List of Famous people who died at 61

Anthony Michael Bourdain was an American chef, book author, journalist, and travel documentarian who starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition. Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of a number of professional kitchens in his long career, which included many years spent as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan. He first became known for his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000).

William Paxton was an American actor, musician, director, producer and writer. He appeared in films such as Weird Science (1985), Near Dark (1987), True Lies (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996) and Titanic (1997). He also starred in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011), earning three Golden Globe Award nominations during the show's run. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for portraying Randall McCoy in the History channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012) and as Detective Frank Roarke in the CBS television series Training Day (2017). His final film appearance was in The Circle (2017), released two months after his death.

John Joseph Gotti Jr. was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He organized the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter, becoming boss of what has been described as America's most powerful crime syndicate.

Roderick George Toombs was a Canadian professional wrestler, amateur wrestler, and actor, better known by his ring name "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.

Miguel José Ferrer was an American actor. His breakthrough role was in the 1987 film RoboCop. Other film roles include Quigley in Blank Check (1994), Harbinger in Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993), Shan Yu in Mulan (1998), Eduardo Ruiz in Traffic (2000) and Vice President Rodriguez in Iron Man 3 (2013).

Susan Denise Atkins was an American convicted murderer who was a member of Charles Manson's "Family". Manson's followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969. Known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz or Sexy Sadie, Atkins was convicted for her participation in eight of these killings, including the most notorious, the Tate murders in 1969. She was sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment when the California Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences issued prior to 1972. Atkins was incarcerated until her death in 2009. At the time of her death, she was California's longest-serving female inmate, long since surpassed by her fellow murderous Manson family members Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel.

Gun-Marie Fredriksson was a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, pianist and painter, who was best known internationally as the lead vocalist of pop rock duo Roxette, which she formed in 1986 with Per Gessle. The duo achieved international success in the late-1980s and early-1990s with their albums Look Sharp! (1988) and Joyride (1991), and had multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number ones.

Joe Logan Diffie was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and 2004, Diffie charted 35 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, five of which peaked at number one: his debut release "Home", "If the Devil Danced ", "Third Rock from the Sun", "Pickup Man" and "Bigger Than the Beatles". In addition to these singles, he had 12 others reach the top 10 and ten more reach the top 40 on the same chart. He also co-wrote singles for Holly Dunn, Tim McGraw, and Jo Dee Messina, and recorded with Mary Chapin Carpenter, George Jones, and Marty Stuart.

Byron Daniel Bernstein, better known by his online alias Reckful, was an American Twitch streamer and professional Esports player. Bernstein was best known in the gaming community for his achievements in World of Warcraft and Asheron's Call.

María de los Ángeles de las Heras Ortiz, better known professionally as Rocío Dúrcal, was a Spanish singer and actress. Widely successful in Mexico, she earned the sobriquet of Reina de las Rancheras.

Raymond Colin Wilkins, was an English football player and coach.

Barbara Valentin was an Austrian actress. She worked in film, often with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Vera Vitalievna Glagoleva was a Soviet and Russian actress and film director.

Gwendolyn L. Ifill was an American journalist, television newscaster, and author. In 1999, she became the first African-American woman to host a nationally televised U.S. public affairs program with Washington Week in Review.

David Alexander Tweed was a Northern Irish politician and Irish rugby union international. He served as a Traditional Unionist Voice councillor on Ballymena Borough Council.

Liu Xiaobo was a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end communist one-party rule in China. He was incarcerated as a political prisoner in Jinzhou, Liaoning. On 26 June 2017, he was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with liver cancer, and subsequently died on 13 July 2017.

John Peterson Saunders was a Canadian-American sports journalist. He worked for ESPN and ABC from 1986 until his death in 2016.

Nandamuri Harikrishna was an Indian film actor, producer and politician who was the Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh. He was known for his works in Telugu cinema. Harikrishna was the fourth son of Telugu matinee idol, and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. T. Rama Rao. Harikrishna was the father of actors N. T. Rama Rao Jr., and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram.

María del Rocío Trinidad Mohedano Jurado, better known as Rocío Jurado, was a Spanish singer and actress. She was born in Chipiona (Cádiz) and nicknamed "La más grande".

Igor Yuriyevich Nikulin was a hammer thrower who represented the USSR, the Unified Team, and later Russia. He won the bronze medal at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.