károly Takács, Hungarian Olympic shooter (b. 1910)
January 8
Georges Stuttler, French footballer (b. 1897)
Zhou Enlai, 1st Premier of China (b. 1898)
January 10 – Howlin' Wolf, American blues singer (b. 1910)
January 12 – Agatha Christie, English detective fiction writer (b. 1890)
January 13 – Margaret Leighton, English actress (b. 1922)
January 14
Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1922)
Muhammad Sakizli, 2nd Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1892)
January 19 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese electrical engineer (b. 1886)
January 22 – Hermann Jónasson, Icelandic politician, 7th Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1896)
January 23 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, writer and activist (b. 1898)
January 24 – Emil Bodnăraș, Romanian communist politician and army officer and Soviet agent (b. 1904)
January 25 – Konstantin Anisimovich Pavlov, Latvian iconographer (b. 1907)
January 26 – Gabriele Allegra, Italian Roman Catholic priest and blessed (b. 1907)
January 29 – Jesse Fuller, American one-man band musician (b. 1896)
January 30 – Arnold Gehlen, German philosopher (b. 1904)
January 31 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal and namesake of the Miranda right (b. 1941)
February
February 1
Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
Hans Richter, German artist and filmmaker (b. 1888)
George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
February 4 – Roger Livesey, Welsh actor (b. 1906)
February 6 – Ritwik Ghatak, Bengali filmmaker and script writer (b. 1925)
February 9 – Percy Faith, Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor (b. 1908)
February 11
Lee J. Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
Alexander Lippisch, German aeronautical engineer (b. 1894)
Dorothy Maud Wrinch, British mathematician and biochemical theorist (b. 1894)
February 12 – Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
February 13
Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian general (b. 1938)
Lily Pons, French-American operatic soprano and actress (b. 1898)
February 17 – Jean Servais, Belgian actor (b. 1910)
February 20
René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist and faith healer (b. 1907)
February 22 – Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
February 23 – L. S. Lowry, British artist (b. 1887)
February 26 – Frieda Inescort, Scottish-born actress (b. 1901)
March
March 4 – Walter H. Schottky, German physicist (b. 1886)
March 5 – Otto Tief, Estonian politician and military commander (b. 1889)
March 6 – Maxie Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (b. 1907)
March 8 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian military commander (b. 1908)
March 10 – Haddon Sundblom, American illustrator and artist (b. 1899)
March 14
Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)
Jasimuddin, Bangladeshi poet, lyricist, composer and writer (b. 1903)
March 17 – Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and film director (b. 1906)
March 19 – Paul Kossoff, British rock guitarist (Free) (b. 1950)
March 20 – Wilhelm Marschall, German admiral (b. 1886)
March 24
Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1887)
E. H. Shepard, English artist and book illustrator (b. 1879)
March 25 – Josef Albers, German-American artist (b. 1888)
March 28 – Richard Arlen, American actor (b. 1899)
March 31 – Paul Strand, American photographer (b. 1890)
April
April 1
Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
Alfred Lennon, father of musician John Lennon (b. 1912)
April 4 – Harry Nyquist, American information theory pioneer (b. 1889)
April 5 – Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director and millionaire recluse (b. 1905)
April 9
Margaret Brundage, American illustrator (Weird Tales) (b. 1900)
Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
Renato Petronio, Italian rower, Olympic champion (1928) (b. 1891)
April 12 – Miriam Cooper, American actress (b. 1891)
April 13 – Sabri al-Asali, Syrian politician, 3-time Prime Minister of Syria (b. 1903)
April 14 – Mariano Ospina Pérez, Colombian politician, 17th President of Colombia (b. 1891)
April 17 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
April 23 – Karl Schäfer, Austrian figure skater (b. 1909)
April 25
Sir Carol Reed, English film director (b. 1906)
Markus Reiner, Israeli scientist (b. 1886)
April 26
Andrei Grechko, Soviet general, Minister of Defence (b. 1903)
Sid James, South African-born British actor and comedian (b. 1913)
May
May 9
Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
Ulrike Meinhof, German terrorist (b. 1934)
May 11 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
May 12 – Keith Relf, British rock musician (The Yardbirds) (b. 1943)
May 15 – Samuel Eliot Morison, American historian (b. 1887)
May 24 – Hugo Wieslander, Swedish Olympic athlete (b. 1889)
May 26
Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)
Edgar Moon, Australian tennis player (b. 1904)
May 27 – Ruth McDevitt, American actress (b. 1895)
May 28 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter (b. 1914)
May 29 – Radoslav Andrea Tsanoff, Bulgarian‑American philosopher and author (b. 1887)
May 30 – Mitsuo Fuchida, Japanese aviator, naval officer and Christian evangelist (b. 1902)
May 31 – Jacques Monod, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1910)
June
June 2
Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam, Egyptian diplomat and politician, 1st Secretary-General of the Arab League (b. 1893)
Juan José Torres, Bolivian politician and military leader, 50th President of Bolivia (b. 1920)
June 6
J. Paul Getty, American industrialist, founder of Getty Oil (b. 1892)
David Jacobs, Welsh Olympic athlete (b. 1888)
Fuad Stephens, Malaysian politician (b. 1920)
Victor Varconi, Hungarian actor (b. 1891)
June 7
Bobby Hackett, American jazz musician (b. 1915)
Shigetarō Shimada, Japanese admiral during World War II (b. 1883)
June 9 – Dame Sybil Thorndike, British actress (b. 1882)
June 10 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-born American film producer (b. 1873)
June 11 – Toots Mondt, American WWF promoter (b. 1894)
June 12 – Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, 1st Prime Minister of South Vietnam and 1st Vice President of South Vietnam (b. 1908)
June 15 – Jimmy Dykes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1896)
June 16 – Hector Pieterson, South African activist (b. 1963)
June 17 – Richard Casey, Baron Casey, Australian statesman and diplomat (b. 1890)
June 23 – DeHart Hubbard, American Olympic athlete (b. 1903)
June 24
Imogen Cunningham, American photographer (b. 1883)
Juliette Elmir, Lebanese-Argentine nurse and political activist (b. 1909)
June 25 – Johnny Mercer, American songwriter (b. 1909)
June 27 – C. Wade McClusky, United States Navy admiral (b. 1902)
June 28
Stanley Baker, Welsh actor and film producer (b. 1928)
Ruby McKim, American quilt designer (b. 1891)
June 30 – Firpo Marberry, American baseball pitcher (b. 1898)
July
July 1
Anneliese Michel, German Roman Catholic woman who was believed to be possessed by demons (b. 1952)
Zhang Wentian, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (b. 1900)
July 4 – Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli commando leader (b. 1946)
July 6 – Zhu De, Head of State of China, China Red Army Commander-in-Chief (b. 1886)
July 7
Norman Foster, American film director (b. 1903)
Gustav Heinemann, 6th President of the Federal Republic of Germany (b. 1899)
July 8 – Gaston Marie Jacquier, French Roman Catholic bishop in Algeria (b. 1904)
July 11 – León de Greiff, Colombian poet (b. 1895)
July 12 – James Wong Howe, American cinematographer (b. 1899)
July 14 – Joachim Peiper, German military leader (b. 1915)
July 15 – Paul Gallico, American novelist, short story and sports writer (b. 1897)
July 16 – Wilhelmina von Bremen, American sprint runner (b. 1909)
July 22 – Sir Mortimer Wheeler, British archaeologist (b. 1890)
July 23 – Basil Hopko, Czechoslovak Roman Catholic bishop and saint (b. 1904)
July 24 – Afro Basaldella, Italian painter (b. 1912)
July 28
Maggie Gripenberg, Finnish dancer and choreographer (b. 1881)
Lucie Mannheim, German singer and actress (b. 1899)
July 29 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (b. 1913)
July 30 – Rudolf Bultmann, German Lutheran theologian (b. 1884)
August
August 2 – Fritz Lang, Austrian-German-American filmmaker, screenwriter and occasional film producer (b. 1890)
August 4 – Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian-born British newspaper proprietor (b. 1894)
August 6
Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian-born American cellist (b. 1903)
Maria Klenova, Russian marine geologist (b. 1898)
Betty Clooney, American singer (b. 1931), sister of singer Rosemary Clooney
August 9 – José Lezama Lima, Cuban writer and poet (b. 1910)
August 10 – Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter (b. 1884)
August 12 – Tom Driberg, British politician and journalist (b. 1905)
August 22 – Juscelino Kubitschek, 21st President of Brazil (b. 1902)
August 25 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1900)
August 26 – Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
August 28 – Anissa Jones, American actress and student (b. 1958)
August 29
Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi national poet (b. 1899)
Jimmy Reed, American blues musician (b. 1925)
September
September 5 – Arthur Gilligan, English cricketer (b. 1894)
September 9 – Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary and political theorist, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (b. 1893)
September 10 – Dalton Trumbo, American screenwriter and novelist (b. 1905)
September 13 – Camilo Ponce Enríquez, Ecuadorian politician, 30th President of Ecuador (b. 1912)
September 14 – Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, (b. 1893)
September 15 – Josef Sudek, Czech photographer (b. 1896)
September 16 – Bertha Lutz, Brazilian zoologist, politician, diplomat and feminist (b. 1894)
September 19
Yehezkel Abramsky, Russian-born British rabbi (b. 1886)
Choi Yong-kun, North Korean general and defence minister (b. 1900)
Robert Mellard, American US Army soldier (b. 1919)
September 21 – Orlando Letelier, Chilean economist, politician and diplomat (assassinated) (b. 1932)
September 26 – Leopold Ružička, Yugoslav chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
September 28 – Raymond Collishaw, Canadian World War I fighter ace (b. 1893)
October
October 5
Lars Onsager, Norwegian-born American physical theoretical physicist, 1968 Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
Barbara Nichols, American actress (b. 1928)
October 6 – Gilbert Ryle, British philosopher (b. 1900)
October 9 – Troy H. Middleton, American general and educator (b. 1889)
October 10 – Silvana Armenulić, Yugoslav singer (b. 1939)
October 11 - Connee Boswell, American popular and jazz singer (b. 1907)
October 14
Dame Edith Evans, British actress (b. 1888)
Suleiman Nabulsi, Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1908)
October 15 – Carlo Gambino, Italian-American mobster (b. 1902)
October 18 – Giacomo Lercaro, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1891)
October 25 – Raymond Queneau, French writer (b. 1903)
October 31 – Eileen Gray, Irish furniture designer (b. 1878)
November
November 3 – Solange d'Ayen, French noblewoman, Duchess of Ayen and journalist (b. 1898)
November 8 – Gottfried von Cramm, German tennis player (b. 1909)
November 9
Helen Palmatary, American anthropologist (b. 1884)
Armas Taipale, Finnish Olympic athlete (b. 1890)
November 11 – Alexander Calder, American sculptor (b. 1898)
November 12 – Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
November 15 – Jean Gabin, French actor (b. 1904)
November 18 – Man Ray, American artist (b. 1890)
November 20 – Trofim Lysenko, Soviet biologist and agronomist of Ukrainian origin (b. 1898)
November 23 – André Malraux, French novelist (b. 1901)
November 28 – Rosalind Russell, American actress (b. 1907)
November 29 – Godfrey Cambridge, American comedian and actor (b. 1933)
November 30 – Ivan Yakubovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union (b. 1912)
December
December 2 – Danny Murtaugh, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
December 3
Alfredo Dinale, Italian Olympic cyclist (b. 1900)
Angelo Iachino, Italian admiral (b. 1889)
Mary Nash, American actress (b. 1884)
December 4
Tommy Bolin, American guitarist (b. 1951)
Benjamin Britten, English composer (b. 1913)
December 6 – João Goulart, Brazilian politician, 24th President of Brazil (b. 1918)
December 12 – Jack Cassidy, American actor (b. 1927)
December 15 – Grégoire Kayibanda, Rwandan politician, 2nd President of Rwanda (b. 1924)
December 20
Richard J. Daley, American politician (b. 1902)
Ned Washington, American lyricist (b. 1901)
December 24 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, pretender to the Portuguese throne (b. 1907)
December 28 – Freddie King, American blues guitarist (b. 1934)
Date unknown
Aleksander Wachniewski, Polish engineer and politician (b. 1891)
Nobel Prizes
Physics – Burton Richter, Samuel Chao Chung Ting
Chemistry – William Nunn Lipscomb Jr
Physiology or Medicine – Baruch S. Blumberg, D Carleton Gajdusek
Literature – Saul Bellow
Peace – Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan
Economics – Milton Friedman
See also
1976 in the environment
References
Further reading
1976 news dictionary (1977) online
