- Aug 1 Florence Eldridge, Broadway actress (The Swan), dies at 86
- Aug 1 John Dearden, American cardinal (1969-88) and archbishop of Detroit, dies at 80
- Aug 1 Trindad Silva, actor (Hill St Blues), dies at 38 in an auto accident
- Aug 2 Raymond Carver, American poet and short story writer (Furious Season), dies at 50
- Aug 2 Roger Vuataz, composer, dies at 90
- Aug 2 Joe Carcione, American consumer advocate (The Green Grocer), dies at 73
- Aug 5 Ralph Meeker [Rathgeber], American actor (Mister Roberts, Anderson Tapes, Night Stalker), dies of a heart attack at 67
- Aug 6 Anatoli S Levchenko, cosmonaut (TM-4), dies of brain tumor at 47
- Aug 6 J Skelly Wright, American judge (anti-segregationist), dies at 77
- Aug 8 Alan Napier, British actor (The Sword in the Stone, Batman), dies at 85
- Aug 8 Ramón Valdés, Mexican actor (b. 1923)
- Aug 8 Félix Leclerc, French Canadian singer and composer (Moi, mes souliers), dies at 74
- Aug 8 Alan Ameche, American College Football Hall of Fame fullback (Heisman Trophy 1954, U of Wisconsin; Pro Bowl 1955–1958, NFL C'ship 1958, 59; Baltimore Colts), dies of a heart attack at 55
- Aug 9 Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and surrealist poet, dies at 83
- Aug 10 Adela Rogers St John, journalist (Free Soul, Honeycomb), dies at 94
- Aug 10 Arias Arnulfo, 3 time president of Panama (1940-41, 49-51, 68), dies at 86
- Aug 11 Jean-Pierre Ponnele, opera director (Carmina Burana), dies at 56
- Aug 11 Pauline Lafont, daughter of Bernadette, dies in hiking accident at 25
- Aug 11 Anne Ramsey, American actress (Throw Mama from the Train), dies of cancer at 59
- Aug 12 Jean-Michel Basquiat, American musician/graffiti painter (Gray, SAMO), dies
- Aug 13 Otto Passman, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana (1947-77), dies at 88
- Aug 13 Edward Bennett Williams, American lawyer, team owner (Washington Redskins, Baltimore Orioles), dies of colon cancer at 68
- Aug 14 Enzo Ferrari, Italian sportscar manufacturer (Ferrari), dies at 90
- Aug 14 Roy Buchanan, American blues guitarist, dies at 48
- Aug 14 Robert Calvert, South African-British writer and musician (Hawkwind), dies of a heart attack at 43
- Aug 15 Barry Bingham Sr, US daily newspaper publisher, dies at 82
- Aug 15 Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, President of Pakistan, killed in plane crash
- Aug 16 Milton Adolphus, composer, dies at 75
- Aug 17 Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr, (Rep-D-NY, 1949-55), dies on 74th birthday
- Aug 17 Mohammad Zia Ul-Haq, President of Pakistan (1978-88), dies in plane crash at 64
- Aug 17 Victoria Shaw, Australian-American actress (Alvarez Kelly, Westworld), dies at 53
- Aug 18 Alexandr V Shchukin, Russian cosmonaut, dies in SU-26 crash at 42
Frederick Ashton
Aug 18 Frederick Ashton, British choreographer (Cinderella), dies at 83
Frederick Ashton
- Aug 21 H. G. Adler, German writer (The Journey), dies at 78
- Aug 21 Ray Eames, American designer and filmmaker, dies at 75
- Aug 24 Leonard Frey, American actor (Tattoo, Magic Christian), dies of AIDS at 49
- Aug 24 Max Shulman, author (Dobie Gillis, Tender Trap), dies at 69
- Aug 25 Price Daniel, American politician (38th Governor of Texas), dies at 77
- Aug 25 Art Rooney, NFL Pittsburgh Steelers [Pirates] team founder,owner, and chairman, 1933-88, dies at 87
- Aug 26 Paul Francis Lloyd, entertainer, dies
- Aug 26 Carlos Paião, Portuguese singer, dies at 30
- Aug 27 Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (The Rites of May), dies at 60
- Aug 28 Hazel Dawn, American singer/actress (Under Clover, Margie), dies at 98
- Aug 28 Paul Whitelaw, cricketer (2 Tests NZ v England 1933), dies
- Aug 30 Albert F. Frey-Wyssling, Swiss botanist and pioneer of submicroscopic morphology and the discipline of molecular biology, dies at 87