July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 181 days remaining until the end of the year.
- 1938 – World record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the "Mallard", which reaches a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph).
- 1940 - World War II: In order to stop the ships from falling into German hands, the French fleet of the Atlantic based near El Kebir is bombarded by the British fleet, coming from Gibraltar.
- 1944 - World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
- 1952 - The Constitution of Puerto Rico is accepted by the United States Congress.
- 1953 – Austrian Hermann Buhl climbs the Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat, at an elevation of 8,125 metres.
- 1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
- 1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits segregation in public places.
- 1969 - The biggest-ever rocket explosion occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket explodes and destroys its Launchpad.
- 1970 – A British chartered jetliner crashes near Barcelona, Spain, killing 112
- 1976 – Adolfo Suárez is chosen by King Juan Carlos I of Spain to lead a transitional government as Prime Minister of Spain.
- 1976 – Israeli commandos rescue 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda.
- 1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 1996 – The Stone of Scone is returned to Scotland.
- 1421 - Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici, Italian banker and patron of the arts (d. 1463)
- 1423 – King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
- 1442 – Emperor Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
- 1518 - Li Shizhen, Chinese physician (d. 1593)
- 1590 - Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana, Italian singer, organist and composer (d. 1662)
- 1676 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1747)
- 1709 - Wilhelmine of Prussia, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (d. 1758)
- 1728 – Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)
- 1738 – John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
- 1743 – Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, Queen Consort of Sweden (d. 1813)
- 1789 - Johann Friedrich Overbeck, German painter (d. 1869)
- 1844 - Dankmar Adler, German-American architect (d. 1900)
- 1846 - Achilles Alferaki, Russian-Greek composer (d. 1919)
- 1848 - Lothar von Trotha, Prussian military officer (d. 1920)
- 1854 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (d. 1928)
- 1860 - Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist and author (d. 1935)
- 1863 - Ciro Luis Urriola, 8th President of Panama (d. 1922)
- 1866 - Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (d. 1906)
- 1869 - Svend Kornbeck, Danish actor (d. 1933)
- 1870 – Richard Bedford Bennett, eleventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
- 1874 - Jean Collas, French rugby player (d. 1928)
- 1875 – Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
- 1876 - Ralph Barton Perry, American philosopher (d. 1957)
- 1876 - Robert Knud Richard Pilger, German botanist (d. 1953)
- 1878 - George M. Cohan, American actor, singer and dancer (d. 1942)
- 1883 – Franz Kafka, Austrian writer (d. 1924)
- 1886 - Harmodio Arias Madrid, 15th President of Panama (d. 1962)
- 1888 - Ramon Gomez de la Serna, Spanish playwright (d. 1963)
- 1893 – Mississippi John Hurt, American musician (d. 1966)
- 1899 - Ernst Fischer, Austrian journalist, writer and politician (d. 1972)
- 1900 - Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
- 1903 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
- 1906 – George Sanders, Russian-born English actor (d. 1972)
- 1908 – M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1908 - Robert B. Meyner, American politician, 44th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1990)
- 1909 – Stavros Spiros Niarchos, Greek ship owner (d. 1996)
- 1910 - Fritz Kasparek, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1954)
- 1913 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American newspaper columnist, and television personality (d. 1965)
- 1916 - John Kundla, American basketball player and coach (d. 2017)
- 1917 - Joao Saldanha, Brazilian footballer, coach and journalist (d. 1990)
- 1918 - S. V. Ranga Rao, Indian actor, director and producer (d. 1974)
- 1921 - Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)
- 1921 - François Reichenbach, French director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1993)
- 1922 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Dutch artist (d. 2010)
- 1924 – S. R. Nathan, 6th President of Singapore (d. 2016)
- 1926 - Laurence Street, Australian jurist (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Ken Russell, English director (d. 2011)
- 1928 – Günter Bruno Fuchs, writer (d. 1977)
- 1928 - Jan Machulski, Polish actor (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
- 1932 - Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, German politician (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Manfred Bieler, writer
- 1935 - Cheo Feliciano, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Harrison Schmitt, American astronaut
- 1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-born playwright
- 1938 - Martin Brandtner, American Marine Corps general (d. 2017)
- 1939 – Brigitte Fassbaender, German mezzo-soprano
- 1939 - Laszlo Kovacs, Hungarian politician
- 1939 - Angelo Sormani, Brazilian footballer
- 1940 - Fontella Bass, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
- 1940 – Jerzy Buzek, Polish politician, former Prime Minister of Poland
- 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1942 - Robert Dugard, English speedway rider (d. 2018)
- 1942 - Eddy Mitchell, French singer-songwriter and actor
- 1943 - Kurtwood Smith, American actor
- 1943 - Norman Thagard, American astronaut
- 1944 - Michel Polnareff, French singer-songwriter
- 1945 – Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, Scottish politician, former Speaker of the UK House of Commons (d. 2018)
- 1946 – Leszek Miller, former Prime Minister of Poland
- 1946 - Michael Shea, American author (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Dave Barry, American writer
- 1947 – Betty Buckley, American actress
- 1947 - Rob Rensenbrink, Dutch footballer
- 1949 – Jan Smithers, American actress
- 1949 - Bo Xilai, Chinese politician
- 1950 - James Hahn, American politician, 40th Mayor of Los Angeles
- 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
- 1951 – Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc), Haitian politician (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
- 1952 - Andy Fraser, English songwriter and bass guitarist (d. 2015)
- 1955 - Walter Veltroni, Italian politician, former Mayor of Rome
- 1956 – Montel Williams, American talk show host
- 1957 - Poly Styrene, English singer (d. 2011)
- 1958 - Lisa De Leeuw, Dutch pornographic actress
- 1959 - Ian Maxtone-Graham, American screenwriter and producer
- 1960 - Vince Clarke, British musician
- 1961 – Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese principal ballet dancer
- 1962 – Tom Cruise, American actor
- 1963 – Tracey Emin, English artist
- 1964 – Joanne Harris, English writer
- 1964 – Yeardley Smith, American actress
- 1965 - Connie Nielsen, Danish actress
- 1965 - Tommy Flanagan, Scottish actor
- 1966 – Moises Alou, American Major League Baseball player
- 1966 - Daniel Plaza, Spanish race walker
- 1968 - Ramush Haradinaj, 4th Prime Minister of Kosovo
- 1969 – Kevin Hearn, Canadian singer and keyboardist (Barenaked Ladies)
- 1970 - Arlene Foster, Northern Irish politician, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and former First Minister of Northern Ireland
- 1970 - Audra McDonald, American actress and producer
- 1970 – Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1971 – Julian Assange, Australian internet activist, founder of the WikiLeaks website
- 1973 - Emma Cunniffe, British actress
- 1973 – Olafur Stefansson, Icelandic handball player
- 1973 - Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1973 - Patrick Wilson, American actor and singer
- 1976 – Andrea Barber, American actress
- 1976 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
- 1979 - Ludivine Sagnier, French actress
- 1980 - Olivia Munn, American actress
- 1980 - Jenny Jones, English snowboarder
- 1980 - Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer
- 1981 - Aoi Tada, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
- 1981 - Justin Torkildsen, American actor
- 1983 – Steph Jones, American singer and model
- 1983 - Edinson Volquez, Dominican baseball player
- 1985 - Keisuke Minami, Japanese actor and singer
- 1986 - Ola Toivonen, Swedish footballer
- 1986 – Oscar Ustari, Argentine footballer
- 1987 – Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver
- 1988 – Winston Reid, New Zealand footballer
- 1988 - Vladislav Sesganov, Russian figure skater
- 1988 - James Troisi, Australian footballer
- 1989 - Elle King, American singer
- 1990 - Carly Lauren, American model
- 1991 - Will Grigg, English-Northern Irish footballer
- 1991 - Tomoni Itano, Japanese actress and singer (AKB48)
- 1991 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russian tennis player
- 1992 – Nathalia Ramos, Spanish-American actress and singer
- 1992 - Molly Sandén, Swedish singer and voice actress
- 1992 - Masado Sudo, Japanese singer
- 1993 - Roy Kim, South Korean singer-songwriter
- 1993 - Kerem Demirbay, German footballer
- 458 - Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople (b. 449)
- 710 - Emperor Zhongzhong of Tang, Chinese Emperor (b. 656)
- 1570 - Aonio Paleario, Italian reformer (b. 1500)
- 1640 - Giuseppe Cesari, Italian painter (b. 1568)
- 1642 – Maria de'Medici, Queen of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)
- 1778 – Anna Maria Mozart, mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1720)
- 1795 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general, explorer, author and astronomer (b. 1716)
- 1809 - Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (b. 1746)
- 1863 - George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
- 1863 - Little Crow, American tribal leader (b. 1810)
- 1888 - Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1822)
- 1904 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (b. 1860)
- 1904 - Edouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)
- 1908 - Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (b. 1845)
- 1914 – Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)
- 1918 – Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
- 1918 - Benjamin Tillman, American politician, Governor of South Carolina (b. 1847)
- 1933 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)
- 1935 – André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
- 1937 - Jacob Schick, American-Canadian captain and businessman, invented the electric razor (b. 1877)
- 1941 - Friedrich Akel, Estonian politician (b. 1871)
- 1957 - Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player and manager (b. 1890)
- 1969 – Brian Jones, British musician (the Rolling Stones) (b. 1942)
- 1971 – Jim Morrison, American singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)
- 1973 - Laurens Hammond, American inventor (b. 1895)
- 1979 – Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
- 1984 - Ernesto Mascheroni, Uruguayan-Italian footballer (b. 1907)
- 1986 – Rudy Vallée, American singer (b. 1901)
- 1987 - Viola Dana, American actress (b. 1897)
- 1989 – Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
- 1991 - Le Van Thiem, Vietnamese mathematician (b. 1918)
- 1991 - Domingo Tarasconi, Argentine footballer (b. 1903)
- 1993 – Don Drysdale, American baseball player (b. 1936)
- 1993 – Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
- 1994 - Lew Hood, Australian tennis player (b. 1934)
- 1995 – Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
- 1995 - Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 1998 – Danielle Bunten Berry, software developer (b. 1949)
- 1999 – Mark Sandman, musician (Morphine (band)) (b. 1952) (heart attack)
- 2000 – Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor (b. 1944)
- 2001 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian writer (b. 1931)
- 2003 – Gaetano Alibrandi, papal diplomat (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Andrian Nikolayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1929)
- 2005 - Alberto Lattuada, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- 2005 - Gaylord Nelson, American politician, 35th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1914)
- 2006 - Joseph Goquen, American computer scientist (b. 1941)
- 2007 - Claude Pompidou, First Lady of France (b. 1912)
- 2009 – Jorge Enrique Adoum, Ecuadorean writer (b. 1926)
- 2010 – Abu Daoud, Palestinian military commander (b. 1937)
- 2010 – Herbert Erhardt, German footballer (b. 1930)
- 2011 – Anna Massey, British actress (b. 1937)
- 2012 - Andy Griffith, American actor, singer and producer (b. 1926)
- 2012 - Sergio Pininfarina, Italian automobile designer and politician (b. 1926)
- 2013 - Radu Vasile, 57th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1942)
- 2014 - Jini Dellaccio, American photographer (b. 1917)
- 2014 - Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Ukrainian-born American rabbi (b. 1924)
- 2015 - Phil Walsh, Australian rules footballer and coach (b. 1960)
- 2015 - Boyd K. Packer, American religious leader, member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1924)
- 2015 - Jacques Sernas, Lithuanian-French actor (b. 1925)
- 2015 - Diana Douglas, Bermudan-American actress (b. 1923)
- 2015 - John A. Williams, American writer (b. 1925)
- 2015 - György Szabad, Hungarian politician and historian (b. 1924)
- 2016 - Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark (b. 1927)
- 2016 - Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)
- 2016 - Uma Shankar Mishra, Indian politician (b. 1923)
- 2016 - Noel Neill, American actress (b. 1920)
- 2016 - Mauricio Walerstein, Mexican film director (b. 1945)
- 2016 - Markus Werner, Swiss writer (b. 1944)
- 2017 - José Luis Cuevas, Mexican painter (b. 1934)
- 2017 - Rudy Rotta, Italian guitarist and singer (b. 1950)
- 2017 - Solvi Stubing, German actress and model (b. 1941)
- 2017 - Paolo Villaggio, Italian actor and writer (b. 1932)
- 2017 - Tom Blom, Dutch radio and television presenter (b. 1946)
- 2017 - Spencer Johnson, American author (b. 1938)
- 2017 - Joe Robinson, British actor (b. 1927)
- 2018 - Richard Swift, American singer-songwriter (b. 1977)