The following is a list of notable deaths in 1983. 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.

• January 11
  • Gerhard Barkhorn, German World War II fighter ace (b. 1919)
  • Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)
  • Tikhon Kiselyov, Belarusian statesman in the Soviet Union, the de facto leader of the Byelorussian SSR from 1980 to 1983 (b. 1917)
• January 12 – Nikolai Podgorny, Soviet politician, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from 1965 to 1977 (b. 1903)
• January 15 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (b. 1902)
• January 16 – Doodles Weaver, American comedian (b. 1911)
• January 18 – Arturo Umberto Illia, Argentine politician and physician, 34th President of Argentina (b. 1900)
• January 20 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
• January 23 – Marcolino Gomes Candau, Brazilian medical doctor, 2nd Director-General of World Health Organization (b. 1911)
• January 24
  • Carmen Clemente Travieso, Venezuelan journalist and activist (b. 1900)
  • George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
  • Juan Carlos Zabala, Argentine Olympic athlete (b. 1911)
• January 26 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
• January 27
  • Georges Bidault, French Resistance leader and politician, 82nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1899)
  • Louis de Funès, French actor (b. 1914)
• January 28
  • Frank Forde, Australian politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia, leader of the World War II (b. 1890)
  • Billy Fury, British musician (b. 1940)
• January 29 – Stuart H. Ingersoll, American admiral (b. 1898)

• February 4 – Karen Carpenter, American singer and drummer (The Carpenters) (b. 1950)
• February 12
  • Eubie Blake, American musician and songwriter (b. 1887)
• February 13 – Lorenzo Bianchi, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1899)
• February 14 – Lina Radke, German athlete (b. 1903)
• February 19 – Alice White, American actress (b. 1904)
• February 22 – Sir Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
• February 23 – Herbert Howells, English composer (b. 1892)
• February 25 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright (b. 1911)
• February 27 – Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev, Russian astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1908)
• February 28 – Winifred Atwell, British pianist (b. 1914)

• March 1
  • Hideo Kobayashi, Japanese author (b. 1902)
  • Arthur Koestler, Austrian writer (b. 1905)
• March 3 – Hergé, Belgian comics creator (b. 1907)
• March 6 – Donald Maclean, British spy (b. 1913)
• March 7 – Igor Markevitch, Ukrainian conductor (b. 1912)
• March 8
  • Sir William Walton, English composer (b. 1902)
  • Chabuca Granda, Peruvian singer and composer (b. 1920)
• March 9
  • Faye Emerson, American actress (b. 1917)
  • Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• March 14 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor and director (b. 1927)
• March 15
  • Dame Rebecca West, British writer (b. 1892)
  • Josep Lluís Sert, Spanish architect and urbanist (b. 1902)
• March 16 – Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer (b. 1903)
• March 17 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
• March 18 – Umberto II of Italy, 4th and last King of Italy (b. 1904)
• March 20
  • Maria Babanova, Soviet and Russian actress (b. 1900)
  • Ivan Vinogradov, Russian mathematician (b. 1891)
• March 26 – Anthony Blunt, British spy and art historian (b. 1907)
• March 27 – Elsie Eaves, American civil engineer (b. 1898)
• March 30 – Lisette Model, Austrian-American photographer (b. 1901)

• April 3 – Jimmy Bloomfield, English football player and manager (b. 1934)
• April 4
  • Jacqueline Logan, American actress (b. 1902)
  • Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
• April 11 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (b. 1904)
• April 12
  • Desmond Bagley, English novelist (b. 1923)
  • Jørgen Juve, Norwegian football player and journalist (b. 1906)
• April 13 – Gloria Marín, Mexican actress (b. 1919)
• April 15
  • Gyula Illyés, Hungarian poet and novelist (b. 1902)
  • Corrie ten Boom, Dutch resistance fighter (b. 1892)
• April 19 – Jerzy Andrzejewski, Polish author (b. 1909)
• April 20
  • Walther Nehring, German general (b. 1892)
  • Pedro Quartucci, Argentine boxer and actor (b. 1905)
• April 21 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor (b. 1902)
• April 22 – Earl "Fatha" Hines, American musician (b. 1903)
• April 23
  • Buster Crabbe, American actor and athlete (b. 1908)
  • Suzanne La Follette, American libertarian feminist (b. 1893)
  • Selena Royle, American actress and writer (b. 1904)
• April 30
  • George Balanchine, Russian-American dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
  • Muddy Waters, American musician (b. 1913)

• May 1
  • George Hodgson, Canadian Olympic swimmer (b. 1893)
  • Joseph Ruttenberg, Russian-American cinematographer (b. 1889)
• May 2
  • Pridi Banomyong, Thai politician and professor, 7th Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1900)
  • Ernesto de la Guardia, 32nd President of Panama (b. 1904)
• May 5 – John Williams, British actor (b. 1903)
• May 8 – John Fante, American writer (b. 1909)
• May 14 – Miguel Alemán Valdés, 46th President of Mexico (b. 1900)^[1]
• May 18 – Frank Aiken, Irish politician (b. 1898)
• May 19 – Jean Rey, 2nd President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
• May 21 – Kenneth Clark, British art historian (b. 1903)
• May 22
  • Albert Claude, Belgian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
  • King Idris of Libya (b. 1889)
• May 25 – Sid Daniels, British merchant marine worker, last surviving crewmember of the RMS Titanic (b. 1895)
• May 29 – Arvīds Pelše, Latvian historian, Soviet politician and functionary (b. 1899)
• May 31 – Jack Dempsey, American heavyweight champion boxer (b. 1895)

• June 1
  • Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, regent of Belgium (b. 1903)
  • Anna Seghers, German writer (b. 1900)^[2]
• June 2
  • Stan Rogers, Canadian musician (b. 1949)
  • Julio Rosales, Filipino Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1906)
• June 5 – Kurt Tank, German aeronautical engineer (b. 1898)^[3]
• June 8 – Miško Kranjec, Slovenian writer (b. 1908)
• June 11 – G.D. Birla, Indian industrialist, Gandhian and educationalist (b. 1894)^[4]
• June 12 – Norma Shearer, Canadian-American actress (b. 1902)
• June 15 – Mario Casariego y Acevedo, Spanish-Guatemalan Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1909)
• June 17 – Peter Mennin, American composer and teacher (b. 1923)
• June 18 – Marianne Brandt, German industrial designer (b. 1893)^[5]
• June 23 – Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, Cuban politician, 21st President of Cuba (b. 1919)
• June 25 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentine composer (b. 1916)

• July 1 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect (b. 1895)
• July 2 – László Budai, Hungarian footballer (b. 1928)
• July 4 – John Bodkin Adams, British suspected serial killer (b. 1899)
• July 5 – Harry James, American musician and band leader (b. 1916)
• July 7 – Herman Kahn, American futurist (b. 1922)
• July 10
  • Werner Egk, German composer (b. 1901)^[6]
  • Estrellita Castro, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1908)
• July 11 – Ross Macdonald, American-Canadian writer (b. 1915)
• July 12 – Chris Wood, British rock musician, lead singer and guitarist of the band Traffic (b. 1944)
• July 14 – Jack MacBryan, English cricketer (b. 1892)
• July 16
  • Michel Micombero, Burundian military officer and statesman, 8th Prime Minister and 1st President of Burundi (b. 1940)
  • Samson Raphaelson, American screenwriter (b. 1894)
• July 17 – Roosevelt Sykes, American blues musician (b. 1906)
• July 23 – Georges Auric, French composer (b. 1899)^[7]
• July 26 – Charlie Rivel, Spanish Catalan circus clown (b. 1896)
• July 29
  • Luis Buñuel, Spanish filmmaker (b. 1900)
  • Rocco Chinnici, Italian judge (b. 1925)
  • Raymond Massey, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
  • David Niven, British soldier and actor (b. 1910)
• July 30 – Lynn Fontanne, British actress (b. 1887)

• August 2 – James Jamerson, American musician (b. 1936)
• August 3
  • Carolyn Jones, American actress (b. 1930)
  • Jobriath, American rock musician and actor (b. 1946)
• August 5
  • Bart Bok, Dutch-American astronomer (b. 1906)
  • Judy Canova, American actress (b. 1913)
• August 6 – Klaus Nomi, German singer and performance artist (b. 1944)^[8]
• August 10
  • José Baptista Pinheiro de Azevedo, 104th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1917)
  • Ruben Rausing, Swedish entrepreneur, founder of Tetra Pak (b. 1895)
• August 11 – Mamie Phipps Clark, American psychologist (b. 1917)
• August 16
  • Earl Averill, American baseball player and member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1902)
  • Heinz Warneke, American sculptor (b. 1895)
• August 17 – Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (b. 1896)
• August 18 – Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, German-British art historian (b. 1902)
• August 21 – Ninoy Aquino, Filipino politician (b. 1932)^[9]
• August 28
  • Jan Clayton, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
  • José Bergamín, Spanish writer (b. 1895)
• August 29 – Simon Oakland, American actor (b. 1915)

• September 1
  • Otto Hulett, American actor (b. 1898)
  • Henry M. Jackson, American politician (b. 1912)
• September 8 – Ibrahim Abboud, 3rd Prime Minister and 1st President of Sudan (b. 1900)
• September 10
  • Felix Bloch, Swiss-American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
  • Jon Brower Minnoch, heaviest man who ever lived (b. 1941)
  • John Vorster, 8th Prime Minister of South Africa and 5th President of South Africa (b. 1915)
• September 12 – Sabin Carr, American Olympic athlete (b. 1904)
• September 15 – LeRoy Prinz, American choreographer, director and producer (b. 1895)
• September 16 – Gunnar Olsson, Swedish actor (b. 1904)
• September 17 – Humberto Sousa Medeiros, Portuguese-American Roman Catholic clergyman (b. 1915)
• September 19 – Bruno Pittermann, Austrian Social Democratic politician, 19th Vice-Chancellor of Austria (b. 1905)
• September 20 – Ángel Labruna, Argentine footballer and manager (b. 1918)
• September 21 – Xavier Zubiri, Spanish philosopher (b. 1898)
• September 25 – King Leopold III of Belgium (b. 1901)
• September 26 – Tino Rossi, French singer (b. 1907)
• September 29 – Alan Moorehead, Australian-English war correspondent and historian (b. 1910)

• October 4 – Andrés Córdova, acting President of Ecuador (b. 1892)
• October 5 – Earl Tupper, American businessman (b. 1907)
• October 6 – Terence Cooke, American cardinal (b. 1921)
• October 7
  • George O. Abell, American astronomer (b. 1927)
  • Christophe Soglo, 3rd President of Dahomey (b. 1909)
• October 8
  • Joan Hackett, American actress (b. 1934)
  • Ruben Rausing, Swedish entrepreneur, founder of Tetra Pak (b. 1895)
• October 10 – Sir Ralph Richardson, British actor (b. 1902)
• October 14 – Paul Fix, American actor (b. 1901)
• October 15 – Pat O'Brien, American actor (b. 1899)
• October 17 – Raymond Aron, French philosopher, sociologist and political scientist. (b. 1905)
• October 19
  • Maurice Bishop, Grenadian politician and revolutionary, 2nd Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1944)
  • Dorothy Stuart Russell, Australian-born British pathologist (b. 1895)
  • Carel Willink, Dutch painter (b. 1900)
• October 26 – Alfred Tarski, Polish-American logician and mathematician (b. 1901)
• October 28 – Otto Messmer, American cartoonist (b. 1892)
• October 31 – George Halas, American football player and coach (b. 1895)

• November 7 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer (b. 1892)
• November 8 – Betty Nuthall, English tennis champion (b. 1911)
• November 11 – Arno Babajanyan, Armenian composer and pianist (b. 1921)
• November 13 – Aliagha Aghayev, Azerbaijani actor (b. 1913)
• November 15 – John Le Mesurier, British actor (b. 1912)
• November 19 – Tom Evans, English musician and songwriter (b. 1947)
• November 20
  • Marcel Dalio, French actor (b. 1900)
  • Richard Loo, Chinese-American actor (b. 1903)
• November 22 – Michael Conrad, American actor (b. 1925)
• November 23 – Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, film producer, writer and director (b. 1938)
• November 27
  • Jorge Ibargüengoitia, Mexican novelist and playwright (b. 1928)
  • Ángel Rama, Uruguayan writer and literary critic (b. 1926)
• November 28 – Christopher George, American actor (b. 1931)
• November 30
  • George Headley, West Indian cricketer (b. 1909)^[10]
  • Richard Llewellyn, British writer (b. 1906)

• December 2 – Fifi D'Orsay, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1904)
• December 5
  • Robert Aldrich, American film director (b. 1918)
  • John Robinson, British Anglican bishop (b. 1919)
• December 6
  • Lucienne Boyer, French singer (b. 1903)
  • Gul Khan Nasir, Baloch politician and poet from Pakistan (b. 1914)
• December 7 – Fanny Cano, Mexican actress and producer (b. 1944)
• December 8
  • Sir Keith Holyoake, New Zealand politician, 26th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1904)
  • Slim Pickens, American actor (b. 1919)
• December 11 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British general (b. 1897)
• December 13
  • Leora Dana, American actress (b. 1923)
  • Mary Renault, English author (b. 1905)
• December 20
  • Prince Moulay Abdallah of Morocco (b. 1935)
  • Bill Brandt, German-British photographer and photojournalist(b. 1904)
• December 21 – Paul de Man, Belgian-American literary critic (b. 1919)
• December 25 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter (b. 1893)
• December 26 – Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
• December 28
  • William Demarest, American actor (b. 1892)
  • Jimmy Demaret, American golf champion (b. 1910)
  • Dennis Wilson, American singer, songwriter and drummer (b. 1944)