page_title: 1961
section_title: August
hierarchical_section_title: 1961 / Births / August
caption_attribution_description: English: US Ambassador Mark Gilbert meets NZ PM, John Key
context_page_description: 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1961st year of the Common Era and Anno Domini designations, the 961st year of the 2nd millennium, the 61st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1960s decade.
  As MAD Magazine pointed out on its cover for the March 1961 issue, this was the first "upside-up" year — i.e., one in which the numerals that form the year look the same as when the numerals are rotated upside down, a strobogrammatic number — since 1881. The next such year will be 6009.
context_section_description: August 1 – Danny Blind, Dutch footballer
  August 2 – Pete de Freitas, English musician and producer (d. 1989)
  August 3
  Art Porter Jr., American jazz saxophonist (d. 1996)
  Molly Hagan, American actress
  Nick Harvey, English politician
  August 4
  Pumpuang Duangjan, Thai megastar singer and actress (d. 1992)
  Robin Carnahan, Secretary of State of Missouri
  Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
  Lauren Tom, American actress and voice artist
  August 5
  Mercedes Aráoz, 1st Vice President of Peru
  Janet McTeer, English actress
  August 7
  Ileen Getz, American actress (d. 2005)
  Brian Conley, English actor, comedian, singer and presenter
  Yelena Davydova, Soviet gymnast
  Maggie Wheeler, American actress
  August 8
  The Edge, Irish rock guitarist (U2)
  Bruce Matthews, American football player
  Rikki Rockett, American rock drummer (Poison)
  August 9 – John Key, 38th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  August 10 – Beatrice Alda, American actress and filmmaker
  August 11 – Jukka Tapanimäki, Finnish game programmer (d. 2000)
  August 12 – Lawrence, English musician
  August 13
  Mahesh Anand, Indian actor (d. 2019)
  Koji Kondo, Japanese video game composer (Nintendo)
  August 14 – Susan Olsen, American actress
  August 15 – Suhasini Maniratnam, Indian actress
  August 16
  Elpidia Carrillo, Mexican-American actress
  Urara Takano, Japanese voice actress
  August 17 – Uwe Schmitt, German sprinter and hurdler (d. 1995)
  August 18
  Huw Edwards, BAFTA award-winning Welsh journalist and presenter
  Bob Woodruff, American television journalist and activist
  August 20
  Tony Longo, American actor (d. 2015)
  Plamen Nikolov, Bulgarian footballer
  Linda Manz, American actress (d. 2020)
  August 21 – Stephen Hillenburg, American marine biologist, cartoonist and animator (d. 2018)
  August 22 – Roland Orzabal, British musician and songwriter
  August 23
  Bhupesh Baghel, Indian politician and current Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
  Alexandre Desplat, French film composer
  August 24 – Jared Harris, English actor
  August 25
  Billy Ray Cyrus, American actor and singer
  Benjamin Bwalya, Zambian footballer and coach (d. 1999)
  August 27 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer and film director
  August 28
  Jennifer Coolidge, American actress and comedian
  Deepak Tijori, Indian actor and director
  August 30 – Brian Mitchell, South African boxer
  August 31 – Saleem, Malaysian singer (d. 2018)
caption: John Key
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