The following events occurred in September 1957:
September 1, 1957 (Sunday)
- Apparently because a stopcock in the brake line was accidentally bumped by a coupler, the brakes failed on a heavily loaded 12-car church excursion train returning from Montego Bay to Kingston, British Jamaica. The crew failed to detect and act on the problem until the train ran away and derailed on a curve at Kendal. Five cars rolled into a ditch and two became wedged in a narrow cutting; 179 people were killed, and hundreds injured.
- Born: Gloria Estefan (born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García), Cuban-born American singer; in Havana
- Died: Dennis Brain, 36, English French horn player, died in a traffic collision.
September 2, 1957 (Monday)
- Died: Bobby Myers, 30, American NASCAR driver, was killed in a race crash during the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina.
September 3, 1957 (Tuesday)
September 4, 1957 (Wednesday)
- Died: Hermann Kastner, 70, East German politician and defector, died of a heart attack aboard a train in Munich, West Germany.
September 5, 1957 (Thursday)
- During the Cuban Revolution, Fulgencio Batista’s forces bombed anti-government riots in Cienfuegos.
- The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Security Council Resolution 125, recommending to the General Assembly that the Federation of Malaya be admitted to the United Nations.
September 6, 1957 (Friday)
- Born: José Sócrates, 117th Prime Minister of Portugal; in Vilar de Maçada, Alijó
September 7, 1957 (Saturday)
- Approaching a section where one track was closed for construction, a train from Paris to Nîmes failed to slow for the crossover at Nozières-Brignon station, and reached it at 92 km/h (57 mph) instead of 30 km/h (19 mph). The locomotive derailed and breached a culvert under the track, which stopped it suddenly, worsening the pileup of cars. 27 people were killed and 134 injured, 30 seriously.
- In New Orleans, Louisiana, television station WWL-TV went on the air for the first time.
- Marilyn Van Derbur won the Miss America 1958 pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
- Born:
- Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Australian actor; in Broken Hill, New South Wales
- José Luis Gaitán, Argentine footballer; in Rosario
- Lynbert Johnson, American professional basketball player; in New York City
- Anders Jormin, Swedish bassist and composer; in Stockholm
- Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish athlete; in Poznań
- Corporal Kirchner (ring name of Michael James Penzel), United States Army paratrooper and professional wrestler; in Chicago (d. 2021, heart attack)
- John McInerney, British-German singer-songwriter (Bad Boys Blue); in Liverpool
- Iskra Mihaylova, Bulgarian politician and Member of the European Parliament; in Sofia
- Nasser Mohammadkhani, Iranian footballer; in Tehran
- J. Smith-Cameron (born Jean Isabel Smith), American actress; in Louisville, Kentucky
- Jermaine Stewart (born William Jermaine Stewart), American R&B singer; in Columbus, Ohio (d. 1997, AIDS-related hepatocellular carcinoma)
- Died: Manlio Rho, 56, Italian painter
September 8, 1957 (Sunday)
- Born:
- Joe Bocan (born Johanne Beauchamp), Canadian pop singer and actress; in Montreal
- Walt Easley, professional American football fullback; in Charleston, West Virginia (d. 2013)
- Ricardo Montaner (born Héctor Eduardo Reglero Montaner), Argentine-born Venezuelan singer; in Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires
- Heather Thomas, American actress (The Fall Guy); in Greenwich, Connecticut
September 9, 1957 (Monday)
- U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, establishing the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
- Died: Muhammad al-Muqri, 103, former Grand Vizier of French Morocco
September 10, 1957 (Tuesday)
- Shortly after midnight, a bomb exploded at Hattie Cotton Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee, which had admitted its first African-American student the previous day, severely damaging one wing of the building.
- William C. Beall, chief photographer for The Washington Daily News, took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Faith and Confidence at a parade in Chinatown, Washington, D.C.
- Born: Murat Zyazikov, Russian politician, President of Ingushetia (2002-2008), Ambassador of Russia to Cyprus, in Osh, Kyrgyz SSR, Soviet Union
- Died: Walter A. Lynch, 63, American lawyer and politician, former member of the United States House of Representatives from New York
September 11, 1957 (Wednesday)
- Born: Preben Elkjær, Danish footballer; in Copenhagen
September 12, 1957 (Thursday)
- Born:
- Jan Egeland, Norwegian politician, diplomat and humanitarian; in Stavanger, Rogaland
- Kadim Al Sahir, Iraqi singer; in Mosul
- Rachel Ward, English-Australian actress; in Cornwell, Oxfordshire
- Hans Zimmer, German film score composer; in Frankfurt, West Germany
- Died: Clendenin J. Ryan, 52, American businessman and magazine publisher, shot himself to death.
September 13, 1957 (Friday)
- Born:
- Cesare Bocci, Italian actor; in Camerino
- Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer; in Belfast
- Bongbong Marcos (born Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.), 17th President of the Philippines; in Santa Mesa, Manila
September 14, 1957 (Saturday)
September 15, 1957 (Sunday)
September 16, 1957 (Monday)
- Born: David McCreery, Irish footballer; in Belfast
- Died: Qi Baishi, 93, Chinese painter
September 17, 1957 (Tuesday)
- Born: Wayne White, American painter and puppeteer
September 18, 1957 (Wednesday)
- Born: Mark Wells, American professional and Olympic champion ice hockey player; in St. Clair Shores, Michigan (d. 2024)
- Died: Sir Galba (born George Brindsley McSween), 38, Grenada-born calypsonian, died by suicide after stabbing his girlfriend.
September 19, 1957 (Thursday)
- Born:
- Mark Acheson, Canadian film, television and voice actor; in Edmonton, Alberta
- Chris Roupas, Greek-American basketball player; in York, Pennsylvania
September 20, 1957 (Friday)
- American boxer Archie Moore retained the world light-heavyweight title with a seventh-round knockout of Tony Anthony in Los Angeles.
- Born: Sabine Christiansen, German journalist and television presenter; in Preetz, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany
- Died:
- Jean Sibelius, 91, Finnish composer, died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
- Merrill Moore, 54, American poet and psychiatrist, died of cancer.
September 21, 1957 (Saturday)
- King Haakon VII of Norway died of a respiratory ailment at the age of 85. His 54-year-old son, Olav V, succeeded him as King.
- The German sailing ship Pamir sank off the Azores in a hurricane. Of the 86 men aboard, 80 died either in the sinking or over the next three days before the survivors were rescued.
- Born:
- Ethan Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor, brother of Joel Coen; in St. Louis Park, Minnesota
- Kevin Rudd, 26th Prime Minister of Australia; in Nambour, Queensland
- Died: Norma Giménez, 27, Argentine stage and film actress, committed suicide by throwing herself under a train.
September 22, 1957 (Sunday)
- Born:
- Nick Cave, Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter and actor; in Warracknabeal, Victoria
- Mark Johnson, American college and Olympic ice hockey coach and college, professional and Olympic champion ice hockey player; in Minneapolis
- Dalia Reyes Barrios, Venezuelan art collector; in Maracaibo
- Died: Toyoda Soemu, 72, Japanese admiral
September 23, 1957 (Monday)
- Born: Rosalind Chao, American actress known for M*A*S*H, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; in Los Angeles
September 24, 1957 (Tuesday)
- Camp Nou, home stadium of FC Barcelona, officially opened in Barcelona, Spain.
September 25, 1957 (Wednesday)
- The second Atlas launch vehicle was destroyed in a launching attempt at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
September 26, 1957 (Thursday)
- Born: Luigi De Canio, Italian footballer and football manager; in Matera
September 27, 1957 (Friday)
- Born: Peter Sellars, American theatre director; in Pittsburgh
September 28, 1957 (Saturday)
September 29, 1957 (Sunday)
- The Kyshtym disaster occurred at the Mayak nuclear reprocessing plant in Russia.
- In British Nigeria, a 16-car train from Lagos to Kano was being driven carefully because of possible track damage from heavy rain, but when a culvert became blocked, the water rose rapidly and the driver was caught unawares by the resulting washout, about 20 miles (30 km) south of Ibadan. Seven cars derailed; early reports indicated 300 people missing, but it turned out that many of them walked away. However, 66 were killed and 122 injured.
- At Montgomery, Pakistan, a Karachi-bound express passenger train collided at full speed with a stationary oil-tanker train before midnight. 300 people were killed and 150 injured by the accident.
- Born: Andrew Dice Clay, American comedian; in Brooklyn, New York City
- Died: Manuel Briones, 64, Filipino lawyer, judge and politician
September 30, 1957 (Monday)
- The funeral of composer Jean Sibelius was held in Helsinki.
- Born: Fran Drescher, American actress; in Flushing, Queens, New York City
- Died: David Frederick Wallace, 57, American architect, brother of former First Lady of the United States Bess Truman, died of kidney disease.
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