# 1959 in television

The year 1959 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1959.

## Events

* January 15 – Tyne Tees Television, the Independent Television (ITV) franchise for North East England, begins broadcasting.
* February 1 – The earliest known interracial kiss on television occurs during a live performance of the play Hot Summer Night, broadcast on the British ABC program Armchair Theatre on the ITV network. The kiss is between Andrée Melly and Lloyd Reckord, the latter of whom would be featured in another early televised interracial kiss three years later in the play You in Your Small Corner.
* February 1 – Nihon Educational Television begins operating to the Kanto region of Japan, operating as a for-profit educational television station for its first year.
* March 1 – Fuji Television commences its regular operations in Japan.
* April 6 – KYW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio (later WKYC) becomes the first station to use the Eyewitness News name.
* May 24 – Television Ecuatoriana, the first television station in Ecuador, starts a regular broadcasting service in Quito and Guayaquil.
* May 28 – Initiation of Lebanon's first television station, Télé Liban.
* July 13–17 – The Hate That Hate Produced, a documentary on Black nationalism in the United States, airs on WNTA-TV.
* July 24 – The Kitchen Debate occurs in Moscow, recorded on color videotape.
* August 21 – The Catholic University of Chile begins broadcasting a partial service over Channel 2, the first TV station in Santiago, Chile.
* October 16 – OBXY-TV, predecessor of Panamericana Television, Peru, starts the first regular official broadcasting service in Lima.
* October 22 – Take a Good Look, an innovative comedy series created by Ernie Kovacs, premieres on ABC in the United States.
* October 27 – Anglia Television, the ITV franchise for Eastern England, begins broadcasting.
* October 31 – Ulster Television, the ITV franchise for Northern Ireland, begins broadcasting.
* October 31 – Western Nigeria Television (later known as Nigerian Television Authority) is launched in Nigeria, making it the first country to introduce television in Africa.
* November 22 – Sandmännchen, a children's bedtime stop motion series, premieres on East German television channel Deutscher Fernsehfunk. The series will continue airing on Rundfunk Berlin–Brandenburg into the 2000s, making it the longest-running animated television series in history with the greatest episode count for a single series.
* November 29 – The Grammy Awards are first televised as part of NBC's Sunday Showcase.
* December 26 – BNT 1, a member of Bulgarian National Television, the first television station in Bulgaria, starts a regular official broadcasting service in Sofia.

## Programs/programmes

* Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962)
* American Bandstand (1952–1989)
* Armchair Theatre (UK) (1956–1968)
* As the World Turns (1956–2010)
* Blue Peter (UK) (1958–present)
* Bozo the Clown (1949–2001)
* Candid Camera (1948–present)
* Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984)
* Cheyenne (1955–1962)
* Come Dancing (UK) (1949–1995)
* Dixon of Dock Green (UK) (1955–1976)
* Face the Nation (1954–present)
* General Motors Presents (Can) (1953–1956, 1958–1961)
* Gillette Cavalcade of Sports (1946–1960)
* Grandstand (UK) (1958–2007)
* Gunsmoke (1955–1975)
* Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
* Hancock's Half Hour (1956–1962)
* Have Gun – Will Travel (1957–1963)
* Howdy Doody (1947–1960)
* I Love Lucy (1951–1960)
* Jubilee USA (1955–1960)
* KPIX Dance Party (1959–1963)
* Leave It to Beaver (1957–1963)
* Love of Life (1951–1980)
* Man with a Camera (1959–1960)
* Meet the Press (1947–present)
* Men Into Space (1959–1960)
* Opportunity Knocks (UK) (1956–1978)
* Panorama (UK) (1953–present)
* Perry Mason (1957–1966)
* Peter Gunn (1958–1961)
* Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
* Take a Good Look (1959–1961)
* The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952–1966)
* The Army Game (UK) (1957–1961)
* The Bell Telephone Hour (1959–1968)
* The Brighter Day (1954–1962)
* The Donna Reed Show (1958–1966)
* The Ed Sullivan Show (1948–1971)
* The Edge of Night (1956–1984)
* The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford (1956–1961)
* The Gale Storm Show, Oh! Susanna (1956–1960)
* The Good Old Days (UK) (1953–1983)
* The Guiding Light (1952–2009)
* The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958–1962)
* The Jack Benny Program (1950–1965)
* The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982)
* The Milton Berle Show (1954–1967)
* The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (1957–1960)
* The Price Is Right (1956–1965)
* The Real McCoys (1957–1963)
* The Secret Storm (1954–1974)
* The Sky at Night (UK) (1957–present)
* The Steve Allen Show (1956–1960)
* The Texan (1958–1960)
* This Man Dawson (1959–1960)
* The Today Show (1952–present)
* The Tonight Show (1954–present)
* The Voice of Firestone (1949–1963)
* This Is Your Life (UK) (1955–2003)
* This Is Your Life (US) (1952–1961)
* Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
* Walt Disney Presents (1958–1961)
* Wanted Dead or Alive (1958–1961)
* Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958–1960)
* What the Papers Say (UK) (1956–2008)
* What's My Line (1950–1967)
* Zoo Quest (UK) (1954–1964)

### Debuts

* January 9 – Rawhide, CBS (1959–1966)
* January 12 – The Bell Telephone Hour on NBC (1959–1968)
* February 4 – Face to Face on BBC Television (1959–1962)
* February 12 – As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me on West Germany's ARD (1959)
* February 16 – Emergency (1959) (Australia), one of the earliest Australian dramatic TV series
* April 4
** Charlesworth on BBC Television (1959)
** Shell Presents (1959–1960) (Sydney and Melbourne Australia), Australian dramatic anthology series
* May 2 – Markham, featuring Ray Milland, on CBS (1959–1960)
* June 1 – Juke Box Jury on BBC Television (1959–1967, 1979, 1989–1990)
* September 11 – The Troubleshooters on NBC (1959–1960)
* September 12 – Bonanza on NBC, the first weekly television series broadcast completely in color (1959–1973)
* September 12 – The Man and the Challenge on NBC (1959–1960)
* September 15 – Laramie on NBC (1959–1963)
* September 20 – NBC Sunday Showcase on NBC (1959–1960)
* September 21 – Love and Marriage on NBC (1959–1960)
* September 30 – Men Into Space on CBS (1959–1960)
* October 2 – Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone debuts on CBS (1959–1964)
* October 4
** Dennis the Menace on CBS (1959–1963)
** The Rebel on ABC (1959–1961)
* October 5 – Bourbon Street Beat on ABC (1959–1960)
* October 7 – Hawaiian Eye on ABC (1959–1963)
* October 15 - The Untouchables on ABC (1959–1963)
* November 19 - Rocky & His Friends on ABC (1959–61)
* Unknown date
** Adelaide Tonight – 1959–1973 (Adelaide, Australia)
** Bandwagon (1959–1960) (Melbourne, Australia, on HSV-7)
** The Bert Newton Show (1959–1960) (Melbourne, Australia, on GTV-9)
** The Bobby Limb Show (1959–1964) (Australia) (title changed in 1961 to The Mobil-Limb Show)
** Club Seven (1959–1961) (Melbourne, Australia)
** The Quick Draw McGraw Show in syndication (1959–1962)
** Tales of the Riverbank (1959–1963).
** This Man Dawson in syndication (1959–1960)

### Ending this year

| Date | Show | Debut |
| January 13 | Confession | 1958 |
| January 23 | Our Mutual Friend | 1958 |
| January 26 | Quatermass and the Pit | 1958 |
| April 9 | Behind Closed Doors | 1958 |
| April 24 | Your Hit Parade | 1950 |
| June 22 | The Restless Gun | 1957 |
| June 25 | Dragnet | 1951 |
| June 25 | Mickey Mouse Club | 1955 |
| June 25 | State Trooper | 1956 |
| September 28 | Polka Go-Round | 1958 |
| Unknown | This Is Alice | 1958 |

## Births

| Date | Name | Notability |
| January 5 | Clancy Brown | Actor (SpongeBob SquarePants, Superman: The Animated Series, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.) |
| January 21 | Bob Boden | American producer |
| January 22 | Linda Blair | American actress |
| January 27 | Cris Collinsworth | American sports broadcaster |
| January 27 | Keith Olbermann | American sports and political commentator |
| January 31 | Anthony LaPaglia | Australian actor (Without a Trace) |
| January 31 | Kelly Lynch | Actress |
| February 3 | Fredric Lehne | Actor (Mancuso, F.B.I.) |
| February 11 | Bradley Cole | Actor (Guiding Light) |
| February 12 | Larry Nance | NBA basketball player |
| February 15 | Joseph R. Gannascoli | American actor |
| February 18 | Jayne Atkinson | English-American actress (24) |
| February 22 | Kyle MacLachlan | Actor (Twin Peaks, Desperate Housewives) |
| February 24 | Beth Broderick | Actress (The 5 Mrs. Buchanans, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) |
| February 26 | Rolando Blackman | NBA basketball player |
| March 5 | Talia Balsam | Actress |
| March 6 | Tom Arnold | Actor and comedian (The Best Damn Sports Show Period) |
| March 7 | Donna Murphy | Actress and singer |
| March 8 | Lester Holt | Journalist and news anchor |
| March 8 | Aidan Quinn | Actor |
| March 9 | Tom Amandes | Actor (Everwood) |
| March 9 | Kato Kaelin | Actor and TV personality |
| March 14 | Tamara Tunie | Actress (As the World Turns, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) |
| March 16 | Flavor Flav | Rapper |
| March 20 | Sting | Pro wrestler |
| March 22 | Stephen Lambert | English television producer |
| April 3 | David Hyde Pierce | Actor (Frasier, The Powers That Be) |
| April 3 | Amy Morton | Actress |
| April 4 | Phil Morris | Actor (Smallville, The Secret Saturdays, Legion of Super Heroes) |
| April 15 | Emma Thompson | English actress |
| April 15 | Thomas F. Wilson | Actor (SpongeBob SquarePants, Tales of Arcadia, Back to the Future) |
| April 17 | Sean Bean | English actor (Sharpe, Game of Thrones) |
| April 22 | Ryan Stiles | Actor (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) |
| April 23 | Dan Frischman | Actor (Head of the Class) |
| April 24 | Paula Yates | English television presenter (died 2000) |
| May 3 | Ben Elton | English comedian and writer (Blackadder) |
| May 5 | Brian Williams | Journalist |
| May 7 | Michael E. Knight | Actor (All My Children) |
| May 10 | Victoria Rowell | Actress (The Young and the Restless, Diagnosis: Murder) |
| May 13 | Jerry Butler | American actor |
| May 17 | Jim Nantz | American sportscaster |
| May 20 | Bronson Pinchot | Actor (Balki Bartokomous on Perfect Strangers) |
| May 29 | Rupert Everett | English actor |
| June 1 | Eli Gabay | Actor |
| June 2 | Kevin Newman | Journalist |
| June 6 | Neal H. Moritz | Film producer |
| June 7 | Mike Pence | Politician |
| June 10 | Tim Van Patten | Director |
| June 11 | Hugh Laurie | English actor (Jeeves and Wooster, House) |
| June 12 | Marty Griffin | Journalist |
| June 15 | Eileen Davidson | Actress (Days of Our Lives, The Young and the Restless, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) |
| June 21 | Tom Chambers | NBA basketball player |
| June 24 | Dan Gilroy | Screenwriter |
| June 26 | Mark McKinney | Actor and comedian (The Kids in the Hall, Superstore) |
| June 27 | Janusz Kamiński | Director |
| June 30 | Vincent D'Onofrio | Actor (Law & Order: Criminal Intent) |
| July 1 | Phyllis Cicero | American actress (Barney & Friends) (died 2021) |
| July 3 | David Shore | Canadian television writer |
| July 7 | Billy Campbell | Actor (Once and Again, The 4400, The Rocketeer) |
| July 8 | Robert Knepper | Actor (Prison Break, Heroes) |
| July 9 | Kevin Nash | Pro wrestler |
| July 12 | Charlie Murphy | Actor and comedian (died 2017) |
| July 16 | Bob Joles | Actor (Big City Greens, SpongeBob SquarePants, Spider-Man) |
| July 24 | Shawn Weatherly | Actress |
| July 25 | Geoffrey Zakarian | American chef, restaurateur, television personality and author |
| July 26 | Kevin Spacey | Actor (Wiseguy, House of Cards) |
| July 26 | Tom McGowan | Actor (Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, The War at Home) |
| August 2 | Victoria Jackson | Actress (Saturday Night Live) |
| August 3 | John C. McGinley | Actor (Scrubs, DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders, Justice League Unlimited) |
| August 5 | Mark Cendrowski | Director |
| August 10 | Rosanna Arquette | Actress |
| August 13 | Danny Bonaduce | Actor (The Partridge Family) |
| August 14 | Marcia Gay Harden | Actress (Pollock, Code Black) |
| August 14 | Magic Johnson | NBA basketball player |
| August 17 | Derek McGinty | American news anchor |
| August 18 | June Angela | Actress (The Electric Company) |
| August 19 | Pamela Fryman | Director |
| August 28 | Arthur Holden | Actor |
| September 5 | Rickey Minor | Bass player |
| September 11 | John Hawkes | Actor (Deadwood, Eastbound & Down) |
| September 13 | Chris Hansen | Television journalist (Dateline NBC) |
| September 14 | Mary Crosby | Actress (Dallas) |
| September 14 | Anthony Asbury | Actor |
| September 15 | Kevin Allen | Actor |
| September 19 | Carolyn McCormick | Actress (Law & Order) |
| September 21 | Dave Coulier | Actor (Joey Gladstone on Full House) |
| September 23 | Jason Alexander | Actor (Seinfeld, Hit the Road, Duckman) |
| September 27 | Stephen Caffrey | Actor (Tour of Duty) |
| September 28 | Steve Hytner | Actor |
| September 30 | Debrah Farentino | Actress |
| October 3 | Jack Wagner | Actor (The Bold and the Beautiful) |
| October 3 | Greg Proops | Actor |
| October 7 | Simon Cowell | English television personality |
| October 7 | Dylan Baker | Actor |
| October 8 | Nick Bakay | Actor (Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Angry Beavers) |
| October 10 | Julia Sweeney | Actress (Saturday Night Live) |
| October 10 | Bradley Whitford | Actor (The West Wing) |
| October 13 | Marie Osmond | Actress and singer (Donny & Marie) |
| October 17 | Norm Macdonald | Actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live, Mike Tyson Mysteries) (died 2021) |
| October 23 | "Weird Al" Yankovic | Music parodist and actor (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Adventure Time, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) |
| October 23 | Nancy Grace | American anchor |
| October 26 | François Chau | American-Cambodian actor (Lost) |
| November 10 | Mackenzie Phillips | Actress (One Day at a Time) |
| November 12 | Vincent Irizarry | Soap opera actor |
| November 14 | Paul Attanasio | American screenwriter |
| November 19 | Allison Janney | Actress (The West Wing, Mom) |
| November 26 | Jamie Rose | Actress (Falcon Crest) |
| November 28 | Judd Nelson | Actor (Suddenly Susan, Ben 10: Omniverse) |
| December 5 | Connie Needham | Actress (Eight is Enough) |
| December 6 | Tom Foreman | Canadian television writer |
| December 9 | Terry Moran | American journalist |
| December 9 | Pat Battle | American journalist |
| December 10 | Mark Aguirre | NBA basketball player |
| December 10 | Burke Moses | Actor |
| December 13 | Johnny Whitaker | Actor (Family Affair) |
| December 16 | Alison La Placa | Actress (Duet, Open House) |
| December 29 | Mark Madden | American sports talk show host |
| December 30 | Tracey Ullman | Actress, comedian (The Tracey Ullman Show) |
| December 31 | Val Kilmer | Actor |

## Deaths

* February 3 – Beulah Zachary, American director and producer (Kukla, Fran and Ollie) (born 1911)
* June 16 – George Reeves, American actor (born 1914)

## Television debuts

* Peter Bowles – Dial 999
* Veronica Cartwright – Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
* Seymour Cassel – Naked City
* Robert Duvall – Armstrong Circle Theatre
* Julian Glover – A Midsummer Night's Dream
* Ron Howard – Playhouse 90
* Jill Ireland – The Voodoo Factor
* Sally Kellerman – Playhouse 90
* Telly Savalas – NBC Sunday Showcase
* George Takei – Playhouse 90