List of Famous people who died in 1978

Russell Metty, A.S.C. was an American cinematographer who won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color, for the 1960 film Spartacus.

Winifred Westover was a Hollywood actress of the 1910s and 1920s.

Étienne Henri Gilson was a French philosopher and historian of philosophy. A scholar of medieval philosophy, he originally specialised in the thought of Descartes, yet also philosophized in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas, although he did not consider himself a Neo-Thomist philosopher. In 1946 he attained the distinction of being elected an "Immortal" (member) of the Académie française. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Jacques Eugène Duclaux was a French biologist and chemist.

Elizabeth "Betty" Hill was an American screenwriter and the third wife of King Vidor.

Jan Willem van Otterloo was a Dutch conductor, cellist and composer.