List of Famous people who died in 1983

Gerhard Matzky was a German general during World War II who commanded several corps. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Matzky joined the Bundeswehr in 1956 and served until 1960.

Richard Loo was a third-generation Chinese-American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in over 120 films between 1931 and 1982.

Peter Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor who was best known for his work in Westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career between 1925 and 1981. Fix was best known for portraying Marshal Micah Torrance, opposite Chuck Connors's character in The Rifleman from 1958 to 1963. He later appeared with Connors in the 1966 western film Ride Beyond Vengeance and The Time Tunnel Episode 3. The Sky is Falling.

Ernst Degner was a professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from Eastern Germany. Degner was noted for defecting to the west in 1961, taking MZ's tuning techniques to Suzuki, and winning Suzuki's first Grand Prix championship in 1962.

(Harriet) Virginia Spencer Cowles OBE (August 24, 1910 – September 17, 1983) was a noted American journalist, biographer, and travel writer. During her long career, Cowles went from covering fashion, to covering the Spanish Civil War, the turbulent period in Europe leading up to World War II, and the entire war. Her service as a correspondent was recognized by the British government with an OBE in 1947. After the war, she published a number of critically acclaimed biographies of historical figures. In 1983, while traveling with her husband, she was killed in an automobile accident which left him severely injured.

Kurt Heinrich Debus was a German-born American rocket engineer, the first director of NASA's Launch Operations Center.

Chiezō Kataoka was a Japanese film and television actor most famous for his starring roles in jidaigeki.