List of Famous people who died at 81

Arseny Alexandrovich Tarkovsky was a prominent Soviet poet and translator. He is considered one of the great twentieth century Russian poets. He was predeceased by his son, film director Andrei Tarkovsky.

Lars Anders Fredrik "Lasse" Mårtenson was a Finnish singer, composer, actor, and theater conductor.

Arun Kumar Ahuja, popularly known as Aroon, was an Indian film actor and producer who was active in Hindi language film industry in the 1940s and early 1950s appearing in over 30 films. He was best known for acting in Mehboob Khan's 1940 film Aurat which was the predecessor of the Oscar nominated 1957 remake Mother India.

John Hubert de la Poer Beresford, 8th Marquess of Waterford was an Irish peer. He succeeded to the marquessate in 1934. He was educated at Eton, and later served as a lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards' Supplementary Reserve.