The following is a list of notabledeaths in November 1981.

Entries for each day are listedalphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.

• Wally Wood, 54, American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, his better known works include stories forEC Comics's titles such asWeird Science,Weird Fantasy, andMAD Magazine from its inception in 1952 until 1964, for theT.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, forWarren Publishing'sCreepy, for the early issues ofMarvel'sDaredevil (where he established the title character's distinctive red costume), and for his own creator-owned charactersSally Forth andCannon,^[1][2][3]suicide bygunshot, due to facing declining health and career prospects.^[1][4]

• Thérèse Casgrain, 85,French-Canadianfeminist, reformer, politician andsenator, she was a leader in the fight for the women's right to vote in theprovince of Quebec,^[5] she was also the first woman to lead a political party in Canada,^[6] in the 1960s, she became a campaigner againstnuclear weapons, she founded in February 1961 the Quebec wing of theVoice of Women (VOW) and served as the national president of VOW from 1962 until 1963.^[7]

• Jean Eustache, 42, French film director and editor, his debutfeature filmThe Mother and the Whore (1973) is considered a key work of the post-Nouvelle Vague French cinema,^[8][9][10]suicide bygunshot, after being partially immobilized in acar accident^[11][12][13]

• Frank Harvey, 69, English screenwriter and playwright^[14]

• Abel Gance, 92, French film director, producer, writer, and actor, he began directing his own films in 1911 withLa Digue (ou Pour sauver la Hollande),^[15] Gance's innovations in the cinematic techniques included his multiscreen ventures withPolyvision, thesuperimposition of images, extremeclose-ups, fast rhythmic editing, and unorthodox uses for mobile cameras (hand-held, mounted on wires or apendulum, or strapped to a horse),^[16]tuberculosis^[17]

• William Holden, 63, American actor, he was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actor for his role in thedark comedySunset Boulevard (1950),^[18] and he won the same award for his role in thewar filmStalag 17 (1953),^[19] he bled to death in his apartment afterlacerating hisforehead by slipping on a rug whileintoxicated and hitting a bedside table. The forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that Holden was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. His body was found four days later.^[20][21]

• Gerhard Marcks, 92, Germansculptor andpotter,^[22] he was one of the first three faculty members hired by theBauhaus in 1919,^[23] in thepost-World War II era, his work was part of the art competitions at threeOlympic Games.^[24]

• Walter Heitler, 77, German–Irishtheoretical physicist,^[25] he co-published a paper on pair production ofgamma rays in the Coulomb field of anatomic nucleus, developing the Bethe–Heitler formula forBremsstrahlung (braking radiation),^[26] he also contributed to the understanding ofcosmic rays,^[27][28] and he predicted the existence of the electrically neutralpi meson.^[29]
• Enid Markey, 87, American actress, she was the first actress to portray the literary character ofJane Porter in film, playing the character in bothTarzan of The Apes (1918) andThe Romance of Tarzan (1918),^[30][31] complications from aheart attack which she had experienced on November 13^[32]

• Fredric Wertham, 86,German–Americanpsychiatrist and author,^[33][34] he served as a professor of psychiatry atNew York University, a senior psychiatrist in theNew York City Department of Hospitals, and as both a psychiatrist and the director of the Mental Hygiene Clinic at theBellevue Hospital Center,^[33] his best-known book isSeduction of the Innocent (1954), which asserted thatcomic books caused youth to becomejuvenile delinquents, many of Wertham's other conjectures, particularly about hidden sexual themes (e.g. images offemale nudity concealed in drawings of muscles and tree bark, orBatman andRobin as gay lovers), were met with skepticism from his fellow mental health professionals, but found an audience in those concerned with "public morals", such as SenatorEstes Kefauver, who had Wertham testify before theSenate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, which he led^[35][36]

• Harry von Zell, 75, Americanradio announcer and actor,CBS staff announcer and announcer ofThe Aldrich Family,^[37] during the 1920s and 1930s, von Zell served as the announcer on some 20 shows per week,^[38] he also worked in the early days of television, in 1931 describing boxing matches onexperimental television boxing broadcasts,^[39]cancer^[38]

• Jack Fingleton, 73, AustralianTest cricketer, journalist and commentator,^[40] he scored fiveTest matchcenturies, representing Australia in 18 Tests between 1932 and 1938.^[41]
• Hans Krebs, 81, German-Britishbiologist,physician, andbiochemist,^[42][43] in 1932, Krebs worked out the outlines of theurea cycle with a medical student, and they published their discovery within the same year. The urea cycle was the first metabolic cycle to be discovered.^[44]

• Jack Albertson, 74, American actor, comedian, dancer, singer, andvaudevillian,^[45] he won anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role inThe Subject Was Roses (1968),^[46]colon cancer^[47][48]
• Morris Kirksey, 86, Americantrack and field athlete andrugby union footballer who won two gold medals at the1920 Summer Olympics^[49]

• Max Euwe, 80, Dutch chess player,mathematician, author, and chess administrator, he became theworld amateur chess champion in 1928 with a score of 12/15,^[50] he served as was president of theFédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) from 1970 until 1978.^[51]

• Lotte Lenya, 83,Austrian-American singer,diseuse, and actress, she was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in theromantic dramaThe Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961),^[52] she portrayed the antagonistRosa Klebb in thespy filmFrom Russia with Love (1963),^[53] and her film character was described as one "the most dangerous female villains of the decade",^[54]cancer^[55]

• Bill Stalker, 33, New Zealand actor, he portrayed the popular character Peter Fanelli, the head ofairport security, in both the airport drama serialSkyways^[56] and thepolice proceduralCop Shop,^[57][58] killed in aroad accident taking place in wet weather, when his motorcycle slid and collided with a car^[59][60]

• Natalie Wood, 43, American actress, she began acting at age four and co-starred at age eight inMiracle on 34th Street (1947),^[61] critics have suggested that her cinematic career represents a portrait of modern American womanhood in transition, as she was one of the few actresses to take both child roles and those of middle-aged characters,^[62][63] death due to accidentaldrowning andhypothermia.^[64] Wood was on a weekend boat trip toSanta Catalina Island on boardSplendour, a 58-foot (18 m)motor yacht owned by her husband,^[65] the local authorities recovered her body from the water, one mile (1.6 km) from the boat, with a small Valiant-brand inflatabledinghy beached nearby.^[66]

• Robert H. Harris, Americancharacter actor,^[67] he played Jake Goldberg in the television version ofThe Goldbergs from 1953 until 1956,^[67] serving as a replacement forPhilip Loeb andHarold Stone^[68]

• Noguchi, Thomas T.; DiMona, Joseph (1983).Coroner. New York:Simon & Schuster.ISBN 0-671-46772-7.
• Rulli, Marti; Davern, Dennis (2009).Goodbye Natalie, Goodbye Splendour. Medallion.ISBN 978-1-59777-639-4.

• List of November 1981 deaths atIMDb

• November 1981

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• Use mdy dates from January 2026