- Dec 2 Maharajkumar of Vizianagram "Vizzy", Indian cricket batsman, captain, administrator, broadcaster and politician (3 Tests) dies at 59
Joseph Erlanger
Dec 5 Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist (shock therapy-Nobel 1944), dies of heart disease at 91
- Dec 6 Alberto Vaccari, Italian jesuit/old testament scholar, dies at 90
Branch Rickey
Dec 9 Branch Rickey, American Baseball HOF catcher (St. Louis Browns), manager (St. Louis Browns, Cardinals) and executive (GM St.Louis Cardinals 4 x World Series), dies of heart failure at 83
- Dec 10 Henry (Dixon) Cowell, US pianist/composer (Aeolian Harp), dies at 68
- Dec 12 Johnny Lee, American actor (Song of the South, The Amos 'n' Andy Show), dies from a heart attack at 67
- Dec 13 Robert Frederick Sink, United States Army Officer (WWII, Korean War & Vietnam War), dies at 60
- Dec 14 Hermann Sandby, Danish cellist & composer, dies at 84
- Dec 16 William Somerset Maugham, English author (Razor's Edge), dies at 91
- Dec 16 Tito Schipa [Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa], Italian tenor/composer (La Rondine), dies at 77
- Dec 20 Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt, German anthropologist (classified human into races), dies at 73
- Dec 21 Claude Champagne, Canadian composer, dies at 74
- Dec 22 Al Ritz [Joaquim], American actor (Gorilla, Hi Ya Chum), dies at 62
- Dec 22 Richard Dimbleby, British journalist and broadcaster, dies at 52
- Dec 24 William M. Branham, Christian minister (b. 1906)
- Dec 26 Nico Donkersloot, Dutch literary and writer, dies at 63
- Dec 27 Edgar Ende, German painter (b. 1901)
- Dec 29 KÅsaku Yamada, Japanese composer (Nagauta Symphony), and conductor, dies of a heart attack at 79