List of Famous people who died in 1979

Elven Webb was a British art director. He won an Academy Award and was nominated for another in the category Best Art Direction.

George Seaton was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director.

John Barry was a British film production designer, known for his work on Star Wars, for which he received the Academy Award for Best Art Direction.

James Thomas Farrell was an American novelist, short-story writer and poet.

William Dennis Gargan was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Joe in They Knew What They Wanted. He acted in decades of movies including parts in Follow the Leader, Rain, Night Flight, Three Sons, Isle of Destiny and many others. The role he was best known for was that of a private detective Martin Kane in the 1949–1952 radio-television series Martin Kane, Private Eye. In television, he was also in 39 episodes of The New Adventures of Martin Kane.

Pier Luigi Nervi was an Italian engineer and architect. He studied at the University of Bologna graduating in 1913. Nervi taught as a professor of engineering at Rome University from 1946 to 1961 and is known worldwide as a structural engineer and architect and for his innovative use of reinforced concrete.

Lowell Thomas George was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who was the primary guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the rock band Little Feat.