Deaths in 1983


The following is a list of notable deaths in 1983. 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 1983

January

 January 8 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German World War II fighter ace (b. 1919)
 January 11
 Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
 Tikhon Kiselyov, Belarusian statesman in the Soviet Union, the de facto leader of the Byelorussian SSR from 1980 to 1983 (b. 1917)
 January 12 – Nikolai Podgorny, Soviet politician, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1965 to 1977 (b. 1903)
 January 15 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (b. 1902)
 January 17 – Doodles Weaver, American comedian (b. 1911)
 January 18 – Arturo Umberto Illia, Argentine politician and physician, 34th President of Argentina (b. 1900)
 January 20 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
 January 23 – Marcolino Gomes Candau, Brazilian medical doctor, 2nd Director-General of World Health Organization (b. 1911)
 January 24
 Carmen Clemente Travieso, Venezuelan journalist and activist (b. 1900)
 George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
 Juan Carlos Zabala, Argentine Olympic athlete (b. 1911)
 January 26 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
 January 27
 Georges Bidault, French Resistance leader and politician, 82nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1899)
 Louis de Funès, French actor (b. 1914)
 January 28
 Frank Forde, Australian politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia, leader of the World War II  (b. 1890)
 Billy Fury, British musician (b. 1940)

February

 February 4 – Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters) (b. 1950)
 February 12
 Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1887)
 February 13 – Lorenzo Bianchi, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1899)
 February 14 – Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
 February 19 – Alice White, American actress (b. 1904) 
 February 22 – Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
 February 23 – Herbert Howells, English composer (b. 1892)
 February 25 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright (b. 1911)
 February 27 – Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev, Russian astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1908)
 February 28 – Winifred Atwell, British pianist (b. 1914)

March

 March 1 
 Hideo Kobayashi, Japanese author (b. 1902)
 Arthur Koestler, Austrian writer (b. 1905)
 March 3 – Hergé, Belgian comics creator (b. 1907)
 March 6 – Donald Maclean, British spy (b. 1913)
 March 7 – Igor Markevitch, Ukrainian conductor (b. 1912)
 March 8
 Sir William Walton, English composer (b. 1902)
 Chabuca Granda, Peruvian singer and composer (b. 1920)
 March 9
 Faye Emerson, American actress (b. 1917)
 Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 March 14 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor and director (b. 1927)
 March 15 
 Dame Rebecca West, British writer (b. 1892)
 Josep Lluís Sert, Spanish architect and urbanist (b. 1902)
 March 16 – Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer (b. 1903)
 March 17 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
 March 18
 Umberto II of Italy, 4th and last King of Italy (b. 1904)
 Ivan Vinogradov, Russian mathematician (b. 1891)
 March 20 – Maria Babanova, Soviet and Russian actress (b. 1900)
 March 26 – Anthony Blunt, British spy and art historian (b. 1907)
 March 30 – Lisette Model, Austrian-American photographer (b. 1901)

April

 April 3 – Jimmy Bloomfield, English football player and manager (b. 1934)
 April 4
Jacqueline Logan, American actress (b. 1901)
Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
 April 11 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (b. 1904)
 April 12 
 Desmond Bagley, English novelist (b. 1923)
 Jørgen Juve, Norwegian football player and journalist (b. 1906)
 April 13 – Gloria Marín, Mexican actress (b. 1919)
 April 15
 Gyula Illyés, Hungarian poet and novelist (b. 1902)
 Corrie ten Boom, Dutch resistance fighter (b. 1892)
 April 19 – Jerzy Andrzejewski, Polish author (b. 1909)
 April 20
 Walther Nehring, German general (b. 1892)
 Pedro Quartucci, Argentine boxer and actor (b. 1905)
 April 21 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor (b. 1902)
 April 22 – Earl "Fatha" Hines, American musician (b. 1903)
 April 23
 Buster Crabbe, American actor and athlete (b. 1908)
 Selena Royle, American actress and writer (b. 1904)
 April 30
 George Balanchine, Russian-American dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
 Muddy Waters, American musician (b. 1913)

May

 May 1
 George Hodgson, Canadian Olympic swimmer (b. 1893)
 Joseph Ruttenberg, Russian-American cinematographer (b. 1889)
 May 2 
 Pridi Banomyong, Thai politician and professor, 7th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1900)
 Ernesto de la Guardia, 32nd President of Panama (b. 1904)
 May 5 – John Williams, British actor (b. 1903)
 May 8 – John Fante, American writer (b. 1909)
 May 14 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, 46th President of Mexico (b. 1900)
 May 18 – Frank Aiken, Irish politician (b. 1898)
 May 19 – Jean Rey, 2nd President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
 May 21 – Kenneth Clark, British art historian (b. 1903)
 May 22
 Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
 King Idris of Libya (b. 1889)
 May 25 – Sid Daniels, British merchant marine worker, last surviving crewmember of the RMS Titanic (b. 1895)
 May 29 – Arvīds Pelše, Latvian historian, Soviet politician and functionary (b. 1899)
 May 31 – Jack Dempsey, American heavyweight champion boxer (b. 1895)

June

 June 1
 Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (b. 1903)
 Anna Seghers, German writer (b. 1900)
 June 2
 Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (b. 1949)
 Julio Rosales, Filipino Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1906)
 June 8 – Miško Kranjec, Slovenian writer (b. 1908)
 June 12 – Norma Shearer, Canadian-American actress (b. 1902)
 June 15 – Mario Casariego y Acevedo, Spanish-Guatemalan Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1909)
 June 17 – Peter Mennin, American composer and teacher (b. 1923)
 June 18 – Marianne Brandt, German industrial designer (b. 1893)
 June 23 – Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, Cuban politician, 21st President of Cuba (b. 1919)
 June 25 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)

July

 July 1 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect (b. 1895)
 July 2 – László Budai, Hungarian footballer (b. 1928)
 July 4 – John Bodkin Adams, British suspected serial killer (b. 1899)
 July 5 – Harry James, American musician and band leader (b. 1916)
 July 7 – Herman Kahn, American futurist (b. 1922)
 July 10
 Werner Egk, German composer (b. 1901)
 Estrellita Castro, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1908)
 July 11 – Ross Macdonald, American-Canadian writer (b. 1915)
 July 12 – Chris Wood, British rock musician, lead singer and guitarist of the band Traffic (b. 1944)
 July 14 – Jack MacBryan, English cricketer (b. 1892)
 July 16
 Michel Micombero, Burundian military officer and statesman, 8th Prime Minister and 1st President of Burundi (b. 1940)
 Samson Raphaelson, American screenwriter (b. 1894)
 July 17 – Roosevelt Sykes, American blues musician (b. 1906)
 July 23 – Georges Auric, French composer (b. 1899)
 July 26 – Charlie Rivel, Spanish Catalan circus clown (b. 1896)
 July 29
 Luis Buñuel, Spanish filmmaker (b. 1900)
 Rocco Chinnici, Italian judge (b. 1925)
 Raymond Massey, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
 David Niven, British soldier and actor (b. 1910)
 July 30 – Lynn Fontanne, British actress (b. 1887)

August

 August 2 – James Jamerson, American musician (b. 1936)
 August 3 
Carolyn Jones, American actress (b. 1930)
 Jobriath, American rock musician and actor (b. 1946)
 August 5
 Bart Bok, Dutch-American astronomer (b. 1906)
 Judy Canova, American actress (b. 1913)
 August 6 – Klaus Nomi, German singer and performance artist (b. 1944)
 August 10 – José Baptista Pinheiro de Azevedo, 104th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1917)
 August 11 – Mamie Phipps Clark, American psychologist (b. 1917)
 August 16
 Earl Averill, American baseball player and member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1902)
 Heinz Warneke, American sculptor (b. 1895)
 August 17 – Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
 August 18 – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, German-British art historian (b. 1902)
 August 21 – Ninoy Aquino, Filipino politician (b. 1932)
 August 28
 Jan Clayton, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
 José Bergamín, Spanish writer (b. 1895)
 August 29 – Simon Oakland, American actor (b. 1915)

September

 September 1 – Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson, American politician (b. 1912)
 September 8 – Ibrahim Abboud, 3rd Prime Minister and 1st President of Sudan (b. 1900)
 September 10
 Felix Bloch, Swiss-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 Jon Brower Minnoch, heaviest man who ever lived (b. 1941)
 John Vorster, 8th Prime Minister of South Africa and 5th President of South Africa (b. 1915)
 September 12 – Sabin Carr, American Olympic athlete (b. 1904)
 September 16 – Gunnar Olsson, Swedish actor (b. 1904)
 September 17 – Humberto Sousa Medeiros, Portuguese-American Roman Catholic clergyman (b. 1915)
 September 19 – Bruno Pittermann, Austrian Social Democratic politician, 19th Vice-Chancellor of Austria (b. 1905)
 September 20 – Ángel Labruna, Argentine footballer and manager (b. 1918)
 September 21 – Xavier Zubiri, Spanish philosopher (b. 1898)
 September 25 – King Leopold III of Belgium (b. 1901)
 September 26 – Tino Rossi, French singer (b. 1907)
 September 29 – Alan Moorehead, Australian-English war correspondent and historian (b. 1910)

October

 October 4 – Andrés Córdova, acting President of Ecuador (b. 1892)
 October 5 – Earl Tupper, American businessman (b. 1907)
 October 6 – Terence Cooke, American cardinal (b. 1921)
 October 7
 George O. Abell, American astronomer (b. 1927)
 Christophe Soglo, 3rd President of Dahomey (b. 1909)
 October 8
 Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934)
 Ruben Rausing, Swedish entrepreneur, founder of Tetra Pak (b. 1895)
 October 10 – Sir Ralph Richardson, British actor (b. 1902)
 October 14 – Paul Fix, American actor (b. 1901)
 October 15 – Pat O'Brien, American actor (b. 1899)
 October 17 – Raymond Aron, French philosopher, sociologist and political scientist. (b. 1905)
 October 19 
 Maurice Bishop, Grenadian politician and revolutionary, 2nd Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)
 Carel Willink, Dutch painter (b. 1900)
 October 26 – Alfred Tarski, Polish-American logician and mathematician (b. 1901)
 October 28 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (b. 1892)
 October 31 – George Halas, American football player and coach (b. 1895)

November

 November 7 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (b. 1892)
 November 8 – Betty Nuthall, English tennis champion (b. 1911)
 November 13 – Aliagha Aghayev, Azerbaijani actor (b. 1913)
 November 15 – John Le Mesurier, British actor (b. 1912)
 November 19 – Tom Evans, English musician and songwriter (b. 1947)
 November 20
 Marcel Dalio, French actor (b. 1900)
 Richard Loo, Chinese-American actor (b. 1903)
 November 22 − Michael Conrad, American actor (b. 1925)
 November 23 – Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, film producer, writer and director (b. 1938)
 November 27 
 Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Mexican novelist and playwright (b. 1928)
 Ángel Rama, Uruguayan writer and literary critic (b. 1926)
 November 28 – Christopher George, American actor (b. 1931)
 November 30 
 George Headley, West Indian cricketer (b. 1909)
 Richard Llewellyn, British writer (b. 1906)

December

 December 2 – Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1904)
 December 5
 Robert Aldrich, American film director (b. 1918)
 John Robinson, British Anglican bishop (b. 1919)
 December 6
 Lucienne Boyer, French singer (b. 1903)
 Gul Khan Nasir, Baloch politician and poet from Pakistan (b. 1914)
 December 7 – Fanny Cano, Mexican actress and producer (b. 1944)
 December 8
 Keith Holyoake, New Zealand politician, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1904)
 Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
 December 11 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British general (b. 1897)
 December 13
 Leora Dana, American actress (b. 1923)
 Mary Renault, English author (b. 1905)
 December 20 
 Prince Moulay Abdallah of Morocco (b. 1935)
 Bill Brandt, German-British photographer and photojournalist(b. 1904)
 December 21 – Paul de Man, Belgian-American literary critic (b. 1919)
 December 25 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter (b. 1893)
 December 28
 William Demarest, American actor (b. 1892)
 Jimmy Demaret, American golf champion (b. 1910)
 Dennis Wilson, American singer, songwriter and drummer (b. 1944)

References

1983 deaths
Lists of deaths in 1983
Deaths in 1983