- January 22
- Ali Hassan Salameh [Abu Hassan], killed by car bomb; believed to have helped mastermind massacre of 1972 Munich Olympics athletes. [1]
- January 24
- Jerry Damon, comedian (That Was The Week That Was), dies at age 51. [1]
- Mabel Taliaferro, actress (My Love Come Back), dies at age 91. [1]
- January 25
- J Robertson Hare, English actor (Fighting Stock), dies at age 87 (born 1891). [1] [840]
- January 26
- Death of Nelson Rockefeller at age 70, four-time Governor of New York, Vice President of the United States (born 1908). [1] [840]
- February 1
- Mort Marshall, actor (Cully - Dumplings), dies at age 60. [1]
- February 2
- Jim Burke, cricket player (Australian opener), commits suicide. [1]
- Death of Sid Vicious AKA John Simon Ritchie of a heroin overdose at age 31, English musician (Sex Pistols) (born 1957). [1] [840]
- February 3
- Jody Gilbert, actress (Willard, Shaggy, Blonde Dynamite), dies. [1]
- February 5
- Eddie Paynter, cricket player (20 Tests for England, average 59.23), dies. [1]
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- February 6
- Alain Teister, Dutch sculptor/writer, dies at age 47. [1]
- Arthur van Schendel, Dutch art historian, dies at age 68. [1]
- February 7
- Death of Josef Mengele of drowning near Sao Paulo, Brazil; German experimental doctor, the Angel of Death, conducted inhuman medical experiments at the concentration camp at Auschwitz. [1] [37] [840]
- February 8
- Nikolay Semyonovich Tikhonov, Russian poet, dies at age 82. [1]
- February 9
- C I J Smith, cricket all-rounder (5 Tests for England 1935-37), dies. [1]
- Death of Dennis Gabor, Hungarian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900). [840]
- February 10
- Death of Edvard Kardelj, Yugoslav communist political leader, economist, partisan and publicist (born 1910). [840]
- February 13
- Jean Renoir, French writer/actor/director (Human Beast, Rules of the Game), dies at age 84. [1]
- February 14
- In Kabul, Muslim extremists kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs. (He is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.) [1] [840]
- February 15
- Alex Bradford, actor/composer (Your Arms too Short...), dies at age 51. [1]
- Mehdi Rahimi, Iran General/military Governor of Tehran, executed. [1]
- February 16
- Louise Allbritton, actress (Celia - Stage Door), dies at age 58. [1]
- Nematullah Nassiri, Iran General/head of Savak, executed. [1]
- February 17
- Death of William Gargan, American actor (Rain, Bells of Saint Mary, New Adventures of Martin Kane), at age 73 (born 1905). [1] [840]
- February 21
- Glendon Gibbs, cricket player (Test Cricket West Indies versus Australia 1955), dies. [1]
- February 28
- Jane Hylton, English actress (Adventures of Sir Lancelot), dies at age 52. [1]
- Mr Ed, TV show talking horse, dies. [1]
- March 1
- Dolores Costello, American actress (Noah's Ark, Expensive Women), dies at age 73 (born 1903). [1] [840]
- Molla Mustafa Barzani, Iraqi Kurd leader (KDP), dies at age 75 (born 1903). [1] [840]
- March 2
- Edith Craig, actress (Harmony Lane, Smashing Rackets), dies at age 71. [1]
- Sir Richard Sykes, British ambassador, is assassinated in Holland. [1]
- March 6
- Charles Wagenheim, actor (Halligan - Gunsmoke), dies at age 83. [1]
- March 7
- Guiomar Novaes, pianist (Brazilian Order of Merit), dies at age 84. [1]
- Klaus Egge, Norwegian composer (Fanitullen), dies at age 72. [1]
- March 8
- Gérard Blitz, Dutch 400 metre swimmer (world record), dies at age 78. [1]
- March 9
- Barbara Mullen, actress (Talk of a Million), dies at age 64. [1]
- March 11
- Victor Kilian, American actor (Gentleman's Agreement), dies at age 88 (born 1891). [1] [840]
- March 16
- Jean Monnet, French economist/CEO (ECSC), dies at age 90. [1]
- March 17
- Merv Inverarity, cricket player (father of John WA player 1925-40), dies. [1]
- March 19
- Al Hodge, actor (Captain Video), dies at age 65. [1]
- Richard Beckinsale, actor (Doing Time, Porridge, Lovers), dies at age 31. [1]
- March 22
- Ben Lyon, American actor (I Cover the Waterfront, Indiscreet), dies at age 78 (born 1901). [1] [840]
- March 23
- Philip Bourneuf, actor (Big Night, Frankenstein), dies at age 71. [1]
- March 26
- Jean Stafford, American author (Boston Adventure), dies at age 63 (born 1915). [1] [840]
- March 27
- Ronald Adam, actor (Phantom Shot), dies at age 82. [1]
- March 28
- Emmett Kelly, American circus clown (Weary Willy), dies at age 80 (born 1898). [1] [840]
- March 29
- Melville Cooper, TV panelist (I've Got a Secret), dies at age 82. [1]
- Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra of Kelantan, the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Head of State) of Malaysia, dies in office. He is replaced by Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang. [840]
- March 30
- Airey Neave, World War II veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the British House of Commons car park. [1] [840]
- Death of Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra, former President of Ecuador (born 1893). [840]
- April 1
- Marinus Peijnenburg, Dutch politician, dies at age 51. [1]
- April 2
- Carroll D Rosenbloom, Los Angeles Rams' president, dies at age 72. [1]
- Ivan Barrow, cricket player (11 Tests for West Indies 1930-39), dies. [1]
- April 4
- Edgar Buchanan, American actor (Uncle Joe - Petticoat Junction), dies at age 77 (born 1903). [1] [840]
- Death of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by hanging at age 51, former President and Prime Minister of Pakistan (born 1928). [1] [840]
- April 6
- M Marie Widlow, softball pitcher (Hall of Fame 1957), dies at age 61. [1]
- Death of Norman Tokar at age 59; actor (Henry on NBC radio's The Aldrich Family), director (Leave it to Beaver, Kilroy, The Chicago Teddy Bears, and 31 episodes of Disneyland). [457]
- April 10
- Henriëtte P "Hetty" Beck, actress (Dodendans), dies at age 91. [1]
- Nino Rota, Italian composer (Torquemada), dies at age 67 (born 1911). [1] [840]
- April 20
- Peter Donald, host (Masquerade Party), dies at age 60. [1]
- April 23
- Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of New Zealand-born protestor Blair Peach. [840]
- April 24
- John Carroll, actor (Hired Wife, Fiesta, Geraldine), dies at age 72. [1] [840]
- April 29
- Julia A Perry, US composer/conductor (Soul Symphony), dies at age 55. [1]
- May 1
- Berkeley Bertram McGarrell Gaskin, cricket player (two Tests for West Indies), dies. [1]
- May 2
- Death of Giulio Natta, Italian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1903). [840]
- May 3
- Erin O'Brien-Moore, actress (Nurse Choate - Peyton Place), dies at age 76. [1]
- May 5
- Shirley O'Hara, actress (Wild Party), dies at age 68. [1]
- May 8
- Talcott Parsons, US sociologist, dies at age 76. [1]
- May 10
- John Cameron Andrieu Bingham Morton, satirist (Beachcomber), dies. [1]
- Louis Paul Boon, Flemish writer (Eros and the Lonely Man), dies at age 67. [1]
- May 11
- Death of Lester Flatt at age 64; country musician (Flatt and Scruggs - "Ballad of Jed Clampett"). [1] [840] [457]
- May 13
- Nelly Aenders, actress (In Pyama), dies at age 65. [1]
- May 14
- Paul van 't Veeer, Dutch journalist/writer (Vrije Volk), dies at age 57. [1]
- May 16
- Asa Philip Randolph, American labor leader and civil rights pioneer, dies at age 90 (born 1889). [1] [840]
- May 23
- Hubert van Doorne, auto manufacturer (DAF), dies at age 79. [1]
- May 24
- Jan Arvan, actor (Red Skelton Show, Zorro), dies. [1]
- May 25
- John Spenkelink is executed in Florida, in the first use of the electric chair in America after the reintroduction of death penalty in 1976. [840]
- May 26
- George Brent, Irish actor (Baby Face, Dark Victory, 42nd Street), dies at age 75 (born 1899). [1] [840]
- May 29
- Mary Pickford, Canadian actress (Coquette, Suds, Secrets), dies at age 86 (born 1892). [1] [840]
- May 30
- Jack Raine, actor (Quartet), dies at age 82. [1]
- May 31
- Nigel Howard, cricket player (England captain 1951-52 tour of India), dies. [1]
- June 1
- Death of Werner Forssmann, German physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1904). [840]
- June 2
- Jim Hutton, actor (Ellery Queen), dies at age 45. [1] [840]
- June 3
- Death of Arno Schmidt in Celle, Germany; novelist (Die Gelehrtenrepublik 1957, Nobodaddys Kinder 1963, Abend mit Goldrand 1975). [37]
- June 8
- Herb Polesie, producer/playwright (20 Questions), dies at age 79. [1]
- June 11
- John Wayne, American film actor starring in over 250 films, dies at age 72 in Los Angeles, California after battling cancer for more than a decade. Notable films: Stagecoach (1939), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence (1962). He produced, directed and starred in The Alamo (1960) and The Green Berets (1968), an won an Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. [129] [413.50] [658.1] [840]
- June 13
- Death of Darla Hood at age 47 of acute hepatitis from minor surgery; child actress (Our Gang comedies (1935-41), The Little Rascals TV show). [1] [457] [840]
- June 17
- Lou Frizzel, actor (Dusty Rhoades - Bonanza), dies at age 58. [1]
- June 20
- A Nicaraguan National Guard soldier kills ABC TV news correspondent Bill Stewart and his interpreter Juan Espinosa. Other members of the news crew capture the killing on tape. [457] [467] [840]
- June 21
- Death of Angus MacLise, American rock percussionist (Velvet Underground) (born 1938). [840]
- June 22
- Death of Emory Parnell at age 85 of a heart attack in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA; actor (Life of Riley TV show, Lawman TV show). [1] [457]
- June 28
- Death of Paul Dessau in East Berlin, Germany; composer and conductor. [37]
- June 29
- Death of Lowell George at age 34, American rock musician (Mothers of Invention, Little Feat) (born 1945). [1] [840]
- July 1
- Richard Ward, actor (Beacon Hill), dies at age 64. [1]
- July 5
- Death of Judson Laire at age 76; singer, actor (Papa - Mama, a judge on The Defenders, Young Dr. Malone and The Nurses). [1] [457]
- July 6
- Death of Van McCoy of a heart attack at age 39 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA; soul singer, songwriter ("The Hustle" (1975)), producer (Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin, Brenda and The Tabulations, David Ruffin, Peaches and Herb, Jackie Wilson). [457]
- July 8
- Death of John Reed King at age 64 after a heart attack; radio host (What's My Line, Give and Take, Missus Goes A-Shopping, Double or Nothing), TV host (Missus Goes A-Shopping, It's a Gift, Chance of a Lifetime, Give and Take, Beat the Clock, Why?, Let's See). [1] [457]
- Death of Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1906). [840]
- Death of Robert B. Woodward, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917). [840]
- July 10
- Death of Arthur Fiedler at age 84; viola player, longtime leader of the Boston Pops (1930-1979). [1] [457] [840]
- July 12
- Death of Minnie Riperton of cancer at age 31; pop singer ("Lovin' You"). [1] [457] [840]
- Carmine Galante, boss of the Bonanno crime family, is assassinated. [840]
- July 14
- Death of George De Witt at age 56 of a heart attack; game show host (Name that Tune TV show, Be Our Guest TV show, Seven at Eleven TV show, All in One TV show). [1] [457]
- July 15
- Death of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican President (born 1911). [840]
- July 21
- Death of Ludwig Renn (original name, Arnold Friedrich Vieth von Golssenau) in East Berlin, Germany; novelist (Krieg 1928, Nachkrieg 1930). [37]
- July 22
- Death of Hope Summers at age 78 of heart failure; actress (Clara - The Andy Griffith Show, the voice for "Mrs. Butterworth"). [1] [457] [840]
- July 23
- Keith Godchaux, rocker (Grateful Dead), dies in a car accident at age 32. [1]
- July 24
- Archie Duncan, actor (Sherlock Holmes), dies at age 65. [1]
- July 29
- Death of political philosopher, Herbert Marcuse, in Starnberg, Germany. [37]
- Death of Bill Todman of a heart condition at age 62; game show producer (The Price is Right, To Tell the Truth, Beat the Clock, I've Got a Secret, What's My Line). [457] [840]
- August 2
- Thurmon Munson, catcher for the New York Yankees, is killed in a plane crash at Akron, Ohio at age 32 (born 1947). [1] [56] [840]
- Death of Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician, founder of the APRA Party (born 1895). [840]
- August 3
- Death of Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899). [840]
- August 6
- Kurt Kaszner, actor (Commander Fitzhugh - Land of the Giants), dies at age 65. [1]
- Death of Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1911). [840]
- August 8
- Death of Feodor Lynen in Munich, Germany; chemist at the University of Munich, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 for his research on the metabolism of cholesterol and fatty acids. [37]
- August 9
- Allan Frank, actor (Charade Quiz), dies at age 64. [1]
- Raymond Washington, co-founder of the Crips today one of the largest, most gang in the United States, is killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. [840]
- August 10
- Dick Foran, American actor (OK Crackerby), dies at age 69 (born 1910). [1] [840]
- Death of Walther Gerlach in Munich, Germany; professor of physics at the University of Tübingen and Munich. [37]
- August 12
- Death of Ernst Boris Chain, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (born 1906). [840]
- August 16
- Death of John Diefenbaker, Canadian Prime Minister (born 1895). [840]
- August 17
- Death of Vivian Vance AKA Vivian Roberta Jones of bone cancer at age 70; actress (Ethel Mertz - I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show). [5] [457] [840]
- August 24
- Hanna Reitsch dies in Frankfurt, Germany. Reitsch was an aviator who became the first German woman to gain a captain's license, the first woman helicopter pilot, the first woman test pilot, and the first woman to be awarded the Iron Cross (1942). [37] [840]
- August 25
- Stan Kenton, American jazz pianist, orchestra leader (Music 55), dies at age 67 (born 1911). [1] [840]
- August 26
- Death of Alvin Karpis, last of America's depression-era criminals (born 1907). [840]
- August 27
- Lord Mountbatten of Burma and three others are assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He was a British admiral, statesman and an uncle of The Duke of Edinburgh. [1] [840]
- August 28
- Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne, age 83, dies in a hospital as a result of her injuries the previous day's IRA bombing. [840]
- September 14
- Death of Nur Muhammad Taraki, President of Afghanistan (born 1917). [840]
- September 15
- Tommy Leonetti, singer/actor (Gomer Pyle USMC), dies at age 50. [1]
- September 18
- Gene Kelly, sportscaster (Sportsreel), dies at age 60. [1]
- September 20
- Death of Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah, King of Malaysia (born 1907). [840]
- Death of Ludvík Svoboda, president of Czechoslovakia (born 1895). [840]
- September 21
- John McQuade, actor (Charlie Wild Private Detective), dies at age 73. [1]
- September 27
- Jimmy McCullough, Scottish guitarist (Wings), dies of a drug overdose at age 26 (born 1953). [1] [840]
- Death of Gracie Fields AKA Grace Stansfield at age 81 from pneumonia; comedienne and singer ("Sally", "Now is The Hour", "Walter Walter", "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World"). [457] [840]
- September 29
- Death of Francisco Macías Nguema, first president of Equatorial Guinea (executed) (born 1924). [840]
- October 3
- Charles White, artist, dies at age 61 in Los Angeles, California. [1]
- October 13
- Death of Clarence Muse at age 90, American actor (Sam - Casablanca) (born 1889). [1] [840]
- October 22
- Jesse Bishop, convicted murderer, dies in Nevada gas chamber. [1]
- October 26
- Park Chung-hee, the President of South Korea, is assassinated by KCIA director Kim Jaegyu. [1] [840]
- October 28
- Arnold Soboloff, American stage actor (Peter Pan), suffers a heart attack while performing in New York and dies at age 48. [467]
- October 30
- Death of Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (born 1890). [840]
- November 1
- Death of Mamie Eisenhower, First Lady of the United States (born 1896). [840]
- November 5
- Al Capp, American cartoonist (Lil' Abner), dies at age 70 (born 1909). [1] [840]
- November 9
- Death of Lewis Charles at age 59 from cancer; actor (Feather and Father Gang TV show, Adam 12 TV show, Richard Diamond TV show, The Rifleman TV show). [1] [457]
- November 17
- Death of John Glascock at age 26 following heart surgery; bass player (Jethro Tull). [1] [457]
- November 23
- Death of Merle Oberon at age 68, British actress (Assignment Foreign Legion) (born 1911). [1] [840]
- December 2
- Death of H.A. Seaby in London, England; founded B.A. Seaby Ltd coin dealership in 1926, author of The Milled Silver Coinage of England, Catalog of the Coins of Great Britain and Ireland, Roman Silver Coins. [660.50]
- December 4
- Death of Robert Karnes at age 62 of heart failure; actor (Gunsmoke, Max - The Lawless Years, Perry Mason, Bonanza, Have Gun Will Travel, The Virginian). [1] [457]
- December 7
- Mari Andriessen, sculptor (Docker), Amsterdam, dies at age 82. [1]
- Prince Chahryar Shafik, Shah of Iran's nephew, murdered in Paris, France. [1]
- December 10
- Ann Dvorak, American actress (G Men, Life of Her Own, Scarface), dies at age 67 (born 1911). [1] [840]
- Fulton J Sheen, archbishop/religious broadcaster (Life is Worth Living), dies from a heart attack in New York City, New York at age 84. [1]
- December 11
- Death of Claire Carleton at age 66 of cancer in New York City, New York, USA; actress (Alice - Cimarron City TV show, Wagon Train, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, M-Squad, Jack Benny Show). [1] [457]
- December 13
- Jon Hall, American actor (Ramor of the Jungle), dies at age 66 (born 1915). [1] [840]
- December 14
- Nirode Ranjan Chowdhury, cricket player (two Tests for India, average 205), dies. [1]
- December 15
- Death of Bern Hoffman at age 66; actor (Bonanza, Wagon Train, Major Dell Conway, Phil Silvers Show, The Texan, and Disneyland). [1] [457]
- December 21
- Bill Anderson, cricket player (Test for New Zealand 1946, scored five and one), dies. [1]
- December 22
- Death of Darryl F. Zanuck at age 77, American film producer (20th Century Fox) (born 1902). [1] [840]
- December 24
- Dirk Uipko Stikker, Dutch CEO (Heineken)/Secretary-General NATO, dies at age 82. [1]
- Rudi [Rudolf] Dutschke, German student leader, dies at age 39. [1]
- December 25
- Death of Joan Blondell at age 73 of leukemia; actress (Here Come the Brides, Real McCoys). [1] [457] [840]
- Death of Lee Bowman at age 64, American actor (Ellery Queen, Miami Undercover) (born 1914). [1] [840]
- December 27
- Death of Hafizullah Amin (executed), General Secretary of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, President of Afghanistan (born 1929). [1] [840]
- December 30
- Richard Rodgers, American composer (Rogers and Hammerstein), dies at age 77 (born 1902). [1] [840]
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