- May 9 Ethel Smyth, English composer, dies at 86
- May 11 Henk Hos, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at 37
- May 11 Walter Oesau, German fighter pilot (WWII), dies at 30
- May 12 Arthur Quiller-Couch, Cornish novelist and editor (The Oxford Book Of English Verse 1250–1900), dies at 80
- May 16 George Ade, American playwright, writer and humorist (Counsel Widow, Fables in Slang), dies at 78
- May 16 Leone Sinigaglia, Italian composer, dies at 75
- May 16 Max Brand [Frederick Schiller Faust], western author, dies
- May 16 Ferdinand Alphons Marie van der Ham, Dutch WW II resistance fighter, dies at 27
- May 19 Godfrey Wilson, British Anthropologist of social change and colonial problems in Africa, commits suicide as a conscientious objector in WW II
- May 26 Cyril Francois, South African cricket all-rounder (5 Tests, 252 runs, 6 wickets), dies in a motor accident at 46
- May 26 Robert van Spaendonck, Dutch resistance fighter, dies at 27
- May 28 Katri Vala, Finnish poet, dies at 42
- May 30 Jessie Ralph, actress (Good Earth, San Francisco), dies at 79