Deaths in January 1991

The following is a list of notable deaths in January 1991.

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.

1

 * Inga Gentzel, 82, Swedish Olympic runner (1928).
 * Dáithí Ó Conaill, 52, Irish politician and republican.
 * Jerome Arthur Pechillo, 71, American Roman Catholic prelate.
 * Nicolae Petrescu, 77, Romanian football player and manager.
 * Buck Ram, 83, American songwriter and music producer.

2

 * Sydney Caine, 88, British economist and educator.
 * Edmond Jabès, 78, Egyptian-French writer and poet.
 * Joseph C. Fegan Jr., 70, United States Marine Corps general, cancer.
 * Irving Johnson, 85, American sailor, adventurer, and writer.
 * Hiroshi Noma, 75, Japanese writer, cancer.
 * Gilbert Price, 48, American actor, asphyxiation.
 * Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola, 78, Pakistani politician.
 * Renato Rascel, 78, Italian actor and singer, heart attack.
 * Joseph J. Spengler, 88, American economist, Alzheimer's disease.

3

 * Fayeq Abdul-Jaleel, 42, Kuwaiti poet, playwright and lyricist, execution.
 * Luke Appling, 83, American baseball player.
 * João Azevedo, 75, Portuguese footballer.
 * Tom Baker, 77, American baseball player.
 * Anna Gmeyner, 88, Austrian-English writer.
 * Cipe Pineles, 82, Austrian-American graphic designer, heart attack.
 * Reuben Tam, 74, American painter, lymphoma.
 * Doris Zinkeisen, 92, Scottish theatrical designer.

4

 * Eddie Barefield, 81, American jazz musician, heart attack.
 * Bill Byrd, 83, American baseball player.
 * Joe Hoague, 72, American football player.
 * Berry Kroeger, 78, American actor, kidney failure.
 * Ib Storm Larsen, 65, Danish Olympic rower (1948).
 * Zvonko Lepetić, 62, Yugoslav actor, heart attack.
 * Poon Lim, 72, Chinese sailor.
 * Richard Maibaum, 81, American playwright and screenwriter (Dr. No, Goldfinger, From Russia with Love).
 * Thomas Stanley Matthews, 89, American magazine editor, lung cancer.
 * Tokushige Noto, 88, Japanese Olympic sprinter (1924).
 * Eric Rodin, 60, American baseball player.
 * Sanmao, 47, Chinese-born Taiwanese writer and translator, suicide by hanging.
 * Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah, 84, Indian judge and Chief Justice of India.
 * Leo Wright, 57, American jazz musician, heart attack.

5

 * Hubert Butler, 90, Irish writer.
 * Johnny Eck, 79, American freak show performer and actor (Freaks), heart attack.
 * Tõnis Kint, 94, Estonian politician.
 * Walt Lamb, 70, American football player.
 * Vasko Popa, 68, Yugoslav poet.
 * Ted Robertson, 61, Australian politician.

6

 * Ed Beinor, 73, American gridiron football player.
 * Heinrich Dathe, 80, German zoologist, cancer.
 * Bobby Estalella, 79, Cuban baseball player.
 * Antonio Blanco Freijeiro, 67, Spanish archaeologist.
 * Nicholas Marsicano, 82, American painter.
 * Ravikant Nagaich, 59, Indian filmmaker.
 * Marko Nikezić, 69, Yugoslav politician.
 * Ahmed Adnan Saygun, 83, Turkish composer and musicologist.
 * Alan Wiggins, 32, American baseball player (San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles), AIDS.

7

 * Kondrat Krapiva, 94, Soviet writer.
 * Henri Louveau, 80, French racing driver.
 * José Guilherme Merquior, 49, Brazilian writer and diplomat, cancer.
 * Josef Stroh, 77, Austrian football player and manager.
 * Charlotte Wynters, 91, American actress.

8

 * Steve Clark, 30, English guitarist and songwriter (Def Leppard), alcohol poisoning.
 * Ursula Hirschmann, 77, German anti-fascist.
 * Henry Rainsford Hulme, 82, British nuclear physicist.
 * Windy Nicklaus, 87, American gridiron football player.

9

 * Salatyn Asgarova, 29, Soviet journalist, shot.
 * Cuthbert Bardsley, 83, British Anglican prelate.
 * J. McVicker Hunt, 84, American psychologist.
 * Roland Laudenbach, 69, French writer, editor, and journalist.
 * Antonio León Ortega, 83, Spanish sculptor.
 * Soemarno Sosroatmodjo, 79, Indonesian politician.
 * Charles Sterling, 89, Polish-French art historian.

10

 * Eva Bosáková, 59, Czechoslovak Olympic gymnast (1952, 1956, 1960).
 * Malte Jaeger, 79, German actor, embolism.
 * Richard Kuremaa, 78, Estonian football player.
 * Bob Wallis, 56, British jazz musician.

11

 * Carl David Anderson, 85, American physicist, Nobel Prize recipient (1936).
 * Garland Frazier, 73, American sports coach.
 * Maxine Jennings, 81, American actress.
 * Sepp Ketterer, 91, Austrian cinematographer.
 * Jaroslav Kučera, 61, Czech cinematographer.
 * Charles Mozley, 76, British painter.
 * Sarangapani Raman, 70-71, Indian football player.
 * Alec Rose, 82, English sailor.
 * Ronald Sanders, 58, American journalist.
 * Georg Schäfer, 64, German writer, heart attack.

12

 * Charles Drury, 78, Canadian politician.
 * Eric Evans, 69, English rugby player.
 * Robert Jackson, 79, Australian public servant.
 * Keye Luke, 86, Chinese-American actor (Kung Fu, The Green Hornet, Gremlins), stroke.
 * Doug McEnulty, 68, American football player.
 * Vasco Pratolini, 77, Italian writer.
 * Niels Rasmussen, 68, Danish Olympic rower (1948).
 * Arthur L. White, 83, American Seventh-day Adventist writer, and theology professor.

13

 * François Falc'hun, 89, French linguist.
 * Tribhuvandas Luhar, 82, Indian poet.
 * Eladio Rojas, 56, Chilean football player.
 * Ed Williamson, 78, American football coach, cancer.

14

 * David Arkin, 49, American actor (All the President's Men, M*A*S*H, The Long Goodbye), suicide.
 * Duncan Black, 82, Scottish economist.
 * Gordon Bryant, 76, Australian politician.
 * Chitragupta, 73, Indian composer.
 * Donald Coleman, 65, British politician, heart attack.
 * Miles Copeland, Jr., 74, American musician and CIA officer, heart attack.
 * Heli Finkenzeller, 76, German actress.
 * Irwin Goodman, 47, Finnish singer, heart attack.
 * Salah Khalaf, 57-58, Palestinian politician, shot.
 * Harry Shorten, 77, American writer, editor, and book publisher.
 * Roger Tubby, 80, American diplomat and press secretary.

15

 * Leona Baumgartner, 88, American physician.
 * Vishwa Gopal Jhingran, 72, Indian zoologist.
 * Lyle Judy, 77, American baseball player.
 * Julius Podlipny, 92, Czechoslovak and Romanian artist.
 * Karl L. Rankin, 92, American diplomat, prostate cancer.
 * Tony Slydini, 90, Italian-American magician.
 * Bob Stirling, 71, English rugby union player.

16

 * Preston Cloud, 78, American paleontologist, pneumonia.
 * Rinaldo Del Bo, 74, Italian politician.
 * Nicholas Mansergh, 80, British historian.
 * Jabbo Smith, 82, American jazz musician.

17

 * Marv Breuer, 76, American baseball player.
 * Giacomo Manzù, 82, Italian sculptor.
 * John C. Morgan, 76, American Air Force pilot and Medal of Honor recipient, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Paul Mross, 80, Polish-German chess player.
 * Olav V of Norway, 87, Norwegian royal, king (since 1957), heart attack.
 * Scott Speicher, 33, United States Navy aviator, killed in action.

18

 * Bryan Alton, 71, Irish politician and physician.
 * Charles W. Davis, 73, American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient.
 * Hamilton Fish III, 102, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1920–1945).
 * Vic Fusia, 77, American gridiron football player and coach, heart attack.
 * Leo Hurwitz, 81, American documentary filmmaker, colon cancer.
 * Jakob Kiefer, 71, German Olympic gymnast (1952, 1956).

19

 * Uzeir Abduramanov, 74, Soviet Red Army officer and war hero during World War II.
 * Don Beddoe, 87, American actor.
 * Paul Bikle, 74, American aeronautical engineer.
 * Winston H. Bostick, 74, American physicist, lung cancer.
 * Marcel Chaput, 72, Canadian Quebecois independence activist.
 * Bobby Combe, 66, Scottish footballer.
 * Gernot Reinstadler, 20, Austrian skier, skiing accident.
 * John Russell, 70, American actor (Rio Bravo, Pale Rider, The Outlaw Josey Wales), emphysema.
 * Roy Weatherly, 75, American baseball player.

20

 * Joseph Carroll, 80, American general, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Harry Giese, 87, German actor and narrator.
 * Louis Hardiquest, 80, Belgian cyclist.
 * Herbie Lewis, 85, Canadian ice hockey player.
 * Owen Madden, 74, Irish footballer.
 * Frank Pfütze, 32, German Olympic swimmer (1976, 1980), heart failure.
 * Louis Seigner, 87, French actor, house fire.
 * James Stewart, 84, American Olympic athlete (1928).
 * Stan Szelest, 48, American musician, heart attack.
 * Alfred Wainwright, 84, British writer.
 * Aldert van der Ziel, 80, Dutch physicist.

21

 * Cornelia Aalten, 77, Dutch Olympic runner (1932).
 * Muhammad Taqi Amini, 64, Indian theologian.
 * John Bicknell Auden, 87, English geologist.
 * Ganga Devi, 63, Indian painter.
 * James W. Duckett, 79, American military academic.
 * Mieczysław Gracz, 71, Polish footballer.
 * Nick Gulas, 76, American professional wrestling promoter.
 * Frank Mitchell, 85, American actor, cardiac arrest.
 * Princess Ileana of Romania, 82, Romanian royal, heart attack.

22

 * Kenos Aroi, 48, Nauruan politician, president (1989).
 * Robert Choquette, 85, Canadian novelist.
 * Les Gore, 77, English footballer.
 * Arnholdt Kongsgaard, 76, Norwegian skier and Olympian.
 * Kristo Kono, 83, Albanian composer.

23

 * Northrop Frye, 78, Canadian literary critic and theorist.
 * Herbert Fröhlich, 85, German-British physicist.
 * Ester Graff, 93, Danish feminist and businesswoman.
 * Václav Janeček, 61, Czechoslovak Olympic sprinter (1952, 1956).
 * Annie Markart, 83, German actress.
 * P. Padmarajan, 45, Indian film maker, screenwriter and author, cardiac arrest.
 * Nikolai Talyzin, 61, Soviet economist.
 * Luis Hernán Álvarez, 52, Chilean footballer, stomach cancer.

24

 * Rūdolfs Bārda, 87, Soviet footballer.
 * Everett Freeman, 79, American screenwriter.
 * John M. Kelly, 59, Irish politician, heart attack.
 * John Middleton, 84, British Olympic racing cyclist (1928).
 * Sarashi Ranjan Mukherjee, 71, Indian surgeon and a neurobiologist.
 * Jack Schaefer, 83, American writer, heart failure.
 * Sensitive Prince, 15, American thoroughbred racehorse.

25

 * Lilian Bond, 83, English-American actress, heart attack.
 * Stanley Brock, 59, American actor (Days of Our Lives, UHF, He's the Mayor), heart attack.
 * Diana Turbay Castillo, 40, Colombian journalist, shot.
 * Hoot Evers, 69, American baseball player, heart attack.
 * Per Gjelten, 63, Norwegian Olympic skier (1952).
 * Fiorenzo Marini, 76, Italian Olympic fencer (1948, 1960).
 * Ismail Marjan, 70, Singaporean badminton player.
 * Lafran Pane, 69, Indonesian academic, traffic collision.
 * Gino Pollini, 88, Italian architect.
 * Frank Soo, 76, English footballer, dementia.

26

 * Des Koch, 58, American Olympic discus thrower (1956).
 * Glenn Langan, 73, American actor, lymphoma.
 * Orestes López, 82, Cuban musician.
 * Hans Strååt, 73, Swedish actor.
 * Johnny van Doorn, 46, Dutch writer, cancer.
 * Karen Young, 39, American disco singer, peptic ulcer bleeding.

27

 * Zheng Dongguo, 88, Chinese National Revolutionary Army officer.
 * George Hazelwood Locket, 90, British arachnologist.
 * Dale Long, 64, American baseball player, cancer.
 * Miroslav Válek, 63, Czechoslovak poet and politician.
 * Leif Wikström, 72, Swedish Olympic sailor (1956).

28

 * Red Grange, 87, American gridiron football player,Parkinson's disease.
 * Christopher Jackman, 74, American politician.
 * Nikola Radović, 57, Yugoslav football player.
 * Alexander M. Schmidt, 60, American physician and government official, coronary artery disease.

29

 * Jal Cursetji, 71, Indian naval admiral.
 * Ingebrigt Davik, 65, Norwegian children's writer, singer and songwriter..
 * Hasan Dosti, 96, Albanian politician.
 * Yasushi Inoue, 83, Japanese writer.
 * Władysław Król, 83, Polish ice hockey and football player and coach.
 * V. N. Navaratnam, 61, Sri Lankan politician, heart attack.
 * Arne Robertsson, 48, Swedish wrestler and Olympian.
 * Joe Stynes, 88, Irish footballer.

30

 * John Bardeen, 82, American physicist, Nobel Prize recipient (1956, 1972), heart attack.
 * Kurt Bittel, 83, German prehistorian.
 * Clifton C. Edom, 83, American photojournalist.
 * Rhys Lloyd, Baron Lloyd of Kilgerran, 83, Welsh politician.
 * John McIntire, 83, American actor (Wagon Train, Psycho, Turner & Hooch), lung cancer.
 * José Ferrater Mora, 78, Spanish philosopher, heart attack.

31

 * Robert J. Havighurst, 90, American chemist, Alzheimer's disease.
 * Márcio Melo, 84, Brazilian politician.
 * Kostas Mountakis, 64, Greek musician.
 * Åge Rønning, 65, Norwegian writer and journalist.
 * Justin Apostol, 69, Romanian football player.