* 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 – Sean Hannity, American talk radio and television host

Ken ( Ken Sean Carson ) is a Mattel toy doll introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the fictional boyfriend of toy doll Barbie introduced in 1959.

A 1961 film On the Fiddle starring Sean Connery was based on a Delderfield novel.

* Sean Altman ( born 1961 ) musician, songwriter and founder of Rockapella.

Sean Hannity ( born December 30, 1961 ) is a television host, author, and conservative political commentator.

From 1961 to 1964, Mills was married to Russell Alquist, Jr., with whom she had a son, Sean.

Other notable 1960s productions included adaptations of Anna Karenina ( 1961, starring Sean Connery and Claire Bloom ) and Wuthering Heights ( 1962, a new version of Kneale's 1953 script, starring Bloom and Keith Michell ).

Sean Lineen ( born 25 December 1961 ) is a Scottish rugby player, originally from New Zealand.

Barnes has five children: Deidre ( b. 1957 ) and Michael ( b. 1961 ) with first wife Andrea Burnett ( 1957 – 1965 ); and Sean ( b. 1965 ), Erin ( b. 1969 ) and Paige ( b. 1972 ) with second wife Janet Thaleen Norton ( 1965 – 1983 ).

* Lieutenant-General Sean MacEoin, Ireland, January 1961 – March 1962

* Sean Hannity ( 1961 –)

Under Ms Lortel's guidance The White Barn premiered plays ( many of which enjoyed successful transfers to commercial theatres ) such as: George C. Wolfe and Lawrence Bearson's Ivory Tower with Eva Marie Saint ( 1947 ); Sean O ' Casey's Red Roses for Me ( 1948 ); Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs ( 1957 ); Archibald MacLeish's This Music Crept by Me Upon the Waters ( 1959 ); Edward Albee's Fam and Yam ( 1960 ); Samuel Beckett's Embers ( 1960 ); Murray Schisgal's The Typists ( 1961 ); Adrienne Kennedy's The Owl Answers ( 1965 ); Norman Rosten's Come Slowly Eden ( 1966 ); Paul Zindel's The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds ( 1966 ); Terrence McNally's Next ( 1967 ); Barbara Wersba's The Dream Watcher starring Eva Le Gallienne ( 1975 ); June Havoc's Nuts for the Underman ( 1977 ); David Allen's Cheapside starring Cherry Jones ( which Ms. Lortel later co-produced at the Half Moon Theatre in London ); and Margaret Sanger's Unfinished Business, starring Eileen Heckart ( 1989 ).

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 )