1981 in American television

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (March 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

List of years in American television:
1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
1980–81 United States network television schedule
1981–82 United States network television schedule
List of American television programs currently in production

The year 1981 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1981.

Events[]

Date	Event
February 6	The cast of The Brady Bunch reunite for the TV movie The Brady Girls Get Married. Although scheduled to be shown in its original full-length movie format, NBC at the last minute divided it into half-hour segments. NBC showed one part a week for three weeks, and the fourth week debuted a spin-off sitcom titled The Brady Brides. This proved to be the only time the entire cast worked together on a single project following the cancellation of the original series.
February 14	Funky 4 + 1 perform "That's the Joint" on NBC's Saturday Night Live. This makes them the first hip hop act to perform on primetime (late night) television. Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry hosts (and performs on) this episode, shortly after the release of "Rapture", which later hits the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart as the first number-one song to feature rap vocals.
February 20	Comedian Andy Kaufman disrupts sketches and starts a brawl while broadcasting during ABC's sketch series Fridays, an occurrence that was later disclosed to have been entirely staged.[1]
February 21	During an improvised segment at the end of a Saturday Night Live telecast on NBC hosted by Charlene Tilton, Charles Rocket uses the word "fuck". As a result of the ensuing controversy he is fired, along with producer Jean Doumanian and most of his fellow cast members, bringing an early end to a season that had been heavily criticized and sunk in the ratings.[2]
February 27	The made-for-television film The Munsters' Revenge is broadcast on NBC. Based on 1964–1966 sitcom The Munsters, the film reunited original cast members Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, and Al Lewis. This would be the last production to be made with most of the original actors from the 1960s TV series.
March 1	Miracle on Ice, a hastily made docudrama about the United States men's national ice hockey team's improbable gold medal victory in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York from the year prior airs on ABC. The film stars Karl Malden as head coach Herb Brooks, Steve Guttenberg as goaltender Jim Craig, and Andrew Stevens as captain Mike Eruzione. This wouldn't be the last time that the event known as the "Miracle on Ice" would be depicted in a film as 23 years later, Disney would release Miracle, which was this time starring Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks.
March 6	After a 19-year run, Walter Cronkite resigns as main anchorman of The CBS Evening News and is succeeded the next Monday by Dan Rather.
March 17	Norman Fell and Audra Lindley make their final appearances as Stanley and Helen Roper on Three's Company.
March 18	Independent television station KGCT-TV signs on the air in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
March 20	The iconic 1950s sitcom Dennis the Menace begins its first ever transmission in Ireland when the series goes to air on RTÉ Television.
March 30	An assassination attempt against President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C., in which the President and several other people were wounded, interrupted programming on the three major networks and CNN at 2:42 PM. Millions of viewers worldwide witnessed footage of the shooting and the chaos that followed. ABC News was flooded with unconfirmed reports, which pestered the chief anchor Frank Reynolds, one of which falsely stated that the President's press secretary James Brady had died in the shooting. This was also reported by CBS News and ABC News. Coverage of the assassination attempt continued for hours on the big three networks, and for two days on CNN. As a result, the Academy Awards were postponed for a day.
	NBC broadcasts its final NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game, having done so since 1969. The tournament would move to CBS the following year. Dick Enberg, Billy Packer and Al McGuire called the game for NBC.
April 1	Berlinda Tolbert and Michael Jonas Evans made their final appearance as Lionel and Jenny Willis Jefferson on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons as series regulars.
April 11	Van Halen's lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen marries actress Valerie Bertinelli, who appears on the CBS sitcom One Day at a Time.
April 12	The Alpha Repertory Television Service (also known as ARTS) launches right after the Nickelodeon time period.
April 21	"Weird Al" Yankovic makes his first television appearance on NBC's The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder.
May 1	The season four finale of Dallas, entitled "Ewing-Gate", airs on CBS.
May 5–14	The NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets is broadcast on CBS. This is the last NBA Finals to be broadcast on tape-delay, with weeknight games airing after the late local news in most cities. Games 3 and 4 were played back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10, to give CBS two live Finals games. Game 3 was the last Finals contest played on a Saturday until Game 5 in 2021. Game 4 tipped off at noon Central (1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific) in order for CBS to telecast golf following the game. Had Game 7 been played, it would have tipped off at 1 p.m. Eastern. All in all, the Finals drew a 6.7 rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. Consequently, this was the lowest rated NBA Finals in history prior to 2003.
May 15	The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island, the third and final made-for-television film that reunited the cast of the 1964–1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island, airs on NBC.
June 2	On ABC's 20/20, Barbara Walters famously asks Katharine Hepburn “If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”
June 24	The series finale of Charlie's Angels airs on ABC.
June 30	Fred Silverman is dismissed as president of NBC, after failing to improve that network's third-place rating, and is replaced by Grant Tinker.
July 4	Showtime ends its part-time status and inaugurates a 24/7 schedule.
July 10	The final episode of Sanford is broadcast on NBC. A sequel to the original 1972–1977 sitcom Sanford and Son, this officially marked the end of Redd Foxx's run as Fred G. Sanford.
August 1	The MTV network debuts on cable television, playing music videos 24 hours a day. "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles was the first video broadcast on the network.
August 9	Following a two-month long players strike, Major League Baseball resumes with the All-Star Game from Cleveland on NBC. During the strike (which began on June 12 and lasted through July 31),[3] NBC used its Saturday Game of the Week time-slot to show a 20-minute strike update, followed by a sports anthology series hosted by Caitlyn Jenner (then Bruce)[4] called NBC Sports: The Summer Season.[5][6]
August 30	In Baltimore, Maryland, CBS affiliate WMAR-TV swaps affiliations with NBC affiliate WBAL-TV, marking the first affiliation switch in that city. CBS cites weak ratings for WMAR-TV's newscasts and heavy preemptions of network programming for programs of local interest as the reason they chose to switch affiliations.
September 7	During the course of the year, all soap operas produced by Procter & Gamble change title sequences and theme songs. On this day, new title sequences debut for Another World on NBC, Guiding Light and Search for Tomorrow, both on CBS, and The Edge of Night on ABC.
September 26	Elvira's Movie Macabre, hosted by Cassandra Peterson, airs for the first time on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles.
September 28	WRGB in Schenectady, New York, NBC's first television affiliate, ends its 42-year relationship with the network (dating back to its days as experimental station W2XB) and swaps affiliations with CBS affiliate WAST, who changes its call letters to the current WNYT to mark the new affiliation.
October 6	Priscilla Barnes makes her first appearance as Terri Alden on Three's Company. Alden was brought in as the full-time replacement for Chrissy Snow following the abrupt and controversial departure of Suzanne Somers. Barnes would stay on Three's Company through the end of its run in 1984.
	CBS broadcasts Return of the Beverly Hillbillies, which reunited most of the surviving cast members of the 1962–1971 sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
October 12	CBS Cable is initiated.
October 30	John Carpenter's 1978 horror film Halloween makes its broadcast network television premiere on NBC (the same day that its first sequel was released in theaters and the day before star Donald Pleasence guest hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live). To fill the two-hour time slot, Carpenter filmed twelve minutes of additional material during the production of Halloween II. The newly filmed scenes[7] include Dr. Loomis at a hospital board review of Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis talking to a then-6-year-old Michael at Smith's Grove, telling him, "You've fooled them, haven't you, Michael? But not me." Another extra scene features Dr. Loomis at Smith's Grove examining Michael's abandoned cell after his escape and seeing the word "Sister" scratched into the door. Finally, a scene was added in which Lynda comes over to Laurie's house to borrow a silk blouse before Laurie leaves to babysit, just as Annie telephones asking to borrow the same blouse. The new scene had Laurie's hair hidden by a towel, since Jamie Lee Curtis was by then wearing a much shorter hairstyle than she had worn in 1978.
October 31	The punk rock band Fear's appearance on Saturday Night Live included a group of slamdancers, among them John Belushi, Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat (and later Fugazi), Tesco Vee of the Meatmen, Harley Flanagan and John Joseph of the Cro-Mags, and John Brannon of Negative Approach. The show's director originally wanted to prevent the dancers from participating, so Belushi offered to be in the episode if the dancers were allowed to stay. The result was the shortening of Fear's appearance on TV. Fear played "I Don't Care About You", "Beef Bologna", "New York's Alright If You Like Saxophones", and started to play "Let's Have a War" when the telecast faded into commercial. The slamdancers left ripe pumpkin remains on the set. Cameras, a piano and other property were damaged.
November 1	The NBC soap opera The Doctors broadcasts its 5,000th episode.
November 2	The CBS soap opera As the World Turns debuts a new opening sequence and theme song for the first time in its 25-year history.
November 8	ESPN televises its first live flag-to-flag NASCAR race, the Atlanta Journal 500.
November 9	The cast and crew of The Incredible Hulk are delivered a surprise: despite maintaining good ratings, The Incredible Hulk is canceled immediately, despite executive producer Kenneth Johnson's attempts to convince CBS to buy six additional episodes to fill season five.
November 11	Joan Collins makes her first appearance as Alexis Carrington Colby on Dynasty.
November 16–17	Luke and Laura's wedding on the ABC soap opera General Hospital becomes one of the most watched weddings in American television history, second only to the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.
November 30	Financial News Network goes on the air.
December 6	NBC affiliate KARD in West Monroe, Louisiana and ABC affiliate KTVE in El Dorado, Arkansas swap affiliations.[8]
December 10	KJAA in Lubbock, Texas signs on the air as an independent station. It adopts its current call letters KJTV in 1985 and becomes a charter Fox affiliate the next year.
December 14	WFTS-TV in Tampa Bay, Florida signs on the air as an independent station. It eventually became a Fox station in 1988, and eventually an ABC affiliate via an agreement with Scripps-Howard in 1994.
December 18	KVEO-TV in Brownsville, Texas signs on the air, returning primary NBC service to the Rio Grande Valley market for the first time since KRGV-TV in Weslaco left the network in 1976 to become a full-time ABC affiliate.
December 18	Raleigh's first independent station WLFL-TV goes on the air. It went on to became a Fox affiliate in 1986, moving to The WB in 1998, and finally with The CW in 2006.
December 24	HBO begins broadcasting 24 hours a day full-time.
December 25	Chuck Woolery hosts his last episode of the NBC game show Wheel of Fortune, quitting after a salary dispute with series producer and creator Merv Griffin. The next Monday, December 28, Pat Sajak begins hosting.

Programs[]

• 20/20 (1978–present)
• 60 Minutes (1968–present)
• Alice (1976–1985)
• All My Children (1970–2011)
• American Bandstand (1952–1989)
• Another World (1964–1999)
• Archie Bunker's Place (1979–1983)
• As the World Turns (1956–2010)
• Barney Miller (1975–1982)
• Battle of the Planets (1978–1985)
• Benson (1979–1986)
• Candid Camera (1948–2014)
• Captain Kangaroo (1955–1984)
• Charlie's Angels (1976–1981)
• CHiPs (1977–1983)
• Dallas (1978–1991)
• Days of Our Lives (1965–present)
• Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986)
• Disney's Wonderful World (1979–1981)
• Face the Nation (1954–present)
• Family Feud (1976–1985, 1988–1995, 1999–present)
• Fantasy Island (1977–1984)
• Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–1984)
• General Hospital (1963–present)
• Good Morning America (1975–present)
• Guiding Light (1952–2009)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951–present)
• Happy Days (1974–1984)
• Hart to Hart (1979–1984)
• Hee Haw (1969–1992)
• In Search of... (1977–1982)
• It's a Living (1980–1982, 1985–1989)
• Knots Landing (1979–1993)
• Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983)
• Little House on the Prairie (1974–1983)
• Lou Grant (1977–1982)
• Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988)
• M*A*S*H (1972–1983)
• Masterpiece Theatre (1971–present)
• Match Game (1962–1969, 1973–1984, 1990–1991, 1998–1999)
• Meet the Press (1947–present)
• Monday Night Football (1970–present)
• Mork & Mindy (1978–1982)
• Nightline (1979–present)
• One Day at a Time (1975–1984)
• One Life to Live (1968–2012)
• Quincy, M.E. (1976–1983)
• Real People (1979–1984)
• Ryan's Hope (1975–1989)
• Saturday Night Live (1975–present)
• Schoolhouse Rock! (1973–1986)
• Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986)
• Sesame Street (1969–present)
• Soap (1977–1981)
• Solid Gold (1980–1988)
• Soul Train (1971–2006)
• SportsCenter (1979–present)
• Taxi (1978–1983)
• Texas (1980–1982)
• That's Incredible! (1980–1984)
• The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1974–1984)
• The Doctors (1963–1982)
• The Dukes of Hazzard (1979–1985)
• The Edge of Night (1956–1984)
• The Facts of Life (1979–1988)
• The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
• The Lawrence Welk Show (1955–1982)
• The Love Boat (1977–1986)
• The Mike Douglas Show (1961–1981)
• The Muppet Show (1976-1981)
• The P.T.L. Club (1976–1987)
• The Price Is Right (1972–present)
• The Today Show (1952–present)
• The Tomorrow Show (1973–1982)
• The Tonight Show (1954–present; full title has generally included the host's name)
• The Waltons (1972–1981)
• The Young and the Restless (1973–present)
• This Old House (1979–present)
• This Week in Baseball (1977–1998, 2000–present)
• Three's Company (1977–1984)
• Too Close for Comfort (1980–1987)
• Trapper John, M.D. (1979–1986)
• Truth or Consequences (1950–1988)
• Wheel of Fortune (1975–present)
• WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982)

Debuting this year[]

Date	Show	Network
January 12	Dynasty	ABC
January 15	Hill Street Blues	NBC
January 16	Harper Valley PTA
	Nero Wolfe
January 31	Walking Tall	CBS
February 2	The Gangster Chronicles	NBC
February 6	The Brady Brides
March 18	The Greatest American Hero	ABC
April 6	Private Benjamin	CBS
April 9	Checking In
May 16	SCTV Network 90	NBC
August 21	Rosie	CBS
September 10	Best of the West	ABC
September 12	Goldie Gold and Action Jack
	The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam!	NBC
	The Smurfs
	Space Stars
	Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
	The Kwicky Koala Show	CBS
	Trollkins
	Spider-Man	Syndication
September 14	Entertainment Tonight
October 7	Mr. Merlin	CBS
October 9	Behind the Screen
October 10	Laverne & Shirley in the Army	ABC
October 24	Fitz and Bones	NBC
October 25	Today's F.B.I.	ABC
October 26	Battlestars	NBC
October 28	Love, Sidney
October 29	Gimme a Break
	Lewis & Clark
November 1	Code Red	ABC
November 3	Father Murphy	NBC
November 4	The Fall Guy	ABC
November 11	Shannon	CBS
November 13	Strike Force	ABC
November 15	This Week
November 20	McClain's Law	NBC
November 24	Simon & Simon	CBS
November 27	Darkroom	ABC
November 28	Open All Night
December 1	Bret Maverick	NBC
December 4	Falcon Crest	CBS
	You Can't Do That on Television	Nickelodeon

Ending this year[]

Date	Show	Debut
March 7	The Tim Conway Show	1980
April 10	Hollywood Squares (returned in 1983)	1966
April 16	Buck Rogers in the 25th Century	1979
April 20	Soap	1977
May 23	Eight Is Enough
June 10	The Muppet Show	1976
July 10	Sanford	1980
July 21	Flo	1980
August 19	Charlie's Angels	1976
August 20	The Waltons	1972
August 29	Eight is Enough	1977
September 1	CBN Satellite Service
September 11	Peanuts	1969
October 23	Card Sharks (returned in 1986)	1978
October 24	Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (returned in 1984)	1972
October 31	Super Friends (returned in 1983)	1973
November 30	The Mike Douglas Show	1961
December 5	Heathcliff	1980

Changing networks[]

Show	Moved from	Moved to
Walt Disney anthology series	NBC	CBS
SCTV	Syndication	NBC

Made-for-TV movies and miniseries[]

Title	Network	Date(s) of airing
Fallen Angel	CBS	February 24
Miracle on Ice	ABC	March 1
Masada		April 5–8
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island	NBC	May 5
Return of the Beverly Hillbillies	CBS	October 6
Family Reunion	NBC	October 11 & 12
Skokie	CBS	November 17
Bill		December 22

Television stations[]

Station launches[]

Date	City of license/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Notes/Ref.
January 13	Cleveland, Ohio	WCLQ-TV	61	Independent
	Detroit, Michigan	WRHT	31
January 26	Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas	KTWS-TV	27
February 8	Clarksburg, West Virginia	WLYJ	46	Religious independent
February 15	Jacksonville, Florida	WAWS-TV	30	Independent
March 6	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KTBO-TV	14	TBN
March 18	Tulsa, Oklahoma	KGCT-TV	41	Independent
April	Santa Rosa, California	KFTY	50		Currently licensed to Fremont, California
April 6	Poughkeepsie/New York City, New York	WFTI-TV	51		Now licensed in Jersey City, New Jersey
	Washington, D.C.	WCQR	50
May 5	Lake Charles, Louisiana	KLTL-TV	18	PBS	Part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
May 8	Albuquerque/Santa Fe, New Mexico	KGSW-TV	14	Independent
May 9	Greensboro, North Carolina	WGGT-TV	33
May 13	Lafayette, Louisiana	KLPB-TV	24	PBS	Part of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
May 29	Princeton/Atlantic City, New Jersey	WWAC-TV	44	Independent
May 31	San Jose, California (San Francisco/Oakland, California)	KSTS	48
June 1	Fayetteville/Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina	WKFT	40
June 15	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WWSG-TV	57
July 13		WRBV	65
August 16	Marion, Illinois	WDDD-TV	27
August 22	Atlanta, Georgia	WVEU	69
September 1	Columbia, South Carolina	WCCT-TV	57
September 18	Chicago, Illinois	WFBN	66
October 11	Reno, Nevada	KAME-TV	21
October 18	Boise, Idaho	KTRV	12
November 1	Salinas/Monterey, California	KCBA	35	SIN
November 20	San Jose, California	K42DT	42	TBN
November 21		KECH	22	Independent
December 4	Seaford/Dover, Delaware (Salisbury, Maryland)	WDPB	64	PBS	Satellite of WHYY-TV/Wilmington, Delaware
December 7	North Pole/Fairbanks, Alaska	KJNP-TV	4	Independent
December 10	Lubbock, Texas	KJAA	34
December 14	Tampa, Florida	WFTS-TV	28
December 18	Brownsville, Texas (McAllen/Harlingen, Texas)	KVEO-TV	23	NBC
	Raleigh, North Carolina	WLFL	22	Independent

Network affiliation changes[]

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Old affiliation	New affiliation	Notes/Ref.
August 30	Baltimore, Maryland	WMAR-TV	2	CBS	NBC
		WBAL-TV	11	NBC	CBS
September 28	Albany, New York	WRGB	6	NBC	CBS
		WNYT	13	CBS	NBC
December 6	El Dorado, Arkansas (Monroe, Louisiana)	KTVE	10	ABC	NBC
	West Monroe/Monroe, Louisiana (El Dorado, Arkansas)	KLAA	14	NBC	ABC
Unknown date	Cheyenne, Wyoming	KGWN-TV	5	ABC	CBS
	Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (Brownsville/Harlingen/McAllen, Texas)	XHRIO-TV	2	English independent	Spanish independent
	Scottsbluff, Nebraska	KSTF	10	ABC	CBS

Station closures[]

Date	City of License/Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	First air date	Notes/Ref.
Unknown date	Berlin, New Hampshire	WEDB-TV	40	PBS	April 30, 1969	Part of the New Hampshire Public Television network
	Hanover, New Hampshire	WHED-TV	15	PBS	April 11, 1968

Births[]

Date	Name	Notability
January 1	Eden Riegel	Actress (All My Children, The Young and the Restless), voice actress (Stitch!, The Lion Guard)
January 5	Brooklyn Sudano	Actress (My Wife and Kids)
January 8	Genevieve Cortese	Actress (Wildfire)
January 13	Ginger Zee	TV personality
January 15	Pitbull	Singer and actor
	Howie Day	Singer
January 17	Ray J	Singer and actor (Moesha)
January 19	Bitsie Tulloch	Actress (lonelygirl15, Grimm)
January 22	Beverley Mitchell	Actress (7th Heaven)
January 23	Julia Jones	Actress
January 24	Carrie Coon	Actress (The Leftovers, Fargo)
January 25	Alicia Keys	Singer, songwriter and actress (The Voice)
January 26	Colin O'Donoghue	Irish actor (Once Upon a Time)
January 28	Elijah Wood	Actor (Wilfred, Tron: Uprising, Over the Garden Wall)
January 29	Tenoch Huerta	Actor
January 31	Justin Timberlake	Singer (NSYNC) and actor (The Mickey Mouse Club, frequent Saturday Night Live host)
February 1	John Gemberling	Actor
February 2	Emily Rose	Actress (Haven)
February 3	Alisa Reyes	Actress (All That, The Proud Family)
February 5	Sara Foster	Actress (90210)
February 6	Alison Haislip	Actress and TV personality (Attack of the Show!, The Morning After, Battleground)
February 10	Uzo Aduba	Actress (Orange Is the New Black, Steven Universe)
	Stephanie Beatriz	Argentine-born American actress (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
	Holly Willoughby	Television presenter who cameoed with Phillip Schofield, in Ted Lasso in Season 2
February 11	Kelly Rowland	Singer (Destiny's Child) and actress
February 17	Joseph Gordon-Levitt	Actor (Tommy Solomon on 3rd Rock from the Sun)
	Paris Hilton	Actress and TV personality (The Simple Life)
February 20	Majandra Delfino	Actress and singer (Roswell)
February 23	Josh Gad	Actor (1600 Penn)
February 27	Josh Groban	Actor
March 1	Adam LaVorgna	Actor (7th Heaven)
March 2	Bryce Dallas Howard	Actress (HitRecord on TV) and daughter of Ron Howard
March 6	Ellen Muth	Actress (Dead Like Me)
March 7	Jason Latimer	American illusionist
March 11	David Anders	Actor (Alias, Heroes, The Vampire Diaries, Once Upon a Time, iZombie)
	LeToya Luckett	Singer (Destiny's Child) and actress
March 14	Ryan Cartwright	Actor
March 18	Chris Geere	Actor
March 19	Dan Levy	Actor
March 22	Tiffany Dupont	Actress (Greek)
March 24	Philip Winchester	Actor (Law and Order: SVU)
March 27	Ashley Bank	Actress
March 28	Julia Stiles	Actress (Dexter)
March 30	Katy Mixon	Actress (Eastbound & Down, American Housewife)
March 31	Ryan Bingham	Actor
April 2	Bethany Joy Lenz	Actress (Guiding Light, One Tree Hill) and singer
April 6	Eliza Coupe	Actress (Scrubs, Happy Endings, Benched)
April 8	Taylor Kitsch	Actor (Friday Night Lights)
April 11	Laura Bell Bundy	Actress
April 13	Courtney Peldon	Actress (Harry and the Hendersons, Boston Public)
April 19	Hayden Christensen	Actor
April 28	Jessica Alba	Actress (Dark Angel)
	Catherine Reitman	Actress
April 30	Kunal Nayyar	British-Indian actor (The Big Bang Theory, Sanjay and Craig)
	Rose Rollins	Actress
May 2	Robert Buckley	Actor (One Tree Hill)
May 3	Farrah Franklin	Singer (Destiny's Child) and actress
May 5	Danielle Fishel	Actress (Boy Meets World, Girl Meets World)
	Zach McGowan	Actor (Black Sails, The 100)
	Soren Thompson	American épée fencer
May 8	Stephen Amell	Canadian actor (Arrow)
May 11	JP Karliak	Actor, voice actor and comedian (The Boss Baby: Back in Business, Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz)
May 15	Jamie-Lynn Sigler	Actress (The Sopranos)
May 16	Joseph Morgan	English actor (The Vampire Diaries)
	Athena Karkanis	Actress
May 23	Tim Robinson	Actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live)
May 29	Chris Violette	Canadian actor (Power Rangers S.P.D.)
	Justin Chon	Actor (Just Jordan)
June 1	Amy Schumer	Actress and comedian (Inside Amy Schumer)
	Johnny Pemberton	Actor (Pickle and Peanut, Superstore, Son of Zorn)
June 2	Velvet Sky	Wrestler
June 4	T.J. Miller	Actor (Gravity Falls, Silicon Valley)
	Zhubin Parang	Writer
June 6	Johnny Pacar	Actor (Flight 29 Down)
June 7	Larisa Oleynik	Actress (The Secret World of Alex Mack, Winx Club)
June 9	Natalie Portman	Actress (Saturday Night Live host in 2006)
June 15	Jordi Vilasuso	Actor
June 18	Scooter Braun	American media proprietor, record executive, and investor
June 19	Robin McLeavy	Actress
June 21	Nicola Correia-Damude	Actress
June 24	Vanessa Ray	Actress (As the World Turns, Blue Bloods)
June 26	Adrianna Costa	American television personality
July 1	Kym Jackson	Actress
July 5	Ryan Hansen	Actor (Veronica Mars)
July 13	Michael Mando	Actor
July 15	Taylor Kinney	Actor (Chicago Fire)
July 16	Michelle Morgan	Canadian actress (Heartland)
July 21	Chrishell Stause	Actress (All My Children, Days of Our Lives, Youthful Daze)
July 24	Summer Glau	Actress (Firefly, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sequestered)
	Lauren Miller Rogen	Actress
July 28	Billy Aaron Brown	Actor (8 Simple Rules)
	Neil Casey	Actor
July 29	Dyana Liu	Actress (Tower Prep), voice actress (Fanboy & Chum Chum, Pig Goat Banana Cricket)
July 30	Lisa Goldstein	Actress (One Tree Hill)
	Lisa Wilhoit	Actress (My So-Called Life, Family Guy)
July 31	Alexander Torrenegra	Investor
	Eric Lively	Actor
August 2	Dylan Dreyer	American television meteorologist
August 4	Amanda Congdon	Actress and video blogger (Rocketboom)
	Meghan Markle	Actress (Suits)
	Abigail Spencer	Actress (All My Children, Burning Love, Rectify)
August 5	Jesse Williams	Actor (Grey's Anatomy)
August 6	Leslie Odom Jr.	Actor
August 8	Meagan Good	Actress (Cousin Skeeter)
August 17	Kristin Adams	Television personality
August 19	Nate Burleson	Host
August 21	Erin Kelly	Actress (Beyond the Break)
August 22	Ross Marquand	Actor
August 23	Jaime Lee Kirchner	Actress
August 24	Chad Michael Murray	Actor (Gilmore Girls, Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Chosen, Agent Carter)
August 25	Rachel Bilson	Actress (The O.C., Hart of Dixie)
	Andrew Chambliss	Writer
August 27	Karla Cheatham Mosley	Actress
August 29	Jay Ryan	Australian actor (Beauty & the Beast)
August 31	Joshua Close	Actor
September 1	Boyd Holbrook	Actor
September 4	Beyoncé	Singer (Destiny's Child) and actress
September 5	Aaron Bay-Schuck	American music industry executive
September 8	Jonathan Taylor Thomas	Actor (Home Improvement)
September 9	Julie Gonzalo	Argentine-American actress (Veronica Mars, Eli Stone, Dallas)
September 10	Ben Aaron	New York City-based media personality
September 12	Hosea Chanchez	Actor (The Game)
September 15	Ben Schwartz	Actor (Parks and Recreation, House of Lies, Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, DuckTales, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pinky Malinky)
September 16	Alexis Bledel	Actress (Gilmore Girls)
September 18	Jennifer Tisdale	Actress and sister of Ashley Tisdale
	Arie Luyendyk Jr.	Television personality
September 20	Mandy Bruno	Actress (Guiding Light)
September 21	Nicole Richie	Actress and TV personality (The Simple Life)
September 22	Ashley Eckstein	Actress (That's So Raven, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Sofia the First, Ultimate Spider-Man, Star Wars Rebels)
September 24	Fernanda Urrejola	Actress
September 25	Lee Norris	Actor (Boy Meets World, One Tree Hill, Girl Meets World)
	Dan Mintz	Voice actor (Bob's Burgers)
	Victor Blackwell	News anchor
September 26	Christina Milian	Actress (Grandfathered)
September 28	Melissa Claire Egan	Actress (All My Children, The Young and the Restless)
	Jerrika Hinton	Actress (Grey's Anatomy)
September 29	Kelly McCreary	Actress (Grey's Anatomy)
October 3	Seth Gabel	Actor (Fringe, Salem)
October 8	Ben Lyons	Sportcaster
October 9	Zachery Ty Bryan	Actor (Home Improvement)
October 12	Brian J. Smith	Actor (Stargate Universe)
	Dan Oster	Comedic actor (Mad TV)
October 16	Brea Grant	Actress (Heroes)
	Caterina Scorsone	Actress (Missing, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice)
October 18	Gabrielle Dennis	Actress (The Game, Blue Mountain State, Rosewood)
October 22	Michael Fishman	Actor (Roseanne)
	John Boyd	Actor (24, Bones)
October 30	Shaun Sipos	Actor (Complete Savages)
	Fiona Dourif	Actress
October 31	Ivanka Trump	TV personality
November 1	Matt Jones	Actor (Breaking Bad, Mom), voice actor (Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, Sanjay and Craig, Pig Goat Banana Cricket)
	LaTavia Roberson	Singer (Destiny's Child)
November 8	Azura Skye	Actress (Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane)
November 9	Scottie Thompson	Actress (NCIS, Trauma)
November 11	Susan Kelechi Watson	Actress (Louie, This Is Us)
	Alex Sim-Wise	TV presenter
November 14	Vanessa Bayer	Actress (Saturday Night Live)
November 15	Daniel Casey	Screenwriter
November 18	Allison Tolman	Actress (Fargo)
	Christina Vidal	Actress (Taina)
	Nasim Pedrad	Actress and comedian (Saturday Night Live, Scream Queens)
November 25	Jenna Bush Hager	American news personality
	Amy Seimetz	American actress
November 26	Natasha Bedingfield	Singer
November 29	Kimberly Cullum	Actress
	John Milhiser	Actor and comedian (Saturday Night Live)
November 30	Billy Lush	Actor
December 2	Britney Spears	Singer (The Mickey Mouse Club)
December 3	Brian Bonsall	Actor (Family Ties, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
	Liza Lapira	Actress
	Elliott Kalan	Writer
December 13	Chelsea Hertford	Actress (Major Dad)
December 15	Michelle Dockery	English actress (Downton Abbey, Good Behavior)
December 16	Krysten Ritter	Actress (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Jessica Jones)
December 27	Jay Ellis	Actor (The Game, Insecure)
	Emilie de Ravin	Actress (Roswell, Lost, Once Upon a Time)
December 31	Ricky Whittle	English actor (The 100)

Deaths[]

Date	Name	Age	Notability
January 25	Adele Astaire	84	Actress
April 26	Jim Davis	71	Actor (Jock Ewing on Dallas)
June 9	Allen Ludden	63	Game show host (Password)
July 3	Ross Martin	61	Polish-born actor (Artemus Gordon on The Wild Wild West)
August 1	Paddy Chayefsky	58	Writer (Marty)
September 27	Robert Montgomery	77	Actor, host (Robert Montgomery Presents)
November 25	Jack Albertson	74	Actor (Chico and the Man)
November 29	Natalie Wood	43	Actress (, )

See also[]

• 1981 in the United States
• List of American films of 1981

References[]