* 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

Mick Pointer ( born 22 July 1956 ), originally from Brill in Buckinghamshire, England, was the original drummer and founding member of the progressive rock band, Marillion.

Jerry Faye Hall ( born July 2, 1956 ) is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger and her four children with him.

Mick Pointer, drummer and founding member of the progressive rock bands Marillion and Arena was born on 22 July 1956 in Brill.

* 1956 – David McDowell Brown, American astronaut ( d. 2003 )

Some notable historical groups formed along the way include Colgate University's The Colgate 13 ( 1942 ), Dartmouth College's Aires ( 1946 ), Cornell University's Cayuga's Waiters ( 1949 ) and The Hangovers ( 1968 ), the Columbia University Kingsmen ( 1949 ), the Jabberwocks of Brown University ( 1949 ), and the University of Rochester YellowJackets ( 1956 ).

While the Browns ' on-field play in 1956 was uninspiring, off-the-field drama developed after a Cleveland-based inventor named George Sarles let Brown test a helmet with a radio transmitter inside.

* 1956 – Curtis Brown, American astronaut

* The Southern Manifesto ( 1956 ), opposing the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education

They did not win another league title until 1956, aided by a number of future Pro Football Hall of Fame players such as running back Frank Gifford, linebacker Sam Huff, and offensive tackle Roosevelt Brown, as well as all-pro running back Alex Webster.

* 1930 – Clifford Brown, American musician ( d. 1956 )

** Clifford Brown, American jazz trumpeter ( d. 1956 )

* Dale Brown ( b. 1956 ), American author

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 ).

In 1956, the Virginia General Assembly passed a series of laws ( the Stanley plan ) to implement Massive Resistance, a policy promoted by the Byrd Organization led by former Virginia governor and U. S. Senator Harry F. Byrd to avoid compliance with the Supreme Court decision in Brown.

* 1956: Gray Beck, Richard Thompson, Albert Losvar, Fred Allen, Henry Brown, Ken Walin, Ronald Kane

Theda Arnold, present ( 1979 ) Post Master has copies of the National Archives Records showing later post masters to include, S. J. Robb, 1889 ; Dement Brown, 1891 ; Martha A. LaGrange, 1892 ; Benjamin F. Yoder, 1893 ; Jerome S. Rice, 1895 ; Wiliam H. Beck, 1899 ; Oscar Yoder, 1901 ; Martha A. LaGrange, 1903 ; Martha A. Miskimins, 1904 ; William R. Kirlin, 1928 ; Verna Bess Coen, 1954 ( acting ); Dale E. Howery, 1956 ; Theda Arnold, 1972, up to present day.

Tragically, this group was to be short-lived ; Brown and Powell were killed in a car accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in June 1956.

In 1956, his brother Richie was killed in a car crash alongside Clifford Brown.

** Walter Brown, blues shouter ( d. 1956 )

He and his wife had five children, Christopher Joseph McCarthy ( April 30, 1940 – April 30, 1940 ), Eleanor McCarthy Howell ( born October 30, 1947 ), Mary Abagail McCarthy ( April 29, 1949 – July 28, 1990 ), Michael Benet McCarthy ( born April 5, 1952 ) and Margaret Alice McCarthy Brown ( born July 17, 1956 ).

In 1956, Brown entered Sacred Heart Novitiate, a Jesuit seminary, intent on becoming a Catholic priest.

David McDowell Brown ( April 16, 1956 – February 1, 2003 ) was a United States Navy Captain and a NASA astronaut.

* David McDowell Brown ( 1956 – 2003 ), American astronaut

In 1956, the aviation trade publication Interavia reported that Brown had made substantial progress in anti-gravity or electro-gravitic propulsion research.

Brown was an early investigator of UFOs and in 1956 helped found the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena ( NICAP ).

In 1956, Brown formed the Spacemen skiffle group, which lasted until the skiffle movement faded towards the end of the 1950s.

The 1956 Hollywood film The Best Things in Life Are Free, starring Gordon MacRae, depicting the De Sylva, Brown and Henderson collaboration.