Misplaced Pages

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
  • Ceferino Garcia, Filipino champion boxer (b. 1906)
  • Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist, writer, and human rights campaigner (b. 1921)
  • 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)
  • Felton Jarvis, American record producer of Elvis, Willie Nelson, and other musicians and a singer (b. 1934)
  • Marvin Opler, American anthropologist (b. 1914)
• January 4 – Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and songwriter (b. 1914)
• January 5
  • Guy Paquinet, French jazz trombonist
  • 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 7
  • Jose Ardevol, Cuban composer and conductor of Spanish derivation (b. 1911)
  • Alvar Lidell, English radio announcer and newsreader for the BBC and compere (b. 1908)
• January 9
  • Donald H. Bochkay, 64, American Air Force pilot and flying ace (b. 1916)
  • Obdulio Morales, Cuban pianist, conductor, composer and ethnomusicologist (b. 1910)
  • Kazimierz Serocki, Polish composer and one of the founders of the Warsaw Autumn contemporary music festival (b. 1922)
• January 10
  • Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
  • Richard Boone, American actor (b. 1917)
  • Fawn M. Brodie, American biographer and history professors at UCLA (b. 1915)
• January 11 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889)
• January 12
  • Isobel Elsom, English film, theatre, and television actress (b. 1893)
  • Sir John Nicoll, British colonial administrator, governor of Singapore (b. 1899)
• January 15
  • David E. Lilienthal, American attorney and public administrator (b. 1899)
  • Emanuel Celler, American Democratic politician from New York (b. 1888)
• January 16 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
• January 17 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek athlete and footballer (b. 1899)
• January 19 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (b. 1958)
• January 21 – Allyn Joslyn, American actor (b. 1901)
• January 22 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani nationalist historian and playwright (b. 1903)
• January 23
  • Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
  • Bobby Sherwood, American guitarist, trumpeter, bandleader, actor and radio host (b. 1914)
  • Olin E. Teague, American politician and member of the United States House of Representatives from 1946 to 1978 (b. 1910)
• January 25 – Adele Astaire, American dancer and 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)
  • Louise Lorraine, American actress (b. 1904)
• February 3 –
  • J Harlen Bretz, American geologist (b. 1882)
  • Jan Donner, Dutch politician (b. 1891)
• February 4 – Mario Camerini, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1895)
• February 5
  • Ella Grasso, American politician and member of the Democratic Party (b. 1919)
  • Kuda Bux, magician and firewalker (b. 1905)
• February 6 –
  • Frederica of Hanover, Queen Consort of the Hellenes and wife of King Paul of Greece (b. 1917)
  • Hugo Montenegro, American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks (b. 1925)
• 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 13 – Jack Crapp, English cricketer (b. 1912)
• 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
  • Robert Aickman, English writer and conservationist (b. 1914)
  • Howard Hanson, American composer (b. 1896)
• February 27 – Jacob H Gilbert, American lawyer and politician (b. 1920)

March

• March 1 – Roberto Francisco Chiari Remón, 14th President of Panama (b. 1905)
• March 2
  • Brenda De Banzie, British actress (b. 1909)
  • Janear Hines, American actress and Earl Hines' daughter (b.1950)
  • Tony Gulotta, American racing driver (b. 1903)
• March 4 – Torin Thatcher, American actor (b. 1905)
• March 5 –
  • Yip Harburg, American lyricist (b. 1896)
  • Paul Hörbiger, Austrian theatre and film actor (b. 1894)
  • Red Saunders, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1912)
• March 6 – George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)
• March 7
  • Peter Birch, Irish Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1911)
  • Jon Gnagy, self-taught artist remembered for being America's original television art instructor
  • 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
  • Ken Barrington, English international cricketer (b. 1930)
  • Paolo Grassi, Italian actor (b. 1919)
• March 15 – René Clair, French film director (b. 1898)
• March 17 – Paul Dean, American Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher (1912)
• March 19 – Frank Lane, American executive in professional baseball (b. 1895)
• March 20 – Gerry Bertier, American college football player (b. 1953)
• March 21 – Mark Donskoy, Russian Soviet film director (b. 1901)
• March 22
  • Jumbo Elliott, American track and field coach (b. 1915)
  • 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 27 – Mao Dun, Chinese novelist, cultural critic, and minister of culture (b. 1896)
• March 29 – Eric Williams, 1st Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1911)
• March 30
  • Sherman Edwards, American songwriter (b. 1919)
  • Noel Harford, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1930)
  • Douglas Lowe, British Olympic athlete (b. 1902)
  • DeWitt Wallace, American magazine publisher (b. 1889)
• March 31
  • Enid Bagnold, British writer and playwright (b. 1889)
  • Frank Tieri, American gangster (b. 1904)

April

• April 1 – Eua Sunthornsanan, singer, Thai composer and bandleader of the Suntaraporn Band (b. 1910)
• April 2 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentine athlete, winner of the marathon race at the 1948 Summer Olympics (b. 1919)
• April 3
  • Juan Trippe, American airline entrepreneur (b. 1899)
  • Leo Kanner, Austrian-American psychiatrist, physician, and social activist (b. 1894)
• April 5
  • Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (b. 1900)
  • Bob Hite, American musician (Canned Heat) (b. 1943)
  • Maurice Zbriger, Canadian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1896)
• April 7
  • Kit Lambert, British producer, record label owner and manager of The Who (b. 1935)
  • Norman Taurog, American film director (b. 1899)
• April 8 – Omar Bradley, American army general (b. 1893)
• April 10
  • George Carlyle Marler, Canadian politician, notary and philatelist (b. 1901)
  • Howard Thurman, American author, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, educator, and civil rights leader (b. 1899)
• April 11
  • Caroline Gordon, American novelist and literary critic (b. 1895)
  • Marie Ney, British character actress (b. 1895)
• April 12
  • Hendrik Andriessen, Dutch composer (b. 1892)
  • Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
  • Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
  • Hans Chemin-Petit, German composer, conductor and music educator (b. 1902)
• April 14 – Ivan Galamian, Armenian-American violin teacher (b. 1903)
• April 15
  • John Thach, American naval aviator and admiral (b. 1905)
  • Lorenzo Guerrero, former President of Nicaragua (b. 1900)
• April 16 –
  • Eric Hollies, English cricketer (b. 1912)
  • Effa Manley, American sports executive (b. 1897)
• April 18 – James H. Schmitz, German-American writer (b. 1911)
• April 19 – Ernst Levy, Swiss musicologist, composer, pianist and conductor (b. 1895)
• April 21 – Eddie Sauter, American composer and arranger (b. 1914)
• 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)
  • Mickey Walker, American professional boxer (b. 1903)
• April 30 – Peter Huchel, German poet and editor (b. 1903)

May

• May 1 – Barry Jones, American actor (b. 1893)
• May 3 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
• May 4 – Paul Green, American Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (b. 1894)
• 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)
  • Nip Pellew, Australian cricketer (b.1893)
• May 10 – Ismail of Johor, Malaysian sultan (b. 1894)
• May 11
  • Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
  • Bob Marley, Jamaican singer, songwriter and musician (b. 1945)
  • Hoyt W. Fuller, American editor, educator, critic, and author during the Black Arts Movement (b. 1923)
• 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 16 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist, organist, bandleader, and arranger (b. 1922)
• May 17 –
  • Hugo Friedhofer, German-American film composer (b. 1901)
  • Jeannette Ridlon Piccard, American high-altitude balloonist, and in later life an Episcopal priest (b. 1895)
• 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)
  • Patsy O'Hara, Irish republican hunger striker and member of the Irish National Liberation Army (b. 1957)
  • Raymond Mccreesh, Irish volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (b. 1957)
• 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)
  • Rayner Heppenstall, British novelist, poet, diarist, and a BBC radio producer (b. 1911)
• 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)
  • Fredric Warburg, British publisher, who in 1935 founded the company Secker & Warburg (b. 1898)
• 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 9 – Allen Ludden, 63, American television host (Password), stomach cancer.
• June 10
  • Jenny Maxwell, American actress (b. 1941)
  • Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa, United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (b. 1897)
• 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 South Yemen (b. 1920)
• July 8
  • Jugah Barieng, Malaysian politician (b. 1903)
  • 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 26 – Stafford L. Warren, American physician and radiologist; inventor of the mammogram (b. 1896)
• 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)
  • Sydney Kyte, British bandleader (b. 1896)
• 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 – 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
  • Irmgard Bartenieff, German-American dancer, physical therapist and pioneer of dance therapy (d. 1981)
  • Valeri Kharlamov, Soviet ice hockey player (b. 1948)
• August 28 – Béla Guttmann, Hungarian football player 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, Australian politician (b. 1897)
• September 7 – Christy Brown, Irish writer and painter (b. 1932)
• September 8
  • Uri Zvi Greenberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
  • 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 Askin, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1907)
• September 11
  • Harold Bennett, British actor (b. 1899)
  • 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 – 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
  • Blanche Noyes, American aviator (b. 1900)
  • Anwar Sadat, 37th Prime Minister of Egypt and 3rd President of Egypt, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, assassinated. (b. 1918)
• 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 5 – 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, 63, American actor, bleeding.
• 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 17 – Wilhelm Pelikan, Austrian chemist (b. 1893)
• November 21 – Ejner Federspiel, Danish actor (b. 1896)
• 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, 43, American actress, drowning.

December

• December 2
  • Wallace Harrison, American architect (b. 1895)
  • Francis Hunter, American tennis player (b. 1894)
• 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. 1890)
• December 13 – Cornelius Cardew, English composer (b. 1936)
• December 15
  • Catherine T. MacArthur, American philanthropist (b. 1908)
  • 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)
  • Juan Miles, Argentine polo player (b. 1895)
• 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)

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27. "Uri Zvi Greenberg, 83; Hebrew and Yiddish Poet". The New York Times. 10 May 1981.
28. Kemmer, N. (1983). "Hideki Yukawa. 23 January 1907 – 8 September 1981". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 29: 660–676. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1983.0023. JSTOR 769816.
29. "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1975". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
30. Sir Milton Allen
31. Mott, N. (1982). "Walter Heinrich Heitler. 2 January 1904 – 15 November 1981". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 28: 140–151. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1982.0007. JSTOR 769896.
32. Wilhelm Pelikan
33. Ejner Federspiel (in Danish)
34. Kornberg, H.; Williamson, D. H. (1984). "Hans Adolf Krebs. 25 August 1900 – 22 November 1981". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 30: 350–385. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1984.0013. PMID 11616005.
35. Hickok, Ralph (1995). A who's who of sports champions : their stories and records. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 441. ISBN 9780395681954.

• 1981 deaths
• 1981-related lists