* 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 )

* 1961 – Sam Robards, American actor

* 1882 – Sam Rayburn, American politician ( d. 1961 )

** Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives ( d. 1961 )

* 1961 West Virginia Open, Sam Snead Festival

Sam Peckinpah's first two choices for the role of Deke Thornton were Richard Harris ( who had co-starred in Major Dundee ) and Brian Keith ( who had worked with Peckinpah on The Westerner ( 1960 ) and The Deadly Companions ( 1961 )).

* Most fumbles recovered, game: 4 ; Otto Graham, Cleveland Browns vs. New York Giants, October 25, 1953 ; Sam Etcheverry, St. Louis Cardinals vs. New York Giants, September 17, 1961 ; Roman Gabriel, Los Angeles Rams vs. San Francisco 49ers, October 12, 1969 ; Joe Ferguson, Buffalo Bills vs. Miami Dolphins, September 18, 1977 ; Randall Cunningham, Philadelphia Eagles vs. Oakland Raiders, November 30, 1986 ( OT ).

* Glenn Strange, who played Sam, the Bartender in CBS's Gunsmoke from 1961 until his death in 1973, grew up in Brown County near Cross Cut.

* Sam Harris, ( b. 1961 )-actor and singer

“ In a visit to Paris in January 1961, Barbara … informed Beckett that she intended to move to live permanently ” “ a move which had been discussed more than once with Sam .” His response was unusual.

Sam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues ( R & B ) duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981.

Sam & Dave met working the gospel music circuit, and later in small clubs in Miami during amateur nights in 1961 according to Dave.

After Covington led the band for a short period, Sam Donahue led it starting in 1961, continuing until the late 1960s.

On January 31, 1961, Brooks voted with a narrow majority of 217-212 to increase the size of the House Rules Committee to permit Speaker Sam Rayburn of Texas to appoint newer, more liberal members to the panel, which determines the legislation brought to the House floor.

He lost a reelection campaign in 1961 to Sam Yorty, partly due to having to explain the expenses incurred by the Dodgers ' franchise shift.

* 1961 Canada Cup ( with Sam Snead )

* Sam Palahnuk ( born 1961 ), American video game designer

Sam Leach, their then agent, and wanting to become their manager, attempted to introduce The Beatles to London agents by promoting shows at The Palais Ballroom, on the corner of Perowne Street and Queens Road, in Aldershot, on 9 December 1961.

Samuel Taliaferro " Sam " Rayburn ( January 6, 1882 – November 16, 1961 ) was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U. S. House of Representatives for 17 years, the longest tenure in U. S. history.

* Lewis L. Gould and Nancy Beck Young, " The Speaker and the Presidents: Sam Rayburn, the White House, and the Legislative Process, 1941 – 1961 " in Raymond W. Smock and Susan W. Hammond, eds.

* The leadership of Speaker Sam Rayburn published 1961, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.

* Sam Durant ( born 1961 ), American artist

In 1961, Speaker Sam Rayburn ( D-Texas ), acting on the wishes of the new President John F. Kennedy and the Democratic Study Group, introduced a bill to enlarge the committee from 12 members to 15, to decrease the power of the arch-conservative chairman, Howard W. Smith ( D-Virginia ).

* Sam Rayburn ( 1881 – 1961 ), U. S. Speaker of the House