- May 1 Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer and Father of the Philippine National Language and Grammar, dies at 83
- May 2 Jack Crawford, English cricket all-rounder (12 Tests; Surrey, South Aust, Otago), dies at 76
- May 2 Tomas Vackar, composer, dies at 17
- May 2 Van Wyck Brooks, American historian (Ordeal of Mark Twain), dies at 77
- May 5 Heinrich Gebhard, German-born American composer, dies at 84
- May 5 Jacobus JP Old, architect/co-founder (Stijl), dies at 73
- May 6 Monty Wooley, American actor (The Bishop's Wife, The Man Who Came to Dinner), dies at 74
- May 6 Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-born physicist (b. 1881)
- May 7 Max Miller [Thomas Henry Sargent], English comedian known as The Cheeky Chappie, dies at 68
Charles Vyner Brooke
May 9 Charles Vyner Brooke, 3rd and last White Rajah of Sarawak (1917-46), dies at 88
Charles Vyner Brooke
- May 10 Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, American football player (b. 1931)
- May 11 Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist & Nobel laureate, dies at 74
- May 12 Stanisław Wiechowicz, Polish composer, dies at 69
- May 12 Robert Kerr, Canadian runner (1908 Olympics), dies at 80
- May 13 Alois Hudal, Austrian bishop who helped Nazi war criminals escape trial, dies at 77
- May 16 Oleg Penkovsky, Soviet military intelligence (GRU), dies at 44
- May 17 John Wilce, physician and former head football coach at the Ohio State University (b. 1888)
- May 18 Ernie Davis, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (1st African-American to win Heisman Trophy 1961, Syracuse), dies of leukemia at 23
- May 24 Elmore James, blues guitarist, dies at 45 of a heart attack
- May 26 Sharon Lynn, actress (Way Out West, Big Broadcast), dies at 53
- May 27 Lambrakis, Greek EDA-parliament leader, murdered
- May 28 Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin, Soviet composer, dies at 60
- May 31 Carel C. van Essen, Dutch archaeologist (Art of Ancient Rome), dies at 63