List of Famous people who died in 1973

Jarno Karl Keimo Saarinen was a Finnish professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. In the early 1970s, he was considered one of the most promising and talented motorcycle racers of his era until he was killed during the 1973 Nations Grand Prix in Italy. Saarinen's death led to increased demands for better safety conditions for motorcycle racers competing in the world championships. He remains the only Finn to have won a motorcycle road racing world championship. Saarinen was inducted into the F.I.M. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2009.

Erwin Vollmer was a German painter and sculptor, specialising in landscape paintings and nude and animal sculptures in terracotta and bronze. He was the brother of art historian Hans Vollmer. His works are now a part of the collections of the Altonaer Museum and the Pomeranian State Museum, among others.

William Charles Franklyn Plomer was a South African and British author, known as a novelist, poet and literary editor. He also wrote a series of librettos for Benjamin Britten. He wrote some of his poetry under the pseudonym Robert Pagan.

Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas for modern times, and was influential in the development and drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Pope Paul VI presented his "Message to Men of Thought and of Science" at the close of Vatican II to Maritain, his long-time friend and mentor. The same pope had seriously considered making him a lay cardinal, but Maritain rejected it. Maritain's interest and works spanned many aspects of philosophy, including aesthetics, political theory, philosophy of science, metaphysics, the nature of education, liturgy and ecclesiology.

Eileen Percy was an Irish-born American actress of the silent era. She appeared in 68 films between 1917 and 1933.