1963

1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar.

• January 5 – The Beach Boys record one of their trademark songs, "Surfin' USA"
• February 11 – The Beatles record 10 songs for the album "Please Please Me"
• June 1 – Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first Prime Minister of Kenya

• June 11 – Buddhist Monk, Thích Quảng Đức sets himself on fire and burns to death for part of the Vietnam War of the Buddhist crisis.
• July 15 – The Who drummer Doug Sandom is arrested on charges of homosexuality.
• September 15 – "Birmingham Sunday" when a bomb killed 4 black girls in a church in Birmingham, Alabama
• September – The X-Men make their debut
• November 22 – John F. Kennedy assassinated, Lyndon Johnson sworn in as President
• November 23 – Doctor Who airs for the first time in the United Kingdom
• December 12 - Kenya is officially independent from the United Kingdom
• December 31 – The Central African Federation breaks apart. It eventually became Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia
• The cassette tape was invented
• Diazepam - first synthesized in this year by Leo Sternbach (Polish). It was approved for human use 20 years later in 1983

• January 2 - Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
• March 9 - Jean-Marc Vallée, Canadian director (d. 2021)
• April 9 - Roberto Casarin, Italian religious leades and guru.
• March 21 – Shawn Lane, American musician
• May 8 – Helena Blagne Zaman, Slovene singer
• May 8 - Anthony Field, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
• May 9 – Barry Douglas Lamb, rock musician, writer, Christian preacher
• May 11 – Natasha Richardson, actress (d. 2009)
• May 12 – Vanessa A. Williams, actress
• May 24 – Joe Dumars, basketball star
• May 25 – Mike Myers, actor, comedian
• May 30 - Tracey Childs, actress
• June 6 – Jason Isaacs, actor
• June 9 – Johnny Depp, actor
• June 13 – Bettina Bunge, tennis player.
• June 17 – Greg Kinnear, TV host and actor
• June 18 – Bruce Smith, American football player
• June 23 – Colin Montgomerie, golfer.
• June 25 – George Michael, singer
• June 27 – Meera Syal, comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress
• July 9 – Johnny Depp, American actor
• July 16 – Phoebe Cates, actress
• July 17 - Regina Belle, American singer
• July 24 – Karl Malone, basketball
• July 30 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress
• August 3 – James Hetfield, Metallica frontman and co-founder
• August 6 – Kevin Mitnick, computer cracker
• August 19 – Joey Tempest, Europe frontman
• August 19 – John Stamos, actor
• August 23 – Kenny Wallace, NASCAR race car driver
• August 24 – Hideo Kojima, video game director
• August 30 – Paul Oakenfold, DJ
• September 7 – Eazy-E, American rapper
• September 10 – Randy Johnson, baseball pitcher, five-time Cy Young Award winner
• September 21 – Cecil Fielder, baseball player
• September 29 – Dave Andreychuk, NHL player
• October 1 – Mark McGwire, baseball star
• October 4 – Mark Powley, English actor
• October 10 – Daniel Pearl, journalist (d. 2002)
• October 22 – Brian Boitano, figure skater
• October 26 – Natalie Merchant, singer/songwriter/musician
• October 31 – Fred McGriff, baseball player
• November 13 – Vinny Testaverde, American football quarterback
• November 18 – Dante Bichette, baseball player
• November 19 – Terry Farrell, actress
• November 21 – Nicolette Sheridan, actress
• November 24 – Iris Erlingsdottir, OMD, writer, journalist
• December 2 – John Kennedy Morrisey, entertainer/athlete/storyteller
• December 6 – Kay Purcell, English actress (d. 2020)
• December 13 – Ilkka Remes, writer
• December 16 – Benjamin Bratt, actor
• December 18 – Brad Pitt, actor
• December 21 – Russell Armstrong, attorney and venture capitalist (d. 2011)
• December 23 – Jim Harbaugh, American football player

• January 2 – Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)
• January 2 – Al Mamaux, American baseball player (b. 1894)
• January 2 – Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910)
• January 5 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball manager (b. 1896)
• January 13 – Sylvanus Olympio, President of Togo (b. 1902)
• January 18 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, British mathematician (b. 1899)
• January 22 – Alf Henry Andresen, Norwegian opera singer (b. 1891)
• January 23 – Muhammad Ali Bogra, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1909)
• January 29 – Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)
• January 30 – Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899)

• February 11 – Sylvia Plath, American poet and novelist (suicide) (b. 1932)
• February 28 – Rajendra Prasad, 1st President of India (b. 1884)
• February 28 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball player (b. 1891)
• February 28 – Alba Chrétien-Vaguet, French singer (b. 1872)

• March 4 – William Carlos Williams, American writer (b. 1883)
• March 5 – Patsy Cline, American singer (b. 1932)
• March 11 – Alpha Brumage, American football player (b. 1880)
• March 18 – Wanda Hawley, American actress (b. 1895)

• April 6 – Otto Struve, Russian-American astronomer (b. 1897)
• April 9 – Eddie Edwards, American jazz musician (b. 1891)
• April 23 – Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, President of Israel (b. 1884)

• May 12 – Bobby Kerr, Canadian runner (b. 1882)
• May 31 – Edith Hamilton, educator and writer (b. 1867)

• June 3 – Pope John XXIII head of the Catholic Church (b. 1881)
• June 11 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese Bhuddist monk (b. 1897)
• June 18 – Pedro Armendariz, Mexican actor (b. 1912)

• July 1 – Ezzel Dine Zulficar, Egyptian film director (b. 1919)

• August 5 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
• August 6 – Gottfried Klaus, Swiss politician (b. 1899)
• August 23 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist (b. 1906)
• August 31 – Georges Braque, French painter (b. 1882)

• September 11 – Suzanne Duchamp, French painter (b. 1889)

• October 11 – Édith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
• October 11 – Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)

• November 1 – Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (b. 1901)
• November 5 – Luis Cernuda, Spanish writer (b. 1902)
• November 15 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (b. 1888)
• November 22 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (b. 1917)
• November 22 – J. D. Tippit, Police officer (b. 1924)
• November 22 – Aldous Huxley, English novelist (b. 1894)
• November 22 – C. S. Lewis, English novelist (b. 1898)
• November 24 – Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1939)
• November 27 – Kikuji Ishimoto, Japanese architect (b. 1894)
• November 28 – Tryambak Shankar Shejwalkar, Indian historian (b. 1895)

• December 1 – Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, British-American spy (b. 1910)
• December 2 – Thomas Hicks, American marathon runner (b. 1875)
• December 5 – Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1892)
• December 5 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer (b. 1905)
• December 8 – Sarit Thanarat, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1908)
• December 12 – Theodor Heuss, President of Germany (b. 1884)
• December 14 – Dinah Washington, American singer (b. 1924)
• December 28 – Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)

• Nobel Prize in Physics – Eugene Paul Wigner, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, J. Hans D. Jensen
• Chemistry – Karl Ziegler, Giulio Natta
• Medicine – Sir John Carew Eccles, Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding Huxley
• Literature – Giorgos Seferis
• Peace – International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies