Notable Deaths

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Edgar Douglas Adams -- Nobel Prize-winning physiologist -- August 4

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed -- President of India -- February 11

Queen Alia of Jordan -- in a helicopter crash -- February 9

Eddie Anderson -- comedian best known as Jack Benny's "sidekick" -- February 28

Hubert Aquin -- author -- committed suicide -- March 15

Ba Maw -- first Prime Minister of Burma -- May 28

Olave Baden-Powell -- leader of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts -- June 25

Tafari Banti -- Ethiopian Chief of State -- killed in sectional fighting -- February 3

Louis J. M. Beel -- former Prime Minister of the Netherlands -- February 11

Emile Biayenda -- Archbishop of Brazzaville -- kidnapped and murdered -- March 23

Dzemal Bijedic -- Prime Minister of Yugoslavia -- in an airplane crash -- January 18

Bruce Ormsby Bliven -- journalist -- May 27

Oskar Bodansky -- chemist -- August 21

Frances Bolton -- former U. S. Congresswoman from Ohio -- March 9

Mauricio A. Borgonovo Pohl -- Foreign Minister of El Salvador -- kidnapped and murdered -- May 10 (body found)

Wernher von Braun -- rocket scientist -- June 16

Geraldine Brooks -- actress -- June 19

David K. E. Bruce -- American diplomat -- December 5

Sir Alexander Bustamante -- first Prime Minister of Jamaica -- August 6

Sebastian Cabot -- actor -- August 23

James M. Cain -- author -- October 27

Maria Callas -- opera singer -- September 16

John Dickson Carr -- mystery writer -- February 27

Charlie Chaplin -- actor -- December 25

Lady Clementine Churchill -- widow of Sir Winston Churchill -- December 12

Tom C. Clark -- former Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court -- June 13

Joan Crawford -- actress -- May 10

Bing Crosby -- entertainer -- October 14

Anthony Crosland -- British Foreign Secretary -- February 19

Paul Desmond -- alto saxophonist -- May 30

Andy Devine -- actor -- February 18

Sir Anthony Eden -- former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom -- January 14

Ludwig Erhard -- former Chancellor of West Germany -- May 5

Brian Faulkner -- former Premier of Northern Ireland -- March 3

Peter Finch -- actor -- January 14

Brian Foy -- vaudeville performer and film producer -- April 20

Alexa Stirling Fraser -- golfer -- April 15

Erroll Garner -- jazz pianist and composer -- January 2

Stuart Garson -- Canadian politician -- May 4

Benjamin Franklin Grauer -- radio and television news broadcaster -- May 31

Tom Gries -- screen writer -- January 3

William Gropper -- artist -- January 6

Edvard Isak Hambro -- Norwegian diplomat -- February 1

Fannie Lou Hamer -- civil rights worker -- March 14

Stanley Harris -- baseball manager -- November 8

Howard Hawks -- film director -- December 26

Lewis Blaine Hershey -- former director of the U. S. Selective Service System -- May 20

Julius W. Hobson -- civil rights activist -- March 23

Robert Calvin Hubbard -- athlete -- October 17

Henry Hull -- actor -- March 8

Diana Hyland -- actress -- March 27

Bobby Isaac -- race car driver -- August 13

Nunnally Johnson -- screen writer -- March 25

James Jones -- novelist -- May 9

Kamal Jumblat -- Lebanese Muslim leader -- assassinated -- March 16

MacKinley Kantor -- Pulitzer Prize-winning author -- October 11

Modibo Keita -- former President of Mali -- May 16

Henri Langlois -- film historian -- January 12

William L. Laurence -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist -- March 19

David M. Levy -- child psychiatrist -- March 1

Guy Lombardo -- bandleader -- November 5

Robert Lowell -- poet -- September 12

Alfred Lunt -- actor -- August 3

Nicholas Magallanes -- ballet dancer -- May 2

Archbishop Makarios III -- President of Cyprus -- August 3

Julius Mark -- Jewish leader -- September 7

Groucho Marx -- entertainer -- August 19

Gummo Marx -- entertainer -- April 21

Alphonse Massamba-Debat -- former President of the Congo -- executed -- March 25

John L. McClellan -- U. S. Senator from Arkansas -- November 27

Robert McCulloch -- industrialist -- February 25

Zero Mostel -- actor -- September 8

Edgar Ansel Mowrer -- Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist -- March 2

Joe Musial -- cartoonist -- June 6

Vladimir Nabokov -- author -- July 2

Marien Ngouabi -- President of Congo -- assassinated -- March 18

Anaïs Nin -- author -- January 14

Eliot Noyes -- architect -- July 17

Kenneth P. O'Donnell -- former Governor of Massachusetts -- September 9

Abraham Ofer -- Israeli Minister of Housing -- committed suicide -- January 3

Alice Paul -- women's rights advocate -- July 9

Virginia Payne -- actress -- February 10

Francis Gary Powers -- U-2 pilot shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960 -- in a helicopter crash -- August 11

Elvis Presley -- entertainer -- August 16

Freddie Prinze -- actor -- committed suicide -- January 29

Carlos Prio Socarrás -- former President of Cuba -- committed suicide -- April 5

Sir Terence Rattigan -- playwright -- November 30

Cyril Ritchard -- actor -- December 18

Clifford Roberts -- co-founder of the Masters Golf Tournament -- September 29

Nellie Tayloe Ross -- former Governor of Wyoming -- December 19

Roberto Rossellini -- film director -- June 3

Adolph F. Rupp -- college basketball coach -- December 10

Willem Schermerhorn -- former Prime Minister of the Netherlands -- March 10

Kurt Schuschnigg -- former Chancellor of Austria -- November 18

Bernard Shor -- restaurant owner -- January 23

Leopold Stokowski -- conductor -- September 13

Juan Velasco Alvarado -- former President of Peru -- December 24

Ethel Waters -- entertainer -- September 2

Philip K. Wrigley -- industrialist -- April 12

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This page was last updated on January 06, 2019.