Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar).

Jan. 7: Marian Anderson at the Met

Events of 1955

January

• January 2 - José Antonio Remón Cantera, president of Panama, is assassinated at a race track in Panama City.
• January 7 - Marian Anderson is the first African American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
• January 18 - January 20 - Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).
• January 22 - The Pentagon announces a plan to develop ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) armed with nuclear weapons.
• January 23 - The Sutton Coldfield rail crash kills 17 near Birmingham, England.
• January 25 - The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union announces the end of the war between the USSR and Germany, which began during World War II in 1941.
• January 28 - The United States Congress authorizes President Dwight D. Eisenhower to use force to protect Formosa from the People's Republic of China.

January 22: ICBM

February

• February 10 - The Seventh Fleet of the United States Navy helps the Republic of China evacuate Chinese Nationalist army and residents from the Tachen Islands to Taiwan.
• February 12 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
• February 16 - Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.
• February 22 - In Chicago's Democratic primary, Mayor Martin H. Kennelly loses to the head of the Cook County Democratic Party, Richard J. Daley, 364,839 to 264,775.

March

March 20: Bill Haley.

• March 5 - WBBJ signs on the air in the Jackson, Tennessee as WDXI.
• March 7 - The 1954 Broadway musical version of Peter Pan, starring Mary Martin, is presented on television for the first time by NBC (also the first time that a stage musical is presented in its entirety on TV exactly as performed on stage). The program gains the largest viewership of a TV special up to that time, and becomes one of the first great television classics.
• March 17 - The Richard Riot occurs in Montreal.
• March 19 - KXTV signs on the air in the United States.
• March 20 - Blackboard Jungle opens in movie theaters featuring the song Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and his Comets, thus propelling rock and roll as a musical genre. Teenagers jump from their seats to dance to the song.

April

April 15: McDonald's

• April 5 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• April 5 - Richard J. Daley defeats Robert Merrian to become mayor of Chicago by a vote of 708,222 to 581,555.
• April 6 - Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• April 11 - The Taiwanese Kuomintang sabotages the "Kashmir Princess", killing 16 but failing to assassinate People's Republic of China leader Zhou Enlai.
• April 12 - The Salk polio vaccine is introduced.
• April 15 - Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant (the company's 9th since it was founded in 1940), but Kroc later takes over the company and oversees its worldwide expansion.
• April 16 - The Burma-Japanese peace treaty signed in Rangoon on November 5, 1954 comes into force, formally ending the state of war.
• April 17 - Imre Nagy, Premier of Hungary, is ousted for being too moderate.

May

• May 5 - West Germany becomes a sovereign state.
• May 9 - West Germany joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
• May 11 - The Japanese ferry Shiun Maru sinks off of Takamatsu, Shikoku; 168 are killed.
• May 14 - Eight communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
• May 19 - The Austrian State Treaty, which restores Austria's sovereignty, is concluded between the four occupying powers of World War II and Austria.

June

• June 7 - The $64,000 Question premieres on CBS television, with Hal March as the host.
• June 11 - 1955 Le Mans disaster: Eighty-three are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide.
• June 13 - Mir Mine, the first diamond mine of the USSR, is discovered.
• June 16 - Lady and the Tramp, Walt Disney's 15th animated feature film, debuts in U.S. movie theaters.

July

July 17: Disneyland opens.

• July 7 - The New Zealand Special Air Service is formed.
• July 13 - Ruth Ellis (b. 1926) is hanged for murder in London (the last woman ever to be executed in the United Kingdom).
• July 17 - Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.
• July 18 - The first atomic-generated electrical power is sold commercially, powering Arco, Idaho.
• July 18 - Illinois's Governor William Stratton signs the Loyalty Oath Act, that mandates all public employees take a loyalty oath or lose their jobs.
• July 18 - The Geneva Summit between the US, USSR, UK, and France begins.
• July 19 - Estonian Television (ETV) begins broadcasting.
• July 23 - The Geneva Summit between the US, USSR, UK, and France ends.
• July 27 - El Al Flight 402 from Vienna to Tel Aviv-Yafo via Istanbul is shot down over Bulgaria. All passengers and crew aboard the Lockheed Constellation are killed.
• July 28 - The first Interlingua Congress in Tours, France, leads to the founding of the Union Mundial pro Interlingua.

August

Aug.19 Diane

• August 19 - Hurricane Diane hits the northeast United States, killing 200 and causing over $1 billion in damage.
• August 20 - Hundreds are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.
• August 22 - Eleven schoolchildren are killed when their school bus is hit by a freight train in Spring City, Tennessee.
• August 25 - The last Soviet forces leave Austria.
• August 27 - The first copy of a Guinness World Records book is published.
• August 28 - Emmett Till is killed in Money, Mississippi.

September

Sept.30: James Dean.

• September 6 - Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek minority is the target of a government-sponsored pogrom.
• September 10 - Gunsmoke debuts on the CBS television network.
• September 15 - Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is published in Paris by Olympia Press.
• September 19 - President of Argentina Juan Peron is ousted in a military coup.
• September 19 - Hurricane Hilda kills 200 in Mexico.
• September 21 - Juan Perón looses power by military coup.
• September 22 - Independent Commercial Television (ITV) begins broadcasting in the UK.
• September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a coronary thrombosis while on vacation in Denver.
• September 30 - Actor James Dean is killed when his Porsche 550 Spyder collides with another automobile at a highway junction near Cholame, California.

October

• October 3 - The Mickey Mouse Club premieres on the ABC television network.
• October 4 - The Reverend Sun Myung Moon is released from prison in Seoul, Korea.
• October 4 - The Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees 2-0 in Game 7 of the 1955 Fall Classic.
• October 11 - 70-mm film is introduced with the theatrical release of Oklahoma!
• October 20 - The first film footage of Elvis Presley is shot as part of a film short about Cleveland disc jockey Bill Randle.
• October 20 - Cardiff is proclaimed as the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
• October 26 - After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares its permanent neutrality.
• October 26 - Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims Vietnam a republic with himself as president.

November

Oct.26: Austria free.

• November 1 - A time bomb explodes in the cargo hold of United Airlines Flight 629, a Douglas DC-6B airliner flying above Longmont, Colorado, killing all 39 passengers and 5 crew members on board the aircraft.
• November 3 - The five-and-a-half-mile Rimutaka Railway tunnel opens in New Zealand.
• November 5 - Racial segregation is forbidden on trains and buses in U.S. interstate commerce.
• November 12 - The Bugs Bunny cartoon Roman-Legion Hare debuts in the USA.
• November 20 - Bo Diddley makes his television debut on Ed Sullivan's Toast Of The Town show for the CBS network.
• November 23 - The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to Australia.
• November 27 - Fred Phelps establishes the Westboro Baptist Church, an anti-gay church, in Topeka, Kansas.

December

Dec. 14: Tappan Zee Bridge opens.

• December 1 - Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white person, and the national civil rights movement begins.
• December 5 - The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to become the AFL-CIO.
• December 5 - The Montgomery Improvement Association is formed in Montgomery, Alabama by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Black ministers to coordinate a Black boycott of city buses.
• December 14 - Tappan Zee Bridge in New York opens to traffic.
• December 14 - Bulgaria joins the United Nations.
• December 22 - American cytogeneticist Joe Hin Tjio discovers the correct number of human chromosomes.
• December 31
  • General Motors becomes the first American corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
  • Michigan J. Frog, a cartoon character, debuts in One Froggy Evening; he is "killed off" in 2005 when the WB Network stops using him as its mascot

Undated

• Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach Airport (Flughafen Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach) is founded.

Ongoing

• Malayan Emergency (1948-1960)
• Marshall Plan
• Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1960)

World population

• World population: 2,755,823,000

- Africa: 246,746,000

- Asia: 1,541,947,000

- Europe: 575,184,000

- Latin-America: 190,797,000

- Northern America: 186,884,000

- Oceania: 14,265,000

Births

January

• January 1 - Mario Andreacchio, Australian film director
• January 1 - Stephen Mallinder, English musician (Cabaret Voltaire)
• January 2 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
• January 2 - Vivien Savage, French singer
• January 6 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
• January 12 - Rockne O'Bannon, American writer and television producer
• January 13 - Paul Kelly, Australian musician
• January 13 - Jay McInerney, American writer
• January 15 - Nigel Benson, British author and illustrator
• January 17 - Steve Earle, American musician
• January 18 - Kevin Costner, American actor (Dances With Wolves)
• January 19 - Simon Rattle, English conductor
• January 20 - Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• January 25 - Terry Chimes, British rock drummer (The Clash)
• January 26 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born rock musician (Van Halen)
• January 27 - John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
• January 27 - Alexander Stuart, British author
• January 28 - Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France

February

• February 3 - Stephen Euin Cobb, American novelist
• February 3 - Kirsty Wark, Scottish television presenter
• February 6 - Michael Pollan, American journalist
• February 7 - Miguel Ferrer, American actor
• February 8 - John Grisham, American novelist
• February 10 - Chris Adams, British professional wrestler and judoka (d. 2001)
• February 10 - Greg Norman, Australian golfer
• February 12 - Arsenio Hall, African-American actor and talk show host (Coming To America)
• February 15 - Christopher McDonald, American actor
• February 16 - Hunt Block, American actor
• February 17 - Mo Yan, Chinese writer (Red Sorghum)
• February 19 - Jeff Daniels, American actor (Dumb and Dumber)
• February 20 - Kelsey Grammer, American actor (Frasier)
• February 23 - Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer (Motel 6)
• February 23 - Howard Jones, English musician
• February 23 - Flip Saunders, American basketball coach
• February 24 - Alain Prost, French race car driver
• February 24 - Steve Jobs, American computer pioneer (Apple Inc.)

March

• March 2 - Jay Osmond, American pop singer
• March 4 - Dominique Pinon, French actor
• March 5 - Penn Jillette, American magician and comedian
• March 5 - Julien Dray, French politician
• March 6 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress
• March 7 - Tommy Kramer, American football player
• March 8 - Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1981)
• March 10 - Youssra, Egyptian actress and singer
• March 11 - Nina Hagen, German pop star
• March 15 - Dee Snider, American rock singer (Twisted Sister)
• March 16 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
• March 16 - Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
• March 17 - Gary Sinise, American actor (Apollo 13)
• March 18 - Guillermo Dávila, Venezuelan actor and singer
• March 19 - Bruce Willis, American actor (Moonlighting)
• March 22 - Pete Sessions, American politician
• March 22 - Valdis Zatlers, president of Latvia
• March 22 - Lena Olin, Swedish actress
• March 23 - Moses Malone, American basketball player
• March 26 - Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player
• March 28 - John Alderdice, Irish politician
• March 28 - Reba McEntire, American singer and actress
• March 29 - Earl Campbell, American football player
• March 29 - Brendan Gleeson, Irish actor
• March 30 - Paul Reiser, American actor (Mad About You)
• March 31 - Angus Young, Scottish-born rock guitarist (AC/DC)

April

• April 1 - Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer turned journalist
• April 5 - Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist
• April 5 - Janice Long, British radio disc jockey
• April 6 - Michael Rooker, American actor
• April 6 - Janet Ellis, British children's TV presenter
• April 7 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
• April 7 - Akira Nishino, Japanese soccer player and manager
• April 8 - Barbara Kingsolver, American fiction writer
• April 8 - Kane Hodder, American actor
• April 9 - Kate Heyhoe, American food writer
• April 11 - Kevin Brady, American politician
• April 13 - Steve Camp, American musician
• April 15 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
• April 16 - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
• April 20 - Seema Mustafa, Indian politician and journalist
• April 21 - Ebiet G Ade, Indonesian singer and songwriter
• April 23 - Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
• April 23 - Judy Davis, Australian actress
• April 24 - John de Mol, Dutch media tycoon
• April 25 - John Nunn, English chess player and mathematician
• April 25 - Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
• April 29 - Kate Mulgrew, American actress (Star Trek: Voyager)
• April 29 - Wendee Lee, American voice actress

May

• May 1 - Ray Buttigieg, Maltese composer and poet
• May 1 - Nick Feldman, English musician
• May 2 - Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
• May 2 - Dave Winer, American software pioneer
• May 3 - David Hookes, Australian cricketer (d. 2004)
• May 4 - Robert Ellis Orrall, American singer
• May 6 - Tom Bergeron, American television host
• May 7 - Kevin Reed, American Presbyterian author, theologian and publisher
• May 9 - Anne-Sofie von Otter, Swedish mezzo-soprano
• May 10 - Chris Berman, American sports broadcaster
• May 10 - Mark David Chapman, American assassin of John Lennon
• May 16 - Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
• May 16 - Jack Morris, American baseball player
• May 16 - Hazel O'Connor, British singer
• May 16 - Debra Winger, American actress (An Officer And A Gentleman)
• May 17 - Bill Paxton, American actor (Apollo 13)
• May 18 - Chow Yun-Fat, Hong Kong actor
• May 19 - James Gosling, Canadian software engineer
• May 20 - Zbigniew Preisner, Polish film composer
• May 21 - Paul Barber, British field hockey player
• May 21 - Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
• May 22 - Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, American jazz guitarist (d. 2008)
• May 22 - Jimmy Lyon, American guitarist
• May 22 - Dale Winton, English radio DJ and television presenter
• May 24 - Rosanne Cash, American entertainer
• May 24 - Rumiko Ukai, Jpanese voice actress
• May 26 - Doris Dörrie, German actress and screenplay writer
• May 26 - Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef
• May 28 - John McGeoch, Scottish rock musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees, Public Image Ltd.) (d. 2004)
• May 29 - John Hinckley, Jr., American who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan
• May 30 - Topper Headon, British rock drummer (The Clash)
• May 31 - Tommy Emmanuel, Australian rock guitarist (CGP)

June

• June 1 - Ralph Morse (actor), British actor, singer, and writer of historical dramas
• June 2 - Dana Carvey, American actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live)
• June 2 - Michael Steele, American rock bassist (The Bangles)
• June 5 - Fernando Borrego Linares, Cuban singer and songwriter (aka Polo Montañez)
• June 6 - Sandra Bernhard, American comedian, actress, author and singer
• June 7 - Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
• June 8 - Tim Berners-Lee, English inventor of the World Wide Web
• June 10 - Andrew Stevens, American actor and film producer
• June 13 - Larry Mike Garmon, American author
• June 14 - Paul O'Grady, English talk show host and comedian
• June 16 - Laurie Metcalf, American actress
• June 18 - Sandy Allen, American, world's tallest woman (d. 2008)
• June 20 - Tor Norretranders, Danish author
• June 21 - Jean-Pierre Mader, French singer-songwriter
• June 21 - Michel Platini, French football player
• June 21 - Aloysius Amwano, Nauruan politician
• June 22 - Glenn Danzig, American rock singer (The Misfits, Samhain, Danzig)
• June 22 - Green Gartside, Welsh singer, songwriter
• June 23 - Alan J. Gow, British motorsport executive
• June 21 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
• June 24 - Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Indian head of Siddha Yoga
• June 26 - Mick Jones, British rock guitarist (The Clash, Big Audio Dynamite)
• June 27 - Isabelle Adjani, French actress
• June 30 - David Alan Grier, African-American actor and comedian (In Living Color)

July-August

• July 1 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese comedian and actor
• July 1 - Lisa Scottoline, American novelist
• July 8 - Mihaela Mitrache, Romanian actress
• July 9 - Fred Norris, American radio personality
• July 9 - Jimmy Smits, American actor (L.A. Law)
• July 18 - Bernd Fasching, Austrian painter and sculptor
• July 21 - Howie Epstein, American musician and producer (d. 2003)
• July 22 - Willem Dafoe, American actor (Mississippi Burning)
• July 22 - Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani politician
• July 27 - Allan Border, Australian cricketer
• July 31 - Jakie Quartz, French singer
• August 2 - Caleb Carr, American writer
• August 4 - Billy Bob Thornton, American actor (Sling Blade)
• August 7 - Vladimir Sorokin, Russian writer
• August 8 - Diddú (Sigrún Hjálmtýsdóttir), Icelandic soprano and songwriter
• August 9 - Doug Williams, American football quarterback
• August 17 - Wesley Eure, American actor
• August 19 - Peter Gallagher, American actor
• August 24 - Mike Huckabee, American politician, former Governor and 2008 Presidential candidate
• August 27 - Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
• August 31 - Edwin Moses, American athlete

September

• September 1 - Bruce Foxton, English musician
• September 2 - Robert Duncan, American astrophysicist
• September 3 - Steve Jones, English rock guitarist (Sex Pistols)
• September 7 - Efim Zelmanov, Russian mathematician
• September 9 - John Kricfalusi, Canadian cartoonist
• September 10 - Pat Mastelotto, American musician
• September 12 - Peter Scolari, American actor
• September 15 - “eljka Antunovi-, Croatian politician
• September 15 - Renzo Rosso, Italian clothing designer
• September 16 - Robin Yount, American baseball player
• September 17 - Charles Martinet, American voice-actor
• September 19 - Richard Burmer, American composer, sound designer, and musician (d. 2006)
• September 21 - Richard Hieb, American astronaut
• September 23 - Don Graham, American journalist
• September 25 - Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, German football player
• September 28 - Stéphane Dion, Canadian politician

October

• October 2 - Philip Oakey, English rock musician (The Human League)
• October 5 - Jean-Jacques Lafon, French singer-songwriter
• October 7 - Yo-Yo Ma, French-born Chinese cellist
• October 13 - Sergei Shepelev, Russian ice hockey player
• October 15 - Kulbir Bhaura, British field hockey player
• October 15 - James B. Aguayo-Martel, physician, surgeon, scientist, inventor
• October 18 - Timmy Mallett, British television presenter
• October 21 - Rich Mullins, American Christian musician (d. 1997)
• October 28 - Bill Gates, American software entrepreneur (Microsoft)
• October 28 - Indra Nooyi, Indian CEO (PepsiCo)
• October 29 - Kevin DuBrow, American musician (d. 2007)

November

• November 2 - Chris Burnett, American saxophone player, composer, veteran of US military jazz bands and band leader
• November 3 - Phil Simms, American football player
• November 4 - Matti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland
• November 5 - Karan Thapar, Indian journalist, political analyst & commentator
• November 6 - Maria Shriver, American journalist, First Lady of California
• November 7 - Detlef Ultsch, German judo athlete
• November 9 - Karen Dotrice, English actress (Mary Poppins)
• November 11 - Jigme Singye Wangchuk, King of Bhutan
• November 13 -