List of Famous people who died in 1981

Henry William "Harry" Lee was a professional English cricketer who played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and Middlesex County Cricket Club between 1911 and 1934. He made one Test appearance for England, in 1931. An all-rounder, Lee was a right-handed batsman and bowled both off break and slow-medium pace bowling with his right arm. He scored 1,000 runs in a season on thirteen occasions. Part of the County Championship winning sides in 1920 and 1921, Lee aggregated 20,158 runs and took 401 wickets in first-class cricket.

Rudolf Prack was an Austrian film actor.

Wanda Hendrix was an American film and television actress.

Keshav Dev Malaviya was a leader of Indian National Congress and a union minister of India. He was a member of Lok Sabha from Domariyaganj, Uttar Pradesh. He received his degree in oil technology from HBTI Kanpur. He served as a Minister of Petroleum in the 1970s in the Congress government. He is also known as the Father of the Indian Petroleum Industry.

Clarence Nichols Hickman was a physicist who worked on rockets with Robert Goddard. He is known for developing the bazooka man-portable recoilless antitank rocket launcher weapon, and the American Piano Company Model B player piano. He is also known as the "Father of Scientific Archery".

Günter Stempel was a German politician (LDPD). He was involved in the formation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), despite which he was a victim of political repression in both the GDR and the USSR.

Junzaburō Ban was a Japanese comedian and actor. His real name was Hirosada Suzuki .

Kenneth A. Carey was an American sailor who competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics.

Jaime Roldós Aguilera was 33rd President of Ecuador from August 10, 1979 until his death on May 24, 1981. In his short tenure, he became known for his firm stance on human rights.

José María Pemán y Pemartín was a Spanish journalist, poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, and monarchist intellectual.