1997 deaths

Luitgard Im (12 January 1930 – 21 February 1997) was a German theater and film actress. She was active in many movies and TV-production for almost 50 years.

Gunnvor Advocaat (17 August 1912 – 26 July 1997) was a Norwegian painter. She was regarded among the pioneers of abstract painting in Norway.

Leda Gloria (30 August 1908 – 16 March 1997) was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 66 films between 1929 and 1965. During the expansion of Italian cinema of the Fascist era of the 1930s and early 1940s she appeared in starring roles, later transitioning into character parts after the Second World War. She appeared in the Don Camillo series of films, playing the wife of Gino Cervi's Giuseppe Bottazzi.

Odd Toralf Øyen (8 September 1914 – 3 January 1997) was a Norwegian resistance member and anaesthesiological physician.

Isaac Felipe Azofeifa (11 April 1909 – 3 April 1997) was a Costa Rican poet, politician and educator.
Azofeifa is considered one of the most important Costa Rican poets of the twentieth century.

Elna Kimmestad (30 July 1918 – 21 March 1997) was a Norwegian actress.
She was born in Kristiania (now Oslo), Norway. She made her stage debut in the play Erasmus Montanus at Trøndelag Teater in 1942. She worked at Den Nationale Scene from 1944 to 1945, at Trøndelag Teater again from 1945 to 1948, at Den Nationale Scene from 1948 to 1951, Rogaland Teater from 1951 to 1952, Riksteatret from 1952 to 1953, Trøndelag Teater again from 1953 to 1969 and then the National Theatre from 1969. Her specialty was comedy. She also appeared on the screen. She was married to actor Kjell Stormoen (1921–2010) from 1945 and was the mother of actress Even Stormoen.

Jon Lennart Mjøen (22 October 1912 – 3 January 1997) was a Norwegian actor, film director and screenwriter. He appeared in twelve films between 1936 and 1968. His film Stevnemøte med glemte år was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.
Mjøen was primarily a stage actor and debuted at the Søilen Theater in 1933. He was employed at the New Theater from 1936 to 1937, then at the Trøndelag Theater until 1938, then the Centralteatret until 1959 (except some of the war years) and at the Oslo Nye Teater until 1967. He worked for some time after this freelance, although he made his last film, De ukjentes marked, in 1968.

Gabriel Cattand (29 November 1923 – 9 August 1997) was a French actor. He appeared in 108 films and television shows between 1950 and 1997. He starred in the 1969 film Klann – grand guignol, which was entered into the 20th Berlin International Film Festival.

Heberto Castillo Martínez (August 23, 1928 – April 5, 1997) was a Mexican civil engineer and political activist.Castillo was born in Ixhuatlán de Madero, Veracruz, and received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the National Autonomous University. An accomplished engineer, he taught several courses at the UNAM and at the National Polytechnic Institute, wrote several textbooks and invented the tridilosa.
He became a political activist and got involved in several workers' rights struggles, leading to imprisonment by the federal government in the infamous Lecumberri Penitentiary. Castillo was one of the first among leading left-wing politicians to express dismay at the dictatorial nature of Soviet-bloc governments, starting a movement towards a social democracy-based left wing and away from a Moscow-based left leaning opposition in Mexico.
During his lifetime he co-founded three political parties: the Mexican Workers' Party (Partido Mexicano de los Trabajadores, PMT), the Mexican Socialist Party (Partido Mexicano Socialista, PMS) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD). In his last years in politics he became a staunch critic of the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas and, crucially, voluntarily withdrew from the presidential race in 1988 to support the unified candidacy of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas.
He died on April 5, 1997 at the age of 68, in Mexico City and received the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor (postmortem) that same year.

Fabián Dobles Rodríguez (January 17, 1918 – March 22, 1997) was a Costa Rican writer and left-wing political activist. An author of novels, short stories, poems, and essays, he earned international recognition as an author dealing with the plight of the poor and with social protest. Dobles is considered one of the most important writers in what critics have identified as the "'40s generation" (Generación del 40) of Costa Rican literature. He was also an active militant in the Communist Party of Costa Rica.