1949
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Years
| Centuries: | 19th century - 20th century - 21st century |
| Decades: | 1910s 1920s 1930s - 1940s - 1950s 1960s 1970s |
| Years: | 1946 1947 1948 - 1949 - 1950 1951 1952 |
Year 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1949
January
- 2 January - Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 4 January - RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage.
- 4 January - 22 February - Series of winter storms in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Utah, Colorado and Nevada - winds of up to 72 mph - tens of thousands of cattle and sheep perish.
- 5 January - U.S. President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
- 11 January - Los Angeles, California receives its first recorded snowfall.
- 11 January - KDKA-TV, Becomes the first local, on-air television station.
- 17 January - The first Volkswagen Beetle to arrive in the United States, a 1948 model, is brought over to New York by Dutch businessman Ben Pon. Unable to interest dealers or importers in the Volkswagen, Pon sells the sample car to pay his travel expenses. Only two 1949 models will be sold in America that year, convincing Volkswagen chairman Heinrich Nordhoff that the car has no future in the U.S. (The VW Beetle goes on to become the greatest automobile phenomenon in American history.)
- 19 January - First recorded date of The Poe Toaster to appear at the grave of Edgar Allan Poe
- 20 January - U.S. President Harry S. Truman begins his full term.
- 25 January
- 26 January - Australian Citizenship comes into being.
February
- 1 February - Rationing of clothes ends in Britain.
- 13 February - António Óscar Carmona is re-elected president of Portugal for lack of an opposing candidate.
- 19 February - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University.
- 22 February - Grady the Cow, a 1,200-pound cow gets stuck inside a silo on a farm in Yukon, Oklahoma and garners national media attention.
March
- 1 March
- World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis retires
- Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch.
- 2 March - The B-50 Superfortress Lucky Lady II under Captain James Gallagher lands in Fort Worth, Texas after completing the first non-stop around-the-world airplane flight. It was refueled in flight four times.
- 17 March - Grand opening of the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas, owned by oil tycoon Glenn McCarthy.
- 20 March - The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Denver & Rio Grande Western and Western Pacific railroads inaugurate the California Zephyr passenger train between Chicago and Oakland, California as the first long distance train to feature Vista Dome cars as regular equipment.
- 25 March - The extensive deportation campaign was conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deported more than 92,000 people from Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
- 26 March - The first half of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, conducted by legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, and performed in concert (i.e. no scenery or costumes), is telecast by NBC, live from Studio 8H at Rockefeller Centre. The second half will be telecast a week later. This will be the only complete opera that Toscanini will ever conduct on television.
- 28 March - United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal resigns suddenly.
- 29 March - 21st Academy Awards ceremony
- 31 March - The former British colony of Newfoundland and Labrador joins Canada as its 10th province.
April
- 1 April
- Éire leaves the British Commonwealth and becomes the Republic of Ireland.
- The Tokyo Stock Exchange is founded.
- 4 April - The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., creating the NATO defense alliance.
- 7 April - Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, opens on Broadway and goes on to become R&H's second longest-running musical. It becomes an instant classic of the musical theatre. The score's biggest hit is the song Some Enchanted Evening.
- 14 April - The day the N'Ko alphabet is held to have been completed by Solomana Kante.
- 18 April - Éire formally became the Republic of Ireland.
- 20 April - Royal Navy frigate HMS Amethyst (U16) goes up the Yangtze River to evacuate British Commonwealth refugees escaping the advance of the Mao's communist forces. Under heavy fire it runs aground off Rose Island. After an aborted rescue attempt on 26 April it anchors 10 miles upstream. Negotiations with the communist forces to let the ship leave drag on for weeks
- 23 April - Chinese communist troops take Nanking
- 28 April
- India issues the London Declaration, enabling it (and, thereafter, any other nation) to remain in the British Commonwealth despite becoming a republic, creating the position of ' Head of the Commonwealth', and renaming the organisation as the ' Commonwealth of Nations'.
- Former Philippine First Lady Aurora Quezon, 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others are also killed.
- 29 April - The News Review reveals that neither Selhurst College nor its headmaster H. Rochester Sneath exist.
May
- 1 May - Nereid, a moon of Neptune, is discovered by Gerard P. Kuiper.
- 5 May - The Council of Europe is founded by the signing of the Treaty of London.
- 9 May - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco, upon the death of his maternal grandfather Louis II.
- 11 May
- 12 May - Cold War: The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
- 20 May
- The AFSA (predecessor of the NSA) is established.
- Kuomintang regime declare Taiwan is under the martial law.
- 22 May - After two months in Bethesda Naval Hospital, James Forrestal commits suicide, under circumstances that seem suspicious to many.
- 23 May - The Federal Republic of Germany is established.
- EDSAC, the first stored-program computer, begins operation at Cambridge University.
June
- 2 June - Transjordan becomes kingdom of Jordan
- 6 June - With the passage of the Bodh Gaya Temple Act by the Indian government, Mahabodhi Temple is restored to partial Buddhist control.
- 8 June
- Red Scare: Such celebrities as Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
- George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
- 19 June - Glenn Dunnaway wins the inaugural NASCAR race at Charlotte Speedway, a 3/4 mile oval in Charlotte, North Carolina, but is disqualified due to illegal springs. Jim Roper is declared the official winner.
- 24 June - First Television Western, Hopalong Cassidy, airs on NBC.
- 29 June
- Last US troops withdraw from South Korea
- Dock strike in the UK
- Beginning of Apartheid - The South African Citizenship Act suspends the granting of citizenship to British Commonwealth immigrants after five years and imposes a ban on mixed marriages
July
- 20 July - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
- 27 July - Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
- 31 July - Captain Kerans of the HMS Amethyst decides to make a break after nightfall under heavy fire from the Chinese People's Liberation Army both sides of the Yangtze River and successfully rejoins the fleet at Woosung the next day.
August
- 5 August - 6.75 Richter scale earthquake in Ecuador kills 6000 and destroys 50 towns.
- 8 August - Bhutan becomes independent
- 12 August - The Fourth Geneva Convention is agreed.
- 14 August * Gang of Salvatore Giuliano explodes mines under police barracks outside Palermo, Sicily
- Military coup in Syria ousts the president
- 21 August - Deportivo Saprissa enters Costa Rica - soccer's first division.
- 22 August - The Queen Charlotte earthquake, Canada's largest earthquake since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake
- 28 August - Last surviving veterans of the American Civil War meet in Indianapolis - all six
- 29 August
- First meeting of the Council of Europe
- Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, code named "Joe 1." Its design imitated the American plutonium bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki in 1945.
September
| 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 | ||
- 5 September - A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey with a souvenir Luger to become America's first single-episode mass murderer.
- 6 September - Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to German control.
- 7 September - Federal Republic of Germany officially founded. Konrad Adenauer is the first federal chancellor.
- 9 September
- Albert Guay affair: dynamite bomb destroys Canadian Pacific Airlines Douglas DC-3 in Quebec.
- Notorious World War II veteran Edwin Alonzo Boyd commits his first career bank robbery in Toronto
- 13 September - Soviet Union vetoes United Nations membership of Ceylon, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Jordan and Portugal.
- 17 September - Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbour with the loss of over 118 lives.
- 19 September - The United Kingdom government devalued the pound sterling from $4.03 to $2.80. This led to many other currencies being devalued.
- 24 September - Laszlo Rajk, ex-foreign minister of Hungary, is sentenced to death.
- 29 September
- First Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves design for the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
- Mrs. Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as " Tokyo Rose" during World War II.
- September - Mervyn's reveal their first logo, used until 1994.
October
- 1 October - Birth of the People's Republic of China.
- 7 October - Democratic Republic of Germany DDR established officially
- 13 October - Severe flooding in Guatemala
- 16 October - Civil war ends in Greece - communist troops surrender
- 17 October - Chinese communist troops take Canton, China
- 27 October - Chinese communist troops fail to take Kinmen in the Battle of Kuningtou. Communist advance towards Taiwan is halted.
- 27 October - An airliner flying from Paris to New York crashes in the Azores island of São Miguel. Among the victims are violinist Ginette Neveu and boxer Marcel Cerdan.
November
- 15 November - Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte executed for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
- 24 November - Opening day at the ski resort Squaw Valley California.
- 26 November - The Indian Constituent Assembly adopts India's constitution.
December
- 8 December - The government of Republic of China finish their evacuation to Taiwan.
- 10 December- Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies elected.
- 14 December - Traicho Kostov, ex-vice prime minister of Bulgaria, is sentenced to death.
- 15 December - Typhoon strikes fishing fleet off Korea - several thousand reported dead.
- 16 December - Sukarno elected president of Republic of Indonesia.
- 17 December - Burma recognizes People's Republic of China.
- 27 December - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants Indonesia sovereignty.
- 30 December - India recognizes People's Republic of China.
Undated
- Pamir is the last commercial sailing ship to sail round Cape Horn.
- The Malta Labour Party is founded.
- The Vatican announces that bones uncovered in its subterranean catacombs could be the apostle Peter: 19 years later, Pope Paul VI announces confirmation that the bones belonged to this first saint.
- The first 20mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun prototypes are completed.
- Samuel Putnam publishes his new translation of Don Quixote, the first in what we would consider modern English. It is instantly acclaimed and, in 2007, is still in print.
Ongoing
- Marshall Plan
- First Indochina War
Births
| Gregorian calendar | 1949 MCMXLIX |
| Ab urbe condita | 2702 |
| Armenian calendar | 1398 ԹՎ ՌՅՂԸ |
| Bahá'í calendar | 105 – 106 |
| Berber calendar | 2899 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2493 |
| Burmese calendar | 1311 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7457 – 7458 |
| Chinese calendar | 戊子年十二月初三日 (4585/4645-12-3) — to — 己丑年十一月十二日(4586/4646-11-12) |
| Coptic calendar | 1665 – 1666 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1941 – 1942 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5709 – 5710 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2004 – 2005 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1871 – 1872 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5050 – 5051 |
| Holocene calendar | 11949 |
| Iranian calendar | 1327 – 1328 |
| Islamic calendar | 1368 – 1369 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 24 (昭和24年) |
| Korean calendar | 4282 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2492 |
January-February
- 2 January - Christopher Durang, American playwright
- 3 January - Sylvia Likens, American murder victim (d. 1965)
- 7 January - Steven Williams, American actor
- 7 January - Chavo Guerrero, American wrestler.
- 8 January - Wolfgang Puck, Austrian chef
- 10 January
- George Foreman, American boxer
- James Lapine, American stage director and librettist
- Linda Lovelace, American actress (d. 2002)
- 11 January - Kalev Ots, Estonian statesman
- 12 January
- Haruki Murakami, Japanese author
- Michael W. Vannier, American radiologist
- Wayne Wang, Hong Kong-born film director
- 13 January - Brandon Tartikoff, American television executive (d. 1997)
- 14 January
- Nadezhda Ilyina, Soviet athlete
- Lawrence Kasdan, American director and screenwriter
- Mary Robison, American writer
- 17 January - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)
- 18 January - Philippe Starck, French designer
- 19 January
- Robert Palmer, English musician (d. 2003)
- Dennis Taylor, Irish snooker player
- 20 January - Göran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden
- 22 January - Steve Perry, former lead singer of Journey. From 1978 to 1998.
- 24 January - John Belushi, American actor (d. 1982)
- 28 January - Gregg Popovich, American basketball coach
- 30 January - Peter Agre, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 31 January - Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
- 31 January - Ken Wilber, American philosopher
- 2 February - Brent Spiner, American actor, Duncan Bannatyne, Entrepreneur
- 3 February - Hennie Kuiper, Dutch cyclist
- 9 February - Jim Sheridan, Irish film director
- 10 February
- Michael Weiss, jazz pianist and composer
- Maxime Le Forestier, French singer
- Harold Sylvester, American actor
- 15 February - Ken Anderson, NFL player
- 16 February - Lyn Paul, English female singer
- 17 February - Dennis Green, American football coach
- 18 February - Gary Ridgway, American serial killer
- 19 February - Dan Bunten, American computer game designer (d. 1998)
- 21 February - Jerry Harrison, guitarist/keyboardist for Talking Heads.
- 21 February - Ronnie Hellström, Swedish footballer
- 22 February - Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver
- 25 February - Ric Flair, American professional wrestler
March-April
- 2 March
- Gates McFadden, American actress
- Eddie Money, American singer (or March 21)
- JPR Williams, Welsh rugby player
- 3 March - Jesse Jefferson, baseball player
- 6 March
- Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer
- 7 March - Ghulam Nabi Azad, Indian politician
- 9 March - Tapani Kansa, Finnish singer
- 10 March - Larry Wall, American computer programmer
- 12 March
- Bill Payne, American musician ( Little Feat)
- Natalia Kuchinskaya, Soviet gymnast
- 13 March - Julia Migenes, American soprano
- 14 March - Michael Stedman, British World War I Historian and Author
- 16 March
- Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
- Victor Garber, Canadian actor
- 17 March
- Patrick Duffy, American actor
- Pat Rice, Irish footballer and football manager
- 18 March - Alex Higgins, Irish snooker player
- 21 March - Eddie Money, American singer
- 22 March - Fanny Ardant, French actress
- 23 March - Ric Ocasek, American musician ( The Cars)
- 24 March - Nick Lowe, English musician
- 26 March - Patrick Süskind, German writer
- 29 March - Michael Brecker, American jazz musician (d. 2007)
- 30 March
- Marcia Ball, American musician
- Lene Lovich, American singer
- Naomi Sims, American model and businesswoman
- Elijah Harper, Canadian Aboriginal activist
- 1 April The Reserve Bank of India is established.
- Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
- Sammy Nelson, Irish footballer
- Gil Scott-Heron, American musician and composer
- 3 April - Richard Thompson, English musician and songwriter
- 6 April - Horst Ludwig Störmer, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 14 April - John Shea, American actor
- 15 April - Alla Pugacheva, Russian musical performer
- 16 April - Sandy Hawley, Canadian jockey
- 18 April - Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
- 21 April - Patti Lupone. American actress
- 24 April - Veronique Sanson, French singer and songwriter
- 28 April - Bruno Kirby, American actor (d. 2006)
May-June
- 2 May - Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener
- 4 May - John Force, American race car driver
- 9 May - Billy Joel, American musician
- 13 May - Zoë Wanamaker, English-American actress
- 18 May
- Rick Wakeman, English musician and songwriter ( Yes)
- Bill Wallace, Canadian musician ( The Guess Who)
- 19 May
- Enrique Aguirre, gynecologist who discovered cervical cancer
- Archie Manning, American football player
- 20 May - Dave Thomas, Canadian actor and comedian
- 24 May - Tomaž Pisanski, Slovenian mathematician
- 25 May - Prahladananda Swami, ISKCON religious leader
- 26 May
- Philip Michael Thomas, American actor
- Hank Williams Jr., American singer
- 29 May - Francis Rossi English guitist/singer ( Status Quo)
- 31 May - Tom Berenger, American actor
- 2 June - Heather Couper, British astronomer
- 4 June - Mark B. Cohen, Pennsylvania legislative leader
- 8 June - Emanuel Ax, Polish-born pianist
- 11 June - Benjamin Vasserman, Estonian artist
- 13 June - Ann Druyan, American writer
- 14 June
- Jimmy Lea, English musician ( Slade)
- Harry Turtledove, American historian and novelist
- 15 June - Jim Varney, American actor (d. 2000)
- 17 June - Andrei Fursenko, Russian politician, scientist and businessman
- 18 June
- Chris Van Allsburg, American author and illustrator
- Lech Kaczyński, President of Poland
- Jarosław Kaczyński, Polish Prime Minister
- Prince Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican musician (d. 1999)
- 21 June
- John Agard, British writer
- Jane Urquhart, Canadian author
- 22 June - Meryl Streep, American Actress
- 27 June - Vera Wang, American fashion designer
July-August
- 2 July
- David Eaton, American Composer/Conductor/Producer
- 3 July
- Jan Smithers, American actress
- Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American R&B singer ( Heatwave) (d. 2006)
- 7 July - Shelley Duvall, American actress
- 11 July - Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
- 11 July - Émerson Leão, Brazilian footballer
- 15 July
- Carl Bildt, Prime Minister of Sweden
- Trevor Horn, British singer and producer
- 16 July - Dennis Young, American Skier
- 17 July - Charlie Steiner, American sportscaster
- 22 July - Alan Menken, American composer
- 26 July - Roger Taylor, English musician (Queen)
- 4 August - John Riggins, American football player
- 6 August - Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman
- 7 August - Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze
- 12 August - Mark Knopfler, British guitarist ( Dire Straits)
- 15 August - Richard Deacon (sculptor)|Richard Deacon]], Welsh sculptor. * 15 August - Beverly Lynn Burns, first woman in the world to captain the boeing 747.
- 20 August - Philip Lynott, Irish musician ( Thin Lizzy) (d. 1986)
- 22 August - Alfred Musema, Rwandan businessperson and geocidaire
- 23 August
- Shelley Long, American actress
- Rick Springfield, Australian singer and actor
- 25 August
- Martin Amis, English novelist
- Gene Simmons, American musician ( Kiss)
- 27 August - Jeff Cook, vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin for Alabama
- 28 August - Svetislav Pešić, Serbian basketball player and coach
- 31 August
- Richard Gere, American actor
- H. David Politzer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
September-October
- 1 September - P.A. Sangma, Indian politician
- 3 September - Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria (d. 2004)
- 7 September
- Lee McGeorge Durrell, American author, television presenter, and zookeeper
- Gloria Gaynor, American singer
- 9 September
- Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Current President of Indonesia.
- Joe Theismann, American football player
- 13 September - John Henry, American foreign exchange advisor, Boston Red Sox owner
- 14 September
- Fred "Sonic" Smith, American guitarist
- Eikichi Yazawa, Japanese singer
- 15 September - Joe Barton, American politician
- 17 September - Cassandra Peterson, American actress
- 18 September
- Mo Mowlam, British politician (d. 2005)
- Peter Shilton, English goalkeeper
- 19 September - Twiggy Lawson, English model
- 23 September - Bruce Springsteen, American singer and songwriter
- 24 September - Pedro Almodóvar, Spanish filmmaker
- 26 September - Jane Smiley, American novelist
- 27 September - Mike Schmidt, baseball player
- 1 October - Isaac Bonewits, American author and occultist
- 4 October - Armand Assante, American actor
- 7 October - Ronnie Mund, American television personality
- 8 October - Sigourney Weaver, American actress
- 12 October - Carlos the jackal, Venezuelan-born mercenary
- 14 October
- Katy Manning, British actress
- Katha Pollitt, American writer
- 20 October - Valeri Borzov, Ukrainian athlete
- 21 October - Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
- 22 October
- Stiv Bators, American musician ( The Dead Boys) (d. 1990)
- Arsene Wenger, French football (soccer) manager
- 26 October - Antonio Carpio, Filipino Supreme Court jurist
November-December
- 2 November - Simon Augustini, Albanian politician
- 3 November - Larry Holmes, American World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
- 5 November
- Armin Shimerman, American actor
- Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (d. 1984)
- 6 November - Nigel Havers, British Actor
- 7 November
- 19 November - Ahmad Rashad, American sports host and commentator
- 15 November - David Rubinstein, American pianist and composer
- 24 November - Nicholas Richard Ainger, British politician
- 25 November - Kerry James O'Keeffe, Australian cricketer and commentator
- 26 November - Juanin Clay, American actress (d. 1995)
- Shlomo Artzi, Israeli singer
- 28 November
- Alexander Godunov, Russian-born dancer and actor (d. 1995)
- Paul Shaffer, Canadian-American musician
- 29 November
- Jerry Lawler, American professional wrestler and commentator
- Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (d. 1983)
- Garry Shandling, American comedian
- 1 December - Kurt Schmoke, Dean, Howard Law School, Mayor of Baltimore
- 3 December - John Akii-Bua, Ugandan hurdler (d. 1997)
- 4 December
- Jeff Bridges, American actor
- Pamela Stephenson, New Zealand-born comedienne, actress, and singer
- 7 December - Tom Waits, American singer, composer, and actor
- 8 December - Mary Gordon, American writer
- 11 December - Teri Garr, American actress
- 12 December - Rajinikanth, Indian actor
- 13 December
- Robert Lindsay, English actor
- Randy Owen, lead vocals, rhythm guitar for Alabama
- Tom Verlaine, American singer/guitarist of Television
- 14 December - Bill Buckner, baseball player
- 15 December - Don Johnson, American actor
- 16 December - Billy Gibbons, American guitarist ( ZZ Top)
- 17 December - Paul Rodgers, British singer ( Free)
- 19 December - Sebastian, Danish musician
- 22 December
- Maurice Gibb, British musician ( The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
- Robin Gibb, British musician ( The Bee Gees)
- 24 December - Randy Neugebauer, American politician
- 25 December
- Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira, Brazilian singer
- Sissy Spacek, American actress
- Joe Louis Walker, American musician
- 26 December - José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- unknown date - Brian Calvin Hartnell, Zodiac killer survivor
- unknown date - Suthep Po-ngam, Thai comedian, actor, film director and screenwriter.
Deaths
- See also Category:1949 deaths
January-June
- 6 January - Victor Fleming, American director (b. 1883)
- 11 January - Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1889)
- 14 January - Joaquín Turina, Spanish composer (b. 1882)
- 28 January - Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
- 12 February - Imam Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
- 21 February - Tan Malaka, Indonesian nationalist activist and communist leader (b. 1894)
- 25 March - Jack Kapp, president of US branch of Decca Records (b. 1901)
- 28 March - Grigoraş Dinicu, Romanian composer (b. 1889)
- 30 March
- 18 April - Will Hay, English comedian and actor (b. 1888)
- 19 April - Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
- 28 April - Aurora Quezon, First Lady of the Philippines (shot) (b. 1888)
- 6 May - Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
- 9 May - Louis II, Prince of Monaco (b. 1870)
- 22 May
- 27 May - Robert Ripley the creator of the famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! dies.
- 10 June - Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
- 14 June - Russell Doubleday, American author and publisher (b. 1872)
- 19 June - Syed Zafarul Hasan, Prominent Indian/Pakistani Muslim philosopher (b. 1885)
- 25 June - Buck Freeman, baseball player (b. 1871)
July-December
- 9 July - Fritz Bennicke Hart, English-born composer (b. 1874)
- 12 July - Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland (b. 1860)
- 18 July - Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (b. 1870)
- 16 August - Margaret Mitchell, American writer (b. 1900)
- 17 August - Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist & politician (b. 1891)
- 18 August - Paul Mares, American musician (b. 1900)
- 30 August - Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (b. 1877)
- 8 September - Richard Strauss, German composer (b. 1864)
- 13 September - August Krogh, Danish zoophysiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1874)
- 14 September - Gottfried Graf von Bismarck-Schönhausen, German Resistance figure (b. 1901)
- 19 September
- 27 October
- November - Maria Josepha Sophia de Iturbide, head of Imperial House of Mexico (b. 1872)
- 2 November - Jerome F. Donovan, American politician (b. 1872)
- 5 November - Abdolhossein Hazhir, Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1899)
- 6 December - Leadbelly, American musician (b. 1888)
- 11 December - Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, Indian philosopher (b. 1875)
- 16 December - Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
- 28 December - Hervey Allen, American author (b. 1889)
- 28 December - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)
Nobel prizes
- Physics - Yukawa Hideki
- Chemistry - William Francis Giauque
- Medicine - Walter Rudolf Hess, Antonio Caetano De Abreu Freire Egas Moniz
- Literature - William Faulkner
- Peace - John Boyd Orr