- Jan 1 (Aubrey) "Moon" Mullican, American hillbilly pianist, songwriter, and singer ("Seven Nights To Rock"), dies of a heart attack at 58
- Jan 1 Maurice Leyland, English cricket batsman (41 Tests, 2764 runs @ 46.06; Yorkshire 1920-46, 1,000+ runs in 17 consecutive seasons), dies at 66
Jack Ruby (1911-1967)
Jan 3 American nightclub owner who murdered assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies of pulmonary embolism at 55
- Jan 3 Mary Garden, opera star, dies at 92
- Jan 4 Donald Campbell, English boat and land racer (world land speed & water speed records 1964; only person to complete in same year), dies in record attempt at 45
- Jan 6 Johnny Keane, American baseball manager (World Series 1964 St. Louis Cardinals; NY Yankees), dies of a heart attack at 55
- Jan 7 Carl Schuricht, German conductor and composer, dies at 86
- Jan 7 David Goodis, American writer (b. 1917)
- Jan 7 Sid Emery, cricket leg-spinner (NSW & Aus, 5 wkt in 1912 series), dies
- Jan 8 Zbigniew Cybulski, Polish actor (Ashes and Diamonds), dies at 39
- Jan 10 Emerson Treacy, American actor (California Straight Ahead, Prowler), dies after surgery at 66
- Jan 10 Vilém Petrželka, Czech composer, dies at 77
- Jan 12 Holland Smith, American US Marine Corps general, considered the "father" of modern U.S. amphibious warfare, dies at 84
- Jan 14 Renato Lunelli, Italian organist, composer, and musicologist, dies at 71
- Jan 15 Albert Szirmai, Hungarian operetta composer, dies at 86
- Jan 15 David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist and poet, part of Russian Futurist movement dies at 84
- Jan 16 Dirk Vansina, Flemish playwright (Sage of Kai-Roi), dies at 72
- Jan 16 Robert J. Van De Graaff, American engineer and physicist (Mobility of Gaseous Ions), dies at 65
- Jan 17 Barney Ross, American welterweight Boxing Champ (1934), dies at 57
- Jan 17 Evelyn Nesbit, actress (Redemption), dies at 82
- Jan 18 Albert Conti, Austrian actor (Jazz Heaven, Doomed Battalion), dies at 79
- Jan 18 Harry Antrim, American actor (Miracle on 34th St, Devil's Doorway), dies of a heart attack at 82
- Jan 18 Reese "Goose" Tatum, basketballer (Harlem Globetrotters), dies at 45
- Jan 18 Simon FHJ Berkelbach van der Sprenkel, vicar/theologist, dies at 84
- Jan 19 Grace Cunard, American silent screen actress (Untamed, Resurrection), dies at 73
- Jan 21 Ann Sheridan, American actress (They Drive by Night, Dodge City, Another World), dies of cancer at 51
- Jan 22 Jobyna Ralston, actress (Wings, Girl Shy, Freshman), dies at 66
- Jan 22 Robert Henriques, English writer (100 Hours to Suez), dies at 61
- Jan 23 Holcombe Ward, American tennis player (US Nat C'ship 1904; President USLTA 1937-47), dies at 88
- Jan 26 Albert Rémy, French actor (Grand Prix, The 400 Blows, The Train), dies at 51
- Jan 26 Kenneth Thomson, American character actor (Broadway Melody, Little Giant), dies of emphysema at 68
- Jan 27 Alphonse Juin, French general and Marshal, dies at 78
- Jan 27 Ed White, American astronaut (Gemini 4, Apollo 1, 1st American to walk in space), dies in a fire during pre-launch testing for Apollo 1 at 36
- Jan 27 Roger B. Chaffee, American astronaut, dies in Apollo I pre-launch test fire at 31
- Jan 27 Virgil Grissom, American Air Force test pilot and NASA astronaut (Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1), dies at 40 in Apollo 1 pre-launch test fire
- Jan 28 Shunter Coen, South African cricket batsman (2 Tests, HS 41no, @ 50.50; Orange Free State), dies at 64
- Jan 29 Włodzimierz Poźniak, Polish composer, dies at 62
- Jan 30 (Raymond) Lee Morgan, American actor (Dungeons of Harrow; The Last of the Fast Guns), dies of heart disease at 64
- Jan 31 Eddie Tolan, American sprinter the "Midnight Express" (1932 Olympics), dies at 58
- Jan 31 Otto Dibelius, German theologian and bishop (Confessional Church), dies at 86
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning