List of Famous people who died in 1997

Shinichi Hoshi was a Japanese novelist and science fiction writer best known for his "short-short" science fiction stories, often no more than three or four pages in length, of which he wrote over 1000. He also wrote mysteries and won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Mōsō Ginkō in 1968.

William Edward Hickey was an American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role as Don Corrado Prizzi in the John Huston film Prizzi's Honor (1985), as well as Uncle Lewis in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) and the voice of Dr. Finklestein in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

Alexandre Lippiani was a Brazilian actor and voice actor who reached fame in the early to mid-1990s acting in telenovelas and miniseries by Rede Globo and the now-defunct Rede Manchete. His most remembered role was the one of the priest Eurico in the 1996 telenovela Xica da Silva.

Esa Seeste was a Finnish gymnast who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Ronald Fraser was a British character actor, who appeared in numerous British plays, films and television shows from the 1950s to the 1990s. An unusual appearance and unique delivery made him a natural comedic actor. Fraser was a familiar figure in West End clubs during the sixties, and despite a long-standing reputation as one of the hardest drinking of British actors he was still working in his last years. He was perhaps best known as Basil "Badger" Allenby-Johnson in the 1970s television series The Misfit.

Stoyan Iliev Stoyanov was the highest scoring Bulgarian fighter ace of the Royal Bulgarian Air Force in World War II with 15 victories. Stoyan also taught Enterprise at Strathclyde University

Henri Vilbert was a French actor. He appeared in more than a hundred films from 1921 to 1982.

Shin'ya Satō is a Japanese professional shogi player ranked 7-dan.

Otto John was the first head of West Germany's domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, from 1950 to 1954. He is best known for his controversial move to East Germany in 1954, which has been interpreted as treason or an abduction.

Tomoyuki Tanaka was a Japanese film producer, most famous for creating the Godzilla franchise. He was born in Kashiwara, Osaka, Japan on April 26, 1910, and died in Tokyo on April 2, 1997. Tanaka was married to the actress Chieko Nakakita. He died of a stroke at the age of 86.