The following is a list of notable deaths in June 1981.
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.
June 1981 1 Muhammed Abul Manzur, 41, Bangladeshi military officer, he commanded the Bangladesh Forces operations in Sector 8 during the Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan in 1971, he was allegedly involved in the assassination of Ziaur Rahman in late May 1981. Following Rahman's death, Muhammed Abul Manzur led a failed coup d'état. Manzur soon lost the support of his own troops. Manzur was reported to have been killed by angry soldiers. Other reports say that he was killed in Chittagong Cantonment by an army officer sent from Dhaka. Carl Vinson, 97, American politician, he represented Georgia in the United States House of Representatives from 1914 until 1965, he was repeatedly re-elected by Democratic voters for this seat, Vinson's first term in Congress was characterized by his support for racial segregation, he sponsored bills to establish separate street cars and apartments for Black Americans in the District of Columbia, to ban interracial marriage in the District, and to repeal the Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
2 Rino Gaetano, 30, Italian singer-songwriter, primarily known for his satirical songs and incisive political commentary, left comatose following a head-on collision of his car with a truck, Morte Rino Gaetano, ANSA.ithe died in part because several hospitals refused to admit his as a patientBruno Mautone, Chi ha ucciso Rino Gaetano? Il coraggio di raccontare: un'indagine tra massoneria, servizi segreti e poteri economici, Revoluzione o, 2016, ISBN 978-88-9976-001-4. due to a lack of available beds.Massimo Cotto, 2004, p. 81. Years following Gaetano's death, a criminal lawyer publicized a theory that Gaetano's death was a deliberate murder orchestrated by the Italian secret services, and pointed out that Gaetano's friend and political informant Enrico Carnevali died in a similar convenient "accident"Bruno Mautone: "Rino Gaetano. Segreti e misteri della sua morte. L'ombra dei servizi segreti dietro la morte di Pasolini, Pecorelli e Gaetano", Uno Editori, 2020, . (In Italian)
3 Carleton S. Coon, 76, American anthropologist, cryptozoologist, and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, he was a proponent of the existence of bipedal cryptids, including Sasquatch and Yeti, his 1954 book The Story of Man included a chapter on "Giant Apes and Snowmen" and a figure showing the purported footprints of an "Abominable Snowman" alongside those of extinct hominids, and near the end of his life he wrote a paper on "Why There Has to Be a Sasquatch".Coon believed that cryptid "Wild Men" were relict populations of Pleistocene apes and that, if their existence could be proved scientifically, they would lend support to his theory of the separate origins of human races.
5 Miguel Contreras Torres, 81, Mexican actor, screenwriter, film producer, and director, he and his wife were the co-owners of the Gutenberg Castle in Balzers from 1951 until 1979.
7 Ronnie Duke, 49, English musician, dancer and comedian, part of the cabaret duo Dukes and Lee with his wife, heart attack while performing on stage
9 Russell Hayden, 68, American actor,he portrayed Lucky Jenkins in the film series Hopalong Cassidy Allen Ludden, 63, American television personality, actor, singer, emcee, and game show host, he was appointed as the new program coordinator for all CBS owned-and-operated radio stations in June 1959, he hosted both the daytime and prime time versions of the game show Password on CBS and ABC between 1961 and 1975, stomach cancerDaily Variety; October 9, 1980; Page 19
10 Jenny Maxwell, 39, American actress, primarily remembered for her role as the flirtatious schoolgirl Ellie Corbett in the Elvis Presley musical film Blue Hawaii (1961), shot and killed in the lobby of her own condo in what was initially reported as a botched robbery. Her estranged husband was also killed in the same incident. Tom Lisanti's book Drive-In Dream Girls According to a 2021 book on her murder, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) concluded that since no property was taken from either of the two victims, the shooting was probably instead a botched hitman attack on Maxwell, orchestrated by her husband over the pending divorce finances. Her husband was a defense attorney with reputed Mafia underworld criminal connections.Buddy Moorehouse's book Murder of an Elvis Girl: Solving the Jenny Maxwell Case Phelps Phelps, 84, German-born American politician and diplomat, he served as a member of the New York State Assembly (terms 1924–1928, 1937-1938), a member of the New York Senate (term 1939–1942), and the governor of American Samoa (term 1951-1952)Johnston, Laurie. "Phelps Phelps, 84 Ambassador And Albany Legislator", The New York Times, June 12, 1981. Accessed March 31, 2025. "Phelps Phelps, a former New York State Senator and Assemblyman who later served as Governor of American Samoa and Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, died Wednesday in Wildwood, N.J., at the age of 84. A lawyer and had lived in Wildwood for six years and nine years before that in Jersey City."
11 Eppo Doeve, 73, Dutch painter and cartoonist, he drew two newspaper comics, Mannetje Bagatel (1946) and Kleine Isar, de Vierde Koning (1962), both with text by the novelist Bertus Aafjes. Doeve was additionally active in advertising illustration.
12 Mahmoud Fawzi, 80, Egyptian diplomat and politician,he served as the prime minister of Egypt from 1970 until 1972,and as the Vice President of Egypt from 1972 until 1974 Evalyn Knapp, 74, American actress, she was selected as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars in 1932,she achieved success in cliffhanger serials and played the title character in the serial The Perils of Pauline (1933), "Hollywood in Review." New York Times. August 20, 1933.heart disease
13 George Walsh, 92, American actor, horse trainer, and horse breeder, George trained his brother Raoul's stable of Thoroughbred racehorses, their horse Sunset Trail competed in the 1937 Kentucky Derby, and finished sixteenth in a field of twenty runners, pneumonia
16 Hal Block, 67, American comedy writer, comedian, producer, songwriter, and television personality, he started his career as a comedy writer in 1935, when he was hired to write comedy material for the then-new comedy duo of Abbott and Costello, he went on to establish his reputation by writing for many of the top comedians in radio, including Bob Hope, Burns and Allen, Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Milton Berle, death due to fire-related injuries, following a fire in his Chicago apartment in late April. He had been hospitalized for months at the time of his death Thomas Playford IV, 84, Australian politician, he was a member of the politically prominent Playford family, he served as the Premier of South Australia from 1938 until 1965, he had the longest tenure in office for a state or territory leader in Australian history; remaining in power for almost 27 years,Cockburn, pp. 79–80.his economic policies favored industrialization and economic growth, when Playford left office in 1965, South Australia's population had doubled from 600,000 in the late 1930s to 1.1 million, the highest proportionate rate among the states; the state'seconomy had done likewise, and personal wealth had increased at the same rate, second only to Victoria,Crocker, p. 38. during Playford's 27 years in power, employment in manufacturing in South Australia had increased by 173%; Western Australia was in second place with 155% growth, while the national average was during the period was 129%, Rich, pp. 94–95.heart attack. Playford had received medical treatment for heart disease since his first heart attack in June 1971Cockburn, pp. 350–352.
17 Richard O'Connor, 91, Indian-born British general from Kashmir, veteran of both world wars, Papers of General Sir Richard O'Connor.he led the VIII Corps during its operations in Operation Overlord (1944) and Operation Jupiter (1944)
18 Richard Goolden, 86, British actor,"Mr Richard Goolden", The Times, 20 June 1981, p. 14primarily remembered for his perennial role of Mole in A. A. Milne's play Toad of Toad Hall (1929), which was an adaptation on Kenneth Grahame's children's novel The Wind in the Willows (1908), ""Goolden, Richard Percy Herbert", Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 21 February 2013 Goolden first played Mole in 1930.Gaye, pp. 658–660 In his later years he was so closely associated with the part that many assumed he had created it.Lewsen, Charles. "The classic Mr Mole takes over." The Times, 6 December 1975, p. 9 He played the part of the Mole in revivals from the 1930s until the end of the 1970s. Among those with whom he appeared in the play were Wendy Toye,"Lyric Theatre." The Times, 18 December 1930, p. 12 Leslie Henson,"Toad Of Toad Hall", The Times, 12 November 1969, p. 14 Michael Blakemore,"Eccentric And Fastidious Toad", The Times, 24 December 1963, p. 9 Ian Wallace,"Too Amiable For Toad." The Times, 23 December 1964, p. 11 Michael Bates,"Delights of 'Toad'", The Times, 24 December 1968, p. 5 and Nicky Henson, the Variety Club of Great Britain gave Goolden a special award in 1976 for his appearances as Mole."Penelope Keith named as top personality." The Times, 9 February 1977, p. 5 Pamela Hansford Johnson, 69, English poet, novelist, playwright, literary and social critic.Pamela Hansford Johnson British novelist
19 Anya Phillips, 26, Taiwanese fashion designer and photojournalist, she arrived in Manhattan during the burgeoning downtown punk scene and worked as a photojournalist for the New York Rocker and the Punk magazine, she had a dominatrix act at CBGB with Terence Sellers, Moore and Coley, p. 62–69not knowing how to sew, she designed dresses by tying together strips of cloth,Reynolds p. 137the singer Debbie Harry wore a dress made by Phillips on the Blondie album Plastic Letters (1978), and her 1983 single "Rush Rush", brain cancer Lotte Reiniger, 82, German film director and animator, she was the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation, she learned the art of scherenschnitte, the German art of silhouette, which was in turn inspired by the ancient Chinese art of paper cutting and silhouette puppetry, Reiniger's animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) was based on One Thousand and One Nights and is believed to be the oldest surviving feature-length animated film, debuting over a decade prior to Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
21 Don Figlozzi, 72, American animator and cartoonist,Donald Figlozzi (1909 - 1981) Genealogy - Family Tree and History, Ancient Faces he was a veteran of the Fleischer Studios and a member of the National Cartoonists Society, he spent the first half of his career in animation and the second half at the New York Daily News, where his cartoons, signed "Fig," became a fixture. The historian Harvey Deneroff of the Savannah College of Art and Design suggests that Figlozzi may have created the first animations to be used on television.Interview with Don Figlozzi, by Harvey Deneroff, Sunday, June 10, 1972. Museum of the Moving Image Oral History Project. Christos Negas, 44-45, Greek actor, heart attack while swimming, entry.
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