List of Famous people who died in 1981

Sydney Charles Houghton "Sammy" Davis was a British racing motorist, journalist, graphic artist and clubman.

Douglas Gordon Arthur Lowe was a British double Olympic Games champion, winning gold medals in 1924 and 1928. On both occasions he set British 800-metres records of 1:52.4 and 1:51.8 respectively, the latter also being an Olympic record.

Carl Ludwig Siegel was a German mathematician specialising in analytic number theory. He is known for, amongst other things, his contributions to the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem in Diophantine approximation and the Siegel mass formula for quadratic forms. He was named as one of the most important mathematicians of the 20th century.

Severinus Desiré "Freek" Emanuels was a Surinamese politician, and Prime Minister of Suriname from 25 June 1958 to 30 June 1963.

Henry Blanke was a German-born film producer who also worked as an assistant director, supervisor, writer, and production manager. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for The Nun’s Story (1959).

John Franklin Bardin was an American crime writer, best known for three novels he wrote between 1946 and 1948.