Deaths in 1989


The following is a list of notable deaths in 1989. 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 1989

January

 January 6
 Jim Hurtubise, American race car driver (b. 1932)
 Sir Edmund Leach, British anthropologist (b. 1910)
 January 7
 Frank Adams, British mathematician (b. 1930)
 Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
 January 8 – Kenneth McMillan, American actor (b. 1932)
 January 10 – Herbert Morrison, American radio reporter (b. 1905)
 January 11 – José Bustamante y Rivero, Peruvian politician, diplomat and jurist, 33rd President of Peru (b. 1894)
 January 13 – Joe Spinell, American actor (b. 1936)
 January 14 – Robert B. Anderson, American administrator and businessman (b. 1910)
 January 16
 Prem Nazir, Indian actor (b. 1926)
 Trey Wilson, American actor (b. 1948)
 January 17 – Óscar Vargas Prieto, Peruvian soldier and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1917)
 January 18 – Bruce Chatwin, British author (b. 1940)
 January 19 – Norma Varden, English actress (b. 1898)
 January 20 
 Józef Cyrankiewicz, Polish communist politician, 2-time Prime Minister of Poland and 15th President of Poland (b. 1911)
 Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (b. 1894)
 January 21 – Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
 January 23 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (b. 1904)
 January 24 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
 January 27 – Sir Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer and yachtsman (b. 1888)
 January 28 – Halina Konopacka, Polish Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
 January 30 – Alfonso, Duke of Anjou and Cádiz (b. 1936)
 January 31 – Fernando Gonçalves Namora, Portuguese writer and doctor (b. 1919)

February

 February 1 – Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1919)
 February 2
 Yuri Bogatyryov, Soviet actor (b. 1947)
 Ondrej Nepela, Slovakian figure skater (b. 1951)
 February 3 – John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929) 
 February 4 – Trevor Lucas, Australian folk singer (b. 1943)
 February 6 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (b. 1912)
 February 9 – Osamu Tezuka, Japanese artist (b. 1928)
 February 11 – T. E. B. Clarke, British screenwriter (b. 1907)
 February 13 – Princess Eugénie of Greece and Denmark (b. 1910)
 February 14
 James Bond, American ornithologist (b. 1900)
 Vincent Crane, British musician (b. 1943)
 February 17 – Lefty Gomez, American baseball player (b. 1908)
 February 21 – Sándor Márai, Hungarian writer and journalist (b. 1900)
 February 26 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
 February 27
 Paul Oswald Ahnert, German astronomer (b. 1897)
 Konrad Lorenz, Austrian zoologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)

March

 March 6 – Harry Andrews, British actor (b. 1911)
 March 9 – Robert Mapplethorpe, American activist, artist and photographer (b. 1946)
 March 10 – Maurizio Merli, Italian actor (b. 1940)
 March 12 – Maurice Evans, British actor (b. 1901)
 March 14
 Edward Abbey, American author and environmentalist (b. 1927)
 Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Queen consort of Hungary and Empress consort of Austria (b. 1892)
 March 16 – Jesús María de Leizaola, Spanish politician (b. 1896)
 March 17 – Merritt Butrick, American actor (b. 1959)
 March 20 – Dina Sfat, Brazilian actress (b. 1938)
 March 25 – Sa`id Al-Mufti, Jordanian political figure, 9th Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1898)
 March 27
 May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
 Jack Starrett, American actor and director (b. 1936)
 March 29
 Bernard Blier, French actor (b. 1916)
 Aleksandr Prokopenko, Soviet footballer (b. 1953)

April

 April 1 – George Robledo, Chilean soccer player (b. 1926)
 April 3 – Mustafa Çağatay, Turkish-Cypriot politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Northern Cyprus (b. 1937)
 April 12 
Abbie Hoffman, American political activist (b. 1936)
Sugar Ray Robinson, American professional boxer (b. 1921)
 April 15
 Hu Yaobang, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (b. 1915)
 Bernard-Marie Koltès, French playwright (b. 1948)
 April 19 – Dame Daphne du Maurier, British writer (b. 1907)
 April 21
 Princess Deokhye of Korea (b. 1912)
 James Kirkwood Jr., American playwright (b. 1924)
 April 22 – Emilio Segrè, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 April 23 
 Hamani Diori, Nigerien politician, 1st President of Niger (b. 1916)
 Hu Die, Chinese actress (b. 1907)
 April 24 – Edgar Sanabria, Venezuelan lawyer, diplomat and politician, Interim President of Venezuela (b. 1911)
 April 25 – George Coulouris, British actor (b. 1903)
 April 26 – Lucille Ball, American actress, comedian and entertainer (b. 1911)
 April 27 – Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese industrialist (b. 1894)
 April 30
 Sergio Leone, Italian film director (b. 1929)
 Guy Williams, Italian-American actor (b. 1924)

May

 May 1 – Edward Ochab, Polish activist and politician, 13th President of Poland (b. 1906)
 May 2 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
 May 3 – Christine Jorgensen, Norwegian actress, singer and writer (b. 1926)
 May 9 – Keith Whitley, American country music singer (b. 1955)
 May 10 – Woody Shaw, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1944)
 May 15 – Johnny Green, American songwriter (b. 1908)
 May 19
 Anton Diffring, German actor (b. 1916)
 Robert Webber, American actor (b. 1924)
 May 20
 John Hicks, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
 Gilda Radner, American comedian and actress (b. 1946)
 May 26 – Don Revie, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
 May 29 
 John Cipollina, American guitarist (b. 1943)
 Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (b. 1932)
 May 31 – C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and writer (b. 1901)

June

 June 3 – Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian philosopher, politician, revolutionary and Shia Muslim religious leader, 1st Supreme Leader of Iran (b. 1902)
 June 4 – Dik Browne, American cartoonist (b. 1917)
 June 7 – Nara Leão, Brazilian singer (b. 1942)
 June 8 – Albert Spaggiari, French criminal (b. 1932)
 June 9
 George Beadle, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
 Rashid Behbudov, Azerbaijani singer and actor (b. 1915)
 José López Rega, Argentine politician (b. 1916)
 June 10 – Richard Quine, American actor (b. 1920)
 June 13 – Fran Allison, American actress and television personality (b. 1907)
 June 14
 Joseph Malula, Congolese archbishop and cardinal (b. 1917)
 Pete de Freitas, English musician and producer (b. 1961)
 June 15
 Victor French, American actor and director (b. 1934)
 Ray McAnally, Irish actor (b. 1926)
 June 17 – John Matuszak, American football player and actor (b. 1950)
 June 21 – Lee Calhoun, American Olympic athlete (b. 1933)
 June 23 – Werner Best, German Nazi official, jurist, police chief and SS-Obergruppenführer leader (b. 1903)
 June 24
 Hibari Misora, Japanese singer (b. 1937)
 Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1907)
 June 27
 Sir Alfred Ayer, British philosopher (b. 1910)
 Jack Buetel, American actor (b. 1915)
 Michele Lupo, Italian film director (b. 1932)
 June 28 – Joris Ivens, Dutch filmmaker (b. 1898)
 June 30 – Hilmar Baunsgaard, Danish politician and 34th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1920)

July

 July 2
 Andrei Gromyko, Soviet politician and diplomat (b. 1909)
 Franklin J. Schaffner, American film director (b. 1920)
 Ben Wright, British actor in radio, film and television (b. 1915)
 July 3 – Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
 July 4 
 Win Maung, 3rd President of Myanmar (b. 1916)
 Leyla Mammadbeyova, Azerbaijani aviator (b. 1909)
 July 6 – János Kádár, Hungarian politician and communist leader, 46th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1912)
 July 10 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor and radio personality (b. 1908)
 July 11 – Laurence Olivier, English actor and director (b. 1907)
 July 12 – Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (b. 1896)
 July 15 – Laurie Cunningham, English footballer (b. 1956)
 July 16 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
 July 18 – Rebecca Schaeffer, American actress (b. 1967)
 July 19 – Kazimierz Sabbat, 2-time Prime Minister of Poland and 15th President of Poland (b. 1913)
 July 20 – Mary Treen, American actress (b. 1907)
 July 22 – Martti Talvela, Finnish bass (b. 1935)
 July 23
 Donald Barthelme, American writer (b. 1931)
 Archduchess Charlotte of Austria (b. 1921)
 July 24 – Ernie Morrison, American actor (b. 1912)

August

 August 1 – John Ogdon, British pianist (b. 1937)
 August 12 – William Shockley, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
 August 13
 Hugo del Carril, Argentine film actor, film director and tango singer (b. 1912)
 Tim Richmond, American race car driver (b. 1955)
 August 14 – Robert Bernard Anderson, American political figure (b. 1910)
 August 15 – Minoru Genda, Japanese aviator, naval officer and politician (b. 1904)
 August 16
 Jean-Hilaire Aubame, French-Gabonese politician (b. 1912)
 Amanda Blake, American actress (b. 1929)
 August 18 – Luis Carlos Galan, Colombian politician (b. 1943)
 August 20
 George Adamson, Indian-American conservationist (b. 1906)
 Joseph LaShelle, American cinematographer (b. 1900)
 August 21 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian rock singer (b. 1945)
 August 22
 Huey P. Newton, African-American political activist (b. 1942)
 Diana Vreeland, American fashion editor (b. 1929)
 August 23 – R. D. Laing, British psychiatrist (b. 1927)
 August 26 – Irving Stone, American writer (b. 1903)
 August 27 – Luiz Luz, Brazilian footballer (b. 1909)
 August 29
 Pua Kealoha, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1902)
 Sir Peter Scott, British naturalist, artist and explorer (b. 1909)

September

 September 4
 Georges Simenon, Belgian writer (b. 1903)
 Ronald Syme, New Zealand-British classicist and historian (b. 1903)
 September 13 – Charles H. Russell, American politician, 20th Governor of Nevada (b. 1903)
 September 14 – Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban musician (b. 1916)
 September 15 – Robert Penn Warren, American writer (b. 1905)
 September 22 – Irving Berlin, American composer (b. 1888)
 September 28 – Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino dictator, politician and statesman, 10th President of the Philippines (b. 1917)
 September 30
 Drew Shafer, American LGBT rights activist from Missouri (b. 1936)
 Virgil Thomson, American composer (b. 1896)
 Huỳnh Tấn Phát, Vietnamese politician, 16th Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (b. 1913)

October

 October 2
 Paola Barbara, Italian actress (b. 1912)
 Vittorio Caprioli, Italian actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
 October 4
 Graham Chapman, British comedian (b. 1941)
 Secretariat, American Thoroughbred racehorse (b. 1970)
 October 6 – Bette Davis, American actress (b. 1908)
 October 11
 M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1903)
 Paul Shenar, American actor (b. 1936)
 October 15 – Scott O'Dell, American children's writer (b. 1898)
 October 16 – Cornel Wilde, American actor (b. 1912)
 October 18 – Countess Georgina, Princess consort of Liechtenstein (b. 1921)
 October 20 – Sir Anthony Quayle, British actor (b. 1913)
 October 22
 Ewan MacColl, British folk singer, political activist and actor (b. 1915)
 Roland Winters, American actor (b. 1904)
 October 25 – Mary McCarthy, American writer (b. 1912)
 October 26 – Charles J. Pedersen, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
 October 28 – Yuliya Solntseva, Soviet actress (b. 1901)
 October 30 – Pedro Vargas, Mexican singer and actor (b. 1906)

November

 November 3 – Timoci Bavadra, Fijian physician and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Fiji (b. 1934)
 November 5 
 Vladimir Horowitz, Russian pianist (b. 1903)
 Barry Sadler, American soldier and singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
 November 12 – Édouard Candeveau, Swiss Olympic rower (b. 1898)
 November 13
 Victor Davis, Canadian Olympic swimmer (b. 1964)
 Franz Joseph II, Prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1906)
 November 16 – Ignacio Ellacuría, Jesuit priest and theologian (b. 1930)
 November 20
 Lynn Bari, American actress (b. 1913)
 Leonardo Sciascia, Italian writer (b. 1921)
 November 22 – René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (b. 1925)
 November 24 – Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, Palestinian Sunni Islamic scholar and theologian (b. 1941)
 November 26 – Ahmed Abdallah, Comorian politician, 1st President of Comoros (b. 1919)
 November 27 – Carlos Arias Navarro, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1908)
 November 28 – Ernesto Civardi, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
 November 29 – Gubby Allen, English cricketer (b. 1902)
 November 30
 Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroonian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cameroon and President of Cameroon (b. 1924)
 Hassan Fathy, Egyptian architect (b. 1900)

December

 December 1 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931)
 December 3
 Sourou-Migan Apithy, Beninese political figure, 2nd President of Dahomey (b. 1913)
 Fernando Martín Espina, Spanish basketball player (b. 1962)
 December 5 – John Pritchard, British conductor (b. 1921)
 December 6
 Frances Bavier, American actress (b. 1902)
 Sammy Fain, American composer (b. 1902)
 John Payne, American actor (b. 1912)
 December 8 – Hans Hartung, German-French painter (b. 1904)
 December 14
 Jock Mahoney, American actor (b. 1919)
 Andrei Sakharov, Soviet physicist and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1921)
 December 15
 José Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, Colombian drug lord and criminal (b. 1947)
 Edward Underdown, British stage and film veteran (b. 1908)
 December 16
 Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
 Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
 Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
 December 17 – Albert C. Wedemeyer, American general (b. 1897)
 December 19
 Herbert Blaize, Grenadian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1918)
 Kirill Mazurov, Soviet politician (b. 1914)
 December 20 – Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
 December 21 – Ján Cikker, Slovak composer (b. 1911)
 December 22
 Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
 Vasile Milea, Romanian military officer and politician, minister of Defense (b. 1927)
 December 23 – Richard Rado, German-British mathematician (b. 1906)
 December 25
 Elena Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1916)
 Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian politician, dictator and Communist Party head, 1st President of Romania (b. 1918)
 Billy Martin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
 December 26 – Lennox Berkeley, English composer (b. 1903)
 December 28 – Hermann Oberth, Austro-Hungarian-born German engineer, physicist and scientist (b. 1894)
 December 30 – Yasuji Miyazaki, Japanese Olympic swimmer (b. 1916)
 December 31
 Sir Ignatius Kilage, 4th Governor-General of Papua New Guinea (b. 1941)
 Mihály Lantos, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1928)
 Gerhard Schröder, German politician (b. 1910)
 December – Yem Sambaur, 8th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1913)

References

1989 deaths
Lists of deaths in 1989
Deaths in 1989