- Jan 4 Mae Questel, American vaudeville, screen and voice actress (Olive Oyl; Betty Boop), dies from complications of Alzheimer's disease at 89
Sonny Bono (1935-1998)
Jan 5 American actor, musician, vocalist, (Sonny & Cher) and politician (Rep-R-Ca, 1995-98), dies at Heavenly Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe, California, when he hits a tree at 62
- Jan 5 David Bairstow, English cricket wicket keeper, broadcaster (4 Tests, 13 dismissals; father of England Test 'keeper Jonny; Yorkshire CCC), dies from suicide at 46
- Jan 9 Charito Solis, Filipino actress (b. 1935)
- Jan 11 John Wells, English actor (Casino Royale; The Bobo), screenwriter, and satirist (That Was the Week That Was), dies of cancer at 61
- Jan 16 Dimitris Horn, Greek actor (A Girl in Black), dies of cancer at 66
- Jan 17 Emil Sitka, American actor (Three Stooges shorts), dies of stroke at 83
- Jan 20 Bobo Brazil [Houston Harris], American pro wrestler (WWF HOF), dies at 73
- Jan 21 Jack Lord, American actor (Hawaii FIVE-O), dies at 77
- Feb 18 Harry Caray, American Baseball Hall of Fame broadcaster (Chicago Cubs), dies of heart attack complications at 83
- Feb 23 Philip Abbott, American character actor (The FBI, Sweet Bird of Youth), dies at 73
- Feb 24 Henny Youngman, American comedian and violinist (Take my wife ... please), dies at 91
- Feb 27 J. T. Walsh, American actor (Good Morning, Vietnam, Pleasantville), dies of a heart attack at 54
- Feb 28 Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (Father Ted Crilly-Father Ted), dies of a heart attack at 45
- Mar 5 Donald Woods, Canadian actor (True Grit, Craig Kennedy; Criminologist), dies at 91
- Mar 10 Lloyd Bridges, American actor (Sea Hunt, Roots, Airplane!), dies of natural causes at 85
- Mar 12 Beatrice Wood, American artist, ceramist and editor (The Blind Man, inspiration for Titanic film character Rose), dies at 105
- Mar 12 Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (The Shop on Main Street), dies at 74
- Mar 20 Beverley Cross, English playwright and screenwriter (Strip the Willow; Half a Sixpence), dies at 66
- Mar 25 Daniel Massey, English actor (Vault of Horror), dies at 64
- Mar 30 Ramsay Ames [Phillips], American actress, model and dancer (The Mummy's Ghost; Ali Baba & the 40 Thieves), dies of lung cancer at 79
- Apr 1 Eugene "Gene" Evans, American actor (My Friend Flicka, Johnny Ringo, Alamo), dies of heart failure at 75
- Apr 3 Rob Pilatus, American-German model, dancer, and de-frocked Grammy Award winner (Milli Vanilli - "Girl You Know It's True"), dies of accidental prescription drug and alcohol overdose at 42
- Apr 7 Broery Marantika [Simon Pesulima], Indonesian blues and jazz singer, and actor, dies at 51
- Apr 11 Rodney Harvey, American actor and model (Salsa), dies of a drug overdose at 30
- Apr 19 Liam Sullivan, American singer and actor (Star Trek; The Magic Sword; Monroes), dies of a heart attack at 74
- Apr 21 Peter Lind Hayes, American comedian and singer (Peter Lind Hayes Show), dies at 82
- Apr 27 Godfrey Kenton, English actor (The Tempest, Well's Theater), dies at 96
- May 2 Gene Raymond [Raymond Guion], American actor (Paris 7000, Love on a Bet, Fireside Theater), dies from pneumonia a 89
- May 2 Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
- May 9 Alice Faye [Leppert], American actress and singer (Hello Frisco, Hello; Fallen Angel; Stowaway), dies of stomach cancer at 83
- May 11 Willy Corsari, Dutch writer (the Dutch Agatha Christie) and actor, dies at 100
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
May 14 American singer (Strangers in the Night; My Way; The Summer Wind) and actor (From Here to Eternity; Guys and Dolls), known as the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", dies at 82
- May 19 (Edwin) "Ted" Astley, British arranger, bandleader, and film and television composer (The Mouse That Roared; The Saint), dies at 76
- May 21 Douglas Fowley, American actor (Singin' in the Rain, Pistols 'n' Petticoats), dies at 86
- May 22 John Derek, American actor, director and photographer (Knock on Any Door, All the King's Men, Rogues of Sherwood Forest), dies at 71
- May 26 (Emmanuel) "Emil" Braginsky, Soviet Russian screenwriter (The Irony of Fate), dies at 77
Phil Hartman (1948-1998)
May 28 Canadian-American actor (NewsRadio, 1995-98; The Simpsons, 1991-91; SNL, 1986-94: Peewee's Playhouse), and graphic artist, murdered by his wife in his sleep at 49
- Jun 1 Darwin Joston, American actor (Assault on Precinct 13), dies at 60
- Jun 2 Sylvester Ritter (Junkyard Dog), American professional wrestler, dies at 45
- Jun 3 Joseph C. Harsch, American newscaster (Background), dies at 93
- Jun 3 Poul Bundgaard, Danish comic actor (Olsen-banden films) and operetta singer (Royal Danish Theatre, 1958-73), dies at 75
- Jun 5 Jeanette Nolan, American actress (Richard Boone Show, Virginian), dies following a stroke at 86
- Jun 12 Theresa Merritt [Hines], American singer and actress (The Wiz; That's My Mama), dies of skin cancer at 75
- Jun 13 Reg Smythe, English cartoonist (Andy Capp), dies at 80
- Jun 18 Charles Korvin [Geza Korvin Karpathi], Austrian actor (Berlin Express, Ship of Fools), dies at 90
- Jun 23 Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (Tarzan, Pride & Prejudice, Hannah and Her Sisters), dies at 87
- Jun 27 Joyce Wieland, Canadian experimental filmmaker and conceptual artist (1st women to have a retrospective at the Canadian National Gallery), dies at 67 [1]
- Jul 20 June Byers, American professional wrestler (b. 1922)
- Jul 21 Robert Young, American actor (Father Knows Best; Marcus Welby, M.D.), dies of respiratory failure at 91
- Jul 23 John Hopkins, English TV, film and stage writer (Z-Cars), dies at 67
- Jul 27 Binnie Barnes, British actress (Last of the Mohicans, 3 Musketeers), dies at 95
Jerome Robbins (1918-1998)
Jul 29 American Tony and Academy Award-winning theater and ballet choreographer and director (West Side Story; Peter Pan), dies shortly after suffering a strokeat 79
- Jul 30 Buffalo Bob Smith [Robert Emil Schmidt], American TV host (Howdy Doody), dies of cancer at 80
- Jul 30 David Hunt, British diplomat winner of the BBC's Mastermind television quiz (1977), dies at 84
- Aug 1 Eva Bartok [Éva Márta Szőke], Hungarian-British actress (The Crimson Pirate; Ten Thousand Bedrooms), dies at 71 [birth date sources vary between 1926 and 1929]
- Aug 2 Shari Lewis [Phyllis Hurwitz], American puppeteer and ventriloquist (Lamb Chop), dies of breast cancer at 65
- Aug 17 Wladyslaw Komar, Polish athlete (Olympic gold shot put 1972) and actor, dies in a car crash at 58
- Aug 18 Persis Khambatta, Indian actress (Star Trek, Megaforce), dies of a heart attack at 49
- Aug 24 E. G. Marshall [Everett Eugene Grunz], American actor (12 Angry Men, The Defenders), dies of lung cancer at 84
- Aug 24 Jerry Clower 'The Mouth of the Mississippi', American country comedian (Nashville on Road), dies following surgery at 71
- Sep 5 Leo Penn, American actor and film director, dies at 77
Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998)
Sep 6 Japanese director and screenwriter who was posthumously named "Asian of the Century" in the "Arts, Literature, and Culture" category (Rashomon, Drunken Angel, Seven Samurai, Ran), dies of a stroke at 88
- Sep 10 Carl Forgione, British actor (b. 1944)
- Sep 11 Dane Clark, American actor (Wire Service, Bold Venture, Perry Mason), dies at 86
- Sep 18 Leonid Kinskey, Russian actor (Casablanca, Duck Soup), dies at 95
- Sep 23 Mary Frann [Leucke], American actress (Newhart - "Joanna"; Days of Our Live, 1976-79 - "Amanda"), dies of a heart attack at 55
- Sep 30 Marius Goring, British actor (Stairway to Heaven, The Red Shoes), dies from cancer at 86
- Oct 2 Gene Autry, American cowboy singer, songwriter, actor, musician, ("Back In The Saddle Again";"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer") and business tycoon (owner MLB Angels team, 1961-97), dies of lymphoma at 91
- Oct 3 Roddy McDowall, British actor (Planet of Apes, Cleopatra, Lord Love a Duck), dies at 70
- Oct 9 Robert Allen [Irvine Theodore Baehr], American actor (The Awful Truth, Crime and Punishment), dies from cancer and collapsed lung at 92
- Oct 11 Richard Denning [Louis Denninger Jr.], American actor (An Affair to Remember, The Black Scorpion), dies from cardiac arrest at 84
- Oct 14 Cleveland Amory, American animal rights activist and TV critic (TV Guide), dies at 81
- Oct 17 Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
- Oct 28 James Goldman, American screenwriter and playwright (The Lion in Winter), dies of a heart attack at 71
- Oct 29 Paul Misraki [Misrachi], French jazz pianist, songwriter, and film score composer (Jean Renoir), dies at 90
- Nov 2 Vincent Winter, Scottish child actor, dies at 50
- Nov 3 Bob Kane, American comic artist and Batman co-creator, dies at 83
- Nov 3 Martha O'Driscoll, American film actress, dancer and socialite (Young and Willing, Blonde Alibi), dies at 76
- Nov 6 Sky Low Low [Marcel Gauthier], Canadian professional wrestler, dies of a heart attack at 70
- Nov 8 Jean Marais, French actor (Donkey Skin, Orpheus), dies of cardio-vascular disease at 84
- Nov 9 Ursula Reit [Reith], German actress (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory), dies from natural causes at 84
- Nov 10 Mary Millar, English actress (Keeping Up Appearances), dies at 62
- Nov 13 Edwige Feuillère, French actress (b. 1907)
- Nov 13 Valerie Hobson, British actress (Great Expectations), dies at 81
- Nov 17 Esther Rolle, Bahamian-American actress (Good Times; Maude), dies from complications of diabetes at 78
- Nov 18 Norma Connolly, American actress (Ruby Anderson-General Hospital, The Young Marrieds), dies at 71
- Nov 19 "Alan J Pakula, American filmmaker (All the President's Men; Sophie;s Choice; Klute), dies in a car accident at 70 [1]
- Nov 25 (Clerow) "Flip" Wilson, American Grammy Award-winning comedian, and Emmy Award-winning writer and TV personality (The Flip Wilson Show), dies of liver cancer at 64
- Nov 29 Frank Latimore, American actor (Guiding Light), dies at 73
- Nov 29 Giant Haystacks [Martin Ruane], English professional wrestler, dies at 51
- Dec 1 Freddie Young, British cinematographer (Lawrence of Arabia), dies at 96
- Dec 13 Lew Grade, British TV mogul (ATV), movie producer (Boys from Brazil), dies at 91
- Dec 14 Norman Fell, American actor (Three's Company, The End, Graduate), dies of bone marrow cancer at 74
- Dec 20 Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
- Dec 21 Roger Avon, British actor (Doctor Who, Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.), dies at 84
- Dec 22 Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
- Dec 22 Virginia Graham, American TV personality (Girl Talk, Where Was I), dies at 86
- Dec 29 Donald "Don" Taylor, American director and actor (Father's Little Dividend, Escape from the Planet of the Apes), dies of heart failure at 78
- Dec 29 Jeanne Stern, German screenwriter (The Condemned Village), dies at 90
- Dec 30 George Webb, British actor (Keeping Up Appearances), dies of natural causes at 86
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