1956

Published on Wednesday, October 29th 2008. Edited by Oat Inkashfin, Nanterre, France.

A car from 1956

Centuries: 19th century – 20th century – 21st century

Decades: 1920s 1930s 1940s – 1950s – 1960s 1970s 1980s

Years: 1953 1954 1955 – 1956 – 1957 1958 1959

Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events of 1956

January

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

January

January 1
End of Anglo–Egyptian Condominium in Sudan.
January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
January 16 – Gamal Abdal Nasser, leader of Egypt, vows to reconquer Palestine.
January 25-26 – Finnish troops re-occupy Porkkala after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4.
January 26 – 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

February

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29

February

February 11 – British spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean resurfaced in the Soviet Union after being missing for five years.
February 16 – The film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel, starring Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones, is released.
February 22 – Elvis Presley enters the United States music charts for the first time, with “Heartbreak Hotel.”
February 23 – Norma Jean Mortenson changes her name to Marilyn Monroe.
February 25 – Nikita Khrushchev attacks the veneration of Joseph Stalin as a “cult of personality.”

March

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

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5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

March 1 – the International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
March 2 – Morocco declares its independence from France.
March 9 – British deport Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus to Seychelles.
March 11 – Laurence Olivier’s film, Richard III, adapted from Shakespeare’s play, premieres in the U.S. in theatres and on NBC television on the same day, as an afternoon matinee. It is one of the first such experiments of its kind. Olivier is later nominated for an Oscar for his performance.
March 12
96 U.S. Congressmen sign the Southern Manifesto, a protest against the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Brown vs. Board of Education) desegregating public education.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 500 for the first time rising 2.40 points, or 0.48%, to 500.24.
March 13 – Elvis Presley releases his first Gold Album titled Elvis Presley.
March 15 – The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
March 19 – At age 48, Dutch boxer Bep van Klaveren contests his last match in Rotterdam.
March 20 – Tunisia gains independence from France.
March 21 – 28th Academy Awards ceremony
March 23 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic and a national holiday is observed in the country including the former East Pakistan state.

April

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

April

April 7 – Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
April 14 – Videotape is first demonstrated at the 1956 NARTB (now NAB) convention in Chicago by Ampex. It was the demonstration of the first practical and commercially successful videotape format known as 2" Quadruplex.
April 17 – Queen Elizabeth II inaugurated Chew Valley Lake.
April 18 – Maria Desylla-Kapodistria is elected mayor of Corfu and becomes the first female mayor in Greece.
April 19
British diver Lionel Crabb dives into the Portsmouth harbour to investigate visiting Soviet cruiser and vanishes.
Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
April 21
First daughter Margaret Truman married Clifton Daniel.

May

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30 31

May 2 – The Methodist Church in America decides at its General Conference to grant women full ordained clergy status. It also calls for an end to segregation in the denomination.
May 8
Constitutional union between Indonesia and Netherlands is dissolved. John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger opened at the Royal Court Theatre, changing the scope of theatrical and other forms of drama in England.
May 9 – First ascent of Manaslu, eighth highest mountain in the world.
May 18 – First ascent of Lhotse (main), fourth highest mountain.
May 23 – French minister Pierre Mendès-France resigns due to his government’s policy on Algeria.
May 24 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast from Lugano, Switzerland. The winning song is Refrain by Lys Assia (music by Géo Voumard, text by Émile Gardaz).

June

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30

June 1 – Vyacheslav Molotov resigns as a foreign minister of Soviet Union; he later becomes ambassador in Mongolia.
June 3 – British Rail renamed ‘Third Class’ passenger facilities as ‘Second Class’ (Second Class facilities had been abolished in 1875, leaving just First Class and Third Class).
June 6 – In Singapore, chief minister David Marshall resigns after breakdown of talks about internal self government in London.
June 10 – 1956 Summer Olympics: Equestrian events open in Stockholm, Sweden. (All other events held in November in Melbourne, Australia.)
June 15 – Eindhoven University of Technology is founded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
June 18 – Last foreign troops leave Egypt.
June 23 – Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes the second president of Egypt.
June 28 – MP Sydney Silverman’s bill for abolition of death penalty passes the British House of Commons.
June 28
Labour riots at Poznań, Poland, are crushed with heavy loss of life. Soviet troops fire at crowd that protests high prices – 53 dead.
The film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner, is released only a few months after the film version of R&H’s Carousel.
June 29
Actress Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Federal-Aid Highway Act, creating the Interstate Highway System
June 30 – A TWA Lockheed Constellation and United Airlines Douglas DC-7 collide in mid-air over the Grand Canyon in Arizona and crash. All 128 people aboard the two aircraft are killed in the disaster. The accident prompts tighter air traffic control to be implemented in the United States.

July

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

July 2 A lab experiment at Sylvania Electric Products results in an explosion.
July 8 – First ascent of Gasherbrum II.
July 10 – British House of Lords defeats the abolition of death penalty.
July 24 – At New York City’s Copacabana Club, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis perform their last comedy show together which started on July 25, 1946.
July 25 – 72 kilometers (45 miles) south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish ship SS Stockholm in heavy fog, killing 51.
July 26 – Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation.
July 30 – A Joint Resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing “In God We Trust” as the U.S. national motto.
July 31 – Cricket: Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first class match (the previous best was seventeen).

August

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

Exhibition This Is Tomorrow at Whitechapel Art Gallery.
August 6 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network has its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena.
August 8 – 262 miners die in fire in a coal mine in Marcinelle, Belgium.
August 11 – Jackson Pollock dies after crashing his car, aged 44.
August 17 – West Germany bans Communist Party of Germany.

September

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

September 9 – Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.
September 13 – The Hard Disk Drive is invented by an IBM team led by Reynold B. Johnson.
September 16 – Television broadcasting commences in Australia.
September 21 – Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza García is assassinated.
September 25 – Submarine Transatlantic telephone cable opened.

October

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

October

October 8 – Baseball pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees throws the first, and only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Yogi Berra caught the game. Dale Mitchell was the final out. The New York Yankees won the series. Larsen was named series MVP.
October 10 – Finland joins UNESCO.
October 14 – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian Untouchable leader, converts to Buddhism along with 385,000 followers. See Neo-Buddhism.
October 15
RAF retires its last Lancaster bomber.
Fidel Castro and Che Guevara depart from Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico, enroute to Santiago de Cuba aboard the yacht Granma with 82 men. After the ship passes a storm, it lands at Belici, Cuba, on December 2
October 17 – The 13 years old Bobby Fischer beats GM Donald Byrne in the NY Rosenwald chess tournament (The Game of the Century).
October 23 – Hungarian revolution against the pro-Soviet government. Soviet Union intervenes. Hungary attempts to leave the Warsaw Pact.
October 26 – Red Army troops invade Hungary.
October 29
The Huntley-Brinkley Report debuts on NBC-TV.
Suez Crisis begins: Israel invades the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.
Tangier Protocol signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.
The first hard disk drive (5MB) is born at IBM.
October 31 – Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.

November

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27 28 29 30

November 1 – the States Reorganisation Act of India reformed the boundaries and names of Indian states.
November 3 – MGM’s screen classic, The Wizard of Oz, is shown on television for the first time by CBS, as the final installment of their Ford Star Jubilee.
November 4 – 1956 Hungarian Revolution: more Soviet troops invade Hungary to crush a revolt that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded and nearly a quarter million leave the country.
November 6 – U.S. presidential election, 1956: Republican incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower is reelected by defeating Democrat challenger Adlai E. Stevenson in a rematch of their contest four years earlier.
November 6 – Enoch A. Holtwick defeated as presidential candidate of Prohibition Party.
November 7 – Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Arab lands immediately.
November 15 – Middle East Technical University founded in Ankara, Turkey.
November 20 – In Yugoslavia, former prime minister Milovan Djilas is arrested after he criticized Josip Broz Tito.
November 22 – Beginning of the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
November 23 – Suez Crisis causes petrol rationing in Britain.

December

Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

December 2
Fidel Castro and his followers land on Cuba in the boat Granma.
December 5 – Rose Heilbron becomes Britain’s first female judge.
December 9 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 crashes into a mountain in British Columbia. All 62 people on board die, making this one of the worst airline crashes in the world at that date.
December 12 – Japan becomes member of the United Nations.
December 18 – To Tell The Truth debuts on CBS-TV.
December 19 – John Bodkin Adams arrested for the murder of two patients in Eastbourne, Great Britain.
December 23 – British and French troops leave Suez Canal region.
December 31 – Bob Barker makes his TV debut as host of the Game Show Truth or Consequences.

Undated

Minamata disease is discovered.
Founding of the Alpine Club of Canada, Toronto section

Ongoing

Cold War

Births

1956 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar 1956 MCMLVI

Ab urbe condita 2709

Armenian calendar 1405 ԹՎ ՌՆԵ

Bahá'í calendar 112 – 113

Berber calendar 2906

Buddhist calendar 2500

Burmese calendar 1318

Chinese calendar 4592/4652-11-19 (乙未年十一月十九日)

— to —

4593/4653-11-30 (丙申年十一月三十日)

Coptic calendar 1672 – 1673

Ethiopian calendar 1948 – 1949

Hebrew calendar 5716 – 5717

Hindu calendars

- Vikram Samvat 2011 – 2012

- Shaka Samvat 1878 – 1879

- Kali Yuga 5057 – 5058

Holocene calendar 11956

Iranian calendar 1334 – 1335

Islamic calendar 1375 – 1376

Japanese calendar Shōwa 31 (昭和31年)

Korean calendar 4289

Thai solar calendar 2499

January-February

January 1 – Mark R. Hughes, American entrepreneur (d. 2000)
January 1 – Kōji Yakusho, Japanese actor
January 3 – Mel Gibson, Australian actor and director
January 4 – Bernard Sumner, British guitarist (Joy Division and New Order)
January 5 – Chen Kenichi, Japan-born Chinese chef
January 7 – David Caruso, American actor
January 9 – Imelda Staunton, British actress
January 10 – Shawn Colvin, American singer
January 14 Ben Heppner, Canadian tenor
Martyn Davies, ITV National Weather forecaster
January 16 – Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
January 17 – Paul Young, English musician
January 20 – Bill Maher, American actor, comedian, and political analyst
January 21 – Geena Davis, American actress
January 25 – Bronwyn Pike, Australian politician
January 27 – Mimi Rogers, American actress
January 31 – Johnny Rotten, British singer (Sex Pistols)
February 1 – Mike Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
February 3 – Nathan Lane, American actor
February 11 – Didier Lockwood, French jazz violinist
February 11 – Catherine Hickland, American actress
February 12
Brian Robertson, British guitarist (Thin Lizzy, Wild Horses, and Motörhead)
Ultan Quigley, Irish poet, playwright and polemecist.
February 13
Peter Hook, British bassist (Joy Division and New Order)
Yiannis Kouros, Greek-Australian ultramarathoner
February 14 – Tom Burlinson, Australian actor
February 15 – Desmond Haynes, West Indian cricketer
February 18 – Thomas Gradin, Swedish hockey player
February 19 – Roderick MacKinnon, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
February 24
Judith Butler, Prominent American philosopher
Paula Zahn, American television journalist
February 25 – Davie Cooper, Scottish footballer (d. 1995)
February 26 – Keisuke Kuwata, Japanese musician
February 28 – Jimmy Nicholl, Canadian-born footballer
February 29
Bob Speller, Canadian politician
Aileen Carol Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)

March-April

March 1 – Tim Daly, American actor
March 11 – Rob Paulsen, American voice actor
March 12 – Steve Harris, British bass player, founding member of Iron Maiden
March 19 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian economist and politician
March 21 – Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
March 23 – José Manuel Barroso, Prime-minister of Portugal
March 24 – Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft
April 3
Ray Combs, American game show host and comedian (d. 1996)
Boris Miljkovic, Serbian TV & theatre director and video artist
April 4
Kerry Chikarovski, Australian politician
David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
April 6 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer
April 12 – Andy Garcia, American actor
April 12 – Yasuo Tanaka, Japanese politician, novelist
April 13 – Peter ‘Possum’ Bourne, New Zealand rally car driver (d. 2003)
April 14 – Barbara Bonney, American soprano
April 16
David M. Brown, astronaut (d. 2003)
Lise-Marie Morerod, Swiss skier
April 19 – Sue Barker, British tennis player and television presenter
April 21 – Phillip Longman, American demographer
April 23 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
April 26 – Koo Stark, British actress
April 28 – Jimmy Barnes, Australian musician
April 30 – Lars von Trier, Danish film director

May-June

May 1 – Alexander Ivanov, chess Grandmaster
May 4
David Guterson, American writer
Ulrike Meyfarth, German high jumper
May 6 – Vladimir Lisin, Russian oligarch
May 7
Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Jean Lapierre, Canadian politician and television host
May 10
Vladislav Nikolayevich Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995).
May 11 – Andrew Hidalgo, American entrepreneur
May 13
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Indian guru
Steve Blackwood, American actor and musician
May 15
Dan Patrick, American sportscaster
Kjartan Poskitt, English author
May 16 – Olga Korbut, Russian gymnast
May 17
Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
Bob Saget, American actor
May 20
Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian author
Dean Butler, American actor
May 23
Buck Showalter, baseball player and manager
Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician
May 24 – Michael Jackson, Irish Anglican bishop
May 28 – Jerry Douglas, American dobro player
June 6 – Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player
June 9 – Patricia Cornwell, American novelist
June 10 – Georg Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
June 11 – Joe Montana, American football player
June 20 – Cho Chikun, Korean professional Go player
June 23
Glenn Danzig, American musician (Danzig)
Randy Jackson, American musician
June 25 – Boris Trajkovski, President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
June 26 – Chris Isaak, American musician
June 27 – Heiner Dopp, German field hockey player
June 28 – Noel Mugavin, Australian Rules Football player
June 30 – Ronald Winans, American musician (d. 2005)

July-August

July 2 – Jerry Hall, American model and actress
July 3 – Rick Ducommun, Canadian actor and comedian
July 5 – Sheila Walsh, Scottish musician
July 6 – Casey Sander, American actor
July 9 – Tom Hanks, American actor
July 11 – Sela Ward, American actress
July 14
Vladimir Kulich, Czech actor
King Diamond, Danish heavy metal musician
July 15
Ian Curtis, British musician (Joy Division) (d. 1980)
Barry Melrose, Canadian hockey player, coach, and commentator
Marky Ramone American drummer (The Ramones)
July 16 – Tony Kushner, American playwright
July 18 – Sheila Aldridge, American singer, The Aldridge Sisters
July 20 – Thomas Nkono, Cameroonian footballer
July 24 – Pat Finn, American game show host and producer
July 26 – Andy Goldsworthy, British sculptor and photographer
July 31 – Michael Biehn, American actor
Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts
August 1
Steve Green, American musician
August 5 – Maureen McCormick, American actress
August 14 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver
August 20 – Joan Allen, American actress
August 21
Kim Cattrall, Canadian actress
Anselmo Feleppa, clothes designer
August 22 – Paul Molitor, baseball player
August 23 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician (d. 1991)
August 24 – John Culberson, American politician
August 26 – Mark Mangino, American football coach
August 29 – Mark Morris, American choreographer
August 31 – Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer

September-October

September 1 – Bernie Wagenblast, American editor and broadcaster
September 2 – Angelo Fusco, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
September 3 – Pat McGeown, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
September 11 – Phil Bissett, American politician
September 12 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong actor (d. 2003)
September 12 – Ricky Rudd, American race car driver
September 14
Kostas Karamanlis, Greek politician
Ray Wilkins, English footballer and coach
September 16
Mickey Rourke, American actor
David Copperfield, American illusionist
September 17 – Brian Andreas, American writer, sculptor, painter and publisher.
September 20 – Gary Cole, American actor
September 21 – Jack Givens, American basketball player
September 24 – Peter Fox, Australian, CEO/GM Venues (Aquatics, Major Events) Non-Profits, Community Recreation, Mgt Consultant
September 25 – Jamie Hyneman, Mythbusters co-host
September 26 – Linda Hamilton, American actress
September 29
Sebastian Coe, British athlete, co-ordinator of London 2012 Olympic Games
Kenneth Newby, Canadian Media Artist
October 8 – Stephanie Zimbalist, American actress
October 10 – Amanda Burton, Irish actress
October 11 – Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
October 17 – Mae Jemison, astronaut
October 18 – Martina Navratilova, Czech-born tennis player
October 19 – Carlo Urbani, Italian physician (d. 2003)
October 23 – Dwight Yoakam, country singer/musician and actor
October 27 – Jaq D. Hawkins, British author, occultist and lecturer
October 28 – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian president

November-December

November 4 – Jordan Rudess, American musician (Dream Theatre)
November 8 – Steven Miller, American record producer
November 10 – Mohsen Badawi, Entrepreneur, political activist and writer
November 14 – Avi Cohen, Israeli football player
November 18
Noel Brotherston, Irish footballer (d. 1995)
Warren Moon, American football player
November 20 – Bo Derek, American actress
November 21 – Ed Kaz, American journalist
November 23
Shane Gould, Australian swimmer
Nikolay Sidorov, former Soviet athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 4x100 m relay at the 1980 Summer Olympics.
November 26 – Dale Jarrett, American race car driver
November 27 – William Fichtner, American actor
November 28 – Lucy Gutteridge, British actress
November 29
Leo Laporte, American author and television host
Eric Laakso, Retired Miami Dolphins NFL Offensive tackle
December 5
Krystian Zimerman, Polish pianist
Brian Backer, American actor
December 6
Peter Buck, American guitarist (R.E.M.)
Randy Rhoads, American guitarist (Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne) (d. 1982)
December 7 – Larry Bird, American basketball player
December 8 – Warren Cuccurullo, American musician (Missing Persons and Duran Duran)
December 11 – Lani Brockman, Playwright
December 12
Johan Van der Velde, Dutch cyclist
Ana Alicia, Mexican actress
December 13 – Majida El Roumi, Lebanese singer
December 17 – Mike Mills, American guitarist (R.E.M.)
December 18 – Ron White, American comedian
December 23
Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver (d. 2001)
Dave Murray, British guitarist
December 26 – David Sedaris, American essayist
December 28 – Nigel Kennedy, English violinist
December 29 – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian
December 30 – Sheryl Lee Ralph, American actress
December 31 – Ahmed Salah, Djiboutian Marathon Player
date unknown
Ronan Bennett, Irish writer
Shelagh Rogers, Canadian radio host
George Howard, American jazz saxophone musician (d. 1998)
Miladin Šobić, Montenegrin singer
Susan Solomon, atmospheric chemist

Deaths

January – June

January 3
Alexander Grechaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
Joseph Wirth, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
January 5 – Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)
January 13 – Lyonel Charles Feininger, German painter (b. 1871)
January 14 – Sheila Kaye-Smith, English writer (b. 1887)
January 18 – Konstantin Päts, President of Estonia (b. 1874)
January 21 – Sam Langford, Canadian boxer (b. 1883)
January 24 – Sir Alexander Korda, Hungarian-born film director (b. 1893)
January 27 – Erich Kleiber, German conductor (b. 1890)
January 29 – H. L. Mencken, American writer (b. 1880)
January 31 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
February 8 – Connie Mack, baseball executive and manager (b. 1862)
February 18 – Gustave Charpentier, French composer (b. 1860)
March 17 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897)
March 18 – Louis Bromfield, American writer (b. 1896)
March 20
Fanny Durack, Australian swimmer (b. 1889)
Wilhelm Miklas, Austrian politician and third President of Austria
March 25 – Robert Newton, English film actor (b. 1905)
March 30 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English inventor (b. 1875)
March 31 – Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
April 19 – Ernst Robert Curtius, Alsatian philologist (b. 1886)
April 30 – Alben Barkley, Vice-President of the United States (b. 1877)
May 12 – Louis Calhern, American actor (b. 1895)
May 17 – Austin Osman Spare, English magician (b. 1886)
May 18 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
May 20 – Max Beerbohm, English theatre critic (b. 1872)
May 26 – Al Simmons, baseball player (b. 1902)
May 31 – Diedrich Hermann Westermann, German linguist (b. 1875)
June 17 – Paul Rostock, German official, surgeon, and university professor (b. 1892)
June 22 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (b. 1873)
June 23 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
June 26 – Clifford Brown, American jazz trumpeter (auto accident) (b. 1930)

July – December

July 7 – Gottfried Benn, German poet (b. 1886)
July 8 – Giovanni Papini, Italian essayist, poet, novelist (b. 1881)
July 20 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian politician (b. 1856)
August 2 – Albert Woolson, last surviving Union veteran of the American Civil War (b. 1847)
August 11 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (b. 1912)
August 14 – Bertolt Brecht, German playwright (b. 1898)
August 16 – Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born film actor (b. 1882)
August 23 – Peaches Browning, American actress (b. 1910)
August 25 – Alfred Kinsey, American sex researcher (b. 1894)
September 11 – Billy Bishop, Canadian pilot (b. 1894)
September 20 – Flora Eldershaw, Australian novelist, critic, and historian (b. 1897)
September 22 – Frederick Soddy, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
September 27 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American athlete and golfer (b. 1911)
September 29 – Anastasio Somoza García, President of Nicaragua (b. 1896)
October 12 – Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (b. 1872)
October 17 – Anne Crawford, British actress (b. 1920)
October 19 – Isham Jones, American musician (b. 1894)
October 26 – Walter Gieseking, French conductor (b. 1895)
November 5 – Art Tatum, American jazz pianist (b. 1909)
November 10 – Harry F. Sinclair, American entrepreneur (b. 1876)
November 24 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (b. 1920)
November 26 – Tommy Dorsey, American trombonist and bandleader (b. 1905)
December 6 – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Indian untouchable leader (b. 1891)
December 7 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
December 16 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b. 1890)
date unknown
James Alexander Allan, Australian poet (b. 1889)
James Cousins, Irish writer (b. 1873)

Nobel prizes

Physics – William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Houser Brattain
Chemistry – Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, Nikolay Nikolaevich Semenov
Physiology or Medicine – André Frédéric Cournand, Werner Forssmann, Dickinson W. Richards
Literature – Juan Ramón Jiménez
Peace – Not Awarded

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956”