List of Famous people who died in 1997

Seymour Lane Dwinell was an American manufacturer and Republican politician from Lebanon, New Hampshire. Born in 1906 in Newport, Vermont, he served in and led both houses of the New Hampshire legislature before his two terms as governor. He died in 1997 aged 90 in Hanover, New Hampshire and is buried in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Harry Essex was an American screenwriter and director in feature films and television. Born and raised in New York City, his career spanned more than fifty years.

Elizabeth McBride was an American costume designer. She was nominated for Best Costumes for the film Driving Miss Daisy at the 62nd Academy Awards.

Doina Bumbea was a Romanian painter who was abducted to North Korea in 1978. Born in Bucharest, Bumbea left Romania in 1970 and went to Italy, where she studied fine arts and became a painter. There, she would be contacted by a certain individual who promised her a job as gallery curator in Japan if she gave an art exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea. Bumbea accepted and was taken there, but she would not be allowed to leave the country.

Michael Royko Jr. was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune. A humorist who focused on life in Chicago, he was the winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Rafael Hernández was a Spanish film actor. He appeared in 200 films between 1956 and 1990. He was born and died in Madrid, Spain.

Max Dresden was a Dutch-American theoretical physicist and historian of physics. He is known for his research in "statistical mechanics, superconductivity, quantum field theory, and elementary particle physics."