1872 – James Van Ness, Mayor of San Francisco (1855-1856) (b. 1808)
1884 – Gerben Colmjon, Frisian linguist and publisher, dies at 56
1903 – George Gissing, British novelist (New Grub Street, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study), dies from a chill at 46
1925 – Louisa Aldrich-Blake, British pioneering surgeon, dies of cancer at 65
1944 – Cornelia ten Boom is accidentally released from Ravensbruck
1976 – Katharine Byron, U.S. Congresswoman, dies at 73
1999 – Clayton Moore, American actor (The Lone Ranger), dies at 85
2001 – Samuel A. Goldblith, American food scientist (b. 1919)
2006 – Jamal Karimi-Rad, Iranian Minister of Justice (b. 1956)
2009 – James Owen Sullivan, American drummer and songwriter (Avenged Sevenfold) dies aged 28
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 27th December 2020
1896 – John Brown, British manufacturer (b. 1816)
1938 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist (b. 1889)
1950 – Max Beckmann, German painter and graphic artist, dies at 66
1987 – Priscilla Dean, actress (Outside the Law), dies of injuries at 91
1992 – Jan Peeters, Dutch water colors painter and monument artist, dies at 80
1992 – Kay Boyle, American writer (Scottsboro: An American Tragedy), dies at 90
1995 – Al Barlick, American Baseball Hall of Fame umpire (7 x World Series; 7 x MLB All Star games), dies at 80
1997 – Ewart G Abner Jr, president (Motown Records), dies at 74
2007 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (b. 1920)
2015 – Stevie Wright, British-born Australian singer with the Easybeats (Friday on my Mind), dies at 68
Famous Deaths for 26th December 2020
1624 – Simon Marius, astronomer, dies in Bavaria at 54
1627 – Gonzaga, Italian monarch of Mantua/Monferrato, dies
1740 – Mauritius Louis II earl of Nassau, lt-gen (12 children), dies
1887 – Jules Francois Blasini, Curacaos pianist/composer, dies at 40
1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist who rediscovered Troy, dies of cholesteatoma at 86
1893 – Victor Schœlcher, French abolitionist writer, dies at 89
1950 – Emile Enthoven, Dutch composer and lawyer, dies at 47
1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and producer (Rio Bravo, Scarface, The Big Sleep), dies at 81
1985 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist (Gorillas in the Mist), murdered in Rwanda at 53
1997 – John Hinde, photographer/circus promoter, dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 25th December 2020
1676 – Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1609)
1765 – Václav Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist, dies at 67
1824 – Barbara Juliane, baroness von Krüdener, Baltic German religious mystic, author, and Pietist Lutheran theologian, dies at 60
1842 – Bedrich Divis Weber, Bohemian composer and musicologist, dies at 76
1921 – Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (The Blind Musician), dies at 68
1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (Library Gallimard), dies at 94
1995 – Dean Martin [Dino Paul Crocetti], American singer, comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), dies of throat cancer at 78
2000 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, dies at 92
2014 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (England opening batsman late 50’s early 60’s), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 24th December 2020
1869 – Edwin M[cMasters] Stanton, US Secretary of War (1861-65), dies at 55
1972 – Ernst Kreuder, German writer (The Attic Pretenders), dies at 69
1973 – Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Indian Social social activist and reformer, dies at 94
1984 – Ian Hendry, British actor (The Avengers, The Lotus Eaters), dies of a stomach haemorrhage at 53
1997 – Alan Fluck, musical educationalist, dies at 69
2009 – Rafael Caldera, lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker, politician, and ex-president of Venezuela (b. 1916)
2010 – Elisabeth Beresford, British author and creator of The Wombles (b. 1926)
2012 – Ray Collins, American rock vocalist (Mothers of Invention), dies at 76
2012 – Charles Durning, American actor (Fury, Sting, Tootsie), dies from natural causes at 89
2017 – Heather Menzies-Urich, Canadian actress (The Sound of Music, Piranha), dies of cancer at 68
Famous Deaths for 23rd December 2020
1688 – Jean-Louis Lully, French composer and son of Jean-Baptiste Lully, dies at 21
1744 – Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine, dies at 68
1795 – Henry Clinton, British army officer and politician, dies at 65
1972 – Andrej Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, dies at 84
1973 – Irna Phillips, American scriptwriter who created 6 soap operas (Guiding Light), dies at 72
2000 – Victor Borge [Borge Rosenbaum], Danish-American comedian and pianist, dies at 91
2001 – Bola Ige, Nigerian politician, Minister of Justice, murdered at 71
2007 – Michael Kidd, American film and stage choreographer (b. 1915)
2013 – Ricky Lawson, American musician, dies at 59
2013 – Yusef Lateef, American jazz saxophonist and flautist, dies at 93
Famous Deaths for 22nd December 2020
1660 – André Tacquet, Flemish mathematician (b. 1612)
1738 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer, dies at 56
1806 – William Vernon, American merchant (b. 1719)
1964 – Bonifacio Gil Garcia, Spanish composer and folklorist, dies at 66
1965 – Al Ritz [Joaquim], American actor (Gorilla, Hi Ya Chum), dies at 62
1973 – Domingo Julio Gomez Garcia, composer, dies at 87
1979 – Darryl F. Zanuck, American film producer and President (20th Century Fox), dies at 77
1997 – Johnny Coles, trumpeter, dies at 71
2003 – Dave Dudley, American country singer (Six Days on the Road), dies at 75
2013 – Ed Herrmann, American baseball player, dies from prostate cancer at 67
Famous Deaths for 21st December 2020
1597 – Saint Peter Canisius, Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest, dies at 76
1807 – John Newton, English cleric and hymnist, died at 82
1928 – Harry Butt, cricketer (England wicket-keeper v South Africa 1895-96), dies
1980 – Marc Connelly, American playwright (One Minute Please), dies at 90
1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-British biologist and zoologist (Nobel 1973), dies at 81
1995 – Trenchard Cox, British museum director, dies at 90
1996 – Margaret E Rey, author of children’s books, dies at 90
1998 – Roger Avon, British actor (Doctor Who, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.), dies at 84
2003 – M. J. Gopalan, Indian cricketer (1 Test India v England 1933-34), dies at 94
2017 – Bruce McCandless II, American aviator, electrical engineer and astronaut who made the 1st untethered space walk (STS 41B, STS-31), dies at 80
Famous Deaths for 20th December 2020
1022 – Elvira Mendes, wife of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
1073 – Domingo, Spanish monastery founder/abbot/saint, dies
1524 – Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician
1749 – Pakubuwono II, susuhunan of Mataram Java, dies
1916 – Manuel Giro, Spanish composer, dies at 68
1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
1956 – Ramon Carrillo, Argentine neuroscientist and Public Health minister (b. 1906)
1993 – W Edwards Deming, US economist (helped Japan after WW II), dies at 93
1994 – J C “Jody” Bateman, fiddler, dies at 75
2006 – Shi Yuejun, Chinese serial killer
Famous Deaths for 19th December 2020
1751 – Louise of Great Britain, wife of Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1724)
1848 – Emily Brontë, English novelist (Wuthering Heights), dies of tuberculosis at 30
1932 – Yoon Bong-Gil, Korean activist (b. 1908)
1939 – Eric Fogg, English composer, dies under a train at 36
1951 – Barton Yarbrough, actor (Dragnet), dies at 51
1953 – Rudolf Leonhard, writer, dies
1959 – Walter Williams, claimed to be last survivor of Civil War, dies at 117
1966 – Ehm Welk [Thomas Trimm], German writer, dies at 82
1977 – Nellie Tayloe Ross, American politician and the 1st woman to serve as a governor (Wyoming, 1925-27), dies at 101
2012 – Robert Bork, American legal scholar/jurist, dies from heart disease at 85