- Dec 2 Ernie Hayes MBE, English cricket all-rounder (5 Tests; Surrey, Leicestershire), dies at 77
- Dec 2 Francis Picabia, French avante-garde artist, writer and typographist (Amorous Parade), dies at 74
- Dec 2 Reginald "Snowy" Baker, Australian boxer (Olympic silver middleweight 1908), rugby union halfback (2 caps) and actor (The Sword of Valor), dies at 69
- Dec 2 Walter "Doc" Meanwell, English Basketball Hall of Fame coach (University of Wisconsin 1911–1917, 1920–1934), dies at 69
- Dec 4 Daniel Gregory Mason, American composer (Chanticker), dies at 80
- Dec 5 Jorge Negrete [Moreno], Mexican singer and actor (The Rebel, La madrina del diablo), dies of hepatitis at 42
- Dec 6 Konstanty I Galczynski, Polish poet (Zielona Ges), dies at 48
- Dec 10 Abdullah Yusuf Ali, British-Indian Islamic scholar and translator (translated Qu'ran into English), dies at 81
- Dec 15 Kishio Hirao, composer, dies at 46
Robert A. Millikan
Dec 19 Robert A. Millikan, American physicist (Nobel 1923), dies at 85
Robert A. Millikan
Lavrentiy Beria
Dec 23 Lavrentiy Beria, Soviet politician and head of the NKVD secret service, executed after being ousted from power at 54
Lavrentiy Beria
- Dec 25 Patsy Donovan, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1865)
- Dec 25 Lee Shubert, American theatre producer (theatres in NY & LA named after him), dies at about 80
- Dec 27 Julian Tuwim, Polish poet and lyricist, dies at 59
- Dec 29 Violet MacMillan, American Broadway theatre actress(b. 1887)
- Dec 31 Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer and founder (KLM), dies at 64