List of Famous people who died at 61

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.