- Feb 1 Madame Sul-Te-Wan [Nellie Crawford], American actress (The Birth of a Nation, Uncle Tom's Cabin), dies of a stroke at 85
- Feb 1 William Hoppe, American carom billiards player (51 world titles 1906-52), dies at 71
- Feb 2 Frank DeCaires, West Indian cricket batsman (3 Tests, 2 x 50; British Guiana), dies at 49
Buddy Holly (1936-1959)
Feb 3 American rock and roll musician and songwriter ("Peggy Sue"; "That'll Be the Day"; "Words Of Love"), dies in a plane crash at 22 [1]
- Feb 3 Ritchie Valens [Valenzuela], American rock singer ("Donna"; "La Bamba"), dies in plane crash at 17
- Feb 3 The Big Bopper [Jiles Perry Richardson], American radio disc jockey, singer and songwriter (Chantilly Lace; White Lightning), dies in plane crash at 28
- Feb 4 Una O'Connor, Irish-American actress (Banjo; David Copperfield; The Invisible Man), dies at 78
- Feb 5 Curt Sachs, German musicologist, dies at 77
- Feb 5 Gwili Andre, Danish actress (No Other Woman, Roar of the Dragon), dies in a fire at 52
- Feb 7 Daniel François Malan, Prime Minister of South Africa (1948-54) who began the implementation of apartheid, dies at 84
- Feb 7 Guitar Slim [Eddie Jones], American blues guitarist (The Things That I Used to Do), dies at 32
- Feb 7 Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie, American Baseball HOF second baseman (Triple Crown 1901; AL batting champion 1901–04, 10; Philadelphia A's, Cleveland Naps), dies at 84
- Feb 8 William J "Wild Bill" Donovan, American head of Office Strategic Services and founding father of the CIA, dies at 76
- Feb 11 Marshall Teague, American auto racer (Daytona Road Course Strictly Stock Car winner 1951, 52; AAA National Stock Car champion 1952, 54), dies in speed record attempt at 37
- Feb 12 George Antheil, American pianist, avant garde composer (Airplane Sonata; Ballet Mécanique), and inventor, dies at 58
- Feb 13 William Axt, American film scores composer (The Prisoner of Zenda), dies at 70
- Feb 14 Warren "Baby" Dodds, American jazz drummer, dies at 60
- Feb 15 Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist (Nobel 1928), dies at 69
- Feb 17 Kathryn Adams, American silent film actress, dies at 65
- Feb 17 Tim Mara, American founder and administrator (NFL NY Giants), dies at 59
- Feb 18 Alfred Alessandrescu, Romanian composer, dies at 65
- Feb 18 Carlos Viegas Gago Coutinho, Portuguese cartographer and aviator (1st flight across the south Atlantic), dies at 90
- Feb 18 Eric Zeisl, Austrian-American composer (Requiem Ebraico), dies of a heart attack at 53
- Feb 18 Jaroslav Kvapil, Czech composer, dies at 66
- Feb 20 Laurence Housman, English author and playwright (Victoria Regina), dies at 93
- Feb 20 Ray McDonald, American stage and screen tap dancer, dies choking on food at 38
- Feb 22 Helen Parrish, American actress (Hour Glass, Three Smart Girls Grow Up), dies of cancer at 35
- Feb 26 Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, granddaughter of King Edward VII and great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, dies at 67
Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959)
Feb 28 American dramatist (Key Largo, Bath Seed), dies of a stroke at 70
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide