- May 1 Richard Thorpe, American director (Jailhouse Rock, Night Must Fall), dies at 95
- May 2 Hal Bell, dies at 65
- May 2 Leib Lensky, dies at 82
- May 2 Ronald McKie, Australian author (The Mango Tree), dies at 81
- May 3 Don Whitmire, American College Football Hall of Fame tackle (Alabama, Navy - All American at both), dies at 68
- May 3 Gerrit Mik, Dutch psychiatrist and politician (D66), dies
- May 3 Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist (The Painted Bird, Being There), dies at 57
- May 3 Margaret Tallichet, American actress (Stranger on the 3rd Floor), dies at 77
- May 3 Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer and composer (b. 1907)
- May 4 Bernie Winters [Weinstein], British comedian, actor, and TV presenter (The Big Top Variety Show), dies of stomach cancer at 60
- May 4 Dennis Crosby, American singer, actors, and son of Bing, commits suicide at 56
- May 4 George Delacorte, American philanthropist and publisher (Dell Books), dies at 96
- May 5 William De Acutis, American actor (9½ Weeks, Other People's Money), dies from a brain lymphoma at 33
- May 6 Anthony van Kampen, writer (Ketelbinkie, Geschonden Eldorado), dies
- May 6 Thomas A Carlin, dies at 62
- May 6 Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor (My Fair Lady, Peyton Place), dies at 87
- May 8 Jean Langlais, French organist, and composer (Missa Salve Regina), dies at 84
- May 8 Lloyd Ford, American stuntman, dies at 79
- May 8 Ronnie Brody, British actor (Superman 3, What's Up Nurse, Ritz), dies at 72
- May 9 James L. Reinsch, American broadcasting executive & presidential media adviser (Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy) who also advised Winston Churchill on his 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech, dies at 82
- May 9 Rudolf Serkin, Bohemian-American concert pianist (noted for Beethoven interpretations), and pedagogue (Curtis Institute; Marlboro School of Music), dies of cancer at 88
- May 10 Armand HF Boni [Armand the Good], Flemish poet/writer, dies
- May 11 Ho Dam, North Korean Politician Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1970-83), dies at 62
- May 14 Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (7 Olympic gold 1932, 36, 48, 52, 56, 60), dies at 81
- May 14 Ast Fonteyne, Flemish lecture artist, dies
- May 14 Herman Niels, Flemish radio director, dies
Jiang Qing (1914-1991)
May 14 Chinese communist and wife of Mao Zedong, commits suicide at 77
- May 14 John Edward Craven, dies
- May 14 Shintaro Abe, minister of Exterior of Japan (1982-86), dies
- May 15 (Lawrence) "Bud" Freeman, American jazz tenor saxophonist, bandleader, and composer ("The Eel"; "Zen Is When"), dies of cancer at 84
- May 15 Andreas Floer, German mathematician (Floer homology), dies at 34
- May 15 Reno Browne, American Western actress, dies at 70
- May 15 Ronald Lacey, actor (Raiders of Lost Ark, Next Victim), dies at 55
- May 16 Prudence Nesbitt, British actress/TV producer, dies
- May 18 Edwina Booth, American actress (Trader Horn), dies of heart failure at 86
- May 19 Douglas L. Mays, English cartoonist (Punch), dies at 90
- May 19 Rini Otte, Dutch actress (Ergens in Nederland), dies at 74
- May 20 Julian Orbon De Soto, Cuban composer, dies at 65
- May 20 Pete Runnels, American baseball infielder (5 x MLB All Star; AL batting champion 1960, 62 Boston Red Sox; Washington Senators, Houston Colt .45s) and manager (Boston Red Sox 1966), dies from a stroke at 63
- May 21 Jean Van Joutte, Prime Minister of Belgium (1952-54), dies
Rajiv Gandhi (1944-1991)
May 21 Prime Minister of India (1984-89), assassinated at 46 by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
- May 22 Catalino "Lino" Brocka, Filipino film director (Macho Dancer, Jaguar), dies in car crash at 51
- May 23 Jean Van Houtte, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium, 1952-56; Finance Minister, 1950-52 and 1958-61), dies at 84
- May 23 Peter Trevenen Thwaites, British Brigadier General and playwright (Love or money), dies at 74
- May 23 Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (Unter dem Zimbelstern), dies at 95
- May 23 William Sinnot, Scottish pop musician (Shamen), dies at 30
- May 24 (Harold Eugene) Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter (The Byrds - "Eight Miles High"), dies from natural causes brought on by bleeding ulcer at 46
- May 24 Miriam di San Servolo, Italian actress (b. 1912)
- May 26 Tom Cassidy, American TV news anchor (CNN), dies of AIDS at 41
- May 26 Tom Eyen, American playwright (Dreamgirls), dies of cardiac arrest at 50
- May 27 Ed Dodd, cartoonist (Mark Trail), dies at 88
- May 27 Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (International Bruckner Society; Mozart's Requiem), and educator (Vienna University, 1932-73), dies at 86
- May 28 Brigitte B Fischer, writer, dies
- May 28 Ethel Lois Payne, American civil rights journalist and "1st Lady of the Black Press", dies at 79
- May 29 Coral Browne, Australian actress (Ruling Class, Time Express), dies of cancer at 77
- May 30 Manolo Gomez Bur, Spanish comedian, dies at 74
- May 31 Angus Wilson, English novelist and short story writer ("Anglo-Saxon Attitudes"; "The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot"), dies at 77
- May 31 H. N. "Swanie" Swanson, American Hollywood literary agent, dies at 91 of a stroke
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning