- Oct 2 Boris Y. Bukreev, Russian mathematician (b. 1859)
- Oct 2 Frank Lovejoy, American actor (Man Against Crime, Meet McGraw), dies from a heart attack at 50
- Oct 4 E H (Patsy) Hendren, English cricket batsman (51 Tests, 7 x 100s, HS 205no; 57,611 1st-class runs, 3rd-best ever; Middlesex CCC), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 73
- Oct 4 John Lowry, NYC builder (Radio City Music Hall), dies at 79
- Oct 6 Tod Browning, American film director (Dracula), dies at 82
- Oct 7 Maurits Dekker, Dutch novelist and playwright (Merkteken; Boots In Jail), dies at 66
- Oct 9 Lulu McConnell, American vaudeville, radio, and television comedienne (It Pays To Be Ignorant), dies at 80
- Oct 11 Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg, Austrian botanist who was one of three scientists (also Hugo de Vries and Carl Correns) who independently rediscovered Gregor Mendel's work on the laws of genetics, dies at 90
- Oct 16 Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher (Water & Dreams), dies at 78
- Oct 17 (Henry) "Rubberlegs" Williams, American vaudeville dancer, and blues and jazz singer, dies at 55
- Oct 17 Natalia Goncharova, Russian avant-garde artist and painter, dies at 81
- Oct 22 Dirk Roosenburg, Dutch architect (KLM building and design) dies at 75
- Oct 26 Louise Beavers, American actress (Beulah-Beulah), dies at 60
- Oct 27 Enrico Mattei, Italian oil magnate (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi), dies at 58
- Oct 27 Fatso Marco, American actor and comedian (Milton Berle Show), dies at 56
- Oct 27 Rudolph Anderson, U-2 pilot, shot down over Cuba
- Oct 28 Pierre Froidebise, Belgian organist, composer, and musicologist, dies at 48
- Oct 29 Siegfried Salomon, Danish composer, dies at 77
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide