- Jan 2 Joe Darling, Australian cricket batsman and captain (34 Tests, 21 as captain; 3 x 100s, TS 178; South Australia CA), dies following a gall bladder operation at 75
William Joyce (1906-1946)
Jan 3 American-born Irish Fascist politician and NAZI propagandist, hanged in Britain for treason at 39
- Jan 5 (Catherine) "Kitty" Cheatham, American folk singer and children's music singer-songwriter, dies at 81
- Jan 5 George "Slim" Summerville, American actor (All Quiet on the Western Front, Keystone Cops), dies of a stroke at 53
- Jan 7 Adamo Didur, Polish operatic bass singer (New York Metropolitan Opera, 1908-32), dies at 71
Dion Fortune (1890-1946)
Jan 8 British occultist and author (Psychic Self-Defence, The Mystical Qabalah), dies of leukemia at 55
- Jan 9 Countee Cullen, African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance (The Black Christ; Copper Sun), dies from high blood pressure and uremic poisoning at 42 [1]
- Jan 9 Dimitrios Golemis, Greek athlete (b. 1874)
- Jan 17 Gottfried Rudinger, German composer, dies at 59
- Jan 18 Feliks Nowowiejski, Polish organist and composer, dies at 68
- Jan 23 Matteo Giulio Bartoli, Italian linguist, dies at 72
- Jan 26 Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer (b. 1884)
- Jan 29 Harry Hopkins, American statesman and presidential advisor (US Secretary of Commerce, Loan & Lease law), dies at 55
- Jan 29 Sidney Jones, British conductor and composer (The Geisha, A Gaiety Girl), dies at 84
- Feb 1 Hans Bethge, German poet, dies at 70
- Feb 4 Margarete Boie, German writer, dies at 65
George Arliss (1868-1946)
Feb 5 British Academy Award-winning actor (Disraeli; Devil; Green Goddess), dies at 77
Felix Hoffmann (1868-1946)
Feb 8 German chemist (synthesized aspirin and heroin), dies at 78 [1]
- Feb 8 Miles Mander, British actor (Tower of London, Wuthering Heights, Murder!), dies from a heart attack at 57
- Feb 15 Cornelius Johnson, American high jumper (Olympic gold 1936), dies from bronchopneumonia at 32
- Feb 15 Louis "Putney" Dandridge American jazz pianist and singer (Heatin' Up Harlem), dies at 44
- Feb 20 Hugh Allen, British organist, conductor (Bach Choir; Leeds Festival), and educator (Oxford, 1918-46-; Royal College of Music, 1918-37), dies from injuries after being run down by a motorcycle at 76
- Feb 21 José Streel, Belgian World War II collaborator (b. 1911)
- Feb 23 Tomoyuki Yamashita [Yamashita Tomobumi], Imperial Japanese general dubbed "Tiger of Malaya," executed for war crimes by hanging at 60
- Feb 27 James Cecil Parke, Irish tennis player (Australasian C'ship singles & doubles, Davis Cup 1912; Wimbledon doubles 1914) and rugby union centre (20 caps; Leinster Rugby), dies at 64
- Mar 2 Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian National socialist (leading supporter of Nazism in Hungary), dies at 50
- Mar 2 George E. Stewart, American army officer and Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 73
- Mar 4 Bror von Blixen-Finecke, Danish big-game hunter (b. 1886)
- Mar 8 Frederick Lanchester, English Engineer who built the first British petrol automobile (1896), dies at 77
- Mar 12 Philip Merivale, British actor (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Nothing But Trouble), dies from a heart ailment at 59
- Mar 13 Abraham Bredius, Dutch art historian (Rembrandt), dies at 90
- Mar 13 Karl Haushofer, German soldier and geographer, dies at 76
- Mar 13 Thomas Frederick Dunhill, composer, dies at 69
- Mar 13 Werner von Blomberg, German politician and general (Commander-in-Chief German Armed Forces 1935-38), dies of cancer in detention at 67
- Mar 16 Max Blokzijl, Dutch radio presenter, executed for broadcasting Nazi propagandist during WWII, at 61
- Mar 17 Dai Li, Chinese spymaster (b. 1897)
- Mar 19 Amir Hamzah, Indonesian poet (Buah Rindu), dies killed by a communist extremists at 35
- Mar 22 Clemens August von Galen, German Catholic Bishop of Münster (led opposition to Nazism, especially T4 extermination program), dies at 68
- Mar 23 Gilbert N. Lewis, American Chemist (theory of covalent bonding), dies at 70
- Mar 24 Alexander Alekhine, Russian-French chess player (world champion 1927-35, 37-46), dies choking on meat at 53
- Mar 24 Gustaf Heintze, Swedish composer, dies at 66
- Mar 26 Alexandru Zirra, Romanian composer, dies at 62
- Mar 28 Cum Posey, American Baseball HOF executive (owner NgL Homestead Grays; 9 x consecutive NL pennants 1937–45); and Basketball HOF guard (5 x Coloured World C'ships), dies from cancer at 55
- Mar 30 John Vereker, British-Irish aristocrat (6th Viscount Gort), decorated military officer (WWI, WW2), and administrator (Governor of Malta, 1942-44; High Commissioner of British Mandate of Palestine, 1944-45), dies of liver cancerat 59
- Apr 1 Noah Beery, American character actor (Story of Esther, The Mark of Zorro), dies at 64
- Apr 3 Masaharu Homma, Japanese Lt General (responsible for Bataan Death March in the Philippines), executed by firing squad for war crimes at 58
- Apr 3 Thomas Dixon, American white supremacist, novelist, playwright (The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan), dies at 82
- Apr 5 Vincent Youmans, American composer and songwriter (Tea for Two), dies at 47
- Apr 12 August Borms, Flemish nazi collaborator, executed at 67
- Apr 12 F Guicciardi, writer, dies
- Apr 13 Valery Zhelobinsky, Russian pianist and composer, dies at 33
- Apr 13 William Henry Bell, English composer, dies at 72
- Apr 16 Arthur Chevrolet, Swiss auto racer and car designer (co-founder Chevrolet Motor Car Company), dies from suicide at 61
- Apr 17 John Iddon, cricketer (car accident 5 Tests for Eng 1934-35), dies
- Apr 17 Juan Bautista Sacasa, President of Nicaragua (1932-36), dies at 71
John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946)
Apr 21 English economist whose ideas changed the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, dies of a heart attack at 62
- Apr 21 Robert Graham, cricketer (3 wkts for South Africa in 2 Tests 1898-99), dies
- Apr 22 Harlan F. Stone, American lawyer and jurist (SCOTUS, 1941-46), dies at 73
- Apr 22 Lionel Atwill, British actor (Captain Blood, To Be or Not to Be), dies at 61
- Apr 23 Jesús Castillo, Guatemalan composer (Quiché Vinak), dies at 68
- Apr 25 Albert Knight, English cricket batsman (3 Tests, 1 x 50; Leicestershire CCC), dies at 73
- Apr 25 Joseph Vine, cricketer (batted in two Tests Eng v Aust 1911-12), dies
- Apr 26 Hermann von Keyserling, Baltic German philosopher (Unsterblichkeit), dies at 65
- Apr 26 Jim Larkin White, American cave explorer and guide (Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico), dies at 63
- Apr 28 Louis Bachelier, French mathematician, dies at 76
- May 1 Bill Johnston, American tennis player (US Open 1915, 1919; Wimbledon 1923), dies of tuberculosis at 51
- May 1 Edward Bairstow, English composer, dies at 71
- May 1 Percy Whitlock, English composer and organist, dies at 42
- May 7 Anton Mussert, Dutch fascist and leader of the Nationalist Socialist Movement, executed for high treason at 51
- May 7 Joe Humphries, English cricket wicket-keeper (3 Tests for England 1907-08), dies at 69
- May 19 Booth Tarkington, American novelist (The Magnificent Ambersons) and playwright, dies at 76
- May 20 Jacob Ellehammer, Danish watchmaker and inventor (powered flight), dies at 74
- May 25 Patty Smith Hill, American composer, teacher and songwriter ("Happy Birthday To You"), dies at 78
- May 26 Friedrich German prince, last ruler of Waldeck and Pyrmont, dies at 81
- May 29 Martin Gottfried Weiss, Commandant of Dachau concentration camp (b. 1905)
- May 30 Louis Slotin, Canadian Physicist and Chemist (Manhattan Project, Los Alamos) who assembled the plutonium core for 'Trinity', the first detonated atomic device, dies of radiation poisoning at 35 (b. 1910)
- Jun 1 Ion Antonescu, Romanian army officer (Marshall; Cheif of Staff, 1933-34), authoritarian politician (Prime Minister and Conducător, 1940-44), is executed by firing squad after having been convicted of war crimes at 63
- Jun 1 Leo Slezak, Moravian dramatic tenor and actor (Othello; Zirkus Saran; Husaren heraus), dies from a heart attack at 72
- Jun 3 Mikhail Kalinin, Soviet Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (1938-46), dies at 60
- Jun 5 Maud Watson, British tennis player (first Wimbledon female champion 1884-85), dies at 81
Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946)
Jun 6 German author (Before Dawn - Nobel Prize in Literature, 1912), dies at 83
Jack Johnson (1878-1946)
Jun 10 American boxer (1st African-American world heavyweight champion 1908-15), dies in a car accident aged 68
John Logie Baird (1888-1946)
Jun 14 Scottish inventor and father of the television, dies of a stroke at 57
- Jun 14 Kristian Hellström, Swedish athlete (Olympic bronze 1,500m 1906) and executive (first Secretary-General International Association of Athletics Federations 1913-14), dies at 65
- Jun 16 Ludwig Winder, Austrian-Czech writer and journalist, dies of heart disease at 57
- Jun 16 Miloje Milojević, Serbian composer, dies at 61
- Jun 17 Joe Dawson, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1912), dies at 56
- Jun 21 Heinrich Kaminski, German composer, dies at 59
- Jun 23 William S. Hart, American silent film actor (Wild Bill Hickok, Tumbleweeds), dies at 81
- Jun 24 Louise Whitfield Carnegie, American philanthropist (b. 1857)
- Jun 26 Max Kögel, SS officer (b. 1895)
- Jun 26 Yosuke Matsuoka, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan (b. 1880)
- Jun 28 Antoinette Perry, American stage actress, theater director, co-founder of the American Theatre Wing, and namesake of the Tony Award, dies of a heart attack at 58
- Jun 28 Eduard Veterman, Dutch painter/playwright, dies in an auto accident
- Jun 29 Frank Hadow, British tennis player (Wimbledon 1878; first exponent of the lob), dies at 91
- Jun 30 Michael Zadora, American composer and pianist, dies at 64
- Jul 2 Anthony Overton, publisher/cosmetics manufacturer/banker, dies at 81
- Jul 4 Gerda Steinhoff, Nazi concentration camp overseer (b. 1922)
- Jul 4 Othenio Able, Austrian artist, fossil creator and founder of paleobiology, dies at 71
- Jul 6 Jeanne Lanvin, French fashion designer and perfumer (Lavin), dies at 79
- Jul 8 Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, Russian composer (Alexnadrov Ensemble), dies at 63
- Jul 10 Sidney Hillman, Lithuanian-American union leader (Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union; Congress of Industrial Organizations), dies of a heart attack at 59
- Jul 12 Ray Stannard Baker, American journalist (Puliter Prize 1940), dies at 76
Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946)
Jul 13 American photographer and art dealer (Camera Work), dies at 82
- Jul 15 Razor Smith, English cricket spin bowler (245 first class matches, Surry CCC), dies at 68
Draža Mihailović (1893-1946)
Jul 17 Serbian WWII hero and war criminal, executed by firing squad at 53
- Jul 20 Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, American trombonist and plunger mute pioneer (Duke Ellington Orchestra), dies of a stroke at 42
- Jul 21 Gualberto Villarroel, Bolivian military officer (President of Bolivia 1943-46), killed and lynched in La Paz riots at 37
- Jul 23 James Maxton, Scottish politician, Leader of the Independent Labour Party, dies at 61
- Jul 25 Narziss Ach, German psychologist (Analyse des Willens), dies at 74
- Jul 26 Morris Hirshfield, Polish-American painter, dies (b. 1872)
- Jul 27 Gertrude Stein, American-French writer and poet (Ida, Tender Buttons), dies at 72
- Aug 1 Andrey Vlasov, Russian-Soviet army general and Nazi collaborator, executed for high treason, by hanging at 45
- Aug 5 Wilhelm Marx, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (1923-25, 1926-28), dies at 83
- Aug 6 Benny Lynch, Scottish boxer (World flyweight title 1937-38), dies of malnutrition-induced respiratory failure at 33
Blanche Bingley (1863-1946)
Aug 6 British tennis player (Wimbledon 1886, 89, 94, 97, 99-1900), dies at 82
Tony Lazzeri (1903-1946)
Aug 6 American Baseball HOF second baseman (World Series x 5; only player to complete natural cycle with grand slam; NY Yankees), dies from a fall caused by a heart attack at 42
- Aug 9 Bert Vogler, South African cricket all-rounder (15 Tests, 64 wickets, BB 7/94, 2 x 50; Natal, Transvaal; MCC), dies from lobar pneumonia at 69
H. G. Wells (1866-1946)
Aug 13 English sci-fi author (The War of the Worlds, Time Machine), dies at 79
- Aug 13 Valery Zhelobinsky, Russian composer, dies at 33
- Aug 15 Edward R. Bradley, American businessman and horse owner (1st to own 4 Kentucky Derby winners), dies at 86
- Aug 16 Herman Harrell Horne, American philosopher (idealism), dies at 71
- Aug 18 Georg Åberg, Swedish athlete (Olympic silver triple jump; bronze long jump 1912), dies at 53
- Aug 20 (John) "Rags" Ragland, American burlesque comedian, and stage and screen character actor (Whistling In The Dark), dies of liver and kidney failure at 40
- Aug 26 Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1887)
- Aug 29 J E Feenstra, Nazi military police commandant, executed
- Aug 29 John Steuart Curry, American painter and lithographer (Baptism in Kansas), dies of a heart attack at 48
- Aug 29 Milan Harašta, Czech composer, dies at 26
- Aug 30 Grigory Semyonov, Russian counter-revolutionary (executed) (b. 1890)
- Aug 31 Harley Granville-Barker, English dramatist, producer (The Voysey Inheritance) and critic, dies at 68
- Aug 31 Paul August von Klenau, Danish opera composer, and conductor, dies at 63
- Sep 3 Paul Lincke, German composer and theater conductor considered the "father" of the Berlin operetta (Frau Luna, Lysistrata), dies at 79
- Sep 7 Paul Zech, German writer, dies at 65
- Sep 9 Mynona, Polish writer (The Creator), dies at 74
- Sep 11 Arthur van Schendel, Dutch writer (Het fregatschip Johanna Maria - The frigate Johanna Maria), dies at 72
Amon Göth (1908-1946)
Sep 13 Austrian SS commandant of the Płaszów concentration camp, executed by hanging at after being convicted of war crimes at 37
- Sep 13 Eugene Lanceray, Russian artist, dies at 71
- Sep 16 James Hopwood Jeans, English physicist, mathematician and astronomer (The Mysterious Universe), dies at 69
- Sep 16 Mamie Smith, American vaudeville singer, dancer and actress (Crazy Blues), dies at 63
- Sep 20 Raimu [Jules Auguste Cesar Muraire], French actor (The Baker's Wife, Marius, Fanny), dies from a heart attack at 62
- Sep 21 Leo Bittermieux, Belgian missionary (Belgian Congo), dies at 66
- Sep 21 Olga Engl, Austrian actress (Phantom), dies at 75
- Sep 25 Heinrich George [Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz], German actor (Hitlerjunge Quex), dies at 52
- Sep 26 William Strunk Jr., American grammarian and author (The Elements of Style), dies at 77
- Sep 28 Jean Van de Eeckhoudt, Belgian painter, dies (b. 1875)
- Oct 4 Barney Oldfield, American auto racer (International Motorsports Hall of Fame; first to drive at 60mph on circular track), dies of a heart attack at 67
- Oct 8 Rose Melville, American stage actress (Sis Hopkins), dies at 73
- Oct 11 Ico Hitrec, Croatian footballer, dies at 35
- Oct 12 Joseph W. Stilwell, American general (commanded U.S. forces in China, Burma, and India in WWII), dies at 63
Hermann Goering (1893-1946)
Oct 15 German Nazi Party leader, convicted war criminal, Vice-Chancellor of Germany (1941-45) and World War I fighter pilot ace, poisons himself in prison at 53
Alfred Jodl (1890-1946)
Oct 16 German general during World War II (head of the German High Command, signed unconditional Nazi surrender), hanged by Allied forces after the Nuremberg trials at 56
- Oct 16 Alfred Rosenberg, German war criminal, hanged
- Oct 16 Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Austrian Nazi politician (Austrian Chancellor, 1938), and war criminal responsible for deportation of Dutch Jews, hanged at 54
- Oct 16 Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Austrian Nazi (SS/SD), hanged at 43
- Oct 16 Fritz Sauckel, German Nazi politician (General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment, 1942-45), and convicted war criminal, hanged at 51
- Oct 16 Granville Bantock, English composer and conductor (Hebridean Symphony), dies at 78
Hans Frank (1900-1946)
Oct 16 German Nazi Governor General of Occupied Poland, hanged by Allied forces after the Nuremberg war trials at 46
Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1946)
Oct 16 Nazi foreign minister and war criminal, hanged at 53
- Oct 16 Wilhelm Frick, German leading Nazi official and war criminal (Minister of the Interior, responsible for concentration camps), hanged for crimes against humanity at 69
Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946)
Oct 16 Nazi military leader (head of the German High Command), is hanged at Nuremberg at 64
- Nov 5 Joseph Stella, Italian-American Futurist painter (Brooklyn Bridge), dies at 69 [1]
- Nov 5 Zygmunt Stojowski, Polish-American concert pianist, composer, and pedagogue, dies at 76
- Nov 14 Herman de Man [Salomon Herman Hamburger], Dutch writer (The Rising Waters), dies in an airplane crash at 48
- Nov 14 Manuel de Falla, Spanish pianist and composer (Atlántida), dies of cardiac arrest at 69
- Nov 18 Donald Meek, Scottish-American stage and screen actor (You Can't Take It With You; Stagecoach), dies of leukemia at 68
- Nov 18 John King, cricketer (scored 60 & 4 in only Test Eng v Aus 1909), dies
- Nov 18 Johnny Lush, American MLB baseball pitcher, 1904-10 (Philadelphia Phillies, St . Louis Cardinals 2 no-hitters - 1 official, 1 rain-shortened), dies at 61
- Nov 22 Bertie Rose-Innes, cricketer (South Africa's Test), dies
- Nov 22 Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (Reich Minister of Justice 1942-45), dies at 57
- Nov 23 Fawzi Husseini, Arabic High Director for Palestine, murdered
- Nov 24 Alfonso Broqua, Uruguayan composer, dies at 70
- Dec 6 Maximilian Steinberg, Russian composer, dies at 63
- Dec 7 Sada Yacco, Japanese stage actress (b. 1871)
Damon Runyon (1880-1946)
Dec 10 American journalist and writer (Guys & Dolls-based on his work), dies at 66
Walter Johnson (1887-1946)
Dec 10 American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (3 x Triple Crown of Pitching; World Series 1924; AL MVP 1913, 24; Washington Senators), dies from a brain tumour at 59
- Dec 12 Ben Carter, American actor (Crash Dive; Dark Alibi; Maryland), casting agent, and civil rights activist, dies from diphtheria at 36
- Dec 15 Frederic Norton, British composer (Chu Chin Chow), dies at 77
- Dec 15 Konrad Haebler, German historian (Hundert Kalenderinkunabeln), dies at 89
- Dec 17 Constance Garnett, English translator of Russian (first to translate Chekhov and Dostoevsky into English), dies at 84
- Dec 19 Paul Langevin, French physicist (b. 1872)
- Dec 23 John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (b. 1873)
- Dec 25 W C Fields, writer and comedian (Bank Dick, It's A Gift), dies at 67
- Dec 28 Carrie Jacobs-Bond, American singer, pianist, songwriter (I Love You Truly; A Perfect Day), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 85
- Dec 30 Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer (Shanewis (or The Robin Woman); The Sky Hawk), dies at 65
- Dec 31 Frederik "Frits" Tartaud, Dutch actor, and husband of Dutch actress Alida Klein, dies at 89
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide