The following is a list of notable deaths in 1978. 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 1978

January

• January 2 – Cyril King, Governor of the United States Virgin Islands (b. 1921)
• January 6 – Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (b. 1899)
• January 13 – Hubert Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States (b. 1911)
• January 14
  • Harold Abrahams, British athlete (b. 1899)^[1]
  • Kurt Gödel, Austrian-born American logician, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1906)^[2]
• January 18 – John Lyng, Norwegian politician, prime minister (b. 1905)^[3]
• January 22 – Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer (b. 1894)
• January 23
  • Terry Kath, American rock musician (Chicago) (b. 1946)
  • Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
• January 26 – Leo Genn, English actor and barrister (b. 1905)
• January 27 – Oscar Homolka, Austrian actor (b. 1898)^[4]
• January 29 – Tim McCoy, American actor (b. 1891)
• January 30 – Marie-Louise Damien, French actress (b. 1889)

February

• February 10 – Redento Maria Gauci, Maltese Carmelite bishop (b. 1920)
• February 11
  • James B. Conant, American chemist (b. 1893)
  • Harry Martinson, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)^[5]
• February 15
  • Ilka Chase, American actress (b. 1905)^[6]
  • Tadeusz Chyliński, Polish aircraft designer and constructor (b. 1911)^[7]
• February 17 – Artemiy Artsikhovsky, Soviet archaeologist and historian (b. 1902)
• February 18 – Maggie McNamara, American actress (b. 1928)
• February 19 – Pankaj Mullick, Indian composer and singer (b. 1905)
• February 20 – Vitorino Nemesio, Portuguese poet and author (b. 1901)^[8]
• February 24 – Alma Thomas, African-American painter (b. 1891)
• February 28 – Philip Ahn, Korean-American actor (b. 1905)

March

• March 1 – Paul Scott, English writer (b. 1920)
• March 11 – Claude François, French entertainer (b. 1939)
• March 13 – John Cazale, American actor (b. 1935)
• March 17
  • Eddie Aikau, American lifeguard and surfer (b. 1946)
  • Giacomo Violardo, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1898)
• March 18 – Peggy Wood, American actress (b. 1892)^[9]
• March 19 – Gaston Julia, French mathematician (b. 1893)
• March 21 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, Irish barrister, judge and 5th President of Ireland (b. 1911)
• March 22 – Isidro Ayora, 22nd President of Ecuador (b. 1879)
• March 24 – André Lallemand, French astronomer (b. 1904)
• March 31
  • Astrid Allwyn, American actress (b. 1905)
  • Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (b. 1899)^[10]

April

• April 8 – Lon L. Fuller, American legal philosopher (b. 1902)
• April 9 – Vivian McGrath, Australian tennis player (b. 1916)
• April 13 – Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Nigerian suffragist and women's rights activist (b. 1900)
• April 16
  • Lucius D. Clay, American military governor of Germany after World War II (b. 1898)
  • Marie Ahnighito Peary, American writer and philanthropist; daughter of Robert Peary (b. 1893)
  • Philibert Tsiranana, Malagasy leader and politician, 1st President of Madagascar (b. 1912)
• April 21 – Sandy Denny, British singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
• April 22 – Will Geer, American actor (b. 1902)
• April 27 – John Doeg, American tennis player (b. 1908)
• April 28 – Mohammed Daoud Khan, 5th Prime Minister of Afghanistan and 1st President of Afghanistan (b. 1909)^[11]

May

• May 1 – Aram Khachaturian, Soviet-Armenian composer and conductor (b. 1903)
• May 6 – Ethelda Bleibtrey, American Olympic swimmer (b. 1902)
• May 8 – Duncan Grant, Scottish painter (b. 1885)
• May 9 – Aldo Moro, Italian Christian Democratic politician and statesman, 38th Prime Minister of Italy (assassinated) (b. 1916)
• May 13 – Alby Roberts, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1909)
• May 15 – Sir Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
• May 16 – William Steinberg, German-American conductor (b. 1899)
• May 17 – Armin T. Wegner, German human rights activist (b. 1886)
• May 18 – Selwyn Lloyd, Baron Selwyn-Lloyd, English politician (b. 1904)
• May 20
  • Ernest Cadine, French weightlifter, Olympic champion (1920) (b. 1893)^[12]
  • P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri, Indian Sanskrit scholar (b. 1890)^[13]
• May 22
  • Joseph Colombo, American gangster (b. 1923)
  • Aubrey Fitch, American admiral (b. 1883)^[14]
• May 26
  • Tamara Karsavina, Soviet ballerina (b. 1885)
  • Jorge Icaza Coronel, Ecuadorean novelist (b. 1906)
• May 31
  • József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
  • José Gonzalvo, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1920)

June

• June 2 – Santiago Bernabéu, Spanish footballer, player and president of Real Madrid C.F. (b. 1895)
• June 4 – Jorge de Sena, Portuguese novelist and poet (b. 1919)
• June 7 – Ronald George Wreyford Norrish, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
• June 9 – Prince Nicholas of Romania (b. 1903)^[15]
• June 12 – Guo Moruo, Chinese archaeologist, historian, poet, politician, and writer (b. 1892)
• June 17 – Robert B. Williams, American actor (b. 1904)
• June 20 – Mark Robson, Canadian film director (b. 1913)
• June 21 – Luther W. Youngdahl, American politician, Governor of Minnesota from 1947 to 1951, and a United States district judge from 1951 to 1978 (b. 1896)
• June 22 – Tom Gorman, Australian rugby league footballer (b. 1901)^[16]
• June 24 – Ahmad al-Ghashmi, 4th President of the Yemen Arab Republic (b. 1935)
• June 27 – Josette Day, French actress (b. 1914)
• June 28 – Clifford Dupont, 1st President of Rhodesia (b. 1905)
• June 29 – Bob Crane, American actor, drummer, radio host, and disc jockey (b. 1928)

July

• July 1 – Kurt Student, Luftwaffe general and commander of the German airborne forces during World War II. (b. 1890)
• July 3 – James Daly, American actor (b. 1918)
• July 6 – Pietro Montana, Italian-born American sculptor, painter and teacher (b. 1890)^[17]
• July 7 – Francisco Mendes, Guinea-Bissau politician, 1st Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1939)
• July 10
  • Abd ar-Razzaq an-Naif, 31st Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1934)
  • Joe Davis, English snooker and billiards player (b. 1901)^[18]
• July 14 – Gaston Ragueneau, French athlete (b. 1881)
• July 16 – Howard Estabrook, American actor (b. 1884)
• July 17 – Thayer David, American actor (b. 1927)
• July 21 – Susana Calandrelli, Argentine writer (b. 1901)^[19]
• July 27 – Willem van Otterloo, Dutch conductor, cellist and composer (b. 1907)
• July 30 – Umberto Nobile, Italian aviator and explorer (b. 1885)^[20]
• July 31 – Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich of Russia (b. 1902)

August

• August 2 – Carlos Chávez, Mexican composer (b. 1899)^[21]
• August 6
  • Pope Paul VI (b. 1897)
  • Edward Durell Stone, American architect (b. 1902)
• August 9 – James Gould Cozzens, American writer (b. 1903)^[22]
• August 19 – Emilio Núñez Portuondo, Cuban diplomat and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Cuba (b. 1898)
• August 22
  • Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan activist, politician and statesman, 1st Prime Minister of Kenya and 1st President of Kenya (b. c.1897)
  • Ignazio Silone, Italian writer and politician (b. 1900)^[23]
• August 24 – Louis Prima, American singer and actor (b. 1910)
• August 25 – George E. Jonas, American philanthropist (b. 1897)
• August 26
  • Charles Boyer, French actor (b. 1899)
  • José Manuel Moreno, Argentine football player (b. 1916)
• August 28
  • Kofi Abrefa Busia, Ghanese nationalist leader, 2nd Prime Minister of Ghana (b. 1913)
  • Bruce Catton, American Civil War historian, Pulitzer Prize winner (b. 1899)^[24]
  • Robert Shaw, British actor (b. 1927)^[25]
• August 30 – Geertruida Wijsmuller-Meijer, Dutch war hero, resistance fighter and humanitarian (b. 1896)^[26]

September

• September 3 – Karin Molander, Swedish actress (b. 1889)
• September 4 – Leonora Cohen, British suffragette and trade unionist (b. 1873)
• September 6 – Adolf Dassler, German founder of Adidas (b. 1900)
• September 7 – Keith Moon, English rock drummer (The Who) (b. 1946)
• September 8 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (b. 1901)
• September 9
  • Hugh MacDiarmid, Scottish poet (b. 1892)
  • Jack L. Warner, Canadian-American film producer (b. 1892)
• September 11
  • Valerian Gracias, Indian Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal (b. 1900)
  • Georgi Markov, Bulgarian playwright and writer (b. 1929)
  • Ronnie Peterson, Swedish Formula One driver (b. 1944)
  • Curtis Shake, American jurist (b. 1887)^[27]
• September 12 – Frank Ferguson, American actor (b. 1899)
• September 15 – Willy Messerschmitt, German aircraft designer and manufacturer (b. 1898)
• September 21 – Peter Vogel, German film actor (b. 1937)
• September 24
  • Lyman Bostock, American baseball player (b. 1950)
  • Hasso von Manteuffel, German army general (b. 1897)
• September 26 – Manne Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)^[28]
• September 27
  • Sergei Aslamazyan, Soviet composer (b. 1897)
  • Dumitru Dămăceanu, Romanian general and politician (b. 1896)^[29]
• September 28 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
• September 30 – Edgar Bergen, American actor and ventriloquist (b. 1903)

October

• October 1 – Alfredo Obviar, Filipino Roman Catholic bishop and Servant of God (b. 1889)^[30]
• October 4 – Roy L. Dennis, American teenager who had craniodiaphyseal dysplasia (b. 1961)
• October 8 –
  • Karl Swenson, American actor (b. 1908)
  • Jim Gilliam, American baseball player (b. 1928)
• October 9 – Jacques Brel, Belgian singer (b. 1929)
• October 10
  • Ralph Metcalfe, American Olympic athlete (b. 1910)
  • Hermes Lima, prime minister and foreign minister of Brazil (b. 1902)
• October 11 – Ruthven Todd, Scottish poet, artist, and novelist (b. 1914)
• October 12 – Nancy Spungen, American groupie and girlfriend of Sid Vicious (b. 1958)
• October 15 – W. Eugene Smith, American photojournalist (b. 1918)
• October 16 – Dan Dailey, American actor (b. 1915)
• October 17 – Giovanni Gronchi, 3rd president of Italy (b. 1887)^[31]
• October 19 – Gig Young, American actor (b. 1913)
• October 20 – Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish Formula One driver (b. 1948)
• October 21 – Anastas Mikoyan, Russian revolutionary and Soviet statesman (b. 1895)
• October 23 – Maybelle Carter, American country musician (b. 1909)^[32]
• October 28 – Geoffrey Unsworth, British cinematographer (b. 1914)

November

• November 4 – Arshad al-Umari, 15th Prime Minister of Iraq (b. 1888)
• November 8 – Norman Rockwell, American artist (b. 1894)
• November 10 – Theo Lingen, German actor (b. 1903)
• November 15 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (b. 1901)
• November 18
  • Leo Ryan, American politician (b. 1925)
  • Jim Jones, American cult leader (b. 1931)
• November 20 – Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter (b. 1888)
• November 24 – Warren Weaver, American scientist and mathematician (b. 1894)
• November 27 – George Moscone, American politician and then-mayor of San Francisco (b. 1929)
• November 27 – Harvey Milk, American politician and activist (b. 1930)

December

• December 3 – William Grant Still, American composer (b. 1895)
• December 4 - Goodie Reeve, British born Australian radio host and musician (b. 1897)
• December 7 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist and avian palaeontologist (b. 1886)
• December 8 – Golda Meir, Israeli teacher, politician and stateswoman, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1898)^[33]
• December 10
  • Emilio Portes Gil, Acting president of Mexico, (1928–1930) (b. 1890)^[34]
  • Ed Wood, American filmmaker, actor and author (b. 1924)
• December 11 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist (b. 1901)
• December 12 – Fay Compton, English actress (b. 1894)
• December 14 – Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish diplomat, writer, historian, and pacifist (b. 1886)
• December 15 – Chill Wills, American actor (b. 1902)
• December 16 – Blanche Calloway, American jazz singer (b. 1902)^[35]
• December 17
  • Don Ellis, American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer, and bandleader (b. 1934)
  • Josef Frings, German cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (b. 1887)^[36]
• December 27
  • Houari Boumédiènne, 2nd President of Algeria (b. 1932)
  • Chris Bell, American musician (b. 1951)
• December 31 – Nicolau dos Reis Lobato, East Timorese politician, acting President of East Timor (b. 1946)

References