- May 1 William Fox [Fried], US film pioneer (Nickelodeon), dies at 73
- May 6 Alberto Savinio [Andrea Francesco Alberto de Chirico], Italian composer (Capitano Ulisse), dies at 60
Maria Montessori
May 6 Maria Montessori, Italian physician/educationist, dies at 81
Maria Montessori
- May 8 William Fox, Austrian-born film producer (b. 1879)
- May 9 Canada Lee [Leonard Canegata], African-American actor (Lost Boundaries), dies of a heart attack at 45
- May 11 Giovanni Tebaldini, Italian composer, dies at 87
- May 15 Albert Bassermann, German actor (Foreign Correspondent, Madame Curie), dies at 84
- May 15 Italo Montemezzi, Italian composer (L'amore dei tre re), dies at 76
- May 16 Alec Hearne, cricketer (scored 9 in Test for Eng v South Africa 1892), dies
- May 16 Frances Benjamin Johnston, American pioneering female photographer
- May 18 Rossetter Gleason Cole, American composer, dies at 86
- May 21 John Garfield [Jacob Garfinkle], American actor (Four Daughters, Body and Soul), dies of coronary thrombosis at 39
- May 23 Georg Alfred Schumann, German composer, dies at 85
- May 26 Damaso Alonso, Spanish linguistic/poet (Hombrey Dios), dies at 55
- May 28 Joseph Lauber, Swiss concert pianist and composer, dies at 87
- May 31 Walter Schellenberg, German lawyer/headed spy (Venlo), dies