1985

1985 (MCMLXXXV) was .

Events 
 January 20 - President Ronald Reagan is inaugurated for the second time.
 February 18 - NBA player Larry Bird barely misses a quadruple-double in a game against the Utah Jazz.  He sits out the entire fourth quarter.
 March 11 – Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
 April 1 - Cincinnati, OH-based Procter & Gamble removed the moon & stars symbol from its packaging.
 July 13 – Live Aid concerts take place in London and Philadelphia
 September 1 – The wreckage of the RMS Titanic was found.
 November 18 – Bill Watterson first publishes "Calvin and Hobbes".
 November 20 – Microsoft ships the first version of Microsoft Windows out to be sold.
 December 6 - The Boston Celtics pick up their only home loss of the 1985-86 NBA season, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Garden.  They establish the best single-season NBA home court record of all time.

Births 
 January 14 – Shawn Sawyer, Canadian figure skater
 February 5 – Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
 February 9 – David Gallagher, American actor
 February 18 - Lee Boyd Malvo, Jamaican-American spree killer
 February 19 – Haylie Duff, American actress and singer
 March 26 – Keira Knightley, English actress
 April 3 – Leona Lewis, English singer
 May 2 – Lily Allen, English singer
 May 2 – Kyle Busch, American NASCAR driver
 May 18 – Joseph Roisman, American former navy sailor 
 June 2 – Ashley Tisdale, American actress and singer
 June 4 – Evan Lysacek, American figure skater
 June 4 – Lukas Podolski, Polish-born German footballer
 June 30 – Charley Uchea, English Big Brother contestant
 June 30 – Cody Rhodes, American professional wrestler
 July 2 – Mario Gómez, German footballer
 July 6 – Naomi Nari Nam, American figure skater
 August 18 – Rachel Smith, Panamanian-born Miss USA 2007
 August 19 – Lindsey Jacobellis, American Olympic snowboarder
 August 26 – Christopher Mabee, Canadian figure skater
 September 14 – Aya Ueto, Japanese actress and singer
 September 17 – Alexander Ovechkin, Professional ice hockey player for the Washington Capitals
 September 17 – Jon Walker, American guitarist
 September 21 – Reza Alinejad, Iranian criminal
 October 11 – Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress
 October 23 - Lachlan Gillespie, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
 October 24 – Wayne Rooney, English footballer
 October 25 – Ciara, American R&B/Pop singer
 November 4 – Marcell Jansen, German footballer
 December 10 – Raven Symone, American actress
 Lindsay Hawker, British murder victim (d. 2007)
 Charlotte Lindström, Swedish criminal and model

Deaths

January 
 January 2 – Gabriel Elorde, Filipino professional boxer (b. 1935)
 January 3 – Tadeusz Pełczyński, Polish general (b. 1892)
 January 4 – Lovro von Matačić, Croatian conductor (b. 1899)
 January 4 – Brian Horrocks, British Army officer (b. 1895)
 January 7 – Jules Vandooren, French footballer (b. 1908)
 January 10 – Anton Karas, Austrian musician (b. 1906)
 January 10 – André Bjerke, Norwegian writer (b. 1918)
 January 15 – Salvador Cardona, Spanish cyclist (b. 1901)
 January 21 – Luise Ullrich, Austrian actress (b. 1910)
 January 22 – Paul Harteck, German chemist (b. 1902)
 January 22 – Mikhail Gromov, Russian aviator (b. 1899)
 January 26 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer (b. 1914)

February 
 February 20 – Clarence Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)
 February 22 – Efrem Zimbalist Sr., Russian-American violinist (b. 1889)

March 
 

 March 10 – Konstantin Chernenko, Former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1911)
 March 21 – Michael Redgrave, English stage actor (b. 1908)
 March 28 – Marc Chagall, Russian-French artist (b. 1887)
 March 29 – Gerhard Stöck, German olympic athlete (b. 1911)

April 

 April 11 – Enver Hoxha, Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1908)
 April 21 – Tancredo Neves, President of Brazil (b. 1910)

May 

 May 16 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
 May 18 – Penn Nouth, Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1908)

June 

 June 21 – Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1901)
 June 30 – Haruo Remeliik, President of Palau (b. 1933)

July 

 July 4 – Jan de Quay, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1901)
 July 8 – Simon Kuznets, American economist (b. 1901)
 July 16 – Heinrich Böll, German writer (b. 1917)

August 

 August 6 – Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923)
 August 8 – Louise Brooks, American film actress (b. 1906)
 August 12 – Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (b. 1941)
 August 25 – Samantha Smith, American peace activist (b. 1972)
 August 31 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist (b. 1899)

September 

 September 6 – Rodney Robert Porter, British biochemist (b. 1917)
 September 9 – Paul Flory, American chemist (b. 1910)
 September 19 – Italo Calvino, Italian writer (b. 1923)
 September 30 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist (b. 1900)

October 

 October 1 – E. B. White, American writer (b. 1899)
 October 2 – Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
 October 9 – Emílio Garrastazu Médici, President of Brazil (b. 1905)
 October 10 – Yul Brynner, Russian-American actor (b. 1920)
 October 10 – Orson Welles, American actor (b. 1915)
 October 12 – Johnny Olson, American radio personality (b. 1910)
 October 21 – Dan White, American politician (b. 1946)

November 

 November 14 – Wellington Koo, Acting President of the Republic of China (b. 1888)
 November 17 – Lon Nol, President of the Khmer Republic (b. 1913)

December 

 December 12 – Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
 December 14 – Roger Maris, American baseball athlete (b. 1934)
 December 26 – Dian Fossey, American Researcher (b. 1932)
 December 27 – Harold Whitlock, British olympic athlete (b. 1903)
 December 31 – Ricky Nelson, American musician (b. 1940)

Movies released 
 Brewster's Millions
 Back to the Future
 The Breakfast Club
 Commando
 The Care Bears Movie
 The Goonies
 One Magic Christmas
 Runaway Train
 Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer
 Rambo: First Blood Part II
 Rocky IV
 Return to Oz
 St. Elmo's Fire

Hit songs 
"Glory Days" – Bruce Springsteen
"Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" – Judas Priest
"Crazy for You" – Madonna
"Reviens-moi" – Dalida
"C'était mon ami" – Dalida
"Le temps d'aimer" – Dalida
"Le Vénitien de Levallois" – Dalida
"Find A Way" – Amy Grant
"Wise Up" – Amy Grant
"Say You, Say Me" – Lionel Richie
"We Are the World" – USA for Africa
"Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore" – REO Speedwagon
"I'm Going Down" – Bruce Springsteen
"Freeway of Love" – Aretha Franklin

New books 
Forrest Gump – Winston Groom

Notes

References