- Jan 6 Jose Enrique Pedreira, Puerto Rican composer ("Tus Caricias"; "Siempre"), and pedagogue, dies at 54
- Jan 9 Edwin A. Fleisher, American music patron (founder of the Symphony Club), musicologist (The Fleisher Collection), and philanthropist, dies at 71 [1]
- Jan 10 Colin Gregory, English tennis player (Australian C'ship 1929, chairman All-England Club, Wimbledon), dies at 55
- Jan 11 Mohammed Zakaria Ghonein, discoverer of 6,000 yr old pyramid, dies
- Jan 12 Edvard Eriksen, Danish-Icelandic sculptor, dies at 82
- Jan 14 G. D. H. Cole, English political theorist and socialist, dies at 69
- Jan 17 Abdul Aziz, cricket, dies at 17 struck by ball in fc match for Karachi
- Jan 21 Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, American actor (Our Gang; Beginner's Luck; General Spanky), shot by an acquaintance during a financial dispute at 31
Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959)
Jan 21 American filmmaker (The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah), dies of heart failure at 77
- Jan 21 Lamar Stringfield, American composer, dies at 61
- Jan 22 A J Else Mauhs, German/Dutch actress (Hamlet, Nora), dies at 73
- Jan 22 Elizabeth Moore, American tennis player (US Nat C'ship 1896, 1901, 03, 05), dies from congestive heart failure at 82
- Jan 22 Mike Hawthorn, English auto racer (F1 world champion 1958), dies in road accident at 29
- Jan 28 Viktor Josef Keldorfer, Austrian composer, dies at 85
- Jan 28 Yosef Sprinzak, Israeli politician, first Speaker of the Knesset (1949-59) and leading Zionist, dies at 73
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning