- Jan 21 Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, American actor (Our Gang; Beginner's Luck; General Spanky), shot by an acquaintance during a financial dispute at 31
Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959)
Jan 21 American filmmaker (The Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah), dies of heart failure at 77
- Jan 22 A J Else Mauhs, German/Dutch actress (Hamlet, Nora), dies at 73
- Feb 1 Madame Sul-Te-Wan [Nellie Crawford], American actress (The Birth of a Nation, Uncle Tom's Cabin), dies of a stroke at 85
- Feb 4 Una O'Connor, Irish-American actress (Banjo; David Copperfield; The Invisible Man), dies at 78
- Feb 5 Gwili Andre, Danish actress (No Other Woman, Roar of the Dragon), dies in a fire at 52
- Feb 13 William Axt, American film scores composer (The Prisoner of Zenda), dies at 70
- Feb 17 Kathryn Adams, American silent film actress, dies at 65
- Feb 22 Helen Parrish, American actress (Hour Glass, Three Smart Girls Grow Up), dies of cancer at 35
- Mar 2 Eric Blore, British stage and screen actor (The Lone Wolf; Bowery to Baghdad; Abie's Irish Rose; Love Happy), dies of s heart attack at 71
Lou Costello (1906-1959)
Mar 3 American comedian and actor (The Abbott and Costello Show; Who's On First?), dies of a heart attack at 52
- Mar 6 Fred Stone, renowned American circus performer and broadway actor (Alice Adams), dies at 85
- Mar 22 Olga Knipper. Russian-Soviet stage actress, and wife of Anton Chekhov, dies at
- Mar 26 Raymond Chandler, British-American mystery writer novelist and screenwriter (Farewell My Lovely; The Long Goodbye; The Big Sleep), dies at 71
- Mar 27 Grant Withers, American actor (Rio Grande, Oklahoma, Annie), commits suicide with sleeping pills at 54
- Apr 2 Benjamin Christensen, Danish actor (Barnet, Mockery) and film director (Häxan), dies at 79
- Apr 12 James Gleason, American writer and actor (Bishop's Wife, Flying Fool), dies at 76
- Apr 16 Charles Halton, British stage actor (Dr Cyclops, Tugboat Annie Sails Again), dies at 83
- Apr 18 Irving Cummings, American silent screen actor and director (In Old Ariz), dies at 70
- May 16 Joe Cook [Lopez}, American vaudeville and radio comedian, dies at 69
- May 26 Joe Kelly, American radio and television host (Quiz Kids, 1949-53), dies at 57
George Reeves (1914-1959)
Jun 16 American actor (Adventures of Superman; Gone With The Wind), commits suicide by shooting himself in the head at 45
Ethel Barrymore (1879-1959)
Jun 18 American classic film and stage actress (Constant Wife, Corn is Green), dies at 79
- Jul 20 Harry Fox [Arthur Carringford], American vaudeville dancer, comedian and actor (Talent Scout), dies at 77
- Aug 6 Preston Sturges [Edmund Biden], American director and screenwriter (Sullivan's Travels), dies at 60
- Aug 13 Henri Garat [Garascu], French actor (Congress Dances), and singer ("Les dieux s'amusent"), dies at 57
- Aug 31 Charles Delaney, American actor (Air Police, Lonesome Trail), dies at 67
- Sep 6 Edmund Gwenn, English actor (Miracle on 34th Street), dies at 81
- Sep 6 Kay Kendall [Justine McCarthy], British actress (Genevieve, The Constant Husband, Les Girls), dies of leukemia at 32
- Sep 11 Paul Douglas, American actor (Adventure Theater; Clash by Night), dies from a heart attack at 52
- Sep 14 Wayne Morris, American actor and decorated WWII pilot (Paths of Glory, The Bushwackers), dies from a heart attack at 45
- Sep 20 Olin Howland, American actor (Gone With The Wind; Them!; Circus Boy), dies at 73
- Sep 22 Jane Winton, American actress (Hell's Angel, Patsy, Don Juan), dies at 53
- Sep 25 Helen Broderick, American comedienne and actress (Swing Time; Top Hat), dies at 68
- Sep 28 Gerard Hoffnung, German-British artist, humorist and tuba player (Hoffnung Music Festival), dies at 34
- Sep 29 Harold Huber [Huberman], American radio, stage, a,d screen actor (I Cover Times Square), dies at 49
- Sep 30 John Kliegl, American developer of Klieg light used in filmmaking, dies at 89
- Sep 30 Taylor Holmes, American actor (Sleeping Beauty, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), dies at 81
- Oct 3 William Bishop, American stage and screen actor (Black Eagle; Adventures in Silverado; It's a Great Life), dies of cancer at 41
- Oct 7 Mario Lanza [Alfredo Arnold Cocozza], Italian-American actor and singer (Great Caruso, Toast of New Orleans), dies of a heart attack at 38
Errol Flynn (1909-1959)
Oct 14 Australian actor (Captain Blood, Robin Hood), dies of a heart attack at 50
Victor McLaglen (1886-1959)
Nov 7 English actor (The Informer - Academy Award 1935), dies of a heart attack at 72
- Nov 10 Lupino Lane [Henry Lupino], British stage, silent and sound screen actor (Love Parade; Me And My Gal: The Deputy Drummer), dies at 67
- Nov 14 Thomas W Ross, American actor (Without Limit, Kings Row, 17, Mortal Storm), dies at 84
- Nov 18 Arthur Q Bryan, American voice actor, comedian and radio personality (Beulah, The Devil Bat), dies from a heart attack at 60
- Nov 19 Gerard J. Arbous, actor and publicist (Bohemian Amsterdam), dies at 83
- Nov 25 Jean Grémillon, French film director, dies at 58
- Nov 27 Gérard Philipe, French actor (Caligula, Devil in the Flesh), dies of cancer at 36
- Nov 28 Lester Vail, American actor (Dance Fools Dance, Consolation Marriage), dies at 60
- Dec 4 Rosetta Duncan, American vaudevillian (Duncan Sisters), actress (Topsy and Eva), and songwriter (Remeberin'). dies in an auto accident at 65
- Dec 6 Len Doyle, American actor (Harrington-Mr District Attorney), dies at 66
- Dec 7 Charlie Hall, English comedic actor (Tit for Tat, A Chump at Oxford), dies at 60
- Dec 10 Henri Vidal, French actor (Fabiola), dies of a heart attack at 40
- Dec 12 Russell Simpson, American actor (San Francisco, Abraham Lincoln), dies at 82
- Dec 22 Gilda Gray [Marianna Michalska], Polish-American stage and screen actress (Piccadilly), and dancer (The Shimmy), dies of a heart attack at 58
- Dec 23 Lester Lonergan Jr, American stage and screen actor (Guilty Bystander; The Growing Paynes), dies at 66
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