- Aug 2 Jack Kirkwood, Scottish actor (Fibber McGee & Molly), dies at 69
- Aug 2 José María Castro, Argentine composer, dies at 71
- Aug 3 Flannery O'Connor, American writer (Good Man is Hard to Find), dies pf lupus at 39
- Aug 5 Art Ross, Canadian-American hockey player (Montreal Wanderers), coach (Boston Bruins, 1924-45), and namesake of NHL's scoring champion trophy, dies at 79
- Aug 5 Moa Martinson, Swedish writer (My Mother Gets Married), dies at 73
- Aug 6 Cedric Hardwicke, British stage actor (Rope; Suspicion; Peter Pan; Richard III), dies at 71
- Aug 12 Ian Fleming, English author (James Bond novels), dies at 56
- Aug 13 Peter Anthony Allen is the last person executed (for murder) in England and the United Kingdom at Walton Prison, Liverpool
- Aug 14 Johnny Burnette, American rockabilly singer-songwriter and guitarist ('Train Kept A-Rollin'"; "You're Sixteen"), drowns in nighttime boating mishap at 30
- Aug 16 Jack Pennick, American actor (Lady From Louisiana), dies at 68
- Aug 21 J. L. Wilkinson, American Baseball HOF executive (founder All Nations Baseball club 1912 & NgL Kansas City Monarchs 1920), dies at 86
Palmiro Togliatti (1893-1964)
Aug 21 Italian politician and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy (1926-34, 1938-64), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 71
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide