1770 – Esprit Antoine Blanchard, French composer, dies at 74
1895 – Victor J van Hinsbergh, South Neth engraver (PTT-stempels), dies at 70
1916 – Ephraim Shay, American inventor of Shay type of geared steam locomotive, dies at 76
1930 – Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian senator (b. 1827)
1930 – Charles Scribner II, American magazine and book publisher, dies at 75
1937 – William Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English historian and explorer (Spitzbergen), dies at 81
1980 – Ethel Wilson, actress (Aunt Harriet-Aldrich Family), dies at 88
1988 – Kwon Ki-ok, first Korean female pilot (b. 1901)
1993 – David Koresh [Vernon Howell], American cult leader (Davidians), dies shot at 33
2004 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist (b. 1920)
Category: Famous Deaths
Famous Deaths for 18th April 2023
1636 – Julius Caesar, English lawyer and judge, dies at 78
1684 – Gonzales Coques, Flemish painter, dies at 69
1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, dies at 80
1800 – Pieter Fouquet, Dutch art merchant (Atlas of Fouquet), dies at 71
1855 – Jean-Baptiste Isabey, French painter, dies at 88
1955 – Eugen Herrigel, German philosopher and scholar (early pioneer of Zen in Europe), dies at 70
1993 – Masahiko Kimura, Japanese judoka, dies at 75
1996 – Michael Leander, English songwriter and record producer, dies at 54
1999 – Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-born American mathematician and philosopher, dies at 66
2022 – Janez Matičič, Slovenian pianist. conductor, and pedagogue, dies at 95
Famous Deaths for 17th April 2023
1630 – Christian I, German Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg who led an army of 21,000 Bohemians at the Battle of White Mountain, dies at 61
1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, French writer (b. 1626)
1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American author (The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton), dies at 81
1910 – Ignacio Mariscal, Mexican lawyer and diplomat (Secretary of Foreign Affairs), dies at 80
1941 – Al Bowlly, South African-British dance band vocalist (“Midnight, The Stars, And You”), and bandleader, dies in a German bombing raid of London at 43
1998 – Linda McCartney (née Eastman), American photographer, musician (Wings) and wife of Paul McCartney, dies of breast cancer at 56
2004 – Soundarya, Indian actress (b. 1971)
2008 – Aimé Césaire, French Martinican poet and politician, dies at 94
2011 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist, composer (Na shledanou v Praze (Good-bye in Prague); Moonscape), conductor, and educator (University of Sydney, 1960-91), dies at 84
Famous Deaths for 16th April 2023
1858 – Johann Baptist Cramer, German-British pianist, composer and music publisher, dies at 87
1968 – Edna Ferber, American author and playwright (American Beauty, Cimarron), dies at 82
1996 – George Abel, Canadian ice hockey player (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 80
2001 – Alec Stock, English football manager (b. 1917)
2010 – Daryl Gates, LAPD Chief, dies at 83
2011 – Allan Blakeney, Canadian politician (10th Premier of Saskatchewan), dies at 85
2011 – Paul Des Marais, American composer, dies at 90
2013 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American Grammy Award-winning gospel singer (Billy Graham Crusades, 1947-2013), dies at 104
2019 – Fay McKenzie, American actress and singer (The Party, Sierra Sue), dies at 101
2020 – Luis Sepúlveda, Chilean writer and political activist (The Old Man Who Read Love Stories), dies of COVID-19 at 70
Famous Deaths for 15th April 2023
1965 – Sydney Chaplin, English actor, half brother of Charlie Chaplin and his business manager, dies at 80
1972 – Otto Brenner, German trade union leader (Industrial Union of Metalworkers), dies at 64
1989 – Charles Vanel, French actor and director (Wages of Fear), dies at 96
1991 – Martin Ashe, American actor, dies at 81
2002 – Byron “Whizzer” White, American football player and U.S. Supreme Court Justice, dies at 84
2005 – Margaretta Scott, British actress (Crescendo, Where’s Charley, Counterblast), dies from pneumonia and breast cancer at 93
2007 – Brant Parker, American cartoonist (co-creator of “The Wizard of Id”), dies at 86
2019 – Joe Terry (Terranova), American Doo-wop singer (Danny and The Juniors – “At The Hop”), dies at 78
2019 – Owen Kay Garriott, American electrical engineer and NASA astronaut (Skylab 3, STS 9), dies at 88
2020 – Dámaso García, Dominican baseball second baseman (MLB All-Star 1984, 85; Silver Slugger Award 1982; Toronto Blue Jays), dies from a malignant brain tumour at 63
Famous Deaths for 14th April 2023
711 – Childebert III, king of the Franks, dies (b. 678/9)
1322 – Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Lord Badlesmere, English soldier (b. 1275)
1888 – William Fiske Sherwin, American composer, dies at 62
1925 – Pieter D. van Essen, Dutch artillery officer, dies at 54
1943 – Geoffrey Turton Shaw, English organist, composer, and educator, dies at 63
1949 – Joseph Augustine Cushman, American paleontologist, dies at 68
1983 – Elisabeth Lutyens, English composer, dies at 76
1985 – Reginald Beane, American pianist (Starlit Time: Once Upon a Tune), dies at 63
1990 – Thurston Harris, American pop vocalist (The Sharps, Little Bitty Pretty One), dies of a heart attack at 58
2004 – Micheline Charest, French Canadian television producer (b. 1953)
Famous Deaths for 13th April 2023
1806 – Jean-Jacques Bachelier, French painter, dies at ~82
1911 – John McLane, American politician, dies at 59
1919 – Phoebe Hearst, American philanthropist and suffragist, dies at 76
1928 – Luis Iruarrizaga Aguirre, Basque priest, organist and composer of religious music, dies at 36
1978 – Albert Termote, Flemish-Dutch sculptor of equestrian bronzes (Charles the Great), dies at 91
1983 – Gerry Hitchens, English footballer, dies at 48
2004 – Caron Keating, British television presenter, dies at 41
2005 – Don Blasingame, American baseball player, dies at 73
2007 – Don Selwyn, Māori actorand film director, dies at 71
2018 – Miloš Forman, Czech-American award-winning director (One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Amadeus, The Firemen’s Ball), dies at 86
Famous Deaths for 12th April 2023
1748 – William Kent, English sculptor/architect (Kensington Palace), dies
1777 – Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French satirical novelist (The Skimmer), dies at 70
1938 – Fyador Chaliapin, Russian operatic bass-baritone (Boris Godunov), dies at 65
1971 – Wynton Kelly, American jazz pianist (Dizzy Gillespie; Miles Davis), dies of epileptic seizure at 39
1988 – Alan Paton, South African author (Cry, the Beloved Country, Too Late the Phalarope) and anti-apartheid activist, dies of cancer at 85
2006 – Puggy Pearson, American poker player (World Series of Poker Main Event 1973; 4 x World Series of Poker bracelets), dies from heart failure at 77
2009 – John Maddox, British science writer and editor (Nature), dies at 83
2015 – Sheila Kitzinger, British author, anthropologist and child birth educator, dies at 86
2016 – Arnold Wesker, British playwright (Chips with Everything), dies at 83
2017 – Barry “Frosty” Smith, American rock, country and blues touring and session drummer (Lee Michaels; Roky Erikson; Doug Sahm), dies at 71
Famous Deaths for 11th April 2023
1812 – Gottlieb Schick, German painter (Opfer Noachs), dies at 35
1906 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American editor and publisher (The New York Sun – “Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus”), dies at 67
1976 – Liam Dunn, American actor, dies at 59
1988 – Jean “Jeff” Donnell, American actress (Gidget Goes to Rome, Hoedown, 9 Girls), dies at 66 of a heart attack
1992 – Eve Merriam [Moskovitz], American writer and poet (Inner City Mother Goose), dies of liver cancer at 75
1996 – Jessica Dubroff, American aviator (attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light utility aircraft across the United States), crashed at 7
2001 – Kamal Ranadive, Indian cancer researcher (Indian Women Scientists’ Association; Indian Cancer Research Centre), dies at 83
2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, American author (Slaughterhouse Five, Sirens of Titan), dies from head trauma at 84
2011 – Billy Bang [William Walker], American free jazz violinist and composer, dies of lung cancer at 63
2013 – Angela Voigt, East German long jumper (Olympic gold 1976), dies at 61
Famous Deaths for 10th April 2023
1533 – Frederik I, King of Denmark and Norway (1523-33), dies at 61
1585 – Gregory XIII [Ugo Boncompagni], Italian pope (1572-85) who introduced the Gregorian (New Style) calendar in 1582, dies at 83
1599 – Gabrielle d’Estrée, mistress of King Henry IV of France (b. 1571)
1619 – Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin (b. c1550)
1909 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet (Atalanta in Calydon), dies at 72
1945 – Charles Nordhoff, English-born writer (b. 1887)
1962 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (b. 1886)
1974 – Roger Bastide, French sociologist study of Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean religions, dies at 76
1975 – Marjorie Main [Mary Tomlinson], American vaudeville and screen actress (The Egg and I; Ma and Pa Kettle films; Another Thin Man), dies of lung cancer at 85
2014 – Jim Flaherty, Canadian politician, Minister of Finance (2006-2014), dies at 64