1985

This article is about the year. For other uses, see 1985 (disambiguation).

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
Years:	1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988

Template:C20YearInTopicX Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). The year 1985 was declared International Youth Year by the United Nations. Template:C20YearTOCtempleton

Events of 1985

January

• January 15 - Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule.
• January 17 - British Telecom announces it is going to phase out its famous red telephone boxes.
• January 20 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan is privately sworn in for a second term in office (publicly sworn in, January 21).
• January 20 - The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, California.
• January 28 - In Hollywood, California, the charity single "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa.

February

• February 1 - AM stereo broadcasting starts in Australia.
• February 5 - Australia cancels its involvement in U.S.-led MX missile tests.
• February 9 - U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena is kidnapped and murdered in Mexico (his body is discovered March 5).
• February 10 - Nelson Mandela rejects an offer of freedom from the South African government.
• February 11 - Pakistani bowler Wasim Akram takes 10 wickets in his second Test cricket match, but New Zealand still wins.
• February 14 - CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is freed from captivity in Lebanon.
• February 16 - Israel begins withdrawing troops from Lebanon.
• February 19 - William J. Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart patient to leave the hospital.
• February 19 - The China Airlines Flight 006 incident occurs.
• February 28 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.

March

• March 4 - The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS, used since then to screen all blood donations in the United States.
• March 6 - Mike Tyson makes his professional debut in Albany, New York, a match which he wins by a first round knockout.
• March 8 - A car bomb planted in Beirut by CIA mercenaries attempted to kill the Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah and kills more than 80 people, injures 200.
• March 11 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and de facto leader of the Soviet Union.
• March 11 - Mohammed Al Fayed buys the London-based department store company Harrods.
• March 14 - Five lionesses at the Singapore Zoo are put on birth control after the lion population increases from 2 to 16.
• March 15 - Vice-president Jose Sarney took oath as the first civilian president of Brazil in 21 years, as the elected president Tancredo Neves had become severely ill on the day before.
• March 16 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is eventually released on December 4, 1991.
• March 24 - Norwich City win the English League Cup at Wembley Stadium, beating Sunderland 1-0 in the final.
• March 25 - The 57th Academy Awards are held at in Los Angeles, California with Amadeus winning Best Picture.
• March 31 - WrestleMania debuts at Madison Square Garden

April

• April 1 - Two Japanese government-owned corporations, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, are privatized and changed their names to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Japan Tobacco
• April 11 - USS Coral Sea collides with the Equadorian tanker ship Napo off the coast of Cuba.
• April 15 - South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriages.
• April 18 - United Kingdom has its first ever national Glow-worm day.
• April 19 - The U.S.S.R performs a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan.
• April 21 - Brazilian President Tancredo Neves dies, he is succeeded by Jose Sarney.
• April 23 - Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. (The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than 3 months.)
• April 28 - The Australian Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) splits.

May

• May 4 - The 30th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• May 5 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan joins German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for a controversial funeral service at a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany, which includes the graves of 59 elite S.S. troops from World War II.
• May 11 - The FBI brings charges against the suspected heads of the 5 Mafia families in New York City.
• May 11 - Fire engulfs a wooden stand in the Valley Parade stadium in Bradford, England during a football match, killing 56.
• May 13 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Mayor Wilson Goode orders police to storm the radical group MOVE's headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 61 city residents in the resulting fire.
• May 15 - An explosive device sent by the Unabomber injures John Hauser at UC Berkeley.
• May 23 - Thomas Patrick Cavanagh is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to sell stealth bomber secrets to the Soviet Union.
• May 25 - Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
• May 29 - Heysel Disaster: 38 spectators are killed in rioting on the terraces during the European Cup final between Liverpool F.C. and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium.
• May 31 - Forty-one tornadoes hit in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.

June

• June 13 - In Auburn, Washington, police defuse a Unabomber bomb sent to Boeing.
• June 14 - TWA Flight 847, carrying 153 passengers from Athens to Rome, is hijacked by a Hezbollah fringe group. One passenger, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Stethem, is killed.
• June 17 - John Hendricks launches the Discovery Channel in the United States.
• June 23 - Air India Flight 182, a Boeing 747, blows up 31,000 feet (9,500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, south of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
• June 24 - STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery completed its mission, best remembered for having Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a Payload Specialist.
• June 25 - Irish police foil an Irish Republican Army-sponsored 'mainland bombing campaign' which targeted luxury vacationing resorts, arresting 13 suspects.
• June 26 - Walt Disney World Resort Monorail Gold catches fire on the EPCOT beam around 9:00pm due to friction from a flat tire.
• June 27 - Route 66 is officially decommissioned.
• Tetris was released

July

• July 4 - Ruth Lawrence, 13, achieves a first in mathematics at Oxford University, becoming the youngest British person ever to earn a first-class degree and the youngest known graduate of Oxford University.
• July 6 - Brice Derry was born in Buffalo, NY.
• July 10 - The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents.
• July 13 - Live Aid pop concerts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and London raise over £50 million for famine relief in Ethiopia.
• July 13 - U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush served as Acting President for eight hours, while President Ronald W. Reagan underwent colon cancer surgery.
• July 19 - U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush announces that New Hampshire teacher Christa McAuliffe will become the first schoolteacher to ride aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger.
• July 19 - The Val di Stava Dam in Italy collapses.
• July 20 - The main ship wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha (which sank in 1622) is found 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida by treasure hunters who begin to excavate $400 million in coins and silver.
• July 24 - Commodore launches the Amiga personal computer at the Lincoln Center in New York.

August

• August 2 - Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashes near Dallas, Texas, killing 137 people.
• August 4 - Major League Baseball player Rod Carew of the Anaheim Angels becomes the 16th player to achieve 3,000 hits in a career.
• August 6 - In Hiroshima, tens of thousands mark the 40th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.
• August 7 - Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
• August 12 - Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people: the worst single-aircraft disaster in history.

September

• September 1 - A joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
• September 5 - John Howard replaces Andrew Peacock as Australian Federal Opposition Leader.
• September 6 - Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9, crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.
• September 19 - An 8.1 Richter scale earthquake strikes Mexico City. More than 9,000 people are killed, 30,000 injured, and 95,000 left homeless.
• September 22 - Plaza Accord was signed by five nations.
• September 28 - The shooting of Dorothy 'Cherry' Groce by the Metropolitan Police sparks race riots in Brixton, an area of South London, England.
• September 29 - MacGyver Pilot episode aired on the ABC network.

October

• October 1 - The Israeli air force bombs PLO Headquarters near Tunis.
• October 4 - The Free Software Foundation is founded in Massachusetts, USA.
• October 7 - The cruise ship Achille Lauro is hijacked in the Mediterranean Sea by 4 heavily armed Palestinian terrorists. One passenger, American Leon Klinghoffer, is killed.
• October 18 - The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in US stores.

November

• November 5 - Mark Kaylor defeats Errol Christie to become middleweight boxing champion after the two brawled in front of the cameras at the weigh-in.
• November 13 - Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts, killing an estimated 23,000 people, including 21,000 killed by lahars in the town of Armero, Colombia.
• November 15 - In separate events, mail bombs kill two people in Salt Lake City, Utah; a third bomb explodes the next day, injuring career counterfeiter Mark Hoffman. The ensuing police investigation leads to the arrest of Hoffman for the two murders.
• November 18 - Comic strip Calvin and Hobbes Debuts in 35 newspapers
• November 19 - Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
• November 20 - Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0.
• November 23 - EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacked by Abu Nidal group, flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.
• November 26 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan sells the rights to his autobiography to Random House for a record US$3 million.
• November 29 - Gerard Hoarau, exiled political leader from the Seychelles, is assassinated in London.

December

• December 1 - The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable are released for sale to the public.
• December 12 - Arrow Air Flight 1285, a Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing 256, 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning to Fort Campbell, Kentucky from overseeing a peacekeeping force in Sinai.
• December 16 - In New York City, Mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead in front of Spark's Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family. During the shootout Andrew Bearse was born in the middle of the street. His mother was hit by a stray bullet which forced her into early labor. He survived and currently resides in Detroit, Michigan.
• December 24 - Right wing extremist David Lewis Rice murders civil rights attorney Charles Goldmark as well as Goldmark's wife and 2 children in Seattle. Rice suspected the family of being Jewish and Communist and claimed his dedication to the Christian Identity movement drove him to the crime.
• December 27 - Rome and Vienna airport attacks: Abu Nidal terrorists open fire in the airports of Rome and Vienna, leaving 18 dead and 120 injured.
• December 27 - American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.
• December 31 - The last issue of The Columbus Citizen-Journal is circulated.

Undated

• The Australian state of Victoria celebrates its 150th anniversary.
• Capital gains tax introduced to Australia.
• Buckyballs discovered by Harold Kroto, Robert Curl and Richard Smalley.
• GNU Manifesto first written by Richard Stallman.
• Western Sahara is admitted to the Organization of African Unity; Morocco, which claims Western Sahara, leaves in protest.
• Solarquest, space age real estate game, first published by Golden.
• Norma Phillips Thornworth elected president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
• ATI Technologies is founded.
• NeXT is founded by Steve Jobs after resigning from Apple Computer.
• Tommy Hilfiger brand established
• Tetris released
• DNA is first used in a criminal case
• Greenland leaves the European Union.
• Multiple cases of espionage in the United States prompts media to label this "The Year of the Spy"

Ongoing

The Cold War

Fictional

The following are references to year 1985 in fiction:

• Film:

• In the Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990), the present time is 1985. The events depicted in 1985 occur on October 25th, 26th and 27th of that year, which the films accurately portray as a Friday and the following weekend.
• The Wedding Singer (1998) is set in 1985.

• Literature:

• The Third World War, August 1985 (1978) and The Third World War: The Untold Story (1982) by Sir John Hackett: The Soviet Union invades Western Europe over three weeks in August.
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde is set in an alternate-reality 1985.

• Computer/video games:

• Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (2001)

World population

World population
	1985	1980		1990
World	4,830,979,000	4,434,682,000	396,297,000	5,263,593,000	432,614,000
Africa	541,814,000	469,618,000	72,196,000	622,443,000	80,629,000
Asia	2,887,552,000	2,632,335,000	255,217,000	3,167,807,000	280,255,000
Europe	706,009,000	692,431,000	13,578,000	721,582,000	15,573,000
Latin America	401,469,000	361,401,000	40,068,000	441,525,000	40,056,000
Northern America	269,456,000	256,068,000	13,388,000	283,549,000	14,093,000
Oceania	24,678,000	22,828,000	1,850,000	26,687,000	2,009,000

Births

1985 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1985 MCMLXXXV
Ab urbe condita	2738
Armenian calendar	1434 ԹՎ ՌՆԼԴ
Assyrian calendar	6735
Baháʼí calendar	141–142
Balinese saka calendar	1906–1907
Bengali calendar	1392
Berber calendar	2935
British Regnal year	33 Eliz. 2 – 34 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2529
Burmese calendar	1347
Byzantine calendar	7493–7494
Chinese calendar	甲子年 (Wood Rat) 4682 or 4475     — to — 乙丑年 (Wood Ox) 4683 or 4476
Coptic calendar	1701–1702
Discordian calendar	3151
Ethiopian calendar	1977–1978
Hebrew calendar	5745–5746
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2041–2042
- Shaka Samvat	1906–1907
- Kali Yuga	5085–5086
Holocene calendar	11985
Igbo calendar	985–986
Iranian calendar	1363–1364
Islamic calendar	1405–1406
Japanese calendar	Shōwa 60 (昭和６０年)
Javanese calendar	1917–1918
Juche calendar	74
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4318
Minguo calendar	ROC 74 民國74年
Nanakshahi calendar	517
Thai solar calendar	2528
Tibetan calendar	阳木鼠年 (male Wood-Rat) 2111 or 1730 or 958     — to — 阴木牛年 (female Wood-Ox) 2112 or 1731 or 959
Unix time	473385600 – 504921599

January-March

• January 1 - Deivson Rogerio da Silva, Brazilian footballer who plays for Beşiktaş J.K.
• January 1 - Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
• January 2 - Heather O'Reilly, US Women's national soccer player
• January 3 - John David Booty, American football quarterback, USC
• January 4 - Al Jefferson, National Basketball Assoiciation player
• January 7 - Lewis Hamilton, British Formula 1 Driver
• January 11 - Rie fu, Japanese singer and songwriter
• January 17 - Simone Simons, Dutch singer
• January 17 - Kang-In, Korean singer, member of Super Junior
• January 19 - Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer and host of television and radio programs
• January 23 - Doutzen Kroes, Dutch supermodel
• February 1 - Dean Shiels, Northern Irish footballer
• February 2 - Fontel Mines, National Football League tight end
• February 4 - Bug Hall, American actor
• February 5 - Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
• February 5 - Laurence Maroney, National Football League runningback
• February 6 - Joji Kato, Japanese speedskater
• February 7 - Tina Majorino, American actress
• February 9 - David Gallagher, American actor
• February 9 - Rachel Melvin, American actress
• February 10 - Anette Sagen, Norwegian ski jumper
• February 14 - Miki Yeung, actress and singer from Hong Kong
• February 14 - Natsume Sano, Japanese gravure idol
• February 18 - Lee Boyd Malvo, American serial killer
• February 18 - Todd Lasance, Australian actor
• February 19 - Haylie Duff, American actress and singer
• February 20 - Yulia Volkova, Russian singer
• February 22 - Hameur Bouazza, Fulham F.C. footballer
• February 25 - Benji Marshall, Australian NRL player
• February 25 - Joakim Noah, American basketball player
• February 26 - Miki Fujimoto, Japanese singer
• February 28 - FeFe Dobson, Canadian singer
• February 28 - Jelena Janković, Serbian tennis player
• February 28 - Diego Ribas da Cunha Brazilian soccer player
• March 2 - Reggie Bush, American football player
• March 3 - Sam Morrow, Northern Irish footballer
• March 8 - Ewa Sonnet, Polish model
• March 9 - Brent Burns, Canadian hockey player
• March 10 - Lassana Diarra, French footballer
• March 10 - Nathalie Kelley, Australian actress
• March 11 - Paul Bissonnette, Canadian hockey player
• March 11 - Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Australian soccer player
• March 13 - Emile Hirsch, American actor
• March 15 - Antti Autti, Finnish snowboarder
• March 19 - Ernesto Viso, Venezuelan race car driver
• March 21 - Adrian L. Peterson, American football player
• March 24 - Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and model
• March 25 - Carmen Rasmusen, American singer
• March 26 - Keira Knightley, English actress
• March 26 - Jonathan Groff, American actor, singer, and dancer
• March 27 - Danny Vukovic, Australian Footballer

April-June

• April 3 - Leona Lewis, English singer
• April 9 - Tomohisa Yamashita Japanese singer
• April 10 - Dion Phaneuf NHL hockey player
• April 12 - Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer,actor
• April 16 - Benjamin Rojas, Argentine famous singer
• April 18 - Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
• April 26 - Nam Gyu-Ri, Korean singer, member of See Ya
• April 30 - Ashley Alexandra Dupree, Prostitute,R & B Singer songwriter
• May 2 - Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
• May 2- Kyle Busch, American race car driver
• May 2 - Lily Allen, British singer
• May 6 - Chris Paul, American basketball player
• May 9 - Neha Bamb, Indian Actress
• May 12 - Dániel Tőzsér, Hungarian footballer
• May 14 - Sally Martin, New Zealand actress
• May 15 - Derek Hough, American dancer and choreographer
• May 15 - Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
• May 21 - Mutya Buena, British Singer and Songwritter (ex-Sugababes)
• May 22 - Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Canadian ice hockey player
• May 25 - Luciana Abreu, Portuguese singer and actress
• May 27 - Chien-Ming Chiang, Taiwanese baseball player
• May 28 - Colbie Caillat, American acoustic-folk singer-songwriter
• May 30 - Turk McBride, National Football League player
• June 1 - Prince Christian of Hanover, son of Prince Ernst of Hanover
• June 1 - Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopian long distance track athlete
• June 4 - Ana Carolina Reston, Brazilian fashion model (d.2006)
• June 7 - Charlie Simpson, English musician (Fightstar)
• June 9 - Sebastian Telfair, American basketball player
• June 12 - Tasha-Ray Evin, Canadian singer/guitarist (Lillix)
• June 12 - Blake Ross, American software developer
• June 12 - Kendra Wilkinson, American model
• June 13 - Danny Syvret, Canadian ice hockey player
• June 15 - Nadine Coyle, Irish singer (Girls Aloud)
• June 17 - Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player
• June 24 - Yukina Shirakawa, Japanese gravure idol
• June 26 - Urgyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader
• June 27 - Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russian tennis player
• June 27 - Nico Rosberg, German Formula One driver
• June 28 - Phil Bardsley, English footballer
• June 30 - Michael Phelps, American swimmer

July-September

• July 2 - Ashley Tisdale, American actress
• July 5 - Stephanie McIntosh, Australian actress (Neighbours)
• July 5 - Nick O'Malley, British musician (Arctic Monkeys)
• July 9 - Paweł Korzeniowski, Polish swimmer
• July 9 - Cathy Leung, Hong Kong singer
• July 12 - Emil Hegle Svendsen, Norwegian biathlete
• July 13- Guillermo Ochoa, Mexican footballer
• July 17 - Tom Fletcher, British musician (McFly)
• July 18 - Chace Crawford, American actor
• July 22 - Takudzwa Ngwenya, American rugby player
• July 23 - Scott Chandler, NAtional Football League tight end
• July 24 - Teagan Presley, American porn star
• July 25 - James Lafferty, American actor and athlete
• July 25 - Nelson Angelo Piquet, Brazilian Formula One driver
• July 28 - Dustin Milligan, Canadian actor
• August 3 - Sonny Bill Williams Rugby League player
• August 5 - Salomon Kalou, Ivory Coast footballer
• August 9 - Hayley Peirsol, American swimmer
• August 14 - Ashlynn Brooke, American pornographic actress
• August 27 - Alexandra Nechita, American artist
• August 29 - Jeffrey Licon, American actor
• September 11 - Jake Cole, English footballer
• September 14 - Aya Ueto, Japanese actress
• September 16 - Madeline Zima, American actress
• September 17 - Alexander Ovechkin, Russian hockey player
• September 21 - Maryam Hassouni, Dutch actress
• September 23 - Maki Goto, Japanese singer and actress
• September 28 - Shindong, Korean singer, member of Super Junior
• September 30 - T-Pain, American rapper/singer

October-December

• October 5 - Nicola Roberts, British singer (Girls Aloud)
• October 7 - Evan Longoria, professional baseball player
• October 8 - Kimberly Kevon Williams, American actress
• October 10 - Dominique Cornu, Belgian professional cyclist
• October 10 -Ricki-Lee Coulter, former Australian Idol contestant and singer
• October 10 -Aaron Himelstein, American actor
• October 11 - Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress
• October 14 - Sherlyn, Mexican actress
• October 14 - Daniel Clark, Canadian actor
• October 18 - Lindsey Kildow, American alpine skier
• October 20 - Jennifer Freeman, American actress
• October 22 - Zac Hanson, American musician
• October 24 - Wayne Rooney, English footballer
• October 25 - Ciara, American singer
• November 3 - Tyler Hansbrough, American basketball player
• November 5 - Kate DeAraugo, Australian Idol 2005
• November 8 - Jack Osbourne, English television personality
• November 10 - Giovonnie Samuels, American actress
• November 11 - Kalan Porter, Canadian singer
• November 11 - Raquel Guerra, Portuguese singer and actress
• November 11 - Robin Uthappa, Indian cricketer
• November 13 - Simo-Pekka Olli, Finnish volleyball player
• November 23 - Ahn Hyun-Soo, South Korean short track skater
• November 27 - Alison Pill, Canadian actress
• November 28 - Ryan Sampson, British actor
• November 30 - Kaley Cuoco, American actress
• December 3 - Amanda Seyfried, American actress
• December 3 - László Cseh, Hungarian swimmer
• December 5 - Frankie Muniz, American actor
• December 6 - Dulce María, Mexican actress
• December 8 - Dwight Howard, American basketball player
• December 10 - Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer
• December 14 - Nonami Takizawa, Japanese actress
• December 19 - Lady Sovereign, British rapper
• December 21 - James Stewart Jr., American motorcycle racer
• December 23 - Harry Judd, English drummer (McFly)
• December 23 - Luke O'Loughlin, Australian actor

Unknown dates

• Britt Nicole (Brittany Nicole Waddell), Christian rock artist.

Deaths

January-March

• January 4 - Sir Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
• February 8 - Marvin Miller, American actor (b. 1913)
• February 20 - Clarence Nash, American actor (b. 1904)

• March 10 - Konstantin Chernenko, Soviet politician (b. 1911)
• March 12 - Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian conductor (b. 1899)
• March 21 - Sir Michael Redgrave, English actor (b. 1908)
• March 28 - Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (b. 1887)
• March 29 - Jeanine Deckers, Belgian nun and singer (b. 1933)

April-June

• April 8 - J. Fred Coots, American songwriter (b. 1897)
• April 11 - Enver Hoxha, Albanian dictator (b. 1908)
• April 21 - Tancredo Neves, Brazilian elected president (b. 1910)
• April 22 - Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (b. 1900)
• April 30 - George Pravda, Czechoslovakian actor (b. 1918)
• May 4 - Clarence Wiseman, the 10th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1907)
• May 5 - Sir Donald Bailey, British civil engineer (b. 1901)
• May 6 - Julie Vega, Filipino child actress and singer (b. 1968)
• May 8 - Theodore Sturgeon, American writer (b. 1918)
• May 9 - Edmond O'Brien, American actor (b. 1915)
• May 10 - Chester Gould, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
• May 12 - Jean Dubuffet, French artist (b. 1901)
• May 16 - Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
• May 17 - Abe Burrows, American songwriter, composer, and writer (b. 1910)
• May 22 - Wolfgang Reitherman, American animator (b. 1909)

• June 11 - Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (b. 1954)
• June 12 - Hua Luogeng, Chinese mathematician (b. 1910)
• June 15 - Andy Stanfield, American athlete (b. 1927)

July-September

• July 2 - David Purley, British race car driver (b. 1945)
• July 9 - Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
• July 16 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
• July 19 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish writer (b. 1938)
• July 27 - John Scarne, American magician and card expert (b. 1903)
• August 6 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923)
• August 12 - Manfred Winkelhock, German race car driver (b. 1951)
• August 12 - Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer, well known by his most famous song, "Sukiyaki", killed in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123 (b. 1941)
• August 14 - Gale Sondergaard, American actor (b. 1899)
• August 25 - Samantha Smith, American schoolgirl activist (b. 1972)
• August 31 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1899)
• September 1 - Stefan Bellof, race car driver and 1984 World SportsCars (Group C) Champion (b. 1957)
• September 6 - Isabel Cox-Meighen, wife of Canadian prime minister Arthur Meighen (b. 1882)
• September 6 - Little Brother Montgomery, American musician
• September 7 - Rodney Robert Porter, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1917)
• September 8 - John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1887)
• September 9 - Paul Flory, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
• September 11 - William Alwyn, English composer (b. 1905)
• September 17 - Laura Ashley, Welsh designer (b. 1925)
• September 19 - Italo Calvino, Italian writer (b. 1923)

October-December

• October 1 - E.B. White, American writer (b. 1899)
• October 2 - Rock Hudson, American actor (b. 1925)
• October 2 - George Savalas, American actor, brother of Telly Savalas (b. 1924)
• October 6 - Nelson Riddle, American bandleader (b. 1921)
• October 10 - Yul Brynner, American actor (b. 1920)
• October 10 - Orson Welles, American film director (b. 1915)
• October 12 - Johnny Olson, American game show announcer (b. 1910)
• October 22 - Thomas Townsend Brown, American scientist (b. 1905)
• October 31 - Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor (b. 1913)
• November 1 - Quick Draw Rick McGraw, American professional wrestler (b. 1955)
• November 5 - Spencer W. Kimball, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1895)
• November 5 - Arnold Chikobava, Georgian linguist (b. 1898)
• November 13 - William Pereira, American architect (b. 1909)
• November 13 - George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (b. 1898)
• November 24 - Big Joe Turner, American blues singer (b. 1911)
• December 7 - Robert Graves, English writer (b. 1895)
• December 12 - Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
• December 15 - Carlos Romulo, Filipino diplomat (b. 1899)
• December 12 - Ian Stewart, Scottish rock musician (b. 1938)
• December 22 - D. Boon, American singer and guitarist (b. 1958)
• December 23 - Ferhat Abbas, Algerian nationalist (b. 1899)
• December 26 - Dian Fossey, American biologist (b. 1932)
• December 31 - Ricky Nelson, American singer and actor (b. 1940)

Environmental

• Asian tiger mosquito, an invasive species is first found in Houston, Texas.
• November 13 - The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts in Colombia, killing an estimated 23,000 people.
• Famine in Ethiopia continues; USA for Africa ("We Are the World") and Live Aid raise funds for famine relief.

Nobel prizes

• Physics - Klaus von Klitzing
• Chemistry - Herbert A. Hauptman, Jerome Karle
• Literature - Claude Simon
• Peace - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
• Economics - Franco Modigliani
• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Michael S. Brown, Joseph L. Goldstein

Templeton Prize

• Sir Alister Hardy

Right Livelihood Award

• Theo van Boven, Cary Fowler / Pat Mooney / Rural Advancement Fund International, Lokayan / Rajni Kothari and Duna Kör

See also

• 20th century