- Dec 1 Roelof Frankot, Dutch painter (b. 1911)
- Dec 3 Virginia Lacy Jones, American librarian and presidential advisor, dies at 72
- Dec 3 Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin, Russian mathematician (b. 1919)
- Dec 4 John Rock, American obstetrician and gynecologist who co-developed the 1st birth control pill, dies at 94
- Dec 5 Adam Malik, Third Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1917)
- Dec 6 Ruth Cummings, actress (Daybreak, Dream of Love), dies at 90
- Dec 7 Jeanne Cagney, American stage, screen, and radio actress (Lion is in the Streets; Quicksand; Yankee Doodle Dandy), dies of lung cancer at 65
- Dec 7 Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough, American race car (Nascar) driver, dies of head injury from a fall at 46
- Dec 8 Luther Adler, American actor (D.O.A., The Desert Fox), dies at 81
- Dec 8 Razzle [Nicholas Dingley], British drummer (Hanoi Rocks), dies at 24
- Dec 8 Robert Jay Mathews, White Nationalist (b. 1953)
- Dec 11 George Waggner, American director and writer (The Wolf Man), dies at 90
- Dec 11 Oskar Seidlin, German-born American scholar (b. 1911)
- Dec 14 Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (Ambito, Bird of Paper, Nobel 1977), dies at 86
- Dec 15 Frank Spedding, Canadian chemist whose uranium extraction process helped make possible the first atomic bomb, dies at 82
- Dec 15 Jan Peerce [Jacob Pincus Perelmuth], American tenor (NBC Symphony, 1938-55; NY Metropolitan Opera, 1941-67; "Bluebird of Happiness"), dies at 80
- Dec 15 Lennard Pearce, British actor (Only Fools and Horses....), dies of a heart attack at 69
- Dec 16 Debs Garms, American baseball utility (World Series 1944 St. Louis Cardinals; NL batting champion 1940 Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 77
- Dec 19 Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (b. 1903)
- Dec 19 Michel Magne, French experimental music and film score composer (Gigot; Barbarella), and recording studio owner (Château d'Hérouville). takes his own life at 54
- Dec 21 Judith Raskin, American soprano (Susanna-Le Nozze di Figaro), dies at 56
- Dec 22 Viola Wells [Evans], American jazz, blues, and gospel singer, dies at 82
- Dec 23 Joan Lindsay, Australian author (Picnic at Hanging Rock), dies at 88
- Dec 24 Ian Hendry, British actor (The Avengers, The Lotus Eaters), dies of a stomach haemorrhage at 53
- Dec 24 Peter Lawford, British actor, producer and socialite (Mrs Miniver, Thin Man), dies of cardiac arrest at 61
- Dec 26 Gösta Jonsson, Swedish saxophonist, accordion player and bandleader, dies at 69
- Dec 26 Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (Olympic bronze 50k 1948; oldest Olympic medal-winning athlete; 48 years and 115 days), dies at 84
- Dec 28 Sam Peckinpah, American film director (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs), dies of cardiac arrest at 59
- Dec 29 Leo Robin, American songwriter ("Thanks For the Memory"; "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"), dies of heart failure at 84
- Dec 29 Sidney Garfield, American physician and pioneer of health maintenance organizations (Kaiser Permanente), dies at 78
- Dec 30 Massa, oldest gorilla on record (b. 1930)
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide