The following is a list of notable deaths in January 1987.
Entries for each day are listed alphabetically by surname. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:
Name, age, country of citizenship at birth, subsequent country of citizenship (if applicable), reason for notability, cause of death (if known), and reference.
January
1
- January 1 – Antonio Altomonte , Italian writer and journalist (b. 1934 )
- January 1 – Mario Scanu , Italian singer (b. 1910 )
- January 1 – Gustavo Teixeira , Portuguese footballer (b. 1908 )
- January 2 – Samarandra Chatterjee , Indian water polo player (b. 1922 )
- January 2 – Hazel Daly , American actress (b. 1895 )
- January 2 – Arthur Gould-Porter , English actor (b. 1905 )
- January 2 – Armando Silli , Italian chess player (b. 1917 )
- January 2 – Jean de Gribaldy , French road racing cyclist and sports executive (b. 1922 )
- January 3 – Massimo Grillandi , Italian writer, teacher and poet (b. 1921 )
- January 3 – Rodolfo Kuhn , Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer (b. 1934 )
- January 4 – Grace Williams , American actress (b. 1894 )
- January 5 – Lodovico Maschiella , Italian politician and journalist (b. 1923 )
- January 5 – Geoffrey Mason , US bobsledder (b. 1902 )
- January 5 – Ambrogio Portalupi , Italian road bicycle racer (b. 1943 )
- January 5 – Frank Stack , Canadian ice speed skater (b. 1906 )
- January 6 – João Gaspar Simões , Portuguese literary critic, essayist and writer (b. 1903 )
- January 7 – Jesús Narro , Spanish footballer (b. 1922 )
- January 7 – Guido Venegoni , Italian politician, trade unionist and partisan (b. 1919 )
- January 8 – Giovanni Ghio , Italian footballer (b. 1901 )
- January 8 – Eric M. Hassberg , US chess composer (b. 1918 )
- January 8 – Ezio Mutti , Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1906 )
- January 8 – Gualtiero Zanetti , Italian journalist (b. 1922 )
- January 9 – Arthur Lake , American actor (b. 1905 )
- January 10 – Håkan Malmrot , Swedish swimmer (b. 1900 )
- January 10 – Arnaldo Rivera , Italian lecturer, entrepreneur and partisan (b. 1919 )
- January 10 – Alfredo Zazo , Italian lawyer, geographer and lecturer (b. 1888 )
11
- January 11 – Jacques Hérold , Romanian painter (b. 1910 )
- January 11 – Sergei Kurilov , Soviet actor (b. 1914 )
- January 12 – Giuseppe Asquini , Italian politician (b. 1901 )
- January 12 – André Tassin , French footballer (b. 1902 )
- January 12 – Ernesto Valentini , Italian psychologist and Jesuit (b. 1907 )
- January 13 – Vladimir Alekseevič Alatorcev , Soviet chess player (b. 1909 )
- January 13 – Igor Vladimirovich Ilyinsky , Soviet actor and director (b. 1901 )
- January 13 – Solita Salgado , Colombian aviator and swimmer (b. 1914 )
- January 13 – Ettore Zini , Italian soccer manager and footballer (b. 1907 )
- January 13 – Anatoly Vasilyevich Ėfros , Soviet film director (b. 1925 )
- January 14 – Lajos Godán , Hungarian footballer (b. 1952 )
- January 14 – Douglas Sirk , German film director (b. 1897 )
- January 14 – Giusto Tolloy , Italian soldier, partisan and politician (b. 1907 )
- January 15 – Ray Bolger , American actor (b. 1904 )
- January 15 – Mark Borisovich Mitin , Soviet philosopher (b. 1901 )
- January 15 – Aníbal Muñoz Duque , Colombian Catholic cardinal and archbishop (b. 1908 )
- January 16 – Tommaso Giglio , Italian journalist, poet and translator (b. 1923 )
- January 16 – Rolando Hammer , Chilean basketball player (b. 1921 )
- January 16 – Joyce Jameson , American actress (b. 1932 )
- January 16 – María Dhialma Tiberti , Argentine writer (b. 1928 )
- January 16 – Earl Wilson , American journalist and author (b. 1907 )
- January 17 – Mario Checcacci , Italian rower (b. 1910 )
- January 17 – Hugo Fregonese , Argentine film director, screenwriter and journalist (b. 1908 )
- January 17 – Gu Zhutong , Chinese general and politician (b. 1893 )
- January 17 – Aldo Perani , Italian footballer (b. 1907 )
- January 17 – Giuseppe Spinelli , Italian politician (b. 1908 )
- January 18 – Renato Guttuso , Italian painter and politician (b. 1911 )
- January 19 – Agnellus Andrew , Scottish Catholic bishop (b. 1908 )
- January 19 – Josef Henselmann , German sculptor (b. 1898 )
- January 19 – Michelangelo Iorio , Italian politician (b. 1906 )
- January 19 – Harry Keller , American film director, editor and producer (b. 1913 )
- January 19 – Lawrence Kohlberg , American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1927 )
21
- January 21 – Arrigo Giacomo Camosso , Italian lyricist (b. 1908 )
- January 21 – Ikki Kajiwara , Japanese cartoonist (b. 1936 )
- January 22 – Georges Buchard , French fencer (b. 1893 )
- January 22 – Budd Dwyer , US politician (b. 1939 )
- January 22 – Fabio Metelli , Italian psychologist (b. 1907 )
- January 23 – Neo Chwee Kok , Singaporean swimmer (b. 1931 )
- January 23 – Bernhardt J. Hurwood , US writer (b. 1926 )
- January 24 – Tetsuji Murakami , Japanese karateka (b. 1927 )
- January 25 – Asim Ferhatović , Yugoslav footballer (b. 1933 )
- January 25 – Sven Lindqvist , Swedish footballer (b. 1903 )
- January 25 – Mihrişah Sultan , Ottoman princess (b. 1916 )
- January 25 – Piero Vida , Italian actor (b. 1938 )
- January 26 – Charles Wolcott , US composer (b. 1906 )
- January 27 – Norman McLaren , Scottish film director (b. 1914 )
- January 28 – Galo Plaza , Ecuadorian politician (b. 1906 )
- January 28 – Conrado Portas , Spanish footballer (b. 1901 )
- January 29 – Renato Barneschi , Italian writer and journalist (b. 1928 )
- January 29 – Carlo Cassola , Italian writer, essayist and partisan (b. 1917 )
- January 29 – Emvin Cremona , Maltese artist (b. 1919 )
- January 29 – Jan Hartong , Dutch chess composer (b. 1902 )
- January 29 – Vincent Impellitteri , Italian politician (b. 1900 )
- January 29 – Gerhard Klopfer , German politician (b. 1905 )
- January 29 – Cosimo Luigi Miccoli , Italian military (b. 1959 )
- January 29 – Pilar of Bavaria , German princess (b. 1891 )
- January 29 – Hiroaki Zakoji , Japanese composer (b. 1958 )
- January 30 – Cesare Bonacossa , Italian publisher and journalist (b. 1914 )
- January 30 – Osvaldo Cagnasso , Italian politician and anti-fascist (b. 1901 )
- January 30 – Giuseppe Ferraris , Italian politician (b. 1903 )
- January 30 – Giovanni Battista Semino , Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1912 )
- January 31 – Yves Allégret , French director and screenwriter (b. 1905 )