# 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:

## Deaths in 1981
### 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)
** Sir John Nicoll, British colonial administrator, governor of Singapore (b. 1899)
* 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)
** Olin E. Teague, American politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from 1946 to 1978 (b. 1910)
* 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. 1919)
* April 3
** Juan Trippe, American airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
** Leo Kanner, Austrian-American psychiatrist, physician, and social activist (b. 1894)
* April 5
** Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
** 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 13 – 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 9 – Allen Ludden, 63, American television host (Password), stomach cancer.
* 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)
** Sydney Kyte, British bandleader (b. 1896)
* 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 – 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
** Irmgard Bartenieff, German-American dancer, physical therapist and pioneer of dance therapy (d. 1981)
** Valeri Kharlamov, Soviet ice hockey player (b. 1948)
* August 28 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian football player 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
** Harold Bennett, British actor (b. 1899)
** 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 – 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
** Blanche Noyes, American aviator (b. 1900)
** Anwar Sadat, 37th Prime Minister of Egypt and 3rd President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, assassinated. (b. 1918)
* 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, 63, American actor, bleeding.
* November 13 – Gerhard Marcks, German sculptor (b. 1889)
* November 15
** Walter Heitler, German physicist (b. 1904)
** 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)
** Sir Hans Krebs, German-born British 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, 43, American actress, drowning.

### December

* December 2
** Wallace Harrison, American architect (b. 1895)
** Francis Hunter, American tennis player (b. 1894)
* December 4 – Jovette Bernier, Canadian journalist, author and radio show host (b. 1900)
* 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)