List of Famous people who died in 1981

Hede Tune Massing, née "Hedwig Tune", was an Austrian actress in Vienna and Berlin, communist, and Soviet intelligence operative in Europe and the United States during the 1930s and 1940s. After World War II, she defected from the Soviet underground. She came to prominence by testifying in the second case of Alger Hiss in 1949; later, she published accounts about the underground.

Russell "Lucky" Hayden was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his portrayal as Lucky Jenkins in Paramount's popular Hopalong Cassidy film series.

Joseph-Ernst Graf Fugger von Glött , since 1940: Fürst Fugger von Glött was a German politician and representative of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria. He was a member of the Bundestag of Germany between 1949 and 1953. From 1954 to 1962 he was a member of the Landtag of Bavaria. He is a member of the famed Fugger family, the preeminent bankers of the renaissance era.

Robert Eberly was an American big band vocalist best known for his association with Jimmy Dorsey and his duets with Helen O'Connell. His younger brother Ray was also a big-band singer, making his name with Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.