Explore 5093 historical events from 1980–1989.
Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten, known professionally as Dorothy Stratten, was a Canadian model and actress, primarily known for her appearances as a Playboy Playmate. Stratten was the Pl…
Dorothy Stratten, Canadian-American model and actress (born 1960)
Otto Heinrich Frank was a German businessman, and the father of Anne Frank. He edited and published the first edition of her diary in 1947 and advised on its later theatrical and c…
Otto Frank, German-Swiss businessman, father of Anne Frank (born 1889)
Joseph Ira Dassin was an American singer-songwriter. He sang in multiple languages but found his greatest successes in France and the French-speaking world. In total, he sold nearl…
Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter (born 1938)
James Smith "Mac" McDonnell Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, and businessman. He was an aviation pioneer and founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, later McDonnell Dougla…
James Smith McDonnell, American pilot, engineer, and businessman, founded McDonnell Aircraft (born 1899)
Yootha Joyce Needham, known as Yootha Joyce, was a British actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom Man About the House (1973–1976) and its …
Yootha Joyce, English actress (born 1927)
Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.
Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (born 1919)
Rosa Albach-Retty was an Austrian film and stage actress.
Rosa Albach-Retty, German-Austrian actress (born 1874)
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery was an American animator, film director and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American ani…
Tex Avery, American animator, director, and voice actor (born 1908)
Douglas Clark Francis Kenney was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film, who co-founded the magazine National Lampoon in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine…
Douglas Kenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1947)
Barbara O'Neil was an American film and stage actress. She appeared in the film Gone with the Wind (1939) and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for he…
Barbara O'Neil, American actress (born 1910)
Renault Renaldo Duncan, better known as Duncan Renaldo, was a Romanian-born American actor best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950–1956 American…
Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1904)
Donald Oscar Banks was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.
Don Banks, Australian composer and educator (born 1923)
Willard Frank Libby was an American physical chemist noted for his role in the 1949 development of radiocarbon dating, a process which revolutionized archaeology and palaeontology.…
Willard Libby, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908)
John Howard Griffin was an American journalist and author from Texas who wrote about and championed racial equality. He is best known for his 1959 project to temporarily pass as a …
John Howard Griffin, American journalist and author (born 1920)
William John Evans was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His extensive use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative ch…
Bill Evans, American pianist and composer (born 1929)
Jean William Fritz Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called ge…
Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and philosopher (born 1896)
Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle was a Nicaraguan politician, military officer, hydraulic engineer, and dictator who served as the 53rd President of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972 a…
Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaraguan commander and politician, 73rd President of Nicaragua (born 1925)
Katherine Anne Porter was an American journalist, essayist, short story writer, novelist, poet, and political activist. Her 1962 novel Ship of Fools was the best-selling novel in t…
Katherine Anne Porter, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist (born 1890)
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who led Zimbabwe from 1980 until he was deposed in a coup in 2017. He served as the first Prime Minister of Zimb…
Robert Mugabe became the first prime minister of Zimbabwe, beginning a 37-year period in power
Solidarity, full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity", is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subsequently, it …
Solidarity, a Polish trade union, was founded as the first independent labor union in an Eastern Bloc country.
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. United States federal law establishes six armed forces: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space …
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The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The…
The British Special Air Service recaptured the Iranian embassy in London following a six-day siege after Iranian Arab se
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, officially referred to as the Bob Graham Sunshine Skyway Bridge, is a pair of long beam bridges with a central tall cable-stayed bridge. It spans Lower …
Part of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida collapsed after a pier was struck by MV Summit Venture, killing 35 people
The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí Nati…
Salvadoran Civil War: Refugees trying to flee El Salvador across the Sumpul River to Honduras were attacked by both Salv