Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift.

Famous People Who Died in November 1961

  • Nov 1 Alexander Cohen, Dutch anarchist and author, dies at 97
  • Nov 1 Joan McCracken, American stage and screen actress, dancer and comedienne (Oklahoma!; Claudia: Story of a Marriage), dies of a heart attack at 43
  • Nov 2 James Thurber, American humorist, playwright, and cartoonist (Men, Women & Dogs; The Male Animal; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), dies of pneumonia after brain surgery at 66
  • Nov 9 Antonius Coolen, Dutch author (Village by the River), dies at 64
  • Nov 13 Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle, Jr., American diplomat (b. 1897)
  • Nov 13 Fredrik J "Frits" Bakker Jr, Dutch actor (Unknown Woman), dies at 63
  • Nov 13 Wally Brown, American actor (Jed Fame-Cimarron City), dies at 57
  • Nov 15 Douglas Walton, Canadian-American actor (Bad Lands), dies of a heart attack at 51
  • Nov 15 Elsie Ferguson, American actress (Footlights, Scarlet Pages), dies at 78
  • Nov 15 Johanna Westerdijk, Dutch botanist and Netherlands 1st female prof (Utrecht, 1917-52), dies at 78
  • Nov 16 Samuel Rayburn, American politician (US Representative (D) from Texas, 1913-61; Speaker of the House for 17 years), dies of pancreatic cancer at 79
  • Nov 18 Clarence "Bud" Pinkston, American diver (Olympic gold 10m platform, silver 3m springboard 1920), dies at 61
  • Nov 19 Dorothy Heyward (née Kuhns), American playwright (Porgy), and novelist, dies at 71
  • Nov 24 Ruth Chatterton, actress (Female, Dodsworth), dies after illness at 67
  • Nov 25 Hubert Van Innis, Belgian archer (6 x Olympic gold, 3 x silver 1900, 20), dies at 95
  • Nov 26 Alexander Borisovich Goldenweiser, Russian-Soviet pianist, composer, and teacher, dies at 86
  • Nov 30 Stanislaw Kazuro, Polish composer, dies at 80