- Jan 9 John Gilbert, American actor, screenwriter and director (The Hater of Men, Man, Woman and Sin), dies from a heart attack at 40
- Feb 20 Max Schreck, German actor (Count Orlok-Nosferatu), dies of a heart attack at 56
- Mar 18 Egon Friedell, Austrian journalist, actor and writer (Kleine Portratgalerie, Der Partylowe), commits suicide to avoid arrest by the Gestapo at 58
- Apr 24 Finley Peter Dunne, American journalist and humorist (Mr Dooley), dies at 68
- Apr 26 Tammany Young, American actor, dies at 49
- Jun 17 Henry B Walthall, American actor (The Birth of a Nation, Klondike), dies at 58
- Jul 2 Harry Northrup [Henri N.], French-born American poet and actor (The Heart of Maryland, The Unchastened Woman), dies at 60
- Jul 11 James Murray, American actor (The Crowd, The Shakedown), drowns at 35
- Aug 15 Henry Lytton, British actor and opera singer (The Mikado), dies at 71
- Sep 14 Irving Thalberg, American film producer (MGM), dies of pneumonia at 37
- Oct 23 [Marie] Louise Hens, Flemish actress (Bitter Pill), dies at 80