List of Famous people who died in 1986

Artur London was a Czechoslovak communist politician and co-defendant in the Slánský Trial. He was born in Ostrava, Moravia, Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family.

Norio Suzuki was a Japanese explorer and adventurer. In 1974 he searched for and found Hiroo Onoda, one of the last remaining Japanese holdouts who had refused to surrender after the end of World War II. Suzuki died in November 1986 in an avalanche while searching for the yeti.

Norman Dalton Cash was an American Major League Baseball first baseman who spent almost his entire career with the Detroit Tigers. An outstanding power hitter, his 377 career home runs were the fourth most by an American League left-handed hitter when he retired, behind Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig; his 373 home runs with the Tigers rank second in franchise history behind teammate Al Kaline (399). He also led the AL in assists three times and fielding percentage twice; he ranked among the all-time leaders in assists and double plays upon his retirement, and was fifth in AL history in games at first base (1,943). He was known to fans and teammates during his playing days as "Stormin' Norman."

Sir Robert Murray Helpmann, CBE was an Australian ballet dancer, actor, director and choreographer. After early work in Australia he moved to Britain in 1932, where he joined the Vic-Wells Ballet under its creator, Ninette de Valois. He became one of the company's leading men, partnering Alicia Markova and later Margot Fonteyn. When Frederick Ashton, the company's chief choreographer, was called up for military service in the Second World War Helpmann took over from him while continuing as a principal dancer.

Jaime Ramírez Gómez was an official of the National Police of Colombia, who led a fight against the illegal drug trade in Colombia from the 1970s onwards.

Yury Aleksandrovich Gulyayev was a Soviet opera singer from Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia.

Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between 1979 and 1986, racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed in an accident while testing the Brabham BT55 at the Paul Ricard circuit, near the commune of Le Castellet, France, in 1986. De Angelis was a very competitive and highly popular presence in Formula One during the 1980s, and is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player".

Gregory Bruce Jarvis was an American engineer who died during the destruction of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload specialist for Hughes Aircraft.

Michael John Smith, was an American engineer and astronaut. He served as the pilot of the Space Shuttle Challenger when it was destroyed during the STS-51-L mission, when it broke up 73 seconds into the flight, and at an altitude of 48,000 feet (14.6 km), killing all 7 crew members. Smith's voice was the last one heard on the Challenger voice recorder.

Kazuo Kamimura was a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of Lady Snowblood, which was adapted into film as Lady Snowblood in 1973. Hitoshi Iwaaki, a manga artist was his assistant.