- May 1 Richard Thorpe, American director (Jailhouse Rock, Night Must Fall), dies at 95
- May 2 Hal Bell, dies at 65
- May 2 Leib Lensky, dies at 82
- May 2 Ronald McKie, Australian author (The Mango Tree), dies at 81
- May 3 Gerrit Mik, Dutch psychiatrist and politician (D66), dies
- May 3 Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist (The Painted Bird, Being There), dies at 57
- May 3 Margaret Tallichet, American actress (Stranger on the 3rd Floor), dies at 77
- May 3 Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer and composer (b. 1907)
- May 3 Don Whitmire, American College Football Hall of Fame tackle (Alabama, Navy - All American at both), dies at 68
- May 4 Dennis Crosby, son of Bing, commits suicide at 54
- May 4 George Delacorte, American philanthropist and publisher (Dell Books), dies at 96
- May 5 William De Acutis, American actor (9½ Weeks, Other People's Money), dies from a brain lymphoma at 33
- May 6 Anthony van Kampen, writer (Ketelbinkie, Geschonden Eldorado), dies
- May 6 Chucky Mullins, US soccer player, dies
- May 6 Thomas A Carlin, dies at 62
- May 6 Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor (My Fair Lady, Peyton Place), dies at 87
- May 8 Jean Langlais, French organist, and composer (Missa Salve Regina), dies at 84
- May 8 Lloyd Ford, stuntman, dies at 79
- May 8 Ronnie Brody, British actor (Superman 3, What's Up Nurse, Ritz), dies at 72
- May 9 James L. Reinsch, American broadcasting executive & presidential media adviser (Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy) who also advised Winston Churchill on his 1946 "Iron Curtain" speech, dies at 82
- May 9 Rudolf Serkin, Bohemian-American pianist (Marlboro Sch of Music), dies at 88
- May 10 Armand HF Boni [Armand the Good], Flemish poet/writer, dies
- May 11 Ho Dam, North Korean foreign minister (1970-83), dies at 62
- May 13 James "Jimmy" McPartland, American cornetist and musician (Magic Horn), dies of cancer at 83
- May 14 Ast Fonteyne, Flemish lecture artist, dies
- May 14 Herman Niels, Flemish radio director, dies
Jiang Qing
May 14 Jiang Qing [Madame Mao], Chinese communist and wife of Mao Zedong, commits suicide at 77
Jiang Qing
- May 14 John Edward Craven, dies
- May 14 Shintaro Abe, minister of Exterior of Japan (1982-86), dies
- May 14 Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (7 Olympic gold 1932, 36, 48, 52, 56, 60), dies at 81
- May 15 Bud Freeman, American jazz musician and tenor saxophonist (Eel), dies of cancer at 84
- May 15 Reno Browne, American Western actress, dies at 70
- May 15 Ronald Lacey, actor (Raiders of Lost Ark, Next Victim), dies at 55
- May 15 Andreas Floer, German mathematician (Floer homology), dies at 34
- May 16 Prudence Nesbitt, British actress/TV producer, dies
- May 18 Edwina Booth, American actress (Trader Horn), dies of heart failure at 86
- May 19 Douglas L Mays, cartoonist (Punch), dies
- May 19 Rini Otte, Dutch actress (Ergens in Nederland), dies at 74
- May 20 Julian Orbon De Soto, Cuban composer, dies at 65
- May 21 Jean Van Joutte, Prime Minister of Belgium (1952-54), dies
Rajiv Gandhi
May 21 Rajiv Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister (1984-89), assassinated at 46 by a suicide bomber from the LTTE
Rajiv Gandhi
- May 22 Catalino "Lino" Brocka, Filipino film director (Macho Dancer, Jaguar), dies in car crash at 51
- May 23 Jean van Houte, Belgian premier, dies
- May 23 Peter Trevenen Thwaites, British Brigadier General and playwright (Love or money), dies at 74
- May 23 William Sinnot, Scottish pop musician (Shamen), dies at 30
- May 23 Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (Unter dem Zimbelstern), dies at 95
- May 24 (Harold Eugene) Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter (The Byrds - "Eight Miles High"), dies from natural causes brought on by bleeding ulcer at 46
- May 24 Miriam di San Servolo, Italian actress (b. 1912)
- May 25 Dorothy Davis Bostwick, entertainer, dies
- May 26 Tom Cassidy, anchor (CNN), dies of AIDs at 41
- May 26 Tom Eyen, playwright (Dreamgirls), dies of cardiac arrest at 50
- May 27 Ed Dodd, cartoonist (Mark Trail), dies at 88
- May 27 Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (b. 1904)
- May 28 Brigitte B Fischer, writer, dies
- May 28 Ethel Lois Payne, American civil rights journalist and "1st Lady of the Black Press", dies at 79
- May 29 Coral Browne, Australian actress (Ruling Class, Time Express), dies of cancer at 77
- May 30 Manolo Gomez Bur, Spanish comedian dies at 74
- May 31 Angus Wilson [Johnstone-W], British writer (Wrong Set), dies
- May 31 H N "Swanie" Swanson, literary agent, dies at 91 of a stroke