Deaths in 1984

	Contents
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
← 1983	1984	1985 →

The following is a list of notable deaths in 1984. Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

Deaths in 1984

January

January 1
- Alexis Korner, British blues musician and broadcaster (b. 1928)
- Joaquín Rodríguez Ortega, known as "Cagancho", Spanish bullfighter (b. 1903)
January 5 – Giuseppe Fava, Italian writer (b. 1925)
January 6 – Ernest Laszlo, Hungarian-American cinematographer (b. 1898)
January 7 – Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
January 9 – Sir Deighton Lisle Ward, 4th Governor-General of Barbados (b. 1909)
January 11 – Jack La Rue, American actor (b. 1902)
January 14
- Saad Haddad, Lebanese military officer and militia leader (b. 1936)
- Ray Kroc, American entrepreneur (b. 1902)
January 17 – George Rigaud, Argentinian actor (b. 1905)
January 20 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
January 21
- Archduke Gottfried of Austria (b. 1902)
- Jackie Wilson, American singer (b. 1934)
January 29 – Frances Goodrich, American screenwriter (b. 1890)
January 30 – Luke Kelly, lead singer of Irish band The Dubliners (b. 1940)
January 31 – George Harmon Coxe, American writer (b. 1901)

February

February 5 – El Santo, Mexican professional wrestler and actor (b. 1917)
February 6 – Jorge Guillén, Spanish poet (b. 1893)
February 8
- Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (b. 1903)
- Philippe Ariès, French medievalist and historian (b. 1914)
February 9 – Yuri Andropov, 69, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, kidney failure.
February 12
- Anna Anderson, Pretender to the Russian throne (b. 1896)
- Julio Cortázar, Argentine writer (b. 1914)
- Elmer Keith, American rancher, author, and firearms enthusiast (b. 1899)^[1]
February 13
- Pierre Brambilla, French road cyclist (b. 1919)
- Naomi Uemura, Japanese adventurer (b. 1941)
February 15 – Ethel Merman, American singer and actress (b. 1908)
February 16 ― Kenny Williams, American game show announcer {Hollywood Squares) {b. 1914)
February 20 – Giuseppe Colombo, Italian scientist (b. 1920)
February 21 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
February 23 – Maurice Tabard, French photographer (b. 1897)

March

March 1 – Jackie Coogan, American actor (b. 1914)
March 5
- Tito Gobbi, Italian operatic baritone (b. 1913)
- William Powell, American actor (b. 1892)
March 6
- Martin Niemöller, German theologian and Lutheran pastor (born 1892)^[2]
- Henry Wilcoxon, British actor (b. 1905)
March 10 – June Marlowe, American actress (b. 1903)
March 12 – Arnold Ridley, English playwright and actor (b. 1896)
March 14 – Aurelio Peccei, Italian industrialist and philanthropist, co-founder of the Club of Rome (b. 1908)
March 15
- Ken Carpenter, American Olympic athlete (b. 1913)
- Konstantin Badygin, Soviet Naval officer and explorer (b. 1910)
March 18 – Paul Francis Webster, American lyricist (b. 1907)
March 23 – Peter Kolosimo, Italian journalist and writer (b. 1922)
March 24 – Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
March 26 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean politician, 1st President of Guinea (b. 1922)
March 27 – Jack Donohue, American film screenwriter and director (b. 1908)
March 28 – Benjamin Mays, American Baptist minister and civil rights leader (b. 1894)^[3]
March 30 – Karl Rahner, German Jesuit priest and theologian (b. 1904)^[4]

April

April 1
- Marvin Gaye, American singer (b. 1939)
- Elizabeth Goudge, English writer (b. 1900)
April 5
- Sir Arthur Harris, British air marshal (b. 1892)
- Giuseppe Tucci, Italian scholar (b. 1894)
April 7 – Frank Church, American politician (b. 1924)^[5]
April 8 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894)
April 9 – Willem Sandberg, Dutch typographer (b. 1897)
April 12 – Edward Sokoine, 2nd Prime Minister of Tanzania (b. 1938)
April 15
- Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (b. 1921)
- William Empson, English poet and critic (b. 1906)
April 16 – Byron Haskin, American film and television director (b. 1899)
April 17 – Mark W. Clark, American general (b. 1896)
April 19 – Machito, Cuban jazz musician (b. 1908)
April 20 – Otto Arosemena, 32nd President of Ecuador (b. 1925)
April 21 – Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist (b. 1895)
April 22 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (b. 1902)
April 23 – Roland Penrose, English artist, historian and poet (b. 1900)
April 26
- Count Basie, American musician and composer (b. 1904)
- May McAvoy, American actress (b. 1899)
April 27
- Richard Durham, American radio scriptwriter and civil rights activist (b. 1917)
April 30 – Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, Colombian lawyer and politician (b. 1946)

May

May 2
- Jack Barry, American game show host (The Joker's Wild) (b. 1918), heart attack.
- Bob Clampett, American cartoonist (b. 1913)
May 4 – Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
May 15 – Lionel Robbins, British economist (b. 1898)
May 16
- Andy Kaufman, American comedian (b. 1949)
- Irwin Shaw, American author (b. 1913)
May 19 – Sir John Betjeman, English diplomat and poet (b. 1906)
May 20 – Ólafur Jóhannesson, 15th Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1913)
May 21
- Andrea Leeds, American actress (b. 1914)
- Ann Little, American actress (b. 1891)
May 22
- Rambai Barni, Queen consort of King Prajadhipok of Thailand (b. 1904)
- Karl-August Fagerholm, 20th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1901)
- John Marley, American actor (b. 1907)
May 24 – Vincent J. McMahon, American professional wrestling promoter (b. 1914)
May 28
- Eric Morecambe, British comedian (b. 1926)
- D'Urville Martin, American actor and director (b. 1939)

June

June 2 – François de Menthon, French politician and professor of law (b. 1900).
June 5 – Ahmad Fuad Mohieddin, 42nd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1926)
June 6 – Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, Sikh theologian (b. 1947)
June 11 – Enrico Berlinguer, General Secretary of the Italian Communist Party (b. 1922)
June 15
- Ned Glass, American actor (b. 1906)
- Meredith Willson, American composer (b. 1902)
June 19 – Lee Krasner, American painter (b. 1908)
June 20 – Estelle Winwood, English actress (b. 1883)
June 22 – Joseph Losey, American film director (b. 1909)
June 24 – William Keighley, American film director (b. 1889)
June 25 – Michel Foucault, French philosopher (b. 1926)
June 26 – Carl Foreman, American screenwriter (b. 1914)
June 28
- Yigael Yadin, Israeli archeologist, politician and Military Chief of Staff (b. 1917)
- Claude Chevalley, French mathematician (b. 1909)
June 30
- Henri Fabre, French aviator & inventor (b. 1882)
- Lillian Hellman, American playwright (b. 1905)

July

July 1 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian founder of the Feldenkrais Method (b. 1904)
July 3 – Raoul Salan, French general (b. 1899)
July 4 – Starke R. Hathaway, American psychologist (b. 1903)
July 7 – Dame Flora Robson, English actress (b. 1902)
July 8
- Brassaï, Hungarian-French photographer (b. 1899)
- Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz, Spanish historian and politician (b. 1893)
July 14 - Philippe Wynne, American singer (b. 1941)
July 17 – Karl Wolff, German Nazi SS Officer (b. 1900)
July 19 – Faina Ranevskaya, Soviet and Russian actress (b. 1896)
July 25 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer (b. 1926)
July 26 – George Gallup, American statistician and opinion pollster (b. 1901)
July 27 – James Mason, English actor (b. 1909)
July 28 – Bess Flowers, American actress (b. 1898)
July 29 – Fred Waring, American bandleader, choral director, radio and television personality (b. 1900)