1738 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer, dies at 56
1832 – Ishmail Spicer, American composer, dies at 72
1918 – Albijn van de Abeele, Flemish author and painter, dies at 83
1944 – Harry Langdon, American comedian (The Strong Man, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp), dies at 60
1964 – Bonifacio Gil Garcia, Spanish composer and folklorist, dies at 66
1985 – D. Boon, American singer and guitarist (The Minutemen) (b. 1958)
1996 – Hetta Empson, South African-British artist, dies at 81
1998 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
2009 – Luis Francisco Cuéllar, Colombian politician (b. 1940)
2021 – Bob Keselowski, American auto racer (ARCA Hooters SuperCar Series 1989) and team owner (K Automotive Racing), dies from cancer at 70
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 21st December 2022
1549 – Marguerite of Navarre, Queen of Navarre, wife of Henry II of Navarre, dies at 57
1824 – James Parkinson, English physician (First description of Parkinson’s disease) and political activist, dies at 69
1864 – William Henry Fry, American composer, dies at 51
1889 – Friedrich August Quenstedt, German geologist and paleontologist, dies at 80
1907 – Oskar Lassar, German dermatologist (public baths), dies at 58
1959 – Rosanjin, Japanese calligrapher, restaurateur and ceramicist (b. 1883)
1974 – James Henry Govier, British artist (b. 1910)
1986 – Willy Coppens, Belgian WW I fighter ace, dies at 94
1993 – Philip Christison, British general (Rangoon), dies at 100
2006 – Sydney Wooderson, English athlete dubbed “The Mighty Atom” (world record 1937), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 20th December 2022
860 – King Ethelbald of Wessex
1812 – Sacagawea, Shoshone interpreter for the Lewis and Clark expedition, dies at 24
1815 – Giovanni Meli, Sicilian poet (Buccolica), dies at 75
1981 – Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899)
1988 – Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian television pioneer and president of the CBC, dies at 80
1991 – Walter Chiari, actor (Girl Under Sheet), dies of a heart attack at 67
1991 – Fop[pe] I Brouwer, biologist (Everything That Lives and Grows), dies
1995 – Adone Zecchi, Italian composer and conductor (Corale Euridice; Orchestra Bolognese de Camera), dies at 91
2005 – Maniam Moorthy, Malaysian climber
2018 – Donald Moffat, British actor (Logan’s Run), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 19th December 2022
1807 – Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm, German writer (b. 1723)
1946 – Paul Langevin, French physicist (b. 1872)
1953 – Robert A. Millikan, American physicist (photoelectric effect; Nobel 1923), dies at 85
1967 – Alfred Courtens, Belgian sculptor, dies at 78
1991 – Joe Cole, American roadie (Black Flag, Rollins Band), shot and killed at 30
2003 – Roy Hughes, Baron Islwyn, British politician (L), dies at 78
2005 – Keith Duckworth, English mechanical engineer (Cosworth; b. 1933)
2008 – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and education specialist (b. 1930)
2020 – Pelle Alsing, Swedish drummer (Roxette – “Listen to Your Heart”), dies at 60
2021 – Sally Ann Howes, British-American stage and screen actress and singer (Brigadoon; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang – “Truly Scrumptious”), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 18th December 2022
1894 – Erastus Flaval Beadle, American publisher (Beadle’s Dime Novels), dies at 73
1937 – Sandford Schultz, English cricket all-rounder (1 Test, 1 wicket, 20 runs; Cambridge University, Lancashire CCC), dies at 80
1980 – Alexei N Kosygin, Soviet PM (1964-80), suffers heart attack at 76
1991 – George Abecassis, English Formula 1 driver (b. 1913)
2002 – Wayne Owens, former U.S. Congressman (D-Utah) (b. 1937)
2006 – Daniel Pinkham, American organist, composer (Signs of the Zodiac) and educator (New England Conservatory), dies at 83
2008 – Jack Douglas, English actor (Carry On films), dies at 81
2011 – Václav Havel, Czech politician (President of Czechoslovakia, 1990-2, Czech Republic, 1993-2003), dies at 75
2016 – China Machado, Chinese-born model, 1st non-Caucasian super model, dies at 86
2017 – Jonghyun [Kim Jong-hyun], South Korean singer-songwriter, radio host, and author (SHINee), commits suicide at 27
Famous Deaths for 17th December 2022
1187 – Gregory VIII [Alberto de Morra], Italian Pope (1187), dies
1811 – John Antes, American composer and missionary, dies at 71
1857 – Francis Beaufort, Irish admiral and hydrographer (Beaufort wind force scale), dies at 83
1972 – Erwin Dressel, German composer, dies at 63
1978 – Don Ellis, American avant garde jazz trumpeter, and Grammy Award-winning film score composer (The French Connection), dies of a heart attack at 44
1987 – Marguerite Yourcenar, French-American novelist (Memoirs of Hadrian, The Abyss), dies at 84
1996 – Ruby Murray, Irish singer (“Heartbeat”; “Softly, Softly”), dies of liver cancer at 61
1996 – Elizabeth Hill, Russian-English teacher of Salvonic languages, dies at 96
1999 – Rex Allen, American singer-songwriter known as the “the Arizona Cowboy”, and actor (Frontier Doctor – “Dr. Baxter”), dies at 78
2019 – Karin Balzer, German athlete (Olympic gold 80m hurdles 1964; bronze 100m hurdles 1972), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 16th December 2022
1774 – Francois Quesnay, French personal physician of Louis XIV, dies at 80
1790 – Ludwig August Lebrun, German composer, dies at 38
1949 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (Ben Hur), dies at 76
1994 – Mary Durack, Australian author and historian (Kings in Grass Castles and Keep Him My Country), dies at 81
1995 – Nina Verchinina, dancer choreographer/teacher, dies at 85
1997 – Lillian Disney, widow of animator Walt Disney, dies of a stroke at 98
2004 – Peter Coker, English painter, dies at 78
2005 – Enzo Stuarti [Scapone], Italian-American pop tenor (That’s A’Nice!), dies at 86
2011 – Nicol Williamson, Scottish actor (Excalibur), dies of esophageal cancer at 75
2011 – Robert Easton [Burke], American actor referred to as “The Man of a Thousand Voices” (Someone Up There Likes Me), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 15th December 2022
1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus ‘the Swedish Mozart’, German born Swedish composer, dies at 36
1816 – Charles Stanhope, 3rd earl Stanhope, English radical politician and scientist, dies at 63
1826 – William Browser, American slave, executed in NYC for participating in the murder of two ship’s officers during a slave revolt on board the Decatur
1901 – Elias Álvares Lobo, Brazilian composer, dies at 67
1943 – Thomas “Fats” Waller, American jazz organist, piano player, singer and composer (“Ain’t Misbehavin'”; “Honeysuckle Rose”; “Hot Chocolate”), dies of pneumonia at 39
1947 – Arthur Machen, Welsh author (b. 1863)
1950 – Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian freedom fighter and statesman, dies at 75
1990 – Betty Warren British actress (Passport to Pimlico), dies at 83
2009 – Oral Roberts, American television evangelist and author (b. 1918)
2014 – Ray Steadman-Allen, British choral and brass band composer, dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 14th December 2022
1136 – Harald IV, “Gylle Krist”, king of Norway, murdered at 33
1591 – St. John of the Cross [Juan de Yepes y Álvarez], Spanish Carmelite friar, poet and saint, dies at 49
1948 – R. O. Morris [Reginald Owen], British composer and music teacher, dies at 62
1951 – Coretté Alefred [Hardy], American-Russian-Soviet jazz, spiritual and pop lyrical and dramatic soprano, dancer, and actress, dies at 70
1959 – Lizzy Ansingh, Dutch painter (Cast Off), dies at 84
1966 – Emma Dunn, British-American stage, silent and sound film actress (Dr. Monica; Dr. Kildare (films); Hideaway), dies at 91
1990 – Hope Sansberry, American actress (Rats are Coming), dies at 94
2001 – (Secondo) “Conte” Candoli, American jazz, big band, and session trumpeter (Woody Herman; Stan Kenton; The Brothers Candoli; The Tonight Show, 1967-92), dies of prostate cancer at 74
2002 – Ruth Kobart [Kahn], American actor and singer (King’s Quest VII, Forum), dies at 78
2011 – Boris Chertok, Soviet and Russian rocket engineer, dies at 99
Famous Deaths for 13th December 2022
1466 – Donatello, Florentine artist and Renaissance sculptor, dies at around 80
1812 – Marianne Martinez, Austrian composer, dies at 68
1931 – Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1840)
1958 – Tim Moore, American actor (Amos ‘n’ Andy), dies at 71
1971 – Max Mell, Austria artillery officer and literary (Donauweibchen), dies at 88
1977 – Charles Petrie, British historian known for his study of royalism and Jacobitism (If: A Jacobite Fantasy), dies at 82
1991 – Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues, French writer (La marge), dies at 82
1992 – Robert Shone, British economist and director-general (NEDC), dies at 86
2010 – Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (b. 1941)
2019 – Yasuhiro Takai, Japanese baseball first baseman, designated hitter and broadcaster (NPB record 27 career pinch-hit home runs; Hankyu Braves), dies of kidney failure at 74