Deaths in 1980
January
- January 1
- Aldo Aimi, Italian football player for Parma and Modena (b. 1906)
- Adolph Deutsch, British-born American composer (b. 1897)
- Pietro Nenni, Italian politician (b. 1891) [1]
- Frank Wykoff, American Olympic athlete (b. 1909) [2]
- January 3
- Joy Adamson, Austrian conservationist, author of Born Free (b. 1910) [3]
- Amos Milburn, American R&B singer and pianist, (b. 1927)
- Ivan Triesault, Estonian-American actor (b. 1898)
- Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist and champion of the Tour de France (b. 1892)
- January 6
- Antonio Bilbao La Vieja, Argentine international rugby union footballer (b. 1892)
- Piersanti Mattarella, President of Sicily (b. 1935) [4]
- Georgeanna Tillman, American singer and original member of the girl group the Marvelettes (b. 1944)
- January 7
- Irene Beasley, American singer (b. 1904)
- Simonne Mathieu, French tennis champion (b. 1908)
- Larry Williams, American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, and pianist (b. 1935)
- Sarah Selby, American actress (b.1905)
- January 8
- John Mauchly, American physicist and inventor (b. 1907) [5]
- Oscar Ewing, American lawyer, social reformer, and politician (b. 1889)
- January 9 – Gaetano Belloni, Italian professional road racing cyclist (b. 1892)
- January 10 – George Meany, American labor leader (b. 1894) [6]
- January 11
- Valentine Blomfield, Major-General in the British Army (b. 1898)
- Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913) [7]
- January 13
- Eric Aldwinckle, designer, illustrator and official Second World War artist (b. 1909)
- Andre Kostelanetz, Russian conductor and arranger (b. 1901)
- January 14 – Robert Ardrey, American playwright, screenwriter and science writer (b. 1908)
- January 17 – Barbara Britton, American film and television actress (b. 1920)
- January 18 – Sir Cecil Beaton, English photographer (b. 1904) [8]
- January 19
- Richard Franko Goldman, conductor, educator, author, music critic, and composer (b. 1910)
- William O. Douglas, American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975 (b. 1898)
- January 21 – Clyde Barnhart, American Major League Baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates (b. 1895)
- January 23
- Lil Dagover, German actress (b. 1887) [9]
- Shōjirō Iida, Japanese general (b. 1888) [10]
- Babs Gonzales, American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author (b. 1919)
- c. January 24 – Terry Anderson, English footballer, predominantly for Norwich City (b. 1944)
- January 25 – Queenie Watts, English actress and an occasional singer, (b. 1923)
- January 27 – Peppino De Filippo, Italian actor (b. 1903)
- January 28
- Kroger Babb, American film producer and showman (b. 1906)
- Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (b. 1926)
- January 29
- Ali Adbo, Iranian boxer and founder of Persepolis F.C. (b. 1928)
- Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer and comedian (b. 1893) [11]
- January 30 – Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918) [12]
- January 31
- Jose Vasquez Aguilar, first Filipino recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award (b. 1900)
- Lady Evelyn Beauchamp, first woman in modern times to enter the tomb of Tutankhamun (b. 1901)
- Jacobus Duminy, South African academic who became principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (b. 1897)
- January unknown date – Don Albert, American jazz trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1900)
February
- February 1 – Jack Bailey, American actor and daytime game show host (b. 1907)
- February 2 – William Howard Stein, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry (b. 1911) [13]
- February 3
- Marnie Bassett, Australian historian, biographer and travel writer (b. 1889)
- Hanna Rovina, Russian-Israeli actress (b. 1888)
- February 4 – Stojan Aralica, Serbian Impressionist painter and academic (b. 1883)
- February 5 – Nachman Aronszajn, Polish-American mathematician (b. 1907)
- February 6 – William Abraham, British Army officer who served in India and Burma during the Second World War (b. 1887)
- February 7
- Rudolf Bosshard, Swiss rower and Olympic medalist (b. 1890)
- Sir Richard Williams, Royal Australian Air Force officer (b. 1890)
- February 8
- Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen, titular Princess consort of Lippe (b. 1886)
- Erwin Friedrich Baumann, Swiss architect and sculptor (b. 1890)
- Nikos Xilouris, Greek pop singer (b. 1936)
- Francesco Zucchetti, French Olympic cyclist (b. 1902)
- February 9 – Charlie Fowlkes, American baritone saxophonist who was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra (b. 1916)
- February 10 – Wally Wales, American film actor who specialized in westerns (b. 1895)
- February 11 – R. C. Majumdar, Indian historian (b. 1884)
- February 12 – Samuel D. Berger, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Korea (b. 1911)
- February 13
- David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931) [14]
- Marian Rejewski, Polish mathematician and cryptologist (b. 1905)
- February 14
- Kitsuju Ayabe, general in Imperial Japanese Army in World War II (b. 1894)
- Marie Besnard, French accused and acquitted serial poisoner (b. 1896)
- February 16 – Erich Hückel, German physicist and physical chemist (b. 1896) [15]
- February 17
- Graham Sutherland, English artist (b. 1903) [16]
- Jerry Fielding, American jazz musician, arranger, band leader, and film composer (b.1922)
- February 19
- Robert Morrison, British Olympic rower (b. 1902)
- Bon Scott, Scottish-Australian rock singer (AC/DC) (b. 1946) [17]
- February 20
- Joseph Banks Rhine, American parapsychologist (b. 1895) [18]
- Alice Roosevelt Longworth, American writer and socialite (b. 1884)
- February 21
- Alfred Andersch, German writer, publisher, and radio editor (b. 1914)
- Aldo Andreotti, Italian mathematician (b. 1924)
- Gordon Boyd, Scotland international rugby union player (b. 1905)
- Chester Lauck, comic actor who played the character of Lum Edwards on the American radio comedy, Lum and Abner (b. 1902)
- February 22
- Sadaaki Akamatsu, Japanese ace fighter pilot (b. 1910)
- Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter and poet (b. 1886) [19]
- Dick Kallman, American actor (b. 1933)
- February 23 – Enrico Celio, Swiss politician, 49th President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1889)
- February 24 – Clement Martyn Doke, South African linguist (b. 1893) [20]
- February 26 – Mario Mattoli, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
- February 28 – Ian Peebles, cricketer who played for Oxford University, Middlesex, Scotland and England; later becoming a journalist on The Sunday Times (b. 1908)
- February 29 – Yigal Allon, Israeli politician and army general, acting Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)
March
- March 1
- Emmett Ashford, first African-American Major League Baseball umpire (b. 1914)
- Wilhelmina Cooper, Dutch-American model and owner of model agency (b. 1939)
- Dixie Dean, English football player (b. 1907)
- March 2 – Roland Armontel, French actor (b. 1901)
- March 4
- Johannes Martin Bijvoet, Dutch chemist and crystallographer (b. 1892)
- Vakhtang Ananyan, Armenian writer and journalist (b. 1905)
- March 5 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor (b. 1912) [21]
- March 9
- Nikolay Bogolyubov, Soviet and Russian actor (b. 1899)
- Olga Chekhova, Russian-German actress (b. 1897) [22]
- March 10 –
- José Américo de Almeida, Brazilian writer, a politician, lawyer and teacher (b. 1887)
- Herman Tarnower, American cardiologist and co-author of a bestselling diet book; would later be murdered by his wife (b. 1910)
- March 13
- Gerritdina Benders-Letteboer, member of the Dutch Resistance (b. 1909)
- Roland Symonette, 1st Prime Minister of the Bahamas (b. 1898)
- March 14
- Henk Blomvliet, Dutch footballer, represented the Netherlands) (b. 1911)
- Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish naturalist and television presenter (b. 1928)
- Mohammad Hatta, Indonesia's first vice president (b. 1902)
- Anna Jantar, Polish singer (b. 1950)
- Allard Lowenstein, American Democratic politician; served as a U.S. representative for the 5th congressional district of Nassau County, New York. (b. 1929)
- March 15
- Charles Austin (rugby union), American rugby union player, official, and coach (b. 1892)
- Octávio Brandão, Brazilian pharmacist, politician and activist (b. 1896)
- March 17 –
- Boun Oum, 4th Prime Minister of Laos (b. 1911)
- Rudolf George Escher, Dutch composer and music theorist (b. 1912)
- March 18
- Erich Fromm, German-American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1900) [23]
- Tamara de Lempicka, Polish painter (b. 1898) [24]
- Louise Lovely, Australian actress (b. 1895) [25]
- Herman Griffith, West Indian cricketer; played in West Indies' first Test match in their inaugural Test tour of England; was one of the leading bowlers on that tour (b.1893)
- March 19 – Millen Brand, American writer and poet (b. 1906)
- March 21 – Marcel Boussac, thoroughbred race horse breeder (b. 1889)
- March 23 – S. W. Alexander, British journalist and political activist (b. 1895)
- March 24
- John Barrie, English actor (b. 1917)
- Eric Bensted, Australian first-class cricketer (b. 1901)
- Pierre Etchebaster, French real tennis player (b. 1893)
- Óscar Romero, Salvadorian Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1917) [26]
- March 25
- Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist (b.1901) [27]
- Erminio Macario, Italian actor (b. 1902)
- Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (b. 1913) [28]
- March 26 – Roland Barthes, French literary critic and writer (b. 1915) [29]
- March 28
- Fenton Atkinson, British High Court judge, oversaw the trial of the Moors murderers (b. 1906)
- Dick Haymes, Argentine actor and singer (b. 1918) [30]
- March 29 – Mantovani, Anglo-Italian conductor and arranger (b. 1905) [31]
- March 30
- Natalio Bacalso, Filipino writer, newspaperman, radio broadcaster, filmmaker and Constitutional Convention delegate (b. 1908)
- Tôn Đức Thắng, 2nd President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (b. 1888)
- Annunzio Mantovani, Italian British conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer (b.1905)
- March 31
- Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
- Jesse Owens, American Olympic athlete (b. 1913) [32]
April
- April 2 – Dick Howorth, English cricketer (b. 1909)
- April 3
- Archie Benn, Australian Federal Senator (b. 1897)
- Luella Gear, American actress (b. 1897)
- April 4 – Rita Romilly Benson, American stage actress and acting teacher (b. 1900)
- April 6 – Antony Balch, English film director and distributor (b. 1937)
- April 8 – Wilhelm Arwe, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1898)
- April 10 – Kay Medford, American actress and singer (b. 1919)
- April 11
- Charley Borah, American athlete and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1905)
- Florence Lake, American actress best known as the leading lady in most of the Edgar Kennedy comedy shorts (1904)
- April 12
- Ruggero Bonomi, Italian Air Force general during the Spanish Civil War and World War II (b. 1898)
- William Tolbert, 20th President of Liberia (b. 1913)
- April 13 – Frederick D. Alexander, American businessman, civil rights activist, and politician, first African American to serve on Charlotte City Council since the 1890s (b. 1910)
- April 14 – Tom Fadden, American actor; performed on the legitimate stage, vaudeville, in films and on television during his long career.
- April 15
- Gerty Archimède, Guadeloupe politician, first female lawyer to pass the Guadeloupe Bar (b. 1909)
- Raymond Bailey, American actor comedian, best known as Milburn Drysdale in The Beverly Hillbillies (b. 1904)
- Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate in Literature (b. 1905) [33]
- Marshall Reed, American actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1943 and 1978 (b. 1917)
- April 19
- Tony Beckley, English actor (b. 1929)
- Charles Seel, American actor (b. 1897)
- Ethel Wilson, Canadian writer of short stories and novels (b. 1888)
- April 20
- Günther Ballier, German actor (b. 1900)
- Charles Stanley Blair, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland (b. 1927)
- Helmut Käutner, German film director (b. 1908)
- Katherine Kennicott Davis, American composer (b. 1892) [34]
- April 21
- Dante Agostini, Italian-born French drummer (b. 1921)
- Sohrab Sepehri, Persian poet and painter (b. 1928)
- Aleksandr Oparin, Soviet biochemist notable for his theories about the origin of life; also studied the biochemistry of material processing by plants and enzyme reactions in plant cells (1894)
- April 22
- Jane Froman, American singer and actress (b. 1907) [35]
- Fritz Strassmann, German chemist (b. 1902)
- April 24
- James Buis, Dutch Roman Catholic prelate, vicar apostolic of Kota Kinabalu (b. 1902) [36]
- Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (b. 1904)
- April 25 – Katia Mann, American actress and singer who performed on stage, radio, and television despite chronic health problems
- April 26 – Dame Cicely Courtneidge, British actress (b. 1893) [37]
- April 27 – Mario Bava, Italian director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- April 28
- Andrija Anković, Croatian footballer and manager (b. 1937)
- Thomas G. W. Settle, American record-setting balloonist and admiral (b. 1895) [38]
- April 29 – Sir Alfred Hitchcock, British film director (b. 1899) [39]
- April 30
- Harold Robert Aaron, United States Army lieutenant general (b. 1921) [40]
- Arthur Banner, English footballer (b. 1918)
- Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican journalist, politician and statesman (b. 1898)
- April unknown date – Herbert Bowman, American tennis player (b. 1897)
May
- May 2
- Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-born Australian cricketer (b. 1891) [41]
- George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (b. 1908) [42]
- Alioune Diop, Senegalese writer and editor, founder of the journal Présence africaine , and a central figure in the Négritude movement (b. 1910)
- May 4
- Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav communist military and political leader, 19th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and 1st President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
- Kay Hammond, English stage and film actress (b. 1909)
- May 5 – Isabel Briggs Myers, American psychological theorist and co-creator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (b. 1897)
- May 6 – María Luisa Bombal, Chilean novelist and poet (b. 1910)
- May 7 – Sigval Bergesen the Younger, Norwegian shipping magnate (b. 1893)
- May 8 – Sir Geoffrey Baker, British field marshal, Chief of the General Staff
- May 12 – Lillian Roth, American actress (b. 1910) [43]
- May 13 – Elliott Arnold, American newspaper feature writer, novelist, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
- May 14
- Carl Ebert, German theatre and opera director (b. 1887]
- Fatmawati, inaugural First Lady of Indonesia (b. 1923)
- Wilhelm Weismann, German composer and musicologist (b. 1900)
- Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (b. 1912) [44]
- May 15 – Lela Bliss, American actress (b. 1896)
- May 16 – Marin Preda, Romanian writer (b. 1922)
- May 17 – Ernst Blum, German international footballer (b. 1904)
- May 18
- Reid Blackburn, American photojournalist, killed in the 1980 volcanic eruption (b. 1952)
- Ian Curtis, English musician and singer (b. 1956)
- David A. Johnston, American volcanologist (b. 1949)
- Harry R. Truman, American businessman, bootlegger and prospector (b. 1896)
- May 21 – Ida Kamińska, Polish actress, playwright and translator (b. 1899)
- May 26 – Franz Bachelin, German art director (b. 1895)
- May 28 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician (b. 1895)
- May 30 – Otome Amatsu, Japanese dancer and actress (b. 1905)
- May unknown date – Leo A. Berg, American politician, Mayor of Akron, Ohio (b. 1907)
June
- June 1 – Rube Marquard, American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball, had greatest success in the New York Giants (b. 1886)
- June 3
- Naum Akhiezer, Jewish-Soviet mathematician (b. 1901)
- Fred Beir, American film and television actor (b. 1927)
- June 5 – Giorgio Amendola, Italian writer and politician (b. 1907)
- June 6 – Ruth Aarons, US table tennis player, vaudeville entertainer, and talent manager (b. 1918)
- June 7
- Richard Bonelli, American operatic baritone (b. 1889)
- Philip Guston, American painter (b. 1913) [45]
- Henry Miller, American writer (b. 1891) [46]
- Marian Spychalski, Polish architect and politician, former Polish head of State (b. 1908)
- June 8
- Alfredo Brilhante da Costa, Brazilian football player (b. 1904)
- Ernst Busch, German singer and actor (b. 1900)
- June 12
- Lawrence Anionwu, Nigerian administrator and diplomat, Nigeria's first Ambassador to Italy (b. 1921)
- Milburn Stone, 75, American actor (b. 1904)
- Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1910)
- Billy Butlin, entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British Butlin holiday camp.
- June 13 – Walter Rodney, Guyanese historian and political figure (b. 1942)
- June 18
- Henry Aurand, American Lieutenant General, served in WWI, WWII and the Korean War (b. 1894)
- Cliff Bergere, American stuntman and racecar driver (b. 1896)
- Maurice Bridgeman, English oilman (b. 1904)
- Terence Fisher, British director (b. 1904)
- André Leducq, French cyclist who won the 1930 and 1932 Tours de France and a gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics (b. 1904)
- June 20 – Allan Pettersson, Swedish composer and violist considered one of the 20th century's most important Swedish composers
- June 21 – Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923) [47]
- June 23
- Vadim Berezinskii, Soviet physicist (b. 1935)
- V. V. Giri, Indian politician and 4th President of India (b. 1894)
- Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
- John Laurie, Scottish stage, film, and television actor (b. 1897)
- Sanjay Gandhi, Indian politician who was a member of parliament and Lok Sabha.
- June 24
- Connie Mack Berry, American who played professional football, baseball, and basketball (b. 1915)
- Boris Kaufman, Russian cinematographer (b. 1897)
- June 26
- Hal Aloma, Hawaiian steel guitarist, singer and bandleader (b. 1908)
- Ignatius Jacob III, Patriarch of Antioch (b. 1912)
- June 27 – Barney Bigard, American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington (b. 1906)
- June 28
- José Iturbi, Spanish conductor and musician (b. 1895) [30]
- Helen Gahagan Douglas, American actress and politician; was on Broadway, toured as a opera singer, and was in Hollywood films; she was the third woman and first Democratic woman elected to Congress from California (b. 1900)
- June 29
- Filipp Agaltsov, Soviet Order of Lenin recipient (b. 1900)
- Jorge Basadre, Peruvian historian (b. 1903)
- June 30 – Lester Brain, pioneer Australian aviator and airline executive (b. 1903)
July
- July 1 – C. P. Snow, British physicist and novelist (b. 1905) [48]
- July 2 – Tom Barry, guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (b. 1897)
- July 3
- Adesoji Aderemi, Governor of Western Region, Nigeria (b. 1889)
- Deng Hua, Chinese general (b. 1910)
- Abdelhamid Sharaf, 51st Prime Minister of Jordan (b. 1939)
- July 4 – Gregory Bateson, British anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, semiotician and cyberneticist (b. 1904) [49]
- July 6 – Gail Patrick, American actress (b. 1911) [50]
- July 7 – Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1901)
- July 8 – Don G. Abel, American attorney and Washington State Supreme Court Justice (b. 1894)
- July 9
- Nazario Belmar, Spanish footballer, film producer and lawyer (b. 1919)
- Ian Botting, New Zealand international rugby union player (b. 1922)
- Vinicius de Moraes, Brazilian writer, poet and diplomat (b. 1913)
- July 10 – Komako Kimura, Japanese suffragist, actress, dancer, theater manager, and magazine editor (b. 1887)
- July 11 – Zygmunt Berling, Polish general and politician (b. 1896)
- July 12 – Donald Beatty, American aviator, explorer, and inventor (b. 1900)
- July 13
- Joseph Brennan, Irish Fianna Fáil politician (b. 1913)
- Seretse Khama, 1st President of Botswana (b. 1921) [51]
- July 14 – Felix Berezin, Soviet Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1931)
- July 16 – Robert Brackman, American artist and teacher, best known for large figural works, portraits, and still lifes.
- July 17
- Don "Red" Barry, American film and television actor (b. 1912)
- Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
- July 19 –
- Nihat Erim, Turkish politician and jurist, 30th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1912)
- Hans Morgenthau, German-American jurist and political scientist who specialized in foreign relations; made landmark contributions to international relations theory and the study of international law (b. 1904)
- July 20
- William P. Battell, Major General of the US Marine Corps (b.1906)
- Piet Bouman, Dutch amateur footballer who played for his country (b. 1892)
- Lado Gudiashvili, Soviet painter (b. 1896)
- July 21 – Salah al-Din al-Bitar, Syrian politician, two-time Prime Minister of Syria (b. 1912)
- July 22 – Bob Bawden, Australian rules footballer with Richmond (b. 1917)
- July 23 – Mollie Steimer, Ukrainian anarchist activist; relocated multiple times for anarchist activities before becoming a photographer (b. 1897)
- July 24
- J. S. Brenner, American politician in the state of Montana (b. 1911)
- Peter Sellers, British comedian and actor (b. 1925) [52]
- Uttam Kumar, Indian film actor, producer, director, screenwriter, composer, and playback singer who predominantly worked in Bengali cinema (b. 1926)
- July 25 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Soviet singer-songwriter, poet and actor (b. 1938)
- July 26
- Peter René Oscar Bally, Swiss botanical illustrator, botanist and taxonomist (b. 1895)
- Kenneth Tynan, English theatre critic (b. 1927)
- Allen Hoskins, American child actor, who portrayed the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931 (b. 1920)
- Ibn-e-Safi, fiction writer, novelist and poet of Urdu from Pakistan.
- July 27
- Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (b. 1919) [53]
- Rushdy Abaza, Egyptian film and television actor (b. 1926)
- July 30 – Charles McGraw, American stage, film and television actor (b. 1914)
- July 31 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist (b. 1902)
- July unknown date – Herbert Best, British-American author of children's literature and science fiction (b. 1894)
August
- August 1
- Gardner Boultbee, Canadian sailor and Olympic medalist (b. 1907)
- Patrick Depailler, French racing driver (b. 1944)
- Strother Martin, 61, American television and movie actor (b. 1919)
- August 2
- Page Belcher, American Republican politician (b. 1899)
- Verdun Scott, sportsman who represented New Zealand in both Test cricket and rugby league. As of 2022 he is the only player to have done so (b. 1916)
- August 4 – Georg Aumann, German mathematician (b. 1906)
- August 5 – Harold Runnels, U.S. Representative from New Mexico (b. 1924)
- August 6 – Marino Marini, Italian sculptor and educator (b. 1901)
- August 7 – Albert Bittner, German conductor (b. 1900)
- August 8
- Arman, Iranian-Armenian actor (b. 1921)
- Paul Triquet, Canadian captain in WWII and recipient of the Victoria Cross in WWII (b. 1910)
- Oleg Grigoryevich Kononenko, member of Soviet cosmonaut group LII-1
- August 9
- Jacqueline Cochran, American pilot (b. 1906)
- Elliott Nugent, American actor, playwright, writer, and film director (b. 1896)
- August 10
- Gareth Evans, British philosopher (b. 1946)
- Yahya Khan, Pakistani general and statesman, 3rd President of Pakistan (b. 1917)
- August 13 – Bogislaw von Bonin, Colonel in the German Wehrmacht (b. 1908)
- August 14 – Dorothy Stratten, Canadian actress and model (b. 1960) [54]
- August 15 – William Hood Simpson, American general (b. 1888) [55]
- August 16 – Kevin Blackwell, New Zealand road and track cyclist, Commonwealth Games medallist (b. 1955-56)
- August 17
- Harold Adamson, American lyricist (b. 1906)
- Azaria Chamberlain, killed by a dingo leading to false imprisonment for murder for her mother (b. 1980)
- August 18 – Norman Cazden, American composer whose prime creative years were obscured by McCarthy-era political pressures [56] (b. 1914)
- August 19 – Otto Frank, German father of Jewish diarist Anne Frank (b. 1889)
- August 20
- Astaman, Indonesian actor (b. 1900)
- Naemi Briese, Swedish film actress (b. 1908)
- Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter (b. 1938) [57]
- August 21 – Jack Cheetham, South African cricketer who played in 24 Test matches (b. 1920)
- August 22
- L. C. Bates, African-American civil rights activist (b. 1904)
- Gabriel González Videla, 24th President of Chile (b. 1898)
- Alfred Neubauer, racing manager of the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team from 1926 to 1955 (b. 1891)
- James Smith McDonnell, American aviator, engineer, and businessman. (b. 1899)
- August 24
- Andre Parrot, French archaeologist specializing in ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria (b. 1901)
- Yootha Joyce, English actress (b. 1927)
- August 25
- Santos P. Amadeo, Puerto Rican attorney, law professor and Senator (b. 1902)
- Gower Champion, American theatre director, choreographer and dancer (b. 1919) [58]
- August 26
- Rosa Albach-Retty, Austrian film and stage actress, with Nazi sympathies (b. 1874)
- Tex Avery, American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor (b. 1908) [59]
- Jimmy Forrest, American jazz musician who played tenor saxophone throughout his career (b. 1920)
- Miliza Korjus, Polish-Estonian lyric coloratura soprano opera singer who appeared in classical American and Mexican sound films during the Golden Age of Hollywood (b. 1909)
- August 27 – Herman Beam, NASCAR Grand National Series driver and team owner (b. 1929)
- August 29
- Franco Basaglia, Italian psychiatrist, neurologist and professor (b. 1924) [60]
- Louis Darquier de Pellepoix, French Nazi collaborationist and Commissioner-General for Jewish Affairs under the Vichy Régime
- August 30 – Big Brown, American street poet, performer, and recording artist (b. 1920)
- August 31 – Rodolfo Arena, Brazilian actor (b. 1910)
September
- September 1 – Reg Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1914)
- September 2 – C. K. Alexander, Egyptian actor, director, composer, and playwright (b. 1923)
- September 3
- Barbara O'Neil, American actress (b. 1909) [61]
- Dirch Passer, Danish actor (b. 1926)
- Duncan Renaldo, Romanian-born American actor (b. 1904)
- Fabian von Schlabendorff, German jurist, soldier, and member of the German resistance against Adolf Hitler (b. 1907)
- September 4 – Wolfgang Gentner, German experimental nuclear physicist (b. 1906)
- September 5
- Don Banks, Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music (b. 1923)
- Barbara Loden, American actress and director of film and theater (b. 1932)
- September 6 – Joe Bradford, English professional international footballer (b. 1901)
- September 8
- Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry (b. 1908) [62]
- Bruce Dooland, Australian cricketer who played in three Test matches for the Australian national cricket team (b. 1923)
- September 9
- Harold Clurman, American theatre director and drama critic (b. 1901)
- John Howard Griffin, American journalist and author who wrote about racial equality (b.1920)
- September 11 – Junius Bibbs, American Negro Leagues baseballer (b. 1910)
- September 12
- Lillian Randolph, American actress (b. 1898)
- André Chéron, French chess player, endgame theorist, and a composer of endgame studies (b. 1895)
- September 13 – Fred D. Beans, brigadier general of the US Marine Corps, (b. 1906)
- September 14 – Domingo Acedo, Spanish football player (b. 1898)
- September 15 – Bill Evans, American jazz pianist (b. 1929) [63]
- September 16 – Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist (b. 1896) [64]
- September 17
- Harold Boas, Australian town planner and architect (b. 1883)
- Anastasio Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua (b. 1925) [65]
- September 18
- Frank Anderson, Canadian chess master and writer (b. 1928)
- Katherine Anne Porter, American author (b. 1890)
- September 19 – Sol Lesser, American film producer (b. 1890)
- September 20
- Marie Bremner, Australian soprano, remembered for performances in Gilbert and Sullivan operas (b. 1904)
- Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (b. 1904)
- September 21 – Eberhard von Breitenbuch, German cavalry officer who took part in the military-based conspiracy against Adolf Hitler (b. 1910)
- September 23 –
- Jacobus Johannes Fouché, 5th President of South Africa (b. 1898)
- Alan Strode Campbell Ross, British academic specializing in linguistics (b. 1907)
- September 25
- Richard Reeve Baxter, American jurist (b. 1921)
- John Bonham, British rock drummer (Led Zeppelin) (b. 1948)
- Lewis Milestone, American film director (b. 1895) [66]
- Marie Under, Estonian poet (b. 1883)
- September 26
- Princess Anne of Denmark, (b. 1917)
- Albert C. Bostwick Jr., American steeplechase jockey, thoroughbred racehorse owner, breeder and trainer (b. 1901)
- September 29
- Juxon Barton, British colonial administrator, Governor of Fiji, High Commissioner for the Western Pacific (b. 1891)
- Harold F. Blum, physiologist who explored the interaction of light and chemicals on cells (b. 1899)
- Bindo Maserati, Italian automotive engineer and businessman, known as the manager of Maserati and one of the Maserati Brothers (b. 1883)
October
- October 2
- Princess Alexandrine of Prussia (1915–1980), oldest daughter and fifth child of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
- Sir John Kotelawala, Sri Lanka soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (b. 1895)
- Valentin Varlamov, Russian jet pilot who was selected for Air Force Group 1 (b. 1934)
- October 6
- Sir Edric Bastyan, British Army officer, Governor of South Australia and Governor of Tasmania (b. 1903)
- Hattie Jacques, British actress (b. 1922]
- Jean Robic, French road racing cyclist who won the 1947 Tour de France
- October 8
- Suzanne Bertillon, French WWII resistance fighter, awarded the Legion of Honour (b. 1891)
- Maurice Martenot, French cellist, radio telegrapher during the first World War, and an inventor (b. 1898)
- October 10
- Carlo Annovazzi, Italian footballer (b. 1925)
- Elizabeth Rummel, German-Canadian mountaineer and environmental activist (b. 1897) [67]
- October 12 – Alberto Demicheli, Uruguayan political figure, former President of Uruguay (de facto) (b. 1896)
- October 14
- Lawrence Baker, American tennis administrator and player, US Davis Cup captain (b. 1890)
- Oscar Alemán, Argentine jazz guitarist, singer, and dancer (b. 1909)
- October 15
- John Henry Balch, United States Naval Reserve officer who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War I (b. 1896)
- Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark (b. 1908) [68]
- Mikhail Lavrentyev, Soviet mathematician and hydrodynamicist
- October 16 – Shirley Booth, American actress (b. 1898)
- October 17 – Narciso J. Alegre, Filipino civil liberties advocate, and a founder of Young Philippines (b. 1911)
- October 18 – Hans Ehard, German lawyer and politician (b. 1887)
- October 19 – Bobby Bauld, Scottish professional footballer (b. 1902)
- October 20 – Isobel Barnett, Scottish radio and television personality (b. 1918)
- October 21
- Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician after whom Asperger syndrome was named (b. 1906)
- Kanjūrō Arashi, Japanese film actor (b. 1903)
- Élie-Oscar Bertrand, Canadian businessman and House of Commons representative (b. 1894)
- Valko Chervenkov, Bulgarian Communist leader and statesman, 34th Prime Minister of Bulgaria (b. 1900)
- Edelmiro Julián Farrell, Argentine general, 28th President of Argentina (b. 1887)
- October 22 – Sammy Angott, American boxer, World Lightweight champion (b. 1915)
- October 23
- Charles Adler Jr., American engineer and inventor (b. 1899)
- Mariano Suárez, Ecuadorian politician, 27th President of Ecuador (b. 1897)
- October 25
- Virgil Fox, American organist (b. 1912)
- Víctor Galíndez, Argentine boxer (b. 1948)
- Sahir Ludhianvi, Urdu/Hindustani poet and Hindi film lyricist (b. 1921)
- October 26 – Marcelo Caetano, Portuguese politician and scholar, 101st Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1906)
- October 27
- Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, lawyer, author and broadcaster (b. 1924)
- Steve Peregrin Took, British rock musician (b. 1949)
- John Hasbrouck Van Vleck, American physicist, Nobel Laureate in Physics (b. 1899) [69]
- October 29 – Giorgio Borġ Olivier, Maltese politician and statesman, 7th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1911)
- October 31
- Elizebeth Smith Friedman, American cryptographer (b. 1892) [70]
- Jan Werich, Czech actor, playwright and writer (b. 1905)
- October unknown date – Dorothy Blum, American computer scientist and cryptanalyst, worked for the National Security Agency (b. 1924)
November
- November 2 – Willie Sutton, American bank robber (b. 1901)
- November 3 – Ludwig Hohl, Swiss writer writing in the German language (b. 1904)
- November 4
- Sir Kenneth Blackburne, British colonial official, first governor-general of Jamaica (b. 1907)
- Elsie MacGill, Canadian engineer, the first woman in the world to earn an aeronautical engineering degree, and the first woman in Canada to receive a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (b. 1905)
- Johnny Owen, Welsh professional boxer (b. 1956)
- November 5
- Louis Alter, American pianist, songwriter and composer (b. 1902)
- Caroline Brady, American philologist who specialised in Old English and Old Norse works (b. 1905)
- November 6 – Aedy Moward, Indonesian actor (b. 1929)
- November 7
- Steve McQueen, American actor (b. 1930) [71]
- Wolfgang Weyrauch, German writer, journalist, and actor (b. 1904)
- November 8
- Gordon Robert Archibald, Scottish painter (b. 1905)
- Claudio Bincaz, Argentine international football and rugby union player (b. 1897)
- November 9 – Victor Sen Young, 65, American character actor (b. 1915)
- November 10 – Marion Allnutt, welfare worker, commanding officer of the NGO, Women's Australian National Services (b. 1896)
- November 11 – Renato Barbieri, Italian rower and Olympic medalist (b. 1903)
- November 12 – Andrei Amalrik, Soviet writer and dissident (b. 1938)
- November 16
- Nikolaus Biewer, German international footballer (b. 1922)
- Imogen Hassall, English actress (b. 1942)
- November 18
- Arthur S. Adams, President of the University of New Hampshire (b. 1896)
- Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman, soldier and sportsman in ice hockey and horse racing (b. 1895)
- November 19
- Margaret Aitken, Canadian author, columnist, journalist, and politician (b. 1906)
- E. J. Bowen, British physical chemist (b. 1898)
- November 20
- Hans von Boineburg-Lengsfeld, German general in the Wehrmacht (b. b. 1889)
- Avtandil Gogoberidze, Soviet football player (b. 1922)
- Sir John McEwen, Australian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1900)
- November 21 – Sara García, Mexican actress (b. 1895)
- November 22
- Leonard Barr, American stand-up comedian, film actor, and dancer (b. 1903)
- Mae West, American actress (b. 1893)
- November 23 – R. Allatini, Austrian-British novelist who wrote under the pseudonyms R. Allatini, A.T. Fitzroy, Mrs Cyril Scott, Lucian Wainwright, and Eunice Buckley (b. 1890]
- November 24
- George Aarons, Russian-American sculptor (b. 1896)
- Herbert Agar, American journalist and Pulitzer Prize recipient (b. 1897)
- George Raft, American actor (b. 1901)
- November 25
- George Amsberg, Australian barrister and judge (b. 1905)
- Herbert Flam, American tennis player (b. 1928) [72]
- November 26
- Rachel Roberts, British actress (b. 1927)
- Pete DePaolo, American racing driver who is remembered as one of the greatest racers of his generation (b. 1898)
- November 29 – Dorothy Day, American journalist and social activist (b. 1897)
December
- December 1 – Frank Booth, American swimmer and Olympic medalist (b. 1910)
- December 2 – Romain Gary, Lithuanian-French writer (b. 1914) [73]
- December 3 – Sir Oswald Mosley, British fascist leader (b. 1896) [74]
- December 4
- Snu Abecassis, Danish-Portuguese publisher (b. 1940)
- Adelino Amaro da Costa, Portuguese politician (b. 1943)
- Hamilton Shirley Amerasinghe, Sri Lankan diplomat and civil servant, High Commissioner to India, Ambassador to Nepal and Afghanistan, President of United Nations General Assembly (b. 1913)
- Joe Birch, English professional footballer (b. 1904)
- Jenő Brandi, Hungarian water polo player and Olympic medalist (b. 1913)
- Francisco de Sá Carneiro, Portuguese lawyer, 109th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1934)
- Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish runner (b. 1911)
- December 6 – Margot Bennett, Scottish-born screenwriter and author of crime and thriller novels (b. 1912)
- December 7
- Beechi, humorist in the Kannada language (b. 1913)
- Darby Crash, American rock songwriter, singer (b. 1958)
- December 8
- Theo Breuer, German international footballer (b. 1909)
- John Lennon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940) [75]
- December 10 – Patriarch Benedict I of Jerusalem (b. 1892)
- December 12 – Jean Lesage, Canadian lawyer and premier from Quebec (b. 1912)
- December 13 – Fleming Alexander, American minister, businessman, and newspaper publisher, founded the Roanoke Tribune (b. 1888)
- December 14
- Hugh Beadle, Rhodesian lawyer, politician, judge, Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia (b. 1905)
- Nichita Smochină, Moldovan activist (b. 1894)
- Elston Howard, American professional baseball player who was a catcher and a left fielder (b. 1929)
- December 16
- Peter Collinson, British film director (b. 1936)
- Colonel Sanders, American fast-food entrepreneur (b. 1890) [76]
- Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
- December 17 – Ahmet Berman, Turkish international footballer (b. 1932)
- December 18
- Alexei Kosygin, Soviet politician, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1904)
- Sir Albert Margai, 2nd Prime Minister of Sierra Leone (b. 1910)
- December 19 – Héctor José Cámpora, Argentine Peronist politician, 38th President of Argentina (b. 1909)
- December 21
- Philip Lemont Barbour, American linguist, historian and radio broadcaster (b. 1898)
- Marc Connelly, American playwright (b. 1890) [77]
- December 22 – Miriam Battista, American actress known principally for her early career as a child star in silent films (b. 1912)
- December 24
- Caroline van Hook Bean, American Impressionist painter (b. 1879)
- Karl Dönitz, German admiral and 4th President of Germany (b. 1891) [78]
- Heikki Liimatainen, Finnish Olympic athlete (b. 1894)
- Siggie Nordstrom, American model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
- December 25 – Fred Emney, English character actor and comedian (b. 1900)
- December 26
- Edward Ajado, Nigerian sprinter and Empire Games medal winner (b. 1929)
- Giuseppe Balbo, Italian painter (b. 1902)
- Richard Chase, American serial killer & cannibal (b. 1950)
- December 28
- James N. Bloodworth, justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama (b. 1921)
- Amir Elahi, Indian-Pakistani test cricketer who represented both countries (b. 1908)
- Sam Levene, Russian-American Broadway, films, radio, and television actor and director (b. 1905)
- December 29 – Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941) [79]
- December 30
- Frank Baker, Australian-American actor and stuntman (b. 1892)
- George Beel, English footballer (b. 1900)
- December 31
- Alan Bellhouse, Australian mathematician, teacher, musician, founder of North Sydney Symphony Orchestra (b. 1914)
- Bob Shawkey, American baseball pitcher who played fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (b. 1890)
- Dalbir Bindra, Canadian neuropsychologist (b. 1922)
- Abdelhafid Boussouf, Algerian nationalist and a leader of the National Liberation Front (FLN) during the Algerian War of Independence (b. 1926)
- Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and professor (b. 1911) [80]
- Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)
- J.W. Milam, American murderer and white supremacist (b. 1919)
Unknown month 1980
- Justicia Acuña, first woman to become a civil engineer in Chile (b. 1893)
- M. P. Alladin, Trinidad and Tobago artist, poet, writer, teacher and public servant (b. 1919)
- María Álvarez de Guillén, Salvadoran businesswoman, writer and women's rights activist (b. 1889)
- Lev Balandin, Soviet swimmer and European Championships medalist (b. 1934)
- Margaret Ballinger, South African politician, first President of the Liberal Party of South Africa (b. 1894)
- Robert Barbour, Scottish airman and flying ace of World War I (b. 1895)
- Archie Bayes, English football goalkeeper (b. 1896)
- Juan Besuzzo, Uruguayan international footballer (b. 1913)
- Frank Bielby, English professional rugby league footballer (b. 1897)
