The following is a list of notable deaths in December 1990.

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.

December 1990

1

• Sergio Corbucci, 63, Italian film director and screenwriter, heart attack.^[1]
• Simone Melchior Cousteau, 71, French aquanaut, cancer.^[2]
• Pierre Dux, 82, French actor.^[3]
• Robert Gordon, 77, American director and actor.^[4]
• Erich Hüttenhain, 85, German academic mathematician and cryptographer.
• Anton Kochinyan, 77, Soviet Armenian politician.
• Carla Lehmann, 73, Canadian actress.
• Vito Miceli, 74, Italian politician and general.
• David A. Morse, 83, American labor bureaucrat.^[5]
• Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, 90, Indian diplomat and politician.^[6]
• Octavio Beras Rojas, 84, Dominican Roman Catholic cardinal.

2

• Richard Benner, 46-47, American film director and screenwriter, AIDS.
• John Britton, 71, American baseball player.^[7]
• Marc Cerboni, 35, French Olympic fencer (1984).^[8]
• Aaron Copland, 90, American composer and conductor, Alzheimer's disease.^[9]
• Robert Cummings, 80, American actor, kidney failure and complications from pneumonia.^[10]
• Paul Hoffmann, 88, German actor.^[11]
• Edward Oldfield, 70, Australian politician.
• Paddy Smith, 96, American baseball player.^[12]
• Clint Thomas, 94, American baseball player.
• Georg Wildhagen, 70, German filmmaker.

3

• Tim Dlugos, 40, American poet, AIDS.^[13]
• Gerry Doyle, 79, Irish footballer.^[14]
• Rolf Hansen, 85, German film director.^[15]
• Heino Mandri, 68, Estonian film and stage actor.
• Ray Wagner, 88, American gridiron football player.^[16]

4

• Edward Binns, 74, American actor (12 Angry Men, North by Northwest, Judgment at Nuremberg), heart attack.^[17]
• Jack J. Catton, 70, American Air Force general.^[18]
• Charles B. MacDonald, 68, American army historian, cancer.
• Nelson Peterson, 77, American football player.^[19]
• Naoto Tajima, 78, Japanese athlete and Olympic champion.^[20]
• Kimio Yada, 77, Japanese Olympic track and field athlete (1936).^[21]

5

• Peter Blum, 65, South African poet.^[22]
• Robert Chesley, 47, American playwright, AIDS.^[23]
• Kai Curry-Lindahl, 73, Swedish zoologist.^[24]
• Lucy Dawidowicz, 75, American historian.^[25]
• Narayan Gopal, 51, Nepali singer, diabetes.
• Josef Jedlička, 63, Czechoslovak writer.^[26]
• Ott-Heinrich Keller, 84, German mathematician.
• Alfonso A. Ossorio, 74, Filipino-American artist.^[27]
• Jack Pleis, 73, American jazz musician.
• Howard Allen Schneiderman, 63, American entomologist.
• Steve Shaw, 25, American actor, traffic collision.

6

• Ed Bell, 69, American football player.^[28]
• Natan Brand, 46, Israeli classical pianist, lymphoma.^[29]
• Bob Hamilton, 74, American golfer.^[30]
• Bill Hardman, 57, American trumpeter, intracerebral hemorrhage.^[31]
• George Healis, 84, American Olympic rower (1928).^[32]
• Otto Hitzfeld, 92, German general.
• F. Jay Nimtz, 75, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1957–1959).
• Remi Prudhomme, 48, American football player.^[33]
• Polingaysi Qöyawayma, 98, American Hopi educator.
• Tunku Abdul Rahman, 87, Malaysian politician, prime minister (1957–1970). .^[34]
• Pavlos Sidiropoulos, 42, Greek rock singer, songwriter and guitarist, heroin overdose.^[35]

7

• Joan Bennett, 80, American actress, heart failure. .^[36]
• Horst Bienek, 60, German novelist, AIDS.^[37]
• Norman Bower, 83, British politician.
• Dee Clark, 52, American soul singer, heart attack.^[38]
• Jean Duceppe, 67, Stage and television actor from Montreal, Quebec.
• Reinaldo Arenas Fuentes, 47, Cuban novelist, playwright and poet, suicide.^[39]
• Pierre Henri Landry, 92, Russian-French tennis player.^[40]
• Luis Frangella, 46, Argentine-American artist, AIDS.^[41]
• Jean Paul Lemieux, 86, Canadian painter.^[42]
• Ralph McKinzie, 96, American sports coach.
• Peter Mieg, 84, Swiss composer.^[43]
• Oscar Millard, 82, English screenwriter.^[44]
• Rinaldo Ossola, 77, Italian politician.^[45]
• David Richmond, 49, American civil rights activist, lung cancer.
• Vilmos Énekes, 75, Hungarian boxer.

8

• John Alexander, 67, American opera singer, heart attack.^[46]
• Deane C. Davis, 90, American politician, governor of Vermont (1969–1973).^[47]
• Ed Edmondson, 71, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1953–1973).
• Tadeusz Kantor, 75, Polish painter and theatre director.^[48]
• Boris Kochno, 86, Russian dancer, librettist and poet, accidental fall.^[49]
• Lana Marconi, 73, Romanian-French actress.^[50]
• Forrest S. Petersen, 68, American pilot, brain cancer.
• Martin Ritt, 76, American film director (Hud, Norma Rae, Sounder), heart disease.^[51]
• William Atcheson Stewart, 75, Canadian politician.^[52]

9

• Ben Duijker, 87, Dutch Olympic cyclist (1928).^[53]
• Henry Hicks, 75, Canadian politician, traffic collision.^[54]
• Mike Mazurki, 82, American actor and professional wrestler.^[55]
• Nirala, 53, Pakistani comedian and actor.

10

• Yves Devernay, 53, French organist and composer, heart attack.^[56]
• Armand Hammer, 92, American industrialist and philanthropist, bone marrow cancer.^[57]
• Dorothea Kent, 74, American actress, breast cancer.
• Marino Morettini, 59, Italian Olympic cyclist (1952).^[58]
• Doyle Nave, 75, American football player.
• Bert Weeks, 73, Canadian politician.

11

• Arthur Kornhauser, 94, American industrial psychologist, stroke.^[59]
• Peter Millman, 84, Canadian astronomer.^[60]
• Robert Noble, 80, Canadian physician.
• David Turner, 63, British playwright.^[61]

12

• Giorgio Ghezzi, 60, Italian footballer, heart attack.^[62]
• Jack Harley, 79, British botanist.^[63]
• Concha Piquer, 83, Spanish actress and singer, heart attack.^[64]
• Ian Trethowan, 68, British journalist and broadcaster, ALS.^[65]

13

• Buddy Justus, 37, American convicted spree killer, execution by electric chair.
• Edwin Lester, 95, American theatre director.^[66]
• Marta Linden, 87, American actress.^[67]
• Alice Marble, 77, American tennis player and Grand Slam winner, pernicious anemia.^[68]
• Alfred Dennis Sieminski, 79, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1951–1959), heart attack.
• Jaroslav Volf, 57, Czechoslovak ice hockey player.^[69]
• Archie Ware, 72, American baseball player.^[70]

14

• Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 69, Swiss crime novelist, dramatist and satirist, heart failure.^[71]
• Nan Wood Graham, 91, American artist, model for American Gothic.^[72]
• Red Heron, 72, Canadian ice hockey player.^[73]
• Gunild Keetman, 86, German musicologist.^[74]
• Zhang Qun, 101, Taiwanese politician, premier (1947–1948).^[75]
• Francisco Gabilondo Soler, 83, Mexican composer.^[76]
• Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, 64, German businessman and noble, complications from heart surgery.^[77]
• Pietro Tordi, 84, Italian actor.

15

• Julio Gutiérrez, 72, Cuban musician.
• Mikayil Jabrayilov, 38, Soviet Azerbaijani soldier, killed in battle.
• Jean Paige, 95, American silent film actress.^[78]
• Ed Parker, 59, American martial artist, heart attack.^[79]
• Frederic Seebohm, Baron Seebohm, 81, British banker, traffic collision.^[80]
• Tamao Shiwaku, 84, Japanese Olympic runner (1936).^[81]
• Chen Zhifang, 83-84, Chinese diplomat.

16

• Marc Augier, 82, French far-right writer.^[82]
• Douglas Campbell, 94, American aviator and flying ace during World War I.^[83]
• Art Koeninger, 84, American football player.^[84]
• Jackie Mittoo, 42, Jamaican-Canadian musician, cancer.^[85]

17

• William Cobb, 72-73, American roller coaster designer.
• John Grover, 75, English cricket player.^[86]
• Frank Hutchison, 93, New Zealand cricket player.^[87]
• Eurialo De Michelis, 86, Italian writer.^[88]
• Ludwig Lachmann, 84, German economist.
• Guy Lafarge, 86, French composer of operettas and popular songs.^[89]

18

• Bernard Addison, 85, American guitarist.^[90]
• Arthur Roy Clapham, 86, British botanist.^[91]
• Charlie Gibson, 91, American baseball player.^[92]
• Geoffrey Giles, 67, Australian politician.
• Tadahiko Hayashi, 72, Japanese photographer, liver cancer.
• Orazio Orlando, 57, Italian actor, heart attack.^[93]
• Anne Revere, 87, American actress, pneumonia.^[94]
• Connie Russell, 67, American singer and actress (Red Hot Riding Hood).
• Greta Stevenson, 79, New Zealand mycologist.
• Paul Tortelier, 76, French cellist.^[95]
• Hazel Walker, 76, American amateur basketball player.

19

• Rubem Braga, 77, Brazilian writer.^[96]
• Edmond Delfour, 83, French footballer.^[97]
• Norbert Dufourcq, 86, French musicologist.^[98]
• Basil Henson, 72, English actor.^[99]
• Michael Oakeshott, 89, English philosopher.^[100]
• Count Oluf of Rosenborg, 67, Danish noble.
• Billy Tidwell, 60, American football player.^[101]

20

• Edward J. Bonin, 85, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1953–1955).
• Marc Chirik, 83, Russian-French communist revolutionary.^[102]
• Valeriu Călinoiu, 62, Romanian footballer.^[103]
• Andrea Dunbar, 29, English playwright, intracerebral hemorrhage.^[104]
• John Hewetson, 77, British newspaper editor.
• Lauro Mumar, 66, Filipino basketball player.^[105]
• Mahmudun Nabi, 54, Bangladeshi singer.
• Karl Rolvaag, 77, American politician and diplomat, governor of Minnesota (1963–1967).^[106]
• Gershom Schocken, 78, Israeli politician and journalist, liver cancer.^[107]
• Elmo Tanner, 86, American singer and whistler.

21

• Sigurd Anderson, 86, Norwegian-American politician, governor of South Dakota (1951–1955).^[108]
• Medard Boss, 87, Swiss psychiatrist.^[109]
• Yi Geon, 81, Korean prince and Imperial Japanese Army officer during World War II.
• Kelly Johnson, 80, American aeronautical engineer.^[110]
• Magda Julin, 96, Swedish figure skater, Olympic champion (1920).^[111]
• Ivan Knunyants, 84, Soviet chemist.
• Surendra Mohanty, 68, Indian author and politician.
• József von Platthy, 90, Hungarian Olympic equestrian (1936).
• Fred Washington, 23, American football player, traffic collision.^[112]

22

• Cecil Effinger, 76, American composer.^[113]
• Robin Friday, 38, English footballer, heart attack.^[114]
• Ward Hawkins, 77, American author.^[115]
• Ken Irvine, 50, Australian rugby player, leukemia.

23

• Pierre Chenal, 86, French filmmaker.^[116]
• Serge Danot, 59, French animator.^[117]
• József Darányi, 85, Hungarian Olympic shot putter (1928, 1932, 1936).^[118]
• Pierre Gripari, 65, French writer, complications from surgery.^[119]
• Richard Irving, 73, American actor, director and producer.^[120]
• Frank King, 64, Barbadian cricketer.
• Foy D. Kohler, 82, American diplomat.^[121]
• Herbert Salzman, 74, American businessman and Economics consultant.^[122]
• Wendell Scott, 69, American stock car racing driver, spinal cancer.^[123]
• Wilmar H. Shiras, 82, American science fiction author.

24

• Thorbjørn Egner, 78, Norwegian children's writer, playwright and songwriter, heart attack.^[124]
• Judith Ledeboer, 89, Dutch-English architect.
• Friedrich Luft, 79, German theatre critic.^[125]
• Rodolfo Orlandini, 85, Argentine footballer.^[126]
• Irvin Stewart, 91, American communications administrator.^[127]
• Gwyn Williams, 86, Welsh writer.

25

• John Stuart Anderson, 82, British-Australian chemist, cancer.
• Vladimir Belousov, 83, Soviet geologist.^[128]
• Aleksandr Luchinskiy, 90, Soviet general.
• Warwick Snedden, 70, New Zealand cricketer.^[129]
• Nicolaas Tates, 75, Dutch Olympic canoeist (1936).^[130]
• Dodo Watts, 79, British stage and film actress.

26

• Jack Beattie, 83, British-Canadian ice hockey player.^[131]
• Gene Callahan, 67, American set and production designer and art director, heart attack.^[132]
• George Elliott Hagan, 74, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1961–1973).
• Portland Hoffa, 85, American comedian, radio host, actress, and dancer.^[133]
• Eddie Kimball, 87, American football player.

27

• Abulfat Aliyev, 63, Soviet and Azerbaijani opera singer.
• Hendrika Gerritsen, 69, Dutch resistance member during World War II.
• Concha Michel, 91, Mexican singer-songwriter, political activist, and playwright,.
• Helene Stanley, 61, American actress.^[134]
• Harold Town, 66, Canadian painter.^[135]
• Chang Ucchin, 73, South Korean artist.^[136]

28

• Edward Brayshaw, 57, Australian actor, throat cancer.
• Ed van der Elsken, 65, Dutch photographer, prostate cancer.^[137]
• Dario Graffi, 85, Italian mathematical physicist.^[138]
• Seiji Hisamatsu, 78, Japanese film director.
• Gilbert W. Lindsay, 90, American politician.^[139]
• Kiel Martin, 46, American actor, lung cancer.^[140]
• Arne Petersen, 77, Danish Olympic cyclist (1936).^[141]
• Warren Skaaren, 44, American screenwriter and film producer, bone cancer.^[142]

29

• Giulio Bedeschi, 75, Italian writer and Army officer during World War II.^[143]
• Goree Carter, 59, American singer, guitarist, drummer, and songwriter.^[144]
• Mona Dol, 89, French actress.^[145]
• Aleardo Donati, 86, Italian wrestler.^[146]
• Sir David Piper, 72, British author and museum curator.^[147]
• Aulikki Rautawaara, 84, Finnish soprano.^[148]
• Frederick Wolters, 86, American field hockey player.^[149]

30

• Fergal Caraher, 20, Northern-Irish Provisional IRA volunteer, shot.
• Jill Cruwys, 47, English cricket player.^[150]
• Oliver Daniel, 79, American musicologist.^[151]
• Géza Füster, 80, Hungarian-Canadian chess player.
• Albert Mertz, 70, Danish painter.^[152]
• Raghuvir Sahay, 61, Indian writer.

31

• Elsie Allen, 91, American Pomo basket weaver.^[153]
• George Allen, 72, American football coach, ventricular fibrillation.
• Ed Gantner, 31, American professional wrestler, suicide by gunshot.
• Donald Kingaby, 70, English-American flying ace during World War II.
• Vasily Lazarev, 62, Soviet cosmonaut.
• Giovanni Michelucci, 99, Italian architect, urban planner and designer.^[154]
• Moni Singh, 89, Bangladeshi politician.
• Ernst von Siemens, 87, German business magnate.