List of Famous people who died in 1979

Larisa Efimovna Shepitko was a Soviet film director, screenwriter and actress. Larisa Shepitko is considered one of the best female directors of all times, and her film The Ascent was the second film directed by a woman to win Golden Bear, and the second film directed by a woman to win a top award at a major European film festival.

Sonia Delaunay was a French artist, who spent most of her working life in Paris. She formally trained in Russia and Germany before moving to France and expanding her practice to include textile, fashion, and set design. She co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes, with her husband Robert Delaunay and others. She was the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre in 1964, and in 1975 was named an officer of the French Legion of Honor.

María Felicidad González was a Paraguayan academic and feminist activist. She is considered a leading figure in the early history of Paraguayan feminism.

Raymond Ventura was a French jazz pianist and bandleader. He helped popularize jazz in France in the 1930s. His nephew was singer Sacha Distel.

Friedrich "Fritz" Ebert Jr. was a German politician and East German communist official, the son of Germany's first president Friedrich Ebert.

Laurie Bird was an American film actress and photographer. She appeared in three films during the 1970s. Two of them were directed by Monte Hellman. She was romantically involved with Hellman and Art Garfunkel, committing suicide in the latter's apartment by taking an overdose of Valium. Bird inspired one of Tim Kinsella's novels.

Metin Yüksel, was an Islamist political and social activist from Turkey. One of the main leaders of Turkey's political Islam movement during the 1970s, he also led the Akıncılar Organization, an Islamist political organization.

İhsan Sabancı (1931–1979) was a Turkish businessman and a second-generation member of the renowned Sabancı family.

Arno Schmidt was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although he is not one of the popular favourites within Germany, critics and writers often consider him to be one of the most important German-language writers of the 20th century.

Hannelore Schmatz was a German mountaineer who was the fourth woman to summit Mount Everest. She collapsed and died as she was returning from summiting Everest via the southern route; Schmatz was the first woman and first German citizen to die on the upper slopes of Everest.