Pepin, French musician (b. 1908) November 17 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915) November 19 – Georgy Flyorov, Soviet nuclear physicist (b. 1913) November 23 Roald Dahl, British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter pilot (b. 1916) Nguyễn Văn Tâm, South Vietnamese politician, 4th Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam (South Vietnam) (b. 1893) November 24 – Dodie Smith, English novelist and playwright (b. 1896) November 26 – Feng Youlan, Chinese philosopher (b. 1895) November 27 – David White, American actor (b. 1916) December December 1 Sergio Corbucci, Italian film director (b. 1927) Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Indian diplomat and politician (b. 1900) December 2 Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900) Robert Cummings, American actor (b. 1910) December 4 – Naoto Tajima, Japanese Olympic athlete (b. 1912) December 6 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1903) December 7 Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban writer (b. 1943) Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910) December 8 Tadeusz Kantor, Polish painter, assemblage designer and theatre director (b. 1915) Boris Kochno, Russian poet, dancer, and librettist (b. 1906) Martin Ritt, American film director (b. 1914) December 9 – Mike Mazurki, American actor and wrestler (b. 1909) December 10 – Armand Hammer, American business tycoon (b. 1898) December 11 – Concha Piquer, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1908) December 13 – Alice Marble, American tennis champion (b. 1913) December 14 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921) December 18 – Anne Revere, American actress (b. 1903) December 23 – Wendell Scott, American race car driver (b. 1921) December 24 – Thorbjørn Egner, Norwegian author (b. 1912) December 31 – Vasily Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928) Nobel Prizes Physics – Jerome Isaac Friedman, Henry Way Kendall, and Richard Edward Taylor Chemistry – Elias James Corey Physiology or Medicine – Joseph Murray, E. Donnall Thomas Literature – Octavio Paz Peace – Mikhail Gorbachev Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller, William F. Sharpe Fields Medal Vladimir Drinfeld, Vaughan Jones, Shigefumi Mori, Edward Witten References