* 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 )

* Julia Gillard ( born 1961 ), Australian politician, Prime Minister

* Julia Louis-Dreyfus ( born 1961 ), American actress, costar of the TV series Seinfeld

Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus (; born January 13, 1961 ) is an American actress, comedienne and producer, well known for her roles in Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and her current series Veep.

Louis-Dreyfus was born Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus in Manhattan, New York on January 13, 1961.

Julia Child featured coq au vin in her breakthrough 1961 cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and she frequently prepared it on the PBS cooking show The French Chef.

* Mastering the Art of French Cooking ( 1961 ) by Julia Child

* Julia Louis-Dreyfus ( born 1961 ), American actress and comedienne ( Seinfeld )

APT began in 1961 as the Eastern Educational Television Network ( EEN ); EEN was one of the first distributors of shows such as The French Chef ( with Julia Child ), Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood, and Washington Week in Review on a regional basis, before introduced nationwide by National Educational Television ( which would cede its network to PBS in 1970 ).

* actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, born January 13, 1961, co-star, in the role of Elaine Benes, of the hit NBC television sitcom Seinfeld, Emmy winning star of the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine.

In 1961, Houghton Mifflin famously passed on Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, giving it up to Alfred A. Knopf who later published it in 1962.

Rideau was incarcerated in Louisiana State Penitentiary ( better known as Angola Prison ) from 1961 to 2000, convicted in three successive trials by all-white, all-male juries of murdering bank teller Julia Ferguson in the aftermath of a bank robbery.

** Christina Valerie Julia Prinzessin ( born November 27, 1961, Munich ), married on May 18, 1995 in Neuenstein ( civ ) and on May 20, 1995 in Neuenstein ( rel ) to Jan-Gisbert Schultze ( born February 12, 1961 )

In 1961 when Julia Berwind died, The Elms was one of the very last Newport cottages to be run in the fashion of the Gilded Age: forty servants were on staff, and Miss Berwind's social season remained at six weeks.

Mastering Volume 1 ( ISBN 0-375-41340-5 ) was originally published in 1961 after some early difficulties ( which are recounted in great detail in Julia Child's memoirs My Life in France as well as Child's introduction to the 2003 edition ).

Whorf directed the unsuccessful 1961 stage comedy, Julia, Jake and Uncle Joe.

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 )