* 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.

* 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

Notable Hamilton alumni include US Secretary of State Elihu Root ( 1864 ), US Vice President James S. Sherman ( 1878 ), poet Ezra Pound ( 1905 ), theatre critic Alexander Woollcott ( 1909 ), jurist and diplomat Philip Jessup ( 1919 ), psychologist B. F. Skinner ( 1926 ), Nobel Prize Winner Paul Greengard ( 1948 ), civil rights leader Bob Moses ( 1956 ), novelist Terry Brooks ( 1966 ), playwright Richard Nelson ( 1971 ), US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack ( 1972 ), composer Jay Reise ( 1972 ), Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Melinda Wagner ( 1979 ), novelist Peter Cameron ( 1982 ), actor Tony Goldwyn ( 1982 ), author Garret Kramer ( 1984 ), novelist Kamila Shamsie, actor and writer for The Office Paul Lieberstein ( 1989 ), actor Grayson McCouch ( 1991 ), Academy Award-winning screenwriter Nat Faxon ( 1997 ), and politician and author Matthew Zeller ( 2004 ).

Born and raised in Southern California, Norton graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1956 and played college football for head coach Skip Stahley at Idaho, alongside future pros Jerry Kramer, Wayne Walker, and Jim Prestel in the Pacific Coast Conference.

In 1956, in order to monetize Kramer ’ s research on “ Boundary Layer Stabilization by Distributed Damping ,” Coleman Engineering and Kramer founded a jointly-owned company, Coleman-Kramer, Inc.

Playing at end for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1954 to 1956, Kramer was a three-time All-American.

Kramer tackling Ohio State's Jim Roseboro, 1956

* John Kramer ( darts player ) ( born 1956 ), retired American professional darts player

Britain began designing the ship in 1956 but got nowhere until the American government decided to end a ban on sharing military secrets with Britain that had been imposed after Fuchs blabbed.

But one thing is for certain: There is no dissension between Mantle, the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1956 and 1957, and Maris, the MVP in 1960.

American TV was the setting for the first dramatic portrayal of Miss Marple with Gracie Fields, the legendary British actress, playing her in a 1956 episode of Goodyear TV Playhouse based on A Murder Is Announced, the 1950 Christie novel.

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

* 1956 – Jackée Harry, American actress

* 1956 – Rusty Wallace, American race car driver

* Adrian Dantley ( born 1956 ), American retired National Basketball Association ( NBA ) player

* Adrian Rollini ( 1903 – 1956 ), American multi-instrumentalist best known for his jazz music

* 1956 – Adam Arkin, American actor

* 1956 – Jon Tester, American politician

* 1956 – Skipp Sudduth, American actor

* 1956 – GG Allin, American singer-songwriter ( The Murder Junkies and The Jabbers ) ( d. 1993 )

* 1956 – Mark Morris, American choreographer

* 1923 – Nate Saint, American missionary ( d. 1956 )

* 1956 – Frank Conniff, American writer and actor

* 1956 – Anna Kathryn Holbrook, American actress

* 1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor

* 1956 – Melody Thomas Scott, American actress

Anita Faye Hill ( born July 30, 1956 ) is an American attorney and academic, currently a professor of social policy, law and women's studies at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management.

* 1956 – Fred Ottman, American wrestler