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) [1]
- Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher, poet and activist (b. 1901) [2]
- January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896) [3]
- 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) [4]
- 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) [5]
- 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) [6]
- 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) [7]
- 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) [8]
- 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) [9]
- April 7
- Kit Lambert, British producer, record label owner and manager of The Who (b. 1935)
- Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899) [10]
- April 8 – Omar Bradley, American army general (b. 1893) [11]
- 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) [12]
- 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) [13]
- 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) [14]
- 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) [15]
- 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) [16]
- Arthur O'Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
- William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908) [17]
- 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) [18]
- 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) [19]
- July 27 – William Wyler, American movie director (b. 1902) [20]
- 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) [21]
- 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) [22]
- September 8
- Uri Zvi Greenberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896) [23]
- Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907) [24]
- 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) [25]
- 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) [26]
- 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 [27] - Enid Markey, American actress (b. 1894)
- Walter Heitler, German physicist (b. 1904)
- November 17 – Wilhelm Pelikan, Austrian chemist (b. 1893) [28]
- November 21 – Ejner Federspiel, Danish actor (b. 1896) [29]
- 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) [30]
- November 25
- Jack Albertson, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
- Morris Kirksey, American athlete (b. 1895) [31]
- 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)
