The following is a list of notable deaths in January 1979. 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 1979
3 Conrad Hilton, 91, American hotel magnate and politician, he was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature in 1912, but he refused to run for a fourth term in 1916, instead endorsing a longtime political ally, he served in Paris in the Quartermaster Corps in the aftermath of World War I,"Determination in adversity: the story of Conrad Hilton", The Insider: The Magazine of Glion Institute of Higher Education, October 22, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2021.he founded the Hilton hotel chain in 1919, when he bought his first property, the Mobley Hotel, in Cisco, Texas,death due to pneumonia.
4 Peter Frankenfeld, 65, German comedian,PETER FRANKENFELD 31. Mai 1913 - 4. Januar 1979 Vincent Korda, 81, Hungarian-born British artist and art director, he was nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction, winning only for The Thief of Bagdad. (1940)His other nominated films were That Hamilton Woman (1941), Jungle Book (1942),and The Longest Day (1962)
5 Billy Bletcher, 84, American actor, primarily known as a voice actor,his voice was a deep, strong and booming baritone, Bletcher provided the voices of various characters for Walt Disney Productions, including his recurring roles as Black Pete and the Big Bad Wolf. Gabriella Giacobbe, 55, Italian actress, her stage credits included works directed by Luchino Visconti and Eduardo De Filippo,death due to cancer Charles Mingus, 56, American jazz upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author, Mingus had a notoriously fiery temperament, which earned him the nickname "the Angry Man of Jazz"; his refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many onstage outbursts, which were directed at members of his band and the audience alike,he died due to a heart attack in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where he had traveled for treatment and convalescence. His health had declined since the mid-1970s, due to the effects of motor neuron disease (also known as ALS)Rockwell, John. (1979, January 9). CHARLES MINGUS DIES AT 56: A leading bass player and composer for years, the jazz musician suffered a heart attack in Mexico. Page B6. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/09/archives/charles-mingus-56-bass-player-bandleader-and-composer-dead-an.html
8 Victor Hubinon, 54, Belgian comic book artist, best known for the series Buck Danny and Redbeard,death by heart attack.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Victor Hubinon". In België gestript, pp. 127-128. Tielt: Lannoo.
11 Jack Soo, 61, American actor and singer, he was ordered into internment along with other Japanese Americans during World War II due to the passage of Executive Order 9066, and he was sent to the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah, he was reportedly a "camp favorite" for regularly singing to entertain his fellow internees,Soo joined Motown Records in 1965 as one of their first non-African-American musicians, where he recorded a slow ballad version of "For Once in My Life" as the first male singer to do so, the song was soon after popularized through a version performed by Stevie Wonder, Soo joined the cast of the sitcom Barney Miller in 1975, portraying Detective Nick Yemana, death from esophageal cancer
12 Pete Smith, 86, American film producer, he was both the producer and the narrator of a series of comedic short films known as the Pete Smith Specialties, the Pete Smith Specialties earned 14 Academy Award nominations and two Best Live Action Short Film Academy Awards, at the 26th Academy Awards (1954), Smith was awarded an Academy Honorary Award "for his witty and pungent observations on the American scene in his series of Pete Smith Specialties", Smith committed suicide by jumping off the roof of a convalescent home in Santa Monica, California.
13 Donny Hathaway, 33, American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger,his third album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway (1972) was an album of duets with his former university associate and label mate Roberta Flack, the album was a critical and commercial success, including the Ralph MacDonald-penned track "Where Is the Love", which proved to be not only an R&B success, but also scored Top Five on the pop Hot 100, the album sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on September 5, 1972, he committed suicide by jumping off the 15th floor of New York City's Essex House luxury hotel.Hours before his death, Hathwaway was reportedly acting paranoid during a recording session, convinced that unnamed consirators had connected his brain to a machine for the purpose of stealing his music and his voice.UnSung, Episode 104, TV One Emiko Yagumo, 75, Japanese silent film actress,she was an icon of the modan gāru (modern girl) subculture in Japan and featured on advertisements for cosmetics, such as face powder.
14 Thomas DeSimone, 32, American criminal, associated with the Lucchese crime family, he was reportedly one of the robbers in the Lufthansa heist (December 11, 1978), his disappearance was reported on this day by his wife, and he was presumed to have been murdered. It is believed that DeSimone was murdered as revenge for his role in two unsanctioned murders which had targeted John Gotti's men. Another theory is that DeSimone eventually became suspected of being a police informant and was killed by Jimmy Burke.
15 Charles W. Morris, 77, American philosopher and semiotician, he was an instructor of philosophy for six years at Rice University (term 1926-1931) in Houston, Texas, Reisch, George A. “Morris, Charles William (1901-79)”. Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers Vol. 3. Ed. Shook. England. Thoemmes. 2005.viewing semiotics as a way to bridge philosophical outlooks, Morris grounded his sign theory in Mead's social behaviorism; in fact, Morris's interpretation of an interpretant, a term used in the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce, has been understood to be strictly psychological,Dewey, John. “Peirce's Theory of Linguistic Signs, Thought, and Meaning.” The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Feb. 14, 1946), pp.85-95. Morris's system of signs emphasizes the role of stimulus and response in the orientation, manipulation, and consummation phases of action, his mature semiotic theory is traced out in Signs, Language, and Behavior (1946).Morris, Charles W.: Signs, Language and Behavior. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1946. Reprinted, New York: George Braziller, 1955. Reprinted in Charles Morris, Writings on the General Theory of Signs (The Hague: Mouton, 1971), pp. 73–397.
16 Ted Cassidy, 46, American actor and former disc jockey and organ player,he portrayed both Lurch and Thing in the Gothic sitcom The Addams Family,he voiced Injun Joe in the fantasy television series The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he served as the narrator for the superhero television series The Incredible Hulk, and also provided the growls and roars for the eponymous character Hulk for the first two seasons,death due to complications from a heart surgery.
17 Peter Butterworth, 63, British actot and comedian, he portrayed the Meddling Monk in two First Doctor Doctor Who stories in 1965 and 1966, The Time Meddler and The Daleks' Master Plan, "Dr. Who: The Watcher" and "Dr. Who: Volcano", BBC Genome. Retrieved 8 August 2025he was a regular cast member in the film series Carry On,Ross, p. 33he died of a heart attack in his hotel room, shortly following his return from his last performance, in the evening's performance of a pantomime.
22 Ali Hassan Salameh, 37, Palestinian militant, Salameh served as the key bridge between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1970 until his death, after being recruited as a CIA asset by Robert Ames; the PLO, at the request of the United States, had undertaken steps to help ensure the security of the American Embassy and Salameh responded by posting a PLO guard unit there, he was assassinated by the Mossad, with his death being part of a retaliation campaign intended to assassinate individuals accused of being involved in the 1972 Munich massacre, Salameh was mortally injured by a car bomb.The detonation left Salameh conscious, but severely wounded and in great pain, having pieces of steel shrapnel embedded in his head and throughout his body. He was rushed to the American University of Beirut, where he died on the operating table.
24 Mabel Taliaferro, 91, American actress,formerly a child actress, Taliaferro began acting on stage at age 2,in 1911, her film career began with the Selig Studios in The Three of Us and the film version of Cinderella
25 Fred Aldrich, 74, American actorhe had guest star roles in several television series, including Gunsmoke. Dick Crockett, 63, American actor, stunt performer, and stunt coordinator, he portrayed an unnamed President of the United States in the crime comedy film The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976),with the character's appearance based on then-current U.S. president Gerald Ford, as Crockett bore a marked physical and vocal resemblance to Ford, Crockett reportedly died of a heart attack. According to Julie Andrews, in her memoir Home Work, Crockett actually died by suicide due to having been diagnosed with cancer, and he left behind a suicide note. Robertson Hare, 87, English actor,"Mr Robertson Hare", The Times, 16 November 1979, p. vihe rose to fame in the aftermath of World War I, by regularly performing supporting roles in the Aldwych farces,Trussler, p. 278his typical role in those farces was that of a "prissy little man" who is shocked and bewildered by distressing situations, Hare reportedly became one of the premier exponents of the English farce.Midwinter, Eric. "Hare, (John) Robertson (1891–1979)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2011, retrieved 12 February 2013
26 Nelson Rockefeller, 70, American politician and member of the Rockefeller family, he was considered the leader of the Rockefeller Republicans, a moderate to liberal political faction of the Republican Party (GOP),Reiter (1981)he served as the governor of New York from 1959 until 1973, he served as the vice president of the United States from 1974 until 1977,Rockefeller's time as vice president was marked by his strong support for the Vietnam War, a position that aligned him with the Military–industrial complex, even as public sentiment turned against the conflict, Rockefeller remained a proponent of continued U.S. military involvement; his unwavering stance on Vietnam reflected his broader connection to elite circles, which were exposed by the Pentagon Papers (1971),he died from complications of a heart attack.
27 Victoria Ocampo, 88, Argentine writer, publisher, and intellectual, she was the founder (1931) and publisher of the magazine Sur, the most important literary magazine of its time in Latin America,she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature twice, in 1970 and 1974.