Deaths in 1980
The following is a list of notable deaths in 1980. 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, reason for notability, cause of death, and reference.
Deaths in 1980
January
- January 1
- * Aldo Aimi, Italian footballer
- * Adolph Deutsch, British-born American composer
- * Pietro Nenni, Italian politician
- * Frank Wykoff, American Olympic athlete
- January 3
- * Joy Adamson, Austrian conservationist, author of Born Free
- * Amos Milburn, American R&B singer and pianist
- * Ivan Triesault, Estonian-American actor
- * Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist and champion of the Tour de France
- January 4 - Tobie Goedewaagen, Dutch philosopher and Nazi collaborator
- January 6
- *Antonio Bilbao La Vieja, Argentine international rugby union footballer
- *Piersanti Mattarella, President of Sicily
- *Georgeanna Tillman, American singer and original member of the girl group the Marvelettes
- January 7
- *Irene Beasley, American singer
- *Simonne Mathieu, French tennis champion
- *Larry Williams, American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist
- *Sarah Selby, American actress
- January 8
- * John Mauchly, American physicist and inventor
- * Oscar Ewing, American lawyer, social reformer, and politician
- January 9 – Gaetano Belloni, Italian professional road racing cyclist
- January 10 – George Meany, American labor leader
- January 11
- *Valentine Blomfield, Major-General in the British Army
- *Barbara Pym, English novelist
- January 12 – Finn Ronne, Norwegian-born American explorer
- January 13
- *Eric Aldwinckle, designer, illustrator and official Second World War artist
- *Andre Kostelanetz, Russian conductor and arranger
- January 14 – Robert Ardrey, American playwright, screenwriter and science writer
- January 17 – Barbara Britton, American film and television actress
- January 18 – Sir Cecil Beaton, English photographer
- January 19
- * Kwak Sang-hoon, Korean politician, independence activist
- * Richard Franko Goldman, conductor, educator, author, music critic, and composer
- * William O. Douglas, American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975
- January 21 – Clyde Barnhart, American Major League Baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates
- January 22 – Teresa Noce, Italian labour leader, activist and journalist
- January 23
- * Lil Dagover, German actress
- * Shōjirō Iida, Japanese general
- * Babs Gonzales, American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author
- c. January 24 – Terry Anderson, English footballer, predominantly for Norwich City
- January 25 – Queenie Watts, English actress and an occasional singer,
- January 27 – Peppino De Filippo, Italian actor
- January 28
- * Kroger Babb, American film producer and showman
- * Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer
- January 29
- *Ali Adbo, Iranian boxer and founder of Persepolis F.C.
- *Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer and comedian
- January 30 – Professor Longhair, American musician
- January 31
- *Jose Vasquez Aguilar, first Filipino recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award
- *Lady Evelyn Beauchamp, first woman in modern times to enter the tomb of Tutankhamun
- *Jacobus Duminy, South African academic who became principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town
- January unknown date
- * Don Albert, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader
- * Nureddine Rifai, 25th Prime Minister of Lebanon
February
- February 1 – Jack Bailey, American actor and daytime game show host
- February 2 – William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry
- February 3
- *Marnie Bassett, Australian historian, biographer and travel writer
- *Hanna Rovina, Russian-Israeli actress
- February 4 – Stojan Aralica, Serbian Impressionist painter and academic
- February 5 – Nachman Aronszajn, Polish-American mathematician
- February 6
- * Sir William Abraham, British Army officer
- * Albert Kotin, Russian-born American painter
- February 7
- *Rudolf Bosshard, Swiss rower and Olympic medalist
- * Secondo Campini, Italian jet pioneer
- *Sir Richard Williams, Royal Australian Air Force officer
- February 8
- * Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen, titular Princess consort of Lippe
- *Erwin Friedrich Baumann, Swiss architect and sculptor
- *Isadora Bennett, American theater manager and modern dance publicity agent
- * Nikos Xilouris, Greek pop singer
- * Francesco Zucchetti, French Olympic cyclist
- February 9
- * Charles Fowlkes, American baritone saxophonist, member of the Count Basie Orchestra
- * Tom Macdonald, Welsh journalist and novelist
- February 10 – Wally Wales, American film actor who specialized in westerns
- February 11 – R. C. Majumdar, Indian historian
- February 12 – Samuel D. Berger, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Korea
- February 13
- * David Janssen, American actor
- * Marian Rejewski, Polish mathematician and cryptologist
- February 14
- *Kitsuju Ayabe, general in Imperial Japanese Army in World War II
- *Marie Besnard, French accused and acquitted serial poisoner
- *Victor Gruen, Austrian-American architect and inventor of the shopping mall
- February 15 – Sohn Won-yil, Korean naval vice admiral and Chief of Naval Operations
- February 16 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and physical chemist
- February 17
- * Graham Sutherland, English artist
- * Jerry Fielding, American jazz musician, arranger, band leader, and film composer
- February 19
- * Robert Morrison, British Olympic rower
- * Bon Scott, Scottish-Australian rock singer
- February 20
- * Joseph Banks Rhine, American parapsychologist
- * Alice Roosevelt Longworth, American writer and socialite
- February 21
- * Alfred Andersch, German writer, publisher, and radio editor
- * Aldo Andreotti, Italian mathematician
- *Gordon Boyd, Scotland international rugby union player
- *Chester Lauck, comic actor who played the character of Lum Edwards on the American radio comedy, Lum and Abner
- February 22
- *Sadaaki Akamatsu, Japanese ace fighter pilot
- *Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter and poet
- *Dick Kallman, American actor
- February 23 – Enrico Celio, Swiss politician, 49th President of the Swiss Confederation
- February 24 – Clement Martyn Doke, South African linguist
- February 26 – Mario Mattoli, Italian director and screenwriter
- February 28 – Ian Peebles, cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England; later becoming a journalist on The Sunday Times
- February 29 – Yigal Allon, Israeli politician and army general, acting Prime Minister of Israel
March
- March 1
- * Emmett Ashford, first African-American Major League Baseball umpire
- * Wilhelmina Cooper, Dutch-American model and owner of model agency
- * Dixie Dean, English footballer
- March 2 – Roland Armontel, French actor
- March 4
- *Johannes Martin Bijvoet, Dutch chemist and crystallographer
- *Vakhtang Ananyan, Armenian writer and journalist
- March 5 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor
- March 9
- * Nikolay Bogolyubov, Soviet and Russian actor
- * Olga Chekhova, Russian-German actress
- March 10
- * José Américo de Almeida, Brazilian writer, a politician, lawyer and teacher
- * Herman Tarnower, American cardiologist and co-author of a bestselling diet book; would later be murdered by his wife
- March 12
- *Gerritdina Benders-Letteboer, member of the Dutch Resistance
- *Roland Symonette, 1st Prime Minister of the Bahamas
- March 14
- *Henk Blomvliet, Dutch footballer, represented the Netherlands)
- * Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish naturalist and television presenter
- * Mohammad Hatta, Indonesia's first vice president
- * Anna Jantar, Polish singer
- * Allard Lowenstein, American Democratic politician; served as a U.S. representative for the 5th congressional district of Nassau County, New York.
- March 15
- *Charles Austin (rugby union), American rugby union player, official, and coach
- *Octávio Brandão, Brazilian pharmacist, politician and activist
- March 17
- * Boun Oum, 4th Prime Minister of Laos
- * Rudolf George Escher, Dutch composer and music theorist
- March 18
- * Erich Fromm, German-American psychologist and philosopher
- * Tamara de Lempicka, Polish painter
- * Louise Lovely, Australian actress
- *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
- March 19 – Millen Brand, American writer and poet
- March 21 – Marcel Boussac, thoroughbred race horse breeder
- March 23 – S. W. Alexander, British journalist and political activist
- March 24
- *John Barrie, English actor
- *Eric Bensted, Australian first-class cricketer
- * Pierre Etchebaster, French real tennis player
- * Óscar Romero, Salvadorian Roman Catholic archbishop
- March 25
- * Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist
- * Erminio Macario, Italian actor
- * Walter Susskind, Czech conductor
- March 26 – Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer
- March 28
- * Fenton Atkinson, British High Court judge, oversaw the trial of the Moors murderers
- * Dick Haymes, Argentine actor and singer
- March 30
- * Natalio Bacalso, Filipino writer, newspaperman, radio broadcaster, filmmaker and Constitutional Convention delegate
- * Mantovani, Anglo-Italian conductor and arranger
- * Tôn Đức Thắng, 2nd President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
- * Annunzio Mantovani, Italian British conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer
- March 31
- * Vladimír Holan, Czech poet
- * Jesse Owens, American Olympic athlete
April
- April 2 – Dick Howorth, English cricketer
- April 3
- * Archie Benn, Australian Federal Senator
- * Luella Gear, American actress
- April 4 – Rita Romilly Benson, American stage actress and acting teacher
- April 6 – Antony Balch, English film director and distributor
- April 8 – Wilhelm Arwe, Swedish ice hockey player
- April 9 – Kim Jae-gyu, Korean politician, soldier
- April 10 – Kay Medford, American actress and singer
- April 11
- * Charley Borah, American athlete and Olympic gold medalist
- * Florence Lake, American actress best known as the leading lady in most of the Edgar Kennedy comedy shorts
- April 12
- *Ruggero Bonomi, Italian Air Force general during the Spanish Civil War and World War II
- *William Tolbert, 20th President of Liberia
- April 13 – Frederick D. Alexander, American businessman, civil rights activist, and politician, first African American to serve on Charlotte City Council since the 1890s
- 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
- *Raymond Bailey, American actor comedian, best known as Milburn Drysdale in The Beverly Hillbillies
- * Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate in Literature
- * Marshall Reed, American actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1943 and 1978
- April 19
- * Tony Beckley, English actor
- * Charles Seel, American actor
- * Ethel Wilson, Canadian writer of short stories and novels
- April 20
- *Günther Ballier, German actor
- *Charles Stanley Blair, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland
- * Helmut Käutner, German film director
- * Katherine Kennicott Davis, American composer
- April 21
- *Dante Agostini, Italian-born French drummer
- *Sohrab Sepehri, Persian poet and painter
- *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
- April 22
- * Jane Froman, American singer and actress
- * Fritz Strassmann, German chemist
- April 24
- * James Buis, Dutch Roman Catholic prelate, vicar apostolic of Kota Kinabalu
- * Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer
- 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
- April 27 – Mario Bava, Italian director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter
- April 28
- * Andrija Anković, Croatian footballer and manager
- * Thomas G. W. Settle, American record-setting balloonist and admiral
- April 29 – Sir Alfred Hitchcock, British film director
- April 30
- *Harold Robert Aaron, United States Army lieutenant general
- *Arthur Banner, English footballer
- *Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican journalist, politician and statesman
- April unknown date – Herbert Bowman, American tennis player
May
- May 2
- *Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-born Australian cricketer
- * George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer
- * Alioune Diop, Senegalese writer and editor, founder of the journal Présence Africaine, and a central figure in the Négritude movement
- May 4
- * Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav communist military and political leader, 19th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and 1st President of Yugoslavia
- * Kay Hammond, English stage and film actress
- * Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Scottish pianist and composer
- May 5 – Isabel Briggs Myers, American psychological theorist and co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- May 6 – María Luisa Bombal, Chilean novelist and poet
- May 7 – Sigval Bergesen the Younger, Norwegian shipping magnate
- May 8 – Sir Geoffrey Baker, British field marshal, Chief of the General Staff
- May 12 – Lillian Roth, American actress
- May 13 – Elliott Arnold, American newspaper feature writer, novelist, and screenwriter
- May 14
- *Carl Ebert, German theatre and opera director
- *Wilhelm Weismann, German composer and musicologist
- *Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor
- May 15 – Lela Bliss, American actress
- May 16 – Marin Preda, Romanian writer
- May 17 – Ernst Blum, German international footballer
- May 18
- * Reid Blackburn, American photojournalist, killed in the 1980 volcanic eruption
- * Ian Curtis, English musician and singer
- * David A. Johnston, American volcanologist
- * Harry R. Truman, American businessman, bootlegger and prospector
- May 21 – Ida Kamińska, Polish actress, playwright and translator
- May 26 – Franz Bachelin, German art director
- May 28 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician
- May 30 – Otome Amatsu, Japanese dancer and actress
- May unknown date – Leo A. Berg, American politician, Mayor of Akron, Ohio
June
- June 1 – Rube Marquard, American Major League Baseball pitcher
- June 3
- *Naum Akhiezer, Jewish-Soviet mathematician
- *Fred Beir, American film and television actor
- June 5
- * Giorgio Amendola, Italian writer and politician
- June 6
- * Ruth Aarons, US table tennis player, vaudeville entertainer, and talent manager
- * Gualtiero De Angelis, Italian actor
- June 7
- *Richard Bonelli, American operatic baritone
- * Philip Guston, American painter
- * Henry Miller, American writer
- * Marian Spychalski, Polish architect and politician, former Polish head of State
- June 8
- * Alfredo Brilhante da Costa, Brazilian football player
- * Ernst Busch, German singer and actor
- June 12
- * Lawrence Anionwu, Nigerian administrator and diplomat, Nigeria's first Ambassador to Italy
- *Milburn Stone, 75, American actor
- * Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Japan
- * Billy Butlin, entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British Butlin holiday camp.
- June 13 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure
- June 18
- * Henry Aurand, American Lieutenant General, served in WWI, WWII and the Korean War
- *Cliff Bergere, American stuntman and racecar driver
- *Maurice Bridgeman, English oilman
- * Terence Fisher, British director
- * André Leducq, French cyclist who won the 1930 and 1932 Tours de France and a gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics
- 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
- June 23
- * Vadim Berezinskii, Soviet physicist
- * V. V. Giri, Indian politician and 4th President of India
- * Clyfford Still, American painter
- * John Laurie, Scottish stage, film, and television actor
- * 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
- *Boris Kaufman, Russian cinematographer
- June 26
- * Hal Aloma, Hawaiian steel guitarist, singer and bandleader
- * Ignatius Jacob III, Patriarch of Antioch
- June 27 – Barney Bigard, American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington
- June 28
- * Herbie Faye, American actor
- * José Iturbi, Spanish conductor and musician
- * Helen Gahagan Douglas, American actress and politician
- June 29
- * Filipp Agaltsov, Soviet Order of Lenin recipient
- *Jorge Basadre, Peruvian historian
- June 30 – Lester Brain, pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive
July
- July 1 – C. P. Snow, British physicist and novelist
- July 2 – Tom Barry, guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army
- July 3
- * Sir Adesoji Aderemi, Governor of Western Region, Nigeria
- * Deng Hua, Chinese general
- * Abdelhamid Sharaf, 51st Prime Minister of Jordan
- July 4 – Gregory Bateson, British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, semiotician and cyberneticist
- July 6 – Gail Patrick, American actress
- July 7
- * Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia
- * Dore Schary, American film writer, director and producer
- July 8 – Don G. Abel, American attorney and Washington State Supreme Court Justice
- July 9
- *Nazario Belmar, Spanish footballer, film producer and lawyer
- *Ian Botting, New Zealand international rugby union player
- *Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian writer, poet and diplomat
- July 10
- * Komako Kimura, Japanese suffragist, actress, dancer, theater manager, and magazine editor
- * Leonidas Zervas, Greek organic chemist
- July 11 – Zygmunt Berling, Polish general and politician
- July 12 – Donald Beatty, American aviator, explorer, and inventor
- July 13
- *Joseph Brennan, Irish Fianna Fáil politician
- *Sir Seretse Khama, 1st President of Botswana
- July 14 – Felix Berezin, Soviet Russian mathematician and physicist
- 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
- *Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician
- July 19
- * Nihat Erim, Turkish politician and jurist, 30th Prime Minister of Turkey
- * 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
- July 20
- *William P. Battell, Major General of the US Marine Corps
- *Piet Bouman, Dutch amateur footballer who played for his country
- *Lado Gudiashvili, Soviet painter
- July 21 – Salah al-Din al-Bitar, Syrian politician, two-time Prime Minister of Syria
- July 22 – Bob Bawden, Australian rules footballer with Richmond
- July 23 – Mollie Steimer, Ukrainian anarchist activist; relocated multiple times for anarchist activities before becoming a photographer
- July 24
- *J. S. Brenner, American politician in the state of Montana
- *Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor
- *Uttam Kumar, Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema
- July 25 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Soviet singer-songwriter, poet and actor
- July 26
- *Peter René Oscar Bally, Swiss botanical illustrator, botanist and taxonomist
- *Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic
- *Allen Hoskins, American child actor, who portrayed the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931
- *Ibn-e-Safi, fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu from Pakistan.
- July 27
- * Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran
- * Rushdy Abaza, Egyptian film and television actor
- July 30 – Charles McGraw, American stage, film and television actor
- July 31 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist
- July unknown date – Herbert Best, British-American author of children's literature and science fiction
August
- August 1
- *Gardner Boultbee, Canadian sailor and Olympic medalist
- *Patrick Depailler, French racing driver
- *Strother Martin, American actor
- August 2
- * Page Belcher, American Republican politician
- * 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
- * Leo Soileau, American Cajun musician
- August 4 – Georg Aumann, German mathematician
- August 5
- * Joachim Hämmerling, German-born Danish biologist
- * Harold L. Runnels, U.S. Representative from New Mexico
- August 6 – Marino Marini, Italian sculptor and educator
- August 7 – Albert Bittner, German conductor
- August 8
- * Arman, Iranian-Armenian actor
- * Paul Triquet, Canadian captain in WWII and recipient of the Victoria Cross in WWII
- * Oleg Grigoryevich Kononenko, member of Soviet cosmonaut group LII-1
- * Kim Hong-il, Korean diplomat and politician, independence activist
- August 9
- * Jacqueline Cochran, American pilot
- * Ruby Hurley, American civil rights activist
- * Elliott Nugent, American actor, playwright, writer, and film director
- August 10
- * Gareth Evans, British philosopher
- * Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and statesman, 3rd President of Pakistan
- August 13 – Bogislaw von Bonin, Colonel in the German Wehrmacht
- August 14 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and model
- August 15 – William Hood Simpson, American general
- August 16 – Kevin Blackwell, New Zealand road and track cyclist, Commonwealth Games medallist
- August 17
- *Harold Adamson, American lyricist
- *Azaria Chamberlain, killed by a dingo leading to false imprisonment for murder for her mother
- August 18 – Norman Cazden, American composer whose prime creative years were obscured by McCarthy-era political pressures
- August 19 – Otto Frank, German father of Jewish diarist Anne Frank
- August 20
- * Astaman, Indonesian actor
- *Naemi Briese, Swedish film actress
- * Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter
- * Dame Lucy Sutherland, Australian-born British historian, academic and public servant
- August 21 – Jack Cheetham, South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches
- August 22
- *L. C. Bates, African-American civil rights activist
- *Gabriel González Videla, 24th President of Chile
- *Alfred Neubauer, racing manager of the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955
- *James Smith McDonnell, American aviator, engineer, and businessman.
- August 24
- *Andre Parrot, French archaeologist specializing in ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria
- *Yootha Joyce, English actress
- August 25
- * Santos P. Amadeo, Puerto Rican attorney, law professor and Senator
- * Gower Champion, American theatre director, choreographer and dancer
- August 26
- *Rosa Albach-Retty, Austrian film and stage actress, with Nazi sympathies
- *Tex Avery, American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor
- *Jimmy Forrest, American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone throughout his career
- *Miliza Korjus, Polish-Estonian lyric coloratura soprano opera singer who appeared in classical American and Mexican sound films during the Golden Age of Hollywood
- August 27 – Herman Beam, NASCAR Grand National Series driver and team owner
- August 29
- * Franco Basaglia, Italian psychiatrist, neurologist and professor
- * 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
- August 31 – Rodolfo Arena, Brazilian actor
September
- September 1
- * Reg Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player
- * Frank LaManna, American baseball player
- September 2 – C. K. Alexander, Egyptian actor, director, composer, and playwright
- September 3
- * Barbara O'Neil, American actress
- * Dirch Passer, Danish actor
- * Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-born American actor
- * Fabian von Schlabendorff, German jurist, soldier, and member of the German resistance against Adolf Hitler
- September 4 – Wolfgang Gentner, German experimental nuclear physicist
- September 5
- * Don Banks, Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music
- * Barbara Loden, American actress and director of film and theater
- September 6 – Joe Bradford, English professional international footballer
- September 8
- * Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry
- * Bruce Dooland, Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches for the Australian national cricket team
- September 9
- * Harold Clurman, American theatre director and drama critic
- * John Howard Griffin, American journalist and author who wrote about racial equality
- September 11
- * Junius "Rainey" Bibbs, American baseball player
- * Harry Hulihan, American baseball player
- * Ernie Ovitz, American baseball player
- * Garth Mann, American baseball player
- September 12
- * Lillian Randolph, American actress
- * André Chéron, French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies
- September 13 – Fred D. Beans, brigadier general of the US Marine Corps,
- September 14 – Domingo Acedo, Spanish football player
- September 15 – Bill Evans, American jazz pianist
- September 16 – Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist
- September 17
- *Harold Boas, Australian town planner and architect
- *Anastasio Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua
- September 18
- * Frank Anderson, Canadian chess master and writer
- * Katherine Anne Porter, American author
- September 19 – Sol Lesser, American film producer
- September 20
- *Marie Bremner, Australian soprano, remembered for performances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas
- *Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner
- September 21 – Eberhard von Breitenbuch, German cavalry officer who took part in the military-based conspiracy against Adolf Hitler
- September 23
- * Jim Fouché, 5th President of South Africa
- * Alan Strode Campbell Ross, British academic specializing in linguistics
- September 24 – Bill Ayers, American baseball player
- September 25
- *Richard Reeve Baxter, American jurist
- * John Bonham, British rock drummer
- * Lewis Milestone, American film director
- * Marie Under, Estonian poet
- September 26
- *Princess Anne of Denmark,
- *Albert C. Bostwick Jr., American steeplechase jockey, thoroughbred racehorse owner, breeder and trainer
- September 29
- *Juxon Barton, British colonial administrator, Governor of Fiji, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
- *Harold F. Blum, physiologist who explored the interaction of light and chemicals on cells
- *Bindo Maserati, Italian automotive engineer and businessman, known as the manager of Maserati and one of the Maserati Brothers
October
- October 2
- * Princess Alexandrine of Prussia, oldest daughter and fifth child of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
- * Sir John Kotelawala, Sri Lankan soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon
- * Valentin Varlamov, Russian jet pilot who was selected for Air Force Group 1
- October 3 – Flemmie Pansy Kittrell, American nutritionist
- October 6
- *Sir Edric Bastyan, British Army officer, Governor of South Australia and Governor of Tasmania
- *Hattie Jacques, British actress
- *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
- * Maurice Martenot, French cellist, radio telegrapher during the first World War, and an inventor
- October 10
- * Carlo Annovazzi, Italian footballer
- * Elizabeth Rummel, German-Canadian mountaineer and environmental activist
- October 12 – Alberto Demicheli, Uruguayan political figure, former president of Uruguay
- October 14
- * Lawrence Baker, American tennis administrator and player, US Davis Cup captain
- * Oscar Alemán, Argentine jazz guitarist, singer, and dancer
- October 15
- *John Henry Balch, United States Naval Reserve officer who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War I
- *Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark
- *Mikhail Lavrentyev, Soviet mathematician and hydrodynamicist
- October 16
- October 17 – Narciso J. Alegre, Filipino civil liberties advocate, and a founder of Young Philippines
- October 18
- * Hans Ehard, German lawyer and politician
- * Song Yo-chan, Korean prime minister
- October 19 – Bobby Bauld, Scottish professional footballer
- October 20 – Isobel Barnett, Scottish radio and television personality
- October 21
- * Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician after whom Asperger syndrome was named
- * Kanjūrō Arashi, Japanese film actor
- *Élie-Oscar Bertrand, Canadian businessman and House of Commons representative
- * Valko Chervenkov, Bulgarian Communist leader and statesman, 34th Prime Minister of Bulgaria
- * Edelmiro Julián Farrell, Argentine general, 28th President of Argentina
- October 22 – Sammy Angott, American boxer, World Lightweight champion
- October 23
- * Charles Adler Jr., American engineer and inventor
- * Mariano Suárez, Ecuadorian politician, 27th President of Ecuador
- October 25
- * Virgil Fox, American organist
- * Víctor Galíndez, Argentine boxer
- * Sahir Ludhianvi, Urdu/Hindustani poet and Hindi film lyricist
- October 26 – Marcelo Caetano, Portuguese politician and scholar, 101st Prime Minister of Portugal
- October 27
- * Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, lawyer, author and broadcaster
- * Steve Peregrin Took, British rock musician
- * John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Laureate in Physics
- October 29 – Giorgio Borġ Olivier, Maltese politician and statesman, 7th Prime Minister of Malta
- October 31
- * Elizebeth Smith Friedman, American cryptographer
- * Jan Werich, Czech actor, playwright and writer
- October unknown date – Dorothy Blum, American computer scientist and cryptanalyst, worked for the National Security Agency
November
- November 2 – Willie Sutton, American bank robber
- November 3 – Ludwig Hohl, Swiss writer writing in the German language
- November 4
- *Sir Kenneth Blackburne, British colonial official, first governor-general of Jamaica
- *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
- *Johnny Owen, Welsh professional boxer
- November 5
- *Louis Alter, American pianist, songwriter and composer
- *Caroline Brady, American philologist
- November 6 – Aedy Moward, Indonesian actor
- November 7
- * Steve McQueen, American actor
- * Wolfgang Weyrauch, German writer, journalist, and actor
- November 8
- *Gordon Robert Archibald, Scottish painter
- *Claudio Bincaz, Argentine international football and rugby union player
- November 9 – Victor Sen Young, 65, American character actor
- November 10 – Marion Allnutt, welfare worker, commanding officer of the NGO, Women's Australian National Services
- November 11 – Renato Barbieri, Italian rower and Olympic medalist
- November 12 – Andrei Amalrik, Soviet writer and dissident
- November 16
- *Nikolaus Biewer, German international footballer
- *Imogen Hassall, English actress
- November 18
- * Arthur S. Adams, President of the University of New Hampshire
- * Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing
- November 19
- *Margaret Aitken, Canadian author, columnist, journalist, and politician
- *E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist
- November 20
- *Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld, German general in the Wehrmacht
- * Avtandil Gogoberidze, Soviet football player
- * Sir John McEwen, Australian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Australia
- November 21 – Sara García, Mexican actress
- November 22
- *Leonard Barr, American stand-up comedian, film actor, and dancer
- *Norah McGuinness, Irish painter and illustrator
- *Mae West, American actress
- 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
- *Herbert Agar, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize recipient
- *George Raft, American actor
- November 25
- * George Amsberg, Australian barrister and judge
- * Herbert Flam, American tennis player
- November 26
- * Rachel Roberts, British actress
- * Pete DePaolo, American racing driver who is remembered as one of the greatest racers of his generation
- November 29
- * Dorothy Day, American journalist and social activist
- * Babe London, American actress and comedian
December
- December 1 – Frank Booth, American swimmer and Olympic medalist
- December 2 – Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer
- December 3 – Sir Oswald Mosley, British fascist leader
- December 4
- * Snu Abecassis, Danish-Portuguese publisher
- * Adelino Amaro da Costa, Portuguese politician
- * Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant, High Commissioner to India, Ambassador to Nepal and Afghanistan, President of United Nations General Assembly
- *Joe Birch, English professional footballer
- *Jenő Brandi, Hungarian water polo player and Olympic medalist
- * Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Portuguese lawyer, 109th Prime Minister of Portugal
- * Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish runner, Olympic champion
- December 6 – Margot Bennett, Scottish-born screenwriter and author of crime and thriller novels
- December 7
- *Beechi, humorist in the Kannada language
- *Darby Crash, American rock songwriter, singer
- December 8
- *Theo Breuer, German international footballer
- *John Lennon, 40, English singer-songwriter and guitarist, murdered.
- December 10 – Patriarch Benedict I of Jerusalem
- December 11 – Hawayo Takata, Japanese-born American teacher and master practitioner of Reiki
- December 12 – Jean Lesage, Canadian lawyer and premier from Quebec
- December 13 – Fleming Alexander, American minister, businessman, and newspaper publisher, founded the Roanoke Tribune
- December 14
- *Sir Hugh Beadle, Rhodesian lawyer, politician, judge, Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia
- *Nichita Smochină, Moldovan activist
- *Elston Howard, American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder
- December 16
- * Peter Collinson, British film director
- * Colonel Sanders, American fast-food entrepreneur
- * Jose B. Lingad, Filipino lawyer and politician who served as governor and congressman from Pampanga
- * Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor
- December 17 – Ahmet Berman, Turkish international footballer
- December 18
- * Héctor José Cámpora, Argentine Peronist politician, 38th President of Argentina
- * Frances Fuller, American actress
- * Alexei Kosygin, Soviet politician, Premier of the Soviet Union
- * Sir Albert Margai, 2nd Prime Minister of Sierra Leone
- December 21
- *Philip Lemont Barbour, American linguist, historian and radio broadcaster
- *Marc Connelly, American playwright
- December 22 – Miriam Battista, American actress known principally for her early career as a child star in silent films
- December 24
- *Caroline van Hook Bean, American Impressionist painter
- * Karl Dönitz, German admiral and 4th President of Germany
- * Heikki Liimatainen, Finnish Olympic athlete
- * Siggie Nordstrom, American model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters
- December 25 – Fred Emney, English character actor and comedian
- December 26
- *Edward Ajado, Nigerian sprinter and Empire Games medal winner
- *Giuseppe Balbo, Italian painter
- *Richard Chase, American serial killer & cannibal
- December 28
- *James N. Bloodworth, justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama
- *Amir Elahi, Indian-Pakistani test cricketer who represented both countries
- *Sam Levene, Russian-American Broadway, films, radio, and television actor and director
- December 29 – Tim Hardin, American musician
- December 30
- *Frank Baker, Australian-American actor and stuntman
- *George Beel, English footballer
- December 31
- * Alan Bellhouse, Australian mathematician, teacher, musician, founder of North Sydney Symphony Orchestra
- * Bob Shawkey, American baseball pitcher who played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball
- *Dalbir Bindra, Canadian neuropsychologist
- *Abdelhafid Boussouf, Algerian nationalist and a leader of the National Liberation Front during the Algerian War of Independence
- * Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and professor
- * Raoul Walsh, American film director
- * J.W. Milam, American murderer and white supremacist
Unknown month
- Justicia Acuña, first woman to become a civil engineer in Chile
- M. P. Alladin, Trinidad and Tobago artist, poet, writer, teacher and public servant
- María Álvarez de Guillén, Salvadoran businesswoman, writer and women's rights activist
- Lev Balandin, Soviet swimmer and European Championships medalist
- Margaret Ballinger, South African politician, first President of the Liberal Party of South Africa
- Robert Barbour, Scottish airman and flying ace of World War I
- Archie Bayes, English football goalkeeper
- Juan Besuzzo, Uruguayan international footballer
- Frank Bielby, English professional rugby league footballer
- Lily Eberwein, Sarawakian nationalist, women's rights activist
- Asia Tawfiq Wahbi, Iraqi writer and social reformer