- May 1 Ella Logan [Ina Allan], Scottish actress (52nd Street, Woman Chases Man, Top of the Town), dies from cancer at 56
- May 3 Karl Freund, German cinematographer and film director (Dracula, I love Lucy, The Mummy), dies at 79
- May 14 Enid Bennett, silent film actress (Skippy, Hairpins), dies at 75
- May 18 Ludwig Berger, German film director and cinematographer (The Thief of Bagdad), dies at 77
- May 20 Fred Sherman, American actor (Chain Lightning), dies after a stroke at 64
- May 20 Royal Beal, American actor (Death of a Salesman), dies of cancer at 69
- May 23 Diane Aubrey, actress (Haunted Strangler), dies of a heart attack at 79
- May 24 Mitzi Green [Elizabeth Keno], American child actress (Huckleberry Finn; Little Orphan Annie), dies from cancer at 48
- May 26 Kathryn Minner (née White), American character actress (Little Old Lady from Pasadena), dies of a heart attack at 77
- May 27 Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (Star Trek Cage, The Searchers), dies of an intracranial hemorrhage at 43
- May 28 Rhys Williams, Welsh actor (How Green Was My Valley, Nightmare, Okinawa, Cross My Heart), dies at 71
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