List of Famous people who died in 1997

Lev Zalmanovich (Zinovyevich) Kopelev was a Soviet author and dissident.

Jean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.

Kō Nishimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well and Yojimbo, Kihachi Okamoto's Sword of Doom, Yoshitaro Nomura's Zero Focus, and Kon Ichikawa's The Burmese Harp.

Munir Bashir, the King of Oud was an Iraqi Assyrian musician and one of the most famous musicians in the Middle East during the 20th century and was considered to be the supreme master of the Arab maqamat scale system.

Richard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role in the 1971 adaptation of Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion.

Luis Aguilar Manzo was a Mexican film and television actor and singer. He was also known as El Gallo Giro, and was noted for his performances in films as El 7 leguas (1955) and El látigo negro (1958).

Paul Carell was a writer and German propagandist. During the Nazi era, Schmidt served as the chief press spokesman for Joachim von Ribbentrop's Foreign Ministry. In this capacity during World War II, he maintained close ties with the Wehrmacht, while he served in the Allgemeine-SS. One of his specialities was the "Jewish question". After the war, Carell became a successful author, although some critics have claimed that his books romanticized and whitewashed the Wehrmacht.

Paulo Francis was a Brazilian journalist, political pundit, novelist and critic.

Gert Günther Hoffmann was a German actor and director. He achieved fame in German film and television as a voice actor in dubbing.

Marco Ferreri was an Italian film director, screenwriter and actor, who began his career in the 1950s directing three films in Spain, followed by 24 Italian films before his death in 1997. He is considered one of the greatest European cinematic provocateurs of his time and had a constant presence in prestigious festival circuit - including eight films in competition in Cannes film festival and a Golden bear win in 1991 Berlin film festival. Three of his films are among 100 films selected for preservation for significant contribution to Italian cinema.