Deaths in 1981


The following is a list of notable deaths in 1981. 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 1981

January

 January 1 
 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)
 Marvin Opler, American anthropologist (b. 1914)
 January 5
 Harold Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893) 
 Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher, poet and activist (b. 1901)
 January 6 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish novelist (b. 1896)
 January 10
 Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
 Richard Boone, American actor (b. 1917)
 January 11 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889)
 January 16 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
 January 19 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (b. 1958)
 January 21 – Allyn Joslyn, American actor (b. 1901)
 January 23 – Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
 January 25 – Adele Astaire, American 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)
 February 4 – Mario Camerini, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1895)
 February 6 – Frederica of Hanover, Queen Consort of the Hellenes and wife of King Paul of Greece (b. 1917)
 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 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 – Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)

March

 March 1 – Roberto Francisco Chiari Remón, 14th President of Panama (b. 1903)
 March 4 – Torin Thatcher, American actor (b. 1905)
 March 5 – Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)
 March 6 – George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
 March 7
 Peter Birch, Irish Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1911)
 Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (b. 1914)
 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)
 March 10 – Flavio Calzavara, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
 March 11 – Kazimierz Kordylewski, Polish astronomer (b. 1903)
 March 14 – Paolo Grassi, Italian actor (b. 1919)
 March 15 – René Clair, French film director (b. 1898)
 March 20 – Gerry Bertier, American college football player (b. 1953)
 March 21 – Mark Donskoy, Russian Soviet film director (b. 1901)
 March 22
 John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (b. 1911)
 Gil Puyat, Filipino businessman and politician, Senator of the Philippines and Senate President (b. 1907)
 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 29 – Eric Williams, 1st Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1911)
 March 30
 Sherman Edwards, American songwriter (b. 1919)
 Douglas Lowe, British Olympic athlete (b. 1902)
 DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (b. 1889)
 March 31 – Frank Tieri, American gangster (b. 1904)

April

 April 3 – Juan Trippe, airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
 April 5 – Bob Hite, American musician (Canned Heat) (b. 1943)
 April 7 – Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
 April 8 – Omar Bradley, American army general (b. 1893)
 April 12
 Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1892)
 Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
 Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
 April 15 
 John Thach, American naval aviator and admiral (b. 1905)
 Lorenzo Guerrero, former President of Nicaragua (b. 1900)
 April 18 – James H. Schmitz, German-American writer (b. 1911)
 April 23 – Josep Pla, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1897)
 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)

May

 May 1 – Barry Jones, American actor (b. 1893)
 May 3 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
 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)
 May 11
 Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
 Bob Marley, Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician (b. 1945)
 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 17 – Hugo Friedhofer, German-American film composer (b. 1901)
 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)
 Arthur O'Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
 William Saroyan, American author (b. 1908)
 May 20 – Dositej II, Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia (b. 1906)
 May 21 – Yuki Shimoda, American actor (b. 1921)
 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)
 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)
 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)
 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)
 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 the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) (b. 1920)
 July 8 – 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 27 – William Wyler, American movie director (b. 1902)
 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)
 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, Australia politician (b. 1897)
 September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (b. 1932)
 September 8
 Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
 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 (Bob) 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)
 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)
 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 3 – 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
 Enid Markey, American actress (b. 1894)
 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)
 November 25 
 Jack Albertson, American actor and comedian (b. 1907)
 Morris Kirksey, American athlete (b. 1895)
 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)
 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. 1905)
 December 13 – Cornelius Cardew, English composer (b. 1936)
 December 15
 Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1909)
 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)
 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)

References

1981 deaths
Lists of deaths in 1981
Deaths in 1981