From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1959

January

See also January 1959

• January 1
  • Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
  • Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance.
• January 2
  • CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, The Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
  • Castro's troops approach Havana.
  • Soviet Union successfully launches Luna 1 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
• January 3
  • The island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
  • Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
• January 4
  • In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
  • In Léopoldville, 42 people are killed during food fights between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako Party.
• January 6
  • Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
  • The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated.
• January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
• January 8 – Charles De Gaulle is inaugurated as the first president of the French Fifth Republic.
• January 12
  • Caves of Nerja are discovered in Spain.
  • Motown Records founded by Berry Gordy, Jr.

Jan.3 Alaska

• January 13 – Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
• January 22 – Knox Mine Disaster: Water breaches the River Slope Mine near Pittston City, Pennsylvania in Port Griffith; 12 miners are killed.
• January 25 – Pope John XXIII announces that the Second Vatican Council will be convened in Rome.
• January 29 – Walt Disney releases his 16th animated film, Sleeping Beauty in Beverly Hills.

February

See also February 1959

Feb. 3: Crash kills musicians

• February 1 – A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.
• February 3 – A chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper goes down in foggy conditions near Clear Lake, Iowa, killing all 4 occupants on board, including pilot Roger Peterson. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died", popularized in Don McLean's 1972 song "American Pie".
• February 6 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
• February 9 – Yugoslavia and Spain set trade relations (not diplomatic ones)
• February 13 – TAT-2 cable goes into operation.
• February 16
  • Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
  • A blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.
• February 17 – The United States launches the Vanguard II weather satellite.
• February 18
  • Jesús Sosa Blanco, murderer of 108 people, is executed in Cuba.
  • Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
• February 19 – The United Kingdom decides to grant Cyprus its independence.
• February 20 – The Canadian Government cancels the CF-105 Arrow project.
• February 22 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.

March

See also March 1959

• March 1
  • The USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia are struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
  • Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
• March 2 – Recording sessions for the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
• March 8 – The Marx Brothers make their last TV appearance, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery.
• March 9 – The Barbie doll debuts.
• March 10 – A Tibetan uprising against 10 years of Chinese occupation erupts in Lhasa.
• March 11
  • Een beetje by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, text by Willy van Hemert) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for the Netherlands.
  • A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York.
• March 17 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, starts to flee Tibet and travels to India.
• March 18 – American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
• March 19 – Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963), in the Maldives Islands.
• March 31 – Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida is dedicated and opens its gates.
• March 31 – The Dalai Lama flees from Tibet and is granted asylum in India.

April

See also April 1959

• April 6 – The 31st Academy Awards ceremony is held.
• April 8 – The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) is established.
• April 9 – NASA announces its selection of 7 military pilots to become the first U.S. astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
• April 10 – Japanese Prince Akihito marries Shōda Michiko.
• April 22 – Recording sessions for the album Kind of Blue by Miles Davis take place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
• April 25 – The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.
• April 27 – National People's Congress elects Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the People's Republic of China, as a successor of Mao Zedong.

May

See also May 1959

• May
  • The first Ten Tors event is held in Dartmoor.
  • Import tariffs are lifted in the United Kingdom.
• May 2 – 1959 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest defeats Luton Town 2–1.
• May 18 – The National Liberation Committee of Côte d'Ivoire is launched in Conakry, Guinea.
• May 24 – British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.
• May 28 – Two monkeys, Able and Miss Baker are the first living beings to successfully return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.

June

See also June 1959

• June 3 – Singapore becomes a self-governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
• June 5 – A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former ministers are re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
• June 8 – The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
• June 9 – The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
• June 14 – A 3-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic, consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro, whose purpose is to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but 4 are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than 2 years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 revolutionaries.
• June 18 – The film The Nun's Story, based on the best-selling novel, is released. Audrey Hepburn stars as the title character; she later says that this is her favorite film role. The film is a box-office hit, and is nominated for several Oscars.
• June 23
  • Sean Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
  • Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only 9 years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumes a scientific career).
• June 26
  • Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
  • Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a film based on H.T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, after world premiering in Ireland.

July

See also July 1959

• July 1 – The opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway by Canada and the United States, officiated by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II
• July 2 – Prince Albert of Belgium marries Italian princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
• July 4 – With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• July 7 – At 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. The rare event (which will next occur on October 1, 2044) is used for determining the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
• July 8 – Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
• July 14 Groups of Kurdish and communist militias under the leadership of Mustafa Barzani commited the Kerkuk 1959 Massacre in which tens of unarmed civilians were killed. ^[1]
• July 15 – A strike occurs against the U.S. steel industry.
• July 17 – The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge of Tanzania.
• July 22 – Kumamoto University medical research group studying Minamata disease comes to the conclusion that mercury is the cause.
• July 24 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."
• July 25 – The SR-N1 hovercraft crosses the English Channel from Calais to Dover in just over 2 hours, on the 50th anniversary of Louis Bleriot's first crossing by heavier-than-air craft.

August

See also August 1959

• August 4 – Martial law is declared in Laos.
• August 7 – Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• August 7 – United States The Roseburg Oregon Blast kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
• August 8 – A flood in Taiwan kills 2,000.
• August 14 – Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from space.
• August 15 – Cyprus gains independence.
• August 17 – The Hebgen Lake Earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.
• August 17 – Columbia Records releases Miles Davis' groundbreaking album, Kind of Blue.
• August 19 – The Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) is established.
• August 21 – Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
• August 24 – Cyprus joins the United Nations.
• August 26 – The original Mini designed by Sir Alec Issigonis is launched.

September

See also September 1959

• September 14 – Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to crash on the Moon.
• September 17 – The first Navy Navigation Satellite System Transit 1A is launched but fails to reach orbit.
• September 23 – The M/S Princess of Tasmania (Australia's first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry) makes its maiden voyage across the Bass Strait.
• September 25 – Ceylon's prime minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is assassinated.
• September 26
  • Typhoon Vera hits central Honshū, killing an estimated 5,098, injuring another 38,921, and leaving 1,533,000. Most of the victims and damage are centered in the Nagoya area.
  • The first official large unit action of the Vietnam War took place when two companies of the ARVN 23d Division were ambushed by a well-organized Vietcong force of several hundred identified as the "2d Liberation Battalion".
• September 30 – Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev meets Mao Zedong in Beijing.

Sept.13: Luna 2.

October

See also October 1959

• October 2 – Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
• October 7 – The U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 sends back the first ever photos of the far side of the Moon.
• October 12 – At the national APRA Congress in Peru, a group of leftist radicals is expelled from the party; they later form APRA Rebelde.
• October 13 – The United States launches Explorer 7.
• October 21 – In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) opens to the public.
• October 31 – Riots break out in the Belgian Congo.

November

See also November 1959

• November 2 – The first section of the M1 motorway opens between the present junctions 5 and 18.
• November 12 – The Warner Bros. epic The Miracle, very loosely based on the 1911 stage pantomime produced by Max Reinhardt, is released. It is a critical and financial bomb.
• November 15 – The Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas is brutally murdered, inspiring Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.
• November 18 – MGM's widescreen, multimillion dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes the studio's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards – a record held until 1998, when 1997's Titanic becomes the first film to equal the record.
• November 20 – The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.

December

See also December 1959

• December 1 – Cold War – Antarctic Treaty: 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
• December 2 – Malpasset Dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Frejus, killing 412.
• December 8 – The Mona, a lifeboat based at Broughty Ferry in Scotland, capsizes during a rescue attempt, with the loss of 8 lives.
• December 13 – Three years after its first telecast, MGM's The Wizard of Oz is shown on television for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.
• December 14 – Makarios III is selected the first president of Cyprus.

Undated

• Pantyhose is introduced by Glen Raven Mills.
• The Workers World Party is founded by Sam Marcy.
• The first known human with HIV dies in the Congo. PMID 9468138
• The current (as of 2006) design of the Japanese 10 yen coin is put into circulation.
• The Caspian Tiger becomes extinct in Iran.
• The Henney Kilowatt goes on sale in the United States, becoming the first mass-produced electric car in almost three decades.

Ongoing

• Algerian War (1954–62)
• Cold War (1945–91)
• First Sudanese Civil War (1955–72)
• Mau Mau Uprising (1952–60)
• Vietnam War (1959–75)

Births

January–February

• January 1 – Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros
• January 5 – Clancy Brown, American actor
• January 6 – Andrew Johnson, English artist.
• January 9
  • Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Mark Martin, American NASCAR driver
• January 12 – Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter & Roxette guitarist
• January 16 – Sade, Nigerian-born singer
• January 17
  • Susanna Hoffs, American rock vocalist
  • Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer
• January 21
  • Paulo Miklos, Brazilian singer and actor
  • Alex McLeish, Birmingham City and ex-Scotland football manager
• January 27 – Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster (Countdown)
• January 31 – Kelly Moore, American race car driver
• February 2 – Jari Tervo, Finnish author
• February 3 – UliUli Fifita, Professional Wrestler aka(Haku/Meng)
• February 4
  • Lawrence Taylor, American football player
  • Pamelyn Ferdin, former child actress & animal activist
• February 6 – Ken Nelson, English record producer
• February 10 – Dennis Gentry, American football player
• February 14 – Renée Fleming, American soprano
• February 16 – John McEnroe, American tennis player
• February 22
  • Kazi Uzair, Pakistani pediatrician, student leader (d. 1989)
  • Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
• February 26 – Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player

March–April

• March 1 – Nick Griffin, British politician
• March 4
  • Rick Ardon, Australian news presenter
  • Irina Strakhova, Russian race walker
• March 6 – Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
• March 8 – Aidan Quinn, Irish/American actor
• March 9 – Giovanni di Lorenzo, German-Italian journalist and talk show host
• March 10 – Mike Wallace, American race car driver
• March 15 – Harold Baines, American baseball player
• March 16 – Flavor Flav, American rapper
• March 16 – Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
• March 17
  • Danny Ainge, American basketball player, coach, and baseball player
  • Ken Lo, actor and member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team
• March 18
  • Luc Besson, French film producer, writer, and director
  • Irene Cara, American singer
• March 20
  • Steve Borden, American wrestler
  • Steve McFadden, British actor
• March 21 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
• March 22 – Matthew Modine, American actor
• March 23 – Catherine Keener, American actress
• March 29 – Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
• April 2 – Badou Zaki, Morrocan football player and manager
• April 3 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor
• April 10 – Brian Setzer, American rock guitarist and singer
• April 11 – Ana María Polo, Cuban-born judge and television personality
• April 15
  • Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
  • Emma Thompson, English actress
  • Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
• April 16 – Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
• April 17 – Sean Bean, British actor
• April 20 – Clint Howard, American actor and producer
• April 21 – Robert Smith, British rock musician (The Cure)
• April 22
  • Ryan Stiles, American comedian
  • Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager
• April 24 – Paula Yates, British television presenter (d. 2000)
• April 25 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player
• April 27 – Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
• April 30 – Stephen Harper, Canadian politician and present Prime Minister (2006– )

May–June

• May 2 – Alan Best, Canadian animation director and producer
• May 3
  • Uma Bharati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
  • Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
• May 5
  • Steve Stevens, American guitarist
  • Peter Molyneux, British game programmer
  • Brian Williams, American news anchor
• May 10 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
• May 14 – Patrick Bruel, French singer
• May 15 - Andrew Eldritch (born Andrew Taylor), British singer/songwriter (The Sisters of Mercy).
• May 17
  • Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach
  • Jim Nantz, American sports announcer
• May 19 – Nicole Brown Simpson, American ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim (d. 1994)
• May 20 – Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer (d. 1997)
• May 21 – Brian Lenihan, Irish politician
• May 22 – Morrissey, British singer
• May 24 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-born hockey player (d. 1985)
• May 27 – Katherine Lanpher, American journalist
• May 29 – Rupert Everett, British actor
• June 8 – Bernard White, Sri Lankan-born American actor, screenwriter and film director
• June 8 – Scott W. Roberts, American popularizer of astronomy
• June 9 – Miles O'Brien, American television news anchor, pilot
• June 10 – Eliot Spitzer, American politician and former governor of New York
• June 11
  • Hugh Laurie, British actor and comedian
  • Magnum T.A., American professional wrestler
• June 14 – Marcus Miller, American bassist
• June 17 – Ulrike Richter, German swimmer
• June 22
  • Wayne Federman, American comedian, actor, and author
  • Ed Viesturs, American mountaineer
• June 26 – Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and comedian
• June 28 – John Shelley, British illustrator
• June 30 – Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor

July–August

• July 3 – Julie Burchill, British journalist
• July 6 – Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
• July 7
  • Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
  • Barbara Krause, German swimmer
• July 9
  • Jim Kerr, Scottish rock singer
  • Kevin Nash, American professional wrestler
• July 11
  • Richie Sambora, American musician
  • Suzanne Vega, American singer
• July 16 – Gary Anderson, American football player
• July 17 – Margaret Becker, American Christian singer
• July 18 – Mel Purcell, American tennis player
• July 19 – Juan Jose Campanella, Argentinian filmmaker
• July 26
  • Rick Bragg, American journalist
  • Kevin Spacey, American actor
• July 27 – Hugh Green, American football player
• July 29
  • Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
  • Ruud Janssen, Dutch artist
• August 3 – Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• August 4 – Robbin Crosby, American rock guitarist (Ratt) (d. 2002)
• August 5 – Pete Burns, British singer (Dead or Alive)
• August 8 – Christoph Theinert, German cellist and composer
• August 10 – Rosanna Arquette, American actress
• August 11
  • Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer
  • Yoshiaki Murakami, Japanese investor
• August 13 – Danny Bonaduce, American actor and disc jockey
• August 14 – Magic Johnson, American basketball player
• August 15 – Scott Altman, American astronaut
• August 17
  • Sakamoto Chika, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • Jonathan Franzen, American author
  • Brad Wellman, American baseball player
• August 19 – Anthony Sowell, suspected serial killer and convicted rapist
• August 21 – Jim McMahon, American football player
• August 25 – Sönke Wortmann, German film director
• August 27 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
• August 29
  • Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
  • Stephen Wolfram, British scientist
• August 30 – Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian rules footballer and actor
• August 31 – Tony DeFranco, Canadian singer

September–October

• September 1 – Kenny Mayne, American sportscaster
• September 2 – Guy Laliberté, Canadian Cirque du soleil founder
• September 4 – Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
• September 8
  • Daler Nazarov, Tajik composer, singer, and actor
  • Saeko Shimazu, Japanese voice actress
• September 14 – Morten Harket, Norwegian rock singer (a-ha)
• September 17 – Charles Lawson, Irish actor
• September 18 – Sérgio Britto, Brazilian singer and keyboardist
• September 21
  • Dave Coulier, American actor and comedian
  • Stan Van Gundy, American basketball coach
• September 23 - Jason Alexander, American actor
• September 28 – Dantes Tsitsi, Nauruan politician
• September 29 – Benjamin Sehene, Rwandan writer
• September 30 – Ettore Messina, Italian basketball coach
• October 1 – Youssou N'Dour, Senegalese singer
• October 1 – Brian P. Cleary, American humorist, author, poet
• October 3
  • Fred Couples, American golfer
  • Greg Proops, American comedian
  • Jack Wagner, American actor
• October 4 – Chris Lowe, British musician
• October 7
  • Lourdes Flores, Peruvian politician
  • Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
• October 9 – Michael Pare, American actor
• October 10 – Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
• October 13 – Marie Osmond, American singer
• October 15 – Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
• October 15 – Emeril Lagasse, American chef and restaurant owner
• October 17 – Richard Roeper, American film critic
• October 21 – Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
• October 23 – "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist
• October 25 – Christina Amphlett, Australian rock singer
• October 26 – Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
• October 27 – Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach
• October 31 – Neal Stephenson, American writer

November–December

• November 2 – Said Aouita, Moroccan athlete
• November 5 – Bryan Adams, Canadian singer and photographer
• November 7 – Billy Gillispie, American basketball coach
• November 8 – Selçuk Yula, Turkish football player and top scorer
• November 9 – Tony Slattery, British comedian and actor
• November 10
  • Linda Cohn, American sports reporter
  • Mackenzie Phillips, American actress
  • Mike McCarthy, American football coach
• November 14 – Paul McGann, British actor
• November 17 – William R. Moses, American actor
• November 18 – Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
• November 19 – Allison Janney, American actress
• November 23 – Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
• November 25 – Charles Kennedy, British politician
• November 27 – Viktoria Mullova, Russian violinist
• November 28 – Judd Nelson, American actor
• November 29
  • Kim Delaney, American actress
  • Rahm Emanuel, American politician
  • Platon Lebedev, Russian executive
• November 30 – Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
• December 1 – Billy Childish, English painter, writer and musician
• December 1 – Wally Lewis, Australian sport identity
• December 4 – Christa Luding, German speed skater
• December 6 – Satoru Iwata, Japanese president of Nintendo
• December 13 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor
• December 16 – Alison LaPlaca, American actress
• December 19 – Waise Lee, Hong Kong actor
• December 20 – Stephen Chan Chi Wan, general manager of TVB
• December 20 – Sandra Cisneros, Mexican-born author
• December 21 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
• December 21 – Martin Meenan, Irish schoolteacher and playwright
• December 22 – Bernd Schuster, German footballer and manager
• December 24 – Keith Deller, English darts player
• December 27 – Gerina Dunwich, American author
• December 30 – Tracey Ullman, English/American comedian and actress
• December 31
  • Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (d. 1981)
  • Val Kilmer, American actor
  • Baron Waqa, Nauruan politician and composer

Deaths

January–March

• January 2 – William D. Francis, Australian botanist (b. 1889)
• January 3 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, novelist and translator (b. 1887)
• January 21
  • Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
  • Carl Switzer, American actor (Our Gang) (b. 1927)
• January 22 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
• January 28 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
• February 1 – Frank Shannon, American actor (b. 1874)
• February 3 – Killed in the crash of a private plane:
  • The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), American rock singer (b. 1930)
  • Buddy Holly, American rock singer (b. 1936)
  • Ritchie Valens, American rock singer (b. 1941)
• February 3 – Vincent Astor, American philanthropist (b. 1891)
• February 4 – Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
• February 7 – Nap Lajoie, American baseball player (b. 1874)
• February 11 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (b. 1922)
• February 12 – George Antheil, American composer (b. 1900)
• February 14 – Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (b. 1898)
• February 15 – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
• February 18 – Gago Coutinho, Portuguese aviation pioneer (b. 1869)
• February 20 – Laurence Housman, English playwright and writer (b. 1865)
• February 22 – Helen Parrish, American actress (b. 1924)
• February 23 – Luis Palés Matos, Puerto Rican poet (b. 1898)
• February 26
  • Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, eldest grandchild of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1891)
  • Selig Suskin, Russian-born Israeli agronomist and early Zionist (b. 1873)
• February 28 – Maxwell Anderson, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
• March 1 – Mack Gordon, American composer and lyricist (b. 1904)
• March 2 – Eric Blore, English actor (b. 1887)
• March 3 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
• March 4 – Maxey Long, American athlete (b. 1878)
• March 6 – Fred Stone, American actor (b. 1873)
• March 15 – Lester Young, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1909)
• March 21 – Edwin Balmer, American science fiction and mystery writer (b. 1883)
• March 26 – Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
• March 27 – Grant Withers, American actor (b. 1905)
• March 29 – Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)

April–June

• April 6 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Israeli professor and scholar of Islamic art (b. 1895)
• April 9 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
• April 12 – James Gleason, American actor (b. 1882)
• April 18 – Irving Cummings, American actor (b. 1888)
• May 5 – Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
• May 14 – Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)
• May 16 – Elisha Scott, Irish footballer (b. 1894)
• May 18
  • Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Antarctic explorer (b. 1886)
  • Enrique Guaita, Argentinian footballer (b. 1910)
• May 24 – John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
• May 30 – Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz, Argentinian journalist (b. 1898)
• June 4 – Charles Vidor, American director (b. 1900)
• June 8 - Pietro Canonica, sculptor (b. 1869)
• June 9 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• June 16 – George Reeves, American TV actor (b. 1914)
• June 18 – Ethel Barrymore, American stage & screen actress (b. 1879)
• June 20 – Hitoshi Ashida, Prime Minister of Japan 1948 (b. 1887)
• June 23 – Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (b. 1920)
• June 25 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938)

July–September

• July 6 – George Grosz, German artist (b. 1893)
• July 11 – Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
• July 15 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (b. 1880)
• July 17 – Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
• July 25
  • King Mutara III of Rwanda (b. c.1912)
  • Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Chief Rabbi of Ireland and of Israel (b. 1888)
• August 5 – Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
• August 6 – Preston Sturges, American film director and writer (b. 1898)
• August 15 – Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901)
• August 16
  • Benny Fields, American singer (b. 1894)
  • William Halsey, Jr., American World War II naval officer (b. 1882)
  • Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
• August 19
  • Claude Grahame White, British aviation pioneer (b. 1879)
  • Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
• August 28 – Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
• September 1 – Jack Norworth, American singer and songwriter (b. 1879)
• September 6
  • Edmund Gwenn, English actor (b. 1877)
  • Kay Kendall, English actress(b. 1926)
• September 7 – Maurice Duplessis, Premier of Québec (b. 1890)
• September 11 – Paul Douglas, American actor (b. 1907)
• September 13 – Gilbert Adrian, American costume designer (b. 1903)
• September 14 – Wayne Morris, American actor (b. 1914)
• September 17 – Jack Llewelyn Davies, one of the 'Lost Boys' for the Peter Pan book (b. 1894)
• September 25
  • Solomon Bandaranaike, prime minister of Ceylon (b. 1899)
  • Helen Broderick, American actress (b. 1891)
• September 28
  • Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (b. 1901)
  • Vinnie Richards, American tennis player (b. 1903)
• September 30 – Taylor Holmes, American actor (b. 1878)

October–December

• October 6 – Bernard Berenson, American art historian (b. 1865)
• October 7 – Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)
• October 14 – Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
• October 16 – George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)
• October 16 – Minor Hall, American jazz musician (b. 1897)
• October 18 – Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
• October 19 – Ebrahim Hakimi, Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1871)* October 22 – Joseph Cahill, Australian politician (b. 1891)
• October 20 – Werner Krauss, German actor (b. 1884)
• October 28 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban revolutionary (b. 1932)
• November 1 – M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Tamil film actor and producer (b. 1909)
• November 2 – Michael Considine, Australian politician (b. 1885)
• November 7 – Victor McLaglen, English actor (b. 1886)
• November 10 – Lupino Lane, British actor (b. 1892)
• November 15 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
• November 17 – Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
• November 21 – Max Baer, American boxer and actor (b. 1909)
• November 22 – Molla Mallory, American tennis champion (b. 1884)
• November 24 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby league player (b. 1883)
• November 25 – Gérard Philipe, French actor (b. 1922)
• December 4 – Hubert Marischka, Austrian film director (b. 1882)
• December 14 – Edna Wallace Hopper, stage actress (b. 1872)
• December 22 – Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (b. 1901)
• December 24 – Edmund Goulding, American director (b. 1891)
• December 28 – Ante Pavelic, Croatian fascist leader during World War II (b. 1889)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Emilio Gino Segrè, Owen Chamberlain
• Chemistry – Jaroslav Heyrovský
• Physiology or Medicine – Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg
• Literature – Salvatore Quasimodo
• Peace – Philip John Noel-Baker

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Gigi
• Best Director: Vincente Minnelli, Gigi
• Best Actor: David Niven, Separate Tables
• Best Supporting Actor: Burl Ives, The Big Country
• Best Actress: Susan Hayward, I Want To Live!
• Best Supporting Actress: Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
• Best Original Story and Screenplay: Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith, The Defiant Ones
• Best Screenplay Based on Material From Another Medium: Alan Jay Lerner, Gigi

Notes

External links

From Wikiquote

From Familypedia

For the song "1959" by The Sisters of Mercy, see album: Floodland.

Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Contents  (full)

1 Events of 1959

-  Jan. ^. Feb. ^. March ^. April

-  May ^. June ^. July  ^.  Aug.

-  Sept. ^. Oct. ^. Nov. ^.  Dec.

-  Undated ^. Ongoing ^.

2 Births

3 Deaths

4 Nobel Prizes

5 See also -  Notes -  External links

---

Events of 1959

January

• January 1
  • Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
  • Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when forces of Fidel Castro advance.

January 2: Castro's guerilla troops

• January 2
  • CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
  • Castro's troops approach Havana.

Che

• January 3
  • Island of Addu in the Maldives declares independence.
  • Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
• January 4
  • In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.
  • In Léopoldville 42 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the Abako party.
• January 6 - Fidel Castro arrives in Havana.
• January 7 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
• January 8 - Charles De Gaulle inaugurated as the first president of French Fifth Republic.
• January 12 - The Caves of Nerja were discovered in Spain.

Jan.3 Alaska

• January 13 - Cuban communists execute 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista.
• January 22 - Knox Mine Disaster - water breaches River Slope mine in Port Griffith - 12 miners dead.

February

Feb. 3: Crash kills musicians

• February 1 - A referendum in Switzerland turns down female suffrage.
• February 3 - The chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper goes down in an Iowa snowstorm, killing all four occupants on board. The tragedy is later termed "The Day the Music Died" popularized in Don McLean's song American Pie.
• February 6 - At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
• February 13 -*TAT-2 cable goes into operation.
• February 16
  • Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
  • A blizzard causes a massive power outage in Newfoundland.
• February 17 - USA launches the Vanguard II weather satellite.
• February 18
  • Jesus Sosa Blanco, murderer of 108 people, executed in Cuba.
  • Women in Nepal vote for the first time.
• February 19 - The United Kingdom grants Cyprus its independence.
• February 20 - The Canadian Government cancels the CF-105 Arrow projectit.
• February 22 - Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
• February 26 - Author Walter Mene throws acid on a Rubens painting in Munich.

March

• March 1
  • USS Tuscaloosa, USS New Orleans, USS Tennessee and USS West Virginia struck from the Naval Vessel Register.
  • Archbishop Makarios returns to Cyprus from exile.
• March 8 - Last television appearance of The Marx Brothers, in The Incredible Jewel Robbery.
• March 9 - The Barbie doll debuts.
• March 11
  • Een beetje by Teddy Scholten (music by Dick Schallies, text by Willy van Hemert) wins Eurovision Song Contest 1959 for Netherlands.
  • "Raisin in the Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry opens on Broadway in New York.
• March 12 - Production of the first solid gold "Glaussen Pennies".
• March 17 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
• March 18 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs bill allowing for Hawaiian statehood.
• March 19 - Two other islands join Addu in the United Suvadive Republic (abolished September 1963), in the Maldives Islands.
• March 31
  • Busch Gardens in Tampa is dedicated and opens its gates.
  • Dalai Lama leaves Tibet.

April

• April 9 - NASA announces its selection of seven military pilots to become the first US astronauts (see Mercury Seven).
• April 10 - Japanese prince Akihito married Shōda Michiko.
• April 25 - The St. Lawrence Seaway linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean officially opens to shipping.

May

• May - First Ten Tors event held in Dartmoor.
• late May / early June - import tariffs lifted in the United Kingdom.
• May 24 - British Empire Day is renamed Commonwealth Day.

June

• June 3 - Singapore becomes a self governing crown colony of Britain with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.
• June 5 - A new government of the State of Singapore is sworn in by Sir William Goode. Two former Ministers were re-elected to the Legislative Assembly.
• June 8 - The USS Barbero and United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
• June 9 - The USS George Washington is launched as the first submarine to carry ballistic missiles.
• June 14 - A three-front revolutionary invasion by air and sea takes place in the Dominican Republic consisting of exiles aided by Fidel Castro whose purpose was to overthrow dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Within a few days all but four are captured and executed. Trujillo is killed less than two years later by men partly inspired by the deaths of the 1959 martyrs.
• June 18 - The film The Nun's Story, based on the best-selling novel, is released. Audrey Hepburn stars as the title character; she will later say that this is her favorite film role. The film is a box-office hit, and is nominated for several Oscars.
• June 23
  • Sean Lemass becomes the third Taoiseach of Ireland.
  • Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumed a scientific career).
• June 26
  • Queen Elizabeth II and US President Dwight Eisenhower open the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
  • Darby O'Gill and the Little People, a film based on H.T. Kavanagh's short stories, is released in the U.S. by Walt Disney, after world premiering in Ireland. It will be the only "personally produced by Disney" film in which Sean Connery appears; he also sings.

July

• July - The medical research group studying Minamata disease comes to the conclusion that mercury is the cause.
• July 2 - Royal wedding in Belgium: Prince Albert marries the Italian princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria.
• July 4 - With the admission of Alaska as the 49th U.S. state earlier in the year, the 49-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia.
• July 7 - 14:28 UT Venus occulted the star Regulus. The rare event which will next occur on October 1, 2044 was used for determining the diameter of Venus and the structure of Venus' atmosphere.
• July 8 - Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first Americans killed in action in Vietnam.
• July 15 - Steel industry strike in USA,
• July 17 Famous Jazz singer Billie Holiday dies.
• July 24 - At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, US Vice President Richard Nixon and USSR Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a "kitchen debate."

August

• August 4 - Martial law declared in Laos.
• August 7
  • Explorer program: The United States launches Explorer 6 from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
  • United States The Roseburg Oregon Blast kills 14 and causes $12 million worth of damage.
• August 8 - Flood in Taiwan leaves 2,000 dead.
• August 14 - Explorer 6 sends the first picture of Earth from space.
• August 15 - Cyprus gains independence.
• August 21 - Hawaii is admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
• August 24 - Cyprus joins United Nations.

September

• September 13 - Luna 2 crashes onto the Moon as the first man-made object on the moon.
• September 23 - The M/S Princess of Tasmania Australia’s first passenger RO/RO diesel ferry makes maiden voyage across Bass Strait.
• September 25 - Ceylon's prime minister SWRD Bandaranaike assassinated.
• September 26 - Typhoon Vera, worst storm to hit Japan kills more than 5,000 people.

Sept.13: Luna 2.

October

• October 2 - Rod Serling's classic anthology series The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS.
• October 7 - U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 sends back first ever photos of the far side of the Moon.
• October 12
  • At the national congress of APRA in Peru a group of leftist radicals are expelled from the party. They will later form APRA Rebelde.
  • Large scale diamond robbery in London.
• October 13 - USA launches Explorer 7.
• October 20 - Joseph T. Stevens was born to George and Kay Stevens in Greencastle In.
• October 20 - Rozana Yusoff was born in Kuala Lumpur.
• October 21 - In New York City, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opens to the public. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
• October 31
  • Riots in the Belgian Congo.
  • Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow that he will never return to the United States.

November

• November 2 - The first section of the M1 motorway was opened between the present junctions 5 and 18.
• November 8 - Leeds City Tramways closes down.
• November 12 - The Warner Bros. epic The Miracle, very loosely based on the 1911 stage pantomime produced by Max Reinhardt, is released. It is a critical and financial bomb.
• November 15 - The Clutter family of Holcomb is brutally murdered.
• November 18 - MGM's widescreen, multimillion dollar, Technicolor version of Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, is released and becomes MGM's greatest hit up to that time. It is critically acclaimed and eventually wins 11 Academy Awards - a record held until 1997, when Titanic equals the record.

December

• December 1 - Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed - 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a landmark treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent (this was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War).
• December 2 - Malpasset dam in southern France collapses and water flows over the town of Frejus: 412 dead.
• December 13 - MGM's The Wizard of Oz is telecast for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than the first telecast, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition on television.
• December 14 - Makarios selected first president of Cyprus.

Undated

• Pantyhose are introduced by Glen Raven Mills.
• Workers World Party is founded by Sam Marcy.
• The first skull of Australopithecus is discovered by Louis Leakey and his wife Mary Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.
• The first known human with HIV dies in Congo. PMID 9468138
• The current (as of 2006) design of the Japanese 10 yen coin was put into circulation.
• The Caspian Tiger became extinct in Iran by this date.

Ongoing

• Marshall Plan

Births

January-February

• January 1 - Azali Assoumani, President of the Comoros
• January 6 - Kathy Sledge, American singer
• January 9
  • Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
  • Mark Martin, NASCAR driver
• January 16 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
• January 17 - Susanna Hoffs, Lead singer of The Bangles
• January 21 - Paulo Miklos, Brazilian singer and actor
• January 24 - Nastassja Kinski, German actress
• January 27 - Keith Olbermann, American news correspondent and sportscaster
• January 31 - Kelly Moore, American race car driver
• February 3 - Laurence Tolhurst, cofounder and former drummer/keyboardist of The Cure
• February 4 - Lawrence Taylor, American football player
• February 6 - Ken Nelson, English record producer
• February 10 - Dennis Gentry, American football player
• February 14 - Renee Fleming, American soprano
• February 16 - John McEnroe, American tennis player
• February 22 - Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
• February 23 - Richard Dodds, British field hockey player
• February 26 - Rolando Blackman, Panamanian basketball player

March-April

• March 4 - Rick Ardon, Australian news presenter
• March 6 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian
• March 8 - Aidan Quinn, Irish/American actor
• March 9
  • Rodney A. Grant, American actor
  • Giovanni di Lorenzo, German-Italian journalist and talk show host
• March 10 - Mike Wallace, American race car driver
• March 15 - Harold Baines, baseball player
• March 16
  • Flavor Flav, American rapper
  • Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
• March 17 - Danny Ainge, American basketball player, coach, and baseball player
• March 18
  • Luc Besson, French film producer, writer, and director
  • Irene Cara, American singer
• March 20
  • Steve Borden, American wrestler
  • Steve McFadden, British actor
• March 21 - Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
• March 22 - Matthew Modine, American actor
• March 29
  • Barry Blanchard, Canadian mountaineer
  • Perry Farrell, American musician
• April 2 - Badou Zaki, Morrocan football player and manager
• April 3 - David Hyde Pierce, American actor
• April 10 - Brian Setzer, American guitarist (Stray Cats)
• April 11 - Ana María Polo, Cuban-born judge and television personality
• April 15 - Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
• April 16 - Alison Ramsay, Scottish field hockey player
• April 21 - Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
• April 22
  • Catherine Mary Stewart, Canadian actress
  • Ryan Stiles, American actor
• April 27 - Sheena Easton, Scottish singer
• April 29 - Louis Colaianni, American author
• April 30 - Stephen Harper, Canadian politician and present Prime Minister (2006- )

May-June

• May 3
  • Uma Bharati, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
  • Ben Elton, British comedian and writer
• May 5
  • Ian McCulloch, English singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
  • Steve Stevens, American guitarist
  • Peter Molyneux, British game programmer
• May 10 - Victoria Rowell, American actress
• May 14 - Patrick Bruel, French singer
• May 15 - Andrew Eldritch, British musician (The Sisters of Mercy)
• May 19 - Nicole Brown Simpson, Ex-wife of O.J. Simpson and murder victim
• May 20 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, American singer (d. 1997)
• May 20 - Bronson Pinchot, American actor
• May 21 - Brian Lenihan, Irish politician
• May 22 - Steven Morrissey, British singer
• May 24 - Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-born hockey player (d. 1985)
• May 29 - Adrian Paul, British actor
• June 8 - Bernard White, Sri Lankan-born American actor, screenwriter and film director, knowns for playing Rama Kandra in Matrix Revolutions
• June 11 - Hugh Laurie, British actor and comedian
• June 12 - John Linnell, American musician (They Might Be Giants)
• June 14 - Marcus Miller, American bassist
• June 22
  • Wayne Federman, American comedian, actor, and author
  • Ed Viesturs, American mountaineer
• June 26 - Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and comedian
• June 27 - Clint Boon, British musician (Inspiral Carpets)
• June 30 - Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor

July-August

• July 3 - Julie Burchill, British journalist
• July 6 - Richard Dacoury, French basketball player
• July 7 - Ben Linder, American engineer (d. 1987)
• July 9 - Kevin Nash, American professional wrestler
• July 10 - Janet Julian, American actress
• July 11
  • Richie Sambora, American musician
  • Suzanne Vega, American singer
• July 13 - Richard Leman, British field hockey player
• July 16 - Gary Anderson, American football player
• July 26
  • Rick Bragg, American writer
  • Kevin Spacey, American actor
• July 27 - Hugh Green, American football player
• July 29
  • Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor
  • Ruud Janssen, Dutch artist
• August 1 - Joe Elliott, British singer (Def Leppard)
• August 2 - Apollonia Kotero, American actress and singer
• August 3 - Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
• August 4 - Robbin Crosby, American guitarist (Ratt) (d. 2002)
• August 8 - Christoph Theinert, German cellist and composer
• August 10 - Rosanna Arquette, American actress
• August 11 - Gustavo Cerati, Argentinian singer
• August 14 - Magic Johnson, American basketball player
• August 17
  • Jonathan Franzen, American author
  • Brad Wellman, American baseball player
• August 18 - June Angela, Asian-American actress, singer, and dancer
• August 21 - Jim McMahon, American football player
• August 27 - Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
• August 29
  • Rebecca De Mornay, American actress
  • Stephen Wolfram, British scientist
• August 30 - Mark 'Jacko' Jackson, Australian footballer and actor

September-October

• September 2 - Guy Laliberté, Quebec Cirque du soleil founder
• September 4 - Kevin Harrington, Australian actor
• September 8 - Daler Nazarov, Tajik composer, singer, and actor
• September 14 - Morten Harket, Norwegian singer (a-ha)
• September 17 - Charles Lawson, Irish actor
• September 18
  • Ian Arkwright, English footballer
  • Sérgio Britto, Brazilian singer and keyboardist
• September 21 - Dave Coulier, American actor
• September 29 - Benjamin Sehene, Rwandan writer
• October 1 - Youssou N'Dour singer
• October 3
  • Fred Couples, American golfer
  • Greg Proops, American comedian
  • Jack Wagner, American actor
• October 7
  • Lourdes Flores, Peruvian politician
  • Simon Cowell, English music producer and television talent show judge
• October 9 - Michael Pare, American actor
• October 10 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (d.2000)
• October 13 - Marie Osmond, American singer
• October 15
  • Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York
  • Emeril Lagasse, American chef and restaurant owner
• October 17
  • Ron Drummond, American writer, editor, and music historian
  • Richard Roeper, American film critic
• October 20 - Rozana Yusoff, Malaysian
• October 21 - Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
• October 22 - Todd Graff, American actor, writer, and director
• October 23 - "Weird Al" Yankovic, American singer and parodist
• October 25 - Christina Amphlett, Australian singer (Divinyls)
• October 26 - Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
• October 26 - Brian Bovell, British actor
• October 27 - Rick Carlisle, American basketball coach
• October 31 - Neal Stephenson, American writer

November-December

• November 5 - Bryan Adams, Canadian singer and photographer
• November 7 - Billy Gillispie, American basketball coach
• November 8 - Selçuk Yula, Turkish football player and topscorer.
• November 10 - Linda Cohn, American sports reporter
• November 14 - Paul McGann, British actor
• November 18 - Jimmy Quinn, Irish footballer and football manager
• November 23 - Dominique Dunne, American actress (d. 1982)
• November 25 - Charles Kennedy, British politician
• November 28 - Judd Nelson, American actor
• November 29
  • Kim Delaney, American actress
  • Platon Lebedev, a Russian former CEO of Group Menatep, best known as the business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky
• November 30 - Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
• December 20 - Sandra Cisneros, Mexican-born author
• December 21 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
• December 27 - Gerina Dunwich, American author
• December 31 - Val Kilmer, American actor
• date unknown - Willie Doherty, Irish artist

Deaths

January-March

• January 2 - William D. Francis, Australian botanist (b. 1889)
• January 21 - Cecil B. DeMille, American film director (b. 1881)
• January 22 - Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
• February 1 - Frank Shannon, American actor (b. 1874)
• February 3 - Killed in a private plane crash:
  • The Big Bopper, American singer (b. 1930)
  • Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
  • Richie Valens, American singer (b. 1941)
• February 3 - Vincent Astor, American philanthropist (b. 1891)
• February 4 - Una O'Connor, Irish actress (b. 1880)
• February 11 - Marshall Teague, American race car driver (b. 1922)
• February 14 - Baby Dodds, American jazz musician (b. 1898)
• February 15 - Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
• February 23 - Luis Palés Matos, Puerto Rican poet (b. 1898)
• February 28 - Maxwell Anderson, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
• March 3 - Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (b. 1906)
• March 4 - Maxey Long, American athlete (b. 1878)
• March 26 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888)
• March 29 - Barthélemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic (b. 1910)

April-June

• April 9 - Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
• May 5 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1878)
• May 14 - Sidney Bechet, American musician (b. 1897)
• May 16 - Elisha Scott, Irish footballer (b. 1894)
• May 18
  • Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Antarctic explorer (b. 1886)
  • Enrique Guaita, Argentinian footballer (b. 1910)
• May 24 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
• June 9 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• June 16 - George Reeves, American actor, tv "Superman" (b. 1914)
• June 18 - Ethel Barrymore, stage & screen actress (b. 1879)
• June 23 - Boris Vian, French writer, poet, singer, and musician (b. 1920)

July - September

• July 11 - Charlie Parker, English cricketer (b. 1882)
• July 15 - Ernest Bloch, Swiss composer (b. 1880)
• July 17 - Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
• July 25 - Mutara III, king of Rwanda (b. c. 1912)
• August 5 - Edgar Guest, English poet (b. 1881)
• August 6 - Preston Sturges, American film director and writer (b. 1898)
• August 15 - Blind Willie McTell, American singer (b. 1901)
• August 16 - Wanda Landowska, Polish harpsichordist (b. 1879)
• August 19
  • Claude Grahame White, pioneer British aviator, (b. 1879)
  • Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (b. 1880)
• August 28 - Bohuslav Martinů, Czech composer (b. 1890)
• September 7 - Maurice Duplessis, premier of Québec (b. 1890)
• September 28 - Rudolf Caracciola, racing driver (b. 1901)

October-December

• October 6 - Bernard Berenson, American art historian (b. 1865)
• October 7 - Mario Lanza, American tenor (b. 1921)
• October 14 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (b. 1909)
• October 16 - George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1880)
• October 18 - Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete (b. 1898)
• October 22 - Joseph Cahill, Australian politician (b. 1891)
• November 15 - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
• November 17 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, Brazilian composer (b. 1887)
• November 21 - Max Baer, American boxer and actor (b. 1909)
• December 22 - Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer and actress (b. 1901)

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Emilio Gino Segrè, Owen Chamberlain
• Chemistry - Jaroslav Heyrovský
• Physiology or Medicine - Severo Ochoa, Arthur Kornberg
• Literature - Salvatore Quasimodo
• Peace - Philip John Noel-Baker

Notes

People of the year 1959 at Familypedia

7 people were born in 1959

0 children were born to the 3 women born in 1959

25 people died in 1959

810 people lived in 1959

Events of the year 1959 at Familypedia

5 people were married in 1959.

There were 0 military battles in 1959.

People of the year 1959 at Familypedia

7 people were born in 1959

0 children were born to the 3 women born in 1959

25 people died in 1959

810 people lived in 1959

Events of the year 1959 at Familypedia

5 people were married in 1959.

There were 0 military battles in 1959.