Deaths in 1985

The following is a list of notable deaths in 1985. 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 2 – Gabriel Elorde, Filipino professional boxer (b. 1935)
 * January 4 – Sir Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
 * January 5 – Robert L. Surtees, American cinematographer (b. 1906)
 * January 11 – Sir William McKell, 12th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
 * January 14
 * Jetta Goudal, Dutch actress (b. 1891)
 * Anagarika Govinda, German buddhist lama (b. 1898)
 * January 18 – Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, Sudanese religious thinker (b. 1909)
 * January 19 – Eric Voegelin, German-American philosopher (b. 1901)
 * January 22 – Mikhail Gromov, Soviet aviator (b. 1899)
 * January 23 – Rubén Rabanal, Argentine politician (b. 1935)
 * January 26 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1914)

February

 * February 3 – Frank Oppenheimer, American particle physicist (b. 1912)
 * February 4 – Jesse Hibbs, American film director (b. 1906)
 * February 6 – Neil McCarthy, English actor (b. 1932)
 * February 8
 * William Lyons, British automobile engineer and designer (b. 1901)
 * Marvin Miller, American actor (b. 1913)
 * February 11 – Henry Hathaway, American film director (b. 1898)
 * February 12 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (b. 1924)
 * February 20 – Clarence Nash, American actor (b. 1904)
 * February 21
 * Ina Claire, American actress (b. 1893)
 * Louis Hayward, British actor (b. 1909)
 * John G. Trump, American electrical engineer, inventor, and physicist (b. 1907)
 * February 22
 * Efrem Zimbalist, Russian-American violinist (b. 1889)
 * Alexander Scourby, American film, television, and voice actor (b. 1913)
 * February 26 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
 * February 27
 * Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., American politician (b. 1902)
 * J. Pat O'Malley, English actor (b. 1904)

March

 * March 3 – Iosif Shklovsky, Soviet astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1916)
 * March 7 – George Schick, Czechoslovakian conductor and music educator (b. 1908)
 * March 8 – Edward Andrews, American actor (b. 1914)
 * March 10
 * Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet politician, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (b. 1911)
 * Bob Nieman, American baseball player (b. 1927)
 * March 11
 * Tom Adams, Barbadian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
 * Nazem Akkari, Lebanese politician, 19th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1902)
 * March 12
 * Earle Clements, American politician, governor of Kentucky (b. 1896)
 * Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American conductor (b. 1899)
 * March 13 – Mabel Alvarez, American painter (b. 1891)
 * March 15 – Radha Krishna Choudhary, Indian historian (b. 1921)
 * March 16 – Roger Sessions, American composer (b. 1896)
 * March 21 – Sir Michael Redgrave, British actor (b. 1908)
 * March 23
 * Doctor Richard Beeching, Chairman of British Rail (b. 1913)
 * Zoot Sims, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925)
 * March 28 – Marc Chagall, Russian-French painter (b. 1887)
 * March 29
 * The Singing Nun (Jeannine Deckers), Belgian nun and singer (b. 1933)
 * Gerhard Stock, German Olympic athlete (b. 1911)
 * March 30 – Shizuko Kasagi, Japanese singer (b. 1914)
 * March 31
 * Michel Georges-Michel, French painter, journalist, novelist (b. 1883)
 * Richard McKeon, American philosopher (b. 1900)

April

 * April 5 – Paul Hugh Emmett, American chemical engineer (b. 1900)
 * April 6 – Terence Sanders, British Olympic rower – coxless fours (b. 1901)
 * April 7 – Carl Schmitt, German jurist, political theorist and professor of law (b. 1888)
 * April 8 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (b. 1897)
 * April 10 – Alfredo Duhalde, Chilean statesman (b. 1898)
 * April 11 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian Communist politician, leader of the Party of Labour 22nd Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1908)
 * April 14
 * Noele Gordon, British actress (b. 1919)
 * Kate Roberts, Welsh-language author (b. 1891)
 * April 15 – Jack Medica, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1914)
 * April 16 – Scott Brady, American actor (b. 1924)
 * April 17 – Evadne Price, Australian-British writer, actress and astrologer (b. 1888)
 * April 18 – Gertrude Caton–Thompson, English archaeologist (b. 1888)
 * April 19 – Sergei Aleksandrovich Tokarev, Russian ethnologist (b. 1899)
 * April 21
 * John Welsh, Irish actor (b. 1914)
 * Tancredo Neves, Brazilian elected president and former Prime Minister (b. 1910)
 * April 26 – Albert Maltz, American screenwriter, one of the Hollywood Ten (b. 1908)

May

 * May 1 – Denise Robins, British romance novelist (b. 1897)
 * May 4 – Clarence Wiseman, 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
 * May 5 – Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
 * May 6
 * Pete Desjardins, American Olympic diver (b. 1907)
 * Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (b. 1968)
 * May 7 – Dawn Addams, British actress (b. 1930)
 * May 8
 * Karl Marx, German composer and music teacher (b. 1897)
 * Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (b. 1918)
 * Dolph Sweet, American actor (b. 1920)
 * May 9 – Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
 * May 10
 * Tahar Ben Ammar, Tunisian politician, 8th Prime Minister of Tunisia (b. 1889)
 * Florizel von Reuter, American violinist and composer (b. 1890)
 * May 11 - Chester Gould, American cartoonist, creator of Dick Tracy (b. 1900)
 * May 12 – Jean Dubuffet, French artist (b. 1901)
 * May 13 – Leatrice Joy, American actress (b. 1893)
 * May 14 – Barbara Yung, Hong Kong actress (b. 1959)
 * May 16 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
 * May 18
 * Penn Nouth, Cambodian politician, 7-time Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1906)
 * Hilding Rosenberg, Swedish composer (b. 1892)
 * May 19 – Maqbular Rahman Sarkar, Bangladeshi academic (b. 1928)
 * May 22
 * Charles Murphy, American architect. (b. 1890)
 * Wolfgang Reitherman, German animator, director and producer (b. 1909)

June

 * June 5 – Lord George-Brown, British politician (b. 1914)
 * June 6
 * Norman W. Walker, British businessman (b. 1886)
 * Vladimir Jankélévitch, French philosopher and musicologist (b. 1903)
 * June 7
 * Georgia Hale, American actress (b. 1905)
 * Stanley Skinner, professional ice hockey player (b. 1893)
 * June 9 – Clifford Evans, British actor (b. 1912)
 * Matsutarō Kawaguchi, Japanese novelist (b. 1899)
 * June 10 – George Chandler, American actor (b. 1898)
 * June 11 – Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1954)
 * June 12 – Helmuth Plessner, German philosopher and sociologist (b. 1892)
 * June 15
 * Percy Fender, English cricketer (b. 1892)
 * Andy Stanfield, American Olympic athlete (b. 1927)
 * June 17
 * George Jackson, English footballer (b. 1893)
 * John Boulting, English filmmaker (b. 1913)
 * Kirill Moskalenko, Soviet military commander (b. 1902)
 * June 19 – Bonnie Nettles, American religious leader (b. 1927)
 * June 21 – Tage Erlander, Swedish politician, 25th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1901)
 * June 27 – Elias Sarkis, Lebanese lawyer, 27th President of Lebanon (b. 1924)
 * June 28 – James Craig, American actor (b. 1912)
 * June 30 – Haruo Remeliik, Palauan politician, 1st President of Palau (b. 1933)

July

 * July 1 – Pauli Murray, American civil rights activist, lawyer, author and priest (b. 1910)
 * July 3 – Erik Ågren, Swedish boxer (b. 1916)
 * July 4 – Jan de Quay, Dutch politician and psychologist, 31st Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1901)
 * July 8
 * Phil Foster, American actor (b. 1913)
 * Simon Kuznets, American economist (b. 1901)
 * July 9
 * Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
 * Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1896)
 * July 14 – Lluís Solé, Spanish geographer and academic (b. 1908)
 * July 15 – Rama Devi, Indian nationalist leader (b. 1889)
 * July 16 – Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
 * July 17 – Margo, Mexican-American actress (b. 1917)
 * July 19
 * Janusz Zajdel, Polish writer (b. 1938)
 * Louisa Ghijs, Belgian stage actress and wife of Johannes Heesters (b. 1902)
 * July 21 – Alvah Cecil Bessie, American screenwriter, one of the Hollywood Ten (b. 1904)
 * July 22 – Matti Järvinen, Finnish Olympic athlete (b. 1909)
 * July 23
 * Kay Kyser, American bandleader (b. 1905)
 * Mickey Shaughnessy, American actor (b. 1920)
 * July 25 – Grant Williams, American actor (b. 1931)
 * July 26 – Grace Albee, American printmaker and wood engraver. (b. 1890)
 * July 27 – John Scarne, American magician and card expert (b. 1903)

August



 * August 1 – D. H. Turner, British art historian and museum curator (b. 1931)
 * August 2 – Frank Faylen, American actor (b. 1905)
 * August 5 – Arnold Horween, Harvard Crimson and NFL football player (b. 1898)
 * August 6
 * Forbes Burnham, Guyanese political leader, 1st Prime Minister of Guyana and 2nd President of Guyana (b. 1923)
 * John Harmon, American actor (b. 1905)
 * August 8 – Louise Brooks, American actress (b. 1906)
 * August 9 – Clive Churchill, Australian rugby league player and coach (b. 1927)
 * August 10 – Kenny Baker, American actor and singer (b. 1912)
 * August 11 – Hector Grey, Scottish street trader and company director (b. 1904)
 * August 12
 * Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (b. 1941)
 * Manfred Winkelhock, German racing driver (b. 1951)
 * August 14 – Gale Sondergaard, American actress (b. 1899)
 * August 15 – Lester Cole, American screenwriter, one of the Hollywood Ten (b. 1904)
 * August 20 – Donald O. Hebb, Canadian neuropsychologist (b. 1904)
 * August 22 – Paul Peter Ewald, German-American crystallographer and physicist (b. 1888)
 * August 24 – Morrie Ryskind, American dramatist (b. 1895)
 * August 25
 * Paul Harris, American actor (b. 1917)
 * Samantha Smith, American schoolgirl activist (b. 1972)
 * August 28
 * Ruth Gordon, American actress, screenwriter, and playwright (b. 1896)
 * Miguel Otero Silva, Venezuelan writer (b. 1908)
 * August 29
 * Evelyn Ankers, British actress (b. 1918)
 * Patrick Barr, British actor (b. 1908)
 * Paul Kligman, Canadian actor (b. 1923)
 * August 30 – Taylor Caldwell, Anglo-American writer (b. 1900)
 * August 31 – Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)

September

 * September 1
 * Stefan Bellof, German racing driver and 1984 World SportsCars (Group C) Champion (b. 1957).
 * Saunders Lewis, Welsh writer and founder of the Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru) (born 1893)
 * September 4
 * Isabel Jeans, British actress (b. 1891)
 * George O'Brien, American actor (b. 1899)
 * September 6 – Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1917)
 * September 7
 * Bruiser Kinard, American football player (Brooklyn Dodgers) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1914)
 * José Zabala-Santos, Filipino cartoonist (b. 1911)
 * George Pólya, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1887)
 * September 8 – John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1897)
 * September 9 – Paul Flory, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
 * September 10
 * Ernst Öpik, Estonian astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1893)
 * Jock Stein, Scottish football player and manager (b. 1922)
 * Chong Yun Jing, Singaporean administrative officer and victim of a medical malpractice case (b. 1963)
 * September 11
 * William Alwyn, English composer (b. 1905)
 * Henrietta Barnett, British Women's Royal Air Force officer (b. 1905)
 * Masako Natsume, Japanese actress (b. 1957)
 * September 13 – Augusto Rademaker, Brazilian admiral and former military junta member (b. 1905)
 * September 14
 * Julian Beck, American actor (b. 1925)
 * John Holt, American writer and educator (b. 1923)
 * September 17 – Laura Ashley, Welsh designer (b. 1925)
 * September 19 – Italo Calvino, Italian writer (b. 1923)
 * September 22 – Axel Springer, German journalist and the founder and owner of the Axel Springer AG (b. 1912)
 * September 27 – Lloyd Nolan, American actor (b. 1902)
 * September 30
 * Floyd Crosby, American cinematographer (b. 1899)
 * Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist, creator of the Richter magnitude scale (b. 1900)
 * Simone Signoret, French actress (b. 1921)

October

 * October 1 – E. B. White, American writer (b. 1899)
 * October 2
 * Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
 * George Savalas, American actor (b. 1924)
 * October 5 – Abdus Sattar, Bangladeshi statesman, 8th President of Bangladesh (b. 1906)
 * October 6 – Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (b. 1921)
 * October 9 – Emílio Garrastazu Médici, Brazilian general and statesman, 28th President of Brazil (b. 1905)
 * October 10
 * Yul Brynner, Russian actor (b. 1920)
 * Orson Welles, American actor and director (b. 1915)
 * October 12
 * Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (The Price Is Right) (b. 1910), cerebral hemorrhage.
 * Ricky Wilson, American guitarist (b. 1953)
 * October 13 – Francesca Bertini, Italian actress (b. 1892)
 * October 14 – Emil Gilels, Soviet pianist (b. 1916)
 * October 17 – Abdelmunim Al-Rifai, Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1917)
 * October 18 – Stefan Askenase, Polish-Belgian classical pianist and pedagogue (b. 1896)
 * October 21 – Dan White, American politician and murderer (Moscone–Milk assassinations) (b. 1946)
 * October 24 – László Bíró, Hungarian inventor of the ballpoint pen (b. 1899)
 * October 27 – Thomas Townsend Brown, American inventor (b. 1905)
 * October 29 – John Davis Lodge, American actor and politician (b. 1903)
 * October 31 – Hardit Malik, Indian fighter pilot and diplomat (b. 1894)

November

 * November 1 – Phil Silvers, American entertainer (b. 1911)
 * November 5
 * Spencer W. Kimball, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1895)
 * Arnold Chikobava, Georgian linguist (b. 1898)
 * November 6 – Sanjeev Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1937)
 * November 8 – Nicolas Frantz, Luxembourgian cyclist (b. 1899)
 * November 9 – Marie-Georges Pascal, French actress (b. 1946)
 * November 11
 * James Hanley, British novelist, playwright and writer (b. 1897)
 * Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish professional ice hockey goaltender (b. 1959)
 * Arthur Rothstein, American photographer (b. 1915)
 * November 13
 * William Pereira, American architect (b. 1909)
 * George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (b. 1898)
 * November 14 – Wellington Koo, Chinese statesman (b. 1888)
 * November 16 – John Sparkman, American politician (b. 1899)
 * November 17
 * Lon Nol, Cambodian general and statesman, 32nd Prime Minister of Cambodia and 7th President of Khmer Republic (b. 1913)
 * Jimmy Ritz, American actor (b. 1904)
 * November 19 – Stepin Fetchit, American actor (b. 1902)
 * November 22 – María Sabina, Mexican curandera (b. 1894)
 * November 24 – Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (b. 1911)
 * November 25 – Geoffrey Grigson, British poet, writer, critic (b. 1905)
 * November 27 – Fernand Braudel, French historian (b. 1902)

December



 * December 2 – Philip Larkin, English poet and novelist (b. 1922)
 * December 6 – Carroll Cole, American serial killer (b. 1938)
 * December 7
 * Robert Graves, English writer (b. 1895)
 * Potter Stewart, American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1915)
 * December 12
 * Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
 * Ian Stewart, Scottish rock musician (b. 1938)
 * December 14 – Roger Maris, American baseball player (New York Yankees) (b. 1934)
 * December 15
 * Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius (b. 1900)
 * Carlos Romulo, Filipino diplomat (b. 1899)
 * December 16 – Paul Castellano, American Mafia boss (b. 1915)
 * December 20 – Coral Buttsworth, Australian tennis champion (b. 1900)
 * December 22
 * D. Boon, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
 * Richard P. Condie, American conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (b. 1898)
 * December 23
 * Ferhat Abbas, Algerian nationalist, 1st president of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (b. 1899)
 * Prince Bira, Prince of Siam and Formula One driver (b. 1914)
 * December 24 – Erich Schaedler, Scottish footballer (b. 1949)
 * December 26 – Dian Fossey, American biologist (b. 1932)
 * December 27
 * Harry Hopman, Australian tennis player and coach (b. 1906)
 * Harold Whitlock, British Olympic athlete (b. 1903)
 * December 28 – Renato Castellani, Italian director (b. 1913)
 * December 31
 * Ricky Nelson, American actor and musician (b. 1940)
 * Sam Spiegel, Polish-American film producer (b. 1903)