1997 deaths

Bernard Chevallier (4 October 1912 – 6 April 1997 was a French equestrian and Olympic champion. He won an individual gold medal in eventing at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.

James Couttet (6 July 1921 – 13 November 1997) was a French alpine skier and ski jumper. As an alpine skier he competed at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and won two medals in 1948: a silver in the slalom and a bronze in the combined event. As a ski jumper he placed 25th in the normal hill at the 1948 Games. Couttet won a full set of medals at the world championships: a gold in 1938 and a silver and bronze in 1950. He retired in 1955 to become a skiing coach and prepare the French alpine skiing team for the 1956 Winter Olympics. He later helped design and build ski lifts. He was married to Lucienne Schmidt-Couttet, a fellow alpine skier who competed at the 1948 Olympics.

William Procter Matthews III (November 11, 1942 – November 12, 1997) was an American poet and essayist.

Robert Benjamin Leighton (; September 10, 1919 – March 9, 1997) was a prominent American experimental physicist who spent his professional career at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His work over the years spanned solid state physics, cosmic ray physics, the beginnings of modern particle physics, solar physics, the planets, infrared astronomy, and millimeter- and submillimeter-wave astronomy. In the latter four fields, his pioneering work opened up entirely new areas of research that subsequently developed into vigorous scientific communities.

René Huyghe (3 May 1906 – 5 February 1997) was a French writer on the history, psychology and philosophy of art. He was also a curator at the Louvre's department of paintings (from 1930), a professor at the Collège de France and from 1960 a member of the Académie Française. He was the father of the writer François-Bernard Huyghe.

George Chisholm OBE (29 March 1915 – 6 December 1997) was a Scottish jazz trombonist and vocalist.
In the late 1930s he moved to London, where he played in dance bands led by Bert Ambrose and Teddy Joyce. He later recorded with jazz musicians such as Coleman Hawkins, Fats Waller and Benny Carter during their visits to the UK.In 1940, during the Second World War, Chisholm signed on with the Royal Air Force and joined the RAF Dance Orchestra (known popularly as the Squadronaires), remaining in the band long after he was demobbed. He followed this with freelance work and a five-year stint with the BBC Showband (a forerunner of the BBC Radio Orchestra) and as a core member of Wally Stott's orchestra on BBC Radio's The Goon Show, for which he made several minor acting appearances, for example as 'Chisholm MacChisholm the Steaming Celt' in the 1956 episode 'The Macreekie Rising of '74'.
Chisholm had roles in the films The Mouse on the Moon (1963), The Knack ...and How to Get It (1965) and Superman III (1983). He was also part of the house band for the children's programmes Play School and Play Away. He also sang and was a storyteller on Play School occasionally.
During the 1980s Chisholm continued to play, despite undergoing heart surgery; working with his own band the Gentlemen of Jazz and Keith Smith's Hefty Jazz among others, and playing live with touring artists. He was appointed an OBE in 1984.In the mid-1990s, Chisholm retired from public life suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He died in December 1997, aged 82.

William MacArthur Mackenzie (27 March 1957 – 22 January 1997) was a Scottish singer and songwriter, known for his distinctive high tenor voice. He was the co-founder and lead vocalist of post-punk and new wave band the Associates. He also had a brief solo career releasing his debut studio album, Outernational, in 1992, his only solo album released during his lifetime.

Iain Campbell Mills (21 April 1940 – 16 January 1997) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.
Mills was born in Scotland but grew up in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and was educated at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He subsequently returned to Britain, where he worked as a Market Planning Executive for Dunlop, and helped design the tyres that Jackie Stewart won a World Drivers' Championship with. He married Gaynor Jeffries in 1971, and served as a councillor on Lichfield District Council from 1974 until 1976.
He entered the House of Commons at the 1979 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Meriden. He was a parliamentary private secretary to Norman Tebbit.On 16 January 1997, Mills was found dead from alcohol poisoning at his Dolphin Square flat, aged 56. This caused the government of John Major to lose its parliamentary majority.

Gordon James McMaster (13 February 1960 – 28 July 1997) was a Scottish politician and horticulturist.

Tina Lattanzi (born Annunziata Concetta Costantini; 5 December 1897 – 25 October 1997) was an Italian actress and voice actress.