- Dec 1 "Magic" Sam [Maghett], American blues guitarist ("Feelin' Good (We're Gonna Boogie)"), dies of a heart attack at 32
- Dec 2 Kliment Voroshilov, Russian politician and military officer under Stalin (President of the USSR 1953-60), dies at 88
- Dec 2 Stephen Potter, English writer and humorist (School for Scoundrels, Shipbuilders), dies of pneumonia at 69
- Dec 3 Mathias Wieman, German actor (The Blue Light, Fear), dies at 67
- Dec 3 Ruth White, American actress (To Kill a Mockingbird, Up the Down Staircase), dies of cancer at 55
- Dec 4 Alceo Toni, Italian arranger (Vivaldi's "Four Season's" for piano four-hands), composer (Elegiac Quintet), and musicologist, dies at 85
- Dec 4 Fred Hampton, American activist (Black Panther Party leader; Rainbow Coalition co-founder) shot and killed by the FBI and Chicago police at 21
- Dec 7 Eric Portman, English actor (Naked Edge), dies from a heart ailment at 66
- Dec 7 Hugh Williams, British dramatist, actor and writer (Wuthering Heights, Bank Holiday), dies after surgery at 65
- Dec 7 Lefty O'Doul, American Baseball HOF left fielder (MLB All-Star, World Series 1933; NL batting champion 1929, 32 NY Yankees), dies at 72
- Dec 8 Vincenzo Davico, composer, dies at 80
- Dec 10 Franco Capuana, Itlalian opera conductor, dies of a heart attack on the podium while leading a performance of Gioachino Rossini's "Mosè in Egitto" in Naples, at 75
- Dec 10 Leigh Harline, American composer and conductor, dies at 62
- Dec 13 Raymond A Spruance, U.S. Navy admiral (Battle of Midway), dies at 83
- Dec 13 Spencer Williams, American director, writer and actor (The Amos 'n' Andy Show), dies at 76
- Dec 16 Leo Mathisen, Danish jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer and bandleader, known as "The Lion" (Take It Easy; To Be Or Not To Be), dies at 63
- Dec 17 Arturo da Costa e Silva, 27th President of Brazil (1967-69), dies at 67
- Dec 22 Ilse Steppat, actress (Invisible Terror), dies at 52
- Dec 22 Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director (Shanghai Express), dies at 75
- Dec 23 Donald Foster, American actor (Hazel, Lord Love A Duck), dies after long illness at 80
- Dec 26 Johannes Gerard van Dillen, Dutch economic historian (Of Wealth & Oligarchists), dies at 86
- Dec 26 Josef Hromádka, Czech Protestant theologist (Christian Peace Conference founder; Lenin Prize, 1957), dies following a heart attack at 80 [1]
- Dec 26 Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, French poet and author (History d'aimer), dies at 67
- Dec 28 Henry Oscar, English stage and film actor (Saint in London), dies at 78
- Dec 31 Joseph A Yablonski, American labor leader, and candidate for United Mine Workers (UMW) president, murdered in his home by hitmen hired by then-president of UMW. at 59
- Dec 31 Salvatore Baccaloni, Italian operatic bass buffo singer (Metropolitan Opera, 1940-62), and actor (Merry Andrew; Rock-a-Bye Baby), dies at 69
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide