List of Famous people who died in 1981

Herbert Müller Rebmann was a racing driver from Switzerland. He was born in Reinach and was nicknamed Stumpen-Herbie. Among other successes, he won the Targa Florio twice, in 1966 and 1973, both with Porsche.

Gyula Lóránt, born as Gyula Lipovics, was a Hungarian footballer and manager of Croatian descent. He played as a defender and midfielder for, among others, UTA Arad, Vasas SC, Honvéd and Hungary.

Éva Földes was a Hungarian author and Olympic bronze medalist. She was born in Szombathely and died in Balatonalmádi. During the London 1948 Summer Olympics, she competed in the 'epic works' category producing "Der Jugendquell", which won her a bronze medal.

William Wyler was a Swiss-German American film director and producer. Notable works include Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959), all of which won him the Academy Awards for Best Director, and Best Picture, making him the only director of three Best Picture winners. Wyler received his first Oscar nomination for directing Dodsworth in 1936, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor, "sparking a 20-year run of almost unbroken greatness."

Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and the de facto head of Panama from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, but instead held titles including "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution". Torrijos took power in a coup d'état and instituted a number of social reforms.

András (Andreas) Ede Zsigmond Alföldi was a Hungarian historian, art historian, epigraphist, numismatist and archaeologist, specializing in the Late Antique period. He was one of the most productive 20th-century scholars of the ancient world and is considered one of the leading researchers of his time. Although some of his research results are controversial, his work in several areas is viewed as groundbreaking.

Anatoly Guseinovich Nagiyev, nicknamed The Mad One, was a Soviet serial killer, mass murderer and rapist who killed at least 6 women with severe cruelty between 1979 and 1980. He also raped at least 30 women over the same period of time and pursued famous Soviet singer Alla Pugacheva in attempt to kill her.

Kunio Maruyama was a Japanese businessman, adventurer, and college professor of English and economics. He was one of the three Japanese men who were secretly sent from Hsinking's Japanese Society, that led to the successful repatriation of most of the 1.6 million Japanese who had been trapped in the former Manchukuo at the end of World War II.

Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello, known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was the 47th and 54th President of Venezuela, serving from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Acción Democrática, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century.

Dušan "Duško" Popov was a Serbian triple agent who served as part of the MI6 and Abwehr during World War II, and passed off disinformation to Germany as part of the Double-Cross System and working also as agent for the Yugoslav government-in-exile in London.