Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1991.

1991 ( MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar in the 20th century. It was the second year of the 1990s, and is usually considered the final year of the Cold War that had began in the late 1940s. During the year, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed into fifteen sovereign republics. A U.N.-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations fought against Iraq, which had invaded Kuwait in the previous year, 1990. The conflict would be called the Gulf War. The year 1991 was the 1991st year of the Common Era, the 991st year of the 2nd millennium, the 91st year of the 20th century and 2nd in the 1990s.

The year number was a palindrome, the following being in 2002 and the preceding being 1881. Template:C20YearTOCship

Events of 1991

January

• January 4 – The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to condemn Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
• January 11 – Soviet forces storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence. January Events (Lithuania).
• January 12 – Gulf War: The Congress of the United States passes a resolution authorizing the use of military force to liberate Kuwait.
• January 13 – A fight and stampede at a pre-season exhibition match between South African football teams Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates in the town of Orkney near Johannesburg, South Africa leaves 42 dead.
• January 15 – The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
• January 16
  • U.S. serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
  • Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins with air strikes against Iraq.
• January 17
  • Gulf War: Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel.
  • Harald V of Norway becomes king on the death of his father, Olav V.
• January 18 – Eastern Air Lines shuts down after 62 years, citing financial problems.
• January 19
  • A SCUD attack on Tel Aviv injures 15 people.
  • The Party of the Alliance of Youth, Workers and Farmers of Angola is founded in Luanda, Angola.
• January 22
  • Three SCUDs and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, injuring 96 people; 3 elderly people die of heart attacks.
  • British Army SAS patrol, Bravo Two Zero is deployed in Iraq during the Gulf War. All but one of eight members are killed or captured.
• January 29 – Siad Barre is succeeded by Ali Mahdi Muhammad in Somalia.

February

• February 1 – A USAir Boeing 737-300, Flight 1493 collides with a SkyWest Airlines Fairchild Metroliner, Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport, killing 34.
• February 5 – A Michigan court bars Dr. Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
• February 7
  • Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
  • The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
  • Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Kuwait, thus starting the ground phase of the war.
• February 9 – Voters in Lithuania support independence.
• February 11 – UNPO, the Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organization, forms in The Hague, Netherlands.
• February 13 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided " smart bombs" destroy an underground bunker in Baghdad, killing hundreds of Iraqis. United States military intelligence claims it was a military facility but Iraqi officials identify it as a bomb shelter.
• February 15 – The Visegrad Agreement, establishing cooperation to move toward free-market systems, is signed by the leaders of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland.
• February 18 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes bombs in the early morning, at both Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
• February 22 – Gulf War: Iraq accepts a Russian-proposed cease fire agreement. The U.S. rejects the agreement, but says that retreating Iraqi forces will not be attacked if they leave Kuwait within 24 hours.
• February 23
  • The One Meridian Plaza fire in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania kills 3 firefighters and destroys 8 floors of the building.
  • In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong deposes Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan in a bloodless coup d'état.
• February 25 – Gulf War: Part of an Iraqi Scud missile hits an American military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 29 and injuring 99 U.S. soldiers. It is the single, most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war.
• February 26 – Gulf War: On Baghdad radio, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein announces the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields as they retreat.

March

• March–April – Iraqi forces suppress rebellions in the southern and northern parts of the country, creating a humanitarian disaster on the borders of Turkey and Iran.
• March 1
  • The ballistic missile submarine USS-ex-Sam Houston SSBN-609 is deactivated.
  • Clayton Keith Yeutter ends his term as United States Secretary of Agriculture.
• March 3
  • An amateur video captures the beating of motorist Rodney King by Los Angeles, California police officers.
  • Latvia and Estonia vote for independence from the Soviet Union.
  • United Airlines Flight 585 crashes in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing all 25 people on board.
• March 9 – Massive demonstrations are held against Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade; 2 people are killed and tanks are in the streets.
• March 10 – Gulf War – Operation Phase Echo: 540,000 American troops begin to leave the Persian Gulf.
• March 11 – A curfew is imposed on black townships in South Africa, after fighting between rival political gangs kills 49.
• March 13 – The United States Department of Justice announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
• March 14 – After 16 years in prison for allegedly bombing a public house in a Provisional Irish Republican Army attack, the " Birmingham Six" are freed when a court determines that the police fabricated evidence.
• March 15
  • Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3 beating of Rodney King during an arrest.
  • Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post- World War II occupying powers ( France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights.
• March 26
  • In Mali, military officers led by Amadou Toumani Touré arrest President Moussa Traoré and suspend the constitution.
  • Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing South Common Market ( Mercosur its acronym in Spanish)
• March 30 – Northern Michigan University wins the NCAA Division I title in hockey, 8–7 in the third overtime against Boston University.
• March 31
  • Albania holds its first multi-party elections.
  • Georgian independence referendum, 1991: Georgia votes for independence from the Soviet Union.

April

• April 1 – Comedy Central is launched in its current format.
• April 3 – Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.N. Security Council passes the Cease Fire Agreement, Resolution 687. The Resolution calls for the destruction or removal of all of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons, all stocks of agents and components, and all research, development, support and manufacturing facilities for ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150 km and production facilities; and for an end to its support for international terrorism. Iraq accepts the terms of the resolution on April 6.
• April 4
  • Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six other people are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.
  • William Kennedy Smith, a nephew of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, is identified as a suspect in an alleged Palm Beach, Florida sexual assault.
• April 5 – Former Senator John Tower and 22 others are killed in an airplane crash in Brunswick, Georgia, United States.
• April 9 – The Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
• April 10
  • A South Atlantic tropical cyclone develops in the Southern Hemisphere off the coast of Angola (the first of its kind to be documented by weather satellites).
  • The Italian ferry Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy killing 140.
• April 14 Ben Waistell sank the Titanic
• April 15 – Inauguration of the EBRD.
• April 17 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 for the first time ever, at 3,004.46.
• April 18 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq declares some of its chemical weapons and materials to the UN, as required by Resolution 687, and claims that it does not have a biological weapons program.
• April 22
  • The Social Democratic Party of Albania is founded.
  • A 7.6 earthquake kills 82 in Costa Rica and Panama.
• April 26 – 70 tornadoes break out in the central United States, killing 17. The most notable tornado of the day strikes Andover, Kansas.
• April 29 – A tropical cyclone hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 138,000 people.

May

• May 4 – Sweden wins the 36th Eurovision Song Contest.
• May 15 – Édith Cresson becomes France's first female premier.
• May 16 – Queen Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the United States Congress.
• May 18 – Somaliland withdraws from Somalia.
• May 21
  • In Sriperumbudur, India, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated at a public meeting in Sriperumbudur, by suicide bomber Thenmozhi Rajaratnam; many others are killed in the explosion.
  • Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
• May 24 – Authorised by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Operation Solomon commences.
• May 26 – In Thailand, a Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashes near Bangkok, killing all 223 people on board.

June

• June 3 – Mount Unzen erupts, killing 43 people as a result of pyroclastic flow.
• June 5 – STS 40: Space Shuttle Columbia carries the Spacelab into orbit.
• June 9 – A major collapse of ground at the Emaswati Colliery in Swaziland traps 26 miners 65 m below the surface. The men have access to a safe refuge chamber and are all rescued by a drill hole 30 hours after the rescue unit is first alerted.
• June 12 – Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia, the largest and most populous of the 15 Soviet republics.
• June 13 – A spectator is killed by lightning at the U.S. Open.
• June 15 – In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupts in the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century; the final death toll tops 800.
• June 17
  • Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
  • U.S. President Zachary Taylor is exhumed to discover whether or not his death was caused by arsenic poisoning, instead of acute gastrointestinal illness; no trace of arsenic is found.
• June 23
  • Mesut Yılmaz, of ANAP forms the new government of Turkey (48th government)
  • The first Sonic the Hedgehog game published by Sega. It's also the starting point of the Sonic the Hedgehog series ever since.
• June 23– June 28 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.N. inspection teams attempt to intercept Iraqi vehicles carrying nuclear related equipment. Iraqi soldiers fire warning shots in the air to prevent inspectors from approaching the vehicles.
• June 25 – Collapse of Yugoslavia: Croatia and Slovenia declare their independence from Yugoslavia.
• June 28 – COMECON dissolved.

July

• July 1 – The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
• July 7 – The Brioni Agreement ends the 10-day war in Slovenia.
• July 10 – Boris Yeltsin begins his 5-year term as the first elected president of Russia.
• July 11 – A solar Eclipse of record totality occurs, seen first in Hawaii then enters Mexico with the path directly crosses Cabo San Lucas and Mexico City seen by 20 million inhabitants, and finally ends in Colombia in South America.
• July 22
  • Boxer Mike Tyson is arrested and charged with the rape of Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington 3 days earlier, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
  • Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested after the remains of 11 men and boys are found in his Milwaukee, Wisconsin, apartment. Police soon find out that he is involved in 6 more murders.
• July 24 – The government of India announces its New Industrial Policy, marking the start of India's economic reforms.
• July 31
  • Warsaw Treaty Organization officially dissolved in accordance with a protocol calling for a “transition to all- European structures”.
  • The United States and the Soviet Union sign the START I treaty limiting strategic nuclear weapons.

August

• August 4 – The Cruise Liner MTS Oceanos sinks off the coast of South Africa and all 571 passengers on board are safely evacuated.
• August 6 – Tim Berners-Lee announces the World Wide Web project and software on the alt.hypertext newsgroup.
• August 7 – Shapour Bakhtiar, former prime minister of Iran, is assassinated.
• August 8 – The Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
• August 17 – Strathfield Massacre: In Sydney, Australia, taxi driver Wade Frankum shoots 7 people and injures 6 others before turning the gun on himself.
• August 19 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is put under house arrest while vacationing in the Crimea during a coup. The attempted coup, led by Vice President Gennady Yanayev and 7 hard-liners, collapses in less than 72 hours.
• August 20 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Estonia declares its independence from the Soviet Union, and more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev.
• August 21 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Latvia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
• August 23 – The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or "Super Nintendo") is released in the United States.
• August 24 – dissolution of the Soviet Union: Ukraine declares independence from Soviet Union.
• August 25
  • Student Linus Torvalds posts messages to Usenet newsgroup comp.os.minix about the new operating system kernel he has been developing.
  • Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Belarus declares independence from Soviet Union.
• August 27 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Moldova declares independence from the Soviet Union.
• August 29 – Maronite general Michel Aoun leaves Lebanon via a French ship into exile.
• August 30 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Azerbaijan declares independence from Soviet Union.
• August 31 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan declare independence from the Soviet Union.

September

• September 2 – The United States recognizes the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
• September 3 – In Hamlet, North Carolina, a grease fire breaks out at the Imperial Foods chicken processing plant, killing 25 people.
• September 5– September 7 – At the 35th Annual Tailhook Symposium in Las Vegas, 83 women and seven men are assaulted.
• September 6
  • The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states.
  • The name Saint Petersburg is restored to Russia's second-largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924.
• September 8 – The Republic of Macedonia becomes independent.
• September 9 – Tajikistan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
• September 17 – North Korea, South Korea, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
• September 19 – Ötzi the Iceman is found in the Alps.
• September 20– September 21 – In Sandy, Utah, several patients are held hostage and a nurse is killed in the Alta View Hospital hostage incident.
• September 21
  • Armenia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
  • The Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence of German tongue (Orden der Schwestern der Perpetuellen Indulgenz deutscher Zunge, "O.S.P.I.") is founded in Heidelberg by Erzmutter (Archmother) Johanna Indulgentia Tara Maria Benedicta O.S.P.I.
  • AFL Grand Final: Hawthorn Hawks defeat West Coast Eagles by 53 points at Waverley Park, the final score 20.19.139 – 13.8.86.
• September 21– September 30 – Iraq disarmament crisis: IAEA inspectors discover files on Iraq's hidden nuclear weapons program. Iraqi officials confiscate documents from UN weapons inspectors, refusing to allow them to leave the site without turning over other documents. A 4-day standoff ensues. Iraq permits the team to leave with the documents after the UN Security Council threatens enforcement actions.
• September 22 – The Huntington Library makes the Dead Sea Scrolls available to the public for the first time.
• September 30
  • Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed from power.
  • A tornado destroys parts of Itu, a city in southeastern Brazil, killing 16 and leaving 176 injured.

October

• October 2 – Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton announces he will seek the 1992 Democratic nomination for President of the United States.
• October 8 – The Croatian Parliament cuts all remaining ties with Yugoslavia.
• October 11
  • In Russia, the KGB is replaced by the SVR.^{[ citation needed]}
  • Iraq disarmament crisis: The U.N. Security Council passes Resolution 715, which demands that Iraq "accept unconditionally the inspectors and all other personnel designated by the Special Commission". Iraq rejects the resolution, calling it "unlawful".
• October 11– October 13 – The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee interviews both Supreme Court candidate Clarence Thomas and former aide Anita Hill, who alleges that Thomas sexually harassed her while she worked for him.
• October 12 – Askar Akayev, previously chosen President of Kyrgyzstan by its Supreme Soviet, is confirmed president in an uncontested poll.
• October 14 – The Bulgarian right wing opposition celebrates the end of the rule of the Bulgarian Communist Party.
• October 15 – United States Senate votes 52–48 to confirm Judge Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States.
• October 16 – George Hennard guns down 24 people in Killeen, Texas before killing himself.
• October 20
  • The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments.
  • The Harare Declaration lays down the membership criteria for the Commonwealth of Nations.
• October 27
  • The first free parliamentary elections are held in Poland.
  • Turkmenistan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
  • The Minnesota Twins win the World Series against the Atlanta Braves.
• October 28– November 4 – The 1991 Perfect Storm strikes the northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, causing over $200 million of damage and resulting in 12 direct fatalities.
• October 29 – The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.
• October 31– November 3 – The Halloween Blizzard hits the Upper Midwest of the United States, causing around $100 million of damage and killing 22.

November

• November 5 – The body of publishing tycoon Robert Maxwell is found floating in the Atlantic Ocean.
• November 6
  • The KGB officially stops operations.
  • CPSU, and its republic-level division, Communist Party of the Russian SFSR, banned in the Russian SFSR by Presidential decree N 169.
• November 7
  • Los Angeles Lakers point guard Magic Johnson announces that he has HIV, effectively ending his NBA career.
  • The last oil well fire in Kuwait is extinguished.
  • The first report on Carbon nanotubes is published by Sumio Iijima in the journal Nature.
• November 9 – The British JET fusion reactor generates 1.5 MW output power.
• November 14
  • American and British authorities announce indictments against two Libyan intelligence officials, in connection with the downing of the Pan Am Flight 103.
  • Cambodian Prince Norodom Sihanouk returns to Phnom Penh after 13 years of exile.
  • Kidnappers in Lebanon set Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland free.
• November 18 – Serb troops take Vukovar after an 87-day siege, and commit the worst massacre in Croatian history.
• November 20
  • An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan.
  • Süleyman Demirel of DYP forms the new government of Turkey (49th government, coalition partner CHP).
• November 27 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution opening the way to the establishment of peacekeeping operations in Yugoslavia.

December

• December 1 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Ukrainians vote overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum.
• December 4
  • Journalist Terry A. Anderson is released after 7 years' captivity as a hostage in Beirut (the last and longest-held American hostage in Lebanon).
  • Pan American World Airways ends operations.
• December 8
  • Leaders of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine meet and sign an agreement ending the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), in the Białowieża Forest Nature Reserve in Belarus.
  • A referendum on the constitution of Romania is accepted as valid.
• December 12 – Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR denounced Union Treaty of 1922 and ratified Belavezha Accords instead.
• December 15 – The Egyptian ferry Salem Express sinks in the Red Sea, killing more than 450.
• December 19 – Paul Keating replaces Bob Hawke as the new prime minister of Australia.
• December 20 – A Missouri court passes the death sentence on Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria, for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
• December 21 – The North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NAC-C) meets for the first time, the day on which the Soviet Union ceases to exist. source
• December 24 – Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin sends a letter to UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, stating that Russia should be a successor to collapsing Soviet Union within the United Nations Organization.
• December 25
  • Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union, from which most republics have already seceded, anticipating the dissolution of the 73-year-old state.
  • Russian SFSR officially changed its name to the Russian Federation.
• December 26 – The Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.

Undated

• The University of South Australia is founded.
• Impostor James Hogue is exposed at Princeton University.

Ongoing

• Cold War

Births

January–March

• January 2 – Steele Sidebottom, Australian Rules footballer
• January 4 – Pascal Bodmer, German ski jumper
• January 8 – Hinoi Asuka, Japanese singer
• January 12 – Pixie Lott, British singer
• January 15 – Rubab Raza, Pakistan swimmer
• January 19 – Erin Sanders, American actress
• January 21 – Brittany Tiplady, Canadian actress
• January 28 – Calum Worthy, Canadian actor and musician
• February 10 – Emma Roberts, American actress
• February 16
  • Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg
  • Sergio Canales, Spanish football player
• February 18 – Henry Surtees, British racing driver (d. 2009)
• February 28 – Sarah Bolger, Irish actress
• March 11 – Qian Lin, Chinese singer
• March 15 – Kie Kitano, Japanese actress
• March 26 – Jack Watts, Australian rules footballer

April–June

• April 10
  • Amanda Michalka, American singer and actress
  • Sergiusz Żymełka, Polish actor
• April 15 – Daiki Arioka, Japanese singer ( Hey! Say! JUMP)
• May 21 – Sarah Ramos, American actress
• May 23 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer
• May 24 – Erika Umeda, Japanese singer
• May 26 – Julianna Rose Mauriello, American stage actress
• June 4 – Jordan Hinson, American actress
• June 16 – Joe McElderry, British singer & model
• June 18 – Willa Holland, American model and actress
• June 19 – Pontus Ekhem, Swedish hockey player
• June 28 – Seohyun, South Korean singer ( Girls' Generation)
• June 30 – Kaho, Japanese actress

July–September

• July 5 – Jason Dolley, American actor
• July 6 – Victoire Thivisol, French actress
• July 10 – Atsuko Maeda, Japanese singer
• July 12 – Erik Per Sullivan, American actor
• July 20 – William Tomlin, British actor
• July 28 – Rina Aizawa, Japanese actress
• August 6 – Jiao Liuyang, Chinese swimmer
• August 16 – Evanna Lynch, Irish actress
• August 17 – Qory Sandioriva, Putri Indonesia 2009
• August 21 – Tess Gaerthé, Dutch singer and actress
• August 22 – Brayden Schenn, Canadian ice hockey player
• August 28 – Kyle Massey, American actor
• September 5 – Skandar Keynes, British actor
• September 6 – Ashli Amari Adams, American actress
• September 17 – Ryo Ishikawa, Japanese golfer
• September 23 – Melanie Oudin, American tennis player

October–December

• October 2 – Emma Maree Urquhart, Scottish novelist and artist
• October 4 – Nicolai Kielstrup, Danish singer
• October 15 – Gabriella Cilmi, Australian singer-songwriter
• October 23 – Sophie Oda, Japanese American actress
• November 6 – Camila Finn, Brazilian model
• November 15 – Shailene Woodley, American actress
• November 22 – Saki Shimizu, Japanese singer
• December 3 – Masahiro Usui, Japanese actor
• December 9 – Prince Joachim, Archduke of Austria-Este, Belgian prince
• December 12 – Daniel Magder, Canadian actor
• December 13 – Jay Greenberg, American music composer

Deaths

January

• January 2 – Renato Rascel, Italian actor and singer (b. 1927)
• January 3 – Luke Appling, American baseball player (b. 1907)
• January 5 – Vasko Popa, Yugoslavian poet (b. 1922)
• January 8 – Steve Clark, English guitarist (b. 1960)
• January 11 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
• January 12
  • Keye Luke, Chinese-born actor (b. 1904)
  • Vasco Pratolini, Italian writer (b. 1913)
• January 14 – Salah Khalaf (aka Abu Iyad), Palestinian officer (b. 1933)
• January 17 – King Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
• January 22 – Kenas Aroi, Nauruan politician (b. 1942)
• January 28 – Red Grange, American football player (b. 1903)
• January 29
  • Yasushi Inoue, Japanese historian (b. 1907)
  • John McIntire, American actor (b. 1907)
• January 30
  • John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
  • Clifton C. Edom, American photojournalism educator (b. 1907)

February

• February 1 – Carol Dempster, American actress (b. 1901)
• February 2 – Pete Axthelm, sportswriter (b. 1943)
• February 3 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
• February 5
  • Dean Jagger, American actor (b. 1903)
  • Pedro Arrupe, Spanish Catholic priest, Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1907)
• February 6
  • María Zambrano, Spanish essayist and philosopher (b. 1904)
  • Salvador Luria, Italian-born biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
  • Danny Thomas, American singer, comedian, and actor (b. 1912)
• February 7 – Amos Yarkoni, legendary Israeli soldier (b. 1920)
• February 13 – Arno Breker, German sculptor (b. 1900)
• February 14 – John A. McCone, American politician, 6th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1902)
• February 16 – Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan Contras leader (b. 1932)
• February 21
  • John Sherman Cooper, American politician (b. 1901)
  • Margot Fonteyn, English ballet dancer (b. 1919)
• February 24
  • John Charles Daly, South African-born journalist and game show host (b. 1914)
  • Héctor Rial, Argentinian footballer (b. 1928)
  • George Gobel, American comedian (b. 1919)
  • Jean Rogers, American actress (b. 1916)

March

• March 1 – Edwin H. Land, inventor of the Polaroid instant camera (b. 1909)
• March 2 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer (b. 1928)
• March 3
  • Arthur Murray, American dancer and dance instructor (b. 1895)
  • William Penney, Baron Penney, British nuclear physicist (b. 1909)
• March 7 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player (b. 1903)
• March 12 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1900)
• March 14
  • Howard Ashman, American lyricist (b. 1950)
  • Doc Pomus, American composer (b. 1925)
• March 15 – George Sherman, American film director (b. 1908)
• March 18 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian-born actress (b. 1898)
• March 21 – Leo Fender, Greek-American instrument maker (b. 1909)
• March 25 – Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Roman Catholic bishop who fought for Catholic Tradition (b. 1905)
• March 27 – Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)
• March 29 – Lee Atwater, American Presidential advisor (b. 1951)

April

• April 1
  • Paulo Muwanga, Ugandan military officer and statesman, former head of State and Prime Minister (b. 1924)
  • Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
  • Jaime Guzmán, Chilean right-wing politician (b. 1946)
• April 3
  • Charles Goren, American bridge player, writer, and columnist (b. 1901)
  • Graham Greene, English writer (b. 1904)
• April 4
  • Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)
  • H. John Heinz III, American politician (b. 1938)
  • Louis Guglielmi, French composer (b. 1916)
  • Forrest Towns, American runner (b. 1914)
  • Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)
• April 5
  • Sonny Carter, American astronaut (b. 1947) (plane crash)
  • John Tower, American politician (b. 1929)
• April 8 – Per Yngve Ohlin, Swedish singer (b. 1969)
• April 10
  • Kevin Peter Hall, American actor (b. 1955)
  • Natalie Schafer, American actress (b. 1900)
• April 16 – David Lean, British film director (b. 1908)
• April 19 – Stanley Hawes, British-born Australian film producer, director and administrator (b. 1905)
• April 20
  • Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, Mongolian Communist leader, former Party General Secretary, Prime Minister and Head of State (b. 1916)
  • Steve Marriott, English musician (b. 1947)
  • Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912)
• April 26 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
• April 27 – Robert Velter, French cartoonist (b. 1909)
• April 28 – Johnny Eck, American sideshow performer (b. 1911)
• April 29
  • Gonzaguinha, Brazilian singer and composer (b. 1945)
  • Claude Gallimard, French editor

May

• May 1
  • Cesare Merzagora, Italian politician (b. 1898)
  • Richard Thorpe, American film director (b. 1896)
• May 3
  • Jerzy Kosinski, Polish-American writer (b. 1933)
  • Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer and composer (b. 1907)
• May 6 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, British actor (b. 1903)
• May 7 – Dennis Crosby, American singer (b. 1934)
• May 8
  • Jean Langlais, French composer and organist (b. 1907)
  • Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist (b. 1903)
• May 14 – Jiang Qing, Chinese radical revolutionary, widow of Mao Zedong (b. 1914)
• May 15
  • Shintaro Abe, Japanese politician (b. 1924)
  • Andreas Floer, German mathematician (b. 1956)
• May 18 – Edwina Booth, American actress (b. 1904)
• May 21
  • Lino Brocka, Filipino film director (b. 1939)
  • Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
• May 22 – Derrick Henry Lehmer, American mathematician (b. 1905)
• May 23
  • Jean Van Houtte, Belgian politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1907)
  • Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist (b. 1895)
• May 27 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (b. 1904)
• May 29 – Coral Browne, Australian actress (b. 1913)
• May 30 – Manolo Gómez Bur, Spanish actor (b. 1917)

June

• June 1 – David Ruffin, American singer (b. 1941)
• June 2 – Hailu Yimenu, Ethiopian politician, former Prime Minister
• June 3
  • Katia and Maurice Krafft, French volcanologists (b. 1946 and 1942 respectively)
  • Eva Le Gallienne, English-born actress (b. 1899)
• June 5
  • Larry Kert, American actor (b. 1930)
  • Sylvia Porter, American economist and journalist (b. 1913)
• June 6 – Stan Getz, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1927)
• June 9 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean-born pianist (b. 1903)
• June 11 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (b. 1925)
• June 14 – Peggy Ashcroft, British actress (b. 1907)
• June 15 – Arthur Lewis, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
• June 17 – Pierre Jamet, French harpist (b. 1893)
• June 18 – Joan Caulfield, American actress (b. 1922)
• June 19 – Jean Arthur, American actress (b. 1900)
• June 27 – Molly Geertsema, Dutch liberal politician, former leader of the VVD party (b. 1918)
• June 28 – Hans Nüsslein, German tennis player (b. 1910)
• June 29 – Henri Lefebvre, French sociologist and philosopher (b. 1901)

July

• July 1 – Michael Landon, American actor (b. 1936)
• July 2 – Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
• July 4 – Victor Chang, Australian physician (b. 1936)
• July 5
  • Camarón de la Isla, Flamenco singer (b. 1950)
  • Mildred Dunnock, American actress (b. 1901)
  • Howard Nemerov, American poet (b. 1920)
• July 6 – Anton Yugov, Bulgarian Communist politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1904)
• July 8 – James Franciscus, American actor (b. 1934)
• July 16 – Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
• July 18 – André Cools, Belgian Socialist politician (b. 1927)
• July 24 – Isaac Bashevis Singer, Polish-born Yiddish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
• July 25 – Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician, former member of the CPSU Politburo and Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1893)
• July 29 – Christian de Castries, French general (b. 1902)

August

• August 1 – Chris Short, American baseball pitcher (b. 1937)
• August 3 – Ali Sabri, Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1920)
• August 4 – Yevgeny Dragunov, Russian weapons designer (b. 1920)
• August 5
  • Paul Brown, American football coach (b. 1908)
  • Soichiro Honda, Japanese engineer and industrialist (b. 1917)
• August 6
  • Harry Reasoner, American journalist and newscaster (b. 1923)
  • Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1915)
• August 8 – James Irwin, American astronaut (b. 1930)
• August 11 – J. D. McDuffie, American race car driver (b. 1938)
• August 13 – James Roosevelt, American businessman and politician (b. 1907)
• August 14 – Richard A. Snelling, Governor of Vermont (b. 1927)
• August 16 – Luigi Zampa, Italian film-maker (b. 1905)
• August 22
  • Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-born actress (b. 1924)
  • Boris Pugo, Latvian communist politician, Soviet minister of the Interior (b. 1937)
• August 24 – Sergey Akhromeyev, Russian marshall, former Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces (b. 1923)
• August 25 – Niven Busch, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1903)
• August 30
  • Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
  • Cyril Knowles, English footballer and manager (b. 1944)

September

• September 2 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican diplomat and politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1911)
• September 3
  • Dottie West, American singer (b. 1932)
  • Frank Capra, Italian-born film director (b. 1897)
• September 4
  • Charles Barnet, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1913)
  • Tom Tryon, American actor (b. 1926)
• September 7 – Edwin McMillan, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
• September 8
  • Brad Davis, American actor (b. 1949)
  • Alex North, American film composer (b. 1910)
• September 10
  • Jack Crawford, Australian tennis champion (b. 1908)
  • Jan Józef Lipski, Polish critic, historian and politician (b. 1926)
• September 13 – Joe Pasternak, Hungarian-born film director (b. 1901)
• September 14– Russell Lynes, American art historian, photographer, author (b. 1910)
• September 15 – John Hoyt, American actor (b. 1905)
• September 17 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (b. 1902)
• September 22 – Tino Casal, Spanish pop singer (b. 1950)
• September 24 – Dr. Seuss, American author (b. 1904)
• September 25 – Klaus Barbie, German Gestapo leader in Lyon (b. 1913)
• September 25 – Viviane Romance, French actress (b. 1912)
• September 28 – Miles Davis, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1926)

October

• October 2, – Demetrios I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 1914)
• October 5 – Martin Ennals, British human rights activist. (b. 1927)
• October 6 – Igor Talkov, Russian singer, poet and composer (b. 1956)
• October 11 – Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (b. 1922)
• October 12
  • Aline MacMahon, American actress (b. 1899)
  • Regis Toomey, American actor (b. 1898)
• October 13
  • Agustín Rodríguez Sahagún, Spanish politician, former Defense Minister and mayor of Madrid (b. 1932)
  • Daniel Oduber Quirós, Costa Rican politician, former president of the Republic (b. 1921)
• October 17 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer (b. 1919)
• October 24 – Gene Roddenberry, American television producer (b. 1921)
• October 28 – Sylvia Fine, American lyricist (b. 1913)
• October 29 – Mario Scelba, Italian politician, former Prime Minister and president of the European Parliament (b. 1901)
• October 31 – Joseph Papp, American theater producer (b. 1921)

November

• November 2 – Irwin Allen, American film and television producer (b. 1916)
• November 5
  • Fred MacMurray, American actor (b. 1908)
  • Robert Maxwell, Slovakian-born media entrepreneur (b. 1923)
• November 6 – Gene Tierney, American actress (b. 1920)
• November 9 – Yves Montand, French actor and singer (b. 1921)
• November 14 – Tony Richardson, English film and theater director (b. 1928)
• November 18 – Gustáv Husák, Czechoslovak politician, former President of the Republic (b. 1913)
• November 21 – Daniel Mann, American film director (b. 1912)
• November 23 – Klaus Kinski, German actor (b. 1926)
• November 24
  • Eric Carr, American drummer (b. 1950)
  • Anton Furst, American art director (b. 1944)
  • Freddie Mercury, Zanzibar-born singer ( Queen) (b. 1946)
• November 25 – Nimeño II, French bullfighter (b. 1954)
• November 29
  • Ralph Bellamy, American actor (b. 1904)
  • Frank Yerby, American novelist (b. 1916)

December

• December 1 – George Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
• December 6 – Richard Stone, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
• December 9 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (b. 1898)
• December 10
  • Franco Maria Malfatti, Italian politician. (b. 1827)
  • Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
• December 11
  • Robert Q. Lewis, American radio and television personality (b. 1920)
  • Artur Lundkvist, Swedish author (b. 1906)
• December 12 – Eleanor Boardman, American actress (b. 1898)
• December 15
  • Vasily Zaytsev, Russian World War II hero (b. 1915)
  • Aad Mansveld, Dutch footballer (b. 1944)
• December 18 – George Abecassis, English race car driver (b. 1913)
• December 22 – Ernst Krenek, Austrian-American composer (b. 1900)
• December 27 – Hervé Guibert, French writer and photographer (b. 1955)
• December 28 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1941)

Ship events

• List of ship decommissionings in 1991
• List of shipwrecks in 1991

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
• Chemistry – Richard R. Ernst
• Medicine – Erwin Neher, Bert Sakmann
• Literature – Nadine Gordimer
• Peace – Aung San Suu Kyi
• Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Ronald Coase

References

• 1991 Coin Pictures

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1991.