- Jan 1 Charles B. Timmer, Dutch writer (Russia Black on White), dies at 83
- Jan 1 Yvonne Waegemans, Flemish author (Gnome Patjoepelke), dies at 81
- Jan 2 Irving Johnson, American sail training pioneer & adventurer, dies at 85
- Jan 2 Renato Rascel, Italian actor (7 Hills of Rome, Secrets of Santa Vittoria), dies of heart failure at 78
- Jan 3 Luke Appling, American Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop, (7 x MLB All Star; AL batting champion 1936, 43; Chicago White Sox), dies of abdominal aortic aneurysm at 83
- Jan 4 Berry Kroeger, actor (Demon Seed), dies of kidney failure at 78
- Jan 4 Harry Krimer, French actor (Napoleon, Les vagabonds magnifiques, La course du flambeau), committed suicide at 94
- Jan 4 Leo Wright, American jazz saxophone and flute player (Dizzy Gillespie; "Blues Shout"; "I Left My Heart In San Francisco"), dies of a heart attack at 57
- Jan 4 Poon Lim, Chinese sailor who survived 133 days adrift at sea, dies at 72
- Jan 4 Richard Maibaum, American screenwriter (Goldfinger), dies at 81
- Jan 5 Johnny Eck [Eckhardt], American sideshow performer, actor (Freaks; Tarzan films), magician, and artist, dies of a heart attack at 79
- Jan 5 Marie Madeline Sullivan, American actress (Elvira, Mistress of Dark), dies at 80
- Jan 5 Vasko Popa, Yugoslavia-Serbian poet (Heaven is a Side Issue), dies at 68
- Jan 6 Ada Moore, entertainer, dies of cancer at 64
- Jan 6 Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Turkish composer, dies at 83
- Jan 7 Charlotte Wynters, American stage and screen actress, dies at 91
Carl David Anderson (1905-1991)
Jan 11 American physicist (1936 Nobel Prize for physics), dies at 85
- Jan 12 Keye Luke, Chinese-American actor (Across the Pacific, Charlie Chan's No 1 Son), dies after a stroke at 86
- Jan 12 Vasco Pratolini, Italian writer (Le Ragazze di San Frediano), dies at 77
- Jan 14 Gordon Bryant, Australian politician (b. 1914)
- Jan 14 Sallah Kharaf [Abu Iyad], Palestine deputy head of the PLO under Arafat, assassinated at 57 or 58
- Jan 16 Cladys "Jabbo" Smith, American jazz trumpet pioneer, dies at 82
- Jan 17 Olav V, King of Norway (1957-91), dies at 87
- Jan 18 Hamilton Fish III, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York), dies at 102
- Jan 19 Don Beddoe, actor (Bullwhip, Loophole, Texas), dies at 87
- Jan 19 Glenn Langan, American actor (Amazing Colossal Man, Margie, Jungle Heat, Rapture), dies of lymphoma at 73
- Jan 19 John Russell, American actor (Apache Uprising, Yellow Sky), dies at 70
- Jan 19 Marcel Chaput, French Canadian politician, dies at 72
- Jan 20 Bill Riordon, American tennis promotor (Jimmy Connors), dies
- Jan 20 Louis Seigner, actor (Eclipse, Special Section), dies in a fire at 87
- Jan 21 Frank Mitchell, actor (Music is Magic, Prairie Gunsmoke), dies
- Jan 22 Robert Choquette, French Canadian novelist, poet and diplomat, dies at 85
- Jan 23 Northrop Frye, Canadian writer and critic known for "Anatomy of Criticism", dies at 78
- Jan 24 Harold "Shot" Jackson, American country dobro player, and pedal steel guitarist (Roy Acuff), and guitar designer and builder (Sho-Bud), dies after his second stroke at 70
- Jan 24 Jack Schaefer, American author (Shane), dies at 83
- Jan 24 John M. Kelly, Irish politician and academic (b. 1931)
- Jan 24 Lawrence Lott, American actor (Real Men, Philadelphia Experiment), dies of AIDS at 40
- Jan 25 Lillian Bond, English-American actress (Air Mail, Pick-up, Blond Cheat), dies at 83
- Jan 25 Stanley Brock, American actor (UHF, Hard to Kill, Ivan-He's the Mayor), dies of a heart attack at 59
- Jan 25 Walter "Hoot" Evers, American baseball outfielder (MLB All-Star 1948, 50 Detroit Tigers), dies from heart disease at 69
- Jan 26 (Johan) "Johnny" van Doorn, Dutch writer, poet (as Johnny the Selfkicker), and performer (Oorlog & Pap - War & Porridge), dies at 46
- Jan 26 Karen Young, American disco singer ("Hot Shot"), dies at 39
- Jan 26 Orestes López, Cuban band leader and composer (co-inventor of 'mambo' with his brother, Cachao), dies at 82
- Jan 27 Dale Long, American baseball infielder (MLB record 8 HRs in consecutive games 1956; Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs), dies of cancer at 64
Red Grange (1903-1991)
Jan 28 American "Galloping Ghost" of football (University of Illinois, Chicago Bears), dies of Parkinson's disease at 87
John Bardeen (1908-1991)
Jan 30 American physicist, electrical engineer and co-inventor of the transistor (Nobel 1956, 1972), dies of heart disease at 82
- Jan 30 John McIntire, American actor (Naked City, Wagon Train, Virginian), dies of emphysema at 83
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning