Sam Cooke (1931-1964)
Dec 11 American singer and entrepreneur described as "the inventor of soul music" ("You Send Me"; "A Change Is Gonna Come"), shot to death at 33
- Dec 12 H I "Sailor" Young, cricketer (left-arm bowler Eng v Aust 1899), dies
- Dec 14 William Bendix, American actor (Lifeboat, Babe Ruth Story, Life of Riley), dies from lobar pneumonia at 58
- Dec 17 Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1883)
- Dec 21 Algernon Kingscote, English tennis player (Australasian C'ship 1919), dies at 76
- Dec 21 Carl Van Vechten, American writer famous for the controversial novel "Nigger Heaven", dies at 84
- Dec 22 Bonifacio Gil Garcia, Spanish composer and folklorist, dies at 66
- Dec 23 Arrigo Pedrollo, Italian composer, dies at 86
- Dec 25 Cheerio Meredith, actress (One Happy Family), dies at 74
- Dec 28 Dave Bowman, American jazz and studio pianist (Jack Teagarden; Bud Freeman; Perry Como), dies in a car accident at 50
- Dec 29 Bernard von Brentano, German writer (Big Cats), dies at 63
- Dec 29 Miroslav Krejčí, Czech composer, dies at 73
- Dec 30 Andrés Soriano, Spanish Filipino industrialist (San Miguel Brewery, Philippine Airlines), dies of pancreatic cancer at 66
- Dec 31 Gertrude Michael, American actress (Cleopatra, Menace, Club Havana, caged), dies from undisclosed causes at 53
- Dec 31 Ólafur Thors, Icelandic Prime Minister (5 times between 1942-63), dies at 72
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide