List of Famous people who died in 1986

Sammy Drechsel, born Karl-Heinz Kamke, was a German political comedian, journalist and sports reporter. In 1956, together with Dieter Hildebrandt, he founded the Münchner Lach- und Schießgesellschaft, one of Germany's most successful and influential sites of political kabarett, for which he was producer and director up to his death. From 1950 to his death he also worked as a sports reporter for the Bavarian "Bayrischer Rundfunk". He also became well known for his 1955 book "Elf Freunde müsst ihr sein", which targeted an adolescent audience. One of Drechsel's last appearances was in the German TV series Kir Royal, directed by Helmut Dietl, which was completed shortly before his death.

Adolf Georgievich Tolkachev was a Soviet electronic engineer who provided key documents to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) between 1979 and 1985. Working at the Soviet radar design bureau Phazotron as one of the chief designers, Tolkachev gave the CIA complete detailed information about such projects as the R-23, R-24, R-33, R-27, and R-60, S-300; fighter-interceptor aircraft radars used on the MiG-29, MiG-31, and Su-27; and other avionics. He was executed as a spy in 1986.

James Hardy Wilkinson FRS was a prominent figure in the field of numerical analysis, a field at the boundary of applied mathematics and computer science particularly useful to physics and engineering.

Herman Watzinger was a Norwegian engineer in the area of cooling technique from NTH in Trondheim and a crewmember on the Kon-Tiki expedition. He was also a Milorg member during the Second World War operation Polar Bear II, which was brought to Trondheim by Captain Leif Hauge.

Isao Nakata is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 8-dan.

Altiero Spinelli was an Italian communist politician, political theorist and European federalist, referred to as one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

Thomas Liao was a Taiwanese independence activist and founding leader of the Republic of Taiwan Provisional Government.

Elisabeth Bergner was an Austrian-British actress. Primarily a stage actress, her career flourished in Berlin and Paris before she moved to London to work in films. Her signature role was Gemma Jones in Escape Me Never, a play written for her by Margaret Kennedy. She played Gemma first in London and then in the Broadway debut, and in a film version for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 1943, Bergner returned to Broadway in the play The Two Mrs. Carrolls, for which she won the Distinguished Performance Medal from the Drama League.

Sir Shiu-kin Tang CBE, KstJ, JP was a Hong Kong entrepreneur and philanthropist. In 1933, he co-founded Kowloon Motor Bus and is known through the public service institutions he funded and founded in Hong Kong, many of which bear his name.

Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich was a Soviet mathematician and economist, known for his theory and development of techniques for the optimal allocation of resources. He is regarded as the founder of linear programming. He was the winner of the Stalin Prize in 1949 and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1975.