List of Famous people who died at 77

Adamou Ndam Njoya was a Cameroonian politician, lawyer, author, and professor. He was Minister of National Education from 1977 to 1980, and the President of the Cameroon Democratic Union, an opposition party, at the time of his death on 7 March 2020. He had just been replaced as Mayor of Foumban by his wife Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, a position he has held since 1996, and from 1997 to 2007 he was a Deputy in the National Assembly. He unsuccessfully ran as a presidential candidate in the 1992, 2004, 2011 and 2018 elections.

Isobel Varley was a Guinness World Records-recognized tattooed senior, from Yorkshire, United Kingdom. She was first named "The World's Most-Tattooed Senior Woman" in 2000.

John Thomas Straffen was an English serial killer who was the longest-serving prisoner in British history. After killing two young girls in the summer of 1951, he was found to be unfit to plead and committed to Broadmoor Hospital; during a brief escape in 1952, he killed again. This time, Straffen was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Reprieved because of his mental state, he had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, and he remained in prison until his death more than 55 years later.

K. Surendranatha Thilakan was a veteran Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Known for his realistic and spontaneous appearances, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian Cinema of all time. He has won 3 National Film Awards and 11 Kerala State Film Awards. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2009 for his contributions towards the arts. He died on 24 September 2012 at the age of 77. He holds the record of receiving Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actor the highest number of times, till date.

Reginald St John Beardsworth Battersby was, at the age of 15, the youngest known commissioned officer of the British Army of the First World War. He enlisted in the Manchester Regiment at the age of 14 and was promoted to lance corporal within a week. When his father realised what Battersby had done, he intervened and had him commissioned as an officer in the East Lancashire Regiment. Battersby was wounded in action leading a platoon over the top on the first day of the Somme but returned to duty to fight in the 1917 Operations on the Ancre. It was here that he was struck by shrapnel from a German shell, resulting in the amputation of his left leg. Battersby was asked to resign his commission owing to disability but insisted he could still be of use to the army if fitted with a prosthetic leg and successfully returned to duty with a Royal Engineers transport unit. After the war he studied theology and became a vicar at Chittoe, Wiltshire. During the Second World War he organised the local Home Guard unit and between 1943 and 1945 served as a chaplain to the Royal Marines at Chatham Dockyard.

Leonard Francis Penn was an American actor and director and the father of musician Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn.

Irene Craigmile Bolam was a New York City banker and resident of Monroe Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. In 1970, a book that was soon widely discredited set forth an allegation that she was Amelia Earhart. Bolam denied the claim and took legal action against the publisher, resulting in the book being withdrawn.

Vitaly Shlykov was a spymaster in the GRU, Russian deputy minister of defence and founder of the influential Council for Foreign and Defence Policy.

Claus Ludvig Juell was a Norwegian sailor who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Alfred Zech, also known as Alfred Czech, was a German child soldier who received the Iron Cross, 2nd Class at the age of 12 years.