1986
Related subjects: Years
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| Millennium: | 2nd millennium |
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| Centuries: | 19th century – 20th century – 21st century |
| Decades: | 1950s 1960s 1970s – 1980s – 1990s 2000s 2010s |
| Years: | 1983 1984 1985 – 1986 – 1987 1988 1989 |
| 1986 by topic: |
| Subject |
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| By country |
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| Leaders |
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| Birth and death categories |
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| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
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| Works and introductions categories |
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| Gregorian calendar | 1986 MCMLXXXVI |
| Ab urbe condita | 2739 |
| Armenian calendar | 1435 ԹՎ ՌՆԼԵ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6736 |
| Bahá'í calendar | 142–143 |
| Bengali calendar | 1393 |
| Berber calendar | 2936 |
| British Regnal year | 34 Eliz. 2 – 35 Eliz. 2 |
| Buddhist calendar | 2530 |
| Burmese calendar | 1348 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7494–7495 |
| Chinese calendar | 乙丑年十一月廿一日 (4622/4682-11-21) — to — 丙寅年十二月初一日(4623/4683-12-1) |
| Coptic calendar | 1702–1703 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1978–1979 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5746–5747 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 2042–2043 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1908–1909 |
| - Kali Yuga | 5087–5088 |
| Holocene calendar | 11986 |
| Igbo calendar | |
| - Ǹrí Ìgbò | 986–987 |
| Iranian calendar | 1364–1365 |
| Islamic calendar | 1406–1407 |
| Japanese calendar | Shōwa 61 (昭和61年) |
| Juche calendar | 75 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 13 days |
| Korean calendar | 4319 |
| Minguo calendar | ROC 75 民國75年 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2529 |
| Unix time | 504921600–536457599 |
1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year that started on a Wednesday, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It is the 1986th year of the Common Era, or A.D.; the 986th year of the 2nd millennium; the 86th year of the 20th century; and the 7th year of the 1980s. The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events
January
- January 1
- Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which later becomes the European Union.
- Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands and is separated from the Netherlands Antilles.
- The Province of Flevoland is established in the Netherlands.
- UNIDO becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.
- January 9 – After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak leaves the instant camera business.
- January 12 – STS-61-C: Space Shuttle Columbia is launched with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz.
- January 19 – The first PC virus, Brain, starts to spread.
- January 20 – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
- January 24 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus.
- January 25 – Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army Rebel group takes over Uganda after leading a successful 5-year guerrilla war in which up to half a million people are believed to have been killed. They will later use January 26 as the official date to avoid a coincidence of dates with Dictator Idi Amin's 1971 coup.
- January 28 – STS-51-L: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing the crew of 7 astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe (see Space Shuttle Challenger disaster).
- January 29 – Yoweri Museveni is sworn in as President of Uganda after leading a successful 5-year guerrilla war.
February
- February 2 – One of Australia's worst crimes, the Anita Cobby murder, occurs.
- February 3 – Pixar Animation Studios is opened.
- February 7 – President Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc") flees Haiti, ending 28 years of family rule.
- February 9 – Halley's Comet reaches its perihelion, the closest point to the Sun, during its second visit to the solar system in the 20th Century.
- February 11 – Human rights activist Anatoly Shcharansky is released by the Soviet Union and leaves the country.
- February 15 – The Beechcraft Starship makes its maiden flight.
- February 16
- The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov sinks in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.
- The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.
- February 17 – The Single European Act is signed.
- February 19
- The Soviet Union launches the Mir space station.
- The United States Senate approves a treaty outlawing genocide.
- February 25
- People Power Revolution: President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines goes into exile in Hawaii after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the first Filipino woman president, first as an interim president. Salvador Laurel becomes her Vice President.
- Egyptian military police, protesting against bad salaries, enter 4 luxury hotels near the pyramids, set fire to them and loot them.
- February 26 – People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- February 27 – The United States Senate allows its debates to be televised on a trial basis.
- February 28 – Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme is assassinated on his way home from the cinema.
March
- March 3 – The first paper is published describing the Atomic force microscope, invented the previous year by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christopher Berger.
- March 4 – The Today national tabloid newspaper is launched in the United Kingdom, pioneering the use of computer photosetting and full-colour offset printing, at a time when British national newspapers still use Linotype machines and letterpress.
- March 8 – The Japanese Suisei probe flies by Halley's Comet, studying its UV hydrogen corona and solar wind.
- March 9 – United States Navy divers find the largely intact but heavily damaged crew compartment of the Space Shuttle Challenger; the bodies of all seven astronauts are still inside.
- March 14 – Microsoft Corporation holds its Initial Public Offering of stock shares.
- March 15 - Hotel New World disaster: a six-story building collapses, trapping 50 people beneath the rubble; 33 are killed.
- March 25 – The 58th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California, with Out of Africa winning Best Picture.
- March 26 – An article in the New York Times charges that Kurt Waldheim, former United Nations Secretary General and candidate for president of Austria, may have been involved in Nazi war crimes during World War II.
- March 27 – A car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing a police officer.
- March 31
- A fire devastates Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England.
- A Mexicana Boeing 727 jetliner crashes at Maravatio, Mexico, killing 173.
April
- April 2 – A bomb explodes on a Trans World Airlines flight from Rome to Athens, killing 4 people.
- April 5 – 1986 Berlin discotheque bombing: The West Berlin discothèque, a known hangout for United States soldiers, is bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230; Libya is held responsible.
- April 13 – Pope John Paul II officially visits the Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.
- April 14 – Hailstones weighing 1 kg (2.2 lb) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
- April 15 – Operation El Dorado Canyon: At least 15 people die after United States planes bomb targets in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and the Benghazi region
- April 17
- John McCarthy is kidnapped in Beirut (released in August 1991) – 3 others are found dead; Revolutionary Cells (RZ) claims responsibility in retaliation for the U.S. bombing of Libya.
- A treaty ends the Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly.
- The Hindawi Affair begins when an Irishwoman is found unknowingly carrying explosives onto an El Al flight from London to Tel Aviv.
- April 21 – Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's secret vault on The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault, discovering only a bottle of moonshine.
- April 26 – The Chernobyl disaster: A mishandled safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union "killed at least 4056 people and damaged almost $7 billion of property". Radioactive fallout from the accident concentrated near Belarus, Ukraine and Russia and at least 350,000 people were forcibly resettled away from these areas. After the accident, "traces of radioactive deposits unique to Chernobyl were found in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere".
- April 27 – " Captain Midnight" interrupts the HBO satellite feed.
- April 29 – Diamond Jubilee of Hirohito is held at the Kokugikan in Tokyo
May
- May 2
- May 8 – Óscar Arias is inaugurated into his first term as President of Costa Rica.
- May 16 – The Seville Statement on Violence is adopted by an international meeting of scientists, convened by the Spanish National Commission for UNESCO, in Seville, Spain.
- May 25
- Hands Across America: At least 5,000,000 people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness.
- The Bangladeshi double decked ferry Shamia capsizes in the Meghna River, southern Barisal, Bangladesh, killing at least 600.
- May 27 – The game credited as setting the template for role-playing video games, Dragon Quest is released in Japan.
- May 31 – The 1986 FIFA World Cup begins in Mexico.
June
- June – Construction of the Oosterscheldekering, the world's largest openable storm surge flood barrier, is completed in the Netherlands.
- June 4 – Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
- June 8 – Former United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim is elected president of Austria.
- June 9 – The Rogers Commission releases its report on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
- June 12 – South Africa declares a nationwide state of emergency.
- June 19 – American college basketball player Len Bias suffers a fatal cardiac arrhythmia from a cocaine overdose less than 48 hours after being selected 2nd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 NBA Draft.
- June 23 – Eric Thomas develops LISTSERV, the first email list management software.
- June 24 – The Dominican Republic recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- June 29 – Argentina defeats West Germany 3–2 to win the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.
July
- July 1 – CSX Transportation is established.
- July 5 – The Statue of Liberty is reopened to the public after an extensive refurbishment.
- July 5– July 20 – The Goodwill Games are held in Moscow.
- July 7 – Australian drug smugglers Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers are executed in Malaysia.
- July 22 – In Philippines, ABS-CBN Radio launches DZMM was started broadcast at 630 kHz on AM Band.
- July 23 – In London, Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
- July 27 – Greg LeMond wins the Tour de France.
- July 28 – Estate agent Suzy Lamplugh vanishes after a meeting in London.
August
- August 6
- A low-pressure system moving from South Australia and redeveloping off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres (12.9 in) of rain in a day on Sydney.
- In Louisville, Kentucky, William J. Schroeder, the second artificial heart recipient, dies after 620 days.
- Australian Democrats leader Don Chipp retires from federal parliament and is succeeded by Janine Haines, the first woman to lead a political party in Australia.
- August 19 – Two weeks after it was stolen, the Picasso painting Weeping Woman is found in a locker at the Spencer Street Station in Melbourne, Australia.
- August 20 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.
- August 21 – The Lake Nyos disaster occurs in Cameroon, killing nearly 2,000 people.
- August 31
- The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov collides with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev in the Black Sea and sinks almost immediately, killing 398.
- Aeroméxico Flight 498, a Douglas DC-9, collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 on both aircraft and 15 on the ground.
- The cargo ship Khian Sea departs from the docks of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, carrying 14,000 tons of toxic waste. It wanders the seas for the next 16 months trying to find a place to dump its cargo.
September
- September 1 – Establishment of Jordan University of Science and Technology in Jordan.
- September 4 – Eusko Alkartasuna, the Basque Social Democratic Party, is created in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
- September 5 – Pan Am Flight 73, with 358 people on board, is hijacked at Karachi International Airport by four Abu Nidal terrorists.
- September 6
- The Big Mac Index is introduced in The Economist newspaper as a semi-humorous international measure of purchasing power parity.
- In Istanbul, two Abu Nidal terrorists kill 22 and wound 6 inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Shabbat services.
- September 7
- Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa.
- Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet survives an assassination attempt by the FPMR; five of his bodyguards are killed.
- September 8 – The Oprah Winfrey Show premieres in syndication.
- September 13 – A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocks the city of Kalamata in southern Greece, killing 20 people, injuring 80 and completely destroying one-fifth of the city.
October
- October 1 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Goldwater–Nichols Act into law, making official the largest reorganization of the United States Department of Defense since the Air Force was made a separate branch of service in 1947.
- October 3 – TASCC, a superconducting cyclotron, officially opens at Chalk River Laboratories.
- October 9
- United States District Court Judge Harry E. Claiborne becomes the fifth federal official to be removed from office through impeachment.
- News Corporation completes its acquisition of the Metromedia group of companies, thereby launching the Fox Broadcasting Company.
- The Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway show in history, opens at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
- October 10 – An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale strikes San Salvador, El Salvador, killing an estimated 1,500 people.
- October 11 – Cold War: Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe (the talks break down in failure).
- October 12 – Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh visit the People's Republic of China.
- October 16 – The International Olympic Committee chooses Albertville, France to be the host city of the 1992 Winter Olympics and Barcelona, Spain to be the host city of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The IOC also announces that the summer and winter games will separate with the winter games on every even, common year starting from 1992.
- October 19 – Mozambican president Samora Machel's plane crashes in South Africa.
- October 21 – The Marshall Islands become an associated state under the Compact of Free Association.
- October 22 – In New York City, WNBC Radio's traffic helicopter crashes into the Hudson River, killing traffic reporter Jane Dornacker. The last words heard on-the-air were Dornacker's screams of terror, "Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!"
- October 24 – Lambda Sigma Gamma Sorority Inc. was founded at Sacramento State by Linda V. Fuentes and 26 Founding Mothers.
- October 26 – Bus deregulation goes into effect in the United Kingdom, except Greater London and Northern Ireland.
- October 27
- The International World Day of Prayer is held in Assisi, Italy.
- World Series: The New York Mets defeat the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. This is the second world series title in the Mets franchise. It is also remembered for Game 6, when Bill Buckner lets a routine ground ball hit by Mookie Wilson roll through his legs, letting the Mets win and pull even with the Red Sox in the series.
- The Big Bang in the London Stock Exchange abolishes fixed commission charges, paving the way for electronic trading.
- October 28
- The centennial of the Statue of Liberty's dedication is celebrated in New York Harbour.
- In London, Jeremy Bamber is found guilty of the murder of his adoptive parents, sister and twin nephews, and sentenced to life imprisonment, with a recommendation by the trial judge that he should serve at least 25 years before being considered for parole.
November
- November 1
- Queensland, Australia: Joh Bjelke-Petersen wins his final election as Premier of Queensland with 38.6% of the vote. He resigns on December 1, 1987 following revelations of his involvement with corruption released in the Fitzgerald Inquiry.
- Sandoz chemical spill: a major environmental disaster near Basel, Switzerland, pollutes the Rhine.
- November 3 – Iran–Contra affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
- November 3 – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) in Political Union with the United States. The CNMI Government adopted its own constitution in 1977, and the constitutional government took office in January 1978. The Covenant was fully implemented November 3, 1986, pursuant to Presidential Proclamation no. 5564, which conferred United States citizenship on legally qualified CNMI residents.
- November 4 – Democrats regain control of the United States Senate for the first time in 6 years. In California, Chief Justice Rose Bird and two colleagues are removed by voters from the Supreme Court of California for opposing capital punishment.
- November 6 – Sumburgh disaster: A British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes 2.5 miles east of Sumburgh Airport, killing 45 people (the deadliest civilian helicopter crash on record).
- November 11 – Sperry Rand and Burroughs merge to form Unisys, becoming the second largest computer company.
- November 12 – Australian singer John Farnham releases the album Whispering Jack, which becomes the highest selling album in Australia's history.
- November 18
- Greater Manchester Police announce that they are to search for the bodies of 2 missing children (who both vanished more than 20 years ago) after the Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley confess to 2 more murders.
- November 21 – Iran-Contra Affair: National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them in selling weapons to Iran and channeling the proceeds to help fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 22 – Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.
- November 25 – Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
- November 26 – Iran-Contra Affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces that on December 1 former Senator John Tower, former Secretary of State Edmund Muskie, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft will serve as members of the Special Review Board looking into the scandal (they became known as the Tower Commission). Reagan denies involvement in the scandal.
December
- December 7 – A 5.7 Richter scale earthquake destroys most of the Bulgarian town of Strajica, killing 2 people.
- December 14 – Rutan Voyager, an experimental aircraft designed by Burt Rutan and piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, begins its flight around the world.
- December 19 – Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov is permitted to return to Moscow after years of internal exile.
- December 20 – Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighbourhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers.
- December 23 – Voyager completes the first nonstop circumnavigation of the earth by air without refueling in 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
- December 26 – After 35 years on the airwaves and holding the title of longest-running non-news program on network television, NBC airs the final episode of daytime drama Search for Tomorrow.
- December 31 – A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
Date unknown
- The National park passport stamps program begins.
- The Council on Competitiveness was founded
- Average per capita income in Japan exceeds that in the United States.
Deaths
January
- January 1 – Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
- January 2 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
- January 4
- January 7 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer (b. 1917)
- January 8 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)
- January 10 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- January 14 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
- January 23 – Willard Van Dyke, American filmmaker and photographer (b. 1906)
- January 24
- January 27 – Lilli Palmer, German actress (b. 1914)
- January 28, in the Challenger disaster:
- Gregory Jarvis, American astronaut (b. 1944)
- Christa McAuliffe, American astronaut and teacher (b. 1948)
- Ronald McNair, American astronaut (b. 1950)
- Ellison Onizuka, American astronaut (b. 1946)
- Judith Resnik, American astronaut (b. 1949)
- Dick Scobee, American astronaut (b. 1939)
- Michael J. Smith, American astronaut (b. 1945)
- January 29 – Leif Erickson, American actor (b. 1911)
February
- February 1 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
- February 6 – Frederick Coutts, the 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
- February 7 – Minoru Yamasaki, Japanese-American architect, designed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre (b. 1912)
- February 10 – Brian Aherne, British actor (b. 1902)
- February 11
- February 14 – Edmund Rubbra, British composer (b. 1901)
- February 16 – Howard Da Silva, American actor (b. 1909)
- February 17 – Jiddu Krishnamurti, Indian philosopher (b. 1895)
- February 21
- Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
- February 24 – Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician and " Father of medicare" in Canada (b. 1904)
- February 27 – Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
- February 28
March
- March 4
- March 6
- Adolph Caesar, American actor (b. 1933)
- Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
- March 10
- March 18 – Bernard Malamud, American writer (b. 1914)
- March 22
- March 23 – Moshe Feinstein, Orthodox rabbi (b. 1895)
- March 28 – Virginia Gilmore, American actress (b. 1919)
- March 29 – Harry Ritz, American actor (b. 1907)
- March 30 – James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
- March 31
April
- April 3 – Peter Pears, English tenor (b. 1910)
- April 7 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- April 8 – Yukiko Okada, Japanese idol singer (b. 1967)
- April 13 – Stephen Stucker, American actor (b. 1947)
- April 14 – Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
- April 15
- April 19
- April 22 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian of religions and writer (b. 1907)
- April 23
- April 24 – The Duchess of Windsor (the former Wallis Simpson), widow of the late Duke of Windsor (formerly Edward VIII; b. 1896)
- April 26
- April 30 – Robert Stevenson, English film director (b. 1905)
May
- May 1 – Hylda Baker, English comedy actress (b. 1905)
- May 2 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally car driver (b. 1956)
- May 3 – Robert Alda, American-born actor (b. 1914)
- May 9
- Herschel Bernardi, American actor (b. 1923)
- Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
- May 11 – Henry Plumer McIlhenny, American art collector, socialite, philanthropist and the chairman of the Philadelphia Art Museum (b. 1910)
- May 12 – Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
- May 14 – Janne Aikala, Finnish murder victim (b. 1975)
- May 15
- May 19 – Jimmy Lyons, American musician (b. 1931)
- May 23 – Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- May 24 – Yakima Canutt, American actor and stuntman (b. 1895)
- May 25 – Chester Bowles, American politician (b. 1901)
- May 26 – Gian-Carlo Coppola, American film producer (b. 1963)
- May 30 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer (b. 1940)
- May 31
- Jane Frank, American artist (b. 1918)
- James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
June
- June 3 – Anna Neagle, English actress (b. 1904)
- June 5 – Bryan Grant, American tennis champion (b. 1909)
- June 13
- June 14
- Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
- Alan Jay Lerner, American lyricist (b. 1918)
- Marlin Perkins, American zoologist (b. 1905)
- June 16 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (b. 1902)
- June 17 – Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
- June 18 – Frances Scott Fitzgerald, daughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre (b. 1921)
- June 19
- June 21 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer, musician, conductor and author (b. 1923)
- June 27 – Don Rogers, American football player (b. 1962)
- June 29 – Robert Drivas, American actor (b. 1938)
July
- July 3 – Rudy Vallée, American singer, actor, and bandleader (b. 1901)
- July 4 – Oscar Zariski, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
- July 6 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (b. 1908)
- July 8
- July 14 – Raymond Loewy, French-born industrial designer (b. 1893)
- July 15
- July 21 – Ernest Maas, American screenwriter (b. 1892)
- July 22 – Ede Staal, Dutch singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
- July 24
- July 25 – Vincente Minnelli, American film director (b. 1903)
- July 26 – W. Averell Harriman, American diplomat and politician (b. 1891)
- July 27 – Osbert Lancaster, British cartoonist (b. 1908)
- July 31 – Teddy Wilson, American jazz pianist (b. 1912)
August
- August 2 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and anti-Communist (b. 1927)
- August 4 – Willem Ruis, Dutch game show host (b. 1945)
- August 10 – Chuck McKinley, American tennis champion (b. 1941)
- August 16 – Jaime Sáenz, Bolivian poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1921)
- August 19
- August 20 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer, and playwright (b. 1923)
- August 21 – Thad Jones, American jazz musician (b. 1923)
- August 22 – Celal Bayar, ex- President of Turkey (b:1883)
- August 26 – Ted Knight, American actor (b. 1923)
- August 27 – George Nepia, New Zealand Maori rugby player (b. 1905)
- August 29 – Arthur Meyerhoff, American advertising agency executive and entrepreneur (b. 1895)
- August 30 – George Pelawa, American ice hockey star Minnesota Mr. Hockey (b. 1968)
- August 31
- Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
- Henry Moore, British sculptor (b. 1898)
September
- September 1 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (b. 1923)
- September 4 – Hank Greenberg, baseball player (b. 1911)
- September 6 – Blanche Sweet, American actress (b. 1896)
- September 7 – Omar Ali Saifuddin III, Sultan of Brunei (b. 1914)
- September 12 – Frank Nelson, American actor (b. 1911)
- September 18 – Pat Phoenix, British actress (b. 1923)
- September 21 – Cheryl Keeton, American murder victim (b. 1949)
- September 22 – József Asbóth, Hungarian tennis champion (b. 1917)
- September 25 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
- September 26 – Noboru Terada, Japanese Olympic swimmer (b. 1917)
- September 27 – Cliff Burton, American bassist ( Metallica) (b. 1962)
- September 28 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer and choreographer (b. 1909)
October
- October 5
- October 7 – Wallace Wade, American football coach, University of Alabama, Duke University (b. 1892)
- October 11 – Boris Leven, Russian-born art director (b. 1908)
- October 14 – Keenan Wynn, American actor (b. 1916)
- October 16 – Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist (b. 1921)
- October 19 – Samora Machel, President of Mozambique (b. 1933)
- October 22 – Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
- October 23 – Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1893)
- October 25 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (F Troop) (b. 1919)
- October 26 – Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
- October 28 – Ian Marter, British actor and writer (b. 1944)
- October 31 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1896)
November
- November 2 – Paul Frees, American voice actor (b. 1920)
- November 5 – Claude Jutra, Canadian film director (b. 1930)
- November 6 – Elisabeth Grümmer, Alsatian soprano (b. 1911)
- November 8
- November 10 – Rogelio de la Rosa, Filipino actor and politician (b. 1916)
- November 16 – Siobhan McKenna, Irish actress (b. 1923)
- November 18 – Gia Carangi, American supermodel (b. 1960)
- November 21
- November 22
- November 29 – Cary Grant, British actor (b. 1904)
December
- December 2 – Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor (b. 1917)
- December 3 – Austin Hayes, Irish footballer (b. 1958)
- December 10 – Susan Cabot, American actress (b. 1927)
- December 13 – Heather Angel, English actress (b. 1909)
- December 15 – Serge Lifar, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1905)
- December 17 – Guillermo Cano Isaza, Colombian journalist (b. 1925)
- December 21 – Willy Coppens, Belgian pilot (b. 1892)
- December 22 – Ida Cook (aka Mary Burchell), British novelist and campaigner for Jewish refugees (b. 1904)
- December 26 – Elsa Lanchester, English actress (b. 1902)
- December 28 – Jan Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (b. 1922)
- December 29
- Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1957-1963 (b. 1894)
- Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (b. 1932)
- December 31 – Lloyd Haynes, American actor (b. 1934)
Date unknown
Nobel Prizes
- Physics – Ernst Ruska, Gerd Binnig, Heinrich Rohrer
- Chemistry – Dudley R. Herschbach, Yuan T. Lee, John Charles Polanyi
- Physiology or Medicine – Stanley Cohen, Rita Levi-Montalcini
- Literature – Wole Soyinka
- Peace – Elie Wiesel
- Economics – James Buchanan Jr
