List of Famous people who died in 1981

Gabrijel Bukatko was a Serbian Roman Catholic prelate and Croatian Greek Catholic hierarch. He was an Apostolic Administrator and Eparchial Bishop from 1950 to 1981 of the Eastern Catholic Eparchy of Križevci and a Coadjutor Archbishop from 1961 to 1964 and an Archbishop from 1964 to 1980 of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade.

Ákos Tolnay (1903–1981) was a Hungarian screenwriter active mainly in Italian cinema, having previously worked in Britain. He also appeared in Roberto Rossellini's 1945 neorealist film Rome, Open City.

The Third Trijang Rinpoche, Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (1901–1981) was a Gelug Lama and a direct disciple of Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo. He succeeded Ling Rinpoche as the junior tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama when the Dalai Lama was nineteen years old. He was also a lama of many Gelug Lamas who taught in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten and Lama Yeshe. Trijang Rinpoche's oral teachings were recorded by Zimey Rinpoche in a book called the Yellow Book.

Hugo Mario Montenegro ) was an American orchestra leader and composer of film soundtracks. His best known work is derived from interpretations of the music from Spaghetti Westerns, especially his cover version of Ennio Morricone's main theme from the 1966 film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He composed the musical score for the 1969 Western Charro! which starred Elvis Presley.

Johannes (Jan) Martinus Burgers was a Dutch physicist and the brother of the physicist Wilhelm G. Burgers. Burgers studied in Leiden under Paul Ehrenfest, where he obtained his PhD in 1918. He is credited to be the father of Burgers' equation, the Burgers vector in dislocation theory and the Burgers material in viscoelasticity.

Ivan Alexander Galamian was an American violin teacher of the twentieth century.

Sergio Amidei was an Italian screenwriter and an important figure in Italy's neorealist movement.