Events from the year 1962 in the United States .
January 1
January 2 – NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins praises U.S. President John F. Kennedy 's "personal role" in advancing civil rights.
January 4 – New York City introduces a subway train that operates without a crew on board.
January 26 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon but later misses its target by 22,000 miles.
January 30 – Two of the high-wire "Flying Wallendas " are killed, when their famous 7-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit , Michigan.
March 1 – American Airlines Flight 1 , an American Airlines Boeing 707 , crashes on takeoff at New York International Airport , after its rudder separates from the tail, killing all 87 passengers and eight crew members aboard.
March 2 – Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single NBA basketball game.
March 5–9 – Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 : One of the ten worst storms in the United States in the 20th century occurs, killing 40 people, injuring over 1,000, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage in six states.
March 21 – The Taco Bell fast food restaurant chain is founded by Glen Bell , in Downey, California .
March 26 – Baker v. Carr : the U.S. Supreme Court rules that federal courts can order state legislatures to reapportion seats.
October 14–28: Cuban Missile Crisis
December 2 – Vietnam War : after a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy , U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to make a non-optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
December 8 – The 1962 New York City newspaper strike begins, affecting all of the city's major newspapers; it lasts for 114 days.
December 9 – Petrified Forest National Park is established.
December 14 – U.S. spacecraft Mariner 2 flies by Venus , becoming the first probe to successfully transmit data from another planet.
December 24 – Cuba releases the last 1,113 participants in the Bay of Pigs Invasion to the U.S., in exchange for food worth $53 million.
December 30 – An unexpected storm buries Maine under five feet of snow, forcing the Bangor Daily News to miss a publication date for the first and only time in its history.
January 4 – Peter Steele , singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2010 )[ 2]
January 5 – Suzy Amis Cameron , actress and model[ 3]
January 6
January 7 – Hallie Todd , actress, producer, and screenwriter
January 12 – Luna Vachon , American-Canadian professional wrestler (died 2010 )
January 14 – Michael McCaul , lawyer and politician
January 17 – Denis O'Hare , actor
January 18 – Mike Lynch , cartoonist
January 19 – Cynthia Coffman , convicted murderer
January 21 – Brian Hildebrand , wrestler, referee and manager (died 1999 )
January 24 – Stephen Gould , opera singer (died 2023 )[ 4]
January 25 – Christopher Coppola , film director and producer
January 26
January 28 – Creflo Dollar , evangelist
January 30 – Mary Kay Letourneau , child rapist (died 2020 )[ 5]
January 31 – David Oliver , actor (died 1992 )
February 2 – Michael T. Weiss , actor
February 4
February 6 – Axl Rose , rock singer
February 7
February 10 – Lisa Blunt Rochester , politician
February 11
February 22 – Lenda Murray , bodybuilder
February 23 – Frank Luntz , political consultant
March 2 – Jon Bon Jovi , American musician[ 6]
March 3
March 7
March 10
March 11
March 12 – Titus Welliver , actor
March 15 – Jimmy Baio , actor
March 18
March 21
March 24 – Star Jones , TV personality
March 26
March 30
March 31 – Stockton Rush , engineer, pilot, and businessman (died 2023 )
April 2 – Clark Gregg , actor, director, and screenwriter
April 3 – Mike Ness , musician
April 4 – Melissa Hart (politician) , lawyer and politician
April 6 – Steven Levitan , director, writer and producer
April 7 – Hugh O'Connor , actor, son of Carroll O'Connor (died 1995 )
April 8 – Izzy Stradlin , guitarist
April 10
April 14 – Laura Richardson , politician
April 15 – Tom Kane , voice actor
April 16
April 17 – Bill Kopp , actor, voice actor and animator
April 20
April 21
April 26
April 28 – Scott La Rock , hip-hop DJ and producer (died 1987 )
April 30 – Tom Fahn , voice actor
May 2 – Elizabeth Berridge , actress
May 5 – Robby Robbins , politician
May 7 – Robbie Knievel , motorcyclist and daredevil performer (died 2023 )[ 11]
May 12 – Emilio Estevez , actor, director, and writer
May 22 – Brian Pillman , pro wrestler (died 1997 )
May 25 – Lionel James , American football player (died 2022 )[ 12]
May 28 – James Michael Tyler , actor (died 2021 )[ 13]
June 1 – Sherri Howard , Olympic athlete
June 3 – David Cole , DJ, producer and songwriter (died 1995 )
June 4 – Pam Shriver , tennis player
June 5 – Jeff Garlin , comedian and actor
June 7
June 12 – Jodi Thelen , actress
June 13
June 19 – Paula Abdul , musician and judge on American Idol
June 23
June 24
June 25 – Anthony Allen Shore , serial killer and child molester (died 2018 )
June 28 – Don Chambers , newspaper comic strip artist
June 29 – Michael J. Juneau , jurist (died 2023 )[ 17]
June 30 – Deirdre Lovejoy , actress
July 1 – Andre Braugher , actor (died 2023 )
July 2 – Doug Benson , comedian, marijuana rights advocate, television host and actor
July 3
July 4 – Pam Shriver , tennis player[ 19]
July 5 – Jeff Innis , baseball player (died 2022 )[ 20]
July 7
July 12 – Dan Murphy , rock guitarist
July 13 – Tom Kenny , actor and comedian
July 14 – Jeff Olson , percussionist (Trouble )
July 15 – Glen Edward Rogers , serial killer
July 17 – Fred Wadsworth , professional golfer
July 18
July 20 – Carlos Alazraqui , actor
July 22 – Steve Albini , musician and music producer (died 2024 )[ 22]
July 31 – Kevin Greene , footballer (died 2020 )
August 4
August 8 – Jim Sweeney , footballer (died 2022 )[ 24]
August 10 – Suzanne Collins , author and television writer
August 16 – Steve Carell , comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer and director
August 17 – John Marshall Jones , actor
August 24 – Major Garrett , journalist and author
August 25 – Tommy Blacha , comedy writer
August 26 – Bob Mionske , cyclist and attorney
August 28
August 31 – Dee Bradley Baker , voice actor
September 5 – Brian A. Joyce , politician (died 2018 )
September 6 – Chris Christie , 55th Governor of New Jersey
September 9 – Mark Linkous , singer, songwriter and musician (died 2010 )
September 11 – Kristy McNichol , actress and singer
September 12 – Amy Yasbeck , actress
September 14 – Tom Kurvers , ice hockey player (died 2021 )[ 25]
September 15
September 17 – Don Rogers , American football player (died 1986 )
September 26
October 1 – Esai Morales , actor
October 6 – Rich Yett , baseball player
October 11
October 12
October 13
October 15 – Aron Ra , author, podcaster and atheist activist
October 21 – Drew Griffin , journalist (died 2022 )[ 26]
October 23
October 24
November 3 – Gabe Newell , co-founder and managing director of Valve
November 10 – David Petrarca , television, film and theatre director, producer
November 11 – Demi Moore , actress, film producer, film director, songwriter and model
November 15
November 18 – Kirk Hammett , metal guitarist (Exodus and Metallica )
November 19
November 20 – Gail Ann Dorsey , musician
November 27 – Conrad Anker , mountaineer
November 28 – Jon Stewart , comedian and political commentator
December 9 – Felicity Huffman , actress[ 28]
December 12 – Peter Bergen , journalist and author
December 17 – Richard Jewell , victim of defamation
December 21 – Steven Mnuchin , 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury
December 24 – Kate Spade , born Katherine Brosnahan, fashion designer (died 2018 )
December 31
January 9 – Leroy Shield , film score and radio compose (born 1893 )
January 13 – Ernie Kovacs , comedian and actor (born 1919 )
January 19 – Snub Pollard , actor (born 1889 in Australia )
January 20 – Robinson Jeffers , poet (born 1887 )[ 30]
January 25 – Lucy Robins Lang , political activist (born 1884 in Russia )
January 26 – Lucky Luciano , gangster (born 1897 in Italy )
January 29 – Fritz Kreisler , Austrian-born American violinist and compose (born 1875 in Austria-Hungary )
February 1 – Carey Wilson , screenwriter (born 1889 )
February 6 – Roy Atwell , actor, comedian and composer (born 1878 )
February 17 – Joseph Kearns , actor (born 1907 )
February 19
February 27 – Willie Best , actor (born 1916 )
February 28 – Chic Johnson , actor (born 1891 )
March 1
March 15 – Arthur Compton , physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927 (born 1892 )
March 27 – Augusta Savage , African American sculptor (born 1892)
April 8 – Esther Kerr Rusthoi , author, poet, composer, singer, and evangelist (born 1909 )
April 10
April 15 – Clara Blandick (born 1876 )
April 20 – Grover Whalen , politician (born 1886 )
April 24 – Milt Franklyn , film composer (born 1897 )
April 27 – Wendell Holmes , actor (born 1914 )
May – Helen Tufts Bailie , social reformer and activist (born 1874 )
May 12 – Dick Calkins , comic book writer (Buck Rogers ) (born 1894 )
May 28 – Robert Francis Anthony Studds , admiral and engineer, fourth Director of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (born 1896 )
May 31 – Henry F. Ashurst , politician (born 1874 )
June 6 – Guinn "Big Boy" Williams , actor (born 1899 )
June 9 – Polly Adler , brothel owner (born 1900 in Russia )[ 31]
June 19
July 2 – Valeska Suratt , stage actress and silent film star (born 1882 )
July 6 – William Faulkner , fiction writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 (born 1897 )
July 25 – Nelle Wilson Reagan , mother of United States President Ronald Reagan (born 1883 )
August 5 – Marilyn Monroe , film actress and icon (born 1926 )
August 23 – Hoot Gibson , actor (born 1892 )
August 28 – John Collum , child actor (born 1926 )
September 2 – Morris Louis , painter (born 1912 )
September 3 – E. E. Cummings , poet (born 1894 )
September 7 – Louis King , film director (born 1898 )
September 19 – Ben J. Tarbutton , interpreter (born 1885 )
September 24
October 2 – Frank Lovejoy , actor (born 1912 )
October 6 – Tod Browning , film director, actor, screenwriter, vaudeville performer, and carnival sideshow and entertainer (born 1880 )
October 7 – Scrapper Blackwell , blues guitarist and singer (born 1903 )
October 26 – Louise Beavers , actress (born 1900 )
November 7 – Eleanor Roosevelt , First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (born 1884 )
November 8
November 9 – Carroll McComas , actress (born 1886 )[ 33]
November 18 – Dennis Chávez , U.S. Senator from New Mexico from 1935 to 1962 (born 1888 )
December 4 – Jens Christian Bay , writer and librarian (born 1871 in Denmark )
December 7 – Bobo Newsom , baseball player (born 1907 )
December 10 – Robert C. Giffen , admiral (born 1886 )
December 15 – Charles Laughton , British-American actor (born 1899 in the United Kingdom )
December 17 – Thomas Mitchell , Irish-American actor and writer (born 1892 )
December 22 – Roy Palmer , jazz trombonist (born 1892 )
December 31 – Al Mamaux , baseball player and manager (born 1894 )
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