Deaths in 1986

	Contents
January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December
← 1985	1986	1987 →

The following is a list of notable deaths in 1986. 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 1986

January

Phil Lynott

Jaroslav Seifert

Donna Reed

STS-51-L crew

January 4
- Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
- Phil Lynott, Irish musician, lead singer and bassist (Thin Lizzy) (b. 1949)
January 5 – Ilmari Salminen, Finnish Olympic athlete (b. 1902)
January 6 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
January 7 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer (b. 1917)
January 10 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
January 12 – Juan Carlos Corazzo, Uruguayan football player (b. 1907)
January 13 – Abdul Fattah Ismail, Leader of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) (b. 1939)
January 14 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
January 16 – Herbert W. Armstrong, founded the Worldwide Church of God (b. 1892)
January 17 – Abdul Majid Kubar, 4th Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1909)
January 23 – Willard Van Dyke, American filmmaker and photographer (b. 1906)
January 24
- Sir Victor Crutchley, British admiral (b. 1893)
- L. Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)^[1]
- Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
January 27
- Nikhil Banerjee, Indian classical sitarist (b. 1931)
- 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

Jacques Plante

Olof Palme

February 1
- Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1902)
- Ida Rhodes, American mathematician, pioneer in computer programming (b. 1900)
February 6 – Minoru Yamasaki, Japanese architect, designed the twin towers of the World Trade Center (b. 1912)
February 7 – Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist, and politician (b. 1923)
February 10 – Brian Aherne, British actor (b. 1902)
February 11 – Frank Herbert, American author (b. 1920)
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)
- Paul Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
February 19
- Francisco Mignone, Brazilian classical music composer (b. 1897)
- Barry Seal, American smuggler of drugs and arms, aircraft pilot, and money launderer and former Trans Worlds Airlines pilot (b. 1939)
- Adolfo Celi, Italian actor and director (b. 1922)
February 20 – Bert Schneider, Canadian boxer (b. 1897)
February 21
- Helen Hooven Santmyer, American writer (b. 1895)
- Mart Stam, Dutch architect (b. 1899)
February 24 – Tommy Douglas, Canadian politician and "Father of medicare" in Canada (b. 1904)
February 25 – Pasquale Festa Campanile, Italian screenwriter, film director and novelist (b. 1927)
February 27 – Jacques Plante, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
February 28 – Olof Palme, Swedish politician, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1927)

March

Ray Milland

James Cagney

March 4
- Richard Manuel, Canadian musician (The Band) (b. 1943)
- Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (b. 1936)
March 6
- Adolph Caesar, American actor (b. 1933)
- Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
- Zhu Guangqian, Chinese esthetician, modern literary theorist, and scholar (b.1897)
March 10 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (b. 1907)
March 13 – Eugen Gerstenmaier, German politician, 20 July Plotter (b. 1906)
March 15 – Miguel Darío Miranda y Gómez, Mexican Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal (b. 1895)
March 17 – John Bagot Glubb, British soldier (b. 1897)
March 18 – Bernard Malamud, American writer (b. 1914)
March 19 – Jon Lormer, American actor (b. 1906)
March 22
- Charles Starrett, American actor (b. 1903)
- Martin Harlinghausen, German air force general (b. 1902)
March 23
- Moshe Feinstein, Orthodox rabbi (b. 1895)
- Anastasia Zuyeva, Soviet actress (b. 1896)
March 24 – Michael, Prince of Montenegro (b. 1908)
March 28 – Virginia Gilmore, American actress (b. 1919)
March 29 – Harry Ritz, American actor (b. 1907)
March 30 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
March 31 – Jerry Paris, American actor and director (b. 1925)

April

Yukiko Okada

Jean Genet

Broderick Crawford

April 1 – Erik Bruhn, Danish ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1928)
April 3 – Sir 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 14
- Simone de Beauvoir, French feminist writer (b. 1908)
- Jole Bovio Marconi, Italian archaeologist and prehistorian (b. 1897)
April 15
- Jean Genet, French writer (b. 1910)
- Tim McIntire, American actor (b. 1944)
- Robert Marjolin, French economist and politician, 1st Secretary-General of the OECD (b. 1911)
April 17
- Paul Costello, American Olympic rower – double sculls (b. 1894)
- Marcel Dassault, French aircraft industrialist (b. 1892)
- Bessie Head, South African writer (b. 1937)
April 19 – Alvin Childress, American actor (b. 1907)
April 20 – Aleksei Arbuzov, Soviet playwright (b. 1908)
April 21 – Teodoro Casana Robles, Peruvian lawyer, historian, journalist, archaeologist, photographer and geographer (b. 1900)
April 22 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian of religions and writer (b. 1907)
April 23
- Harold Arlen, American music composer (b. 1905)
- Jim Laker, English cricketer (b. 1922)
- Otto Preminger, Austrian-American film director (b. 1905)
April 24 – The Duchess of Windsor (b. 1896)
April 26
- Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
- Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
- Hermann Gmeiner, Austrian educator (b. 1919)
- Valery Khodemchuk, Soviet engineer, working at Chernobyl reactor 4 (b. 1951)
April 27 – J. Allen Hynek, American ufologist (b. 1910)
April 30 – Robert Stevenson, English film director (b. 1905)

May

Elisabeth Bergner

Elio de Angelis

Lurene Tuttle

May 2 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish rally car driver (b. 1956)
May 3 – Robert Alda, American actor (b. 1914)
May 7 – Herma Szabo, Austrian figure skater (b. 1902)
May 9
- Herschel Bernardi, American actor (b. 1923)
- Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese sherpa (b. 1914)
May 11
- Vladimir Pravik, Soviet firefighter (b. 1962)
- Aleksandr Akimov, Soviet engineer who was the shift supervisor during the events of the Chernobyl disaster (b. 1953)
May 12
- Elisabeth Bergner, Austrian actress (b. 1897)
- Alicia Moreau de Justo, Argentine physician, politician, pacifist and human rights activist (b. 1885)
May 13 – Vasily Ignatenko, Soviet firefighter who responded to the Chernobyl disaster (b. 1961)
May 15
- Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
- Theodore White, American writer (b. 1915)
May 20 – Helen B. Taussig, American cardiologist (b. 1898)
May 22 – Georgie Nokes, American child actor (b. 1936)
May 23
- Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
- Altiero Spinelli, Italian political theorist and European federalist (b. 1907)
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 28 – Lurene Tuttle, American actress (b. 1907)
May 30 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer (b. 1940)
May 31 – James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)

June

Benny Goodman

Kate Smith

June 3 – Dame Anna Neagle, English actress (b. 1904)
June 5 – Bryan Grant, American tennis champion (b. 1909)
June 11 – Chesley Bonestell, American painter (b. 1888)
June 13 – Benny Goodman, American jazz musician (b. 1909)
June 14
- Alan Jay Lerner, American lyricist (b. 1918)
- Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (b. 1899)
June 16 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (b. 1902)
June 17 – Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
June 19
- Len Bias, American basketball player (b. 1963)
- Coluche, stage name of Michel Colucci, French comedian and humorist (b. 1944)
June 23 – Sir Moses Finley, British classicist (b. 1912)
June 26 – Kunio Maekawa, Japanese architect (b. 1905)
June 27 – Don Rogers, American football player (b. 1962)
June 28 – Mary Anderson, American actress (b. 1897)