The following is a list of notable deaths in November 1997.
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.
November 1997
1 Wolfgang Abel, 92, Austrian anthropologist and Nazi racial biologist. Jon-Henri Damski, 60, American essayist, columnist, poet, and gay rights activist, cancer. Bill Dunn, 82, Australian rules footballer. Serge Hutin, 70, French author of books on esoterica and the occult. Ravil Khabutdinov, 68, Soviet Russian weightlifter and Olympian (1956). Gérard Légaré, 89, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1953-1958, 1962-1963). Roger Marche, 73, French football player. Bruno Michaud, 62, Swiss footballer and manager. Victor Mills, 100, American chemical engineer for the Procter & Gamble company. Cullen Rogers, 76, American gridiron football player (Pittsburgh Steelers).
2 Ken Cooper, 74, American football player (Baltimore Colts), and coach. Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild, 71, French-Swiss banker, emphysema. Ayya Khema, 74, German-American Buddhist teacher, breast cancer. Roy McMillan, 68, American baseball player (Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves, New York Mets), coach and manager. Helen Stevenson Meyner, 68, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1975-1979). Maulana Habibullah Mukhtar, 53, Pakistani Islamic scholar and writer. Shōshin Nagamine, 90, Japanese karate Master, mayor and author. Gerhard Neumann, 80, German-American aviation engineer, leukemia. Tony Novis, 91, English rugby football player. Harold Plenderleith, 99, Scottish art conservator and archaeologist. Bernhard Plettner, 82, German engineer and manager. Clarence Schmidt, 72, American ice hockey player (Boston Bruins). Carson Smith, 66, American jazz double-bassist. G. Harry Stine, 69, American writer and science fiction author, stroke.
3 Herbert Albrecht, 72, German Olympic wrestler (1960). Maxime Bousselaire, 96, French Olympic shot putter (1924). Wally Bruner, 66, American journalist and television host, liver cancer. Attilio Conton, 95, Italian Olympic long-distance runner (1928). Antoine Cuissard, 73, French football player and manager. Vladimir Guliayev, 73, Soviet actor of theater and cinema. Ashot Navasardyan, 47, Armenian politician and military commander, heart attack. Edward Dean Price, 78, American district judge (United States District Court for the Eastern District of California). Satyapramoda Tirtha, Indian guru and philosopher. Farpi Vignoli, 90, Italian sculptor.
4 Noboru Aota, 72, Japanese baseball player, lung cancer. George Chambers, 69, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.Anthony Payne, "Obituary: George Chambers", The Independent, 15 November 1997, Retrieved 7 April 2022. René-Jean Clot, 84, French painter and novelist. Wilfred Coutts, 89, Australian politician. Johnny Dickshot, 87, American baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Giants, Chicago White Sox). Ranesh Das Gupta, 85, Bangladeshi writer, journalist and politician. Richard Hooker, 73, American surgeon and writer, leukemia. Denver Mills, 72, American football player (Chicago Cardinals).
5 James Robert Baker, 50, American novelist and screenwriter, suicide by asphyxiation. Yemane Baria, 48, Eritrean singer-songwriter. Bae Hee-han, 90, Korean master carpenter배희한 (裵喜漢) Sir Isaiah Berlin, 88, Russian-born British social and political theorist, philosopher and historian. Louise Campbell, 86, American actress. Camilla Cederna, 86, Italian writer and editor, cancer. Peter Jackson, 33, Australian rugby league footballer, drug overdose. Philip Roberts, 91, British Army officer. William C. Watson, 59, American actor.
6 Luigi Cantone, 80, Italian Olympic fencer (1948). Norbert Carbonnaux, 79, French film director and screenwriter. Ray Daniel, 69, Welsh football player and manager. Jahangir Forouhar, 81, Iranian actor. Leon Forrest, 60, American novelist. Annie Llewelyn-Davies, Baroness Llewelyn-Davies of Hastoe, 82, British politician and peer, cerebrovascular disease, bronchopneumonia. Anne Stine Ingstad, 79, Norwegian archaeologist. Willi Klein, 70, German Olympic alpine skier (1952). Lajos Kovács, 61, Hungarian Olympic middle-distance runner (1960). Lillian Rogers Parks, 100, American housemaid and seamstress in the White House. Josef Pieper, 93, German Catholic philosopher. Epic Soundtracks, 38, British musician, drug overdose. Jane Thurgood-Dove, 34, Australian murder victim, shot.
7 Lloyd Hamilton Donnell, 102, American mechanical engineer. Clyde Gilmour, 85, Canadian broadcaster and journalist Margaret Harshaw, 88, American opera singer and voice teacher. Bae Hee-han, 90, Korean master carpenter Rafael Hernández, 69, Spanish film actor. Allan Jinks, 83, Australian cricketer. Mitchell P. Kobelinski, 69, American banker and attorney. Paul Ricard, 88, French industrialist and creator of Pernod Ricard.
8 Henry Bland, 87, Australian public servant. Lam Ching-ying, 44, Hong Kong stuntman and actor, liver cancer. Prosper Depredomme, 79, Belgian racing cyclist. Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh, 105, Iranian author. Robert John Kerr, Northern Irish loyalist, vapour explosion."Ex-paramilitary found dead" . The Irish Times. 10 November 1997. Retrieved 30 May 2020 Fedir Medvid, 54, Ukrainian and Soviet football player. Reggie Myles, 72-73, Irish Olympic sprinter (1948). Michael Ward, 88, English actor.
9 Imre Beták, 74, Hungarian Olympic cross-country skier (1948). Paul Haghedooren, 38, Belgian cyclist, heart attack. Carl Gustav Hempel, 92, German writer and philosopher, pneumonia. Helenio Herrera, 87, French-Argentine football player and manager. Leonard Matthews, 83, British publisher and editor.George Beal, Obituary: Leonard Matthews, The Independent, 5 December 1997, Retrieved 30 May 2020 Joe Roccisano, 58, American jazz saxophonist and arranger. Moody Sarno, 83, American football player and coach. Cecil Smith, 89, Canadian figure skater and Olympian (1924, 1928). Wu Xiuquan, 89, Chinese communist revolutionary, military officer, and diplomat.
10 Lloyd Cardwell, 84, American football player (Detroit Lions), and coach. Leon W. Johnson, 93, United States Air Force general, respiratory infection. Ave Ninchi, 82, Italian actress. Tommy Tedesco, 67, American guitarist and studio musician, lung cancer. Carl Vinciquerra, 83, American Olympic boxer (1936). Annie Dodge Wauneka, 87, American Navajo Nation activist.
11 William Alland, 81, American film producer (Creature from the Black Lagoon, It Came from Outer Space) and actor (Citizen Kane), complications from heart disease. Max Bangerter, 86, Swiss gymnast. Sammy Haynes, 77, American baseball player. Shake Keane, 70, Vincentian jazz musician and poet, stomach cancer. Lucien Xavier Michel-Andrianarahinjaka, 67, Malagasy writer, poet and politician. Rod Milburn, 47, American athlete and Olympian (1972), work-related accident. Gintaras Ramonas, 35, Lithuanian politician. Menahem Max Schiffer, 86, German-American mathematician.
12 Luke Brown, 62, American professional wrestler known as Luke "Big Boy" Brown, stroke. Alberto Cavallone, 59, Italian film director and screenwriter. Tom Chang, 31, Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and music producer. James Laughlin, 83, American poet and literary book publisher, complications following a stroke. William Matthews, 55, American poet and essayist. Cecil F. Poole, 83, American judge. Rainer Ptacek, 46, American guitarist and singer-songwriter, brain tumor. Carola Standertskjöld, 56, Finnish jazz and pop singer, Alzheimer's disease. Carlos Surinach, 82, Spanish-American composer. Sándor Szabó, 82, Hungarian actor. Maria von Maltzan, 88, German noblewoman and resistance member during World War II. Howard Weiss, 80, American gridiron football player (Detroit Lions).
13 André Boucourechliev, 72, Bulgarian-French composer. Alexandru Bârlădeanu, 86, Romanian Marxian economist. Bill Conroy, 82, American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox). James Couttet, 76, French alpine skier and ski jumper and Olympian (1948, 1952). Dietrich Lohmann, 54, German cinematographer, leukemia. Onzy Matthews, 67, American jazz musician and actor, heart failure. Mike McMichael, 82, American basketball player. P. Ravindran, 74, Indian politician. Larry Shinoda, 67, American automotive designer, kidney failure. Moe Thacker, 63, American baseball player (Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals). Al Weston, 91, American baseball player (Boston Braves).
14 Knud Andersen, 75, Danish Olympic cyclist (1948, 1952). Eddie Arcaro, 81, American jockey, liver cancer. Alba de Céspedes, 86, Cuban-Italian writer. Joel Lee Brenner, 85, American mathematician. Stefan Lorant, 96, Hungarian-American filmmaker, photojournalist, and author. Jack Pickersgill, 92, Canadian civil servant and politician. Kiyoshi Saitō, 90, Japanese printmaker. N. V. N. Somu, 60, Indian politician, helicopter crash. Reena Virk, 14, Canadian murder victim, homicide by drowning.
15 Aaron Brown, 53, American football player (Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers), traffic collision. Saul Chaplin, 85, American composer and musical director, complication from a fall. Alf Day, 90, Welsh professional footballer. Coen van Vrijberghe de Coningh, 47, Dutch actor, musician, composer, and television presenter, heart attack. Coen van Vrijberghe de Coningh, acteur, plotseling overleden, de Volkskrant, November 17, 1997 Warren Douglas, 86, American actor and screenwriter, heart failure. Frank Griffiths, 86, Australian rugby league footballer. Jim Kepner, 74, American journalist, author, archivist and gay rights activist. Elizza La Porta, 95, Romanian-American film actress. John Lyttle, 66, Irish Olympic boxer (1952). Douglas MacArthur II, 88, American diplomat. George Mattson, 88, American Olympic rower (1932). Vladimir Vengerov, 77, Soviet and Russian film director. Nándor Wagner, 75, Hungarian artist and sculptor.
16 Albert L. Ireland, 79, United States Marine Corps sergeant and recipient of nine purple hearts. José Behra, 73, French racing driver and rally driver. Captain Mikey, 62, American disc jockey and voice-over actor, leukemia. Brigitte Groh, 31, German Olympic figure skater (1988). Wilhelm Hayden, 71, Norwegian Olympic rower (1952). Georges Marchais, 77, French politician, heart attack. Russ Meyer, 74, American baseball player. Padmapriya, Indian actress. George O. Petrie, 85, American radio and television actor, lymphoma. Aaron John Sharp, 93, American botanist and bryologist. Roy Sheffield, 90, English cricket player. Robert N. Thompson, 83, Canadian politician and chiropractor.
17 Richard Sumner Cowan, 76, American botanist, brain trauma. Pat Grace, 73, Australian rules footballer. Gary Herford, 57, Australian rower and Olympian (1964). Gert Günther Hoffmann, 68, German actor and director. David Ignatow, 83, American poet. Wilfred Josephs, 70, English composer. Headley Keith, 70, South African cricketer. Edwin Mansfield, 67, American academic, cancer. Orlando Ribeiro, 86, Portuguese geographer and historian. John Wimber, 63, American Christian leader, mystic and musician, brain hemorrhage. Milič Čapek, 88, Czech–American philosopher.SVU Obituaries' Archive 1998-2001 Retrieved 30 May 2020
18 Kay Curley Bennett, about 75, Native American artist and writer John Bird, 71, British politician. Josephine Cheesman, 87, British painter. Dame Jean Conan Doyle, 84, British Royal Air Force officer, Parkinson's disease. Unichi Hiratsuka, 102, Japanese printmaker. Fredrik Horn, 81, Norwegian Olympic football player (1936). Stanislav Rapotec, 86, Slovene-Australian artist. Sigfrid Roos, 89, Swedish footballer. Robert Vandeputte, 89, Belgian economist, civil servant, and politician. Joyce Wethered, 96, British golfer.
19 Mary Bernheim, 95, British biochemist.