The following is a list of notable deaths in March 1988.
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.
March 1988
1
- Joe Besser, 81, American actor
- Tommy Breen, 76, Irish footballer
- Tommy Potter, 69, American double bass player
2
- John Clellon Holmes, 61, American poet
- Kate Mahaut, 79, Danish fencer
- Harry Lundahl, 82, Swedish football player and manager
3
- Henryk Szeryng, 69, Polish violinist
- Lois Wilson, 93, American actress
- Sewall Wright, 98, American geneticist
4
- Anna Maestri, 64, Italian actress
5
- János Németh, 62, Hungarian water polo player
6
- Jeanne Aubert, 87, French actress
- Dick Ricketts, 55, American basketball player
7
- Guido Celano, 83, Italian actor
- Divine, 42, American actor
- Robert Livingston, 84, American actor
- Olof Stahre, 78, Swedish knight
8
- Gordon Carpenter, 68, American basketball player and coach
- Lala Abdul Rashid, 66, Pakistani field hockey player
9
- Kurt Georg Kiesinger, 84, German politician
- Poondi Kumaraswamy, 58, Indian engineer (b.1930))
10
- Glenn Cunningham, 79, American middle-distance runner
- Andy Gibb, 30, British singer
- Svetislav Glišović, 75, Yugoslav football manager
- Nikolai Karakulov, 70, Soviet sprinter
- Phạm Hùng, 76, Vietnamese politician
- Joey Sternaman, 88, American football player
11
- Christianna Brand, 81, British writer
- Abdullahi Issa Mohamud, 66, Somali politician
- Máirtín Ó Direáin, 78, Irish poet
12
- Alessandro Bausani, 67, Italian Islamist
- Romare Bearden, 77, American writer
- Marcello Del Bello, 67, Italian tennis player
- Angiola Minella, 68, Italian partisan
- Gianna Pederzini, 88, Italian mezzo-soprano
- Billie Rhodes, 94, American actress
- Bernard Rudofsky, 83, Austrian architect
- Karen Steele, 57, American actress
13
- Patesko, 78, Brazilian footballer
- Dino Bovoli, 74, Italian football manager
- Cees Groot, 56, Dutch footballer
- John Holmes, 44, American pornographic actor
- Xavier Saint-Macary, 40, actor French
- Steno, 70, Italian film director
14
- Willi Apel, 95, German musicologist
- Rudolf Gramlich, 80, German football manager
- Ru den Hamer, 71, Dutch water polo player
15
- Dannie Richmond, 57, American drummer
16
- Dorothy Adams, 88, American actress
- Erich Probst, 61, Austrian footballer
17
- Gösta Alexandersson, 79, Swedish actor
- Bruce Clarke, 87, U.S. general
- Franz-Otto Krüger, 71, German actor, director and screenwriter
18
- Gerald Abraham, 84, English musicologist
- Karl Maria Demelhuber, 92, German general
- Joan Field, 73, American violinist
- Anna Miserocchi, 63, Italian actress
19
- March 19 – Reyner Banham, British art critic (b. 1922))
- March 19 – Sabino Barinaga, Spanish football player and manager (b.1922))
- March 19 – Bun Cook, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1904))
20
- Gil Evans, 76, Canadian pianist
- Greer Skousen, 71, Mexican basketball player
21
- Marie Burke, 94, British actress
- Edd Roush, 95, American baseball player
- Charley Shipp, 75, American basketball player
- Patrick Steptoe, 75, English gynaecologist
22
- Lester Rawlins, 64, American actor
- André Saeys, 77, Belgian footballer
23
- Dayton Lummis, 85, American actor
25
- March 25 – Apel·les Fenosa, Spanish sculptor (b.1899))
- March 25 – Robert Joffrey, American dancer (b. 1930))
- March 25 – Leonid Pavlovich Maximychev, Soviet film director (b.1927))
- March 25 – Emilio Radius, Italian journalist (b. 1904))
27
- March 27 – Damaso of Celle Ligure, Italian priest (b. 1907))
- March 27 – Jole Fierro, Italian actress (b.1926))
- March 27 – Adolfo Geri, Italian actor (b.1912))
- March 27 – Renato Salvatori, Italian actor (b.1934))
- March 27 – Pierre Virion, French journalist (b.1899))
- March 27 – Charles Willeford, American writer, poet, and art critic (b. 1919))
28
- Frans Peeraer, 75, Belgian footballer
29
- Jacques Santi, 59, France actor
- Dulcie September, 53, South African activist
30
- March 30 – Nicola Alexandrovich Benois, Russian set designer (b. 1901))
- March 30 – Edgar Faure, French writer (b. 1908))
- March 30 – Fritz Helmut Landshoff, German publisher (b.1901))
- March 30 – Doris Pawn, American actress (b.1894))
- March 30 – Luis Ravaschino, Argentine footballer (b.1903))
- March 30 – Francesco Rodolico, Italian mineralogist (b. 1905))
- March 30 – Arnie Zane, American dancer (b. 1948))
31
- William McMahon, 80, Australian politician