List of Famous people who died in 1981

Sudhin Dasgupta was a prolific Bengali music director, lyricist, and singer. He worked in various other Indian languages, such as Hindi, Assamese and Oriya. His contribution opened a new horizon to the Bengali music for both the arenas of Bengali basic song as well as Bengali film song.

Omar Khorshid was an Egyptian guitarist, musician, composer, accompanist, and actor. Born in Cairo, Khorshid was a well-known guitarist who accompanied many singers, including Farid Al Atrash, Umm Kulthum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, and Abdel Halim Hafez.

Marcia Lenore Sossoman (King) was a 21-year-old Arkansas woman who was murdered in April 1981 and whose body was discovered in Troy, Ohio approximately 48 hours after her murder. Her body remained unidentified for 36 years before being identified via DNA analysis and genetic genealogy in April 2018. King was the first unidentified decedent to be identified via this method of forensic investigation.

Milorad Petrović was an Armijski đeneral in the Royal Yugoslav Army who commanded the 1st Army Group during the April 1941 German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia of World War II. Petrović was commissioned into the Royal Serbian Army in 1901 and served in multiple staff positions during the Balkan Wars. During World War I, he served in various staff roles at the army and divisional level during the Serbian Campaign and later on the Macedonian Front. Following the war, he took part in military operations along the disputed northern border of the nascent Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929. During the interwar period, Petrović was steadily promoted, performing key roles at the Ministry of the Army and Navy. He reached the rank of armijski đeneral in 1937. At the time of the 27 March 1941 Yugoslav coup d'état, he was the military commander of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade.

Chen Wen-chen was a Taiwanese assistant professor of mathematics at Carnegie Mellon University who died on 3 July 1981 (aged 31) under mysterious circumstances. After the conclusion of his third year of teaching, he returned to his native Taiwan for a vacation. He was instructed not to leave Taiwan on his scheduled departure date. Members of Taiwan's secret police, the Garrison Command, detained and interrogated him for twelve hours on 2 July 1981, and his body was found on the campus of National Taiwan University the next day. The subsequent autopsy reported his death was due to a fall. Chen's death and the earlier massacre of Lin Yi-hsiung's family are cited as late examples of White Terror dissident suppression activities in Taiwan, although the case remains unsolved and the Garrison Command maintains it had nothing to do with his death. In 2020, the Transitional Justice Commission released a report concluding that Chen was most likely killed by state security agencies.

María Moliner was a Spanish librarian and lexicographer. She is perhaps best known for her Diccionario de uso del español, first published in 1966–1967, when she completed the work started in 1952.

Armando Bó was an Argentine film actor, director, producer, screenwriter and score composer of the classic era. He is mostly known for his sexploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s starring his favorite actress and romantic partner, sex symbol Isabel Sarli. His works include the first nude scene in an Argentine film.

Karl Ferdinand Lütgendorf, born Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Lütgendorf was an Austrian soldier and politician who served as the Defense Minister of Austria from 1971 to 1977. He died in 1981, in an apparent suicide, after the discovery of his part in the Lucona affair.

Hans Söhnker was a German film actor. He appeared in 105 films between 1933 and 1980. He was born in Kiel, Germany and died in Berlin, Germany.

Abdullah Ibn Humaid, (1908–1981) also known as Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Humaid was the Chief Justice of Saudi Arabia and Imam of the Great Mosque of Mecca. He was succeeded as Great Mosque imam by his son Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid (1949-).