List of Famous people who died in 1961

Gwen Lee was an American stage and film actress. Lee began her career as a model before being discovered and signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She was typically cast in supporting roles. Lee appeared in over sixty films before retiring in 1938.

David Cornelis Röell was a Dutch museum director

Carlos Coimbra da Luz was a Brazilian politician.

Arnstein Rynning Arneberg was a Norwegian architect. He was active professionally for 50 years and is often considered the leading architect in Norway of his time.

Maribel Yerxa Vinson-Owen was an American figure skater and coach. She competed in the disciplines of ladies' singles and pair skating. As a single skater, she was the 1932 Olympic bronze medalist, a two-time World medalist, the 1937 North American champion, and a nine-time U.S. national champion. As a pair skater, she was the 1935 North American champion and four-time national champion with George Hill. She also won two national titles with Thornton Coolidge. She was the first female sportswriter at The New York Times, and continued competing and winning medals while working as a full-time reporter.

Govind Ballabh Pant was an Indian freedom fighter and one of the architects of modern India. Alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabh Bhai Patel, Pant was a key figure in the movement for India's Independence and later a pivotal figure in the Indian Government. He was one of the foremost political leaders of Uttarakhand and a key player in the unsuccessful movement to establish Hindi as the national language of Indian Union.

Dorothy Celene Thompson was an American journalist and radio broadcaster. She was the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany in 1934 and was one of the few women news commentators on radio during the 1930s. Thompson is regarded by some as the "First Lady of American Journalism" and was recognized by Time magazine in 1939 as equal in influence to Eleanor Roosevelt.

Olaf Broch was a Norwegian linguist. He was born in Horten, and was a brother of children's writer Lagertha Broch, zoologist Hjalmar Broch, and social worker Nanna Broch. He was a professor of Slavic languages at the University of Oslo from 1900 to 1937. Among his works are Slawische Phonetik from 1911, Håndbok i elementær fonetikk from 1921, and Proletariatets diktatur from 1923. He translated works by Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky into Norwegian. He was decorated Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1946.