- May 6 Arthur Ochse, South African cricketer (10 wickets in 3 Tests for South Africa 1927-29), dies at 49
Maurice Maeterlinck
May 6 Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian philosopher (Nobel 1911), dies at 86
Maurice Maeterlinck
- May 6 Kunihiko Hashimoto, Japanese composer, violinist, conductor, and musical educator, dies of gastric cancer at 44
- May 9 Louis II [Louis Honoré Charles Antoine Grimaldi], Prince of Monaco, dies at 78
- May 16 William Newzam Prior Nicholson, painter/engraver, dies
- May 18 James Truslow Adams, American historian (Pulitzer 1921), dies at 70
- May 20 Randolph West, American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction (b. 1890)
- May 21 Klaus Mann, German-American author (Mephisto), dies at 42
- May 22 Hans Pfitzner, German composer (Palestrina), dies at 80
- May 22 Klaus H T Mann, German/American writer (Turning Point), dies
- May 24 Alexey Shchusev, Russian-Soviet architect, dies at 75
- 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