List of Famous people who died in 1981

Zeferino Vaz led the construction, establishment and development of the Unicamp university, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s. The main campus is named after Zeferino, who strived to bring together some of Brazil's best scientists to form a recognised research institution.

Norman Rae Taurog was an American film director and screenwriter. From 1920 to 1968, Taurog directed 180 films. At the age of 32, he received the Academy Award for Best Director for Skippy (1931). He is the second youngest person ever to win the award after Damien Chazelle, who won for La La Land in 2017. He was later nominated for Best Director for the film Boys Town (1938). He directed some of the best-known actors of the twentieth century, including his nephew Jackie Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley. Taurog directed six Martin and Lewis films, and nine Elvis Presley films, more than any other director. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Norman Taurog has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1600 Vine Street.

Harry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe". He wrote the music for the first blockbuster film musical, 42nd Street, choreographed by Busby Berkeley, with whom he would collaborate on many musical films.

Finn Olav Gundelach was a Danish diplomat and European Commissioner. He served as vice-president of the European Commission from 6 January 1977 to 6 January 1981.

Charles Bates "Tex" Thornton was an American business executive who was the founder of Litton Industries.

Artur Semyonovich Berger was an Austrian-Soviet film architect and set designer. He was active in Austria between 1920 and 1936, during which time he worked on about 30 feature films. In 1936 he emigrated to the Soviet Union, where he continued to work on films until the early 1970s.