* 1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish comedian

* 1961 – The Russian ( Soviet ) cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok 3KA-2 ( Vostok 1 ).

* 1961 – Enedina Arellano Félix, Mexican drug trafficker

* 1961 – Lisa Gerrard, Australian singer, musician, and composer ( Dead Can Dance )

* 1961 – Charles Mann, American football player

* 1961 – Magda Szubanski, Australian actress

* 1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.

* 1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player

* 1961 – Yolanda Adams, American singer, producer, and actress

* 1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer and director

* 1961 – Helmut Winklhofer, German footballer

* 1881 – Leo Carrillo, American actor ( d. 1961 )

* 1961 – Brad Gilbert, American tennis player

* 1961 – John Key, New Zealand politician, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand

* 1961 – Amy Stiller, American comedian and actress

* 1961 – East Germany closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants ' attempts to escape to the West.

* 1961 – Sam Champion, American weatherman

* 1961 – Christos Christodoulou, Greek basketball player

* 1961 – Dawnn Lewis, American actress

* 1961 – Stuart Maconie, English journalist, author, and broadcaster

* 1961 – Neil Mallender, England cricketer

* 1961 – Tom Perrotta, American novelist

* 1961 – Sunil Shetty, Indian actor and producer

* 1961 – Cary Stayner, American serial killer

* 1886 – John Alexander Douglas McCurdy Canadian pilot and engineer ( d. 1961 )

* 1860 – Grandma Moses, American painter ( d. 1961 )

* September 7 – Anna Mary Robertson Moses aka Grandma Moses, painter & centoginerean ( d. 1961 )

* Anna Mary Robertson Moses, ( 1860 – 1961 ), United States painter known as " Grandma Moses "

Anna Mary Robertson Moses ( September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961 ), better known as " Grandma Moses ", was a renowned American folk artist.

* 1961 in art-Death of Grandma Moses, Augustus John ; Birth of Thomas Tulis

The Village was very much established by 1961 but Grandma kept adding structures and tweaking into the 1980s.

In the fall of 1961, SNCC organizer Robert Moses began the first such project in McComb and the surrounding counties in the Southwest corner of the state.

* Internet Archive: 1964 New York World's Fair Report ( 1961 ) Film about planning the fair with Robert Moses.

* September 7-Grandma Moses, American folk artist ( died 1961 )

By 1961, Moses had set in motion two immense federal initiatives, which would have leveled fourteen blocks along Broome Street in Little Italy and what is now SoHo.

The American people have indeed come a long way in the brief interval between 1930 and 1961.

The interesting thing about Mr. Lyford's approach, and the approach of the contributors to The Agreeable Autocracies ( Oceana Publications, 1961 ) to the situation of American civilization, is that it is concerned with comprehending the psychological relationships which are having a decisive effect on American life.

and now, therefore, do I, John A. Notte, Jr., Governor of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, proclaim Monday, May 22nd, 1961, as National Maritime Day, reminding our citizens that American Merchant ships and American seamen are ready at all times to serve our Nation in the cause of freedom and justice.

Over the first five frames, Jack Fisher, the big righthander who figures to be in the middle of Oriole plans for a drive on the 1961 American League pennant, held the A's scoreless while yielding three scattered hits.

Ex-Oriole Clint Courtney, now catching for the A's is all for the American League's 1961 expansion to the West Coast.

* 1961 – Cold 187um, American rapper and producer ( Above the Law )

* 1961 – Molly Hagan, American actress

* 1961 – Lee Rocker, American bassist ( Stray Cats )

* 1961 – Daniel House, American bass player and producer ( 10 Minute Warning and Skin Yard )

* 1961 – Bruce Matthews, American football player

* 1961 – Rikki Rockett, American drummer ( Poison )

* 1961 – Eddie Gilbert, American wrestler ( d. 1995 )