List of Famous people who died in 1979

Robert Opel was an American photographer and art gallery owner most famous as the man who streaked during the 46th Academy Awards in 1974.

Ayhan Işık was one of the pioneers of Turkish cinema and actors in Turkey, and among the most famous Turkish leading actors in the 1950s and 1960s.

Clement Blair Peach was a New Zealand teacher who died after an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, Middlesex, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall against a National Front election meeting in the town hall and was hit on the head, probably by a member of the Special Patrol Group (SPG), a specialist unit within the Metropolitan Police Service. He died in hospital that night.

María Carmen de Icaza y de León, 8th Baroness of Claret was a Spanish journalist and novelist from 1935–60. She enjoyed success with her 1936 novel, Cristina Guzmán, which was subsequently adapted for the stage, television and cinema. By 1945, she was a best-selling writer in Spain. Her father was Mexican writer and diplomat Francisco A. de Icaza.

Renatus Heinrich Deltgen born 30 April 1909 in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; died 29 January 1979 in Cologne, West Germany) was a Luxembourgian stage and film actor, who spent most of his career in Germany.

Dolores Costello was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. She was nicknamed "The Goddess of the Silent Screen". She was married to actor John Barrymore, the mother of John Drew Barrymore, and the grandmother of Drew Barrymore.

William D. "Bill" Stewart was an American journalist with ABC News who was murdered by Nicaraguan government National Guard ("Guardia") forces while reporting on the Nicaraguan Revolution as Sandinista rebel forces were closing in on the capital city of Managua in 1979. Footage of his execution was repeatedly broadcast on network television, resulting in an uproar in the United States against the Somoza regime.

Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet was a French entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, administrator, and political visionary. An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered as one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

Thomas Anthony DeSimone was an Italian-American mobster associated with New York City's Lucchese crime family who is alleged to have participated in both the Air France robbery and the Lufthansa heist. He also committed numerous murders, including of made man William Bentvena in 1970. DeSimone went missing and was presumably murdered in 1979.

Sally Rand was an American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress, most noted for her ostrich feather fan dance and balloon bubble dance. She also performed under the name Billie Beck.