- May 1 Barbara Barendrecht [BHM Wurfbain], actress (Dirty Picture)
- May 1 Brian Glencross, Australian field hockey defender (93 caps; Olympic bronze 1964, silver 1968) and coach (Australia women Olympic gold 1988; Champions Trophy 1989, 91), born in Narrogin, Australia (d. 2022)
- May 1 Juraj Hatrík, Slovak composer (Monumento malinconico; Dispute Over a Plastered Dwarf), and educator, born in Orkucany, Slovak Republic (d. 2021)
- May 2 Clay Carroll, American baseball player, born in Clanton, Alabama
- May 2 Jules Wijdenbosch, Surinamese politician, President of Suriname (1996-2000), born in Paramaribo, Surinam
- May 3 Edward Malloy, 16th president of the University of Notre Dame, born in Washington, D.C.
- May 3 Frank Collett [Taglieri], American jazz pianist and bandleader, born in Brooklyn, NYC (d. 2016)
- May 3 Nona Gaprindashvili, Georgian world women's chess champ (1962-78), born in Zugdidi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union
- May 4 David LaFlamme [Gary Posie], American electric rock violinist (It's A Beautiful Day - "White Bird"), born in New Britain, Connecticut
- May 4 George Will, American political analyst (Night Line), born in Champaign, Illinois
- May 4 Nickolas "Nick" Ashford, American songwriter, record producer("Ain't No Mountain High Enough"; "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)"), and singer (Ashford & Simpson - "Solid"), born in Fairfield, South Carolina (d. 2011)
- May 5 Alexander Ragulin, Russian ice hockey player (Olympic gold 1964, 68, 72), born in Moscow (d. 2004)
- May 5 Stanley Cowell American jazz pianist (Heath Brothers), record label co-founder (Strata-East), and educator, born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 2020)
- May 5 Terry Baker, American College Football Hall of Fame quarterback (Heisman Trophy 1962, Oregon State), born in Pine River, Minnesota
- May 6 Fred J. Eckert, American politician (U.S. Ambassador to Fiji, Tuvalu, Kiribati & Tonga), born in Rochester, New York
- May 6 Ghena Dimitrova, Bulgarian operatic soprano, born in Pleven, Kingdom of Bulgaria (d. 2005)
- May 6 Ivan Osim, Bosnian soccer midfielder (19 caps Yugoslavia; FK Željezničar, RC Strasbourg, CS Sedan) and manager (Yugoslavia, Sturm Graz, Japan), born in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (d. 2022)
- May 7 Grahame Bilby, New Zealand cricketer (two Tests NZ v England 1966), born in Wellington, New Zealand
- May 8 James A. Traficant Jr, American politician (Rep-D-OH, 1985-2002), born in Youngstown, Ohio, (d. 2014)
- May 8 Jim Mitchum, American actor (Blackout; Invincible 6), born in Bridgeport, Connecticut
- May 8 John Fred [Gourrier], American pop singer (John Fred and His Playboy Band - "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)"), born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (d. 2005)
- May 8 Mahmoud Ahmed, Ethiopian singer, born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia [some sources cite May 18]
- May 8 Maurice Lindsay, British sports administrator (chairman Preston North End FC, Wigan Warriors RLFC; CEO RFL 1992-99), born in Horwich, England (d. 2022)
- May 9 Danny Rapp, American pop singer (Danny & Juniors - "At The Hop"), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1983)
- May 9 Dorothy Hyman, England, sprinter (Olympic silver 1960)
- May 9 Howard Komives, American NBA star (NY Knicks, Buffalo Braves), born in Toledo, Ohio (d. 2009)
- May 9 Jan Dibbets, sculptor/artist (Dutch Mountains)
- May 9 Pete Birrell, British rock bassist (Freddie and The Dreamers - "I'm Telling You Now"), born in Wythenshawe, Cheshire, England
- May 10 Ken Berry [Allen Kent Berry], American baseball player (White Sox, Angels, Brewers, Indians), born in Kansas City, Missouri
- May 10 Ken Kennedy, Irish rugby union hooker (45 Tests Ireland, 4 British & Irish Lions; London Irish RFC), born in Rochester, England (d. 2022)
- May 10 Win Bischoff, CEO (Schroders)
- May 11 Eric Burdon, British rock vocalist (Animals - "House of the Rising Sun"; "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"; War - "Spill The Wine"), born in Walker-on-Tyne, England
- May 11 Graham Miles, English snooker player, born in Birmingham, England (d. 2014)
- May 11 Ian Redpath, cricketer (dependable Australian opening batsman 1964-76)
- May 12 Anthony Newman, American harpsichordist and organist (Bhajeb), born in Los Angeles, California
- May 12 Ruud de Wolff, Dutch Indonesian singer and guitarist (Blue Diamonds), born in Batavia
- May 13 Joe Brown, British singer, guitarist and ukulele player ("A Picture of You"; "I'll See You In My Dreams"), born in Swarby, England
- May 13 Ritchie Valens [Valenzuela], American rock singer ("Donna"; "La Bamba"), born in Pacoima, California (d. 1959)
- May 13 Senta Berger, Austrian stage and screen actress (Cast a Giant Shadow), born in Vienna, Austria
- May 14 Nasim-ul-Ghani, cricketer (Pakistani left-handed all-rounder 1958-73)
- May 15 Cyril Cooray, cricketer (Sri Lankan Test umpire on intl panel)
- May 15 K. T. Oslin, American country singer (80's Ladies), born in Crossett, Arkansas (d. 2020)
- May 15 Lainie Kazan [Levine], American stage and screen singer and actress (Lust in the Dust; Beaches: My Big Fat Greek Wedding), born in Brooklyn, New York
- May 15 Richard Edward Wilson, composer
Aldrich Ames (81 years old)
May 16 American CIA officer and spy for the Soviet Union, born in River Falls, Wisconsin
- May 16 Maurice Henry Weddington, composer
- May 17 Ben Nelson. American politician
- May 17 David Cope, American composer, born in San Francisco, California
- May 17 Grace Zabriskie, American actress
- May 17 Malcolm Hale, American pop musician (Spanky and Our Gang), born in Butte, Montana (d. 1968)
- May 18 Diane McBain, American actress (Surfside Six, Spinout, Donner Pass), born in Cleveland, Ohio
- May 18 Lobby Loyde [John Lyde], Australian rock guitarist and songwriter (The Purple Heart; Wild Cherries; Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs), born in Longreach, Queensland (d. 2007)
- May 18 Malcolm Longair, British physicist (Jacksonian chair at Cavendish Laboratory), born in Dundee, Scotland
- May 18 Miriam Margolyes, British-Australian character actress (Babe; Romeo and Juliet), born in Oxford, England
- May 19 Jane Brody, writer/nutritionist
- May 19 Jimmy Hoffa Jr, son of union leader Jimmy Hoffa
- May 19 Marc-Antonio Consoli, composer
Nora Ephron (1941-2012)
May 19 American novelist (Heartburn), screenwriter (Silkwood; When Harry Met Sally), and director (Sleepless In Seattle), born in NYC
- May 20 Goh Chok Sole, premier of Singapore (1990- )
- May 20 John Strasberg, American actor
- May 21 Anatoly Levchenko, Soviet cosmonaut (TM-4), born in Krasnokutsk, Ukrainian SSR, USSR (d. 1988)
- May 21 Bobby Cox, American Baseball HOF manager (World Series 1977 [coach NY Yankees], 1995 Atlanta Braves; 4 × Manager of the Year; Toronto Blue Jays), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
- May 21 Martin Carthy, English folk musician, born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire
- May 21 Ronald Isley, American singer (Isley Brothers - "Twist and Shout"; "This Old Heart Of Mine"), born in Cincinnati, Ohio
- May 22 Martha Langbein, German athlete (Olympic silver 1960), born in Heidelberg, Germany
- May 22 Menzies Campbell, British politician (Member of Parliament for North East Fife), born in Glasgow
- May 22 Paul Winfield, American actor (Star Trek II, Huckleberry Finn, Mars Attack), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2004)
- May 22 Sebastian Forbes, British conductor, composer and music professor (The Aeolian Singers), born in Buckinghamshire, England
- May 23 General Norman Johnson, American soul singer (Chairmen of the Board - "Give Me Just a Little More Time"), and songwriter ("Patches"; "Want Ads"), born in Norfolk, Virginia (d. 2010)
- May 23 Jackson Hill, American composer and educator (Voices of Autumn), born in Birmingham, Alabama
- May 24 Andrés García, Mexican-Dominican actor (Tiger Shark), born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Bob Dylan (81 years old)
May 24 American singer-songwriter ("Blowin' In The Wind"; "The Times They Are A-Changin'"; "Positively Fourth Street") and cultural icon, born in Duluth, Minnesota
- May 24 Charles Earland, American jazz Hammond organist, and bandleader, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1999)
- May 24 Konrad Boehmer, German-Dutch composer, born in Berlin (2014)
- May 24 Martin Mogg, governor (British Durham Prison)
- May 24 Patricia Hollis, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, English Labour politician, born in Plympton, Plymouth (d. 2018)
- May 24 Tony Valentino, Italian-American rock guitarist (Standells - "Dirty Water"), born in Sicily, Italy
- May 25 Bill Young, American rocker, born in Daingerfield, Texas (d. 1999)
- May 26 Art Sharp, British rock singer (Nashville Teens - "Tobacco Road"), born in Woking, Surrey, England
- May 26 Imants Kalniņš, Latvian classical, choral and rock composer ("Hey, You There!"), born in Riga, Latvian SSR
- May 26 John Kaufman, sculptor
- May 26 John Maxwell Geddes, Scottish composer and pedagogue, born in Maryhill, Glasgow, Scotland (d. 2017)
- May 26 Reg Bundy, British performer (d. 2003)
- May 27 Adriaan Venema, Dutch journalist/author (Mussert)
- May 27 Davina Phillips, actress
- May 28 Beth Howland, actress (Vera - Alice, Company), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2015)
- May 28 Guntram Vesper, writer
- May 29 Bob Simon, American TV correspondent (CBS, 60 Minutes), born in the Bronx, New York (d. 2015)
- May 29 Doug Scott, English mountaineer (first ascent of south-west face of Mount Everest), born in Nottingham, England (d. 2020) [1]
- May 29 Pepi Bader, German bobsledder (World C'ship gold 2-man 1970; Olympic silver 1968, 72), born in Grainau, Germany (d. 2021)
- May 29 Roy Crewdson, British rock guitarist (Freddie and The Dreamers - "I'm Telling You Now"), born in Manchester, England
- May 31 Gil Morgan, American golfer (Senior Players C'ship 1998, The Tradition 1997, 98), born in Wewoka, Oklahoma
- May 31 June Clark, British Professor of Nursing (Middlesex U)
- May 31 Kenneth Cooper, American harpsichordist, pianist, musicologist, and professor (Barnard College, Brooklyn, NYC), born in New York City (d. 2021)
- May 31 Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, (1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for work on nitric oxide), born in Brooklyn, New York
- May 31 William Nordhaus, American economist (Nobel Prize 2018, climate change modelling), born in Albuquerque, New Mexico
- May 31 Wolfgang Fahrian, German soccer goalkeeper (10 caps DRG; SC Fortuna Köln), born in Blaustein, Germany (d. 2022)
About May 1941
How Old? 81 years old
Generation: Silent Generation
Leap Year: No