American football player, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame (b. 1903) December December 2 – Philip Larkin, English poet and novelist (b. 1922) December 7 Robert Graves, English writer (b. 1895) Potter Stewart, American Supreme Court Justice (b. 1915) December 12 Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923) Ian Stewart, Scottish rock musician (b. 1938) Phil Karlson, American film director (b. 1908) December 14 – Roger Maris, American baseball player (New York Yankees) (b. 1934) December 15 Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius (b. 1900) Carlos Romulo, Filipino diplomat (b. 1899) December 16 – Paul Castellano, American Mafia boss (b. 1915) December 20 – Coral Buttsworth, Australian tennis champion (b. 1900) December 22 – D. Boon, American singer, songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958) December 23 Ferhat Abbas, Algerian nationalist, 1st president of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (b. 1899) Prince Bira, Prince of Siam and Formula One driver (b. 1914) December 24 – Erich Schaedler, Scottish footballer (b. 1949) December 26 – Dian Fossey, American biologist (b. 1932) December 27 Harry Hopman, Australian tennis player and coach (b. 1906) Harold Whitlock, British Olympic athlete (b. 1903) December 28 – Renato Castellani, Italian director (b. 1913) December 31 Ricky Nelson, American actor and musician (b. 1940) Sam Spiegel, Polish-born film producer (b. 1903) Date unknown Andrej Bicenko, Russian fresco painter and muralist (b. 1886) Kaare Bratung, Norwegian cartoonist (b. 1906) Hamlet Gonashvili, Georgian singer (b. 1928) Nobel Prizes Physics – Klaus von Klitzing Chemistry – Herbert A. Hauptman, Jerome Karle Literature – Claude Simon Peace – International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Economics – Franco Modigliani Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – Michael Stuart Brown, Joseph L. Goldstein References