1992

1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year that started on a Wednesday. In the Gregorian calendar, it was the 1992nd year of the Common Era, or of Anno Domini; the 992nd year of the 2nd millennium; the 92nd year of the 20th century; and the 3rd of the 1990s. The year 1992 was designated as the "International Space Year" by the United Nations.

January

 * January 1
 * Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General.
 * George H. W. Bush becomes the first U.S. President to address the Australian Parliament.
 * January 8 – George H. W. Bush is televised falling violently ill at a state dinner in Japan, vomiting into the lap of Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and fainting.
 * January 9 – Bosnian Serbs declare their own republic within Bosnia and Herzegovina, in protest of the decision by Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats to seek EC recognition.
 * January 11 – Singer Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott.
 * January 12 – The second round of Algeria's general elections is cancelled when the first round is favorable to the Islamic Salvation Front.
 * January 13 – Japan apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
 * January 15 – The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia begins to break up. Slovenia and Croatia gain independence and international recognition in some Western countries.
 * January 16 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign a pact in Mexico City ending a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
 * January 22
 * Rebel forces occupy Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government's resignation.
 * STS-42: Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.
 * January 26 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.

February

 * February 7 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, founding the European Union.
 * February 8 – The opening ceremony for the 1992 Winter Olympics is held in Albertville, France.
 * February 11 – An F-16 jet crashes into a residential district of Hengelo, the Netherlands; no casualties are reported.
 * February 17 – A court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin sentences serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to life in prison.
 * February 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The Executive Chairman of UNSCOM details Iraq's refusal to abide by UN Security Council disarmament resolutions.
 * February 21 – The United Nations Security Council approves Resolution 743 to send a UNPROFOR peacekeeping force to Yugoslavia.
 * February 23 – The closing ceremony of the 1992 Winter Olympics is held in Albertville.
 * February 25–February 26 – 613 Azerbaijani civilians are massacred in Khojaly.
 * February 26 – The Supreme Court of Ireland rules that a 14-year-old rape victim may travel to England to have an abortion.

March

 * March 1 – The first victims of the Bosnian War are a Serb groom and his father in a Sarajevo shooting. A majority of the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat communities vote for Bosnian independence.
 * March 3 – Turkey's worst coal mine disaster leaves 263 dead near Zonguldak.
 * March 9 – The People's Republic of China ratifies the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
 * March 12 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
 * March 13 – In eastern Turkey, an earthquake registering 6.8 on the Richter scale, kills over 500.
 * March 18 – White South Africans vote in favour of political reforms which will end the apartheid regime and create a power-sharing multi-racial government.

April

 * April 5
 * The Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (without the presence of Serb political delegates) proclaims independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
 * Bosnian War: Serb troops, following a mass rebellion of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the Bosnian declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, besiege the city of Sarajevo.
 * April 9 – A Miami, Florida jury convicts former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega of assisting Colombia's cocaine cartel.
 * April 10 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes in the Baltic Exchange in the City of London; 3 are killed, 91 injured.
 * April 12 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland. The resort and its park's name were subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.
 * April 13 – Roermond, the Netherlands, is rocked by an earthquake along the Peel Fault.
 * April 15 – The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
 * April 20
 * Seville, Spain's 6-month Universal Exhibition, called Seville Expo '92, opens.
 * The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, held at Wembley Stadium, is televised live to over 1 billion people and raises millions of dollars for AIDS research.
 * April 21 – The death of Grand Duke Vladimir Cyrillovich of Russia results in a succession dispute between Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia and Vladimir's daughter Maria for the leadership of the Imperial Family of Russia.
 * April 22 – Fuel that leaked into a sewer explodes in Guadalajara, Mexico; 215 are killed, 1,500 injured.
 * April 27 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman elected Speaker of the British House of Commons.
 * April 28 – The two remaining constituent republics of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia – Serbia and Montenegro – form a new state, named the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (after 2003, Serbia and Montenegro), bringing to an end the official union of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Bosnian Muslims and Macedonians that existed from 1918 (with the exception of the period during World War II).
 * April 29 – Los Angeles riots: Acquittal of four police officers in the Rodney King beating criminal trial triggers massive rioting in Los Angeles. The riots will last for six days resulting in 53 deaths and over a $1 billion in damages before order is restored.

May

 * May 5 – Russian leaders in Crimea declare their separation from Ukraine as a new republic.  They withdraw the secession on May 10.
 * May 9 – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted in New York on 9 May 1992.
 * May 10 – Sweden wins the Ice Hockey World Championships in Prague.
 * May 13 – Falun Gong is introduced by Li Hongzhi in China.
 * May 15
 * Commonwealth of Independent States Collective Security Treaty (CST) signed (effective 20 Apr, 1994).
 * The Genoa Expo '92 World's Fair opens in Genoa, Italy.
 * May 16 – STS-49: Space Shuttle Endeavour lands safely after a successful maiden voyage.
 * May 23 – A Mafia bomb kills Italian anti-Mafia judge Giovanni Falcone.
 * May 25 – In Australia, Lindy Chamberlain receives compensation for wrongful conviction on murder charges.
 * May 26 – Charles Geschke, President of Adobe Systems, is kidnapped from his company parking lot. The kidnappers demand $650,000 ransom; they are later apprehended.

June

 * June 1 – Venezuelan revolutionary Carlos (the Jackal) is sentenced to life imprisonment.
 * June 2 – In a national referendum Denmark rejects the Maastricht Treaty by a thin margin.
 * June 8 – The first World Ocean Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 * June 17 – A 'Joint Understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this is later codified in START II).
 * June 20 – In Estonia, the kroon replaces the Soviet ruble.
 * June 22 – Two skeletons excavated in Yekaterinburg are identified as Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Tsarina Alexandra.
 * June 25 – Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) founded.
 * June 26 – Denmark beats Germany 2–0 to win the 1992 UEFA European Football Championship at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden.
 * June 28 – Estonia holds a referendum on its constitution.
 * June 29 – A bodyguard assassinates President Mohamed Boudiaf of Algeria.

July

 * July 6–July 29 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq refuses a U.N. inspection team access to the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture.  UNSCOM claims that it has reliable information that the site contains archives related to illegal weapons activities. U.N. Inspectors stage a 17-day "sit-in" outside of the building, but leave when their safety is threatened by Iraqi soldiers.
 * July 10
 * In Miami, Florida, former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.
 * The Giotto spacecraft flies past Comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup, gathering measurements about the comet.
 * July 13 – Yitzhak Rabin becomes prime minister of Israel.
 * July 20 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
 * July 22 – Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison, fearing extradition to the United States.
 * July 23 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
 * July 25 – August 9 – The 1992 Summer Olympics are held in Barcelona, Spain.
 * July 31
 * The ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia becomes the 179th member of the United Nations.
 * A Thai Airways Flight 311 operated by Airbus A310-300 crashed into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 peoples on board.

August

 * August 10 – The UK government bans the Ulster Defence Association, a loyalist paramilitary organisation that had been legal for 20 years.
 * August 20 – Kristiansund's connection to the mainland of Norway, Krifast, opens.
 * August 21–August 22 – Events at Ruby Ridge, Idaho are sparked by a Federal Marshal surveillance team, resulting in the death of a Marshal, Sam Weaver and his dog and the next day the wounding of Randy Weaver, the death of his wife Vicki and the wounding of Kevin Harris.
 * August 23 – Hurricane Andrew attains Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and at 2100 UTC hits Eleuthera and the Bahama Banks
 * August 24–August 28 – Hurricane Andrew hits south Florida and dissipates over the Tennessee valley when it merges with a storm system; 23 are killed.

September

 * September 2 – An earthquake in Nicaragua kills at least 116 people
 * September 11 – Hurricane Iniki hits the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai and Oahu.
 * September 12 – STS-47: Dr. Mae Jemison becomes the first African American woman to travel into space, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
 * September 16 – Black Wednesday: The Pound Sterling and the Italian Lira are forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
 * September 17 – Two Kurdish opposition leaders are assassinated by the Iranian Kazem Darabi and the Lebanese Abbas Rhayel.
 * September 23
 * A large Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb destroys the forensic laboratories in Belfast.
 * Operation Julin is the last nuclear test conducted by the United States at the Nevada Test Site.

October

 * October 2 – A riot breaks out in the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil, resulting in the Carandiru Massacre.
 * October 3 – After performing a song protesting alleged child abuse by the Catholic Church, Sinéad O'Connor rips up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live, causing huge controversy, leading the switchboards at NBC to ring off the hook.
 * October 4 – The Bijlmerramp disaster: An Israeli plane crashes in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; 43 are killed, many more injured.
 * October 6 – Lennart Meri becomes the first president of newly independent Estonia.
 * October 9 – The Chief of Naval Operations adopts the US Navy's core values: Honor, Courage and Commitment.
 * October 12 – In the Dominican Republic, Pope John Paul II celebrates the 500th anniversary of the meeting of 2 cultures.
 * October 17 – Yoshihiro Hattori, a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student, mistakes the address of a party and is shot dead after knocking on the wrong door in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The shooter, Rodney Peairs, is later acquitted, sparking outrage in Japan.
 * October 25 – Lithuania holds a referendum on its first constitution after declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
 * October 31 – Pope John Paul II issues an apology, and lifts the edict of the Inquisition against Galileo Galilei.

November

 * November 3 – United States presidential election, 1992: Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States.
 * November 11 – The Church of England votes to allow women to become priests.
 * November 18 – Russian President Boris Yeltsin releases the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of KAL 007, shot down by the Soviets in 1983.
 * November 20 – In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, causing over £50 million worth of damage.
 * November 24 – In the People's Republic of China, a China Southern Airlines domestic flight crashes, killing all 141 people on board.
 * November 24 – Elizabeth II describes this year as an Annus Horribilis (horrible year), due to various scandals damaging the image of the Royal Family, as well as the Windsor Castle fire.
 * November 25 – The Czechoslovakia Federal Assembly votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, starting on January 1, 1993.
 * November 30 – The trial of 14 South Vietnamese accused of murdering 24 North Vietnamese begins in Hong Kong (ends November 29, 1994).

December

 * December 3
 * UN Security Council Resolution 794 is unanimously passed, approving a coalition of United Nations peacekeepers led by the United States to form UNITAF, tasked with ensuring humanitarian aid gets distributed and establishing peace in Somalia.
 * The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while on approach to La Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
 * December 4 – U.S. military forces land in Somalia.
 * December 6 – Extremist Hindu activists demolish Babri Masjid – a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya, India which had been used as a temple since 1949, leading to widespread communal violence, including the Mumbai Riots, in all killing over 1500 people.
 * December 8 – The last blast is fired at the Falu Copper Mine in Falun, Sweden, after a millennium of continuous operation.
 * December 9 – Prince Charles and Princess Diana publicly announce their separation.
 * December 12 – An earthquake hits Flores, Indonesia, leaving 2,500 dead.
 * December 20 – The Folies Bergère music hall in Paris, France closes.
 * December 21 – A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 56 people.
 * December 22 – Archives of Terror discovered by Dr. Martín Almada detailing the fates of thousands of Latin Americans who had been secretly kidnapped, tortured, and killed by the security services of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. This was known as Operation Condor.
 * December 29 – Brazil's president Fernando Collor de Mello is found guilty on charges that he stole more than $32 million from the government, preventing him from holding any elected office for 8 years.

Date unknown

 * First confirmed detection of extrasolar planets with the discovery of several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12 by Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail.
 * Deng Xiaoping accelerates market reforms to establish a socialist market economy in the People's Republic of China.
 * Queensland introduces Freedom Of Information Laws.
 * The Council for National Academic Awards, UK is wound up.
 * The Hospital Chaplains' Fellowship joins with the National Association of Whole Time Hospital Chaplains to form the College of Health Care Chaplains in the UK.

January

 * January 1 – Jack Wilshere, English footballer
 * January 16 – Maja Keuc, Slovenian singer
 * January 19
 * Logan Lerman, American Actor
 * Shawn Johnson, American Olympic gymnast
 * Mac Miller, American rapper

February

 * February 5 – Neymar da Silva, Brazilian soccer player
 * February 7 – Maimi Yajima, Japanese singer
 * February 11 – Taylor Lautner, American actor
 * February 14 – Freddie Highmore, English actor
 * February 17 – Meaghan Jette Martin, American actress
 * February 18 &mdash; Melinda Shankar, Canadian actress

March

 * March 4 – Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, daughter of Albert II, Prince of Monaco
 * March 6 – Momoko Tsugunaga, Japanese singer
 * March 8 – Charlie Ray, American actress
 * March 10 – Emily Osment, American actress and singer
 * March 13 – Kaya Scodelario, English actress and model
 * March 14 – Jasmine Murray, American singer
 * March 17 – Eliza Bennett, British actress
 * March 26 – Haley Ramm, American actress
 * March 29 – Chris Massoglia, American actor

April

 * April 4 – Alexa Nikolas, American actress
 * April 7 – Alexis Jordan, American singer and actress
 * April 15
 * Amy Diamond, Swedish pop singer
 * Richard Sandrak, Ukrainian bodybuilder
 * April 16 – Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg, Prince of Luxembourg
 * April 24 – Doc Shaw, American actor and rapper
 * April 27 – Allison Iraheta, American singer

May

 * May 7 – Alexander Ludwig, Canadian actor
 * May 8 – Ana Mulvoy Ten, British actress
 * May 10 – Charice Pempengco, Filipino singer
 * May 12 – Malcolm David Kelley, American actor
 * May 18 – Spencer Breslin, American actor
 * May 21 – Hutch Dano, American actor
 * May 22 – Chinami Tokunaga, Japanese singer
 * May 29 – Gregg Sulkin, British actor

June

 * June 3 – Mario Götze, German Footballer
 * June 4 – Dino Jelusić, Croatian singer
 * June 6 – HyunA, South Korean dance-pop singer, rapper, and dancer
 * June 10 – Kate Upton, American model
 * June 12
 * Allie DiMeco, American actress
 * Ryan Malgarini, American actor
 * June 14 – Daryl Sabara, American actor
 * June 23 – Bridget Sloan, American artistic gymnast
 * June 24 – David Alaba, Austrian football player
 * June 26 – Jennette McCurdy, American actress
 * June 29 – Adam G. Sevani, Armenian-American actor and dancer
 * June 30 – Lynx and Lamb Gaede, twin American Neo-Nazi musicians

July

 * July 3 – Maasa Sudo, Japanese singer
 * July 7 – Nathalia Ramos, Spanish actress
 * July 15 – Koharu Kusumi, Japanese singer
 * July 21 – Rachael Flatt, American figure skater
 * July 22 – Selena Gomez, American actress and singer
 * July 28 – George Spencer-Churchill, Earl of Sunderland

August

 * August 4
 * Dylan and Cole Sprouse, twin American actors
 * Tiffany Evans, American singer
 * August 11 – Allisson Lozz, Mexican actress and singer
 * August 18 – Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love
 * August 20 – Demi Lovato, American actress, singer, songwriter
 * August 25 – Miyabi Natsuyaki, Japanese singer
 * August 26 – Hayley Hasselhoff, American actress

September

 * September 9 – Damian McGinty, Irish singer and actor
 * September 16 – Nick Jonas, American singer/songwriter and actor
 * September 24 – Jack Sock, American tennis player
 * September 28
 * Skye McCole Bartusiak, American actress
 * Keir Gilchrist, Canadian actor
 * Koko Tsurumi, Japanese artistic gymnast

October

 * October 9 – Tyler James Williams, American actor
 * October 12 – Josh Hutcherson, American actor
 * October 15 – Vincent Martella, American actor and singer
 * October 20 – Ksenia Semenova, Russian Olympic gymnast
 * October 22 – Sofia Vassilieva, American actress

November

 * November 18 – Nathan Kress, American actor
 * November 23 – Miley Cyrus, American actress and singer
 * November 27 – Tola Szlagowska, Polish singer
 * November 28 – Adam Hicks, American rapper, actor and dancer
 * November 29 – David Lambert, American actor

December

 * December 8 – Katie Stevens, American Idol (season 9) contestant
 * December 18 – Bridgit Mendler, American actress and singer
 * December 23 – Spencer Daniels, American actor

January

 * January 1 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist (b. 1906)
 * January 2 – Virginia Field, British actress (b. 1917)
 * January 3 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
 * January 7 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer (b. 1951)
 * January 9 – Bill Naughton, British playwright (b. 1910)
 * January 17 – Frank Pullen, English business person and racehorse owner (b. 1915)
 * January 18 – Aleksandr Almetov, Soviet Olympic ice hockey player (b. 1940)
 * January 22 – A.J. Antoon, American theater director (b. 1944)
 * January 23
 * Freddie Bartholomew, British actor (b. 1924)
 * Ian Wolfe, American actor (b. 1896)
 * January 26 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1912)
 * January 27 – Sally Hayfron, Wife of Robert Mugabe and first lady of Zimbabwe (b. 1933)
 * January 29 – Willie Dixon, American composer and musician (b. 1915)

February

 * February 2 – Bert Parks, American game show host (b. 1914)
 * February 4 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish model (b. 1911)
 * February 8 – Stanley Armour Dunham, Grandfather of US President Barack Obama (b. 1918)
 * February 10 – Alex Haley, American author (b. 1921)
 * February 11 – Ray Danton, American actor (b. 1931)
 * February 12 – Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (b. 1907)
 * February 13 – Dorothy Tree, American actress (b. 1906)
 * February 15 – William Schuman, American composer (b. 1910)
 * February 16 – Jânio Quadros, 22nd President of Brazil (b.1917)
 * February 20 – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
 * February 29 – La Lupe, Cuban singer (b. 1936)

March

 * March 2 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (b. 1937)
 * March 3 – Robert Beatty, Canadian actor (b. 1909)
 * March 4
 * Nestor Almendros, Spanish cinematographer (b. 1930)
 * Art Babbitt, American animator (b. 1907)
 * March 5 – Pare Lorentz, American filmmaker (b. 1905)
 * March 9 – Menachem Begin, 6th Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1913)
 * March 11 – Richard Brooks, American film director (b. 1912)
 * March 14 – Jean Poiret, French actor, screenwriter, director (b. 1926)
 * March 20 – Georges Delerue, French composer (b. 1925)
 * March 21
 * John Ireland, American actor (b. 1914)
 * Natalie Sleeth, American composer (b. 1930)
 * March 23 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
 * March 25 – Nancy Walker, American actress (b. 1922)
 * March 29 – Paul Henreid, Austrian-born actor (b. 1908)
 * March 30 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist (b. 1919)

April

 * April 4 – Samuel Reshevsky, seven-time U.S. Chess Champion (b. 1911)
 * April 5
 * Suada Dilberović, Bosnian medical student. First casualty of the Siege of Sarajevo (b. 1968)
 * Molly Picon, American actress (b. 1898)
 * Sam Walton, American businessman, founder of Wal-Mart (b. 1918)
 * April 6 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (b. 1920)
 * April 7 – Ace Bailey, Canadian hockey player (b. 1903)
 * April 8 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
 * April 10 – Sam Kinison, American comedian (b. 1953)
 * April 11 – Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter (b. 1920)
 * April 13 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (b. 1921)
 * April 16 – Neville Brand, American actor (b. 1920)
 * April 19 – Frankie Howerd, British comedian and actor (b. 1917)
 * April 20 – Benny Hill, British comedian and actor (b. 1924)
 * April 21 – Vladimir Cyrillovich, Grand Duke of Russia (b. 1917)
 * April 23
 * Satyajit Ray, Indian filmmaker (b. 1921)
 * Tanka Prasad Acharya former Nepalese Prime Minister (b.1912)
 * April 25 – Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese songwriter (b. 1965)
 * April 27
 * Olivier Messiaen, French composer (b. 1908)
 * Harlond Clift, American baseman (b. 1912)
 * April 28 – Francis Bacon, Irish-born painter (b. 1909)
 * April 29 – Mae Clarke, American actress (b. 1910)

May

 * May 3 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (b. 1902)
 * May 4 – Gregor Mackenzie, British Labour Party politician (b. 1927)
 * May 6 – Marlene Dietrich, German actress (b. 1901)
 * May 10 – John Lund, American actor (b. 1911)
 * May 12 – Robert Reed, American actor (b. 1932)
 * May 13
 * Gisela Elsner, German writer (b. 1937)
 * F. E. McWilliam, Northern Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
 * May 14
 * Lyle Alzado, American football player (b. 1949)
 * Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist military leader (b. 1899)
 * May 17 – Lawrence Welk, American musician (b. 1903)
 * May 18 – Marshall Thompson, American actor (b. 1925)
 * May 21 – T. B. Ilangaratne, Sri Lankan author, dramatist, actor and politician (b. 1913)
 * May 22 – Tony Accardo, American gangster (b. 1906)
 * May 23 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian judge (b. 1939)
 * May 30 – Karl Carstens, former President of Germany (b. 1914)

June

 * June 2 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter and director (b. 1908)
 * June 3 – Robert Morley, English actor (b. 1908)
 * June 4 – Carl Stotz, American founder of Little League Baseball (b. 1910)
 * June 18
 * Mordecai Ardon, Israeli painter (b. 1896)
 * Peter Allen, Australian singer, songwriter (b. 1944)
 * June 19 – Kathleen McKane Godfree, British tennis player (b. 1896)
 * June 21 – Li Xiannian, former President of the People's Republic of China (b. 1909)
 * June 22 – Chuck Mitchell, American actor (b. 1927)
 * June 25
 * Jerome Brown, American football player (b. 1965)
 * James Stirling, British architect (b. 1926)
 * June 26 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (b. 1921)
 * June 27 – Allan Jones, American actor (b. 1907)
 * June 28 – Mikhail Tal, eighth World Chess Champion (b. 1936)

July

 * July 5 – Paul Hackman, Canadian musician (b. 1953)
 * July 9 – Eric Sevareid, American journalist (b. 1912)
 * July 10 – Doris Tate, American campaigner for the rights of crime victims (b. 1924)
 * July 13 – Albert Pierrepoint, British Chief Executioner (b. 1905)
 * July 15 – Hammer DeRoburt, first President of Nauru (b. 1922)
 * July 18 – Rudolph Ising, cartoon animator (b. 1903)
 * July 19 – Allen Newell, computer scientist (b. 1927)
 * July 22 – John Meyendorff, Russian-born Orthodox scholar (b. 1926)
 * July 23 – Rosemary Sutcliff, British author (b. 1920)
 * July 24 – Arletty, French singer and actress (b. 1898)
 * July 25 – Alfred Drake, American actor (b. 1914)
 * July 26 – Mary Wells, American singer (b. 1943)
 * July 27 – Anthony Salerno, American mobster (b.1911)
 * July 30 – Brenda Marshall, American actress (b. 1915)
 * July 31 – Leonard Cheshire, English war hero and philanthropist (b. 1917)

August

 * August 4 – Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese writer and journalist (b. 1909)
 * August 5
 * Robert Muldoon, former Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1921)
 * Jeff Porcaro, American musician (b. 1954)
 * August 8 – Alison Gertz, American AIDS activist (b. 1966)
 * August 9 – Fereydoun Farrokhzad, Iranian Entertainer (b. 1936)
 * August 12 – John Cage, American composer (b. 1912)
 * August 16 – Mark Heard, American singer (b. 1951)
 * August 18
 * John Sturges, American film director (b. 1911)
 * Christopher Johnson McCandless, American itinerant and hiker, Starvation (b. 1968)
 * August 29 – Teddy Turner, English actor (b. 1917)

September

 * September 1 – Morris Carnovsky, American actor (b. 1897)
 * September 2 – Barbara McClintock, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1902)
 * September 12 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (b. 1932)

October

 * October 1
 * Gert Bastian, German politician (b. 1913)
 * Petra Kelly, German politician (b. 1947)
 * October 4 – Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver (b. 1936)
 * October 5 – Eddie Kendricks, American singer (b. 1939)
 * October 6 – Denholm Elliott, English actor (b. 1922)
 * October 7 – Tevfik Esenç, last known speaker of Ubykh (b. 1904)
 * October 8 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1913)
 * October 12 – John Hancock, American actor (b. 1941)
 * October 16 – Shirley Booth, American actress (b. 1898)
 * October 17
 * Yoshihiro Hattori, Japanese exchange student (b. 1975)
 * Herman Johannes, Indonesian professor, scientist and politician (b. 1912)
 * October 19 – Arthur Wint, Jamaican Olympic runner (b. 1920)
 * October 22
 * Red Barber, American sportscaster (b. 1908)
 * Cleavon Little, American actor (b. 1939)
 * October 25 – Roger Miller, American singer (b. 1936)
 * October 27 – David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (b. 1917)

November

 * November 2 – Hal Roach, American director and producer (b. 1892)
 * November 4 – George Klein, Canadian inventor (b. 1904)
 * November 7
 * Alexander Dubček, Slovakian politician (b. 1921)
 * Jack Kelly, American actor (b. 1927)
 * Richard Yates, American writer (b. 1926)
 * November 10 – Chuck Connors, American actor (b. 1921)
 * November 11 – Earle Meadows, American Olympic athlete (b. 1913)
 * November 19 – Diane Varsi, American actress (b. 1938)
 * November 22 – Sterling Holloway, American actor (b. 1905)
 * November 23 – Roy Acuff, American singer (b. 1903)
 * November 26 – John Sharp, English actor (b. 1920)

December

 * December 6 – Mimi Smith, maternal aunt and guardian of John Lennon (b. 1914)
 * December 9 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-American actor (b. 1922)
 * December 12 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian essayist, novelist and playwright (b. 1901)
 * December 17 – Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)
 * December 18 – Mark Goodson, American game show producer (b. 1915)
 * December 21
 * Stella Adler, American acting teacher (b. 1901)
 * Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-born violinist (b. 1903)
 * Albert King, American musician (b. 1923)
 * December 22
 * Frederick William Franz, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses and 4th President of Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (b. 1893)
 * Ted Willis, British television dramatist and author (b. 1914)
 * December 23 – Eddie Hazel, American guitarist (b. 1950)
 * December 25
 * Ted Croker, English former football official (b. 1924)
 * Monica Dickens, English author (b. 1915)
 * December 29 – Vivienne Segal, American actress (b. 1897)

Nobel Prizes

 * Physics – Georges Charpak
 * Chemistry – Rudolph A. Marcus
 * Medicine – Edmond H. Fischer, Edwin G. Krebs
 * Literature – Derek Walcott
 * Peace – Rigoberta Menchú
 * Economics – Gary Becker

Templeton Prize

 * Kyung-Chik Han