- Jan 1 Frank Wykoff, American athlete (Olympic gold 4x100m relay 1928, 32, 36), dies at 70
- Jan 1 Pietro Nenni, Italian socialist politician (Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs), dies at 88
- Jan 3 Amos Milburn, American R&B singer and pianist, dies at 52
- Jan 3 Axel Springer Jr, German photographer, commits suicide at 38
- Jan 3 Ivan Triesault [Johann Constantin Treisalt], Russian actor (Cry of the Werewolf, Black Parachute), dies at 81
Joy Adamson (1910-1980)
Jan 3 Austrian naturalist and author (Born Free), murdered at 69 by her servant
- Jan 3 Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist (Tour de France 1926), dies at 87
- Jan 6 Georgeanna Tillman, American singer (The Marvelettes - "Please Mr. Postman"), dies from lupus and sickle cell anemia at 37
- Jan 7 Carl White, American vocalist, dies at 47
- Jan 7 Larry Williams, American R&B singer-songwriter ("Dizzy, Miss Lizzie"; "Slow Down"), dies of a gunshot wound to the head at 44
- Jan 7 Sarah Selby, American actress (Tower of London), dies at 74
- Jan 7 Simonne Mathieu, French tennis player (French C'ships 1938-39; 11 Grand Slam doubles titles), dies at 71
- Jan 8 John Mauchly, American physicist who with J. Presper Eckert, designed the first general purpose electronic digital computer (ENIAC), dies at 72
- Jan 8 Oscar Ewing, US government official (Everybody's Business), dies at 90
- Jan 10 Bo Rein, American college football coach (b. 1945)
- Jan 10 George Meany, American labor leader (AFL-CIO), dies at 86
- Jan 11 Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)
- Jan 13 Andre Kostelanetz, Russian-American orchestral-pop music conductor (Lincoln Portrarit), dies of pneumonia at 78
- Jan 14 Robert Ardrey, American author (b. 1908)
- Jan 16 Anna Maria Franciska van Wageningen-Salomons, Dutch author (Girl Student), dies at 94
- Jan 17 Barbara Britton [Brantingham], American actress (Captain Kidd; Young and Willing; Mr. and Mrs. North), dies of pancreatic cancer at 60
- Jan 18 Cecil Beaton, British photographer, dies at 76
- Jan 19 Richard Franko Goldman, American educator and composer, dies at 69
- Jan 19 William O. Douglas, American member US Supreme court (1939-75), dies at 81
- Jan 22 Iris Meredith [Shunn], American actress (Son of Davy Crockett; The Mystery of the Hooded Horsemen), dies at 64
- Jan 23 Babs Gonzales [Lee Brown], American be-bop jazz vocalist, poet, and songwriter ("Oop-Pop-A-Da"), dies of cancer at 60
- Jan 23 Lil Dagover [Marie Seubert;], German silent and sound screen actress (Destiny; Spiders), dies at 92
- Jan 25 David Newell, American actor (Runaway Bride, White Heat, Dangerous Curves), dies at 75
- Jan 25 Queenie Watts [Mary Spenton], British singer and actress (Up the Junction, Holiday on the Buses), dies at 56
- Jan 28 Franco Evangelisti, Italian avant-garde classical and electroacoustic composer, and sound theorist (From Silence to a New Sonorous World), dies at 74
- Jan 29 Antonio Molina, Filipino composer, conductor and music administrator (Ana Maria, Hatinggabi), dies at 85
Jimmy Durante (1893-1980)
Jan 29 American actor, comedian and singer known as "the schnozzola" (The Durante-Moore Show, Jimmy Durante Show), dies of pneumonia at 86
- Jan 30 Professor Longhair [Henry Roeland Byrd], American boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B, and mambo pianist and singer ("Tipitina": "Go To The Mardis Gras"), dies from a heart attack at 61
- Jan 31 Jacobus Petrus Duminy, South African cricket batsman (3 Tests; Western Province, Transvaal, Oxford University CC) and academic (principal & vice-chancellor University of Cape Town), dies at 82
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning