1961

January 2

• Bob Catterall, cricketer (1555 runs/24 Tests for South Africa 1922-31), dies. [1]

January 4

• Barry Fitzgerald, actor (Going My Way), dies at age 72. [1]
• Death of Erwin Schrödinger in Vienna, Austria; theoretical physicist, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933 for his work on the wave theory of matter. [37]

January 6

• Regina Ullmann, writer, dies at age 76. [1]

January 7

• Clarice Baright, first woman admitted to American Bar Association, dies at age 74. [1]

January 10

• Dashiell Hammett, author (Maltese Falcon, Thin Man), dies from throat cancer at age 66. [1]

January 14

• Ernest Thesiger, actor (Brass Monkey, Ghoul), dies at age 81. [1]
• Henry Geehl, composer, dies at age 79. [1]

January 15

• Francesco Maria Saraceni, composer, dies at age 49. [1]

January 16

• Janos Viski, composer, dies at age 54. [1]

January 21

• Blaise Cendrars, Swiss/French poet (J'ai tué), dies at age 73. [1]
• John Joseph Becker, composer, dies a day before 75th birthday. [1]

January 24

• Willem J M van Eysinga, people rights scholar, dies at age 82. [1]

January 26

• Morris Nichols, cricketer (41 wickets in 14 Tests for England 1930-39), dies. [1]

February 2

• Adolf Vogl, composer, dies at age 87. [1]

February 3

• Anna May Wong, actress (Gallery of Madame Lui-Tsang), dies at age 54. [1]
• Viscount Dunrossil, Governor-General of Australia (1959-61), dies at age 67. [1]

February 5

• Anthony G de Rothschild, British philanthropist, dies at age 73. [1]

February 6

• Archibald T Davison, composer, dies at age 77. [1]

February 7

• Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician/author/anti-Semite, dies at age 67. [1]

February 8

• William Duncan, actor (Hopalong Rides Again), dies at age 81. [1]

February 9

• Grigory Levenfish, International chess grandmaster from Russia, dies at age 70. [1]

February 11

• Eduard R Verkade, Dutch actor/director (Pygmalion), dies at age 82. [1]
• Patrice Lumumba, first premier of Congo, murdered at age 34. [1]

February 14

• Wallis Clark, actress (Easy Money), dies at age 78. [1]

February 15

• Jack Whiting, actor (Top Speed, Life of the Party), dies at age 59. [1]
• Marubel Vinaon Owen, figure skater (Olympics-silver-1932), dies. [1]

February 17

• Nita Naldi, actress (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), dies of heart attack at age 63. [1]

February 20

• Otto E Huiswoud [Frank Billings], editor (Negro Worker), dies at age 67. [1]
• Percy Aldridge Grainger; Australian/US composer/pianist, dies at age 78. [1]

February 21

• Blaise Cendrars [Frédéric Sauser-Hall], Swiss poet, dies at age 73. [1]

February 22

• George de las Cuevas Bustillo y Teheran, Chilean marquis, dies at age 75. [1]

February 23

• Wilf Ferguson, cricket leg spinner (34 wickets for West Indies), dies. [1]

February 24

• Léon Jeunehomme, Belgian teacher (Pédagogie en Cours), dies at age 77. [1]

February 26

• Karl Albiker, German sculptor (Problem of the Plastic), dies at age 83. [1]
• Mohammed V ibn Yusuf, sultan/King of Morocco, dies at age 51. [1]

February 27

• Platt Adams, high jumper (Olympics-gold-1912), dies. [1]

February 28

• Joris Vriamont, Flemish writer/music publisher, dies at age 64. [1]

March 6

• George Formby, British singer/comedian, dies at age 56. [1]
• Kjeld Abell, Danish playwright/director of Tivoli, dies at age 59. [1]

March 7

• Englebert van Anderlecht, Belgian painter, dies at age 42. [1]
• Max Hymans, WWII resistance fighter/Head of Air France, dies at age 60. [1]

March 8

• Thomas Beecham; English conductor (Last Night of the Prom), dies at age 81. [1]

March 12

• Belinda Lee, actress (Joseph and his Brethren), dies in car crash at age 25. [1]

March 14

• Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (opening theorist), dies at age 78. [1]

March 17

• Suzanna Salter, first US female mayor/temperance leader, dies at age 101. [1]

March 19

• Edric Cundell, composer, dies at age 68. [1]

March 23

• A C Russell, cricketer (10 Tests for England 910 runs), dies. [1]
• James Edward Murray (Senator-Democrat-Montana) (1935-61), dies. [1]
• Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko, cosmonaut, dies in accident at age 24. [1]

March 27

• Jack Kane, orchestra leader (Steve and Eydie, Andy Williams Show), dies at age 37. [1]

March 30

• P J Melotte, discovered Jupiter's 8th satellite Pasiphae, dies. [1]

March 31

• Seerp Anema, Dutch poet/writer (Modern Art and Degenerating), dies at age 85. [1]

April 2

• August Defresne, Dutch director (Anno Christi 969), dies at age 67. [1]
• Wallingford Riegger, US composer (Bacchangle), dies at age 75. [1]

April 6

• Jules J B V Bordet, Belgian bacteriologist (Nobel Prize 1919), dies at age 90. [1]

April 7

• Jesus Guridi, composer, dies at age 74. [1]
• Marian Jordan, radio comedienne (Fibber McGee and Molly), dies at age 62. [1]
• Yusef Greiss, composer, dies at age 61. [1]

April 9

• Zog I [Ahmed Zogu], King of Albania (1925-39), dies at age 65. [1]

April 10

• Irene Warfield, silent screen actress (Satan Sanderson), dies at age 65. [1]

April 11

• Francis de Bourguignon, composer, dies at age 70. [1]

April 12

• Nils-Eric Fougstedt, composer, dies at age 50. [1]
• Philippine "Pine" Belder [Mary de Klerk], actress, dies at age 93. [1]

April 21

• James Melton, opera tenor (Ford Festival), dies at age 57. [1]

April 22

• Maria Radulphus [Adrian Hermus], Curaçao school inspector, dies at age 91. [1]

April 24

• Lee Moran, actor (Circus Clown), dies of heart ailment at age 72. [1]

April 25

• Hans F Blunck, writer, dies. [1]

April 26

• Gail Russell, actress (Calcutta, Moonrise, El Paso), dies at age 36. [1]

April 27

• Roy Del Ruth, director (About Face, Folies Bergere), dies at age 67. [1]

May 2

• J C White, cricketer (49 wickets in 15 Tests for England 1921-31), dies. [1]

May 3

• Maurice [Jean Jacques] Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher, dies at age 53. [1]

May 6

• Lucian Blaga, philosopher/poet (Transcendental censor), dies at age 65. [1]

May 8

• James Fairfax, actor (Gale Storm Show), dies at age 63. [1]

May 13

• Gary Cooper, two time Academy award winning actor (High Noon), dies at age 60. [1]

May 17

• Frans van Cauwelaert, Flemish minister/mayor of Antwerp, dies at age 81. [1]
• Henri Gagnon, composer, dies at age 74. [1]

May 18

• Henry O'Neill, actor (Lady Killer, Nothing But Trouble), dies. [1]

May 19

• Joe Howard; singer (Gay Nineties Revue), dies at age 94. [1]

May 23

• Joan Davis, comedic actress (I Married Joan), dies of heart attack at age 53. [1]

May 29

• Uuno Kalervo Klami, composer, dies at age 60. [1]

May 30

• Rafael L Trujillo Molina, dictator of Dominican Republic (1930-61), murdered at age 69. [1]

June 2

• George S Kaufman, playwright/director/pulitzer prize winner, dies at age 72. [1]

June 6

• Dr Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist, dies at age 85. [1]

June 7

• Robert Griffith, producer of Pajama Game, dies. [1]

June 13

• Ben Jones Missouri, horse trainer (Citation, Whirlaway), dies at age 79. [1]

June 17

• Jeff Chandler, actor, dies at age 40. [1]

June 22

• Betty Elder, actress (Annie Get Your Gun), dies. [1]

June 30

• Dr Lee De Forest, radio pioneer, dies at age 87. [1]

July 2

• Ernest Hemingway shoots himself to death in Ketchum, Idaho, USA. [1]

July 13

• Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian-US composer (Second Quartet), dies at age 86. [1]

July 17

• Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers' hall of fame baseball player, dies at age 75. [1] [5]

August 5

• Sir Sidney Holland, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1949-57), dies at age 67. [1]

August 8

• Charlie Gemora, actor who portrayed King Kong, dies at age 58. [1]

August 18

• Learned Hand, Chief judge of US court of Appeals, dies at age 89. [1]

August 20

• Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Arctic explorer, dies at age 82. [1]

August 28

• Thomas Connolly, first baseball umpire elected to hall of fame, dies. [1]

August 30

• Charles Coburn, Academy award winning actor, dies at age 84. [1]

September 10

• Leo Carrillo, actor who portrayed Pancho on Cisco Kid, dies at age 81. [1]

September 17

• Adnan Menderes, Prime Minister of Turkey (1950-60), dies at age 62. [1]

September 21

• Earle Dickson, inventor (band-aid), dies at age 68. [1]

September 28

• Michael Shepley, actor (Dick and the Duchess), dies at age 54. [1]

October 1

• Donald Cook, actor (Too Young To Go Steady), dies at age 60. [1]

October 11

• Leonard "Chico" Marx (Marx Brothers), dies at age 74. [1]

October 24

• Dr Milan Stoyadinovich, Fascist Yugoslavia Prime Minister (1935-39), dies at age 73. [1]

October 25

• Peter Jensen, co-inventer (loud speaker), dies at age 75. [1]

November 1

• Joan McCracken, actress (Claudie The Story of a Marriage), dies at age 38. [1]

November 2

• James Thurber, humorist (The Male Animal), dies at age 66. [1]

November 13

• Wally Brown, actor (Jed Fame - Cimarron City), dies at age 57. [1]

November 16

• Sam Rayburn, US Speaker of the House for 17 years, dies. [1]

December 3

• Jekabs Graubins, composer, dies at age 75. [1]
• Mary Charleson, actress (Upstairs and Downstairs), dies at age 76. [1]

December 8

• William Beatton Moonie, composer, dies at age 78. [1]

December 12

• Daiun Sogaku Harada Zen, founder of Sanbo Kyodan lineage, dies at age 91. [1]

December 13

• Grandma [Anna M] Moses, US painter, dies at age 101. [1]

December 15

• William "Dummy" Hoy, professional baseball player, dies at age 99. [1]

December 16

• Boris Semyonovich Shekhter, composer, dies at age 61. [1]
• Cato Engelen-Sewing; Dutch soprano singer/primadonna, dies at age 93. [1]

December 17

• Marion Perkins, sculptor (Man of Sorrow), dies at age 53. [1]

December 20

• Moss Heart, US dramatist (You can't take it with you), dies at age 57. [1]

December 24

• Guy de Lioncourt, composer, dies at age 76. [1]

December 25

• Dr Rheinhold Rudenberg, inventor of the electron microscope, dies. [1]

December 26

• Charlie Frank, cricketer (South Africa Test centurion versus Australia 1921-22), dies. [1]

December 28

• Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, first lady (1915-21), dies at age 89. [1]

December 30

• Jacobus "Ko" van den Bosch; Dutch actor (Amsterdamned)/director, dies at age 53. [1]