- Jan 6 Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer, and subject of the film 'The World's Fastest Indian", dies at 78
- Jan 6 Francine York, American actress (Slattery's People), dies at 80
- Jan 11 Ibn-e-Insha, Pakistani humorist and Urdu poet (b. 1927)
- Jan 11 Michael Bates, English actor (Clockwork Orange, Salt & Pepper), dies at 57
- Jan 14 Blossom Rock [Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald], American actress (Grandmamma-The Addams Family), dies at 81
- Jan 14 Harold Abrahams, British athlete (Olympic gold 100m, silver 4x100m 1924; depicted in film "Chariots of Fire"), dies at 78
- Jan 15 Jack Jackson, British trumpeter, dance band bandleader, and influential BBC disc jockey, dies at 71
- Jan 18 Carl Betz, American actor (The Donna Reed Show, Love of Life), dies of lung cancer at 56
- Jan 23 Jack Oakie, American actor (The Great Dictator, 1974 Photoplay Award), dies at 74
- Jan 26 Leo Genn, British lawyer and actor (Mourning Becomes Electra, Moby-Dick, Affair in Monte Carlo), dies at 72
- Jan 27 Oscar Homolka, Hungarian actor (Sabotage, The Seven Year Itch, Ball of Fire, I Remember Mama), dies at 79
- Jan 29 Tim McCoy, American actor (Arizona Bound) and soldier, dies at 86
- Feb 2 Wendy Barrie, British-American TV hostess (Wendy Barrie Show), dies at 65
- Feb 15 Alex Bradford, American gospel composer and singer (Your Arms Too Short To Box With God), dies of a stroke at 51
- Feb 15 Ilka Chase, American actress (Masquerade Party, Trials of O'Brien), dies at 72
- Feb 18 Derrick De Marney, British actor (The Girl Was Young, Inheritance), dies at 71
- Feb 18 Marguerite "Maggie" McNamara, American actress (3 Coins in a Fountain, Cardinal), dies of a barbiturate overdose at 49
- Feb 22 Ilka Chase, actress (Masquerade Party, Trials of O'Brien), dies at 74
- Feb 28 (Pil Lip) Philip Ahn, American actor (Kung Fu - as "Master Kan"; Thoroughly Modern Millie), dies from pneumonia at 72
- Mar 13 John Cazale, American stage and screen character actor (The Godfather; Dog Day Afternoon; The Deer Hunter), dies of lung and bone cancer at 42
- Mar 18 Peggy Wood, actress (One Life to Live, Mama), dies at 86
- Mar 25 Jack Hulbert, British actor (Into the Blue, Bulldog Jack), dies at 85
- Mar 27 Wilfred Pickles, British actor (Billy Liar, Gay Dog), dies at 73
- Mar 31 Astrid Allwyn, actress (Love Affair, Girl for Calgary), dies at 68
- Apr 3 Ray Noble, English bandleader, comedian and actor (The Very Thought of You), dies at 74
- Apr 13 Paul McGrath, American actor (Witness, No Time for Love), dies at 74
- Apr 22 Will Geer [William Aughe Ghere], American actor (Salt of the Earth, The Waltons), dies at 76
- May 6 Ko van Dijk Jr, Dutch actor (Zaak M P), dies at 61
- May 20 Ivan Harold Browning, American stage and screen actor and singer (Shuffle Along - "I'm Just Wild About Harry"), dies at 87
- May 26 Cybele, Greek actress (b. 1887)
- May 28 Arthur Brough, English actor (b. 1905)
- Jun 9 Chief Tahachee [Jeff Davis Tahchee Cypert], Cherokee stage and film actor, dies from a heart attack at 74
- Jun 16 Felicia Montealegre, Costa Rican-American actress (Studio One; Kraft Television Workshop), and social activist, dies of lung cancer at 56
- Jun 17 Cully Richards, actor (Don't Call Me Charlie), dies at 68
- Jun 20 Karel G Bakker, actor (Coffee House), dies at 66
- Jun 25 Barry Brown, American actor (Frederick Winterbourne-Daisy Miller), dies at 27
- Jun 29 Bob Crane, American DJ and actor (Hogan's Heroes; The Donna Reed Show), murdered at 49
- Jul 3 James Daly, American actor (Medical Center, Planet of the Apes), dies of heart failure at 59
- Jul 17 Thayer David, actor (Rocky, Roots, Savages), dies at 51
- Jul 31 Carleton Percy Hobbs, actor (I Claudius, Dark Places), dies at 80
- Aug 4 Frank Fontaine, American comedian (Crazy Guggenheim), dies at 58
- Aug 5 Queenie Smith, American actress/dancer (Funny Side), dies at 79
- Aug 26 Charles Boyer, French actor (Gaslight, Rogues), dies at 78
- Aug 28 Robert Shaw, British actor (The Sting; Jaws; The Deep), novelist (The Sun Doctor), and playwright (The Man in the Glass Booth), dies of a heart attack at 51
- Sep 8 Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, Argentine film director (Monday's Child), dies at 54
- Sep 12 Frank Ferguson, American character actor (My Friend Flicka - "Gus"; Peyton Place - "Eli Carson"), dies of cancer at 71 (0r 78, birthdate disputed)
- Sep 22 Lina Carstens, German actress (Homeland, Broken Jug), dies at 85
- Sep 23 Jay Adler, American actor (Macon County Line; Illegal, Big Combo), dies at 79
- Sep 24 Ruth Etting, American stage, radio, and screen singer ("Shine On Harvest Moon"; "Ten Cents A Dance"), and actress (Roman Scandals; Ziegfeld Follies), dies at 80
- Sep 24 Virginia Valli [McSweeney], American (mostly silent) film actress (Wild Oranges; Pleasure Garden), dies at 73
- Sep 25 Claire Adams, Canadian born silent film actress (Legally Dead, End of the Road), dies at 80
- Sep 30 Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist (Charlie McCarthy), dies at 75
- Oct 8 Karl Swenson, American actor (Lars Hanson-Little House on the Prairie), dies of a heart attack at 70
Jacques Brel (1929-1978)
Oct 9 Belgian singer, songwriter, actor, director and composer (Le Far West, Pain in the A__), dies of a pulmonary embolism at 49
- Oct 16 Daniel "Dan" Dailey, American dancer and actor (You're My Everything, Governor & J.J.), dies of anemia at 62
- Oct 19 Gig Young [Byron Elsworth Barr], American actor (They Shoot Horses Don't They), kills his bride of 3 weeks and commits suicide at 64
- Nov 5 Denis O'Dea, Irish actor (Niagara, Esther & the King, Treasure Island), dies at 73
- Nov 6 Flora Campbell, actress (Faraway Hill, Date With Judy), dies at 67
- Nov 9 Joe Wong, actor (Ken Murray Show), dies at 75
- Nov 10 Theo Lingen, German director and actor (M, Charm of La Boheme), dies at 75
- Nov 16 Claude Dauphin, French actor (Barbarella, April in Paris, Deported), dies at 75
- Nov 28 André Morell [Cecil André Mesritz], British actor (Ben-Hur, The Message, Hound of the Baskervilles), dies from a heart attack at 69
- Dec 10 Ed Wood, American filmmaker and director (Plan 9 from Outer Space), dies of heart failure at 54
- Dec 12 Fay Compton [Virginia Compton-Mackenzie], British stage and screen actress (Hamlet; The WInter's Tale; Othello; The Haunting), dies at 84
- Dec 15 Chill Wills, American actor (Frontier Circus, Rounders), dies at 75
- Dec 16 Blanche Calloway, American jazz vocalist, bandleader (Twelve Clouds of Joy), civil rights activist, and broadcaster, dies of breast cancer at 76
- Dec 17 Don Ellis, American avant garde jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and Grammy Award-winning film score composer (The French Connection), dies of a heart attack at 44
- Dec 27 Bob de Lange [Jacob Bernard de Lange], Dutch actor and director (Daniel), dies at 62
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