1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1976.
Events
January
- January - The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research.
- January 15 - Would-be Gerald Ford presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison.
- January 16 - The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction begins in Stuttgart, West Germany.
- January 18 - The Scottish Labour Party is formed.
- January 19 - Jimmy Carter wins the Iowa Democratic Caucus.
- January 21 - The first commercial Concorde flight takes off.
- January 27 - The trial of Symbionese Liberation Army member Patty Hearst begins.
- January 29 - Twelve Provisional Irish Republican Army bombs explode in London's West End.
- January 30 - Live from Lincoln Center debuts on PBS.
February
- February 4 - The 1976 Winter Olympics open in Innsbruck, Austria.
- February 4 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
- February 11 - Clifford Alexander Jr. is confirmed as the first African-American Secretary of the U.S. Army.
- February 15 - The 1976 Constitution of Cuba is adopted by national referendum.
- February 24 - Cuba's current constitution is enacted.
- February 27 - Western Sahara declares independence.
- February 28 - Spain gives up territories in Sahara but retains its enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta.
March
- March 1 - Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.
- March 4 - The Maguire Seven are found guilty of possessing explosives and subsequently jailed for 14 years.
- March 4 - The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London via the British parliament.
- March 9 - A cable-car disaster in Cavalese, Italy leaves 42 dead.
- March 9-March 11 - Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, Letcher County, KY.
- March 16 - Harold Wilson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- March 17 - Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is retried in New Jersey.
- March 20 - Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank.
- March 24 - Argentina military forces depose president Isabel Peron.
- March 26 - The Toronto Blue Jays are created.
- March 26 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom sends the first royal e-mail.
- March 27 - The first 4.6 miles of the Washington Metro subway system opens.
- March 29 - The military dictatorship of General Jorge Videla comes to power in Argentina.
- March 31 - The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that coma patient Karen Ann Quinlan can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.
April
- April 1 - Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
- April 1 - Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that had filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad till 1986, when it is sold to the public.
- April 3 - The 21st Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses For Me.
- April 4 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
- April 5 - James Callaghan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- April 5 - Tiananmen Incident: Large crowds lay wreaths at Beijing's Monument of the Martyrs to commemorate the death of Premier Zhou Enlai. Poems against the Gang of Four are also displayed, provoking a police crackdown.
- April 13 - An explosion in an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland kills 40.
- April 16 - As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.
- April 21 - The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.
- April 23 - The Punk rock group The Ramones release their first self-titled album.
- April 25 - Portugal's new constitution is enacted.
May
- May 1 - Neville Wran Becomes NSW Premier
- May 4 - The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.
- May 6 - An earthquake hits Friuli area in Italy killing more than 900 people with another 100,000 homeless.
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof of Red Army Faction is found hanging in an apparent suicide, in her Stuttgart-Stannheim prison cell.
- May 11 - U.S. President Gerald Ford signs the Federal Election Campaign Act.
- May 24 - Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
- May 25 - U.S. President Gerald Ford defeats challenger Ronald Reagan in three Republican presidential primaries: Kentucky, Tennessee and Oregon.
- May 30 - Indianapolis 500-Mile Race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 255 miles (408 km).
June
- June 1 - The UK and Iceland end the Cod War.
- June 2 - A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.
- June 5 - The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the U.S., killing 11 people.
- June 14 - The trial begins at Oxford Crown Court of Donald Neilson, the killer known as the Black Panther.
- June 16 - The Soweto riots in South Africa begin.
- June 20 - Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. ambassador.
- June 20 - General elections are held in Italy.
- June 20 - Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5-3 on penalties to win Euro 76, when the game had ended 2-2 after extra time.
- June 25 - Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; strikes end on June 30.
- June 26 - The CN Tower is built in Toronto; the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.
- June 27 - Palestinian extremists hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.
July
- July 2 - North Vietnam and South Vietnam unite to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - a Communist country.
- July 3 - Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment.
- July 3 - The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.
- July 4 - United States Bicentennial: From coast to coast, Americans celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
- July 4 - The Puerto Rican Socialist Party (PSP) leads 50,000 marchers in Philadelphia to demand a "Bicentennial Without Colonies" and independence for Puerto Rico.
- July 4 - Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; 1 Israeli and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.
- July 6 - The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.
- July 7 - German left-wing terrorists Monika Berberich, Gabriella Rollnick, Juliane Plambeck and Inge Viett escape from the Lehrter Straße maximum security prison in West Berlin.
- July 10 - Three British and 1 American mercenaries are shot by firing squad in Angola.
- July 10 - An explosion in Seveso, Italy, kills a large number of people.
- July 15 - Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. President at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.
- July 16-July 20 - Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Societe Generale Bank in Nice, France.
- July 17 - The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- July 17 - East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.
- July 19 - Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
- July 20 - Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
- July 21 - A bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British ambassador to the Irish Republic.
- July 26 - In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford.
- July 27 - The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
- July 28 - The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan,China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851.
- July 29 - In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing 1 and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.
- July 30 - In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions.
- July 31 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.
- July 31 - The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses.
August
- August 1 - The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago becomes a republic, replacing Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom with an elected president as their Head of State.
- August 1 - Racing Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix.
- August 2 - A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel in an incident at Priscilla's mansion at Mockingbird Lane in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder, involvement in a plot to kill several people (including Priscilla and a judge), and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen goes broke afterwards.
- August 4 - The first recognized outbreak of Legionnaires' disease kills 29 at the American Legion convention in Philadelphia.
- August 5 - The Great Clock of Westminster (or Big Ben) suffers internal damage and stops running for over 9 months.
- August 6 - Former UK Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud, theft and forgery.
- August 7 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
- August 14 - Ten thousand Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
- August 14 - The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized. PAI-Rénovation thus becomes the third legal party in the country.
- August 18 - In North Korea at Panmunjom, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which had obscured their view.
- August 19 - U.S. President Gerald Ford edges out challenger Ronald Reagan to win the Republican Party presidential nomination in Kansas City.
- August 24 - In Uruguay, the army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Marcelo is later killed and his wife (and unborn child) disappear.
- August 26 - First known outbreak of Ebola virus in Yambuku, Zaire.
September
- September 3 - Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photos of the planet's surface.
- September 6 - Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum from the United States.
- September 6 - Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, Nevada, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years.
- September 9 - Chairman Mao Zedong, of the People's Republic of China, dies.
- September 10 - A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), killing all 176 aboard.
- September 10 - Osamu Tezuka begins serialising MW, a manga inspired by the 1974 Kakuei Tanaka government scandal.
- September 16 - Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into Erevan reservoir.
- September 17 - The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a Palmdale, California hangar.
- September 20 - September 21 - The semi-legendary 100 Club Punk Festival ignites the careers of several influential punk and gothic rock bands, arguably sparking the Punk Movement's introduction into mainstream culture.
- September 21 - Seychelles joins the United Nations.
- September 21 - Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
- September 24 - Patricia Hearst is sentenced to 7 years in prison for her role in a 1974 bank robbery (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months).
- September 25 - The Irish rock band U2 is formed after drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posts a note seeking members for a band on the notice board of his Dublin school.
October
- October 6 - Cubana Flight 455 crashes due to a bomb placed by anti-Castrist militants, after taking off from Bridgetown, Barbados. All 73 people on board are killed.[1]
- October 6 - Massacre of students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand to protest the return of ex-dictator Thanom by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.
- October 7 - In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford stumbles when he declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there was at the time).
- October 10 - Taiwan Governor Hsieh Tung-ming is injured by a letter bomb from a pro-independence activist.
- October 12 - The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to Mao Tse-tung, as Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
- October 13 - The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States had a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory)..
- October 19 - The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 20 years in the United States.
- October 19 - The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon.
- October 19 - The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.
- October 20 - The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, LA to Luling, LA, killing 78 passengers and crew.
- October 22 - Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, the fifth President of Ireland, resigns after being publicly insulted by the Minister for Defense.
- October 25 - Clarence Norris, the last known survivor of the Scottsboro Boys, is pardoned.
November
- November 2 - U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.
- November 15 - The first megamouth shark is discovered off Oahu in Hawaii.
- November 19 - Jaime Ornelas Camacho takes office as the first President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Portugal.
- November 25 - In San Francisco, The Band holds its farewell concert, The Last Waltz.
- November 26 - Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
December
- December 1 - Angola joins the United Nations.
- December 1 - The Sex Pistols achieve public notoriety as they unleash several 4-letter words live on Bill Grundy's TV show.
- December 3 - Bob Marley and his manager Don Taylor are shot in an assassination attempt, at 56 Hope Road in Kingston, Jamaica. Marley is shot twice, but Taylor takes most of the bullets; both survive.
- December 3 - Patrick Hillery is elected unopposed as the sixth President of Ireland.
- December 8 - The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the 5 Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of the Bronx, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Rio.
- December 15 - Samoa joins the United Nations.
- December 20 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago for 21 years, dies.
- December 23 - A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.
Unknown date
- First laser printer introduced by IBM - the IBM 3800
- California's sodomy law repealed.
- The term memetics first proposed by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene.
- Diffie-Hellman cryptography proposed
- Plans to move the Nigerian capital from Lagos to Abuja are approved.
- The New Jersey State Legislature passes legislation legalizing casinos in the shore town of Atlantic City commencing in 1978. After signing the bill into law Governor Brendan Byrne declared "The mob is not welcome in New Jersey!" referring to the Mafia's influence at casinos in Nevada.
- Nadia Comaneci earns seven perfect "10.00" in the 1976 Olympics as well as three gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
Births
January
- January 1 - Seema Bowri, British actress
- January 2 - Cletidus Hunt, American football player
- January 2 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- January 4 - Shiro Amano, Japanese manga artist/writer
- January 6 - Danny Pintauro, American actor
- January 7 - Éric Gagné, Canadian Major League Baseball player
- January 7 - Alfonso Soriano, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- January 8 - Jenny Lewis, American actress and musician (Rilo Kiley)
- January 17 - Lisi Harrison, Canadian author
- January 19 - Marsha Thomason, British actress
- January 20 - Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
- January 20 - Kirsty Gallacher, TV presenter
- January 21 - Emma Bunton, English musician (Spice Girls)
- January 22 - Mikko Luoma, Finnish ice hockey player
- January 28 - Mark Madsen, American basketball player
- January 28 - Lee Ingleby, British actor
- January 30 - Andy Milonakis, Internet and MTV star
- January 31 - Buddy Rice, American race car driver
February
- February 2 - James Hickman, British swimmer
- February 4 - Cam'ron, Harlem, New York rapper
- February 5 - Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
- February 6 - Colin Teo, Singaporean D1 Professional Grand Prix drifter
- February 8 - Abi Titmuss, British TV presenter and model
- February 9 - Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- February 10 - Lance Berkman, baseball player
- February 12 - Silvia Saint, Czech actress
- February 12 - Jenni Falconer, British TV presenter
- February 13 - Martin Sastre, Uruguayan artist
- February 15 - Brandon Boyd, American musician (Incubus)
- February 16 - Kyo, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
- February 20 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)
- February 23 - Jeff O'Neill, Canadian hockey player
- February 25 - Rashida Jones, American actress, writer, model, and musician
- February 26 - John Tartaglia, Broadway performer and "Muppeteer"
- February 28 - Ali Larter, American actress, and model
- February 29 - Ja Rule, American rapper
March
- March 4 - Sean Covel, American film producer
- March 4 - Hiram Bocachica, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
- March 4 - Vic Wunderle, American archer
- March 5 - Sarunas Jasikevicius, Lithuanian basketball player
- March 8 - Freddie Prinze Jr., American actor
- March 13 - Danny Masterson, American actor
- March 19 - Rachel Blanchard, Canadian actress
- March 19 - Alessandro Nesta, Italian football player
- March 20 - Chester Bennington, American musician (Linkin Park)
- March 22 - Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
- March 22 - Reese Witherspoon, American actress
- March 22 - Kellie Shanygne Williams, American actress
- March 22 - Wayne Turner, American professional basketball player
- March 23 - Keri Russell, American actress
- March 24 - Aaron Brooks, American football player
- March 24 - Peyton Manning, American football player
- March 26 - Amy Smart, American actress
- March 27 - Carl Ng, Hong Kong/British actor and model
- March 30 - Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
April
- April 3 - Drew Shirley, American guitarist (Switchfoot)
- April 6 - Candace Cameron, American actress
- April 9 - Kris Radlinski, English rugby league player
- April 13 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (d. 2003)
- April 13 - Yoo Ji-tae, South Korean actor
- April 15 - Steve Williams (rower), British rower
- April 15 - Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player
- April 18 - Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
- April 20 - Joey Lawrence, American actor
- April 22 - Michał Żewłakow, Polish footballer
- April 23 - Darren Huckerby, English footballer
- April 25 - Tim Duncan, West Indian basketball player
- April 25 - Rainer Schuettler, German tennis player
- April 26 - Emily Booth, Actress and TV presenter
- April 26 - Jose Pasillas, drummer of the American alternative rock band Incubus
May
- May 1 - Darius McCrary, American actor
- May 3 - Beto, Portuguese footballer
- May 4 - Jason Michaels, baseball player
- May 8 - Martha Wainwright, Canadian American folk-pop singer
- May 14 - Martine McCutcheon, British actress and singer
- May 15 - Tyler Walker, baseball player
- May 15 - Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
- May 15 - Ryan Leaf, former NFL quarterback
- May 17 - Wang Lee Hom, American born Taiwanese singer/songwriter
- May 19 - Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
- May 20 - Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- May 25 - Miguel Tejada, Dominican Major League Baseball player
- May 25 - Cillian Murphy, Irish actor
- May 26 - Justin Pierre, American musician (Motion City Soundtrack)
- May 31 - Colin Farrell, Irish actor
June
- June 1 - Angela Perez Baraquio, Miss America 2001
- June 8 - Lindsay Davenport, American tennis player
- June 10 - Freddy Garcia, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
- June 13 - Jason 'J' Brown, English musician (5ive)
- June 13 - Kym Marsh, Former member of the pop group Hear'Say & actress in Coronation Street
- June 13 - Lindsay Archer, American fantasy artist
- June 13 - Lisa Riley, Former Emmerdale actress and TV presenter
- June 15 - Dryden Mitchell, member of the band Alien Ant Farm
- June 15 - Gary Lightbody, frontman of the rock band Snow Patrol
- June 21 - Mike Einziger, guitarist of the American alternative rock band Incubus
- June 23 - Brandon Stokley, American football player
- June 23 - Patrick Vieira, French football player
- June 24 - Louisa Leaman, author
July
- July 1 - Justin Lo, Hong Kong singer and actor
- July 1 - Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer
- July 1 - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer
- July 1 - Lina Rafn, Danish singer
- July 2 - Krisztián Lisztes, Hungarian footballer
- July 3 - Andrea Barber, American actress
- July 4 - Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer
- July 5 - Bizarre, American rapper
- July 5 - Marina Dias, Brazilian supermodel
- July 5 - Mike DeWolf, member of the band Taproot
- July 5 - Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer
- July 6 - Zhu De, PLA commander and founding military leader of the People's Republic of China
- July 7 - Elijah Blue Allman, Deadsy frontman and son of Cher and Greg Allman
- July 8 - Ellen MacArthur, English yachtswoman
- July 9 - Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler
- July 9 - Fred Savage, American actor
- July 11 - Eduardo Nájera, Mexican basketball player
- July 13 - Al Santos, American actor/model
- July 17 - Marcos Senna, Brazilian footballer
- July 20 - Andrew Stockdale, singer/guitarist for Wolfmother
- July 20 - Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver
- July 23 - Judit Polgar, Hungarian chess player
- July 23 - Jonathan Gallant, bassist for the Canadian rock band Billy Talent
- July 24 - Nate Bump, American baseball player
- July 25 - Stéphane Rideau, French actor
- July 31 - Annie Parisse, American actress
August
- August 6 - Melissa George, Australian actress
- August 8 - JC Chasez, American singer
- August 9 - Jessica Capshaw, American actress
- August 9 - Rhona Mitra, English actress
- August 11 - Ben Gibbard, American musician
- August 12 - Antoine Walker, American basketball player
- August 12 - Wednesday 13 (Joseph Poole), lead singer of the Murderdolls and FDQ
- August 13 - Roddy Woomble, Scottish musician
- August 14 - Alex Albrecht, American television personality
- August 15 - Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch football player
- August 18 - Alex Katunich, original bassist for the band Incubus
- August 19 - Michael M. Wartella, American underground cartoonist
- August 27 - Carlos Moyà, Spanish tennis player
- August 27 - Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
- August 27 - Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
- August 31 - Travis Christopher, American artist
September
- September 1 - Jada Fire, American pornographic actress
- September 3 - Jevon Kearse, American football player
- September 4 - Max Tiu, Filipino - Chinese events performer
- September 5 - Carice van Houten, Dutch actress
- September 6 - Naomie Harris, British actress
- September 7 - Stevie Case, American video game celebrity
- September 8 - Abi Titmuss, British TV presenter and model
- September 8 - Sjeng Schalken, Dutch tennis player
- September 10 - Gustavo Kuerten, Brazilian tennis player
- September 12 - Maciej Żurawski, Polish footballer
- September 16 - Tina Barrett, English singer (S Club 7)
- September 19 - Isha Koppikar, Indian actress
- September 20 - Yui Horie, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)
- September 22 - Ronaldo, Brazilian footballer
- September 24 - Stephanie McMahon-Levesque, wrestling promoter
- September 25 - Chauncey Billups, American basketball player
- September 26 - Michael Ballack, German footballer
- September 27 - Francesco Totti, Italian footballer
- September 28 - Fedor Emelianenko, Ukrainian mixed martial arts fighter
- September 29 - Andriy Shevchenko, Ukrainian footballer
October
- October 1 - Blu Cantrell, American singer
- October 1 - Dora Venter, Hungarian pornographic actress
- October 4 - Alicia Silverstone, American actress
- October 7 - Taylor Hicks, American singer
- October 7 - Gilberto Silva, Brazilian football player
- October 7 - Possibly Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress
- October 10 - Bob Burnquist, Brazilian skateboarder
- October 15 - Yoon Son-ha, South Korean actress
- October 19 - Joy Bryant, American actress
- October 19 - Dan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
- October 19 - Michael Young, baseball player
- October 21 - Jeremy Miller, child star (Growing Pains)
- October 22 - Jon Foreman, American singer/guitarist (Switchfoot)
- October 23 - Cat Deeley, British TV presenter
- October 23 - Ryan Reynolds, Canadian actor
- October 25 - Steve Jones, Northern Irish footballer
- October 26 - Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish hockey player (Calgary Flames)
- October 29 - Stephen Craigan, Northern Irish footballer
November
- November 1 - Matt Chapman, creator of Homestar Runner
- November 5 - Sean Brown, Canadian ice hockey player
- November 6 - Pat Tillman, American football player (d. 2004)
- November 6 - Catherine Clark, Canadian journalist (also daughter of former Canadian Prime Minister Joe Clark)
- November 7 - Mark Philippoussis, Australian tennis player
- November 11 - Mike Leon Grosch, German singer and finalist of Deutschland sucht den Superstar 3
- November 12 - Mirosław Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
- November 19 - Jun Shibata, Japanese singer and songwriter
- November 20 - Laura Harris, Canadian actress
- November 20 - Dominique Dawes, U.S. Olympic gymnast
- November 21 - Daniel Whiston, British ice skater
- November 22 - Ville Valo, Finnish singer for the band HIM
- November 24 - Chen Lu, Chinese figure skater
- November 24 - Christian Laflamme, Canadian ice hockey player
- November 27 - Jaleel White, American actor
- November 29 - Anna Faris, American actress
- November 29 - Ehren McGhehey, American actor
December
- December 1 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
- December 7 - Georges Laraque, Canadian ice hockey player
- December 7 - David A. Smith, biodiesel promoter
- December 8 - Dominic Monaghan, actor
- December 12 - Dan Hawkins, British guitarist (The Darkness)
- December 13 - Tom Delonge, American musician (Blink-182)
- December 13 - Radosław Sobolewski, Polish footballer
- December 14 - Leland Chapman, Bounty Hunter ((Dog The Bounty Hunter))
- December 15 - Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
- December 17 - Takeo Spikes, American football player
- December 18 - Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
- December 25 - Tuomas Holopainen, keyboardist and main songwriter in the Finnish metal band Nightwish
- December 27 - Fernando Pisani, Canadian ice hockey player
- December 29 - Katherine Moennig, American actress
- December 29 - Jason-Shane Scott, American actor
Deaths
January - March
- January 8 - Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)
- January 10 - Howlin' Wolf, American musician (b. 1910)
- January 12 - Agatha Christie, English writer (b. 1890)
- January 23 - Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, writer, and activist (b. 1898)
- January 29 - James Edmonson, a.k.a. Professor Backwards, vaudevillian and comedian (b. 1910)
- January 30 - Mance Lipscomb, American singer (b. 1895)
- February 1 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- February 1 - George Whipple, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1878)
- February 2 - Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, Bulgarian painter (b. 1903)
- February 6 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician (b. 1928)
- February 9 - Percy Faith, Canadian-born musician and composer (b. 1908)
- February 11 - Lee J Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
- February 11 - Alexander Lippisch, German aerodynamicist (b. 1894)
- February 11 - Charlie Naughton, Scottish actor (b. 1886)
- February 12 - Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
- February 13 - Lily Pons, American soprano (b. 1898)
- February 20 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)
- February 20 - Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist and faith healer (b. 1907)
- February 22 - Florence Ballard, American singer (The Supremes) (b. 1943)
- March 4 - Walter H. Schottky, German physicist (b. 1886)
- March 6 - Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (b. 1903)
- March 7 - Wright Patman, American politician (b. 1893)
- March 14 - Busby Berkeley, American choreographer and director (b. 1895)
- March 17 - Luchino Visconti, Italian theatre and film director (b. 1906)
- March 19 - Paul Kossoff, British guitarist (Free) (b. 1950)
- March 24 - Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (b. 1897)
- March 31 - Paul Strand, American photographer (b. 1890)
April - June
- April 1 - Max Ernst, German artist (b. 1891)
- April 4 - Harry Nyquist, American information theory pioneer (b. 1889)
- April 5 - Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, and eccentric (b. 1905)
- April 9 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer, pianist, one of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1903)
- April 9 - Phil Ochs, American folk singer and political activist (b. 1940)
- April 18 - Henrik Dam, Dutch biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)
- April 26 - Sid James, South African actor (b. 1913)
- May 1 - T.R.M. Howard, civil rights leader and surgeon (b. 1908)
- May 9 - Jens Bjørneboe, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- May 9 - Ulrike Meinhof, German terrorist (b. 1934)
- May 11 - Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect (b. 1898)
- May 14 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (b. 1943)
- May 26 - Martin Heidegger, German philosopher (b. 1889)
- May 27 - Hilde Hildebrand, German actress (b. 1897)
- May 28 - Steffan Danielsen, Faroese painter (b. 1922)
- May 31 - Jacques Monod, French biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1910)
- June 10 - Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-born film producer (b. 1873)
- June 11 - Toots Mondt, WWF promoter (b. 1886)
- June 15 - Jimmy Dykes, baseball player and manager (b. 1896)
- June 25 - Johnny Mercer, American songwriter (b. 1909)
- June 30 - Firpo Marberry, baseball player (b. 1898)
July - September
- July 1 - Zhang Mintian, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1900)
- July 4 - Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and writer (b. 1895)
- July 13 - Joachim Peiper, German military leader (b. 1915)
- August 2 - Cecilia (singer), Spanish singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
- August 3 - Valery Sablin, Soviet mutineer, executed
- August 6 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903)
- August 22 - Juscelino Kubitschek, President of Brazil (b. 1902)
- August 25 - Eyvind Johnson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
- August 26 - Lotte Lehmann, German soprano (b. 1888)
- August 27 - Mukesh, Indian singer (b. 1923)
- September 2 - Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish writer (b. 1934)
- September 9 - Mao Zedong, Chinese leader (b. 1893)
- September 26 - Lavoslav Ružička, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
October - December
- October 5 - Lars Onsager, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- October 14 - Edith Evans, British actress (b. 1888)
- October 15 - Carlo Gambino, American gangster (b. 1902)
- October 11 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (b. 1897)
- November 11 - Alexander Calder, sculptor (b. 1898)
- November 12 - Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
- November 28 - Rosalind Russell, Tony-Award winning and Oscar-nominated actress (b. 1907)
- December 2 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
- December 4 - Benjamin Britten, English composer (b. 1913)
- December 6 - João Goulart, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- December 20 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
- December 24 - Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
- December 28 - Katharine Byron, U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1903)
Unknown dates
- Mariano Andreu, Spanish painter (b. 1888)
- Anna Mae Aquash, Native American activist (found murdered)
- Mariya Vasil’yevna Klenova, Russian marine geologist (b. 1898)
Nobel Prizes
Ship events
Parody
- Spirit of '76 (1990 film) A comedy movie about popular United States culture in 1976
Templeton Prize
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1976.