MultiEducator · The 20th Century Almanac
HistoryCentral Est. 1996
5920th C.
1959
The 20th Century Almanac · The Fifties

1959

Major Events · Sports · Music · Screen · Prizes

Fidel Castro marched into Havana and seized power in Cuba, Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union as the 49th and 50th states, and Nixon sparred with Khrushchev in the Moscow Kitchen Debate. The microchip was patented, and Ben-Hur won a record eleven Oscars.

A Year in Review
Best Picture
Ben-Hur
Nobel · Literature
Quasimodo
World Series
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago White So
No. 1 Song
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Top TV
Gunsmoke (CBS)
Academy · Actor
Charlton Heston

Major Events of 1959

9 events
EFTA formedSingapore becomes independentUprising in TibetDeGaulle agrees to vote on Algerian independenceSt. Lawrence Seaway opensAlaska & Hawaii admitted to the Union as the 49th andKitchen DebateCastro takes over in CubaFirst flight of the X-15

Sports Highlights

Champions of 1959

Champions

NBABoston Celtics vs. Minneapolis Lakers Series: 4-0
NCAA FootballSyracuse Record: 11-0-0
Heisman TrophyBilly Cannon, lsu, HB points: 1,929
Stanley CupMontreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs Series: 4-1
World SeriesLos Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago White Sox Series: 4-2

Top Music of 1959

The year on the charts

Top Songs

  1. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes The Platters
  2. Stagger Lee Lloyd Price
  3. Venus Frankie Avalon
  4. Come Softly to Me The Fleetwoods
  5. The Happy Organ Dave "Baby" Cortez
  6. Kanas City Wilbert Harrison
  7. The Battle of New Orleans Johnny Horton
  8. Lonely Boy Paul Anka
  9. A Big Hunk O' Love Elvis Presley
  10. The Three Bells The Browns

Grammy Awards

Record of the Year
"Mack the Knife" ... Bobby Darin
Song of the Year
"The Battle of New Orleans" ... Jimmy Driftwood
Album of the Year
"Come Dance with Me" ... Frank Sinatra Male Vocalist: Frank Sinatra ... "Come Dance with Me" Female Vocalist: Ella Fitzgerald ... "But Not for Me"

Screen & Television

At the box office & on the air

Top Movies

  1. Auntie Mame
  2. Shaggy Dog
  3. Some Like It Hot
  4. Imitation of Life
  5. The Nun's Story
  6. Anatomy of a Murder
  7. North by Northwest
  8. Rio Bravo
  9. Sleeping Beauty
  10. Some Came Running

Top Television

  1. Gunsmoke (CBS)
  2. Wagon Train (NBC)
  3. Have Gun Will Travel (CBS)
  4. The Danny Thomas Show (CBS)
  5. The Red Skeleton Show (CBS)
  6. Father Knows Best (CBS)
  7. 77 Sunset Strip (ABC)
  8. The Price is Right (NBC)
  9. Wanted: Dead or Alive (CBS)
  10. Perry Mason (CBS) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); © 1996-2025

Academy Awards

Honoring 1959
Best Picture
Ben-Hur
Best Director
William Wyler
Ben-Hur
Best Actor
Charlton Heston
Ben-Hur
Best Actress
Simone Signoret
Room at the Top

Nobel & Pulitzer Prizes

The year in letters & science

Nobel Prizes

Chemistry
HEYROVSKY, JAROSLAV, Czechoslovakia, Polarographic Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science, Prague, b. 1890, d. 1967: "for his discovery and development of the polarographic methods of analysis"
Literature
QUASIMODO, SALVATORE, Italy, b. 1901, d. 1968: "for his lyrical poetry, which with classical fire expresses the tragic experience of life in our own times"
Peace
NOEL-BAKER, PHILIP J., Great Britain, b. 1889, d. 1982: Member of Parliament, life long ardent worker for international peace and co-operation
Physiology or Medicine
The prize was awarded jointly to: OCHOA, SEVERO, U.S.A., New York University, College of
Medicine
, New York, NY, b. 1905 (in Luarca, Spain), d. 1993; and KORNBERG, ARTHUR, U.S.A., Stanford University, Stanford, CA, b. 1918: "for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid"
Physics
The prize was awarded jointly to: SEGRE, EMILIO GINO, U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1905 (in Tivoli, Italy), d. 1989; and CHAMBERLAIN, OWEN, U.S.A., University of California, Berkeley, CA, b. 1920: "for their discovery

Pulitzer Prizes

Drama
Archibald MacLeish ... "J.B."
Fiction
Robert Lewis Taylor ... "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters"
History
Leonard D. White & Jean Schneider ... "The Republican Era, 1869-1901" International Reporting: Joseph Martin & Philip Santora ... "New York Daily News" National Reporting: Howard Van Smith ... "Miami News"
Public Service
"Utica Observer Dispatch" & "Utica Daily Press" (NY)