1580 – Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese retainer (b. 1558)
1648 – George Abbot, English writer
1750 – Johann Graf, German composer, dies at 65
1940 – Vsevolod Meyerhold [Karl Kasimir Theodor], Russian theatrical director and actor (Houligan), executed during the Great Purge at 65
1959 – Frank DeCaires, West Indian cricket batsman (3 Tests, 2 x 50; British Guiana), dies at 49
1976 – Erling Kjellsby, Norwegian organist, educator and composer, dies at 75
1992 – Bert Parks [Jacobson], American TV host (Miss America), dies of lung cancer at 77
1995 – David Kindersley, British stone letter-carver and typeface designer, dies at 79
2003 – Lou Harrison, American composer (La Koro Sutro), dies of a heart attack at 85
2022 – Roy Purdon, New Zealand harness-racing trainer (21 x NZ trainers premierships; 4 x NZ cup winners; 54 x Group One wins), dies at 94
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 1st February 2023
1705 – Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, 1st Queen consort of Prussia (1701-05), dies at 36
1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer, dies at 85
1832 – Ecco Epkema, Dutch classic linguist (Frisian, Old Frisian), dies at 71
1864 – Louise Marie Thérèse of Artois, Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, dies at 44
1954 – Henry Leveson-Gower, English cricket batsman and captain (3 Tests; Surrey CCC, Oxford University CC), dies at 80
1997 – Peter Morris, British historian of France, dies at 50
2004 – May O’Donnell, American modern dancer and choreographer, dies at 97
2007 – Seri Wangnaitham, Thai dance choreographer, dies at 70
2012 – Gerlando Alberti, Sicilian Mafioso, dies from cancer at 88
2022 – Glenn Wheatley, Australian rock bassist (The Masters Apprentices), and talent manager (Little River Band; John Farnham), dies of COVID-19 complications at 74
Famous Deaths for 31st January 2023
1632 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch navigator and explorer (1st European to discover Easter Island), dies at 69
1933 – John Galsworthy, English author (Forsyte Saga-Nobel 1932), dies at 65
1954 – Florence Bates, actress (Kismet, I Remember Mama), dies at 65
1975 – Štefan Németh-Šamorínsky, Slovak organist, choirmaster, composer and pedagogue (Birch Trees), dies at 78
1976 – Buster Brown, American blues singer and harmonica player (Fannie Mae), dies at 64
1995 – George Stibitz, American mathematician and scientist, dies at 90
2000 – Anne Cox Chambers, American media owner (Cox Enterprises) and US ambassador to Belgium (1977-81), dies at 100
2014 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director (The Red and the White), dies at 92
2017 – Deke [Roger] Leonard, Welsh rock musician (Man), dies at 72
Famous Deaths for 30th January 2023
1703 – Kiva Yoshinaka, Japanese retainer for the Shogun, murdered in the revenge of the 47 rōnin
1963 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (Concert champêtre; Les Biches), dies of a heart attack at 64
1967 – (Raymond) Lee Morgan, American actor (Dungeons of Harrow; The Last of the Fast Guns), dies of heart disease at 64
1982 – Stanley Holloway, English comedian (My Fair Lady, Our Man Higgins), dies at 91
1982 – Riccardo Nielsen, Italian composer (99th Psalm; La via di Colombo), dies at 73
1991 – John McIntire, American actor (Naked City, Wagon Train, Virginian), dies of emphysema at 83
1995 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist, zoologist and author (My Family and Other Animals), dies at 70
1998 – Richard Cassilly, American tenor, dies at 70
2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American neurosurgeon and pioneer in the modern neurosurgery, dies at 85
2009 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish heavyweight professional boxing champion of the world (b. 1932)
Famous Deaths for 29th January 2023
1663 – Robert Sanderson, Bishop of Lincoln (1660-63), dies
1944 – William Allen White, American journalist (Emporia Gazette), dies at 75
1960 – Louis Jean Heydt, American character actor (Waterfront; Gone With The Wind; The Great McGinty), dies from a heart attack at 56
1963 – Robert Frost, American poet (New Hampshire, 4 Pulitzers), dies at 88
1966 – Pierre Mercure, Canadian composer, dies in an accident at 38
1988 – Rogier van Otterloo, Dutch composer and conductor, dies at 46
1995 – Chris de Marigny, British dance administrator, dies at 52
2008 – Philippe Khorsand, French actor (b. 1948)
2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian President (1992-99), dies at 93
2015 – Colleen McCullough, Australian author (Tim, Indecent Obsession, The Thorn Birds), dies at 77
Famous Deaths for 28th January 2023
1859 – William H. Prescott, American historian, dies at 62
1938 – John Sharp, cricketer (England bat 1909, also soccer intl), dies
1979 – Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (The Three Children (Near Clonmel)), dies at 77
1991 – Dale Long, hit HRs in 8 consecutive games, dies at 66
1992 – Nahman Avigad, Israeli archaeologist (Discovering Jerusalem), dies at 86
1994 – William Levitt, builder (Levittown), dies of kidney failure at 86
1996 – Dan Duva, American boxing promoter and producer (Howard Stern New Years Party), dies at 44
1998 – Colin Sanders, British computer engineer (Solid State Logic), dies in a helicopter crash at 50
2007 – Emma Tillman, the world’s oldest living person from January 24-28, 2007 (b. 1892)
2020 – Nicholas Parsons, British presenter, comedian and actor “the ultimate quiz show host”, dies at 96
Famous Deaths for 27th January 2023
1802 – Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, German lieder and ballad composer, and conductor, dies at 42
1823 – Charles Hutton, English mathematician and surveyor, dies at 85
1850 – J Gottfried Schadow, German sculptor/cartoonist/writer, dies at 85
1928 – Marie Verstraete, Belgian actress (Mooi Juultje van Volendam, Frou Frou), dies at 74
1940 – Isaak Babel, Russian writer (Zakat, Marija), executed at 46
1974 – Georgios Grivas, Greek gen/oppos leader on Cyprus (EOKA), dies at 75
2000 – Mae Faggs Starr, American athlete, 4x100m runner (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 67
2007 – Bob Carroll, American screenwriter (I Love Lucy, Stage Two Revue, Stranger), dies at 88
2018 – Mort Walker, American cartoonist (Beetle Bailey, Hi and Lois), dies at 94
2021 – Mehrdad Minavand, Iranian soccer midfielder (67 caps; Persepolis, Sturm Graz), dies from COVID-19 at 45
Famous Deaths for 26th January 2023
946 – Eadgyth, English-born German Queen, wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
1798 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer, conductor and tutor of Ludwig van Beethoven, dies at 49
1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer (b. 1808)
1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor and director (Cyrano de Bergerac), dies at 80
1996 – Stevie Plunder, Australian musician (b. 1963)
2007 – Hans J. Wegner, Danish furniture designer (b. 1914)
2011 – Charlie Louvin, American country singer-songwriter (Louvin Brothers – “The Only Way Out (Is to Walk Over Me)”)dies of cancer at 83
2014 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, dies at 81
2016 – Colin Vearncombe, British singer-songwriter (Black – “Wonderful Life”), dies from injuries in a car accident at 53
2021 – Alan Ashcroft, English rugby union number 8 (16 caps England, 2 caps British and Irish Lions; Waterloo FC), dies at 90
Famous Deaths for 25th January 2023
1751 – Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts, dies at 75
1920 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (Reclining Nude), dies at 35
1952 – Sveinn Bjornsson, Danish 1st President of Iceland (1944-52), dies at 70
1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871)
1970 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese television writer and producer (Ultraman) (b. 1901)
1978 – Tango Duke, dies in Australia at 42; oldest known thoroughbred horse
1991 – Stanley Brock, American actor (UHF, Hard to Kill, Ivan-He’s the Mayor), dies of a heart attack at 59
1991 – Hoot Evers, American MLB player, dies at 69
2004 – Francina “Fanny” Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (Olympic gold 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles, 4x100m relay 1948), dies at 85
2017 – Robert Garcia, American politician hit by Wedtech scandal (Rep-D-NY, 1978-83), dies at 84
Famous Deaths for 24th January 2023
1864 – Stephen Gardner Champlin, brigadier general (Union), dies at about 36
1901 – Simon Hassler, German-American composer, dies at 68
1967 – Howard Charles Shaiffer, entertainer, dies at 49
1969 – Pauline Hall, Norwegian composer, dies at 78
1970 – Caresse Crosby, American poet (b. 1891)
1973 – Alan Lisette, New Zealand cricketer (NZ slow left-armer vs West Indies 1956), dies at 53
1991 – Harold “Shot” Jackson, American country dobro player, and pedal steel guitarist (Roy Acuff), and guitar designer and builder (Sho-Bud), dies after his second stroke at 70
1992 – John Bleifer, actor (Highway to Heaven), dies at 90
1998 – Walter Bishop, Jr, American bebop jazz pianist, music theorist, and educator, dies of a heart attack at 70
2008 – J. Robert Hooper, American politician, dies at 71