Deaths in 1981

The following is a list of notable deaths in 1981. Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:
 * Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

January

 * January 1
 * Ceferino Garcia, Filipino champion boxer (b. 1906)
 * Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist, writer, and human rights campaigner (b. 1921)
 * Kazimierz Michałowski, Polish archaeologist (b. 1901)
 * Mauri Rose, American race car champion (b. 1906)
 * January 3
 * Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria (b. 1883)
 * Felton Jarvis, American record producer of Elvis, Willie Nelson, and other musicians and a singer (b. 1934)
 * Marvin Opler, American anthropologist (b. 1914)
 * January 4 – Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and songwriter (b. 1914)
 * January 5
 * Guy Paquinet, French jazz trombonist
 * Harold Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
 * Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher, poet and activist (b. 1901)
 * January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)
 * January 7
 * Jose Ardevol, Cuban composer and conductor of Spanish derivation (b. 1911)
 * Alvar Lidell, English radio announcer and newsreader for the BBC and compere (b. 1908)
 * January 9
 * Donald H. Bochkay, 64, American Air Force pilot and flying ace (b. 1916)
 * Obdulio Morales, Cuban pianist, conductor, composer and ethnomusicologist (b. 1910)
 * Kazimierz Serocki, Polish composer and one of the founders of the Warsaw Autumn contemporary music festival (b. 1922)
 * January 10
 * Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
 * Richard Boone, American actor (b. 1917)
 * Fawn M. Brodie, American biographer and history professors at UCLA (b. 1915)
 * January 11 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889)
 * January 12 – Isobel Elsom, English film, theatre, and television actress (b. 1893)
 * January 15 –
 * David E. Lilienthal, American attorney and public administrator (b. 1899)
 * Emanuel Celler, American Democratic politician from New York (b. 1888)
 * January 16 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
 * January 17 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek athlete and footballer (b. 1899)
 * January 19 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (b. 1958)
 * January 21 – Allyn Joslyn, American actor (b. 1901)
 * January 22 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani nationalist historian and playwright (b. 1903)
 * January 23
 * Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
 * Bobby Sherwood, American guitarist, trumpeter, bandleader, actor and radio host (b. 1914)
 * January 25 – Adele Astaire, American dancer and actress (b. 1896)
 * January 29 – Lajos Korányi, Hungarian footballer (b. 1907)
 * January 30 – John Gordon, Irish Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1912)
 * January 31 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)

February

 * February 1
 * Donald Wills Douglas Sr., American industrialist (b. 1892)
 * Wanda Hendrix, American actress (b. 1928)
 * Ernst Pepping, German composer (b. 1901)
 * Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908)
 * February 2 –
 * Hugh J. Addonizio, Italian-American politician and Mayor of Newark (b. 1914)
 * Louise Lorraine, American actress (b. 1904)
 * February 3 –
 * J Harlen Bretz, American geologist (b. 1882)
 * Jan Donner, Dutch politician (b. 1891)
 * February 4 – Mario Camerini, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1895)
 * February 5
 * Ella Grasso, American politician and member of the Democratic Party (b. 1919)
 * Kuda Bux, magician and firewalker (b. 1905)
 * February 6 –
 * Frederica of Hanover, Queen Consort of the Hellenes and wife of King Paul of Greece (b. 1917)
 * Hugo Montenegro, American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks (b. 1925)
 * February 7 – Hermann Esser, German journalist and editor of the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter (b. 1900)
 * February 9 – Bill Haley, American rock musician, member of Bill Haley & The Comets (b. 1925)
 * February 12 – Bruce Fraser, 1st Baron Fraser of North Cape, British admiral (b. 1888)
 * February 13 – Jack Crapp, English cricketer (b. 1912)
 * February 15
 * Karl Richter, German conductor (b. 1926)
 * Mike Bloomfield, American blues guitarist (b. 1943)
 * February 17 – David Garnett, English novelist and writer (b. 1892)
 * February 18
 * Jack Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (b. 1895)
 * Ibrahim Abdel Hady Pasha, Egyptian politician, 28th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1896)
 * February 20
 * Bernard B. Brown, American sound engineer and composer (b. 1898)
 * Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, French magazine editor and playboy (b. 1904)
 * February 22
 * Michael Maltese, American screenwriter (b. 1908)
 * Curtis Bernhardt, German film director (b. 1899)
 * February 25
 * Leonard Howell, Founder of Rastafari (b. 1898)
 * Gunichi Mikawa, Japanese admiral (b. 1888)
 * February 26
 * Robert Aickman, English writer and conservationist (b. 1914)
 * Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
 * February 27 – Jacob H Gilbert, American lawyer and politician (b. 1920)

March

 * March 1 – Roberto Francisco Chiari Remón, 14th President of Panama (b. 1905)
 * March 2
 * Brenda De Banzie, British actress (b. 1909)
 * Janear Hines, American actress and Earl Hines' daughter (b.1950)
 * Tony Gulotta, American racing driver (b. 1903)
 * March 4 – Torin Thatcher, American actor (b. 1905)
 * March 5 –
 * Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)
 * Paul Hörbiger, Austrian theatre and film actor (b. 1894)
 * Red Saunders, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1912)
 * March 6 – George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
 * March 7
 * Peter Birch, Irish Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1911)
 * Jon Gnagy, self-taught artist remembered for being America's original television art instructor
 * Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
 * Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling, German-Danish tennis player (b. 1908)
 * March 9 – Max Delbrück, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1906)
 * March 10 – Flavio Calzavara, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
 * March 11 – Kazimierz Kordylewski, Polish astronomer (b. 1903)
 * March 14
 * Ken Barrington, English international cricketer (b. 1930)
 * Paolo Grassi, Italian actor (b. 1919)
 * March 15 – René Clair, French film director (b. 1898)
 * March 17 – Paul Dean, American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher (1912)
 * March 19 – Frank Lane, American executive in professional baseball (b. 1895)
 * March 20 – Gerry Bertier, American college football player (b. 1953)
 * March 21 – Mark Donskoy, Russian Soviet film director (b. 1901)
 * March 22
 * Jumbo Elliott, American track and field coach (b. 1915)
 * John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (b. 1911)
 * Gil Puyat, Filipino businessman and politician, Senator of the Philippines and Senate President (b. 1907)
 * March 23
 * Sir Claude Auchinleck, British field marshal (b. 1884)
 * Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer (b. 1940)
 * Beatrice Tinsley, English astronomer (b. 1941)
 * March 26 – Cyril Dean Darlington, English biologist, geneticist and eugenicist, (b. 1903)
 * March 27 – Mao Dun, Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and minister of culture (b. 1896)
 * March 29 – Eric Williams, 1st Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1911)
 * March 30
 * Sherman Edwards, American songwriter (b. 1919)
 * Noel Harford, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1930)
 * Douglas Lowe, British Olympic athlete (b. 1902)
 * DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (b. 1889)
 * March 31
 * Enid Bagnold, British writer and playwright (b. 1889)
 * Frank Tieri, American gangster (b. 1904)

April

 * April 1 – Eua Sunthornsanan, singer, Thai composer and bandleader of the Suntaraporn Band (b. 1910)
 * April 2 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentine athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1948 Summer Olympics (b. 1918)
 * April 3
 * Juan Trippe, airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
 * Leo Kanner, Austrian-American psychiatrist, physician, and social activist (b. 1894)
 * April 5
 * Bob Hite, American musician (Canned Heat) (b. 1943)
 * Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1896)
 * April 7
 * Kit Lambert, British producer, record label owner and manager of The Who (b. 1935)
 * Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
 * April 8 – Omar Bradley, American army general (b. 1893)
 * April 10
 * George Carlyle Marler, Canadian politician, notary and philatelist (b. 1901)
 * Howard Thurman, American author, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, educator, and civil rights leader (b. 1899)
 * April 11
 * Caroline Gordon, American novelist and literary critic (b. 1895)
 * Marie Ney, British character actress (b. 1895)
 * April 12
 * Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1892)
 * Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
 * Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
 * Hans Chemin-Petit, German composer, conductor and music educator (b. 1902)
 * April 14 – Ivan Galamian, Armenian-American violin teacher (b. 1903)
 * April 15
 * John Thach, American naval aviator and admiral (b. 1905)
 * Lorenzo Guerrero, former President of Nicaragua (b. 1900)
 * April 16 –
 * Eric Hollies, English cricketer (b. 1912)
 * Effa Manley, American sports executive (b. 1897)
 * April 18 – James H. Schmitz, German-American writer (b. 1911)
 * April 19 – Ernst Levy, Swiss musicologist, composer, pianist and conductor (b. 1895)
 * April 21 – Eddie Sauter, American composer and arranger (b. 1914)
 * April 23 – Josep Pla, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1897)
 * April 26
 * Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
 * Madge Evans, American actress (b. 1909)
 * Muhammad Lafir, Sri Lankan snooker player (b. 1930)
 * April 27 – John Aspinwall Roosevelt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1916)
 * April 28
 * Cliff Battles, American football player (Boston Redskins) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1910)
 * Mickey Walker, American professional boxer (b. 1903)
 * April 30 – Peter Huchel, German poet and editor (b. 1903)

May

 * May 1 – Barry Jones, American actor (b. 1893)
 * May 3 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
 * May 4 – Paul Green, American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (b. 1894)
 * May 5 – Bobby Sands, Irish republican hunger striker (b. 1954)
 * May 6 – Frank O'Grady, Australian public servant (b. 1900)
 * May 7 – Hiromichi Yahara, Imperial Japanese Army officer (b. 1902)
 * May 8 – Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1897)
 * May 9
 * Nelson Algren, American author (b. 1909)
 * Margaret Lindsay, American actress (b. 1910)
 * Nip Pellew, Australian cricketer (b.1893)
 * May 10 – Ismail of Johor, Malaysian sultan (b. 1894)
 * May 11
 * Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
 * Bob Marley, Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician (b. 1945)
 * Hoyt W. Fuller, American editor, educator, critic, and author during the Black Arts Movement (b. 1923)
 * May 12 – Benjamin Sheares, Singaporean politician and professor, 2nd President of Singapore (b. 1907)
 * May 13
 * Ben Andrews, American actor (b. 1942)
 * May 14 – J. Posadas, Argentine politician (b. 1912)
 * May 16 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger (b. 1922)
 * May 17 –
 * Hugo Friedhofer, German-American film composer (b. 1901)
 * Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, American high-altitude balloonist, and in later life an Episcopal priest (b. 1895)
 * May 18
 * Eleonore Baur, German Nazi and only woman to participate in Munich Beer Hall Putsch (b. 1885)
 * Richard Hale, American singer and actor (b. 1892)
 * Arthur O'Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
 * William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
 * May 20 – Dositej II, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia (b. 1906)
 * May 21
 * Yuki Shimoda, American actor (b. 1921)
 * Patsy O'Hara, Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (b. 1957)
 * Raymond Mccreesh, Irish volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (b. 1957)
 * May 22 – Boris Sagal, Ukrainian-American television and film director (b. 1923)
 * May 23
 * George Jessel, American actor (b. 1898)
 * Donald Macintyre, British naval officer and naval historian (b. 1904)
 * Rayner Heppenstall, British novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer (b. 1911)
 * May 24
 * Jaime Roldós Aguilera, 33rd President of Ecuador (b. 1940)
 * Jack Warner, British actor (b. 1895)
 * May 25
 * Rosa Ponselle, American soprano (b. 1897)
 * Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian radio astronomer (b. 1912)
 * A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan Tamil teacher and politician (b. 1916)
 * Fredric Warburg, British publisher, who in 1935 founded the company Secker & Warburg (b. 1898)
 * May 28
 * John Bryan Ward-Perkins, British archaeologist (b. 1912)
 * Mary Lou Williams, American jazz pianist (b. 1910)
 * Stefan Wyszyński, Polish Roman Catholic prelate, archbishop and Servant of God (b. 1901)
 * Lem Billings, American businessman (b. 1916)
 * May 29 – Soong Ching-ling, Acting head of State of the People's Republic of China (b. 1893)
 * May 30
 * Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
 * Peter Lindgren, Swedish actor (b. 1915)
 * Ziaur Rahman, 7th President of Bangladesh (b. 1936)
 * May 31
 * Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, British economist (b. 1914)
 * Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1923)
 * Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 31st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1902)

June

 * June 1 – Carl Vinson, American politician (b. 1883)
 * June 2 – Rino Gaetano, Italian musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
 * June 5 – Miguel Contreras Torres, Mexican actor, director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1899)
 * June 10
 * Jenny Maxwell, American actress (b. 1941)
 * Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa, United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (b. 1897)
 * June 11 – Botak Chin, Malaysian criminal and gangster (b. 1951)
 * June 12 – Mahmoud Fawzi, Egyptian diplomat and political figure, 35th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1900)
 * June 13 – George Walsh, American actor (b. 1889)
 * June 16 – Sir Thomas Playford, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (b. 1896)
 * June 17 – Sir Richard O'Connor, British general (b. 1889)
 * June 19 – Lotte Reiniger, German silhouette animator (b. 1899)
 * June 22
 * Henri Bouillard, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1908)
 * Lola Lane, American actress and singer (b. 1906)
 * June 23 – Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
 * June 28
 * Mohammad Beheshti, Chief Justice of Iran (b. 1928)
 * Terry Fox, Canadian athlete and cancer activist (b. 1958)

July



 * July 1
 * Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect (b. 1902)
 * George Voskovec, Czech-American actor, writer, dramatist and director (b. 1905)
 * July 3 – Ross Martin, American actor (b. 1920)
 * July 7 – Qahtan Muhammad al-Shaabi, South Yemenite socialist leader, 1st President of South Yemen (b. 1920)
 * July 8
 * Jugah Barieng, Malaysian politician (b. 1903)
 * Joe McDonnell, Irish republican hunger striker (b. 1951)
 * July 10 – Giorgio De Lullo, Italian actor and director (b. 1921)
 * July 16 – Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
 * July 26 – Stafford L. Warren, American physician and radiologist; inventor of the mammogram (b. 1896)
 * July 27 – William Wyler, American movie director (b. 1902)
 * July 28 – Stanley Francis Rother, American priest, martyr, and Blessed (b. 1935)
 * July 29 – Robert Moses, American urban planner (b. 1888)
 * July 31 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian leader (b. 1929)

August

 * August 1 – Paddy Chayefsky, American screenwriter (b. 1923)
 * August 2
 * Delfo Cabrera, Argentine athlete (b. 1919)
 * Stefanie Clausen, Danish diver (b. 1900)
 * August 4 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (b. 1901)
 * August 14 – Karl Böhm, Austrian conductor (b. 1894)
 * August 15
 * Carlo Buscaglia, Italian football player (b. 1909)
 * Karl Gero, Duke of Urach, Lichtenstein noble (b. 1899)
 * August 18
 * Robert Russell Bennett, American composer and arranger (b. 1894)
 * Anita Loos, American screenwriter (b. 1888)
 * August 19 – Jessie Matthews, English dancer, singer and actress (b. 1907)
 * August 22 – Glauber Rocha, Brazilian filmmaker (b. 1939)
 * August 27 – Valeri Kharlamov, Soviet ice hockey player (b. 1948)
 * August 28 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian Association footballer and coach (b. 1899)
 * August 29 – Lowell Thomas, American writer and broadcaster (b. 1892)
 * August 30
 * Mohammad-Ali Rajai, 47th Prime Minister of Iran and 2nd President of Iran (assassinated) (b. 1933)
 * Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, Iranian theologian and politician, 48th Prime Minister of Iran (assassinated) (b. 1933)
 * Vera-Ellen, American actress and dancer (b. 1921)

September

 * September 1
 * Ann Harding, American actress (b. 1902)
 * Albert Speer, German Nazi architect and war minister (b. 1905)
 * September 2 – Dame Enid Lyons, Australian politician (b. 1897)
 * September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (b. 1932)
 * September 8
 * Uri Zvi Greenberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
 * Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
 * Roy Wilkins, American civil rights activist (b. 1901)
 * September 9
 * Jacques Lacan, French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist (b. 1901)
 * Ricardo Balbín, Argentine politician, leader of the Radical Civic Union (UCR) (b. 1904)
 * Sir Robert Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)
 * September 11 – Frank McHugh, American actor (b. 1898)
 * September 12 – Eugenio Montale, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
 * September 14 – Charles L. Melson, American admiral (b. 1904)
 * September 15
 * Harold Bennett, British actor (b. 1899)
 * Rafael Méndez, Mexican trumpet virtuoso (b. 1906)
 * September 17 – Sir Milton Allen, Governor of Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla (b. 1888)
 * September 21 – Nigel Patrick, English actor (b. 1912)
 * September 22 – Harry Warren, American songwriter (b. 1893)
 * September 23 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor and writer, tribal chief of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation (b. 1899)
 * September 24 – Patsy Kelly, American actress (b. 1910)
 * September 27 – Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (b. 1904)
 * September 28
 * Rómulo Betancourt, 2-time President of Venezuela (b. 1908)
 * Sir Edward Boyle, Baron Boyle of Handsworth, British Conservative cabinet minister (b. 1923)
 * September 29
 * Javad Fakoori, Iranian military officer, former minister of Defence (b. 1913)
 * Mousa Namjoo, Iranian military officer, minister of Defence (b. 1938)
 * Bill Shankly, British football manager (b. 1913)

October

 * October 2
 * Harry Golden, American journalist (b. 1902)
 * Hazel Scott, American jazz singer and pianist (b. 1920)
 * October 3 – Chrysostom Blashkevich, Soviet Benedict monk (b. 1915)
 * October 4 – Freddie Lindstrom, American baseball player (New York Giants) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1905)
 * October 5 – Gloria Grahame, 57, American actress, breast cancer.
 * October 6 – Anwar Sadat, 62, 37th Prime Minister of Egypt and 3rd President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, assassinated.
 * October 13
 * Antonio Berni, Argentine painter (b. 1905)
 * Nils Asther, Danish-Swedish actor (b. 1897)
 * October 16
 * Stanley Clements, American actor (b. 1926)
 * Moshe Dayan, Israeli general (b. 1915)
 * October 22 – Michael Granger, American actor (b. 1923)
 * October 24 – Edith Head, American costume designer (b. 1897)
 * October 25 – Barbara Bedford, American actress (b. 1903)
 * October 27 – John Warburton, British actor (b. 1899)
 * October 29 – Georges Brassens, French singer and songwriter (b. 1921)

November



 * November 2 – Wally Wood, American cartoonist (b. 1927)
 * November 5 – Jean Eustache, French film director (b. 1938)
 * November 7 – Will Durant, American philosopher and writer (b. 1885)
 * November 10 – Abel Gance, French film director (b. 1889)
 * November 12 – William Holden, American actor (b. 1918)
 * November 13 – Gerhard Marcks, German sculptor (b. 1889)
 * November 15
 * Walter Heitler, German physicist (b. 1904) Fellow of the Royal Society
 * Enid Markey, American actress (b. 1894)
 * November 17 – Wilhelm Pelikan, Austrian chemist (b. 1893)
 * November 21 – Ejner Federspiel, Danish actor (b. 1896)
 * November 22
 * Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)
 * Hans Adolf Krebs, German physician and biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
 * November 25
 * Jack Albertson, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
 * Morris Kirksey, American athlete (b. 1895)
 * November 26 – Max Euwe, Dutch chess grandmaster (b. 1901)
 * November 27 – Lotte Lenya, Austrian singer and actress (b. 1898)
 * November 29 – Natalie Wood, American actress (b. 1938)

December

 * December 2
 * Wallace Harrison, American architect (b. 1895)
 * Francis Hunter, American tennis player (b. 1894)
 * December 6 – Harry Harlow, American psychologist (b. 1905)
 * December 7 – William Edmunds, Italian stage and screen character actor (b. 1886)
 * December 8 – Ferruccio Parri, Italian partisan and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1890)
 * December 13 – Cornelius Cardew, English composer (b. 1936)
 * December 15
 * Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1908)
 * Karl Struss, American cinematographer (b. 1886)
 * December 17
 * Franz Dahlem, German politician. (b. 1892)
 * Mehmet Shehu, Albanian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1913)
 * December 18
 * Enrique Hertzog, Bolivian politician, 42nd President of Bolivia (b. 1896)
 * Juan Miles, Argentine polo player (b. 1895)
 * December 23
 * Luther H. Evans, American political scientist and librarian, 3rd Director General of the UNESCO (b. 1902)
 * Reginald Miles Ansett, Australian businessman and aviator (b. 1909)
 * December 26 – Suat Hayri Urguplu, Turkish politician, 11th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1903)
 * December 27 – Hoagy Carmichael, American jazz composer (b. 1899)
 * December 28 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-American film director (b. 1885)