List of Famous people who died in 1961

Joseph Orbeli was a Soviet-Armenian orientalist and academician who specialized in medieval history of Transcaucasia and administered the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad from 1934 to 1951. Of Armenian descent, he was the founder and first president of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences (1943–47).

Herman Theobald Glass was an American gymnast who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

Sir Sidney George Holland was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation of the New Zealand National Party, which was to dominate New Zealand politics for much of the second half of the 20th century.

Oswald Rayner was a British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) agent in Russia during the First World War. He is believed by some to have been involved in the final murder plot against Grigori Rasputin, but "the archives of the British intelligence service (MI6) do not hold a single document linking Rayner, Hoare, or any other British agent or diplomat to the murder."

Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo Spanish pronunciation: [ka'riʎo], was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. He was best known for playing Pancho in the popular television series The Cisco Kid (1950–1956) and in several films.

François Charles-Roux was a French businessman, historian and diplomat. He was born in Marseille.

Louis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of Louis Ferdinand Auguste Destouches, a French novelist, polemicist and physician. His first novel Journey to the End of the Night (1932) won the Prix Renaudot but divided critics due to the author's pessimistic depiction of the human condition and his writing style based on working class speech. In subsequent novels such as Death on the Installment Plan (1936), Guignol's Band (1944) and Castle to Castle (1957) Céline further developed an innovative and distinctive literary style. Maurice Nadeau wrote: "What Joyce did for the English language…what the surrealists attempted to do for the French language, Céline achieved effortlessly and on a vast scale."

Sir Frederick Harold Stewart was an Australian businessman, politician and government minister. His continuing political commitment was to the establishment of a national insurance scheme and the shortening of working hours to improve social conditions during the Great Depression, despite the opposition of his own party.