1777 – Albrecht von Haller, Swiss experimental physiologist, biologist and author (Acadamy of Science), dies at 69
1957 – Robert Frank Kurka, American composer (“The Good Soldier Schweik”), dies of leukemia at 35
1971 – John A Emmens, art historian/poet (Dog of Pavlov), dies at 47
1980 – Jean Lesage, Canadian politician (19th Premier of Quebec), dies at 68
2000 – George Montgomery, American actor (b. 1916)
2001 – Ardito Desio, Italian explorer and topographer, dies at 104
2007 – Ike Turner, American musician (“Rocket 88”; Ike and Tina Turner – “A Fool in Love”; “Proud Mary”), dies of cocaine overdose at 76
2014 – Norman Bridwell, American author and cartoonist (Clifford the Big Red Dog), dies at 86
2019 – Brian Muller, New Zealand rugby union prop (14 caps; Taranaki), dies at 77
2020 – Motjeka Madisha, South African soccer defender (13 caps; Mamelodi Sundowns), dies in car accident at 25
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 11th December 2022
1610 – Adam Elsheimer, German painter, cartoonist and etcher, buried at 32
1933 – Emile Wauters, Belgian painter (Van der Goes Klooster), dies at 87
1991 – Robert Q. Lewis, American TV host (Masquerade Party, Robert Q Lewis Show), dies at 71
1994 – Yao Yilin, Vice Prime Minister of China (1979-88), dies at 77
1994 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (Mississippian culture), dies at 94
1995 – Robert Shelton [Shapiro], American born music and film critic, dies at 69
1996 – William Rushton, actor, author and cartoonist (TW3, Private Eye), dies of a heart attack at 59
2002 – Lou Stein, American pianist (Tonight! America After Dark), dies at 80
2008 – Maddie Blaustein, American voice actress (b. 1960)
2009 – Claudia Boyarskikh, Soviet cross country skier (5 Olympic gold 1964, 1968), dies at 70
Famous Deaths for 10th December 2022
949 – Herman I, Duke of Swabia
1618 – Giulio Caccini, Italian composer buried at 67
1805 – Friedrich Franz Hůrka, Bohemian operatic tenor, conductor, and composer, dies at 43
1890 – Ludolph Anne Jan Wilt Sloet van de Beele, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1861-66), dies at 84
1917 – Mackenzie Bowell, 5th Prime Minister of Canada (1894-96), dies of pneumonia at 93
1982 – Roy Webb, American film score composer (films of Val Lewton), dies at 94
1982 – Freeman Gosden, American radio and television writer and actor (The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show; Calvin and the Colonel), dies at 83
1991 – Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
1995 – Gillian Rose, philosopher/writer, dies at 48
1996 – John Duffey, bluegrass guitarist, dobro, and mandolin player (Country Gentlemen), dies of a heart attack at 62
Famous Deaths for 9th December 2022
1669 – Clement IX [Giulio Rospigliosi], Italian Pope (238th: 1667-69), dies allegedly of broken heart at 69
1767 – Benedetto Alfieri, Italian architect (San Giovanni Battista), dies
1956 – Hans Barth, German-born American composer, dies at 59
1965 – Branch Rickey, American Baseball HOF catcher (St. Louis Browns), manager (St. Louis Browns, Cardinals) and executive (GM St.Louis Cardinals 4 x World Series), dies of heart failure at 83
1970 – Artem Mikoyan, Russian aircraft designer (MIG), dies at 65
1974 – Jorge Croner de Vasconcelos, Portuguese composer, dies at 64
1983 – David Rounds, American actor (Terence-Beacon Hill, Alice, The Blue and The Grey), dies of cancer at 53
2009 – Gene Barry [Eugene Klass], American actor (The Atomic City, Bat Masterson), dies of congestive heart failure at 90
2020 – Paolo Rossi, Italian soccer striker (48 caps; FIFA World Cup 1982 [Golden Boot, Golden Ball]; L.R. Vicenza, Juventus), dies at 64
2020 – Alex Olmedo, American/Peruvian tennis player (Australian C’ships, Wimbledon 1959), dies from brain cancer at 84
Famous Deaths for 8th December 2022
899 – Arnulf of Carinthia, last emperor of Austria-France, dies
1643 – John Pym, English statesman (b. 1583)
1864 – George Boole, English mathematician (Boolean algebra), dies at 49
1914 – Maximilian von Spee, German naval officer (b. 1861)
1938 – Friedrich Glauser, German-language Swiss writer (b. 1896)
1945 – Richard M. Jones, American jazz pianist, accompanist, songwriter (“Trouble In Mind”), record producer (Louis Armstrong) and label manager (Okeh; Decca; Mercury), dies at 53
1955 – Jacques Handschin, Swiss musicologist (Der Toncharakter), dies at 69
1963 – Field Marshal Sarit Dhanarajata, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1908)
1982 – Bram Behr, Suriname revolutionary, murdered
1990 – Martin Ritt, American actor and director (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Slugger’s Wife, End of the Game), dies at 76
Famous Deaths for 7th December 2022
1775 – Charles Saunders, British admiral, First Lord of the Admiralty, dies at about 60
1862 – Sylvester Churchill, US Union brigadier general, dies
1879 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence fighter and Icelandic historian, dies at 68
1941 – Iida, Japanese pilot/lt, dies in battle at 28
1956 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor, dies at 77
1970 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist whose carttoons inspired the Rube Goldberg contests (Pulitzer Prize 1948), dies of cancer at 87
1979 – Prince Chahryar Shafik, Shah of Iran’s nephew, murdered in Paris
1988 – Christopher Connelly, actor (Liar’s Moon, Hawmps), dies at 47
1990 – Horst Bienek, German writer and director (The First Polka), dies at 60
2005 – Lucy d’Abreu, was the oldest living person in the United Kingdom from April 2004 until her death (b. 1892)
Famous Deaths for 6th December 2022
1793 – Marie Jeanne Becu, Comtesse du Barry, last mistress of Louis XV, beheaded at 50
1799 – Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist known for his discoveries of magnesium, latent heat and carbon dioxide, dies at 71
1890 – Joe Coburn, Irish boxer (Heavyweight C’ship of America 1863-65), dies from tuberculosis at 55
1920 – Karel Kovařovic, Czech composer, dies at 57
1934 – Duke Charles Michael of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, dies at 71
1951 – J Edward Bromberg, Hungarian actor (The Mark of Zorro, Under 2 Flags), dies from a heart attack at 47
1956 – B.R. Ambedkar [Baba Saheb], Indian politician, jurist (architect of the Constitution of India) and social reformer who inspired the Dalit Buddhist Movement, dies after suffering from diabetes at 65
1965 – Alberto Vaccari, Italian jesuit/old testament scholar, dies at 90
1997 – Alan Mouncer, film director and producer, dies at 68
2020 – Petras Bingelis, Lithuania conductor, founder and artistic director (Kaunas State Choir, 1969-2020), dies of Covid-19 at 77
Famous Deaths for 5th December 2022
1624 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (b. 1560)
1886 – Peter Hofstede de Groot, Dutch reformed theologist, dies at 84
1963 – Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer, dies at 58
1971 – Hugh Wakefield, British actor (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Blithe Spirit), dies at 83
1995 – Victor Collin Matthews, British businessman, dies on 76th birthday
1995 – Robert Charles Evans, mountaineer/doctor, dies at 77
2006 – David Bronstein, Ukrainian-born chess grandmaster, dies at 82
2008 – Patriarch Alexy II of Russia, head of the Russian Orthodox Church (b. 1929)
2008 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (The Ten Commandments, Spartacus, An American in Paris), dies from complications of myelodysplastic syndrome at 84
2021 – Bob Dole, American politician (Senate Republican leader, 1985-96, Presidential candidate in 1996), dies of lung cancer at 98
Famous Deaths for 4th December 2022
1585 – John Willock, Scottish reformer
1909 – Paul-Albert Besnard, French painter and graphic artist (Elle), dies at 60
1969 – Alceo Toni, Italian composer, dies at 85
1983 – Bruce Drake, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (University of Oklahoma 1938-55, 200-181), dies at 77
1983 – Estelle Omens, American actress (Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds), dies at 55
1997 – Richard Vernon, British character actor (A Hard Days Night; The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; Gandhi), dies of complications from Parkinson’s disease at 72
2005 – Gregg Hoffman, American film producer (b.1963)
2005 – Errol Brathwaite, New Zealand author (b. 1924)
2012 – Jonathan Harvey, British composer (Bhakti; Wheel of Emptiness),educator, and musicologist (Music of Stockhausen), dies at 73
2020 – David L. Lander, American actor (Laverne and Shirley – “Squiggy”), dies of multiple sclerosis at 73
Famous Deaths for 3rd December 2022
1882 – Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1811)
1910 – Mary Baker Eddy, American founder of the religious movement, Christian Science (Science and Health), dies at 89
1919 – Pierre Auguste Renoir, French Impressionist painter and sculptor (Bal du moulin de la Galette, Luncheon of the Boating Party), dies at 78
1981 – (Nicolaas) “Cola” Debrot, Dutch lawyer, doctor.author and politician (Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, 1962-70), dies at 79
1993 – Thomas Mogotlane, South African actor (Mapantsula), dies at 40
1999 – John Archer [Ralph Bowman], American actor (Destination: Moon, White Heat, Blue Hawaii), dies of lung cancer at 84
2003 – David Hemmings, English actor (b. 1941)
2009 – Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (Dorian Gray, Assassin Yangtse Incident), dies at 90
2010 – Abdumalik Bahori, Tajik poet and fiction writer (b.1927)
2021 – Claude Humphrey, American Pro Football HOF defensive end (6 × Pro Bowl, 5 × First-team All-Pro Atlanta Falcons; Philadelphia Eagles), dies at 77