* Austin Osman Spare ( 1886 – 1956 ), English artist and magician

* 1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinean artist and journalist

* 1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and administrator

* 1956 – Andy García, Cuban actor

* 1956 – Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer

* 1956 – Former Vice President and Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.

* 1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish director

* 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.

* 1956 – Stepfanie Kramer, American actress

* 1878 – Aino Kallas, Finnish-Estonian author ( d. 1956 )

* 1956 – Fulvio Melia, Italian-American physicist, astrophysicist, and author

* 1956 – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler

* 1956 – Isabel Pantoja, Spanish singer

* 2003 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer ( b. 1956 )

* 1956 – Tom Leykis, American radio host

* 1956 – Kirk Brandon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist ( Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny and Dead Men Walking )

* 1956 – Balwinder Sandhu, Indian cricketer

* 1956 –, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.

Prominent leaders include co-founders Lucien Febvre ( 1878 – 1956 ) and Marc Bloch ( 1886 – 1944 ).

* 1867 – Emil Nolde, German painter ( d. 1956 )

* 1956 – Chris Foreman, English guitarist and songwriter ( Madness )

* 1956 – David Grant, English singer ( Linx )

* 1956 – Branscombe Richmond, American actor

* 1956 – Cecilia Roth, Argentine actress

Capp also lampooned popular recording idols of the day, such as Elvis Presley (" Hawg McCall ," 1957 ), Liberace (" Loverboynik ," 1956 ), the Beatles (" the Beasties ," 1964 )— and in 1944, Frank Sinatra.

As his family disintegrated around him, Parsons developed strong musical interests, particularly after seeing Elvis Presley perform in concert on February 22, 1956, in Waycross.

* 1956 – Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

By the time the again-renamed Milton Berle Show finished its only full season, Berle was already becoming history — though his final season was host to two of Elvis Presley's earliest television appearances, April 3 and June 5, 1956 .< ref >

When Elvis Presley recorded the song in 1956, he combined Haley's arrangement with Turner's original lyrics but failed to score a substantial hit.

The band's popularity in the United States began to wane in 1956 – 57 as sexier, wilder acts such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard began to dominate the record charts ( although Haley's cover version of Little Richard's " Rip It Up "-which was released in direct competition-actually outsold the original ).

On December 8, 1956, two examples on the same broadcast were " Nuttin ' for Christmas ," which became a vehicle for Rocky Rockwell dressed in a child's outfit, and Elvis Presley's " Don't Be Cruel ," which was sung by violinist Bob Lido, wearing fake Presley-style sideburns.

Laughton was the fill-in host on 9 September 1956, when Elvis Presley made his first of three appearances on CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show, which garnered 72 million viewers ( Ed Sullivan was recuperating from a car accident ).

* Elvis ( 1956 album )

From 1956 Norman was fascinated with the music of Elvis Presley.

The 2010 tribute Million Dollar Quartet is based on the famous photograph of Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis grouped round Elvis Presley at the piano, the night when the four joined in an impromptu jam at Sun Record's one-room sound studio, the " Million Dollar Quartet " of 4 December 1956.

The photos, taken between 1956 and 1965 show early moments from Elvis, Bob Dylan, and The Beatles.

* In June 1956 Elvis Presley returned to Tupelo for a concert at the Mississippi-Alabama State Fair & Dairy Show.

RCA also had success in the format with their top money earner, Elvis Presley, issuing 28 Elvis EPs between 1956 and 1967, many of which topped the separate Billboard EP chart during its brief existence.

Examples are Elvis Presley's " Love Me Tender " from 1956 and " Just For You ", " Peace In The Valley " and " Jailhouse Rock " from 1957, and The Kinks ' Kinksize Session from 1964.

Previously, the highest number of concurrent singles by one artist on the Hot 100 was nine by Elvis Presley, December 19, 1956.

It is said that Your Hit Parade was nearly cancelled after many weeks of unsuccessful attempts by big band singer Snooky Lanson to perform Elvis Presley's " Hound Dog " in 1956.

However, in an essay published in Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles, David Cantwell argues that Elvis Presley's rock and roll recording of " Don't Be Cruel " in July 1956 was the record that sparked the beginning of the era now called the Nashville sound.

Elvis Presley included a haunting version on his self-titled debut album, in 1956.

* " The Fool ", 1956 hit single by Sanford Clark, written by Lee Hazlewood, recorded by Elvis Presley, Chris Farlowe a. o.

Edmunds had more UK hits during this time, including Elvis Costello's " Girls Talk ", Nick Lowe's " I Knew The Bride ", Hank DeVito's " Queen of Hearts " ( written for Edmunds and later a US hit for Juice Newton using the same arrangement ), Graham Parker's " Crawling from the Wreckage ", and Melvin Endsley's " Singing the Blues " ( originally a 1956 US # 1 hit for Guy Mitchell, and a UK # 1 for both Mitchell and Tommy Steele ).

Early press reports, dating back to 1956, claimed that Johnny attended Humes High School with Elvis Presley, which was not true.

He would later tell an interviewer that, " watching Elvis Presley's October 28, 1956, performance on The Ed Sullivan Show was the starting point for me becoming a guitar player ...