- Aug 2 Albert Woolson, last veteran US Union army, dies at 109
- Aug 5 André Milhoux, Belgian racing driver, dies at 27
Jackson Pollock
Aug 11 Jackson Pollock, abstract artist, dies in auto accident (East Hampton)
- Aug 13 Harry Donnan, Australian cricketer (5 Tests for Australia 1891-96), dies at 91
- Aug 14 Freiherr Constantine von Neurath, German foreign min (1932-38), dies
- Aug 14 Bertolt Brecht, German poet and playwright (Mother Courage), dies of a heart attack at 58
- Aug 15 Constantine Freiherr von Neurath, German foreign minister, dies at 83
Bela Lugosi
Aug 16 Bela Lugosi, actor (Dracula), dies of heart attack at 73
- Aug 24 Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (b. 1898)
- Aug 25 Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (Kinsey Report), dies from a heart ailment and pneumonia at 62
- Aug 26 Alfred Wagenknecht, German-born American activist, dies at 75
- Aug 30 Anita Donostia [Jose Antonio de Donostia], Spanish composer, musicologist and priest, dies at 70