- Jan 5 Jean Murat, French actor (Eternal Rain, Carnival Flanders), dies at 79
- Jan 10 Basil Sydney, British actor (Hamlet, Jassy, Simba, Farmer's Wife), dies of pleurisy at 73
- Jan 10 Howard Smith, American actor (Kiss of Death, Call Northside 777), dies at 74
- Jan 16 John Davidson, American stage and silent and sound screen actor (The Bronze Bell; Dick Tracy vs Crime, Inc; Chinese Cat), dies at 81
- Jan 18 Bert Wheeler, American vaudevillian (Wheeler & Woolsey), and comic actor (Brave Eagle; The Nitwits; Hold 'em Jail; High Flyers; Rainmakers), dies of emphysema at 72
- Jan 18 John Ridgely, American actor (Northern Pursuit; They Died with Their Boots On; Air Force), dies from a heart ailment at 58
- Jan 25 Virginia Maskell, English actress (Only Two Can Play), dies after an overdose at 31
- Feb 4 Eddie Baker, American actor (A Man About Town, Collars and Cuffs), dies of emphysema at 70
- Feb 6 C. Montague Shaw, Australian actor (Buck Rogers; Zorro's Fighting Legion), dies at 85
- Feb 7 Nick Adams [Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock], American actor (Interns, Pillow Talk, FBI Story), dies of a drug overdose at 36
- Feb 9 Barbara Everest, English actress (Inquest, Madeleine), dies at 77
- Feb 11 Howard Lindsay, American playwright, actor and director (State of the Union), dies at 78
- Feb 13 Mae Marsh, American actress (Birth of a Nation, Intolerance), dies at 72
- Feb 17 Donald Wolfit, British actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Becket, Accursed), dies of heart ailment at 65
- Feb 19 Georg Hackenschmidt, Estonian professional wrestler, dies at 89
- Feb 19 Ralph Dunn, American actor (Mr Rudge-Norby), dies at 67
- Feb 20 Anthony Asquith, British film director (Court Martial), dies at 65
- Feb 26 Eric Feldary, Hungarian actor (Hold Back the Dawn, 16 Fathoms Deep), dies of burns at 55
- Feb 28 Doretta Morrow, American actress (Because You're Mine), dies from cancer at 41
- Feb 28 Juanita Hall (née Long), American Tony Award-winning stage and screen actress and singer (South Pacific; Flower Drum Song), dies from complications of diabetes at 66 [some sources give date as Feb. 29]
- Mar 10 Helen Walker, American actress (Brewster's Million, Lucky Jordan), dies of cancer at 47
- Mar 16 June Collyer, actress (June-Stu Erwin Show), dies at 60
- Mar 20 Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish film director (Passion of Jeanne d'Arc), dies at 79
- Mar 24 Alice Guy-Blaché, French film director who was the first woman to direct a film (The Fairy of the Cabbages), dies at 94
- Mar 24 Howard Petrie, American actor (Border River, Bounty Hunter), dies at 61
- Mar 25 Douglas Evans, American actor (At War with the Army, South Pacific Trail), dies at 64
- Mar 30 Bobby Driscoll, American Academy Juvenile Award-winning actor (Song Of The South; The Window), dies of heart failure at 31 [date reflects discovery of his body in a deserted NYC tenement]
- Apr 5 Lois Andrews [Lorraine Gourley], American actress (Dixie Dugan, Meet Me After the Show, The Desert Hawk), dies of lung cancer at 44
- Apr 16 Fay Bainter, actress (Jezebel, Our Town, State Fair), dies at 76
- Apr 17 Margaret Seddon, American stage and screen actress (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town), dies at 95
- Apr 20 Marion Weeks, American silent film actress, and Ziegfield Follies singer and dancer, dies of stroke at 81
- Apr 24 Norman McKaye, actor (Untamed Fury, Frogman), dies at 62
- Apr 24 Tommy Noonan, American actor, screenwriter and producer (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Promises Promises), dies of a brain tumor at 46
- May 5 Albert Dekker, American stage and screen character actor (Dr. Cyclops; Beau Geste; The Wild Bunch), and politician, dies of accidental suffocation at 62
- May 9 Finlay Currie, Scottish actor (Quo Vadis, Avengers), dies at 90
- May 9 Marion Lorne [MacDougall] American stage and Emmy Award-winning screen actress (Bewitched - "Aunt Clara"; Mister Peepers - "Mrs. Gurney"; The Graduate), dies of a heart attack at 84
- May 9 Phil Arnold, American actor (Errand Boy, Stud Lonigan, Damn Yankees), dies from a heart attack at 58
- May 10 Philippa Bevans, British actress (Notorious Landlady, World of Henry Orient), dies at 55
- May 10 Scotty Beckett, American actor (Our Gang, Listen Darling, Battleground), dies from either an overdose, or as a result from a beating at 38
- May 21 Doris Lloyd, English American actress (Oliver Twist), dies of heart strain at 71
- May 23 James Burke, American actor (Ellery Queen, Army Surgeon), dies at 81
- Jun 4 Dorothy Gish [de Guiche], actress (Home Sweet Home), dies at 70
- Jun 7 Dan Duryea, American actor (Pride of the Yankees), dies of cancer at 61
Tony Hancock (1924-1968)
Jun 25 English comedian and actor (Hancock's Half Hour), commits suicide at 44
- Jun 29 Kitty Kelly, American actress (Ladies of Jury, Behind Office Doors), dies at 66
- Jun 30 John Gough, American actor (Smooth as Satin, In the Land of the Tortilla, Circus Kid), dies at 73
- Jul 1 Virginia Weidler, American child actress (Babes on Broadway, All This & Heaven Too), dies of heart disease at 42
- Jul 6 John Indrisano, American welterweight boxer, stunt man, and bit-part actor (O.K.. Crackerby!), dies of apparent suicide at 61
- Jul 15 Lura Anson, American silent film actress dies at 76
- Jul 27 Lillian Harvey [Pape], British actress (Invitation to the Waltz; Congress Dance), dies of liver failure at 62
- Jul 31 Gertrude Short, actress (Stella Dallas, Blonde Venus), dies at 66
- Aug 19 George Gamow, Ukrainian-born American nuclear physicist and cosmologist (Big Bang Theory, DNA), dies at 64
- Aug 19 Sara Jane Roberts, child actress (Our Gang), dies after surgery at 44
- Aug 25 John George [Tufei Fatella], Syrian actor (Black Orchids, Don Juan, Adventures of Fu Manchu), dies from emphysema at 70
- Aug 26 Kay Francis, American actress (Charley's Aunt, False Madonna), dies of cancer at 63
- Aug 29 Victor Sutherland, American actor (Captive City), dies at 79
- Aug 30 William Talman, American actor (Crashout, The Hitch-Hiker, Perry Mason), dies of lung cancer at 53
- Aug 31 Dennis O'Keefe, American actor (Suspicion), dies of lung cancer at 60
- Sep 3 Isabel Withers, American actress, dies at 72
- Sep 18 Franchot Tone, American actor (Mutiny on the Bounty, Advise & Consent), dies from lung cancer at 63
- Sep 18 Francis McDonald, American actor (Will-Adv of Champion), dies at 77
- Sep 28 Corry Lievens, Flemish actress, playwright and director (Blue Bird), dies at 64
- Oct 10 Wilhelmina Johanna "Willy" Haak, Dutch actress and acting teacher (GoetheJane Eyre), dies at 71
- Oct 13 Bea Benaderet, American radio and screen comic actress (Petticoat Junction - "Kate"; The Beverly Hillbillies - "Cousin Pearl"; George Burns and Gracie Allen Show - "Blanche"), dies of lung cancer at 62
- Oct 18 Lee Tracy, American actor (Dinner at Eight, Martin Kane Private Eye), dies of cancer at 70
- Oct 20 Bud Flanagan [Chaim Reuben Weintrop], English comedian (duo with Chesney Alley), dies at 72
- Oct 25 Rudolf Forster, Austrian actor (Threepenny Opera), dies at 83
- Oct 30 Pert Kelton, actress (Cavalcade of Stars), dies at 61
- Oct 30 Ramon Novarro [Jose Samaniegos], Mexican-American actor (Ben-Hur, Mata Hari), is murdered at 69
- Nov 5 Estelle Hemsley, American actress (Leech Woman, Take a Giant Step), dies at 81
- Nov 5 Robert Ayres, actor (Battle Beneath the Earth), dies at 54
- Nov 8 Wendell Corey, American actor (Rear Window, 11th Hour, Peck's Bad Girl), dies from a liver ailment at 54
- Nov 9 Gerald Mohr, American radio and screen actor (The Angry Red Planet; The Sniper; Foreign Intrigue), dies of a heart attack at 54
- Nov 18 Walter Wanger [Feuchtwanger], American film producer (Cleopatra), dies at 74
- Nov 20 Cathy Lewis, American actress (Deidre-Hazel), dies of cancer at 50
- Nov 20 Helen Gardner, American silent film actress (Sandra), dies at 84
- Nov 25 Phil Lord, actor (Stud's Place), dies at 89
- Dec 1 Hugo Haas, Czechoslovakian actor and director (Bait, Pick Up, 2 Smart People), dies of asthma at 66
- Dec 5 Fred Clark, American actor (Zotz, Auntie Mame), dies of liver ailment at 54
- Dec 10 Patsy Moran, actress (Children of the Wild), dies at 65
- Dec 11 Nadine Riga, American actress, dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 59
- Dec 12 Tallulah Bankhead, American stage and film actress (Lifeboat, They Knew What They Wanted; Batman - "Black Widow"), dies of pneumonia at 65
- Dec 18 Joan Tabor, American actress (Teenage Millionaire), dies at 36 after accidentally overdosing on influenza medication
- Dec 22 Louise Granville, Australian actress (How Green Paid the Rent), dies of influenza at 73
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