- May 1 Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)
- May 2 Gene Raymond [Raymond Guion], American actor (Paris 7000, Love on a Bet, Fireside Theater), dies from pneumonia a 89
- May 2 Hideto "hide" Matsumoto, Japanese musician (b. 1964)
- May 2 Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
- May 2 Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
- May 5 Syd Lawrence, British bandleader (Syd Lawrence Orchestra), dies at 74
- May 7 Allan McLeod Cormack, South African physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1924)
- May 7 Eddie Rabbitt, American country singer (I Love a Rainy Night), dies at 56
- May 8 Bebe Rebozo, American banker and Watergate figure (b. 1912)
- May 9 Alice Faye [Leppert], American actress & singer (Hello Frisco, Hello; Fallen Angel; Stowaway), dies of stomach cancer at 83
- May 12 Hermann Lenz, German writer Swabian Chronicles), dies at 75
Frank Sinatra
May 14 Frank Sinatra, American singer ("My Way") and actor ("Guys and Dolls"), dies at 82
Frank Sinatra
- May 14 Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist (b. 1890)
- May 15 Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
- May 15 John Hawkes, American writer (2nd Skin), dies at 72
- May 19 Sōsuke Uno, Japanese prime minister (b. 1922)
- May 19 Dorothy Donegan, American boogie-woogie, swing jazz, and classical pianist, and vocalist, dies of cancer at 76
- May 21 Douglas Fowley, American actor (Singin' in the Rain, Pistols 'n' Petticoats), dies at 86
- May 22 José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)
- May 22 John Derek, American actor, director and photographer (Knock on Any Door, All the King's Men, Rogues of Sherwood Forest), dies at 71
- May 23 Andreas Liebenberg, South African military commander, dies at 60
- May 26 Sergey Yablonsky, Soviet and Russian mathematician and one of the founders of the Soviet school of mathematical cybernetics and discrete mathematics, dies at 73
Phil Hartman
May 28 Phil Hartman, Canadian actor and comedian, murdered by his wife in his sleep at 49
Phil Hartman
- May 29 Barry M. Goldwater, U.S. Senator from Arizona and presidential candidate (b. 1909)
- May 29 Eric St Eval Atkinson, West Indian cricketer (bro of Denis WI pace bowler 1958-59), dies at 70
- May 31 Stanislaw Wislocki, Polish conductor of classical music, dies at 76
- May 31 Charles Van Acker, Belgian racing driver (b. 1912)
- May 31 Aart Verstegen, Dutch ballet dancer and choreographer (Jolly Joker's Last Joke), dies at 77