The following is a list of notable deaths in April 1991.
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.
1
- Angus Cameron, 61, Scottish rugby player.
- Jon Eardley, 62, American trumpeter.
- Martha Graham, 96, American dancer and choreographer, pneumonia.[1]
- Frankie Gustine, 71, American baseball player.[2]
- Jaime Guzmán, 44, Chilean politician, shot.
- George Lee, 71, English footballer.[3]
- Eddie Miller, 79, American jazz musician, pneumonia.[4]
- Paulo Muwanga, 66, Ugandan politician, president (1980).[5]
- Bjarne Nerem, 67, Norwegian jazz musician.
- Detlev Karsten Rohwedder, 58, German politician, shot.
- Rina Zelyonaya, 89, Soviet actress, singer and comedian, cancer.
2
- Noel George Butlin, 69, Australian economic historian.
- Gisa Geert, 90, Austrian actress and choreographer.
- Ken Gunning, 76, American basketball player.[6]
- Cheng Shewo, 92, Chinese journalist, publisher, and educator.
- Robert Veyron-Lacroix, 68, French harpsichordist and pianist.[7]
3
- P. K. Balakrishnan, 66, Indian novelist.
- Fred Capossela, 88, American horse racing announcer, stroke.
- Charles Goren, 90, American bridge player.[8]
- Graham Greene, 86, English writer, leukemia.[9]
- John Mullen, 66, American Major League Baseball executive.
- Coral Lansbury, 61, Australian writer, bowel cancer.[10]
- Alan Stewart Orr, 80, British barrister.
- Jo Teunissen-Waalboer, 71, Dutch Olympic javelin thrower (1948).[11]
4
- Edmund Adamkiewicz, 70, German football player.
- Max Frisch, 79, Swiss playwright and novelist, colorectal cancer.[12]
- Louis Guglielmi, 75, French composer.[13]
- John Heinz, 52, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1971–1977) and Senate (since 1977), plane crash.[14]
- Graham Ingels, 75, American comic artist.
- Johnny Moore, 89, American baseball player.[15]
- The Thinker, 12, British thoroughbred racehorse, euthanized.
5
- Nona Balakian, 72, American literary critic and an editor.[16]
- Gerald Blake, 62, British television director.[17]
- Sonny Carter, 43, American astronaut, plane crash.
- William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle, 81, English-Australian politician, Governor-General of Australia (1961–1965).
- Eve Garnett, 91, English writer.
- Kōzō Masuda, 73, Japanese professional shogi player.
- Jiří Mucha, 76, Czechoslovak journalist, cancer.[18]
- John Tower, 65, American politician, member of the U.S. Senate (1961–1985), plane crash.[19]
- Renato Turi, 70, Italian actor and voice actor.
6
- Ed Craney, 86, American radio executive.[20]
- Dennis Cross, 66, American actor, cancer.
- Louis Joxe, 89, French politician.[21]
- Joaquín Nogueras Márquez, 84, Spanish Olympic equestrian (1948, 1952, 1956).[22]
- Bill Ponsford, 90, Australian cricketer.[23]
7
- Cora DuBois, 87, American anthropologist, pneumonia.[24]
- Henry Glover, 69, American songwriter, heart attack.[25]
- Véra Nabokov, 89, Soviet-Swiss translator.
- Ruth Page, 92, American ballerina.[26]
8
- Dink Carroll, 91, Canadian sports journalist.
- Pierre Grégoire, 83, Luxembourgish politician.
- Haim Hanani, 78, Polish-Israeli mathematician.[27]
- Max Janowski, 78-79, German-American composer.[28]
- Per "Dead" Ohlin, 22, Swedish black metal musician (Mayhem), suicide by gunshot.
- Paul Söllner, 79, German Olympic rower (1936).
- Kristian Osvald Viderø, 84, Faroese clergyman and translator.
- Tilo Freiherr von Berlepsch, 77, German actor.[29]
9
- Maurice Binder, 72, American film title designer (James Bond), lung cancer.[30]
- Norris Bowden, 64, Canadian figure skater.[31]
- Antoine Dignef, 80, Belgian cyclist.
- William Mims, 64, American actor, cardiac arrest.
- Forrest Towns, 77, American track and field athlete, heart attack.[32]
10
- Otto Berg, 84, Norwegian Olympic long jumper (1936).[33]
- Kevin Peter Hall, 35, American actor (Predator, Harry and the Hendersons, 227), AIDS.[34]
- Marian Kaiser, 58, Polish speedway rider.
- Natalie Schafer, 90, American actress (Gilligan's Island), liver cancer.[35]
- Paul Stader, 80, American actor and stuntman (The Towering Inferno, The Goonies, The Poseidon Adventure).
- Wu Yin, 81, Chinese actress.
11
- Chester Anderson, 58, American underground press poet and editor.[36]
- Fredson Bowers, 85, American bibliographer.[37]
- Walker Cooper, 76, American baseball player.[38]
- Doris de Jong, 89, Dutch Olympic fencer (1928, 1932).[39]
- Bruno Hoffmann, 77, German glass harpist.
- Mikine Kuwahara, 95, Japanese politician.
- Dick Manning, 78, Russian-American songwriter.[40]
- Bernard Taylor, Baron Taylor of Mansfield, 95, British politician.
12
- Gene Lillard, 77, American baseball player.[41]
- Tom Rosqui, 62, American actor (The Godfather Part II), cancer.[42]
- James Schuyler, 67, American poet, stroke.[43]
- Orville Vogel, 83, American scientist and wheat biologist, cancer.[44]
- Ivar Waller, 92, Swedish theoretical physicist.
13
- Bobby Boriello, 47, American mobster (Gambino crime family), shot.
- Serge David, 58, French racing cyclist.[45]
- Wilhelm Lanzky-Otto, 82, Danish horn player.[46]
- Kalevi Laurila, 53, Finnish Olympic skier (1964, 1968).[47]
- Leo Rodak, 77, American featherweight boxer.
14
- Dhalia, 66, Indonesian actress, cancer.
- Randolfo Pacciardi, 92, Italian politician.[48]
- Lionello Levi Sandri, 80, Italian politician.[49]
- Yosef Tekoah, 66, Polish-Israeli diplomat, heart attack.[50]
15
- Francisco Herrera Luque, 63, Venezuelan writer, psychiatrist and diplomat.
- Dante Milano, 91, Brazilian poet.[51]
- Teddy Petersen, 98, Danish violinist.
- Erich Zander, 86, German Olympic field hockey player (1928, 1936).[52]
16
- Qin Benli, 72, Chinese journalist, stomach cancer.[53]
- Patrick Bergin, 78, Irish politician and trade union official.
- Homer Bigart, 83, American journalist, cancer.[54]
- John V. Breakwell, 74, American control theorist.
- Bob Dill, 70, American ice hockey player.
- Roman Jasinski, 84, Polish ballet dancer.[55]
- David Lean, 83, English film director (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago, The Bridge on the River Kwai), Oscar winner (1958, 1963), esophageal cancer.[56]
- Rafton Pounder, 57, Northern Irish unionist politician.
17
- Giovanni Malagodi, 86, Italian politician.[57]
- Michael Long, 43, Australian actor, lung cancer.
- Les Mallon, 85, American baseball player.[58]
- Michael Pertwee, 74, English screenwriter.[59]
- Tadeusz Pietrzykowski, 74, Polish boxer and Holocaust survivor.
- Jack Yellen, 98, Polish-American lyricist ("Happy Days Are Here Again").[60]
18
- Ron Bottcher, 50, American opera singer, AIDS.[61]
- Gabriel Celaya, 80, Spanish poet.[62]
- Thomas Arthur Connolly, 91, American Roman Catholic prelate.[63]
- Martin Hannett, 42, English record producer, heart failure.
- John Morse Haydon, 71, American politician.[64]
- Austin Bradford Hill, 93, English epidemiologist.[65]
- Sheldon Jones, 69, American baseball player.[66]
- Menios Koutsogiorgas, 68-69, Greek politician.
- Barry Rogers, 55, American trombonist.[67]
19
- Dilara Aliyeva, 61, Soviet philologist and translator, traffic collision.
- Leon Foster, 77, Barbadian cricket player.[68]
- Judy Gunn, 76, British actress.
- Stanley Hawes, 86, British-Australian filmmaker.
- Louise Dickinson Rich, 87, American writer.[69]
20
- Hiroyuki Ebihara, 51, Japanese boxer.
- Seán Ó Faoláin, 91, Irish writer.[70]
- Anton Kotzig, 71, Czechoslovak-Canadian mathematician.
- Steve Marriott, 44, English musician (Small Faces, Humble Pie), house fire.[71]
- Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga, 76, Ugandan Roman Catholic cardinal.
- Don Siegel, 78, American film director (Dirty Harry, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Escape from Alcatraz), cancer.[72]
- Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, 74, Mongolian politician, bile duct cancer.[73]
- Bucky Walters, 82, American baseball player.[74]
21
- Richard Walker Bolling, 74, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1949–1983).[75]
- Willi Boskovsky, 81, Austrian violinist.[76]
- Li Choh-ming, 79, Chinese-American economist and educator.[77]
- Bernard Laidebeur, 48, French Olympic runner (1964).[78]
- Alexey Vodyagin, 66, Soviet footballer.
- Dick Weik, 63, American baseball player.[79]
22
- Jack Kid Berg, 81, English boxer.
- Andrew Boyle, 71, Scottish journalist and biographer.[80]
- Anne Howard, 66, American actress, cerebral hemorrhage.
- Karl Klasen, 81, German banker.[81]
- Mikheil Meskhi, 54, Georgian football player.
- Sylvio Pirillo, 74, Brazilian footballer.[82]
- Jason Richard Swallen, 87, American botanist.
- Feriha Tevfik, 80-81, Turkish actress, cerebral hemorrhage.
23
- Paul Brickhill, 74, Australian author (The Great Escape, The Dam Busters).[83]
- Arthur Derounian, 82,Turkish-American journalist, heart attack.[84]
- William Dozier, 83, American film and television producer (Batman, The Green Hornet, Rod Brown of the Rocket Rangers), stroke.[85]
- Lokman Hossain Fakir, 56, Bangladeshi musician.
- Johnny Thunders, 38, American musician, drug overdose.[86]
25
- Lamberto V. Avellana, 76, Filipino film director.
- Laz Barrera, 66, Cuban-American racehorse trainer.[90]
- Carl Brandt, 76, American composer.
- Michael Kühnen, 35, German neo-Nazi leader, AIDS.
- Theo Laseroms, 51, Dutch football player, heart attack.[91]
- Antônio de Castro Mayer, 86, Brazilian Roman Catholic prelate, respiratory failure.[92]
26
- Nate Andrews, 77, American baseball player.[93]
- Leo Arnaud, 86, French-American composer.
- Gordon Chalk, 77, Australian politician.
- Carmine Coppola, 80, American film composer (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders), Oscar winner (1975), stroke.[94]
- Marie-Thérèse d'Alverny, 88, French historian.[95]
- A. B. Guthrie Jr., 90, American author.[96]
- Lars Hall, 63, Swedish Olympic pentathlete (1952, 1956).[97]
- Richard Hatfield, 60, Canadian politician, brain cancer.
- Henry Lipson, 81, British physicist, heart attack.[98]
- Ezio Marano, 63, Italian actor.
- Emily McLaughlin, 62, American actress (General Hospital), cancer.[99]
- William Andrew Paton, 101, American accountancy scholar.[100]
- Walter Reder, 76, Austrian war criminal (Marzabotto massacre).[101]
- Thaddeus Anthony Shubsda, 66, American prelate of the Catholic Church.
27
- Georg Ehnes, 70, German politician.
- Alfred Eriksen, 72, Norwegian Olympic fencer (1948, 1952).[102]
- Pavlos Oikonomou-Gouras, 93, Greek diplomat.
- Robert Velter, 82, French cartoonist (Spirou & Fantasio).
- Elinor Remick Warren, 91, American composer.[103]
28
- Steve Broidy, 85, American film executive, heart attack.
- Ken Curtis, 74, American actor (Gunsmoke, The Searchers, Robin Hood) and singer, heart attack.[104]
- Jean Goujon, 77, French racing cyclist.[105]
- Albrecht Joseph, 89, German playwright, screenwriter and film editor.[106]
- Nicola Manzari, 82, Italian filmmaker.[107]
- Floyd McKissick, 69, American lawyer and civil rights activist, lung cancer.
- Tommy Paul, 82, American boxer.[108]
- Pushpavalli, 65, Indian actress, diabetes.
- Igal Roodenko, 74, American pacifist and civil rights activist.[109]
- Harry Sorensen, 77, American basketball player.
- Ollie Spencer, 60, American football player, heart attack.[110]
- Stan Turner, 64, English football player.
- Willy von Känel, 81, Swiss football player.
29
- Claude Gallimard, 77, French publisher.[111]
- Gonzaguinha, 45, Brazilian singer, traffic collision.
- Joyce Ballou Gregorian, 44, American writer and horse breeder, cancer.[112]
- Jackie Searl, 69, American actor.
30
- Simon Achikgyozyan, 52, Soviet Armenian soldier and war hero, killed in battle.
- André Badonnel, 92, French entomologist.[113]
- Ghislaine Dommanget, 90, French-Monegasque royal and actress, princess consort (1946–1949).[114]
- Tatul Krpeyan, 26, Soviet Armenian soldier and war hero, shot.
- Juozas Urbšys, 95, Lithuanian diplomat.[115]