J. R. R. Tolkien
Sep 2 J. R. R. Tolkien, British author (The Hobbit; The Lord of the Rings), dies of an ulcer at 81
- Sep 2 Carl Dudley, American film director (b. 1910)
- Sep 5 Jack Fournier, American baseball player, 1912-27 (White Sox; Cardinals; Brooklyn Robins) dies at 83
- Sep 6 William Henry Harris, English composer, dies at 90
- Sep 7 Hans Lorbeer, German writer and politician, dies at 72
- Sep 9 Samuel N Behrman, US stage/screenwriter (Quo Vardis), dies at 80
Salvador Allende
Sep 11 Salvador Allende, President of Chile (1970-73) and the 1st Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through an open election, commits suspected suicide by shooting himself during a military coup at 65
- Sep 11 Neem Karoli Baba, Indian guru
- Sep 12 Eduard Flipse, Dutch conductor/composer, dies at 77
- Sep 12 Marjorie Post, US philanthropic/multi-millionaire ($200m), dies at 86
- Sep 13 Betty Field, American actress (Of Mice and Men, Kings Row, Bus Stop), dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 57
- Sep 15 Gustav VI Adolf, King of Sweden (1950-73), dies at 90
- Sep 15 Victor Jara, Chilean folk singer-songwriter, and political activist, killed by Augusto Pinochet's military interrogators at 40
- Sep 16 Frederic Meyer, actor (Faraway Hill), dies at 63
- Sep 16 Leonard Carmichael, American Psychologist and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (1953-64), dies at 74
- Sep 17 Hugo Winterhalter, American composer, dies at 63
- Sep 18 Nora Nicholson, British actress (Blue Lagoon, Crow Hollow), dies at 80
- Sep 19 Gram Parsons [Cecil Ingram Connor III], American country-rock singer-songwriter (Byrds - Sweethearts of the Rodeo; Flying Burrito Brothers; "Grievous Angel"), dies of a drug overdose at 26
- Sep 19 Bobby Gilbert, American actor (Some Like It Hot, The Rebel Set), dies of hepatitis at 75
- Sep 20 Ben Webster, American tenor saxophonist, dies at 64
- Sep 20 Glenn Strange, American actor (Sam the Bartender-Gunsmoke), dies at 74
- Sep 20 Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter ("Time in a Bottle"; "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"), dies in a plane crash at 30
- Sep 20 Maurice T. "Maury" Muehleisen, American musician and songwriter (Jim Croce), dies in a plane crash at 24
- Sep 21 Diana Sands, actress (Landlord, Raisin in the Sun), dies at 39
- Sep 21 William Plomer, South African-British libretto writer (Curlew River), dies at 69
- Sep 23 Manuel Borguñó, Spanish pianist, composer, choral director, and pedagogue, dies at 89
Pablo Neruda
Sep 23 Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (Residence on Earth - Nobel Prize, 1971), dies at 69
- Sep 26 Anton Schnack, German writer and poet, dies at 81
Anna Magnani
Sep 26 Anna Magnani, Italian actress (The Rose Tattoo; Miracle; Wild is the Wind), dies of pancreatic cancer at 65
- Sep 28 Mantan Moreland, comedian (Watermelon Man), dies at 71
- Sep 28 Norma Crane, American actress (Tea & Sympathy, Fiddler on the Roof, They Call Me Mister Tibbs!), dies of cancer at 44
- Sep 28 Wystan H Auden, British/American writer (Spain/Platonic Blow), dies at 66
- Sep 29 W. H. Auden, Anglo-American poet (The Age of Anxiety), dies at 66
- Sep 30 Peter Pitseolak, Inuit photographer and author (b. 1902)