Famous Deaths for 31st December 2021

1802 – Hugo Franz Karl Alexander von Kerpen, composer, dies at 53
1880 – Arnold Ruge, German political philosopher and writer, dies at 78
1936 – Miguel de Unamuno Jugo, Span philosopher/poet (Cancionero), dies at 72
1950 – Karl Renner, Austrian President (1918-20, 45-50), dies at 80
1968 – Sabin Drăgoi, Romanian composer, dies at 74
1971 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
1980 – Bob Shawkey, American baseball pitcher (World Series 1923, 27; AL ERA leader 1920, New York Yankees), dies at 90
1993 – Lambert Fokkema, founder Dutch Export Combination, dies at 80
1994 – Harri Webb, Welsh poet and nationalist, dies at 74
1996 – Ann Susan Hills, freelance journalist, dies at 55

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 30th December 2021

1644 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist (b. 1577)
1769 – Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Austrian soldier (b. 1685)
1906 – Josephine Butler, English feminist and social reformer (campaigned against human trafficking), dies at 78
1967 – Bert Berns, American songwriter (“Twist And Shout”; “Piece Of My Heart”; “Hang On Sloopy”) and producer (“Under The Boardwalk”; “Brown-Eyed Girl”), dies of heart failure at 38
1984 – Massa, oldest gorilla on record (b. 1930)
1986 – Jiri Jaroch, Czech composer, dies at 66
2003 – David Bale, South African-born activist (b. 1941)
2008 – Dick Green, Canadian actor
2014 – Deborah Bone, English mental health nurse who was the inspiration for the song Disco 2000 by Jarvis Cocker, dies of multiple myeloma cancer at 51
2018 – Mrinal Sen, Bengali film director (In Search of Famine), dies at 95

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 29th December 2021

1785 – Johann Heinrich Rolle, composer, dies at 69
1825 – Giuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini, composer, dies
1916 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk and confidant of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, assassinated by conservative Russian aristocrats at 47
1933 – Joh Georghe Duca, premier of Romania, murdered
1986 – Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky, Soviet filmmaker (Andrei Rublev, Mirror, Stalker), dies at 54
1991 – Julia McCarthy, Scottish actress (London Belongs To Me), dies of cancer at 64
1993 – Yvonne Desportes, French composer (Seven Abstract Poems), dies at 86
1996 – Peggy (Margaret McCrorie) Herbison, politician, dies at 89
1998 – Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)
2017 – John C. Portman Jr., American architect (Ivan Allen Award-1964), dies at 93

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 28th December 2021

1542 – Albert Pigge [Pighius], Dutch theologist/astronomer, dies at about 52
1944 – Cornelia ten Boom is accidentally released from Ravensbruck
1945 – Theodore Dreiser, American novelist (An American Tragedy), dies at 74
1948 – Mahmud Nokrashy Pasha, Prime Minister of Egypt (19..-48), assassinated
1969 – Henry Oscar, English stage and film actor (Saint in London), dies at 78
1974 – Paul Dixon, Ohio talk show host (Paul Dixon Show), dies at 56
1997 – James Lees-Milne, English writer and architectural historian, dies at 89
1997 – George Fleming, cyclist, dies at 80
1997 – Henry Barraud, French composer, dies at 97
2018 – Christine McGuire, American pop vocalist (McGuire Sisters – “Sincerely”; “Sugartime”), dies at 92

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 27th December 2021

1065 – Ferdinand I, the Great, king of Castile, dies
1596 – Pietro Pontio, Italian composer (Ragionamento di Musica), dies at 64
1631 – John Pijnas, Dutch painter, buried at about 47
1938 – O Mandelstam, writer, dies
1957 – Alan Bridge, actor (Hail the Conquering Hero), dies at 66
1966 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (b. 1906)
1972 – Lester B. Pearson, 14th Canadian Prime Minister (Nobel Peace Prize 1957), dies at 75
1988 – Fox Harris, actor (Alienator, Warlords, Sid and Nancy), dies
1992 – Cardew “the Cad” [Douglas] Robinson, English comedian (Alfie), dies at 75
2007 – Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Polish film director (b. 1922)

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 26th December 2021

1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist who rediscovered Troy, dies of cholesteatoma at 86
1909 – Frederic Remington, American artist and sculptor of American West, dies at 48
1961 – Charlie Frank, cricketer (S Af Test centurion v Aust 1921-22), dies
1965 – Nico Donkersloot, Dutch literary and writer, dies at 63
1988 – John Loder, actor (Sabotage, Java Head), dies at 90
1992 – Nikita Magaloff, Russian/Swiss pianist, dies at 80
2005 – Erich Topp, German submarine commander (b. 1914)
2012 – Fontella Bass, American RandB and soul singer and songwriter (Rescue Me), dies from a heart attack at 72
2014 – Leo Tindemans, Belgian statesman, Prime Minister of Belgium (1974-78), dies at 92
2019 – Eigil Nielsen, Danish soccer midfielder (10 caps; Basel), dies at 71

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 25th December 2021

1676 – Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1609)
1842 – Bedrich Divis Weber, Bohemian composer and musicologist, dies at 76
1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
1942 – Vojislav Vuckovic, composer, dies at 32
1980 – Louis Neefs, Belgian singer, dies at 43
1997 – Anatoli Boukreev, mountaineer, dies at 39
2010 – Bud Greenspan, American documentary maker (Olympic Games), dies at 84
2013 – Mike Hegan, American baseball player, dies from heart failure at 71
2018 – Nancy Roman, American, NASA’s first chief of astronomy ‘Mother of the Hubble’, dies at 93
2020 – Tony Rice, American bluegrass guitarist (J.D. Crowe and the New South), dies at 69

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 24th December 2021

1541 – Andreas R Bodenstein von Carlstadt, radical Lutheran, dies at about 61
1862 – Joseph Funk, early American composer, dies at 84
1868 – Adolphe d’Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist, dies at 66
1957 – Norma Talmadge, American silent screen actress (Within the Law, Sign on Bay), dies at 64
1976 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
1992 – Robert “Bobby” LaKind, American conga player, vocalist, songwriter and occasional backup drummer (The Doobie Brothers), dies from terminal colon cancer at 47
1994 – John Eastburn Boswell, medievalist, dies at 47
1998 – Raemer Schreiber, American Physicist (Manhattan Project) who helped develop the first atomic bomb during World War II and prepared the Fat Man bomb that was used in the bombing of Nagasaki, dies at 88
2003 – Herman Keiser, American golfer (US Masters 1946), dies of Alzheimer’s disease complications at 89
2009 – Rafael Caldera, lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker, politician, and ex-president of Venezuela (b. 1916)

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 23rd December 2021

1891 – Holger Simon Paulli, Danish conductor and composer, dies at 81
1902 – Frederick Temple, 95th Archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 81
1907 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer, discovered helium, dies at 83
1945 – Mogens Klitgaard, Danish author (Brunkul), dies at 39
1962 – George Saiko, Austrian writer, dies at 70
1966 – Heimito von Doderer, Austrian writer, dies at 70
1989 – Josef Alexander, composer, dies at 82
2001 – Bola Ige, Nigerian politician, Minister of Justice, murdered at 71
2007 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist and composer, dies of kidney failure at 82
2019 – Duncan MacKay, Scottish soccer defender (14 caps; Celtic 162 games), dies at 82

More Famous Deaths »

Famous Deaths for 22nd December 2021

1828 – Rachel Jackson, wife of 7th US President Andrew Jackson, dies of heart failure
1867 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer who was one of the founders of modern projective geometry, dies at 79
1867 – Théodore Rousseau, French painter, dies at 55
1873 – Charles Lenox Remond, African-American orator and abolitionist, dies at 63
1902 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Austro–German psychiatrist and author (Psychopathia Sexualis), dies at 62
1974 – Fosco Giachetti, Italian actor (Wastrel, We the Living), dies at 74
1995 – James Meade, English economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1907)
1996 – Hetta Empson, South African-British artist, dies at 81
1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese director, commits suicide at 64
2010 – Fred Foy, American radio and television announcer (b. 1921)

More Famous Deaths »