The following is a list of notable deaths in January 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.
January 1997
1 Prince Eugen of Bavaria, 71, German noble. Aenne Brauksiepe, 84, German politician. Asnoldo Devonish, 64, Venezuelan track and field athlete and Olympian (1952). Al Eugster, 87, American animator, writer, and film director. Jean Feller, 77, Luxembourgish Olympic footballer (1948). Ivan Graziani, 51, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist, colon cancer. Hagood Hardy, 59, Canadian composer, pianist, and vibraphonist, lymphoma. Ham Harmon, 83, American football player (Chicago Cardinals). Mohammed Hafez Ismail, 77, Egyptian diplomat and ambassador. Graham Kersey, 25, English cricketer, traffic collision.Richard Bright Obituary: Graham Kersey dies after crash, The Daily Telegraph, 1997-01-03. Retrieved at CricInfo, 2020-09-30. Hans-Martin Majewski, 85, German composer of film scores. James B. Pritchard, 87, American archeologist. Joan Rice, 66, English film actress. Franco Volpi, 75, Italian actor and voice actor, cancer. Townes Van Zandt, 52, American singer-songwriter, cardiac arrhythmia. Ladislau Zilahi, 74, Romanian football player and manager.
2 Randy California, 45, American guitarist, singer and songwriter, drowned. Samuel Carlisi, 82, American mobster, heart attack. Aarne Castrén, 73, Finnish Olympic sailor (1952). Joan Coromines, 91, Spanish linguist. Antonio Giordani Soika, 83, Italian entomologist and ecologist. Moshe Wilensky, 86, Polish-Israeli composer.
3 Werner Genuit, 59, German classical pianist and composer. Roger Goeb, 82, American composer. Michel Heller, 74, Russian historian, heart attack. Pieter Keuneman, 79, Sri Lankan communist politician. Jon Lennart Mjøen, 84, Norwegian actor, film director and screenwriter. Gianfranco Pandolfini, 76, Italian Olympic water polo player (1948). Marie Torre, 72, American television journalist, lung cancer. Odd Øyen, 82, Norwegian physician and resistance member during World War II.
4 Hédi Berkhissa, 24, Tunisian footballer, heart attack. Akhteruzzaman Elias, 53, Bangladeshi novelist and short story writer. Harry Helmsley, 87, American real estate mogul, pneumonia. Harry P. Jeffrey, 95, American attorney and politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1943-1945). Bill Lancaster, 49, American screenwriter (The Thing, The Bad News Bears) and actor (Moses the Lawgiver). Lucien Rebuffic, 75, French Olympic basketball player (1948). Tormod Skagestad, 76, Norwegian poet, novelist, playwright and actor. Richard Taitano, 75, Guamanian politician.
5 André Franquin, 73, Belgian comics artist, (Spirou & Fantasio, Gaston, Marsupilami), heart attack. Peter Zack Geer, 68, American politician, cancer. Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland, 84, Swedish royal, third son of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Homer Hobbs, 73, American football player (San Francisco 49ers), and coach. Burton Lane, 84, American composer and lyricist. Frans Piët, 91, Dutch comics artist (Sjors en Sjimmie). Emil Roy, 89, American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics). Alvaro de Toledo, 75, Brazilian Olympic equestrian (1952). V. C. Wynne-Edwards, 90, English zoologist.
6 Herbert Blitzstein, 62, American mobster, shot. Dick Donovan, 69, American MLB baseball player, cancer. Kalevi Laitinen, 78, Finnish gymnast and Olympic champion (1948, 1952). Teiichi Matsumaru, 87, Japanese football player. Heinrich Müller, 70, Swiss Olympic cyclist (1952). Charles Murphy, 88, Australian politician. Catherine Scorsese, 84, Italian-American actress (Goodfellas), Alzheimer's disease.
7 Francisco Castillo, 75, Spanish Olympic water polo player (1948, 1952). Tod Goodwin, 85, American gridiron football player (New York Giants). Paul-Werner Hozzel, 86, Nazi Germany Luftwaffe pilot during World War II. Christopher Mayhew, 81, British politician. Patricia McLaughlin, 80, Northern Irish politician. Sándor Végh, 84, Hungarian-French violinist and conductor. Alfred Vincelette, 61, American Olympic skier (1960).
8 Sidney Aronovitz, 76, American district judge (United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida). Smiley Bates, 59, Canadian country singer, songwriter, and musician, cancer. Melvin Calvin, 85, American biochemist, heart failure. Paul Endacott, 94, American basketball player. James Fraser, 72, Scottish surgeon. Harold Foote Gosnell, 100, American political scientist and author. George Handy, 76, American jazz arranger, composer and pianist. Phyllis Hartnoll, 90, British poet, author and editor. Alfred John Markiewicz, 68, American prelate of the Catholic Church.
9 Karol Borhy, 84, Czechoslovak football coach. Ove Dahlberg, 65, Swedish ice hockey referee, heart attack. Herb Davis, 97, American football player. Angelo Drossos, 68, American basketball executive, Parkinson's disease. Ellen Griffin Dunne, 64, American actress and activist, multiple sclerosis. Muhammadu Junaidu, 91, Nigerian historian and writer. Fortunato Maninetti, 76, Italian rower and Olympian (1948). Shorty McWilliams, 70, American football player (Los Angeles Dons, Pittsburgh Steelers). Edward Osóbka-Morawski, 87, Polish activist and politician. Jesse White, 79, American actor and comedian, heart attack.
10 Mary Bancroft, 93, American novelist and spy. Samuel Preston Bayard, 88, American folklorist and musicologist. Emmet Reid Blake, 88, American ornithologist and museum curator. Gordon W. Burrows, 70, American politician, cardiac arrest. André Caron, 52, Canadian politician, member of the House of Commons of Canada (1993- ), cancer. Bela Čuzdi, 70, Yugoslavian Olympic wrestler (1952). János Erdei, 77, Hungarian Olympic boxer (1952). Seymour Halpern, 83, American politician, member of the United States House of Representatives (1959-1973). Elspeth Huxley, 89, English author, journalist, broadcaster, and government adviser. Valentin Koptyug, 65, Soviet/Russian chemist. Allan Livingstone, 68, Australian Olympic canoeist (1960). Phil Marchildon, 83, Canadian Major League Baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox). Tordis Maurstad, 95, Norwegian stage actress. Nick Picciuto, 75, American baseball player (Philadelphia Phillies). Martin Pike, 76, British athlete and Olympian (1948). Alec Todd, Baron Todd, 89, Scottish biochemist and Nobel Prize laureate, heart attack. Shiv Verma, 92, Indian revolutionary. Lee Willerman, 57, American psychologist. Albert Wohlstetter, 83, American nuclear strategist. George Young, 74, Scottish footballer.
11 Arild Andersen, 68, Norwegian racing cyclist. William Byrne, 90, American painter. Bhabatosh Datta, 85, Indian economist, academic and writer. Carol Habben, 63, American baseball player. Rosalind Hill, 88, English historian, heart failure. Pancheti Koteswaram, 81, Indian meteorologist, hydrologist, and atmospheric physicist. Sheldon Leonard, 89, American actor, producer, director, and writer. Stu Martin, 84, American Major League Baseball player (St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs). Jerry Neudecker, 66, American MLB umpire, cancer. Helen Foster Snow, 89, American journalist. Jill Summers, 86, English music hall performer and comedian, kidney failure. Ian White-Thomson, 92, British Anglican priest. Elizabeth Woolsey, 88, American alpine skier and Olympian (1936).
12 Harold Brown, 76, Canadian ice hockey player (New York Rangers). Jean-Edern Hallier, 60, French writer, critic and editor, cerebral haemorrhage after fall, heart attack, traffic collision. Jean Hoerni, 72, Swiss-American engineer. Charles Brenton Huggins, 95, Canadian-American cancer researcher and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. Ewa Larysa Krause, 22, Polish Olympic judoka (1996), traffic collision. Wally Rose, 83, American jazz and ragtime pianist. Joe Scott, 78, American baseball player. Jorge Suárez, 51, Salvadoran football player, cancer.
13 Sivar Arnér, 87, Swedish novelist and playwright. Burton Barr, 79, American businessman and politician, kidney failure. Ernest Bayer, 92, American Olympic rower (1928). Johannes Coleman, 86, South African marathon runner and Olympian (1936, 1948). Archibald Jack, 83, British Olympic modern pentathlete (1936). Max Kaser, 90, German academic and professor of jurisprudence. Leo Margolis, 69, Canadian parasitologist, heart attack. Baburaoji Parkhe, 84, Indian industrialist. Jack Simpson, 76, Irish cricketer. Ruslan Stratonovich, 66, Russian physicist and engineer. Herman V. Wall, 91, American combat photographer during World War II.
14 John Amdisen, 62, Danish football player. Shalva Chikhladze, 84, Soviet Georgian light-heavyweight wrestler and Olympian (1952). Leonard Dodson, 84, American golfer. Celso Ferreira, 46, Brazilian Olympic football player (1972). King Hu, 64, Chinese film director and actor, complications from angioplasty. Robert Irsay, 73, American football team owner. Tommy Laskey, 83, Australian rules footballer. John Lettengarver, 67, American figure skater and Olympian (1948). Ebba Lodden, 83, Norwegian civil servant and politician. Roland Martin, 84, French archaeologist. Dollard Ménard, 83, Canadian general. Knud Nellemose, 88, Danish sculptor.
15 Oscar Auerbach, 92, American physician and pathologist. Jean-Marie Grenot, 67, French Olympic boxer (1948). Burrell Shields, 67, American football player (Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Colts). Edwin Smith, 74, New Zealand rower. Ahmad Tafazzoli, 59, Iranian Iranist and professor of ancient Iranian languages, homicide. (body discovered on this date) Kenneth V. Thimann, 92, English-American plant physiologist and microbiologist.
16 Romano Amerio, 91, Swiss Italian theologian. Ödön Gróf, 81, Hungarian Olympic swimmer (1936). Roy Henderson, 73, Scottish football player. Markus Hoffmann, 26, German actor, suicide by jumping. Nils Katajainen, 77, Finnish flying ace during World War II. Erik Källström, 88, Swedish Olympic football player (1936). Fritzi Metznerová, 81, Czech Olympic figure skater (1936). Iain Mills, 56, English politician. Shinobu Muraki, 73, Japanese production designer and art director (Ran). Beverly Peer, 84, American jazz double-bassist, cancer. Martin Redmond, 59, British politician. Juan Landázuri Ricketts, 83, Peruvian catholic cardinal. Jeff Teale, 57, British international athlete and Olympian (1968). Rajagopala Tondaiman, 74, Indian monarch and the last Raja of Pudukkottai. Barbara Woodell, 86, American actress. Willie Yeadon, 89, British railway historian.
17 Susanna Al-Hassan, 69, Ghanaian author and politician. Earl Girard, 69, American football player (Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers). Robert Giraud, 75, French journalist, poet and lexicographer. Björn Isfält, 54, Swedish composer, cancer. Bill Kardash, 84, Canadian politician. Bert Kelly, 84, Australian politician and government minister. Amha Selassie, 80, Ethiopian Emperor-in-exile and son of Haile Selassie I. Clyde Tombaugh, 90, American astronomer. Theo Wilson, 79, American reporter, cerebral hemorrhage.
18 Herbert A. Allen, Sr., 88, American stockbroker. Ruth Brinkmann, 62, American actress and founder of Vienna's English Theatre, ovarian cancer. Keith Diamond, 46, American songwriter and producer, heart attack. Jean Gravelle, 69, Canadian ice hockey player and Olympian (1948). Henry Hermansen, 75, Norwegian cross-country skier and Olympian (1960). Ardis Krainik, 67, American mezzo-soprano opera singer. Diana Lewis, 77, American film actress, pancreatic cancer. Myfanwy Piper, 85, British art critic and opera librettist. Gilberto Martínez Solares, 90, Mexican actor, cinematographer, screenwriter, and director. Darío Suro, 79, Dominican Republic art critic, diplomat and painter. Paul Tsongas, 55, American politician, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
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