Events of 1957

January

• January 1 - Saarland joins West Germany.
• January 1 - Irish Republican Army attack on Brookeborough police barracks leads to the deaths of Seán South and Fergal O'Hanlon.
• January 1 - Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini suffers the stroke that will lead to his death a little over two weeks later.
• January 2 - San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merge to form Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.
• January 3 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• January 4 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published.
• January 5 - Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed handled the ball in test match cricket.
• January 6 - Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the 3rd and final time. He is only shown from the waist up, even during the gospel segment, singing "Peace In The Valley". Ed Sullivan describes Elvis thus: "This is a real decent, fine boy. We've never had a pleasanter experience on our show with a big name than we've had with you. You're thoroughly all right."
• January 9 - Anthony Eden resigns.
• January 10 - Harold Macmillan becomes the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• January 11 - The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
• January 13 - Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
• January 16 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
• January 20 - Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated for second term as President of the United States.
• January 22 - Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).
• January 22 - The New York City "Mad Bomber," George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and is charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
• January 23 - Ku Klux Klan members force truck driver Willie Edwards to jump off a bridge into the Alabama River - he drowns as a result.
• January 26 - The Planetarium of the Park of Ibirapuera, which was the first Planetarium in the Southern Hemisphere, is inaugurated in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.
• January 31 - Three students on a junior high school playground in Pacoima, California are among the eight persons killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet in the skies above the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles.

February

• February 2 - President Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage across river Indus near Sukkur.
• February 4 - France prohibits UN involvement in Algeria.
• February 4 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the , logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
• February 15 - Andrei Gromyko becomes foreign minister of Soviet Union.
• February 16 - The "Toddlers' Truce", a controversial television closedown between 6.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. was abolished in the United Kingdom
• February 17 - A fire at a home for the elderly in Warrenton, Missouri kills 72 people.
• February 18 - Dedan Kimathi, a Kenyan rebel leader is executed by the British colonial government.
• February 23 - The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar.

March

• March 1
• U Nu becomes Prime Minister of Burma.
• Arturo Lezama becomes President of the National Council of Government of Uruguay.
• Sud Aviation forms from a merger between SNCASE (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Est) and SNCASO (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest).
• Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat is published.
• March 3 - Net als toen by Corry Brokken (music by Guus Jansen, text by Willy van Hemert) wins Eurovision Song Contest 1957 for Netherlands
• March 6 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent nation of Ghana.
• March 7 - The United States Congress approves the Eisenhower Doctrine.
• March 8 - Egypt re-opens the Suez Canal.
• March 10 - Floodgates of The Dalles Dam are closed inundating Celilo Falls and ancient Indian fisheries along the Columbia River in Oregon; birth-date of Osama bin Laden.
• March 13 - The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests Jimmy Hoffa and charges him with bribery
• March 14 - President Sukarno declares martial law in Indonesia.
• March 17 - Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others are killed in a plane crash
• March 20 - French newspaper L'Express reveals that the French army tortures Algerian prisoners.
• March 25 - Treaty of Rome (patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC); see European Union.
• March 26 - 22-year-old Elvis Presley buys Graceland on 3734 Bellevue Boulevard (Highway 51 South) for $100,000. He and his family move from the house on 1034 Audubon Drive.
• March 27 - 29th Academy Awards ceremony
• March 31 - Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, the team's only musical written especially for television, is telecast live and in color by CBS, starring Julie Andrews in the title role. The production is seen by millions, but this 1957 version will not be telecast again for more than forty years, when a kinescope of it is shown.

April

• April - IBM sells the first compiler for the FORTRAN scientific programming language.
• April 1 - The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.
• April 5 - First elected government of Kerala. Communist Party of India won the elections and E. M. S. Namboodiripad became the first chief minister of united Kerala.
• April 9 - Egypt reopens Suez Canal for all shipping.
• April 12 - United Kingdom announces that Singapore will gain self rule January 1 1958.
• April 12 - Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl, printed in England, is seized by U.S. customs officials on the grounds of obscenity.
• April 15 - Pedro Infante, México's maximum singer and actor dies in a plane accident.
• April 17 - Suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams found not guilty of murder at the Old Bailey.

May

• May 2 - Vincent Gigante fails to assassinate mafioso Frank Costello.
• May 3 - Walter O'Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn, New York, to Los Angeles, California.
• May 15 - At Malden Island in the Pacific, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple. The device fails to detonate properly.
• May 15 - Stanley Matthews plays his final international game, ending an English record international career of almost 23 years.
• May 16 - Paul-Henri Spaak becomes the new Secretary General of NATO.
• May 24 - Anti-American riots in Taipei, Taiwan.

June

• June 9 - First ascent of Broad Peak.
• June 15 - Tulsa, OK Semi-centennial celebration of statehood. A brand new 1957 Plymouth Belvedere buried in Time Capsule to be opened 50 years later on June 15, 2007 for its Centennial celebration.
• June 21 - John Diefenbaker becomes Canada's thirteenth prime minister.
• June 24 - After a 37-kiloton atomic bomb test explosion, a mushroom cloud is produced by the detonation of XX-10 Priscilla.
• June 25 - United Church of Christ formed in Cleveland, Ohio by merger of Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
• June 27 - Hurricane Audrey demolishes Cameron, Louisiana, killing 400 people.

July

• July - International Geophysical Year begins.
• July 6 - John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the very first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
• July 9 - Elvis Presley's Loving You opens in theaters.
• July 11 - His Highness Price Karim Aga Khan becomes a 49th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims at age 20. His grandfather Sir Sulatan Mohammed Shah Aga Khan III have appointed Prince Karim in his will.
• July 16 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies an F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
• July 25 - Habib Bourguiba becomes the first president of Tunisia. Tunisia becomes a republic.
• July 28 - The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, a high point of The Thaw, kicks off in Moscow.
• July 28 - Heavy rain and mudslide occur at Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, 992 killed.
• July 28 - A strong earthquake shakes Mexico City and Mexican port city Acapulco.
• July 29 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

August

• August 4 - Juan Manuel Fangio, driving for Maserati, wins the Formula One German Grand Prix, clinching (with 4 wins that season) his record fifth world drivers championship, including his fourth consecutive championship (also a record); these two records would endure for nearly half a century.
• August 5 - American Bandstand, a local dance show produced by WFIL-TV in Philadelphia joins the ABC Television Network.
• August 21 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces a 2-year suspension of nuclear testing.
• August 28 - United States Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) set the record for the longest filibuster with his 24-hour, 18-minute speech railing against a civil rights bill.
• August 31 - The Federation of Malaya gains independence from the United Kingdom. Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan becomes the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya.

September

• September 1 - 175 die in Jamaica's worst railway disaster.
• September 3 - Publication of the Wolfenden Report.
• September 4 - American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis - Orville Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the US National Guard to prevent African-American students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.
• September 4 - The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel on what the company proclaims as "E Day".
• September 5 - The first edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road goes on sale.
• September 9 - Catholic Memorial opened its doors for the first time in Boston, United States.
• September 21 - Olav V becomes King of Norway on the death of Haakon VII.
• September 21 - The sailing ship Pamir sinks off the Azores in a hurricane.
• September 23 - Academy Award-winning The Three Faces of Eve is released.
• September 24 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to Arkansas to provide safe passage into Central High School for the Little Rock Nine.

October

• October 2 - David Lean's film The Bridge on the River Kwai opens in the UK.
• October 4 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. On that same day, Canada's Avro Arrow is unveiled to the public.
• October 9 - Neil H. McElroy was sworn in as the 6th Secretary of Defense of United States.
• October 10 - US President Dwight D. Eisenhower apologizes to the finance minister of Ghana, Komla Agbeli Gbdemah, after he was refused service in a Dover, Delaware restaurant.
• October 11 - Radio telescope of Jodrell Bank, Cheshire, UK, opened. On that same day, the Orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket (carrying Sputnik I) was first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer by teams at The M.I.T. Computation Center and Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• October 21 - 95 die as two trains collide in Turkey.
• October 21 - The U.S. military sustains its first combat fatality in Vietnam, Army Capt. Hank Cramer of the 1st Special Forces Group.
• October 23 - Morocco begins its invasion of Ifni.
• October 25 - Assassination of a Mafia boss Albert Anastasia in a barber shop in Park Sheraton Hotel.
• October 27 - Celal Bayar re-elected president of Turkey.
• October 31 - Toyota begins exporting vehicles to the U.S., beginning with the Toyota Crown and the Toyota Land Cruiser

November

• November 1 - The Mackinac Bridge, the world's longest suspension bridge between anchorages at the time, opens to traffic connecting Michigan's two peninsulas.
• November 3 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter space - a dog named Laika.
• November 6 - Jailhouse Rock opens nationally and Elvis Presley continues to gain more notoriety.
• November 7 - Cold War: In the United States, the Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.
• November 13 - Invention of the laser by Gordon Gould.
• November 13 - Flooding in the Po River valley of Italy leads to the flooding also in Venice.
• November 14 - Apalachin Meeting - The leaders of the American Mafia meet at a convention in Apalachin, New York at the house of Joseph Barbara. It is broken up by a curious patrolman.
• November 15 - Plane crash in the Isle of Wight leaves 43 dead.
• November 16 - Serial killer Edward Gein murders his last victim, Bernice Worden of Plainfield, Wisconsin.
• November 16 - Oklahoma celebrates its 50th anniversary of statehood. Notre Dame beats the Oklahoma Sooners 7-0 to end the Sooners record 47 straight college football winning streak.
• November 25 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower has a stroke.
• November 30 - Grenade attack against Indonesian president Sukarno in Cikini School in Jakarta. Six children are killed, Sukarno survives unscathed.

December

• December 1 - In Indonesia, Sukarno announces nationalization of 246 Dutch businesses.
• December 4 - Lewisham train disaster in UK leaves 92 dead.
• December 5 - All 326,000 Dutch nationals are expelled from Indonesia.
• December 6 - First U.S. attempt to launch a satellite fails, the rocket blowing up on the launch pad.
• December 18 - The Bridge on the River Kwai is released in the U.S. It will go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Additional Oscars will go to Alec Guinness (Best Actor) and David Lean (Best Director), among others. This is Lean's first Oscar for directing.
• December 19 - Meredith Willson's classic musical The Music Man, starring Robert Preston, debuts on Broadway.
• December 20 - First flight of the Boeing 707 airliner.
• December 22 - The CBS afternoon anthology series Seven Lively Arts presents Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker on U.S. television for the first time.

Undated

• Consumers' Association founded (UK).
• Civil Rights Commission established in the USA under the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
• Citroën stops production of its Traction Avant motor car (production started in 1934).
• Gruppe SPUR is founded.
• Foundation of the Confederation of African Football
• formulation of a first strike strategy by the USA against the Soviet Union, Operation Dropshot

Ongoing

• Algerian War (1954-62)
• Cold War
• Cuban Revolution (1956-59)
• Malayan Emergency (1948-60)
• Mau Mau Uprising (1952-60)

Environmental change

• The Africanized bee is accidentally released in Brazil.
• The Asian Flu pandemic begins in China.

Births

January-February

• January 1 - Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish actress
• January 1 - Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor
• January 4 - Charles Allen, Television magnate
• January 6 - Nancy Lopez, American golfer
• January 7 - Nicholson Baker, American novelist
• January 7 - Katie Couric, American television host
• January 7 - Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey goaltender
• January 7 - Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer
• January 9 - Bibie, Ghanaian singer
• January 11 - Bryan Robson, English footballer
• January 12 - John Lasseter, American director, writer, and animator
• January 13 - Lorrie Moore, American writer
• January 14 - Anchee Min, Chinese writer
• January 15 - Mario Van Peebles, Mexican-born actor and director
• January 15 - Patrick Dixon, British business guru and author
• January 17 - Steve Harvey, American actor
• January 21 - Greg Ryan, American soccer coach
• January 22 - Mike Bossy, Canadian hockey player
• January 22 - Rene Requiestas, Filipino comedian (d. 1993)
• January 23 - Princess Caroline of Monaco
• January 24 - Adrian Edmondson, British comedian
• January 27 - Janick Gers, British guitarist (Iron Maiden)
• January 29 - Grazyna Miller, Polish poet
• January 30 - Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
• February 2 - Phil Barney, French singer
• February 4 - Don Davis, American composer
• February 4 - Elaine Carbines, Member of the Australian Labor Party
• February 5 - Jackie Woodburne, Australian actress
• February 6 - Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
• February 8 - Cindy Wilson, American singer (The B-52's)
• February 9 - Gordon Strachan, Scottish footballer and manager
• February 16 - LeVar Burton, American actor
• February 16 - James Ingram, American singer
• February 18 - Vanna White, American game show presenter
• February 18 - Marita Koch, German athlete
• February 19 - Falco, Austrian musician (d. 1998)
• February 20 - Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey coach
• February 27 - Viktor Markin, Russian athlete
• February 27 - Adrian Smith, British guitarist (Iron Maiden)
• February 28 - Ian Smith, New Zealand cricketer

March-April

• March 3 - Eric Walters, Canadian author
• March 4 - Rick Mast, NASCAR driver
• March 4 - Jim Dwyer, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner
• March 5 - Ray Suarez, American journalist
• March 9 - Mona Sahlin, Swedish politician
• March 10 - Osama bin Laden, Saudi-born Islamic extremist
• March 10 - Matt Knudsen, American actor
• March 11 - Rob Paulsen, American voice actor
• March 17 - Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer
• March 18 - György Pazdera, Hungarian bassist (Pokolgép)
• March 20 - Spike Lee, American film director and actor
• March 29 - Christopher Lambert, American-born actor
• March 31 - Marc McClure, American actor
• April 1 - J. Karjalainen, Finnish rock musician
• April 1 - Denise Nickerson, American child actress
• April 4 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director
• April 5 - Ivan Corea, Sri Lankan autism campaigner
• April 8 - Henry Cluney, Irish musician
• April 9 - Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer
• April 11 - Michael Card, American musician
• April 14 - Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, conductor and composer
• April 18 - Genie (feral child), "Genie", American feral child
• April 22 - Vladimir Alexeyevich Smirnov, Russian businessman
• April 25 - Eric Bristow, English darts player
• April 27 - Michel Barrette, Canadian actor and stand-up comedian
• April 29 - Daniel Day-Lewis, English-born actor

May-June

• May 3 - William Clay Ford, Jr., American automobile executive
• May 3 - Jo Brand, English comedian
• May 10 - Sid Vicious, English bassist (Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
• May 14 - Big Van Vader, American professional wrestler
• May 15 - Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque Lehendakari (Prime Minister)
• May 17 - Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish songwriter and singer (Leevi and the Leavings) (d. 2003)
• May 21 - Judge Reinhold, American actor
• May 21 - Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
• May 23 - Jimmy McShane (aka. Baltimora) Northern Irish dancer (d. 1995)
• May 22 - Gary Sweet, Australian actor
• May 24 - Walter Moers, German comic artist and writer
• May 26 - Margaret Colin, American actress
• May 26 - Pontso S.M. Sekatle, Lesotho academic and politician
• May 27 - Siouxsie Sioux, British singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
• May 28 - Kirk Gibson, baseball player
• May 29 - Jeb Hensarling, American politician
• June 1 - Dorota Kędzierzawska, Polish film director
• June 2 - King Lizzard, American entertainer
• June 3 - Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player
• June 8 - Scott Adams, American cartoonist
• June 7 - Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer and songwriter
• June 10 - Hidetsugu Aneha, Japanese architect
• June 12 - Timothy Busfield, American actor
• June 12 - Javed Miandad, Pakistani cricketer
• June 13 - Richard Thomas, American actor
• June 15 - Seppo Pääkkönen, Finnish actor
• June 19 - Anna Lindh, Swedish politician (d. 2003)
• June 19 - Maxwell Fraiser, rapper for Faithless, DJ
• June 23 - Frances McDormand, American actress
• June 27 - John Bolaris, American meteorologist
• June 27 - Georgi Parvanov, President of Bulgaria
• June 28 - Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player

July-August

• July 1 - Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player
• July 2 - Bret Hart, Canadian professional wrestler
• July 3 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
• July 9 - Marc Almond, English singer
• July 9 - Kelly McGillis, American actress
• July 11 - Peter Murphy, British singer (Bauhaus)
• July 13 - Cameron Crowe, American writer and film director
• July 17 - Fern Britton, British television presenter
• July 21 - George Landress, American songwriter, music producer and sound engineer
• July 23 - Theo van Gogh, Dutch film director (d. 2004)
• July 26 - Nana Visitor, American actress
• July 26 - Yuen Biao, Hong Kong actor
• July 27 - Bill Engvall, American comedian
• July 29 - Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast
• August 6 - Jim McGreevey, 52nd Governor of New Jersey
• August 7 - Alexander Dityatin, Soviet gymnast
• August 9 - Melanie Griffith, American actress
• August 11 - Richie Ramone, American drummer (The Ramones)
• August 14 - Peter Costello, Australian politician
• August 17 - Robin Cousins, British figure skater
• August 18 - Carole Bouquet, French actress
• August 18 - Denis Leary, American comedian and actor
• August 19 - Li-Young Lee, Indonesian-born poet
• August 20 - Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player
• August 22 - Steve Davis, British snooker player
• August 24 - Stephen Fry, British comedian, author, and actor
• August 27 - Bernhard Langer, German golfer
• August 28 - Daniel Stern, American actor
• August 30 - Manu Tuiasosopo, former National Football League defensive lineman
• August 31 - Ingrid Washinawatok, Native American activist (d. 1999)

September-October

• September 1 - Gloria Estefan, Cuban-born singer
• September 6 - Tim Whitnall, English actor and narrator
• September 8 - Ricardo Montaner, Argentine-born Venezuelan singer
• September 12 - Rachel Ward, British actress
• September 13 - Vinny Appice, American drummer
• September 16 - David McCreery, Irish footballer
• September 21 - Ethan Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor
• September 21 - Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister
• September 22 - Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor
• September 26 - Luigi De Canio, Italian footballer and football manager
• September 28 - Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician
• September 30 - Fran Drescher, American actress
• October 4 - Alexander Tkachyov, Soviet gymnast
• October 5 - Bernie Mac, American stand up comedian and actor (d. 2008)
• October 7 - Jayne Torvill, British ice skater
• October 7 - Michael W. Smith, American musician
• october 8 - Ewan Stewart, Scottish actor
• October 11 - Dawn French, British comedian
• October 14 - Kenny Neal, American guitarist
• October 15 - Stacy Peralta, American director and former skateboarder
• October 18 - Doug Isaacson, Alaskan politician
• October 21 - Wolfgang Ketterle, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• October 26 - Julie Dawn Cole, British actress
• October 26 - Bob Golic, American football player
• October 27 - Jeff East, American actor
• October 27 - Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwanese film director
• October 29 - Dan Castellaneta, American voice actor - (Known among others, as the voice of Homer Simpson in The Simpsons)
• October 30 - Richard Jeni, American comedian (d. 2007)
• October 31 - Robert Pollard, American musician

November-December

• November 5 - Jon-Erik Hexum, American actor (d. 1984)
• November 6 - Klaus Kleinfeld, German business executive
• November 7 - Christopher Knight, American actor
• November 14 - Gregg Burge, African-American tap dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
• November 15 - Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist
• November 17 - Debbie Thrower, British TV News Presenter (BBC)
• November 18 - Olivia Heussler, Swiss photojournalist
• November 24 - Denise Crosby, American actress
• November 27 - Kenny Acheson, Irish race car driver
• November 30 - Colin Mochrie, Scottish-born comedian
• December 6 - Thomas Brinkman, American politician
• December 8 - Phil Collen, British singer and guitarist (Def Leppard)
• December 9 - Donny Osmond, American singer
• December 10 - Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor
• December 13 - Steve Buscemi, American actor
• December 13 - Morris Day, American musician (The Time (Band))
• December 15 - Laura Molina, American artist, musician and actress
• December 19 - Kevin McHale, American basketball player
• December 20 - Billy Bragg, British singer
• December 20 - Joyce Hyser, American actress
• December 20 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
• December 21 - Tom Henke, baseball player
• December 21 - Ray Romano, American actor and comedian
• December 24 - Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
• December 25 - Shane McGowan, Irish singer and songwriter (The Pogues)
• December 30 - Matt Lauer, American newscaster

Deaths

January - March

• January 10 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
• January 14 - Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
• January 16 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
• February 1 - Friedrich Paulus, German field marshall (b. 1890)
• February 8 - Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
• February 8 - John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (b. 1903)
• February 9 - Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and regent (b. 1868)
• February 9 - John Axon, British railwayman and hero (b. 1900)
• February 10 - Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
• February 16 - Józef Hofmann, Polish-born pianist and composer (b. 1876)
• February 18 - Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer (b. 1877)
• February 23 - Marika Ninou, Greek singer (b. 1918)
• February 25 - Bugs Moran, American gangster (b. 1893)
• March 8 - János Esterházy, Hungarian politician in Czechoslovakia (b. 1901)
• March 11 - Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (b. 1888)
• March 14 - Eugenio Castellotti, Italian racing driver (b. 1930) (car crash)
• March 16 - Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
• March 17 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
• March 25 - Max Ophüls, German film director and writer (b. 1902)
• March 29 - Joyce Cary, Irish author (b. 1888)

April - June

• April 4 - E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat (b. 1909)
• April 5 - Alagappa Chettiar, Indian philanthropist (b. 1909)
• April 15 - Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)
• May 2 - Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1908)
• May 7 - Wilhelm Filchner, German explorer (b. 1877)
• May 9 - Ezio Pinza, Italian bass (b. 1892)
• May 14 - Marie Vassilieff, Russian artist (b. 1884)
• May 16 - Eliot Ness, American Federal Bureau of Investigation agent (b. 1903)
• May 31 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
• June 1 - Luisa Casati, Italian patron of the arts (b. 1881)
• June 15 - Princess Norina Matchabelli, Italian perfumier (b. 1880)
• June 17 - Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)
• June 21 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
• June 26 - Alfred Döblin, German writer (b. 1878)
• June 27 - Malcolm Lowry, English novelist (b. 1909)
• June 27 - Hermann Buhl, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1924)

July - September

• July 4 - Judy Tyler, American actress (b. 1933)
• July 15 - Vasily Maklakov, Russian liberal politician and parliamentary orator (b. 1869)
• July 23 - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sicilian writer (b. 1896)
• July 24 - Sacha Guitry, Russian-born playwright, actor, and director (b. 1885)
• July 28 - Edith Abbott, American social worker, educator, and author (b. 1876)
• August 5 - Heinrich Otto Wieland, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1877)
• August 7 - Oliver Hardy, American actor (b. 1892)
• August 16 - Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
• August 19 - David Bomberg, English painter (b. 1890)
• August 20 - Julio Lozano Díaz, President of Honduras (b. 1885)
• September 1 - Dennis Brain, English French horn player (b. 1921) (car crash)
• September 9 - Muhammad al-Muqri, grand vizier of Morocco (b. ?1844)
• September 16 - Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (b. 1864)
• September 20 - Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer (b. 1865)
• September 21 - Haakon VII of Norway (b. 1872)
• September 22 - Toyoda Soemu, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)
• September 28 - Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician (b. 1888)

October - December

• October 24 - Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, South African artist (b. 1886)
• October 25 - Albert Anastasia, American gangster (b. 1902)
• October 25 - Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, Irish author (b. 1878)
• October 26 - Gerty Cori, Austrian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
• October 29 - Louis B. Mayer, American studio mogul (once perhaps the most powerful man in Hollywood), and former head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). (b. 1885)
• November 4 - William Haywood, British architect (b. 1876)
• November 4 - Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í leader (b. 1897)
• November 24 - Diego Rivera, Mexican painter (b. 1886)
• November 29 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (b. 1897)
• November 30 - Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)
• December 21 - Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)
• December 25 - Stanley Vestal, American writer, poet, historian (b. 1877)

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1957
• List of ship commissionings in 1957
• List of ship decommissionings in 1957

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Chen Ning Yang, Tsung-Dao Lee
• Chemistry - Lord Alexander R. Todd
• Physiology or Medicine - Daniel Bovet
• Literature - Albert Camus
• Peace - Lester Bowles Pearson

Academy Awards

• Best Picture: Around the World in Eighty Days, Michael Todd
• Best Director: George Stevens, Giant
• Best Foreign Language Film: La strada, Italy
• Best Actor: Yul Brynner, The King and I
• Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia
• Best Supporting Actor: Anthony Quinn, Lust for Life
• Best Supporting Actress: Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind
• Best Original Screenplay: The Red Balloon, Albert Lamorisse
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Around the World in Eighty Days, James Poe and John Farrow and S.J.Perelman
• Best Motion Picture Story: The Brave One, Dalton Trumbo
• Best Black-and-White Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg, Somebody Up There Likes Me
• Best Color Cinematography: Lionel Lindon, Around the World in 80 Days

1957 in film

• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set in 1957.
• The Iron Giant is set in 1957.

1957 in television

• Leave it to Beaver, which began in 1957, gives its viewers a glimpse of American Caucasian Suburban life in that era. However, no references to current events are ever made in the show.
• Brooklyn Bridge, another TV show, is set in 1957 but was actually produced four decades later. There are several references to current events of that year, including the launching of the first Sputnik and the removal of the Brooklyn Dodgers (which at that time included such distinguished players as Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese) from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
• KAOS is founded in 1957 according to Maxwell Smart in the 60s hit TV show, Get Smart.