List of Famous people who died in 1976

Zhu De was a Chinese general, warlord, politician, revolutionary of the Chinese Communist Party. Born poor in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at age nine. His wealthy uncle provided him a superior early education that led to his admission into a military academy. After the academy, he joined a rebel army and soon became a warlord. It was after this period that he adopted communism. He ascended through the ranks of the Chinese Red Army as it closed in on securing the nation. By the time China was under Mao's control, Zhu was a high-ranking official within the Chinese Communist Party. He served as commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1955 he became one of the ten marshals of the People's Liberation Army, of which he is regarded as one of the principal founders. Zhu remained a prominent political figure until his death in 1976. As the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 1975 to 1976, Zhu was the head of state of the People's Republic of China.

Emma Minna Hilde Hildebrand was a German actress born in Hanover, Germany on 10 September 1897. She died at the age of 78 in Grunewald, Berlin, on 27 May 1976.

Vasily Vitalyevich Shulgin was a Russian conservative monarchist, politician and member of the White movement.

Friedrich Hollaender was a German film composer and author.

Fritz Lenz was a German geneticist, member of the Nazi Party, and influential specialist in eugenics in Nazi Germany.

Alexandros Panagoulis was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels (1967–1974) in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture to which he was subjected during his detention. After the restoration of democracy, he was elected to the Greek parliament as a member of the Centre Union (E.K.).

Carlos Fonseca Amador was a Nicaraguan politician, teacher and librarian who founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Fonseca was later killed in the mountains of Nicaragua, three years before the FSLN took power.

Georg August Zinn was a German lawyer and a politician of the SPD. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1951 representing Kassel, the 2nd Minister-President of Hesse from 1950 to 1969 and served as the 5th and 16th President of the Bundesrat in 1953/54 and 1964/65. Zinn was two times married. His second wife was Dr. Christa Zinn (1927-2002). Three sons are still living, Karl Georg Zinn, Dr. Georg-Christian Zinn and Dr. Philip-André Zinn.

Wilfried Bonifatius "Boni" Böse was a founding member of the German organization Revolutionary Cells that was described in the early 1980s as one of Germany's most dangerous leftist terrorist groups by the West German Interior Ministry. He carried out attacks in Germany and in 1976 was involved in the hijacking of Air France Flight 139, that led to his death in Entebbe, Uganda during the Israeli operation to free the hostages.

Elmyr de Hory was a Hungarian-born painter and art forger, who is said to have sold over a thousand art forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world. His forgeries garnered celebrity from a Clifford Irving book, Fake (1969); a documentary essay film by Orson Welles, F for Fake (1974); and a biography by Mark Forgy, The Forger's Apprentice: Life with the World's Most Notorious Artist (2012).