List of Famous people who died at 61

Martin Stokken was a Norwegian cross-country skier who competed at the 1948 and 1952 Summer and 1952 and 1956 Winter Olympics. At the Summer Olympics he ran 5000 m and 10,000 m, finishing fourth in the latter event in 1948. At the Winter Games he won a silver medal in the 4 × 10 km relay in 1952, placing fourth in 1956. His best individual result was six place in the 18 km in 1952 and in 15 km in 1956. At the world skiing championships Stokken won a bronze medal in the 4 × 10 km relay event in 1950 and placed fourth over 50 km in 1954. In 1954 he also won the 50 km race at the Holmenkollen ski festival and won the Holmenkollen medal. Earlier in 1949 he was awarded the Egebergs Ærespris.

Françoise Demulder was a French war photographer who in 1976 became the first woman to win the World Press Photo of the Year award. The winning image was a black and white photo of a Palestinian woman raising her hands at a masked militiaman in Beirut's war-ravaged La Quarantaine district.

Bille Brown AM born as William Gerald Brown was an Australian stage, film and television actor and acclaimed playwright.

Jerry Gray was an American violinist, arranger, composer, and leader of swing dance orchestras bearing his name. He is widely known for his work with popular music during the Swing era. His name is inextricably linked to two of the most famous bandleaders of the time, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller. Gray, along with Bill Finegan, wrote many of Miller's arrangements during the late 1930s and early 1940s. In the latter part of Gray's career, his orchestra served as the house band at the Venetian Room of the Fairmont Hotel, Dallas.

David Feintuch was a science fiction and fantasy author and attorney.

Ronald "Ronnie" Kray and Reginald "Reggie" Kray, twin brothers, were British criminals, the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the East End of London from the late 1950s to 1967. With their gang, known as the Firm, the Krays were involved in murder, armed robbery, arson, protection rackets and assaults.

Harmon Clifford Jones was a Canadian-born film editor and director who worked for many years at the 20th Century-Fox studio in Southern California. He is credited as the editor for about 20 feature films through 1950. In the middle of his career, he became a film and television director. Between 1951 and 1969, he directed about fifteen feature films as well as dozens of episodes of popular television series of the 1950s and 1960s.