List of Famous people who died in 1978

Koga Masao was a Japanese composer, mandolinist, and guitarist of the Shōwa era who was dubbed "Japan's Irving Berlin" by Universal Press Syndicate. His melancholy style, based upon Nakayama Shimpei's yonanuki scale, was popularly known in Japan as "Koga melody" . He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure and the People's Honor Award for his contributions to Japanese music.

Alain Colas was a French sailor, the first to complete a solitary round-the-world race in a multihull. He met Éric Tabarly in Sydney in 1967, and bought Pen Duick IV from him in 1970, and won the "Transat" in 1972. In 1972, he started the construction of a 72m 4 masted monohull for the 1976 "Transat". He broke his right ankle, underwent 22 surgeries, and got back on his feet for the solitary transatlantic race. Éric Tabarly won, and Alain Colas arrived 2nd but was classed 5th. On 5 November 1978, he took part in his last race, the first Route du Rhum. On 16 November 1978, as he passed the Azores, he sent his last radio message saying that everything was alright and sailing well. Neither his boat Manureva nor his body were ever found.

Charles Herbert Best was an American-Canadian medical scientist and one of the co-discoverers of insulin.

Roman Lazarevich Karmen was a Soviet war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making.

Vasili Vasilyevich Merkuryev was a Soviet actor, stage director and drama teacher. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1960.

Barbara "Babe" Cushing Mortimer Paley was an American socialite and style icon, whose second husband was the founder of CBS, William S. Paley. She was known by the nickname "Babe" for most of her life. She was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1958.

Cyril Bristow (1899–1978) was a British cinematographer who worked on roughly thirty films during the 1930s and 1940s at a variety of British studios.

Felicia Montealegre Bernstein was a Chilean-American stage and television actress born in San Jose, Costa Rica. From 1951 until her death, she was married to the American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.

G. Sankara Kurup, better known as Mahakavi G, was an Indian poet, essayist and literary critic of Malayalam literature. Known as one of the greats of Malayalam poetry, he was the first recipient of the Jnanpith Award―the highest Indian literary honor. He served as a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 1968 to 1972 and received the Padma Bhushan, the third highest Indian civilian award, in 1967. He was also a recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award and Soviet Land Nehru Award.

Jorge Carrera Andrade was an Ecuadorian poet, historian, author, and diplomat during the 20th century. He was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1902. He died in 1978. During his life and after his death he has been recognized with Jorge Luis Borges, Vicente Huidobro, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz and Cesar Vallejo as one of the most important Latin American poets of the twentieth century.