- Jan 1 Malcolm Campbell, English cyclist (world speed-record), dies at 63
Victor Fleming
Jan 6 Victor Fleming, American film director (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With Wind), dies at 65
Victor Fleming
- Jan 9 Amilcare Zanella, composer, dies at 75
- Jan 10 Erich von Drygalski, German geographer, geophysicist, and polar scientist (b. 1865)
- Jan 14 Joaquín Turina, Spanish pianist/conductor/composer (Rima), dies at 66
- Jan 15 Pompeo Aloisi, Italian baron, diplomat and senator, dies at 63
- Jan 18 Charles Ponzi [Carlo], Italian con-man (Ponzi scheme in the US), dies at 66
- Jan 20 Joseph Cuypers, architect Dutch (Amsterdam Stock Exchange), dies at 87
- Jan 22 William Thomas Walsh, American author (b. 1891)
- Jan 25 Emil Axman, Czech composer, dies at 61
- Jan 25 Makino Nobuaki, Japanese statesman (b. 1861)
- Jan 27 Boris Asafiev, composer, dies at 64
- Jan 28 Gustaf Lazarus Nordqvist, composer, dies at 62
- Jan 31 Henri de Vries [Hendricus Van Walterop], Dutch actor (Cleopatra, White Cargo), dies at 84
- Feb 1 Herbert Stothart, composer, dies at 63
- Feb 5 Juozas Tallat-Kelpsa, composer, dies at 50
- Feb 8 Franco Leoni, composer, dies at 81
- Feb 8 Leonid Alexeyevich Polovinkin, composer, dies at 54
- Feb 9 Poul Schierbeck, Danish organist and composer, dies at 60
- Feb 12 Hassan al Banna, Egyptian founder of the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
- Feb 14 Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi-Assyrian communist leader (b. 1901)
- Feb 18 Niceto A Zamora y Torres, premier of Spain (1931-36), dies at 71
- Feb 19 Auguste Jean Maria Charles Serieyx, composer, dies at 83
- Feb 21 Ernest Walker, composer, dies at 78
- Feb 22 Russell Porter, actor (Betsy, Hanna's War, British Empire), dies
- Feb 28 Stanley Marchant, English composer, dies at 65
- Mar 2 Sarojini Naidu, Indian freedom fighter and poet, dies at 70
- Mar 7 Francis Dodd, English artist (b. 1874)
- Mar 10 James Rector, American athlete (b. 1884)
- Mar 11 Juan Lamonte de Grignon, composer, dies at 76
- Mar 12 Maria "Beppie" Bakker, Dutch actress/wife of Piet Vink Sr, dies at 95
- Mar 13 Henri Giraud, French general (b. 1879)
- Mar 14 John Callan O'Laughlin, American political and military figure and journalist (b. 1873)
- Mar 17 Felix Bressart, German actor (Ninotchka, Escape, Crossroads), dies from Leukemia at 57
- Mar 17 Aleksandra Ekster, Russian painter (b. 1882)
- Mar 25 Hanns A Rauter, German SS-commandant in Netherland, executed at 54
- Mar 28 Grigoras Dinicu, Romanian violin virtuoso and composer, dies at 59
- Mar 30 Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricketer (4 Tests for India), dies at 40
- Mar 30 Friedrich Bergius, German chemist (benzine from brown coal, Nobel 1931), dies at 64
- Apr 3 Basil Harwood, English composer, dies at 89
- Apr 6 Stanley Christopherson, cricketer (1884, MCC President during WWII), dies
- Apr 6 Seymour Hicks, British actor and theatrical impresario (Scrooge), dies at 78
- Apr 13 C V France, British actor (The Skin Game, Adventure in Blackmail), dies at 80
- Apr 14 Joseph A Cushman, US paleontologist, dies at 68
Wallace Beery
Apr 15 Wallace Beery, American circus performer (Ringling Brothers Circus) and actor (Alias a Gentleman, Dinner at 8), dies from a heart attack at 64
Wallace Beery
- Apr 16 Sutan Ibrahim gelor Datuk Tan Malaka, Indon communist, executed at 54
- Apr 18 Leonard Bloomfield, linguist/philosopher, dies
- Apr 18 Will Hay [William Thomson Hay], British comedian, actor and amateur astronomer, dies from a stroke at 60
- Apr 19 Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
- Apr 19 Stephen Samuel Wise, American Rabbi and President of Zionist Org of America, dies at 75
- Apr 25 Jankel Adler, Polish painter and printmaker, dies at 53
- Apr 28 Aurora Quezon, First Lady of the Philippines (shot) (b. 1888)
- May 6 A L Ochse, cricketer (10 wickets in 3 Tests for South Africa 1927-29), dies
Maurice Maeterlinck
May 6 Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian philosopher (Nobel 1911), dies at 86
Maurice Maeterlinck
- May 9 Louis II [Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi], Prince of Monaco, dies at 78
- May 11 Adrianus PHA de Kleyn, throat/nose/otologist (ear doctor), dies at 65
- May 16 William Newzam Prior Nicholson, painter/engraver, dies
- May 18 James T Adams, US historian (Pulitzer 1921)
- May 20 Randolph West, American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction (b. 1890)
- May 21 Klaus Mann, German writer, dies at 42
- May 22 Hans Erich Pfitzner, Russian/German composer, dies at 80
- May 22 Klaus H T Mann, German/US writer (Turning Point), dies
- May 24 Aleksey Shchusev, Russian architect (b. 1873)
- May 25 Simon H Spoor, intelligence officer/general (WWII), dies at 47
- May 27 Ropert L Ripley, cartoonist (Believe It or Not), dies at 55 in NY
- Jun 2 Dynam-Victor Fumet, French composer, dies at 82
- Jun 3 Amedos Peter Giannine, founder of Bank of America dies at 79
Amadeo Giannini
Jun 3 Amadeo Giannini, American banker and entrepreneur (founded Bank of America), dies at 79
Amadeo Giannini
- Jun 10 Sigrid Undset, Norwegian writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
- Jun 11 Koci Xoxe, Albanian vice-premier, executed
- Jun 11 Oton Zupanic, Slavs poet (Zimzelen pod snegom), dies at 71
- Jun 19 Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian-Pakistani Prominent Muslim philosopher, dies at 64
- Jun 25 Buck Freeman, baseball player (b. 1871)
- Jun 26 Kim Gu, President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (1939-48), dies at 72
- Jun 29 Walter Giffen, cricketer (brother of George, 3 Tests), dies
- Jul 1 Louis Davids [Simon David], cabaret artist, dies at 65
- Jul 2 Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgaria premier (1946-49), dies at 67
- Jul 7 Bunk Johnson, American musician (b. 1879 or 1889)
- Jul 8 Antun Sa'ada, Syrian rightwing politician, executed in Lebanon
- Jul 8 Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, Italian composer, dies at 66
- Jul 9 Fritz Bennicke Hart, composer, dies at 75
- Jul 12 Douglas Hyde, first President of Ireland (b. 1860)
- Jul 14 Frank Hearne, cricketer (2 Tests for England, 4 Tests for South Africa), dies
- Jul 16 Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian philosopher, playwright and poet, dies at 83
- Jul 18 Vítězslav Novák, Czech composer (b. 1870)
- Aug 9 Harry Davenport, American actor and director (Her Unborn Child, My Sin), dies at 83
- Aug 9 Edward Thorndike, American psychologist (father of modern educational psychology), dies at 74
- Aug 11 Karl Weigl, Austrian-American composer, dies at 68
- Aug 14 Husni al-Barazi, premier of Syria, shot to death
- Aug 14 Husni el-Zaim, president/dictator of Syria, shot to death
Margaret Mitchell
Aug 16 Margaret Mitchell, American writer (Gone With the Wind), dies at 48
Margaret Mitchell
- Aug 17 Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino jurist & politician (b. 1891)
- Aug 18 Paul J Mares, US jazz trumpetist/composer (Tin Roof Blues), dies at 49
- Aug 21 Gerhard von Keussler, German composer, dies at 75
- Aug 26 Nico van Suchtelen, Dutch writer and publisher, dies at 70
- Aug 27 Arthur Chesney, actor (Lodger, Chelsea Life), dies at 67
- Aug 30 Arthur Fielder, English cricket fast bowler (6 Tests 1903-08), dies at 72
- Aug 31 Andre Debierne, French chemist/physicist (actinium), dies
- Aug 31 Paul Hoffer, German composer, dies at 53
- Sep 7 José Clemente Orozco, Mexican painter (b. 1883)
- Sep 8 Richard Strauss, German composer (Also sprach Zarathustra), dies at 85
- Sep 11 Henri Rabaud, French composer/conductor (L'ete), dies at 75
August Krogh
Sep 13 August Krogh, Danish zoophysiologist, dies at 75
August Krogh
- Sep 18 Frank Morgan, American actor (The Wizard of Oz), dies at 59
- Sep 19 Will Cuppy, American humorist (The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody), dies at 65
- Sep 19 George Shiels, Irish dramatist (b. 1886)
- Sep 20 Nikolaos Skalkottas, composer, dies at 45
- Sep 20 Richard Dix, American actor (10 Commandments, Cimarron, The Ghost Ship), dies from a heart attack at 56
- Sep 22 Sam Wood, American communist fighter and director (For Whom the Bell Tolls), dies at 66
- Sep 24 Pierre de Bréville, French composer, author and professor (Une histoire du théâtre lyrique en France), dies at 88
- Oct 1 Oswald Garrison Villard, American journalist and editor of the New York Evening Post, dies at 77
- Oct 4 Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer, dies at 75
- Oct 6 Robert Lynd, Irish writer and critic (News Chronicle), dies at 70
- Oct 9 Viktor Alexandrovich Uspensky, composer, dies at 70
- Oct 16 Hale Ascher VanderCook, composer, dies at 85
- Oct 24 Joaquin Nin y Castellanos, composer, dies at 70
- Oct 27 Marcel Cerdan, French boxer (b. 1916)
- Oct 27 Ginette Neveu, French violinist (b. 1919)
- Oct 29 G. I. Gurdjieff, Armenian mystic (b. 1872)
- Oct 31 Edward Stettinius Jr. 48th US Secretary of State (1944-45) and diplomat, dies at 49
- Nov 1 Leslie Gay, cricket wicket-keeper/goalkeeper (England in 1890's), dies
- Nov 2 Jerome F. Donovan, American politician (b. 1872)
- Nov 3 Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and art collector (Guggenheim Museum New York), dies at 88
- Nov 8 Cyriel Verschaeve, Belgian clergyman (b. 1874)
- Nov 12 Hendrik A de Fish, [Henri Pauwels], Flemish philological, dies at 64
- Nov 14 Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat, dies at 72
- Nov 19 James Ensor, Flemish painter/etcher (Oestereetster), dies at 89
- Nov 23 Gustav Radbruch, German Min of Justice, dies
- Nov 25 Luther "Bill" Robinson, "Bojangles" famed tap dancer, dies at 71
- Nov 27 Tom Walls, British actor and producer (A Cuckoo in the Nest, Undercover), dies at 66
- Dec 3 Elin Pelin, writer, dies
- Dec 3 Maria Ouspenskaya, actress (Spookies), dies at 62
Lead Belly
Dec 6 Lead Belly, [Huddie William Ledbetter], blues singer, dies at 64
Lead Belly
- Dec 10 Duncan Stewart, 2nd British Governor of Sarawak (1949), dies at 45 after being fatally stabbed in the streets of Sibu by pro-Indonesian Malay student Rosli Dhoby
- Dec 16 Traitsjo Kostov, Bulgarian communist vice-premier, executed
- Dec 17 David Stanley Smith, American composer (Merrymount), dies at 72
- Dec 28 Jack Lovelock, NZ/US surgeon/athlete (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 39
- Dec 28 W Hervey Allen, US writer/poet (Anthony Adverse), dies at 60