Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
Oct 2 French sculptor and painter (Nude Descending a Staircase), dies at 81
- Oct 4 Francis Biddle, 58th United States Attorney General (1941-45), dies at 82
- Oct 6 Phyllis Nicolson, British mathematician (Crank-Nicolson method), dies at 51
- Oct 9 Pierre Mulele, Congolese rebel leader, executed
- Oct 10 Wilhelmina Johanna "Willy" Haak, Dutch actress and acting teacher (GoetheJane Eyre), dies at 71
- Oct 13 Bea Benaderet, American radio and screen comic actress (Petticoat Junction - "Kate"; The Beverly Hillbillies - "Cousin Pearl"; George Burns and Gracie Allen Show - "Blanche"), dies of lung cancer at 62
- Oct 15 Franz Reizenstein, German-British pianist, composer, and educator (Concerto Popolare), dies at 57
- Oct 18 Lee Tracy, American actor (Dinner at Eight, Martin Kane Private Eye), dies of cancer at 70
- Oct 20 Bud Flanagan [Chaim Reuben Weintrop], English comedian (duo with Chesney Alley), dies at 72
- Oct 20 Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, African-American TV preacher, dies at 84
- Oct 25 Jean Schlumberger, French writer (Passions), dies at 91
- Oct 25 Rudolf Forster, Austrian actor (Threepenny Opera), dies at 83
- Oct 27 Lise Meitner, Austrian-Swedish physicist (discovered the nuclear fission of uranium, dies at 89
- Oct 28 Henricus W. J. M. Keuls, Dutch lawyer and poet (Dancing Lamp), dies at 85
- Oct 29 Marius Ulfrstad, Norwegian composer, dies at 78
- Oct 30 Conrad Richter, American writer (Light in the Forest), dies at 78
- Oct 30 Pert Kelton, actress (Cavalcade of Stars), dies at 61
- Oct 30 Ramon Novarro [Jose Samaniegos], Mexican-American actor (Ben-Hur, Mata Hari), is murdered at 69
- Oct 31 Malcolm Hale, American musician (Spanky and Our Gang), dies of monoxide poisoning at 27
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide