Deaths in 1987


The following is a list of notable deaths in 1987. 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. Deaths in 1987

January

 January 2 – Jean de Gribaldy, French road cyclist and directeur sportif (b. 1922)
 January 5 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian supercentenarian (b. 1875)
 January 9 – Arthur Lake, American actor (b. 1905)
 January 10
 Håkan Malmrot, Swedish Olympic swimmer (b. 1900)
 Marion Hutton, American singer and actress (b. 1919)
 January 14 – Douglas Sirk, German-American film director (b. 1897)
 January 15 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904)
 January 22 – R. Budd Dwyer, American politician (b. 1939)
 January 25 – Asim Ferhatović, Yugoslav footballer (b. 1933)
 January 27 – Norman McLaren, Canadian animator and director (b. 1914)
 January 28 – Galo Plaza, Ecuadorian statesman, 29th President of Ecuador (b. 1906)
 January 31 – Yves Allégret, French film director (b. 1905)

February

 February 1
 Gustav Knuth, German film actor (b. 1901)
 Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
 February 2 
 Alistair MacLean, British novelist (b. 1922)
 Carlos José Castilho, Brazilian football goalkeeper (b. 1927)
 February 3 – Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu, younger brother of Japanese Emperor Hirohito (b. 1905)
 February 4 – Liberace, American pianist, singer and actor (b. 1919)
 February 5 – Otto Wöhler, German general, serving during World War I and World War II (b. 1894)
 February 7 – Claudio Villa, Italian singer (b. 1926)
 February 10 – Robert O'Brien, American racing driver (b. 1908)
 February 11 – Mark Ashton, Irish gay rights activist (b. 1960)
 February 12
 Dennis Poore, British entrepreneur, financier and sometime racing driver (b. 1916)
 Raymond Vouel, Luxembourg politician (b. 1923)
 February 14 – Dmitry Kabalevsky, Russian composer (b. 1904)
 February 22 – Andy Warhol, American artist, director, writer (b. 1928)
 February 23
 Esmond Knight, English actor (b. 1906)
 José Afonso, Portuguese singer-songwriter, teacher and activist (b. 1929)
 February 25
 James Coco, American actor (b. 1930)
 Elisabeth Coit, American architect (b. 1897)
 February 27
 Joan Greenwood, English actress (b. 1921)
 Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish priest (b. 1921)

March

 March 1 – Freddie Green, American swing jazz guitarist (b. 1911)
 March 2 – Randolph Scott, American actor (b. 1898)
 March 3 – Danny Kaye, American singer, actor, and comedian (b. 1911)
 March 7 – Waldo Salt, American screenwriter (b. 1914)
 March 11 – Joe Gladwin, English actor (b. 1906)
 March 12 - Woody Hayes, American college football coach, coached for Ohio State University
 March 15 – W. Sterling Cole, American politician, first Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (b. 1904)
 March 19 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
 March 21
 Robert Preston, American actor (b. 1918)
 Dean Paul Martin, American pop singer and film and television actor (b. 1951)
 March 26
 Georg Muche, German painter, printmaker, architect, author, and teacher (b. 1895)
 Eugen Jochum, German conductor (b. 1902)
 March 27 – Stane Kavčič, 6th Prime Minister of Slovenia (b. 1919)
 March 28
 Maria von Trapp, Austrian singer (b. 1905)
 Patrick Troughton, English actor (b. 1920)
 Alphonse Alley, Beninese military officer, former Head of State of Dahomey (b. 1930)

April

 April 1 – Henri Cochet, French tennis champion (b. 1901)
 April 2
 Wang Renmei, Chinese actress and singer (b. 1914)
 Buddy Rich, American jazz drummer (b. 1917)
 April 4 – C. L. Moore, American writer (b. 1911)
 April 5 – Leabua Jonathan, 2nd Prime Minister of Lesotho (b. 1914)
 April 11
 Erskine Caldwell, American writer (b. 1903)
 Kent Taylor, American actor (b. 1907)
 Primo Levi, Italian chemist and writer (b. 1919)
 Hédi Váradi, Hungarian actress (b. 1929)
 April 12 – Mike Von Erich, American professional wrestler (b. 1964)
 April 15 – Masatoshi Nakayama, Japanese karate master (b. 1913)
 April 17
 Carlton Barrett, Jamaican reggae drummer (b. 1950)
 Cornelius Van Til, Dutch Christian philosopher, reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist (b. 1895)
 Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
 April 19
 Milt Kahl, Animator for the Disney Studio (b. 1909)
 Antony Tudor, English dancer and choreographer (b. 1908)
 Maxwell D. Taylor, American general and diplomat (b. 1901)

May

 May 2 - Karl Davis, African-American fashion designer (b. 1962)
 May 3 – Dalida, French rock musician (b. 1933)
 May 4
 Paul Butterfield, American musician (b. 1942)
 Cathryn Damon, American actress (b. 1930)
 May 6 – William J. Casey, American Central Intelligence Agency director (b. 1913)
 May 7 – Colin Blakely, Northern Irish actor (b. 1930)
 May 8
 Sir James Plimsoll, Australian public servant (b. 1917)
 Carl Tchilinghiryan, German businessman (b. 1910)
 May 9 – Thodoros Kefalopoulos, Greek actor (b. 1894)
 May 13
 Ismael Rivera, Puerto Rican composer and salsa singer (b. 1931)
 Signe Amundsen, Norwegian operatic soprano (b. 1899)
 May 14 – Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer (b. 1918)
 May 17 – Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
 May 19 – James Tiptree, Jr., American author (b. 1915)
 May 21 – Alejandro Rey, Argentine actor (b. 1930)
 May 24 – Hermione Gingold, English actress (b. 1897)
 May 27
 Colin McCahon, New Zealand artist (b. 1919)
 John Howard Northrop, American biochemist (b. 1891)
 May 29
 Charan Singh, 5th Prime Minister of India (b. 1902)
 Jozef Langenus, Belgian middle-distance runner (b. 1898)
 May 31 – John Abraham, Indian film director (b. 1937)

June

 June 1
 Errol Barrow, Caribbean statesman, 1st Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1920)
 Rashid Karami, Lebanese statesman, 21st Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1921)
 Domenico Piemontesi, Italian road bicycle racer (b. 1903)
 June 2 – Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (b. 1893)
 June 3 – Will Sampson, American actor (b. 1933)
 June 6 – Richard Münch, German actor (b. 1916)
 June 9 
 Madge Kennedy, American actress (b. 1891)
 Raya Dunayevskaya, Russian-American philosopher, founder of Marxist humanism in the United States (b. 1910)
 June 10 – Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (b. 1943)
 June 13
 Vera Caspary, American screenwriter, novelist, playwright (b. 1899)
 Geraldine Page, American actress (b. 1924)
 June 20 – Salim Ali, Indian ornithologist and naturalist (b. 1896)
 June 22 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1899)
 June 24 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and comedian (b. 1916)
 June 26
 Arthur F. Burns, American economist (b. 1904)
 Henk Badings, Dutch composer (b. 1907)
 June 30 – Federico Mompou, Spanish composer and pianist (b. 1893)

July

 July 2 – Michael Bennett, American theater director and choreographer (b. 1943)
 July 3 – Viola Dana, American actress (b. 1897)
 July 4 – Abdul Halim, Indonesian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Indonesia (b. 1911)
 July 8 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (b. 1896)
 July 10 – John Hammond, American record producer (b. 1910)
 July 11 – Tom Waddell, American sportsman and competitor (b. 1937)
 July 17
 Kristjan Palusalu, Estonian wrestler (b. 1908)
 Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (b. 1934)
 July 20 – Richard Egan, American actor (b. 1921)
 July 28 - James Burnham, American philosopher and political theorist (b. 1905)

August

 August 1 – Pola Negri, Polish actress (b. 1897)
 August 2 – Abu Sayeed Chowdhury, 2nd President of Bangladesh (b. 1921)
 August 5 – Anatoli Papanov, Soviet and Russian stage, film and voice actor (b. 1922)
 August 6
 Léon Noël, French diplomat, politician and historian (b. 1888)
 Ira C. Eaker, World War II United States Army Air Forces general (b. 1896)
 August 7
 Camille Chamoun, 7th President of Lebanon (b. 1900)
 Nobusuke Kishi, Japanese politician, 37th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1896)
 August 10 – Georgios Athanasiadis-Novas, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1893)
 August 16 – Andrei Mironov, Soviet and Russian theatre and film actor (b. 1941)
 August 17
 Rudolf Hess, German Nazi official (b. 1894)
 Clarence Brown, American film director (b. 1890)
 Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Brazilian poet (b. 1902)
 August 23 – Didier Pironi, French racing driver (b. 1952)
 August 24 – Bayard Rustin, American civil rights activist (b. 1912)
 August 26 – Georg Wittig, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
 August 28 – John Huston, American film director, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1906)
 August 29 – Lee Marvin, American actor (b. 1924)

September

 September 1 – Gerhard Fieseler, German World War I flying ace, aerobatics champion, and aircraft designer and manufacturer (b. 1896)
 September 2 – Alfredo Oscar Saint Jean, President of Argentina (1982) (b. 1926)
 September 3 – Morton Feldman, American composer (b. 1926)
 September 4 – Richard Marquand, Welsh film director (b. 1937)
 September 9
 Bill Fraser, Scottish actor (b. 1908)
 Gerrit Jan Heijn, Dutch businessman (b. 1931)
 September 11
 Peter Tosh, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1944)
 Lorne Greene, Canadian actor, radio personality and singer (b. 1915)
 September 12
 John Qualen, Canadian-American actor (b. 1899)
 J. Lawton Collins, American general (b. 1896)
 September 13 – Mervyn LeRoy, American film producer and director (b. 1900)
 September 17 – Vladimir Basov, Soviet actor, film director and screenwriter (b. 1923)
 September 18 – Américo Tomás, 13th President of Portugal (b. 1894)
 September 19 – Einar Gerhardsen, former Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1897)
 September 21 – Jaco Pastorius, American jazz bassist (b. 1951)
 September 22
 Hákun Djurhuus, 4th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (b. 1908)
 Dan Rowan, American comedian (b. 1922)
 September 23
 Bob Fosse, American theater choreographer and director (b. 1927)
 Erland Van Lidth De Jeude, Dutch-American wrestler, opera singer and actor (b. 1953)
 September 25
 Mary Astor, American actress (b. 1906)
 Emlyn Williams, Welsh writer, dramatist and actor (b. 1905)
 September 29 – Henry Ford II, president of Ford Motor Company (b. 1917)
 September 30 – Alfred Bester, American author (b. 1913)

October

 October 2
 Madeleine Carroll, English actress (b. 1906)
 Sir Peter Medawar, Brazilian-British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1915)
 October 3
 Jean Anouilh, French dramatist (b. 1910)
 Catherine Bramwell-Booth, English Salvation Army officer (b. 1883)
 Hans Gál, composer, teacher and author (b. 1890)
 October 8
 Spencer Gordon Bennet, American film producer (b. 1893)
 Konstantinos Tsatsos, President of Greece (b. 1899)
 October 9 – William P. Murphy, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1892)
 October 11 – Jaime Pardo Leal, Colombian lawyer, union leader, and politician (b. 1941)
 October 12
 Alf Landon, American politician (b. 1887)
 Fahri Korutürk, Turkish diplomat, 6th President of Turkey (b. 1903)
 October 13
 Walter Houser Brattain, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
 Kishore Kumar, Indian actor and playback singer (b. 1929)
 October 15 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabe politician, 5th Prime Minister of Burkina Faso and 2nd President of Burkina Faso (b. 1949)
 October 19
 Jacqueline du Pré, British cellist (b. 1945)
 Hermann Lang, German race car driver (b. 1909)
 October 20 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (b. 1903)
 October 22 – Lino Ventura, Italian actor (b. 1919)
 October 27 – Vijay Merchant, Indian cricketer (b. 1911)
 October 28 – André Masson, French artist (b. 1896)
 October 29 – Woody Herman, American jazz musician (b. 1913)
 October 30 – Joseph Campbell, American mythologist, author (b. 1904)

November

 November 1 – René Lévesque, Canadian politician, 23rd Premier of Quebec (b. 1922)
 November 5 – Georges Franju, French filmmaker (b. 1912)
 November 6
 Zohar Argov, Israeli singer (b. 1955)
 Jean Rivier, French composer of classical music (b. 1896)
 November 7 – Arne Borg, Swedish Olympic swimmer (b. 1901)
 November 10 – Seyni Kountché, Nigerien military officer and statesman, 2nd President of Niger (b. 1931)
 November 12 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dutch-Swedish singer-songwriter, poet and actor (b. 1937)
 November 18 – Jacques Anquetil, French road racing cyclist (b. 1934)
 November 23 – Antonio Sastre, Argentine footballer (b. 1911)
 November 26 – Duncan Sandys, British politician (b. 1908)

December

 December 1 – James Baldwin, African-American novelist, essayist, playwright and poet (b. 1924) 
 December 2
 Juan Alberto Melgar Castro, Honduran military officer (b. 1930)
 Donn F. Eisele, American astronaut (b. 1930)
 Luis Federico Leloir, French-Argentine chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
 Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (b. 1914)
 December 4 – Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian-American film director (b. 1897)
 December 8
 Marcos Calderón, Peruvian football coach (b. 1928)
 José González Ganoza, Peruvian footballer (b. 1954)
 December 10 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-American violinist (b. 1901)
 December 17 – Bernardus Johannes Alfrink, Dutch cardinal (b. 1900)
 December 21 – Ralph Nelson, American film and television director, producer, writer, and actor (b. 1916)
 December 22 – Alice Terry, American actress (b. 1899)
 December 24
 Joop den Uyl, Dutch politician and journalist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1973–1977) (b. 1919)
 M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor and Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu (1977–1987) (b. 1917)
 December 27 – Priscilla Dean, American actress (b. 1896)

References

1987 deaths
Lists of deaths in 1987
Deaths in 1987