At A Glance

18 August 1957 at a glance

Day of the week
18 August 1957 was a Sunday.
Top Film of 1957
The highest-grossing film worldwide released in 1957 was The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Bestselling Novel of 1957
“By Love Possessed” by James Gould Cozzens was No. 1 on Publishers Weekly's US fiction list for 1957.
Top-Rated TV Show
“Gunsmoke” (CBS) was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1957–58 season.
Star sign
The star sign for 18 August is Leo.
Chinese zodiac
In the Chinese zodiac, 18 August 1957 fell in the Year of the Rooster.
Birthstone
The birthstone for August is Peridot.
Moon phase
The moon phase on 18 August 1957 was Last Quarter.

On this day: 18 August

  • 1949 Kemi strike: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland.
  • 1958 Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
  • 1958 Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors.
  • 1963 Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
  • 1965 Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

Famous people born on August 18

  • Robert Redford, American actor, director, and producer (1936–2025)
  • Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (1952–2009)
  • Edward Norton, American actor (born 1969)
  • Kaitlin Olson, American actress and comedian (born 1975)

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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Events of 1957 in the United States

A selection from Wikipedia's '1957 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

  • March 4 – Standard & Poor's first publishes the S&P 500 Index in the United States.
  • 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.
  • September 5 – Viking Press publishes On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
More events of 1957 →Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life in the US in 1957

President

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Gas (per gallon)

$0.31

Loaf of Bread

$0.19

Average House

$10,600

Weekly Wage

$77

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Famous Faces Born in the 1950s

Well-known people born in the same decade as you, not on your birthday.

Michael Jackson29 August 1958Singer & songwriterView their day →Anthony Bourdain25 June 1956Chef & television personalityView their day →Bruce Willis19 March 1955ActorView their day →Madonna16 August 1958SingerView their day →Annette Bening29 May 1958ActressView their day →Robin Williams21 July 1951Actor & comedianView their day →Steve Jobs24 February 1955Entrepreneur & co-founder of Apple Inc.View their day →Prince7 June 1958MusicianView their day →

Sources: Wikidata and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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