List of Famous people who died in 1981

Donald William Sinclair was the co–proprietor of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, England. He helped manage the hotel after an extensive career as an officer in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy. During World War II, he twice survived the sinking of the ship he was serving on.

Sir Alan Frederick "Tommy" Lascelles, was a British courtier and civil servant who held several positions in the first half of the twentieth century, culminating in his position as Private Secretary to both King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. He wrote the Lascelles Principles in a 1950 letter to the editor of The Times, using the pen-name "Senex".

Carl Vinson was an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for over 50 years and was influential in the 20th century expansion of the U.S. Navy. He was a member of the Democratic Party and represented Georgia in the House from 1914 to 1965. He was known as "The Father of the Two-Ocean Navy". He is the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Georgia.

Rolf Oskar Ewald Günter Herricht was an East German comedian.

Kazuo Taoka was one of the most prominent yakuza godfathers.

Robert Montgomery was an American film and television actor, director, and producer. He began his acting career on the stage, but was soon hired by MGM. Initially assigned roles in comedies, he soon proved he was able to handle dramatic ones as well. He appeared in a wide variety of roles, such as a weak-willed prisoner in The Big House (1930), an Irish handyman in Night Must Fall (1937) and a boxer mistakenly sent to Heaven in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941). The last two earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Zarah Leander was a Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned Universum Film AG (UFA). This caused her films and lyrics to be identified as Nazi propaganda, though she had taken no public political position, and she remained a controversial figure for the rest of her life.

Philip Charles Testa, also known as "The Chicken Man", was an American mobster known for his brief leadership of the Philadelphia crime family. He became boss after Angelo Bruno was murdered by his own consigliere, Antonio Caponigro, who, in turn, was ordered killed by The Commission for acting without permission. Testa's nickname came from his involvement in a poultry business. About a year after Bruno's death, Testa was killed by the blast of a nail bomb allegedly ordered by his underboss, Peter Casella.

Sazō Idemitsu was a Japanese businessman and founder of the petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan. He was also an art collector, especially fond of Sengai Gibon. He is the father of the Japanese experimental video artist, Mako Idemitsu.

Frederick Benjamin "Ben" Carlin was an Australian adventurer who was the first person to circumnavigate the world in an amphibious vehicle. Born in Northam, Western Australia, Carlin attended Guildford Grammar School in Perth, and later studied mining engineering at the Kalgoorlie School of Mines. After qualifying as an engineer, he worked on the Goldfields before in 1939 emigrating to China to work in a British coal mine. In the Second World War, Carlin was posted to the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, serving in India, Italy, and throughout the Middle East. After his discharge from service in 1946, he emigrated to the United States with his American wife, Elinore.