Richard Lloyd Hoover (December 11, 1925 – April 12, 1981) was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Braves during the 1952 season. Listed at 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m), 170 lb., he batted and threw left-handed.
Sir William MacTaggart, (1903–1981) was a Scottish painter known for his landscapes of East Lothian, France, Norway and elsewhere. He is sometimes called William MacTaggart the Younger to distinguish him from his grandfather, the painter William McTaggart.
Hans Söhnker (11 October 1903 – 20 April 1981) was a German film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1933 and 1980. He was born in Kiel, Germany and died in West Berlin, West Germany.
Leonardo Sinisgalli (1908–1981) was an Italian poet and art critic active from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Sinisgalli was born in Montemurro, Basilicata. His early education and career led to him being called the "engineer poet".
In 1925, Sinisgalli moved to Rome where he studied engineering and mathematics. After completing his engineering degree in 1932, he moved to Milan where he worked as an architect and graphic artist. He was a close friend of the poet Giuseppe Ungaretti and painter Scipione. He worked at Milan for architecture and graphic design projects.
Sinisgalli's early collections such as Cuore (1927), 18 poesie (1936), Campi Elisi (1939) focused on themes from ancestral southern Italian myths. Later he explored a more relaxed style in I nuovi Campi Elisi (1947), La vigna vecchia (1952), L'età della luna (1962), Il passero e il lebbroso (1970), Mosche in bottiglia (1975) and Dimenticatoio (1978). He authored prose that analyzed the conflicts of existentialism and realism such as Fiori pari, fiori dispari (1945) and Belliboschi (1948). He also explored the scientific culture of the day in Furor mathematicus (1944) and Horror vacui (1945).
Sinisgalli founded and managed the magazine Civiltà delle Macchine (1953–1959), and was a member of the Scuola Romana. He also created two documentaries which consecutively won the Biennale di Venezia awards and edited radio broadcasting programmes.
He died in Rome in 1981.
Peter Paul Kreuder (18 August 1905 – 28 June 1981) was a German-Austrian pianist, composer and conductor.
Horace Clifford Westermann (December 11, 1922 – November 3, 1981) was an American sculptor and printmaker. His sculptures frequently incorporated traditional carpentry and marquetry techniques. From the late 1950s until his death in 1981, Westermann worked with a number of materials and formal devices to address a range of personal, literary, artistic, and pop-cultural references. The artist's sculptural oeuvre is distinguished by its intricate craftsmanship, in which wood, metal, glass, and other materials are laboriously hand-tooled, and by its ability to convey an offbeat, often humorous, individualistic sensibility.
Westermann's sculptures reveal not only the influence of craft traditions, but also of varied art historical precedents. The artist's ability to convey subtle and uncanny effects through the presentation of seemingly simple objects has often led critics to compare his work to that of Surrealist-inspired artists such as Joseph Cornell. However, Westermann's work encompasses elements from a broad and diverse range of artistic practices, including Assemblage, Dada, and Folk Art. His sculptures, moreover, point to minimal and post-minimal art of the late 1960s and beyond, in terms of their rigorous craftsmanship, formal sophistication, unconventional use of materials, and sense of humor.
Gabriel Hauge ( HOW-ghee; March 7, 1914 – July 24, 1981) was a prominent American bank executive and economist. Hauge served as assistant to the president for economic affairs during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Cecil Philip Taylor (6 November 1929 – 9 December 1981) usually credited as C. P. Taylor, was a Scottish playwright. He wrote almost 80 plays during his 16 years as a professional playwright, including several for radio and television. He also made a number of documentary programmes for the BBC. His plays tended to draw on his Jewish background and his Socialist Marxist viewpoint, and to be written in dialect.
Wiley William Manuel (August 28, 1927–January 5, 1981) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1977 to 1981 and the first African American to serve on the high court.
Allen Ellsworth Ludden (born Allen Packard Ellsworth; October 5, 1917 – June 9, 1981) was an American television personality, actor, singer, emcee, and game show host. He hosted various incarnations of the game show Password between 1961 and 1980.