1990

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century – 20th century – 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s – 1990s – 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1987 1988 1989 – 1990 – 1991 1992 1993

1990 (MCMXC) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1990th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 990th year of the 2nd millennium, the 90th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1990s decade.

Events

January

Alberto Lleras Camargo

January 4 – Alberto Lleras Camargo, 20th President of Colombia (b. 1906)
January 6 – Pavel Cherenkov, Russian physicist (b. 1904)
January 9 – Bazilio Olara-Okello, Ugandan politician (b. 1929)
January 14 – Mani Madhava Chakyar, Indian actor (b. 1899)
January 19 – Herbert Wehner, German politician (b. 1906)
January 20 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
January 20 – Naruhiko Higashikuni, 30th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1887)
January 22 – Mariano Rumor, Italian politician (b. 1915)
January 22 – Roman Vishniac, Russian-American photographer (b. 1897)
January 24 – Araken Patusca, Brazilian football player (b. 1905)
January 24 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (b. 1899)
January 25 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
January 26 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (b. 1895)

February

Alessandro Pertini

February 7 – Jimmy van Heusen, American composer (b. 1913)
February 8 – Del Shannon, American musician and singer (b. 1934)
February 23 – James M. Gavin, American lieutenant general (b. 1907)
February 23 – José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
February 24 – Alessandro Pertini, President of Italy (b. 1896)

March

Lev Yashin

March 5 – Edmund Conen, German footballer (b. 1914)
March 13 - Karl Münchinger, German conductor (b. 1915)
March 15 – Farzad Bazoft, Iranian-British journalist (b. 1958)
March 20 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (b. 1929)

April

Sarah Vaughan

Ryan White

Greta Garbo

April 1 – Carlos Peucelle, Argentine footballer (b. 1908)
April 2 – Aldo Fabrizi, Italian actor (b. 1905)
April 3 – Sarah Vaughan, American jazz singer (b. 1924)
April 8 – Ryan White, AIDS spokesperson (b. 1971)
April 15 – Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
April 17 – Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights leader (b. 1926)
April 20 – Horst Sindermann, East German politician (b. 1915)
April 21 – Romain de Tirtoff, French art deco artist (b. 1892)

May

Jim Henson

Hussein Onn

May 10 – Walker Percy, American writer (b. 1916)
May 12 – Andrei Kirilenko, Soviet politician (b. 1906)
May 16 – Sammy Davis Jr., American actor, dancer and singer (b. 1925)
May 16 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer and movie maker (b. 1936)
May 22 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1919)
May 29 – Hussein Onn, Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1922)

June

June 2 – Rex Harrison, British actor (b. 1908)
June 3 – Stiv Bators, American singer (b. 1949)
June 3 – Robert Noyce, American inventor (b. 1927)
June 5 – Vasili Kuznetsov, Soviet politician (b. 1901)
June 8 – José Figueres Ferrer, President of Costa Rica (b. 1906)
June 16 – Eva Turner, British soprano (b. 1892)
June 22 – Ilya Frank, Russian physicist (b. 1908)
June 24 – Germán Suárez Flamerich, President of Venezuela (b. 1907)

July

Yun Posun

Manuel Puig

Bruno Kreisky

July 15 – Margaret Lockwood, British actress (b. 1916)
July 18 – Yun Posun, South Korean President (b. 1897)
July 22 – Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (b. 1932)
July 29 – Bruno Kreisky, Austrian chancellor (b. 1911)

August

Viktor Tsoi

Pearl Bailey

Stevie Ray Vaughan

August 9 – Joe Mercer, English footballer (b. 1914)
August 15 – Viktor Tsoi, Soviet singer (b. 1962)
August 17 – Pearl Bailey, American singer and actress (b. 1918)
August 27 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American Blues guitarist (b. 1954)

September

September 1 – Geir Hallgrimsson, Icelandic politician (b. 1925)
September 6 – Gyula Bereznai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1921)
September 6 – Tom Fogerty, American musician (b. 1941)
September 7 – Ahti Karjalainen, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1923)
September 9 – Samuel Doe, President of Liberia (b. 1951)
September 21 – Xu Xiangqian, Chinese Communist military commander (b. 1901)
September 26 – Alberto Moravia, Italian novelist (b. 1907)
September 30 – Patrick White, Australian writer (b. 1912)

October

Le Duc Tho

Leonard Bernstein

October 3 – Stefano Casiraghi, husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco (b. 1960)
October 13 – Le Duc Tho, Vietnamese politician (b. 1911)
October 14 – Leonard Bernstein, American composer and conductor (b. 1918)
October 27 – Xavier Cugat, Catalan-born bandleader (b. 1900)

November

Yiannis Ritsos

Robert Hofstadter

Roald Dahl

November 3 – Mary Martin, American actress (b. 1913)
November 11 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (b. 1909)
November 13 – Don Chaffey, British movie director (b. 1917)
November 17 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist (b. 1915)
November 23 – Roald Dahl, British writer (b. 1916)

December

December 2 – Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
December 6 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1913)
December 7 – Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
December 14 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
December 16 – Jackie Mitoo, Jamaican musician (b. 1948)
December 31 – Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)

Other Events

Chris Farley and Adam Sandler join Saturday Night Live.
The poorly received Cop Rock preimieres on television, TV's first (and last) musical police drama.
Legislation is signed into United States law requiring close captioning decoders in all large color TVs manufactured after July 1, 1993.

Births

Deaths

Nobel Prizes

Mikhail Gorbachev (pictured with Ronald Reagan) won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize.

Physics – Jerome Isaac Friedman, Henry Way Kendall, Richard Edward Taylor
Chemistry – Elias James Corey
Physiology or Medicine – Joseph E. Murray, E. Donnell Thomas
Literature – Octavio Paz
Nobel Peace Prize – Mikhail Gorbachev
Economics – Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller, William Sharpe

New books

The Bourne Ultimatum – Robert Ludlum
The Burden of Proof – Scott Turow
The Cardinal Virtues – Andrew Greeley
Clear and Present Danger – Tom Clancy
Devices and Desires – P. D. James
Eric – Terry Pratchett
Four Past Midnight – Stephen King
Get Shorty – Elmore Leonard
A Graveyard for Lunatics – Ray Bradbury
Heads – Greg Bear
Harvest – Belva Plain
Homecoming – John Bradshaw
An Inconvenient Woman – Dominic Dunne
Joy – Marsha Hunt
Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
Last Chance to See – Douglas Adams & Mark Cawardine
Liberty and Power – Harry L. Watson
Message From Nam – Danielle Steel
Moving Pictures – Terry Pratchett
Pilgrimage – James A. Michener
Queen of Angels – Greg Bear
September – Rosamund Pilcher
The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Version – Stephen King
A Tenured Professor – John Kenneth Galbraith
The Things They Carried – Tim O'Brien
Use of Weapons – Iain M. Banks
Vineland – Thomas Pynchon

Movies released

Hit songs

"Ball and Chain" – Social Distortion
"Blaze of Glory" – Jon Bon Jovi
"Blue Sky Mine" – Midnight Oil
"Close to You" – Maxi Priest
"Epic" – Faith No More
"Escapade" – Janet Jackson
"Friends In Low Places" – Garth Brooks
"I Go To Extremes" – Billy Joel
"I Wish It Would Rain Down" – Phil Collins
"Ice Ice Baby" – Vanilla Ice
"It Must Have Been Love" – Roxette
"Janie's Got A Gun" – Aerosmith
"Nothing Compares 2 U" – Sinéad O'Connor
"Opposites Attract" – Paula Abdul
"Step by Step" – New Kids on the Block
"Three Strange Days" – School of Fish (debut single)
"The Thunder Rolls" – Garth Brooks
"U Can't Touch This" – M.C. Hammer
"Unbelievable" – EMF (debut single)
"Vision of Love" – Mariah Carey
"Vogue" – Madonna