Deaths in 1980

January

• January 1
  • Aldo Aimi, Italian football player for Parma and Modena (b. 1906)
  • Adolph Deutsch, British-born American composer (b. 1897)
  • Pietro Nenni, Italian politician (b. 1891)^[1]
  • Frank Wykoff, American Olympic athlete (b. 1909)^[2]
• January 3
  • Joy Adamson, Austrian conservationist, author of Born Free (b. 1910)^[3]
  • Amos Milburn, American R&B singer and pianist, (b. 1927)
  • Ivan Triesault, Estonian-American actor (b. 1898)
  • Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist and champion of the Tour de France (b. 1892)
• January 6
  • Antonio Bilbao La Vieja, Argentine international rugby union footballer (b. 1892)
  • Piersanti Mattarella, President of Sicily (b. 1935)^[4]
  • Georgeanna Tillman, American singer and original member of the girl group the Marvelettes (b. 1944)
• January 7
  • Irene Beasley, American singer (b. 1904)
  • Simonne Mathieu, French tennis champion (b. 1908)
  • Larry Williams, American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist (b. 1935)
  • Sarah Selby, American actress (b.1905)
• January 8
  • John Mauchly, American physicist and inventor (b. 1907)^[5]
  • Oscar Ewing, American lawyer, social reformer, and politician (b. 1889)
• January 9 – Gaetano Belloni, Italian professional road racing cyclist (b. 1892)
• January 10 – George Meany, American labor leader (b. 1894)^[6]
• January 11
  • Valentine Blomfield, Major-General in the British Army (b. 1898)
  • Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)^[7]
• January 13
  • Eric Aldwinckle, designer, illustrator and official Second World War artist (b. 1909)
  • Andre Kostelanetz, Russian conductor and arranger (b. 1901)
• January 14 – Robert Ardrey, American playwright, screenwriter and science writer (b. 1908)
• January 17 – Barbara Britton, American film and television actress (b. 1920)
• January 18 – Sir Cecil Beaton, English photographer (b. 1904)^[8]
• January 19
  • Richard Franko Goldman, conductor, educator, author, music critic, and composer (b. 1910)
  • William O. Douglas, American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975 (b. 1898)
• January 21 – Clyde Barnhart, American Major League Baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates (b. 1895)
• January 23
  • Lil Dagover, German actress (b. 1887)^[9]
  • Shōjirō Iida, Japanese general (b. 1888)^[10]
  • Babs Gonzales, American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author (b. 1919)
• c. January 24 – Terry Anderson, English footballer, predominantly for Norwich City (b. 1944)
• January 25 – Queenie Watts, English actress and an occasional singer, (b. 1923)
• January 27 – Peppino De Filippo, Italian actor (b. 1903)
• January 28
  • Kroger Babb, American film producer and showman (b. 1906)
  • Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (b. 1926)
• January 29
  • Ali Adbo, Iranian boxer and founder of Persepolis F.C. (b. 1928)
  • Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer and comedian (b. 1893)^[11]
• January 30 – Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918)^[12]
• January 31
  • Jose Vasquez Aguilar, first Filipino recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award (b. 1900)
  • Lady Evelyn Beauchamp, first woman in modern times to enter the tomb of Tutankhamun (b. 1901)
  • Jacobus Duminy, South African academic who became principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (b. 1897)
• January unknown date – Don Albert, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1900)

February

• February 1 – Jack Bailey, American actor and daytime game show host (b. 1907)
• February 2 – William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry (b. 1911)^[13]
• February 3
  • Marnie Bassett, Australian historian, biographer and travel writer (b. 1889)
  • Hanna Rovina, Russian-Israeli actress (b. 1888)
• February 4 – Stojan Aralica, Serbian Impressionist painter and academic (b. 1883)
• February 5 – Nachman Aronszajn, Polish-American mathematician (b. 1907)
• February 6 – William Abraham, British Army officer who served in India and Burma during the Second World War (b. 1887)
• February 7
  • Rudolf Bosshard, Swiss rower and Olympic medalist (b. 1890)
  • Sir Richard Williams, Royal Australian Air Force officer (b. 1890)
• February 8
  • Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen, titular Princess consort of Lippe (b. 1886)
  • Erwin Friedrich Baumann, Swiss architect and sculptor (b. 1890)
  • Nikos Xilouris, Greek pop singer (b. 1936)
  • Francesco Zucchetti, French Olympic cyclist (b. 1902)
• February 9 – Charlie Fowlkes, American baritone saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra (b. 1916)
• February 10 – Wally Wales, American film actor who specialized in westerns (b. 1895)
• February 11 – R. C. Majumdar, Indian historian (b. 1884)
• February 12 – Samuel D. Berger, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Korea (b. 1911)
• February 13
  • David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)^[14]
  • Marian Rejewski, Polish mathematician and cryptologist (b. 1905)
• February 14
  • Kitsuju Ayabe, general in Imperial Japanese Army in World War II (b. 1894)
  • Marie Besnard, French accused and acquitted serial poisoner (b. 1896)
• February 16 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and physical chemist (b. 1896)^[15]
• February 17
  • Graham Sutherland, English artist (b. 1903)^[16]
  • Jerry Fielding, American jazz musician, arranger, band leader, and film composer (b.1922)
• February 19
  • Robert Morrison, British Olympic rower (b. 1902)
  • Bon Scott, Scottish-Australian rock singer (AC/DC) (b. 1946)^[17]
• February 20
  • Joseph Banks Rhine, American parapsychologist (b. 1895)^[18]
  • Alice Roosevelt Longworth, American writer and socialite (b. 1884)
• February 21
  • Alfred Andersch, German writer, publisher, and radio editor (b. 1914)
  • Aldo Andreotti, Italian mathematician (b. 1924)
  • Gordon Boyd, Scotland international rugby union player (b. 1905)
  • Chester Lauck, comic actor who played the character of Lum Edwards on the American radio comedy, Lum and Abner (b. 1902)
• February 22
  • Sadaaki Akamatsu, Japanese ace fighter pilot (b. 1910)
  • Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter and poet (b. 1886)^[19]
  • Dick Kallman, American actor (b. 1933)
• February 23 – Enrico Celio, Swiss politician, 49th President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1889)
• February 24 – Clement Martyn Doke, South African linguist (b. 1893)^[20]
• February 26 – Mario Mattoli, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
• February 28 – Ian Peebles, cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England; later becoming a journalist on The Sunday Times (b. 1908)
• February 29 – Yigal Allon, Israeli politician and army general, acting Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)

March

• March 1
  • Emmett Ashford, first African-American Major League Baseball umpire (b. 1914)
  • Wilhelmina Cooper, Dutch-American model and owner of model agency (b. 1939)
  • Dixie Dean, English football player (b. 1907)
• March 2 – Roland Armontel, French actor (b. 1901)
• March 4
  • Johannes Martin Bijvoet, Dutch chemist and crystallographer (b. 1892)
  • Vakhtang Ananyan, Armenian writer and journalist (b. 1905)
• March 5 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor (b. 1912)^[21]
• March 9
  • Nikolay Bogolyubov, Soviet and Russian actor (b. 1899)
  • Olga Chekhova, Russian-German actress (b. 1897)^[22]
• March 10 –
  • José Américo de Almeida, Brazilian writer, a politician, lawyer and teacher (b. 1887)
  • Herman Tarnower, American cardiologist and co-author of a bestselling diet book; would later be murdered by his wife (b. 1910)
• March 13
  • Gerritdina Benders-Letteboer, member of the Dutch Resistance (b. 1909)
  • Roland Symonette, 1st Prime Minister of the Bahamas (b. 1898)
• March 14
  • Henk Blomvliet, Dutch footballer, represented the Netherlands) (b. 1911)
  • Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish naturalist and television presenter (b. 1928)
  • Mohammad Hatta, Indonesia's first vice president (b. 1902)
  • Anna Jantar, Polish singer (b. 1950)
  • Allard Lowenstein, American Democratic politician; served as a U.S. representative for the 5th congressional district of Nassau County, New York. (b. 1929)
• March 15
  • Charles Austin (rugby union), American rugby union player, official, and coach (b. 1892)
  • Octávio Brandão, Brazilian pharmacist, politician and activist (b. 1896)
• March 17 –
  • Boun Oum, 4th Prime Minister of Laos (b. 1911)
  • Rudolf George Escher, Dutch composer and music theorist (b. 1912)
• March 18
  • Erich Fromm, German-American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1900)^[23]
  • Tamara de Lempicka, Polish painter (b. 1898)^[24]
  • Louise Lovely, Australian actress (b. 1895)^[25]
  • Herman Griffith, West Indian cricketer; played in West Indies' first Test match in their inaugural Test tour of England; was one of the leading bowlers on that tour (b.1893)
• March 19 – Millen Brand, American writer and poet (b. 1906)
• March 21 – Marcel Boussac, thoroughbred race horse breeder (b. 1889)
• March 23 – S. W. Alexander, British journalist and political activist (b. 1895)
• March 24
  • John Barrie, English actor (b. 1917)
  • Eric Bensted, Australian first-class cricketer (b. 1901)
  • Pierre Etchebaster, French real tennis player (b. 1893)
  • Óscar Romero, Salvadorian Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1917)^[26]
• March 25
  • Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist (b.1901)^[27]
  • Erminio Macario, Italian actor (b. 1902)
  • Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b. 1913)^[28]
• March 26 – Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer (b. 1915)^[29]
• March 28
  • Fenton Atkinson, British High Court judge, oversaw the trial of the Moors murderers (b. 1906)
  • Dick Haymes, Argentine actor and singer (b. 1918)^[30]
• March 29 – Mantovani, Anglo-Italian conductor and arranger (b. 1905)^[31]
• March 30
  • Natalio Bacalso, Filipino writer, newspaperman, radio broadcaster, filmmaker and Constitutional Convention delegate (b. 1908)
  • Tôn Đức Thắng, 2nd President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (b. 1888)
  • Annunzio Mantovani, Italian British conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer (b.1905)
• March 31
  • Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
  • Jesse Owens, American Olympic athlete (b. 1913)^[32]

April

• April 2 – Dick Howorth, English cricketer (b. 1909)
• April 3
  • Archie Benn, Australian Federal Senator (b. 1897)
  • Luella Gear, American actress (b. 1897)
• April 4 – Rita Romilly Benson, American stage actress and acting teacher (b. 1900)
• April 6 – Antony Balch, English film director and distributor (b. 1937)
• April 8 – Wilhelm Arwe, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1898)
• April 10 – Kay Medford, American actress and singer (b. 1919)
• April 11 –
  • Charley Borah, American athlete and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1905)
  • Florence Lake, American actress best known as the leading lady in most of the Edgar Kennedy comedy shorts (1904)
• April 12
  • Ruggero Bonomi, Italian Air Force general during the Spanish Civil War and World War II (b. 1898)
  • William Tolbert, 20th President of Liberia (b. 1913)
• April 13 – Frederick D. Alexander, American businessman, civil rights activist, and politician, first African American to serve on Charlotte City Council since the 1890s (b. 1910)
• April 14 – Tom Fadden, American actor; performed on the legitimate stage, vaudeville, in films and on television during his long career.
• April 15
  • Gerty Archimède, Guadeloupe politician, first female lawyer to pass the Guadeloupe Bar (b. 1909)
  • Raymond Bailey, American actor comedian, best known as Milburn Drysdale in The Beverly Hillbillies (b. 1904)
  • Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate in Literature (b. 1905)^[33]
  • Marshall Reed, American actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1943 and 1978 (b. 1917)
• April 19
  • Tony Beckley, English actor (b. 1929)
  • Ethel Wilson, Canadian writer of short stories and novels (b. 1888)
• April 20
  • Günther Ballier, German actor (b. 1900)
  • Charles Stanley Blair, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (b. 1927)
  • Helmut Käutner, German film director (b. 1908)
  • Katherine Kennicott Davis, American composer (b. 1892)^[34]
• April 21
  • Dante Agostini, Italian-born French drummer (b. 1921)
  • Sohrab Sepehri, Persian poet and painter (b. 1928)
  • Aleksandr Oparin, Soviet biochemist notable for his theories about the origin of life; also studied the biochemistry of material processing by plants and enzyme reactions in plant cells (1894)
• April 22
  • Jane Froman, American singer and actress (b. 1907)^[35]
  • Fritz Strassmann, German chemist (b. 1902)
• April 24
  • James Buis, Dutch Roman Catholic prelate, vicar apostolic of Kota Kinabalu (b. 1902)^[36]
  • Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (b. 1904)
• April 25 – Katia Mann, American actress and singer who performed on stage, radio, and television despite chronic health problems
• April 26 – Dame Cicely Courtneidge, British actress (b. 1893)^[37]
• April 27 – Mario Bava, Italian director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter (b. 1914)
• April 28
  • Andrija Anković, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1937)
  • Thomas G. W. Settle, American record-setting balloonist and admiral (b. 1895)^[38]
• April 29 – Sir Alfred Hitchcock, British film director (b. 1899)^[39]
• April 30
  • Harold Robert Aaron, United States Army lieutenant general (b. 1921)^[40]
  • Arthur Banner, English footballer (b. 1918)
  • Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican journalist, politician and statesman (b. 1898)
• April unknown date – Herbert Bowman, American tennis player (b. 1897)

May

• May 2
  • Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-born Australian cricketer (b. 1891)^[41]
  • George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (b. 1908)^[42]
  • Alioune Diop, Senegalese writer and editor, founder of the journal Présence africaine, and a central figure in the Négritude movement (b. 1910)
• May 4
  • Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav communist military and political leader, 19th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and 1st President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
  • Kay Hammond, English stage and film actress (b. 1909)
• May 5 – Isabel Briggs Myers, American psychological theorist and co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (b. 1897)
• May 6 – María Luisa Bombal, Chilean novelist and poet (b. 1910)
• May 7 – Sigval Bergesen the Younger, Norwegian shipping magnate (b. 1893)
• May 8 – Sir Geoffrey Baker, British field marshal, Chief of the General Staff
• May 12 – Lillian Roth, American actress (b. 1910)^[43]
• May 13 – Elliott Arnold, American newspaper feature writer, novelist, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
• May 14
  • Carl Ebert, German theatre and opera director (b. 1887]
  • Fatmawati, inaugural First Lady of Indonesia (b. 1923)
  • Wilhelm Weismann, German composer and musicologist (b. 1900)
  • Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (b. 1912)^[44]
• May 15 – Lela Bliss, American actress (b. 1896)
• May 16 – Marin Preda, Romanian writer (b. 1922)
• May 17 – Ernst Blum, German international footballer (b. 1904)
• May 18
  • Reid Blackburn, American photojournalist, killed in the eruption of Mount St Helens (b. 1952)
  • Ian Curtis, English musician and singer (b. 1956)
  • David A. Johnston, American volcanologist (b. 1949)
  • Reid Blackburn, American photographer killed in the 1980 volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens (b. 1952)
  • Harry R. Truman, American businessman, bootlegger and prospector (b. 1896)
• May 21 – Ida Kamińska, Polish actress, playwright and translator (b. 1899)
• May 26 – Franz Bachelin, German art director (b. 1895)
• May 28 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
• May 30 – Otome Amatsu, Japanese dancer and actress (b. 1905)
• May unknown date – Leo A. Berg, American politician, Mayor of Akron, Ohio (b. 1907)

June

• June 1 – Rube Marquard, American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, had greatest success in the New York Giants (b. 1886)
• June 3
  • Naum Akhiezer, Jewish-Soviet mathematician (b. 1901)
  • Fred Beir, American film and television actor (b. 1927)
• June 5 – Giorgio Amendola, Italian writer and politician (b. 1907)
• June 6 – Ruth Aarons, US table tennis player, vaudeville entertainer, and talent manager (b. 1918)
• June 7
  • Richard Bonelli, American operatic baritone (b. 1889)
  • Philip Guston, American painter (b. 1913)^[45]
  • Henry Miller, American writer (b. 1891)^[46]
  • Marian Spychalski, Polish architect and politician, former Polish head of State (b. 1908)
• June 8
  • Alfredo Brilhante da Costa, Brazilian football player (b. 1904)
  • Ernst Busch, German singer and actor (b. 1900)
• June 12
  • Lawrence Anionwu, Nigerian administrator and diplomat, Nigeria's first Ambassador to Italy (b. 1921)
  • Milburn Stone, 75, American actor (b. 1904)
  • Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1910)
  • Billy Butlin, entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British Butlin holiday camp.
• June 13 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
• June 18
  • Henry Aurand, American Lieutenant General, served in WWI, WWII and the Korean War (b. 1894)
  • Cliff Bergere, American stuntman and racecar driver (b. 1896)
  • Maurice Bridgeman, English oilman (b. 1904)
  • Terence Fisher, British director (b. 1904)
  • André Leducq, French cyclist who won the 1930 and 1932 Tours de France and a gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics (b. 1904)
• June 20 – Allan Pettersson, Swedish composer and violist considered one of the 20th century's most important Swedish composers
• June 21 – Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923)^[47]
• June 23
  • Vadim Berezinskii, Soviet physicist (b. 1935)
  • V. V. Giri, Indian politician and 4th President of India (b. 1894)
  • Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
  • John Laurie, Scottish stage, film, and television actor (b. 1897)
  • Sanjay Gandhi, Indian politician who was a member of parliament and Lok Sabha.
• June 24
  • Connie Mack Berry, American who played professional football, baseball, and basketball (b. 1915)
  • Boris Kaufman, Russian cinematographer (b. 1897)
• June 26
  • Hal Aloma, Hawaiian steel guitarist, singer and bandleader (b. 1908)
  • Ignatius Jacob III, Patriarch of Antioch (b. 1912)
• June 27 – Barney Bigard, American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington (b. 1906)
• June 28
  • José Iturbi, Spanish conductor and musician (b. 1895)^[30]
  • Helen Gahagan Douglas, American actress and politician; was on Broadway, toured as a opera singer, and was in Hollywood films; she was the third woman and first Democratic woman elected to Congress from California (b. 1900)
• June 29
  • Filipp Agaltsov, Soviet Order of Lenin recipient (b. 1900)
  • Jorge Basadre, Peruvian historian (b. 1903)
• June 30 – Lester Brain, pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive (b. 1903)

July

• July 1 – C. P. Snow, British physicist and novelist (b. 1905)^[48]
• July 2 – Tom Barry, guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (b. 1897)
• July 3
  • Adesoji Aderemi, Governor of Western Region, Nigeria (b. 1889)
  • Deng Hua, Chinese general (b. 1910)
  • Abdelhamid Sharaf, 51st Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1939)
• July 4 – Gregory Bateson, British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, semiotician and cyberneticist (b. 1904)^[49]
• July 6 – Gail Patrick, American actress (b. 1911)^[50]
• July 7 – Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1901)
• July 8 – Don G. Abel, American attorney and Washington State Supreme Court Justice (b. 1894)
• July 9
  • Nazario Belmar, Spanish footballer, film producer and lawyer (b. 1919)
  • Ian Botting, New Zealand international rugby union player (b. 1922)
  • Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian writer, poet and diplomat (b. 1913)
• July 10 – Komako Kimura, Japanese suffragist, actress, dancer, theater manager, and magazine editor (b. 1887)
• July 11 – Zygmunt Berling, Polish general and politician (b. 1896)
• July 12 – Donald Beatty, American aviator, explorer, and inventor (b. 1900)
• July 13
  • Joseph Brennan, Irish Fianna Fáil politician (b. 1913)
  • Seretse Khama, 1st President of Botswana (b. 1921)^[51]
• July 14 – Felix Berezin, Soviet Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1931)
• July 16 – Robert Brackman, American artist and teacher, best known for large figural works, portraits, and still lifes.
• July 17
  • Don "Red" Barry, American film and television actor (b. 1912)
  • Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
• July 19 –
  • Nihat Erim, Turkish politician and jurist, 30th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1912)
  • Hans Morgenthau, German-American jurist and political scientist who specialized in foreign relations; made landmark contributions to international relations theory and the study of international law (b. 1904)
• July 20
  • William P. Battell, Major General of the US Marine Corps (b.1906)
  • Piet Bouman, Dutch amateur footballer who played for his country (b. 1892)
  • Lado Gudiashvili, Soviet painter (b. 1896)
• July 21 – Salah al-Din al-Bitar, Syrian politician, two-time Prime Minister of Syria (b. 1912)
• July 22 – Bob Bawden, Australian rules footballer with Richmond (b. 1917)
• July 23 – Mollie Steimer, Ukrainian anarchist activist; relocated multiple times for anarchist activities before becoming a photographer (b. 1897)
• July 24
  • J. S. Brenner, American politician in the state of Montana (b. 1911)
  • Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor (b. 1925)^[52]
  • Uttam Kumar, Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema (b. 1926)
• July 25 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Soviet singer-songwriter, poet and actor (b. 1938)
• July 26
  • Peter René Oscar Bally, Swiss botanical illustrator, botanist and taxonomist (b. 1895)
  • Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic (b. 1927)
  • Allen Hoskins, American child actor, who portrayed the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931 (b. 1920)
  • Ibn-e-Safi, fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu from Pakistan.
• July 27
  • Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (b. 1919)^[53]
  • Rushdy Abaza, Egyptian film and television actor (b. 1926)
• July 30 – Charles McGraw, American stage, film and television actor (b. 1914)
• July 31 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)
• July unknown date – Herbert Best, British-American author of children's literature and science fiction (b. 1894)

August

• August 1
  • Gardner Boultbee, Canadian sailor and Olympic medalist (b. 1907)
  • Patrick Depailler, French racing driver (b. 1944)
  • Strother Martin, 61, American television and movie actor (b. 1919)
• August 2
  • Page Belcher, American Republican politician (b. 1899)
  • Verdun Scott, sportsman who represented New Zealand in both Test cricket and rugby league. As of 2022 he is the only player to have done so (b. 1916)
• August 4 – Georg Aumann, German mathematician (b. 1906)
• August 5 – Harold Runnels, U.S. Representative from New Mexico (b. 1924)
• August 6 – Marino Marini, Italian sculptor and educator (b. 1901)
• August 7 – Albert Bittner, German conductor (b. 1900)
• August 8
  • Arman, Iranian-Armenian actor (b. 1921)
  • Paul Triquet, Canadian captain in WWII and recipient of the Victoria Cross in WWII (b. 1910)
  • Oleg Grigoryevich Kononenko, member of Soviet cosmonaut group LII-1
• August 9
  • Jacqueline Cochran, American pilot (b. 1906)
  • Elliott Nugent, American actor, playwright, writer, and film director (b. 1896)
• August 10
  • Gareth Evans, British philosopher (b. 1946)
  • Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and statesman, 3rd President of Pakistan (b. 1917)
• August 13 – Bogislaw von Bonin, Colonel in the German Wehrmacht (b. 1908)
• August 14 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and model (b. 1960)^[54]
• August 15 – William Hood Simpson, American general (b. 1888)^[55]
• August 16 – Kevin Blackwell, New Zealand road and track cyclist, Commonwealth Games medallist (b. 1955-56)
• August 17
  • Harold Adamson, American lyricist (b. 1906)
  • Azaria Chamberlain, killed by a dingo leading to false imprisonment for murder for her mother (b. 1980)
• August 18 – Norman Cazden, American composer whose prime creative years were obscured by McCarthy-era political pressures^[56] (b. 1914)
• August 19 – Otto Frank, German father of Jewish diarist Anne Frank (b. 1889)
• August 20
  • Astaman, Indonesian actor (b. 1900)
  • Naemi Briese, Swedish film actress (b. 1908)
  • Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter (b. 1938)^[57]
• August 21 – Jack Cheetham, South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches (b. 1920)
• August 22
  • L. C. Bates, African-American civil rights activist (b. 1904)
  • Gabriel González Videla, 24th President of Chile (b. 1898)
  • Alfred Neubauer, racing manager of the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955 (b. 1891)
  • James Smith McDonnell, American aviator, engineer, and businessman. (b. 1899)
• August 24
  • Andre Parrot, French archaeologist specializing in ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria (b. 1901)
  • Yootha Joyce, English actress (b. 1927)
• August 25
  • Santos P. Amadeo, Puerto Rican attorney, law professor and Senator (b. 1902)
  • Gower Champion, American theatre director, choreographer and dancer (b. 1919)^[58]
• August 26
  • Rosa Albach-Retty, Austrian film and stage actress, with Nazi sympathies (b. 1874)
  • Tex Avery, American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor (b. 1908)^[59]
  • Jimmy Forrest, American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone throughout his career (b. 1920)
  • Miliza Korjus, Polish-Estonian lyric coloratura soprano opera singer who appeared in classical American and Mexican sound films during the Golden Age of Hollywood (b. 1909)
• August 27 – Herman Beam, NASCAR Grand National Series driver and team owner (b. 1929)
• August 29
  • Franco Basaglia, Italian psychiatrist, neurologist and professor (b. 1924)^[60]
  • Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, French Nazi collaborationist and Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime
• August 30 – Big Brown, American street poet, performer, and recording artist (b. 1920)
• August 31 – Rodolfo Arena, Brazilian actor (b. 1910)

September

• September 1 – Reg Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
• September 2 – C. K. Alexander, Egyptian actor, director, composer, and playwright (b. 1923)
• September 3
  • Barbara O'Neil, American actress (b. 1909)^[61]
  • Dirch Passer, Danish actor (b. 1926)
  • Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-born American actor (b. 1904)
  • Fabian von Schlabendorff, German jurist, soldier, and member of the German resistance against Adolf Hitler (b. 1907)
• September 4 – Wolfgang Gentner, German experimental nuclear physicist (b. 1906)
• September 5
  • Don Banks, Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music (b. 1923)
  • Barbara Loden, American actress and director of film and theater (b. 1932)
• September 6 – Joe Bradford, English professional international footballer (b. 1901)
• September 8
  • Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry (b. 1908)^[62]
  • Bruce Dooland, Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches for the Australian national cricket team (b. 1923)
• September 9
  • Harold Clurman, American theatre director and drama critic (b. 1901)
  • John Howard Griffin, American journalist and author who wrote about racial equality (b.1920)
• September 11 – Junius Bibbs, American Negro Leagues baseballer (b. 1910)
• September 12
  • Lillian Randolph, American actress (b. 1898)
  • André Chéron, French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies (b. 1895)
• September 13 – Fred D. Beans, brigadier general of the US Marine Corps, (b. 1906)
• September 14 – Domingo Acedo, Spanish football player (b. 1898)
• September 15 – Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (b. 1929)^[63]
• September 16 – Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (b. 1896)^[64]
• September 17
  • Harold Boas, Australian town planner and architect (b. 1883)
  • Anastasio Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua (b. 1925)^[65]
• September 18
  • Frank Anderson, Canadian chess master and writer (b. 1928)
  • Katherine Anne Porter, American author (b. 1890)
• September 19 – Sol Lesser, American film producer (b. 1890)
• September 20
  • Marie Bremner, Australian soprano, remembered for performances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas (b. 1904)
  • Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (b. 1904)
• September 21 – Eberhard von Breitenbuch, German cavalry officer who took part in the military-based conspiracy against Adolf Hitler (b. 1910)
• September 23 –
  • Jacobus Johannes Fouché, 5th President of South Africa (b. 1898)
  • Alan Strode Campbell Ross, British academic specializing in linguistics (b. 1907)
• September 25
  • Richard Reeve Baxter, American jurist (b. 1921)
  • John Bonham, British rock drummer (Led Zeppelin) (b. 1948)
  • Lewis Milestone, American film director (b. 1895)^[66]
  • Marie Under, Estonian poet (b. 1883)
• September 26
  • Princess Anne of Denmark, (b. 1917)
  • Albert C. Bostwick Jr., American steeplechase jockey, thoroughbred racehorse owner, breeder and trainer (b. 1901)
• September 29
  • Juxon Barton, British colonial administrator, Governor of Fiji, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific (b. 1891)
  • Harold F. Blum, physiologist who explored the interaction of light and chemicals on cells (b. 1899)
  • Bindo Maserati, Italian automotive engineer and businessman, known as the manager of Maserati and one of the Maserati Brothers (b. 1883)

October

• October 2
  • Princess Alexandrine of Prussia (1915–1980), oldest daughter and fifth child of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
  • Sir John Kotelawala, Sri Lanka soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (b. 1895)
  • Valentin Varlamov, Russian jet pilot who was selected for Air Force Group 1 (b. 1934)
• October 6
  • Sir Edric Bastyan, British Army officer, Governor of South Australia and Governor of Tasmania (b. 1903)
  • Hattie Jacques, British actress (b. 1922]
  • Jean Robic, French road racing cyclist who won the 1947 Tour de France
• October 8
  • Suzanne Bertillon, French WWII resistance fighter, awarded the Legion of Honour (b. 1891)
  • Maurice Martenot, French cellist, radio telegrapher during the first World War, and an inventor (b. 1898)
• October 10
  • Carlo Annovazzi, Italian footballer (b. 1925)
  • Elizabeth Rummel, German-Canadian mountaineer and environmental activist (b. 1897)^[67]
• October 12 – Alberto Demicheli, Uruguayan political figure, former President of Uruguay (de facto) (b. 1896)
• October 14
  • Lawrence Baker, American tennis administrator and player, US Davis Cup captain (b. 1890)
  • Oscar Alemán, Argentine jazz guitarist, singer, and dancer (b. 1909)
• October 15
  • John Henry Balch, United States Naval Reserve officer who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War I (b. 1896)
  • Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark (b. 1908)^[68]
  • Mikhail Lavrentyev, Soviet mathematician and hydrodynamicist
• October 16 – Shirley Booth, American actress (b. 1898)
• October 17 – Narciso J. Alegre, Filipino civil liberties advocate, and a founder of Young Philippines (b. 1911)
• October 18 – Hans Ehard, German lawyer and politician (b. 1887)
• October 19 – Bobby Bauld, Scottish professional footballer (b. 1902)
• October 20 – Isobel Barnett, Scottish radio and television personality (b. 1918)
• October 21
  • Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician after whom Asperger syndrome was named (b. 1906)
  • Kanjūrō Arashi, Japanese film actor (b. 1903)
  • Élie-Oscar Bertrand, Canadian businessman and House of Commons representative (b. 1894)
  • Valko Chervenkov, Bulgarian Communist leader and statesman, 34th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1900)
  • Edelmiro Julián Farrell, Argentine general, 28th President of Argentina (b. 1887)
• October 22 – Sammy Angott, American boxer, World Lightweight champion (b. 1915)
• October 23
  • Charles Adler Jr., American engineer and inventor (b. 1899)
  • Mariano Suárez, Ecuadorian politician, 27th President of Ecuador (b. 1897)
• October 25
  • Virgil Fox, American organist (b. 1912)
  • Víctor Galíndez, Argentine boxer (b. 1948)
  • Sahir Ludhianvi, Urdu/Hindustani poet and Hindi film lyricist (b. 1921)
• October 26 – Marcelo Caetano, Portuguese politician and scholar, 101st Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1906)
• October 27
  • Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, lawyer, author and broadcaster (b. 1924)
  • Steve Peregrin Took, British rock musician (b. 1949)
  • John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Laureate in Physics (b. 1899)^[69]
• October 29 – Giorgio Borġ Olivier, Maltese politician and statesman, 7th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1911)
• October 31
  • Elizebeth Smith Friedman, American cryptographer (b. 1892)^[70]
  • Jan Werich, Czech actor, playwright and writer (b. 1905)
• October unknown date – Dorothy Blum, American computer scientist and cryptanalyst, worked for the National Security Agency (b. 1924)

November

• November 2 – Willie Sutton, American bank robber (b. 1901)
• November 3 – Ludwig Hohl, Swiss writer writing in the German language (b. 1904)
• November 4
  • Sir Kenneth Blackburne, British colonial official, first governor-general of Jamaica (b. 1907)
  • Elsie MacGill, Canadian engineer, the first woman in the world to earn an aeronautical engineering degree, and the first woman in Canada to receive a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (b. 1905)
  • Johnny Owen, Welsh professional boxer (b. 1956)
• November 5
  • Louis Alter, American pianist, songwriter and composer (b. 1902)
  • Caroline Brady, American philologist who specialised in Old English and Old Norse works (b. 1905)
• November 6 – Aedy Moward, Indonesian actor (b. 1929)
• November 7
  • Steve McQueen, American actor (b. 1930)^[71]
  • Wolfgang Weyrauch, German writer, journalist, and actor (b. 1904)
• November 8
  • Gordon Robert Archibald, Scottish painter (b. 1905)
  • Claudio Bincaz, Argentine international football and rugby union player (b. 1897)
• November 9 – Victor Sen Young, 65, American character actor (b. 1915)
• November 10 – Marion Allnutt, welfare worker, commanding officer of the NGO, Women's Australian National Services (b. 1896)
• November 11 – Renato Barbieri, Italian rower and Olympic medalist (b. 1903)
• November 12 – Andrei Amalrik, Soviet writer and dissident (b. 1938)
• November 16
  • Nikolaus Biewer, German international footballer (b. 1922)
  • Imogen Hassall, English actress (b. 1942)
• November 18
  • Arthur S. Adams, President of the University of New Hampshire (b. 1896)
  • Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing (b. 1895)
• November 19
  • Margaret Aitken, Canadian author, columnist, journalist, and politician (b. 1906)
  • E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist (b. 1898)
• November 20
  • Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld, German general in the Wehrmacht (b. b. 1889)
  • Avtandil Gogoberidze, Soviet football player (b. 1922)
  • Sir John McEwen, Australian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1900)
• November 21 – Sara García, Mexican actress (b. 1895)
• November 22
  • Leonard Barr, American stand-up comedian, film actor, and dancer (b. 1903)
  • Mae West, American actress (b. 1893)
• November 23 – R. Allatini, Austrian-British novelist who wrote under the pseudonyms R. Allatini, A.T. Fitzroy, Mrs Cyril Scott, Lucian Wainwright, and Eunice Buckley (b. 1890]
• November 24
  • George Aarons, Russian-American sculptor (b. 1896)
  • Herbert Agar, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize recipient (b. 1897)
  • George Raft, American actor (b. 1901)
• November 25
  • George Amsberg, Australian barrister and judge (b. 1905)
  • Herbert Flam, American tennis player (b. 1928)^[72]
• November 26
  • Rachel Roberts, British actress (b. 1927)
  • Pete DePaolo, American racing driver who is remembered as one of the greatest racers of his generation (b. 1898)
• November 29 – Dorothy Day, American journalist and social activist (b. 1897)

December

• December 1 – Frank Booth, American swimmer and Olympic medalist (b. 1910)
• December 2 – Romain Gary, Lithuanian-French writer (b. 1914)^[73]
• December 3 – Sir Oswald Mosley, British fascist leader (b. 1896)^[74]
• December 4
  • Snu Abecassis, Danish-Portuguese publisher (b. 1940)
  • Adelino Amaro da Costa, Portuguese politician (b. 1943)
  • Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant, High Commissioner to India, Ambassador to Nepal and Afghanistan, President of United Nations General Assembly (b. 1913)
  • Joe Birch, English professional footballer (b. 1904)
  • Jenő Brandi, Hungarian water polo player and Olympic medalist (b. 1913)
  • Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Portuguese lawyer, 109th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1934)
  • Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish runner (b. 1911)
• December 6 – Margot Bennett, Scottish-born screenwriter and author of crime and thriller novels (b. 1912)
• December 7
  • Beechi, humorist in the Kannada language (b. 1913)
  • Darby Crash, American rock songwriter, singer (b. 1958)
• December 8
  • Theo Breuer, German international footballer (b. 1909)
  • John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)^[75]
• December 10 – Patriarch Benedict I of Jerusalem (b. 1892)
• December 12 – Jean Lesage, Canadian lawyer and premier from Quebec (b. 1912)
• December 13 – Fleming Alexander, American minister, businessman, and newspaper publisher, founded the Roanoke Tribune (b. 1888)
• December 14
  • Hugh Beadle, Rhodesian lawyer, politician, judge, Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia (b. 1905)
  • Nichita Smochină, Moldovan activist (b. 1894)
  • Elston Howard, American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder (b. 1929)
• December 16
  • Peter Collinson, British film director (b. 1936)
  • Colonel Sanders, American fast-food entrepreneur (b. 1890)^[76]
  • Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
• December 17 – Ahmet Berman, Turkish international footballer (b. 1932)
• December 18
  • Alexei Kosygin, Soviet politician, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1904)
  • Sir Albert Margai, 2nd Prime Minister of Sierra Leone (b. 1910)
• December 19 – Héctor José Cámpora, Argentine Peronist politician, 38th President of Argentina (b. 1909)
• December 21
  • Philip Lemont Barbour, American linguist, historian and radio broadcaster (b. 1898)
  • Marc Connelly, American playwright (b. 1890)^[77]
• December 22 – Miriam Battista, American actress known principally for her early career as a child star in silent films (b. 1912)
• December 24
  • Caroline van Hook Bean, American Impressionist painter (b. 1879)
  • Karl Dönitz, German admiral and 4th President of Germany (b. 1891)^[78]
  • Heikki Liimatainen, Finnish Olympic athlete (b. 1894)
  • Siggie Nordstrom, American model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
• December 25 – Fred Emney, English character actor and comedian (b. 1900)
• December 26
  • Edward Ajado, Nigerian sprinter and Empire Games medal winner (b. 1929)
  • Giuseppe Balbo, Italian painter (b. 1902)
  • Richard Chase, American serial killer & cannibal (b. 1950)
• December 28
  • James N. Bloodworth, justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama (b. 1921)
  • Amir Elahi, Indian-Pakistani test cricketer who represented both countries (b. 1908)
  • Sam Levene, Russian-American Broadway, films, radio, and television actor and director (b. 1905)
• December 29 – Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)^[79]
• December 30
  • Frank Baker, Australian-American actor and stuntman (b. 1892)
  • George Beel, English footballer (b. 1900)
• December 31
  • Alan Bellhouse, Australian mathematician, teacher, musician, founder of North Sydney Symphony Orchestra (b. 1914)
  • Bob Shawkey, American baseball pitcher who played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (b. 1890)
  • Dalbir Bindra, Canadian neuropsychologist (b. 1922)
  • Abdelhafid Boussouf, Algerian nationalist and a leader of the National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian War of Independence (b. 1926)
  • Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and professor (b. 1911)^[80]
  • Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)
  • J.W. Milam, American murderer and white supremacist (b. 1919)

Unknown month 1980

• Justicia Acuña, first woman to become a civil engineer in Chile (b. 1893)
• M. P. Alladin, Trinidad and Tobago artist, poet, writer, teacher and public servant (b. 1919)
• María Álvarez de Guillén, Salvadoran businesswoman, writer and women's rights activist (b. 1889)
• Lev Balandin, Soviet swimmer and European Championships medalist (b. 1934)
• Margaret Ballinger, South African politician, first President of the Liberal Party of South Africa (b. 1894)
• Robert Barbour, Scottish airman and flying ace of World War I (b. 1895)
• Archie Bayes, English football goalkeeper (b. 1896)
• Juan Besuzzo, Uruguayan international footballer (b. 1913)
• Frank Bielby, English professional rugby league footballer (b. 1897)