List of Famous people who died in 1972

Violette Leduc was a French author.

Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta was a Mexican businessman who built an entertainment conglomerate.

Günther Simon was an East German actor.

James Francis Byrnes was an American judge and politician from the state of South Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrnes served in Congress, the executive branch, and on the United States Supreme Court. He was also the 104th Governor of South Carolina, making him one of the very few politicians to have served in the highest levels of all three branches of the American federal government while also being active in state government.

Asta Sofie Amalie Nielsen was a Danish silent film actress who was one of the most popular leading ladies of the 1910s and one of the first international movie stars. Seventy of Nielsen's 74 films were made in Germany where she was known simply as Die Asta.

Sir George Alan Thomas, 7th Baronet was a British badminton, tennis and chess player. He was twice British Chess Champion and a 21-time All-England Badminton champion. He also reached the quarterfinals of the singles and the semifinals of the men's tennis doubles at Wimbledon in 1911. Badminton's world men's team championships cup, equivalent to tennis' Davis Cup, is named Thomas Cup after him. Thomas lived most of his life in London and Godalming. He never married, so the hereditary Thomas baronetcy ended on his death.

Helmuth Schneider was a German actor.

Alexander Valentinovich Vampilov was a Soviet playwright. His play The Elder Son was first performed in 1969, and became a national success two years later. Many of his plays have been filmed or televised in Russia. His four full-length plays were translated into English and Duck Hunting was performed in London and Washington DC.

Olímpio Mourão Filho was a Brazilian general who actively participated in the integralist movement and in the 1964 coup d'état. He was the editor of the Cohen plan, a document falsely attributed to international communism, which was used as justification for the instatement of the Estado Novo regime of Getúlio Vargas. On 31 March 1964 he ordered the troops of the 4th infantry division under his command in Juiz de Fora to march on the city of Rio de Janeiro, an action that precipitated the military coup a few days before the date planned by the conspirators. Between 1967 and 1969 he was president of the Supreme Military Tribunal.

Jan Wils was a Dutch architect. He was born in Alkmaar and died in Voorburg.