1744 – John Cruger, Dutch-born Mayor of New York (b. 1678)
1900 – Collis P. Huntington, American business tycoon and railroad executive (Central Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad), dies at 78
1953 – Dmitri Arakishvili, Soviet and Georgian composer, dies at 80
1971 – W. O. Bentley, English engineer and motoring pioneer who founded Bentley Motors Limited, dies at 82
1974 – (Harold) “Tina” Brooks, American hard-bop jazz saxophonist, and composer (“True Blue”), dies of liver failure at 42
1974 – Hugo Yarnold, English cricketer (Umpire in 3 Tests for England), dies at 57
2000 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist known as “Queen of Pop” in South Asia, dies of lung cancer at 35
2007 – Phil Rizzuto, American Baseball HOF shortstop (5 x MLB All-Star; 7 x World Series; AL MVP 1950; NY Yankees) and broadcaster (WCBS radio, WPIX-TV), dies at 89
2010 – Edwin Newman, American broadcast journalist (b. 1919)
2019 – Kip Addotta, American stand-up comic, dies at 75
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 12th August 2023
1158 – Anselm of Havelberg, Brandenburg bishop of Havelberg (1129-55), dies at about 58
1750 – Rachel Ruysch, Dutch painter (portrait of of sovereign Johan von de Pfalz), dies at 86
1810 – Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist, dies at 84
1857 – William Conybeare, English geologist (fossils of plesiosaur dinosaur), dies at 70
1904 – William Renshaw, British tennis player (Wimbledon, 1881-86, 1889 (singles); 1884-86, 1888-89 (doubles, with twin brother Ernest), dies of epileptic convulsions at 43
1982 – Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer (WBC, lineal featherweight title 1980-82), dies in a traffic accident at 23
1985 – Marcel Mihalovici, French composer, dies at 86
1990 – Piotr Perkowski, Polish composer, dies at 89
2000 – Patrick Peter Sacco, American composer, dies at 71
2020 – Don Edmunds, American auto racer and car builder (National Sprint Car HOF; built Evel Knievel’s Snake River Canyon Sky cycle), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 11th August 2023
1949 – Karl Weigl, Austrian-American pianist, composer (Apocalyptic Symphony), and educator, dies of bone marrow cancer at 68
1956 – Jackson Pollock, American expressionist painter (Lavender Mist), dies at 44 in a car accident in East Hampton
1984 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian-German chess player, dies at 67
1987 – Clara Peller, Russian-American manicurist and commercial spokesperson (Wendy’s – “Where’s the beef?”), dies of congestive heart failure at 85
1994 – Gordon Cullen, architect, dies at 80
2007 – Franz Antel, Austrian filmmaker (Der Bockerer), dies at 94
2010 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (Rep-D-Il, 1959-94), convicted of mail fraud, dies at 82
2014 – Robin Williams, American actor and comedian (Mork and Mindy, Jumanji, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting), commits suicide by hanging himself at 63
2020 – Gordon J. Brand, English golfer (British Open 1986 runner-up), dies at 65
2022 – Darius Danesh, Scottish pop, opera, and swing singer-songwriter (Colourblind; Live Twice) and stage actor, dies of respiratory arrest at 41
Famous Deaths for 10th August 2023
1821 – Salvatore Vigano, composer, dies at 52
1934 – John Kane, Scottish-American primitivist painter (Self-Portrait), dies at 73
1948 – Andrew Brown, Scottish football coach (b. 1870)
1973 – Douglas Kennedy, American actor (Dark Passage, The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold), dies of cancer at 57
1976 – Bert Oldfield, Australian cricket wicketkeeper (54 Tests, 130 dismissals, 4 x 50; NSW CA), dies at 81
1996 – Adriano Mandarino Hypolito, priest, dies at 78
1997 – Conlon Nancarrow, American composer (Soundings 4), dies at 84
2002 – Michael Houser, American guitarist (Widespread Panic), dies of pancreatic cancer at 40
2012 – Carlo Rambaldi, Italian Special effects artist, dies at 86
2021 – Tony Esposito, Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender (6 x NHL All Star; Vezina Trophy 1970, 72, 74; Chicago Blackhawks), dies from pancreatic cancer at 78
Famous Deaths for 9th August 2023
1652 – John Dirksz Both, Dutch landscape painter and etcher, dies at about 37
1888 – Isaac Strauss, French violinist, conductor and composer, dies at 82
1888 – Charles Cros, French inventor and poet (Le Hareng Saur), dies at 45
1890 – Eduard von Bauernfeld, Austrian comedic playwright, dies at 88
1904 – Friedrich Ratzel, German social-geographer (Lebensraum), dies at 59
1924 – Jacob P. Vis, Dutch founder (NV Royal Salt Industries), dies at 66
1959 – Emil František Burian, Czech author and composer, dies at 55
1992 – Jan van Baal, Dutch anthropologist and governor of Dutch New Guinea, dies (b. 1909)
1996 – Ruth Holland, British journalist (BMJ), dies in the Watford rail crash at 54
2000 – Fouad Serageddin, Egyptian politician and leader of Egypt’s Wafd Party, dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 8th August 2023
1685 – Sassoferrato [Giovanni B Salvi], Italian painter (Madonna), dies at 75
1965 – Shirley Jackson, American author (Road Through the Wall), dies at 45
1979 – Nicholas Monsarrat, British novelist (b. 1910)
1991 – John Brasser, Dutch Zaans resistance fighter (White Ko), dies at 79
1994 – Henriette Santer, Dutch-English clinical psychologist, dies at 62
1997 – Duncan Swift, English jazz pianist, dies at 74
2005 – Ilse Werner [Ilse Charlotte Still], Dutch-German actress (Fernsehsender Paul Nipkow), dies at 84
2008 – Frank Cornish, American NFL center/guard, 1990-95 (San Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys, and 3 other teams), dies of heart disease at 40
2010 – Patricia Neal, American actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses) and wife of Roald Dahl, dies at 84
2022 – Lamont Dozier, American songwriter and producer (Holland–Dozier–Holland – “Heat Wave”; “Where Did Our Love Go”; “You Keep Me Hanging On”), dies at 81
Famous Deaths for 7th August 2023
1613 – Thomas Fleming, English judge (b. 1544)
1885 – Anthony Modderman, Dutch politician (Minister of Justice, 1879-83), dies at 46
1914 – Bransby Cooper, Australian cricketer, dies at 70
1970 – William Christmas, US African American activist, shot dead
1974 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, dies at 72
1994 – Robert Hutton [Winne], American actor (Torture Garden, Rocket), dies at 74
1995 – Brigid Brophy, British novelist (Hackenfeller’s Ape) and campaigner, dies at 66
2008 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent/manager and producer (b. 1931)
2010 – Manon Alving, Dutch actress (The Assault, Short American), dies at 87
2020 – Lê Khả Phiêu, Vietnamese leader, General Secretary (1997-2001), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 6th August 2023
1623 – Anne Hathaway, wife of English playwright William Shakespeare, dies aged 66 or 67
1946 – Tony Lazzeri, American Baseball HOF second baseman (World Series x 5; only player to complete natural cycle with grand slam; NY Yankees), dies from a fall caused by a heart attack at 42
1963 – Tom Keene, American actor (Our Daily Bread), dies of cancer at 68
1965 – Everett Sloane, American actor (Patsy, Citizen Kane, Enforcer), dies of apparent suicide with barbiturates at 55
1974 – Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (“The Happy Blues”), dies of bone cancer at 49
1988 – J. Skelly Wright, American judge (anti-segregationist), dies at 77
1990 – Mário Pinto de Andrade, Angolan poet and politician who founded the Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), dies at 62
2007 – Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (Bikini; Omen; Carpathia Project Tirana Rockers; solo), dies at 38
2009 – Bahadır Akkuzu, Turkish rock guitarist and singer (Kurtalan Ekspres), dies of a heart attack at 54
2016 – Helen Delich Bentley, American politician (Rep-R-MD, 1985-950), dies at 92
Famous Deaths for 5th August 2023
1610 – Alonso García de Ramón, Spanish soldier and twice Royal Governor of Chile (b. c. 1552)
1644 – J. Henry Alting, German theologist (Statenvertaling), dies at 61
1863 – Adolf Friedrich Hesse, German composer, dies at 53
1910 – Wojciech Gawronski, Polish composer, dies at 42
1929 – Millicent Fawcett, English suffragist, dies at 82
1943 – Adam Kuckhoff, German writer and resistance fighter, is executed during WWII at 55
1992 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer (Toto – “Rosanna”; “Africa”), dies of cardiac arrest at 38
2000 – Alec Guinness, British actor (The Ladykillers, The Bridge on the River Kwai), dies of liver cancer at 86
2001 – Otema Allimadi, Prime Minister of Uganda (b. 1929)
2014 – Chapman Pincher, British journalist and author (about secret service), dies at 100
Famous Deaths for 4th August 2023
1265 – Simon de Montfort the younger, English Earl of Leicester, dies in battle
1718 – René Lepage de Ste-Claire, lord-founder of the town of Rimouski, in New France, dies at 62
1727 – Victor-Maurice, comte de Broglie, French general (b. 1647)
1930 – Siegfried Wagner, German opera composer and conductor, dies at 61
1938 – L. H. Perquin, Dutch religious radio broadcaster, dies at 73
1981 – Melvyn Douglas [Melvyn Edouard Hesselberg], American actor (Hud, Being There, Ghost Story), dies at 80
1984 – Mary Miles Minter, actress (Drums of Fate), die at 82 of heart failure
1999 – Victor Mature, American actor (I Wake Up Screaming, Samson and Delilah), dies from leukemia at 86
2011 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese Soccer player (b. 1977)
2022 – Sam Gooden, American soul vocalist (The Impressions – “People Get Ready”; “It’s All Right”), dies at 87