List of Famous people who died at 81

Vladimir Jankélévitch was a French philosopher and musicologist.

Carlos Raúl Contreras Guillén was a Chilean football defender who played for Chile in the 1962 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Club Universidad de Chile.

Oswalt Kolle was a German sex educator, who became famous during the late 1960s and early 1970s for his numerous pioneering books and films on human sexuality. His work was translated into all major languages, while his films found an audience of 140 million worldwide. In his 1997 book Open to Both Sides he came out as bisexual. He was awarded the Magnus Hirschfeld Medal in 2000.

Frank Thomas, born Franc Georges Fernand Combès, was a French songwriter. Over the course of his career, he wrote songs for Claude François, Sylvie Vartan, Michel Polnareff, Gilbert Bécaud, Joe Dassin and Gérard Berliner.

William Wylie MacPherson, known professionally as Bill Martin, was a Scottish songwriter, music publisher and impresario. His most successful songs, all written with Phil Coulter, included "Puppet on a String", "Congratulations", "Back Home", and "Saturday Night". He was presented with three Ivor Novello Awards, including one as Songwriter of the Year.

Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and dance. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century".

Walter Bonatti was an Italian mountain climber, explorer and journalist. He was noted for his many climbing achievements, including a solo climb of a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958 and in 1965 the first solo climb in winter of the North face of the Matterhorn on the mountain's centenary year of its first ascent. Immediately after his extraordinary solo climb on the Matterhorn Bonatti announced his retirement from professional climbing at the age of 35 and after 17 years of climbing activity. He authored many mountaineering books and spent the remainder of his career travelling off the beaten track as a reporter for the Italian magazine Epoca. He died on 13 September 2011 of pancreatic cancer in Rome aged 81, and was survived by his life partner, the actress Rossana Podestà.

Feliciano Muñoz Rivilla was a Spanish footballer who played as a right back.

Luís Cristóvão Dias de Aguiar, commonly known as Cristóvão de Aguiar, was a Portuguese writer.

Eugenio Bersellini was an Italian football player and manager.