* 1955 – Rob Epstein, American filmmaker and journalist

* 1955 – Keith Hunter Jesperson, Canadian serial killer

* 1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian comedian

* 1955 – Blind Mississippi Morris, American blues musician

* 1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor

* 1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.

* 1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist

* 1955 – Dimitra Liani, Greek air hostess, widow of Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou

* 1955 – Laura Fygi, Dutch singer

* 1955 – Robert Richardson, American cinematographer

* 1955 – Diana Scarwid, American actress

* 1956 – After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network makes its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena in New York in the Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena series.

* 1868 – Paul Claudel, French poet ( d. 1955 )

* 1881 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, Nobel Prize laureate ( d. 1955 )

* 1955 – Rusty Magee, American composer ( d. 2003 )

* 1955 – Peter Schmuck, American columnist

* 1955 – John E. Sweeney, American politician

* 1955 – Keith Ahlers, English race car driver

* 1955 – Hideo Fukuyama, Japanese race car driver

* 1955 – Paul Greengrass, English director

* 1865 – John Radecki, Australian artist ( d. 1955 )

* 1955 – Caleb Carr, American author and historian

* 1955 – Tim Dunigan, American actor

* 1955 – Tony Godden, English footballer

Also sung by Gregory Miller ( played by Sidney Poitier ) in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle.

Mendelevium ( for Dimitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, surname commonly transliterated into Latin script as Mendeleev, Mendeleyev, Mendeléef, or even Mendelejeff, and first name sometimes transliterated as Dmitry or Dmitriy ) was first synthesized by Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gregory R. Choppin, Bernard G. Harvey, and Stanley G. Thompson ( team leader ) in early 1955 at the University of California, Berkeley.

* 2008 – Gregory Bryant-Bey, American convicted murderer ( b. 1955 )

Other notable films included Since You Went Away ( 1944 ), Love Letters ( 1945 ), Cluny Brown ( 1946 ), Portrait of Jennie ( 1948 ), Madame Bovary ( 1949 ), We Were Strangers ( 1949 ), Gone to Earth ( 1950 ), Carrie ( 1952 ), Ruby Gentry ( also 1952 ), Indiscretion of an American Wife ( 1953 ), Beat the Devil ( 1953 ), Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing ( 1955 ), Good Morning Miss Dove ( also 1955 ), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit ( 1956 ) starring opposite Gregory Peck and A Farewell to Arms ( 1957 ).

St. Gregory the Great Catholic School opened in 1955 under the Sisters of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Congregation.

* Small-part actress Mary Gregory was seen, starting in 1955, in well over a hundred TV episodes, including first season's " The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street " and third season's " The Shelter ".

Gregory John Norman AO ( born 10 February 1955 ) is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s.

Gregory had contacted him in 1955, when Gregory was starting out in Chicago.

MacGill published a biography of her mother in 1955 entitled My Mother, the Judge: A Biography of Judge Helen Gregory MacGill.

The first show aired on ABC and ATV ( the weekend franchise holders on ITV ) on 9 November 1955, featuring Francis St Clair Gregory ( father of Tony St Clair ) versus Mike Marino and Cliff Beaumont versus Bert Royal live from West Ham baths.

Throughout 1954 and 1955, Gregory competed in European races, including the Tourist Trophy at Dundrod and the 24 Hours of Le Mans ( although his co-driver Mike Sparken retired before Gregory got a chance to drive ).

* In Orson Welles ' Confidential Report ( alternative title Mr. Arkadin ) ( 1955 ) the financier Gregory Arkadin jumps from his private airplane when he believes that his evil past has been revealed to his beloved daughter.

This design idea appeared in Dmitri Maksutov's 1941 notes and was originally developed in commercial designs by Lawrence Braymer ( Questar, 1954 ), and John Gregory ( 1955 patent ).

He had four daughters and three sons: Yvonne Daniels ( Chicago's Radio Hall of Fame-deceased ), Baroness Von Czenkow, William B. Daniels II, Bruce Daniels ( deceased ), Jack ( Pearce ) in England b. 1954 and from his 1955 marriage to Pierrette ( Cameron ) Andrea ( Grefelt ), and Dominique Daniels ( Billy Daniels Foundation ); and 6 grandchildren: Adrien, Gregory, Kristen, Bo, Jonas, and Desiree.

In the 1950s, Parker co-starred opposite Edward G. Robinson in Black Tuesday ; had a small but effective role in The Gunfighter which starred Gregory Peck and appeared with Randolph Scott and Angela Lansbury in the western A Lawless Street ( 1955 ).

Mr. Reama, who retired as vice president of the American Screw Co. in 1955 said, `` Both parties in the last election told us that we need a five per cent growth in the gross national product -- but neither told us how to achieve it ''.

* Mark Mendoza ( born 1955 ), American bass player nicknamed " The Animal "

* 1955 – Corey Burton, American voice actor

* 1866 – Matthew Henson, American explorer ( d. 1955 )

* 1955 – Bruce Bochy, American baseball player and manager

* 1882 – Marion Bauer, American composer, writer, and critic ( d. 1955 )

* 1868 – Bernarr Macfadden, American bodybuilder, author, and publisher, founded Macfadden Publications ( d. 1955 )

* 1955 – Ann M. Martin, American author

* 1955 – Terry Taylor, American wrestler

* 1955 – Peter Gallagher, American actor, singer, and writer

* 1955 – Ned Yost, American baseball player and manager

* 1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.

* 1920 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer ( d. 1955 )