Major Events
- May 15 AT&T becomes the 1st US corporation to have a million stockholders after young car salesman Brady Denton purchases 7 shares worth $1,078
- Sep 1 US, Australia and New Zealand sign the ANZUS mutual defense treaty
- Oct 6 Joseph Stalin proclaims the Soviet Union has the atomic bomb
- Nov 29 1st underground atomic explosion at Frenchman Flat in Nevada
- More 1951 Events
1951 in Film & TV
- Jan 28 "La Vie Commence Demain" the 1st X-rated movie, depicting artificial insemination, opens in London
- May 28 Radio programme "Crazy People" (later titled The Goon Show) premieres on the BBC, created by Spike Milligan
- Jun 28 "Amos 'n' Andy" premieres on CBS TV
- Aug 20 12th Venice Film Festival: "Rashomon" directed by Akira Kurosawa wins the Golden Lion
- Aug 26 Film "An American In Paris" with music by George Gershwin, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron premieres in London (Academy Awards Best Picture, 1952)
- Sep 3 TV soap opera "Search for Tomorrow" debuts on CBS
- Sep 9 1st broadcast of soap opera "Love of Life" on CBS-TV
- Sep 18 "A Streetcar Named Desire", film directed by Elia Kazan based on Tennessee Williams' 1947 play of the same name, starring Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh, premieres at the Warner Theater, NYC
- Dec 23 National Football League Championship, LA Memorial Coliseum: Los Angeles Rams beat Cleveland Browns, 24-17; first coast-to-coast televised NFL title game
1951 in Sport
- Dec 11 Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball
- Dec 23 National Football League Championship, LA Memorial Coliseum: Los Angeles Rams beat Cleveland Browns, 24-17; first coast-to-coast televised NFL title game
Did You Know?
First televised baseball game in colour on WCBS in New York City; Boston Braves beat Brooklyn Dodgers, 8-1
Chesley Sullenberger
Gordon Brown
Sally Ride
Jean-Claude Duvalier
Michelle Bachelet
Edward Lee Howard
Charo
Phil Collins
Steven Seagal
Robin Williams
Sting
John Mellencamp
Crystal Gayle
Chrissie Hynde
Bob Geldof
Pat Bradley
Dale Earnhardt
Anatoly Karpov
Mike Weaver
Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Marcel DionneMore People Born in 1951
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
André Gide
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Philippe Pétain
William Randolph Hearst
Will Keith Kellogg
Warner Baxter
Fanny Brice
Arnold Schoenberg
Mildred Bailey
Eddie Collins
Leo DiegelMore 1951 Deaths
Famous Weddings in 1951
- Jan 8 American actor Burgess Meredith (43) weds (his 4th and final time) Swedish-American ballerina Kaja Sundsten (21), until his death in 1997
- Feb 10 Shah of Persia Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (31) marries actress Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiary (19)
- Feb 27 American civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois (83) weds award-winning author Shirley Graham (54) in Queens, New York
Famous Divorces in 1951
- Jan 29 English-American actress Elizabeth Taylor's 1st divorce from American hotel heir Conrad Hilton Jr. after nearly 9 months of marriage
- Sep 20 Actor Jackie Coogan (36) divorces Ann McCormack after 5 years of marriage
- Oct 29 Singer and actor Frank Sinatra (35) and 1st wife Nancy (Barbato) (33) divorce due to infidelity after 12 years of marriage
More 1951 Weddings
Humphrey Bogart
Mohammad Mosaddegh
Vivien Leigh
Clement Attlee
Harry Truman
Joseph Stalin
Mao Zedong