1985

**1985** (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar.

## 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
- November 16 – Sanna Marin, Prime Minister of Finland
- December 10 – Raven Symone, American actress

### 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