Famous People Who Died of Colon Cancer
- Audrey Hepburn, a name synonymous with grace, beauty, and compassion, was born on May 4, 1929, in Brussels, Belgium. She spent her early years shuttling between Belgium, England, and the Netherlands, enduring the harsh realities of World War II. Despite the tumultuous circumstances, Audrey's passion for ballet thrived, leading her to train under Sonia Gaskell, a renowned ballet teacher in Amsterdam. However, her dreams of becoming a prima ballerina were thwarted due to malnutrition suffered during the war years, which led her to switch her focus towards acting. Hepburn's film career took off in the early 1950s, with her breakout role in Roman Holiday earning her an Academy Award for Best Actress. This victory catapulted her into the Hollywood elite, and she continued to shine in iconic roles in films such as Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and My Fair Lady. Audrey Hepburn's unique blend of elegance and authenticity resonated with audiences worldwide, earning her numerous accolades including an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony, and multiple BAFTA awards. Not only was she a gifted actress, but she also became a fashion icon, admired for her timeless style and her close association with designer Hubert de Givenchy. Beyond the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, Hepburn dedicated a significant portion of her life to humanitarian work. As a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, she used her global stature to bring attention to the plight of children in some of the world's most impoverished regions. Her tireless efforts earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among other humanitarian awards. Audrey Hepburn passed away on January 20, 1993, but her legacy continues to inspire many, embodying a unique blend of cinematic brilliance, iconic style, and profound compassion.
- Birthplace: Brussels, Ixelles, Belgium
Chadwick Boseman
Age: 46Chadwick Aaron Boseman (November 29, 1976 – August 28, 2020) was an American actor known for his portrayals of real-life historical figures such as Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013), James Brown in Get on Up (2014) and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017), as well as for his portrayal of the superhero Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War (both 2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Boseman also had roles in the television series Lincoln Heights (2008) and Persons Unknown (2010) and the films The Express: The Ernie Davis Story (2008), Draft Day (2014) and Message from the King (2016).- Birthplace: Anderson, South Carolina
- Farrah Fawcett was a renowned American actress who etched her place in the world of entertainment with her exceptional acting skills and radiant beauty. Born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, Fawcett grew up as a southern belle before moving to Hollywood where she would achieve stardom. She studied at the University of Texas before deciding to pursue a career in acting, setting her sights on the bright lights of Hollywood. Fawcett's claim to fame came through her role as Jill Munroe in the hit television series Charlie's Angels, which aired from 1976 to 1980. Her portrayal of the private investigator catapulted her into the limelight, making her an overnight sensation. The iconic red swimsuit poster of Fawcett is regarded as one of the best-selling posters in history, showcasing her status as a pop culture icon. However, Fawcett was not just a pretty face; she proved her mettle as an actress with powerful performances in films like The Burning Bed and Extremities, earning her critical acclaim and multiple award nominations. In addition to her acting prowess, Fawcett was also known for her courageous battle with cancer. Diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, she fought the disease bravely and publicly, sharing her journey through the Emmy-nominated documentary Farrah's Story. Fawcett's tenacity and resilience in the face of adversity are as much a part of her legacy as her acting achievements. Farrah Fawcett passed away on June 25, 2009, leaving behind a rich legacy of unforgettable performances and an inspiring story of courage and determination.
- Birthplace: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
- Born on February 8, 1925, in an elevator in Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts, John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an acclaimed American actor and musician. As a Harvard University graduate, Lemmon's career spanned six decades, earning him two Academy Awards among numerous other accolades. His stellar career was marked by his exceptional performances in both dramatic and comedic roles, making him one of the most versatile actors of his time. Lemmon's talent was first noted when he starred in the 1955 film Mister Roberts, for which he bagged an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He continued to impress audiences with his performances in films such as Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, and Days of Wine and Roses. His portrayal of a businessman in Save the Tiger (1973) won him the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the first actor to bag Academy Awards in both leading and supporting roles. Apart from his film career, Lemmon also left his mark on television and theater, receiving Emmy nominations for his roles on the small screen and a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Long Day's Journey Into Night. Despite his fame, Lemmon remained grounded, attributing this quality to his upbringing. He was known for his humility and kindness, traits that endeared him to his colleagues. His off-screen life, however, was not without tribulations. He battled alcoholism and other personal issues but managed to overcome them, using these experiences to further enhance his craft. Jack Lemmon passed away in June 2001, leaving behind a rich legacy in American cinema.
- Birthplace: Newton, Massachusetts, USA
- Milton Berle, born on July 12, 1908, in New York City, was a legendary American comedian and actor who left an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. His career spanned over 80 years, beginning as a child actor in silent films in the early 20th century and evolving into a comedy icon in television's golden age. Known for his quick wit, outrageous costumes, and larger-than-life personality, Berle became one of the first superstars of television, earning him the nickname "Mr. Television." Berle's comedic talent and charisma were evident from a young age. He won a Charlie Chaplin impersonation contest at the age of five, setting off a career that would see him perform in over 50 silent films before he was 16. However, it was his transition to television that brought him into millions of American living rooms. In 1948, he became the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater, a variety show that quickly became one of the most popular programs in the country. With his slapstick humor and infectious energy, Berle helped establish the format of the TV variety show, paving the way for future entertainers. Despite his success, Berle's career was not without controversy. His brash style and tendency to take over shows often rubbed his contemporaries the wrong way. Nonetheless, his impact on the entertainment industry is undeniable. In 1984, Berle was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Emmy, recognizing his significant contributions to television. He was also one of the first seven inductees into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1985. Milton Berle passed away in 2002, but his legacy as a pioneer of American television comedy continues to be celebrated today.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- Elizabeth Montgomery, best known for her enchanting portrayal of Samantha Stephens in the classic television show Bewitched, was born on April 15, 1933. With a pedigree rooted in show business, her father being renowned actor Robert Montgomery, it was perhaps destiny that Elizabeth would follow suit. Her early years were spent studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where she honed her acting skills before making her debut on her father's television series, Robert Montgomery Presents. Montgomery's career took off in the late 1950s, but it wasn't until 1964 when she landed the role of Samantha Stephens, a beautiful witch trying to live a mortal life, that her star truly began to shine. For eight seasons, audiences were captivated by her nose-twitching performances, earning her five Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations. Despite the fame and success that came with Bewitched, Montgomery sought to break away from her typecast image. Montgomery then shifted her focus to more serious roles, predominantly in television films. Her performances in A Case of Rape and The Legend of Lizzie Borden showcased her versatility as an actress and reinforced her reputation as a Hollywood powerhouse. In addition to her acting career, Montgomery was also an advocate for women's rights and gay rights, displaying a passion for activism that paralleled her love for acting. Elizabeth Montgomery passed away in 1995, leaving behind an enduring legacy that continues to bewitch audiences worldwide.
- Birthplace: Hollywood, California, USA
- Jackie Gleason, an iconic figure in the world of entertainment, is best known for his role as Ralph Kramden in the 1950s television sitcom The Honeymooners. Born on February 26, 1916, in Brooklyn, New York, Gleason's early life was marked by hardship. His mother passed away when he was only 19, and his father had abandoned the family long before. These challenging circumstances didn't stop Gleason from pursuing his love for entertainment, however. He began his career performing stand-up comedy at clubs in New York City before breaking into Broadway and eventually television and film. Gleason's big break came in 1949 when he landed a hosting gig for the variety show Cavalcade of Stars. His comedic genius and unparalleled timing were quickly recognized, leading to his starring role in The Honeymooners in 1955. The show, with Gleason at the helm as the lovable yet hot-tempered bus driver Ralph Kramden, became a beloved staple of American television. Gleason's ability to portray Kramden's raw human emotions made him a relatable character, and audiences across the country fell in love with his performance. In addition to his success with The Honeymooners, Gleason also made a significant impact in the world of music and film. He released several successful "mood music" albums under the Capitol Records label and starred in notable films like The Hustler (1961), earning him an Academy Award nomination. Despite facing personal struggles, including battles with obesity and alcoholism, Gleason's legacy continues to resonate throughout the entertainment industry. His contributions have been recognized with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for both television and film, showcasing the breadth of his talent and influence. Jackie Gleason passed away on June 24, 1987, but his humor, charm, and undeniable talent continue to enchant audiences worldwide.
- Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, USA
- The crystalline vibrato of Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Robin Gibb was a key factor in four decades of hit songs by the Bee Gees, alongside brothers Barry and Maurice. In addition to co-writing nearly all of the band's greatest songs - from 1960s-era hits like "To Love Somebody" and "Massachusetts," to their record-breaking disco and funk songs of the 1970s for the Saturday Night Fever (1977) soundtrack - Robin's high, precise harmonies with his brothers helped sell some 220 million records, a figure comparable only to Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Michael Jackson. Save for a brief period in 1969, Gibb was present for the momentous highs, but also the intense lows of the Bee Gees' career, which culminated in 1988 with the death of baby brother Andy Gibb, and then in 2003 with the death of his twin, Maurice Gibb. However, to the delight of fans worldwide, Robin and Barry announced in 2009 that they would resume recording new songs. But the promise of new music never materialized due to mounting health issues for the singer. Still, the contributions of Robin Gibb and his brothers to pop music were almost without peer and were some of the most successful ever recorded.
- Birthplace: Douglas, Isle of Man
- Eartha Kitt, an iconic figure in the world of entertainment, was born on January 17, 1927, in North, South Carolina. With a career spanning more than six decades, her talents encompassed singing, acting, and dancing, solidifying her status as a revered triple-threat performer. A daughter of a sharecropper and of Cherokee and African-American descent, Kitt overcame an impoverished childhood marked by abandonment and racial prejudice to emerge as a luminary on the global stage. Kitt's breakthrough came in 1950 when she joined the renowned Katherine Dunham Dance Company and toured extensively across Europe. Her distinctive singing style, marked by a sultry voice and sharp articulation, captured international attention, leading to her being cast in the Broadway revue New Faces of 1952. This paved the way for her flourishing music career, which included hits such as "Santa Baby" and "I Want to Be Evil." However, Kitt was not just a singer; she also made significant strides in film and television. Her portrayal of Catwoman in the 1960s Batman series remains one of her most enduring roles, showcasing her versatility and ability to imbue characters with captivating charm. Despite her fame, Kitt was not immune to controversy. In 1968, she made headlines for her vocal criticism of the Vietnam War during a White House luncheon, which led to professional blacklisting within the US and an investigation by the CIA. Nevertheless, she persevered, finding success overseas before making a triumphant return to the American stage. Eartha Kitt passed away on December 25, 2008, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire artists today. Her life story serves as a testament to resilience, showcasing that success is possible even in the face of adversity.
- Birthplace: North, South Carolina, USA
- (Achille) Claude Debussy (French: [aʃil klod dəbysi]; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born to a family of modest means and little cultural involvement, Debussy showed enough musical talent to be admitted at the age of ten to France's leading music college, the Conservatoire de Paris. He originally studied the piano, but found his vocation in innovative composition, despite the disapproval of the Conservatoire's conservative professors. He took many years to develop his mature style, and was nearly 40 when he achieved international fame in 1902 with the only opera he completed, Pelléas et Mélisande. Debussy's orchestral works include Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1894), Nocturnes (1897–1899) and Images (1905–1912). His music was to a considerable extent a reaction against Wagner and the German musical tradition. He regarded the classical symphony as obsolete and sought an alternative in his "symphonic sketches", La mer (1903–1905). His piano works include two books of Préludes and two of Études. Throughout his career he wrote mélodies based on a wide variety of poetry, including his own. He was greatly influenced by the Symbolist poetic movement of the later 19th century. A small number of works, including the early La Damoiselle élue and the late Le Martyre de saint Sébastien have important parts for chorus. In his final years, he focused on chamber music, completing three of six planned sonatas for different combinations of instruments. With early influences including Russian and far-eastern music, Debussy developed his own style of harmony and orchestral colouring, derided – and unsuccessfully resisted – by much of the musical establishment of the day. His works have strongly influenced a wide range of composers including Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, George Benjamin, and the jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans. Debussy died from cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55 after a composing career of a little more than 30 years.
- Birthplace: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
- Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Peanuts (which featured the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, among others). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time, cited by cartoonists including Jim Davis, Bill Watterson, Matt Groening, and Stephan Pastis.
- Birthplace: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
- Tall, curly-haired actor, often cast as business-suited paternal types. Reed worked on mainly forgettable TV series from the 1960s, first gaining widespread notice as a crusading lawyer in "The Defenders." He is best remembered as "a man named Brady, with three boys of his own" on that corny 70s ode to the suburban family, "The Brady Bunch." Reed subsequently had major supporting roles on the miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man" (1976) and "Roots" (1977).
- Birthplace: Highland Park, Illinois, USA
- Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football player, coach, and executive in the National Football League (NFL). He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years, in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 NFL seasons. Lombardi began his coaching career as an assistant and later as a head coach at St. Cecilia High School in Englewood, New Jersey. He was an assistant coach at Fordham, at the United States Military Academy, and with the New York Giants before becoming a head coach for the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967 and the Washington Redskins in 1969. He never had a losing season as a head coach in the NFL, compiling a regular season winning percentage of 72.8% (96–34–6), and 90% (9–1) in the postseason for an overall record of 105 wins, 35 losses, and 6 ties in the NFL.Although Lombardi was noted for his gruff demeanor and "iron discipline", he was far ahead of his time in creating a supportive environment for gay players, and he emphatically challenged existing Jim Crow Laws, and provided leadership to break the color barrier in football. He once said that he "... viewed his players as neither black nor white, but Packer green". Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized as one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of all American sports. The year after his sudden death from cancer in 1970, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the NFL Super Bowl trophy was named in his honor.
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York
- Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American politician who served as the 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, representing northern Boston, Massachusetts, as a Democrat from 1953 to 1987. The only Speaker to serve for five complete consecutive Congresses, he is the third longest-serving Speaker in American history after Sam Rayburn and Henry Clay in terms of total tenure, and longest-serving in terms of continuous tenure (Rayburn and Clay having served multiple terms in the Speakership). Born in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, O'Neill began campaigning at a young age, volunteering for Al Smith's campaign in the 1928 presidential election. After graduating from Boston College, O'Neill won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he became a strong advocate of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies. He became Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1949 and won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1952 to the seat vacated by John F. Kennedy. In the House, O'Neill became a protege of fellow Massachusetts Representative John William McCormack. O'Neill broke with President Lyndon B. Johnson on the Vietnam War in 1967, and called for Richard Nixon's resignation in light of the Watergate scandal. He quickly moved up the leadership ranks in the 1970s, becoming House Majority Whip in 1971, House Majority Leader in 1973, and Speaker of the House in 1977. With the election of President Jimmy Carter, O'Neill hoped to establish a universal health care system and a guaranteed jobs program. However, relations between Carter and Congress collapsed and Democrats lost control of the presidency in the 1980 presidential election. O'Neill became a leading opponent of Republican President Ronald Reagan's conservative domestic policies. O'Neill and Reagan found more common ground in foreign policy, fostering the Anglo-Irish Agreement and implementing the Reagan Doctrine in the Soviet–Afghan War. O'Neill retired from Congress in 1987, but remained active in public life. He published a best-selling autobiography and appeared in several commercials and other media. He died of cardiac arrest in 1994.
- Birthplace: Cambridge, USA, Massachusetts
- From an early age Eve Arden evinced brilliant comic timing that set her apart from the rank and file of young Hollywood hopefuls. A seasoned stock player out of high school, she made her film debut in an early talkie, but it was on Broadway and radio that she cultivated her brand as a tart-tonged comedienne. Given a small role in RKO's "Stage Door" (1937), Arden so impressed director Gregory La Cava that he ordered her part expanded to give her equal time alongside stars Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball. Better roles followed, supporting the Marx Brothers in "At the Circus" (1939) and playing the first of many independent professional women in "Comrade X" (1940) opposite Clark Gable. Arden flourished as a second female lead and was nominated for an Academy Award for playing the best friend of Joan Crawford's anguished "Mildred Pierce" (1945). In 1948, she created the role of spinster schoolteacher "Our Miss Brooks" for CBS radio and brought the character to television four years later. Moving effortlessly between the stage and screens big and small, Arden remained a viable character player well past retirement age, upstaging film newcomers John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in "Grease" (1978). Ill health forced Arden's retirement in 1987 while her death from cancer in 1990 dropped the curtain on the brilliant career of a unique and irreplaceable comic talent.
- Birthplace: Mill Valley, California, USA
- José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992), known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor and theatre and film director. He was the first Puerto Rican-born actor, as well as the first Hispanic actor, to win an Academy Award (in 1950 for Cyrano de Bergerac). In 1947, Ferrer won the Tony Award for his theatrical performance of Cyrano de Bergerac, and in 1952, he won the Distinguished Dramatic Actor Award for The Shrike, and also the Outstanding Director Award for directing the plays The Shrike, The Fourposter, and Stalag 17. Ferrer's contributions to American theatre were recognized in 1981, when he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 1985, he received the National Medal of Arts from Ronald Reagan, becoming the first actor to receive that honor.
- Birthplace: Santurce, Puerto Rico
Edward Elgar
Dec. at 76 (1857-1934)Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe. He felt himself to be an outsider, not only musically, but socially. In musical circles dominated by academics, he was a self-taught composer; in Protestant Britain, his Roman Catholicism was regarded with suspicion in some quarters; and in the class-conscious society of Victorian and Edwardian Britain, he was acutely sensitive about his humble origins even after he achieved recognition. He nevertheless married the daughter of a senior British army officer. She inspired him both musically and socially, but he struggled to achieve success until his forties, when after a series of moderately successful works his Enigma Variations (1899) became immediately popular in Britain and overseas. He followed the Variations with a choral work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900), based on a Roman Catholic text that caused some disquiet in the Anglican establishment in Britain, but it became, and has remained, a core repertory work in Britain and elsewhere. His later full-length religious choral works were well received but have not entered the regular repertory. In his fifties, Elgar composed a symphony and a violin concerto that were immensely successful. His second symphony and his cello concerto did not gain immediate public popularity and took many years to achieve a regular place in the concert repertory of British orchestras. Elgar's music came, in his later years, to be seen as appealing chiefly to British audiences. His stock remained low for a generation after his death. It began to revive significantly in the 1960s, helped by new recordings of his works. Some of his works have, in recent years, been taken up again internationally, but the music continues to be played more in Britain than elsewhere. Elgar has been described as the first composer to take the gramophone seriously. Between 1914 and 1925, he conducted a series of acoustic recordings of his works. The introduction of the moving-coil microphone in 1923 made far more accurate sound reproduction possible, and Elgar made new recordings of most of his major orchestral works and excerpts from The Dream of Gerontius.- Birthplace: Broadheath, United Kingdom
- Harold "Hal" Fishman (August 25, 1931 – August 7, 2007) was a local news anchor in the Los Angeles area, serving on-air with Los Angeles-area television stations continuously from 1960 until his death in 2007. Fishman was the longest-running news anchor in the history of American television before Dave Ward surpassed him in 2015. He was also a record-holding aviator. "The Simpsons" cartoon television anchorman Kent Brockman was partially inspired by Hal Fishman.
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York
- Richard Mulligan (November 13, 1932 – September 26, 2000) was an American television, film and character actor known for his role as Burt Campbell, the loving, protective husband of Cathryn Damon's character, in the sitcom Soap (1977–81). Later, Mulligan had a starring role as Dr. Harry Weston in Empty Nest (1988–95), for which he won both the Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1989. Mulligan was the younger brother of film director Robert Mulligan.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- Stage-trained African-American comic actor who garnered international acclaim for his portrayal of Black Bart, the unlikely sheriff, in Mel Brooks' Western spoof "Blazing Saddles" (1974). Little's big break came with a turn in Peter Yates' "John and Mary" (1969), alongside Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow. In 1970, he starred on stage in Ossie Davis' musical "Purlie," for which he won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award, and appeared in Davis' landmark black independent film, "Cotton Comes to Harlem." Throughout his career, Little displayed a manic, live wire comic energy and a flamboyant, streetwise style of line delivery.
- Birthplace: Chickasha, Oklahoma, USA
- Ted Knight (December 7, 1923 – August 26, 1986) was an American actor and voice artist well known for playing the comedic roles of Ted Baxter in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Henry Rush in Too Close for Comfort, and Judge Elihu Smails in Caddyshack.
- Birthplace: Terryville, Connecticut, USA
- Walter Matthau, born in 1920 in New York City, was a titan of American stage and screen, known for his quintessential gruff persona that endeared him to audiences across the globe. Born as Walter John Matthow, he was raised by impoverished Russian-Jewish immigrants. His journey from the lower rungs of society to becoming a beloved Hollywood figure is a testament to his talent and tenacity. He served in World War II as a radioman-gunner in the U.S Army Air Forces with the Eighth Air Force in England, an experience that shaped his worldview. Matthau's acting career spanned more than five decades, beginning with small roles in repertory theater in the 1940s. His big break came in 1965 when he won a Tony Award for his performance in The Odd Couple, a role he would later reprise in the iconic film version. Matthau's unforgettable partnership with Jack Lemmon began with this film, and they went on to star together in many successful movies. However, Matthau was not just a comedy actor; his nuanced performances in films such as Charade and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three showcased his versatility. Matthau's talents extended beyond acting. A keen sportsman, he was known for his love for chess and tennis. In addition, he was a committed philanthropist, working tirelessly behind the scenes to support causes close to his heart. His contribution to cinema was recognized when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1965, and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Fortune Cookie a year later. Despite facing health issues later in life, Matthau continued to act until his death in 2000, leaving behind an indelible legacy in Hollywood.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
Jack Albertson
Dec. at 74 (1907-1981)An incredibly prolific, talented and frequently underappreciated actor, Jack Albertson was one of the most accomplished performers of his generation. Emerging from the vaudeville circuit and bawdy burlesque shows of New York in the 1930s, Albertson soon graduated to such Broadway stage productions as the 1947 revival of "The Cradle Will Rock." Throughout the 1950s and '60s, the actor worked non-stop, jumping from television to film and back to theater in such vehicles as the crime-comedy series "The Thin Man" (NBC, 1957-59), the cautionary drama "Days of Wine and Roses" (1962) and the Broadway play "The Subject was Roses" in 1965. As busy as he had been for more than 20 years, it was in the 1970s that Albertson gained lasting notoriety amongst a generation of fans for a trio of roles as good-natured, but cantankerous old men. In theaters, he endeared himself to fans young and old with his characters in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" (1971) and "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972). But it was as the crotchety father figure to Freddie Prinze on the hit sitcom "Chico and the Man" (NBC, 1974-78) that Albertson would perhaps be most fondly remembered. A testament to his talent and lasting contributions could, in part, be measured by the fact that Albertson remained one of the select few to ever earn Oscar, Emmy and Tony awards over the course of his impressive career.- Birthplace: Malden, Massachusetts, USA
Francis Crick
Dec. at 88 (1916-2004)Francis Harry Compton Crick (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist. In 1953, he co-authored with James Watson the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Together with Watson and Maurice Wilkins, he was jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material". The results were based partly on fundamental studies done by Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling and Wilkins. Crick was an important theoretical molecular biologist and played a crucial role in research related to revealing the helical structure of DNA. He is widely known for the use of the term "central dogma" to summarize the idea that once information is transferred from nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) to proteins, it cannot flow back to nucleic acids. In other words, the final step in the flow of information from nucleic acids to proteins is irreversible.During the remainder of his career, he held the post of J.W. Kieckhefer Distinguished Research Professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California. His later research centered on theoretical neurobiology and attempts to advance the scientific study of human consciousness. He remained in this post until his death; "he was editing a manuscript on his death bed, a scientist until the bitter end" according to Christof Koch.- Birthplace: Weston Favell, United Kingdom
- His scores for "Planet of the Apes" (1968), "The Omen" (1976), "Star Trek, the Motion Picture" (1979), "Alien" (1979), and "Poltergeist" (1982) made him the king of science fiction and horror movie music, but veteran film composer Jerry Goldsmith had more to offer than mere thrills and chills. A one-time student of acclaimed composer Miklós Rózsa, Goldsmith channeled his passion for classical composition into his work on such prestige pictures as "Lonely Are the Brave" (1962), "Lilies of the Field" (1963), and "Patton" (1970), the latter of which garnered him one of many Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score. During his journeyman years as an in-house composer for the Columbia Broadcasting System, Goldsmith was an indispensable component of such long-running television series as "Playhouse 90," "Dr. Kildare," "The Twilight Zone" and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." but his stock in the film industry rose via his associations with such A-list directors as John Huston, Otto Preminger, John Sturges, and Franklin J. Schaffner. In the bell lap of his long and distinguished career, Goldsmith became the composer of choice for such new talents as Ridley Scott, Paul Verhoeven, Joe Dante and Curtis Hanson, while his scoring for the revived "Star Trek" franchise won him a new generation of followers. Cut down by cancer in 2004, Goldsmith had long since attained enshrinement as a top-flight Hollywood composer, able to bridge the distant past and the unforeseeable future with an infectious measure of wonder and optimism.
- Birthplace: Pasadena, California, USA
Howard Keel
Dec. at 85 (1919-2004)Harry Clifford Keel (April 13, 1919 – November 7, 2004), known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer with a rich bass-baritone singing voice. He starred in a number of MGM musicals in the 1950s and in the CBS television series Dallas from 1981–1991.- Birthplace: USA, Gillespie, Illinois
Tammy Faye
Dec. at 65 (1942-2007)Tamara Faye Messner (née LaValley, formerly Bakker; March 7, 1942 – July 20, 2007) was an American Christian singer, evangelist, entrepreneur, author, talk show host, and television personality. She initially gained notice for her work with The PTL Club, a televangelist program she co-founded with her then-husband Jim Bakker in 1974. Prior to founding The PTL Club, they had hosted their own puppet show series for local programming in Minnesota in the early 1970s, and Messner also had a career as a recording artist. In 1978, she and Bakker built Heritage USA, a Christian theme park.Messner would garner significant publicity when Jim Bakker was indicted, convicted, and imprisoned on numerous counts of fraud and conspiracy in 1989, resulting in the dissolution of The PTL Club. After divorcing Bakker in 1992, she remarried to Roe Messner. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1996, of which she suffered intermittently for over a decade before dying of the disease in 2007.Over the course of her career, Messner was noted for her eccentric and glamorous persona, as well as for her moral views that diverged from those of many mainstream Evangelists, particularly her acceptance of the LGBT community and reaching out to HIV/AIDS patients at the height of the AIDS epidemic.- Birthplace: International Falls, Minnesota, USA
- David Dunbar Buick (September 17, 1854 – March 5, 1929) was a Scottish-born American Detroit-based inventor, best known for founding the Buick Motor Company. He headed this company and its predecessor from 1899 until 1906, thereby helping to create one of the most successful nameplates in United States motor vehicle history.
- Birthplace: Arbroath, United Kingdom
- James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. Entering Parliament in 1945, Wilson was appointed a parliamentary secretary in the Attlee ministry and rose quickly through the ministerial ranks; he became Secretary for Overseas Trade in 1947 and was elevated to Cabinet shortly thereafter as President of the Board of Trade. In opposition to the next Conservative government, he served as Shadow Chancellor (1955–1961) and Shadow Foreign Secretary (1961–1963). Hugh Gaitskell, then Labour leader, died suddenly in 1963 and Wilson was elected leader. Narrowly winning the 1964 general election, Wilson won an increased majority in a snap 1966 election. Wilson's first period as Prime Minister coincided with a period of low unemployment and relative economic prosperity, though hindered by significant problems with Britain's external balance of payments. In 1969 he sent British troops to Northern Ireland. After losing the 1970 election to Edward Heath, he spent four years as Leader of the Opposition before the February 1974 election resulted in a hung parliament. After Heath's talks with the Liberals broke down, Wilson returned to power as leader of a minority government until another general election in October, resulting in a narrow Labour victory. A period of economic crisis had begun to hit most Western countries, and in 1976 Wilson suddenly announced his resignation as Prime Minister. Wilson's approach to socialism was moderate compared to others in his party at the time, emphasising programmes aimed at increasing opportunity in society, rather than on the controversial socialist goal of promoting wider public ownership of industry; he took little action to pursue the Labour constitution's stated dedication to nationalisation, though he did not formally disown it. Himself a member of the party's "soft left", Wilson joked about leading a cabinet made up mostly of social democrats, comparing himself to a Bolshevik revolutionary presiding over a Tsarist cabinet, but there was arguably little to divide him ideologically from the cabinet majority.Overall, Wilson is seen to have managed a number of difficult political issues with considerable tactical skill, including such potentially divisive issues for his party such as the role of public ownership, membership of the European Community, and the Vietnam War; he refused to allow British troops to take part, while continuing to maintain a costly military presence east of Suez. His stated ambition of substantially improving Britain's long-term economic performance was left largely unfulfilled. He lost his energy and drive in his second premiership, and accomplished little as the leadership split over Europe and trade union issues began tearing Labour apart.
- Birthplace: Huddersfield, England
- Bernie Faloney (June 15, 1932 – June 14, 1999) was a professional football player in the Canadian Football League (primarily with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats) and an outstanding American college football player at the University of Maryland. Born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, Faloney is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, and the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame. Faloney's jersey #10 was retired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1999. In 2005, Faloney was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In 2006, Faloney was voted to the Honour Roll of the CFL's Top 50 Players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.
- Birthplace: Carnegie, Pennsylvania
- David Oswald Nelson (October 24, 1936 – January 11, 2011) was an American actor, director, and producer.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- Jos Brink (19 June 1942 – 17 August 2007) was a Dutch actor, radio and musical performer, film producer, television and radio personality, columnist and author. Brink was also a pastor engaged to the oecumenical congregation De Duif in Amsterdam.Brink was born in Heiloo, North Holland. He did much to promote acceptance of homosexuality in Dutch society and was a well-known out gay person. He started living with his artistic partner Frank Sanders in 1973. In a 1979 TV show Thank You, Your Majesty he kissed Queen Juliana (1909–2004) while congratulating her on her 70th birthday.
- Birthplace: Heiloo, Netherlands
- Mstislav Leopoldovich "Slava" Rostropovich (Russian: Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич, romanized: Mstislav Leopol'dovič Rostropovič, pronounced [rəstrɐˈpovʲɪtɕ]; 27 March 1927 – 27 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered to be one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. He inspired and premiered over 100 pieces, forming long-standing friendships and artistic partnerships with composers including Dmitri Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, Henri Dutilleux, Witold Lutosławski, Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Norbert Moret, Andreas Makris, Leonard Bernstein and Benjamin Britten. Rostropovich was internationally recognized as a staunch advocate of human rights, and was awarded the 1974 Award of the International League of Human Rights. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and had two daughters, Olga and Elena Rostropovich.
- Birthplace: Baku, Azerbaijan
- Willy Brandt (German: [ˈvɪliː ˈbʁant]; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 for his efforts to strengthen cooperation in western Europe through the EEC and to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of Eastern Europe. He was the first Social Democrat chancellor since 1930. Fleeing to Norway and then Sweden during the Nazi regime and working as a left-wing journalist, he took the name Willy Brandt as a pseudonym to avoid detection by Nazi agents, and then formally adopted the name in 1948. Brandt was originally considered one of the leaders of the right wing of the SPD, and earned initial fame as Governing Mayor of West Berlin. He served as Foreign Minister and as Vice Chancellor in Kurt Georg Kiesinger's cabinet, and became chancellor in 1969. As chancellor, he maintained West Germany's close alignment with the United States and focused on strengthening European integration in western Europe, while launching the new policy of Ostpolitik aimed at improving relations with Eastern Europe. Brandt was controversial on both the right wing, for his Ostpolitik, and on the left wing, for his support of American policies, including the Vietnam War, and right-wing authoritarian regimes. The Brandt Report became a recognised measure for describing the general North-South divide in world economics and politics between an affluent North and a poor South. Brandt was also known for his fierce anti-communist policies at the domestic level, culminating in the Radikalenerlass (Anti-Radical Decree) in 1972. Brandt resigned as chancellor in 1974, after Günter Guillaume, one of his closest aides, was exposed as an agent of the Stasi, the East German secret service.
- Birthplace: Lübeck, Germany
- María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino (25 January 1933 – 1 August 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th President of the Philippines, becoming the first woman to hold that office. Corazon Aquino was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People Power Revolution, which ended the 21-year rule of President Ferdinand Marcos. She was named Time magazine's Woman of the Year in 1986. Prior to this, she had not held any elective office. A self-proclaimed "plain housewife", she was married to Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., the staunchest critic of President Marcos. She emerged as leader of the opposition after her husband was assassinated on 21 August 1983 upon returning to the Philippines from exile in the United States. In late 1985, Marcos called for snap elections, and Aquino ran for president with former senator Salvador Laurel as her running mate for vice president. After the elections were held on 7 February 1986, the Batasang Pambansa proclaimed Marcos and his running mate Arturo Tolentino as the winners; allegations were made of electoral fraud, with Aquino calling for massive civil disobedience actions. Defections from the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the support of the local Catholic hierarchy led to the People Power Revolution that ousted Marcos and secured Aquino's accession on 25 February 1986. As President, Aquino oversaw the promulgation of the 1987 Constitution, which limited the powers of the Presidency and re-established the bicameral Congress. Her administration provided strong emphasis on and concern for civil liberties and human rights, and on peace talks to resolve the ongoing Communist insurgency and Islamist secession movements. Her economic policies centered on restoring economic health and confidence and focused on creating a market-oriented and socially responsible economy. In 1987, she became the first Filipino to be bestowed with the prestigious Prize For Freedom Award.Several coup attempts were made against Aquino's government; it also faced various natural calamities until the end of her term in 1992. She was succeeded as President by Fidel Ramos, and returned to civilian life while remaining public about her opinions on political issues. In recognition for her role in the world's most peaceful revolution to attain democracy, she was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1998. Aquino was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2008; she died on 1 August 2009. Her monuments of peace and democracy were established in the capital Manila and her home province of Tarlac after her death. Her son Benigno Aquino III became President of the Philippines from 30 June 2010 to 30 June 2016. Throughout her life, Aquino was known to be a devout Roman Catholic, and was fluent in French, Japanese, Spanish, and English aside from her native Tagalog and Kapampangan. She is highly regarded by the international diplomatic community as the Mother of Democracy.
- Birthplace: Philippines, Paniqui, Tarlac
- Joel Steven Siegel (July 7, 1943 – June 29, 2007) was an American film critic for the ABC morning news show Good Morning America for over 25 years. The winner of multiple Emmy Awards, Siegel also worked as a radio disc jockey and an advertising copywriter.Siegel died of complications from colon cancer on June 29, 2007, in New York.
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, USA, California
- Andre Kim was a South Korean fashion designer based in Seoul, South Korea. He was known predominantly for his evening and wedding gown collections. He is survived by his adopted son, Kim Jung-do.
- Birthplace: Goyang, South Korea
- Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (; June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956) was an American athlete who excelled in golf, basketball, baseball and track and field. She won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Summer Olympics, before turning to professional golf and winning 10 LPGA major championships. She is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time.
- Birthplace: Texas, USA, Port Arthur
- Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer.
- Birthplace: Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
- Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician, occasional vocalist, songwriter, and record producer, who along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, among others, created the country music style that came to be known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country music's appeal to adult pop music fans. He was primarily known as a guitarist. He also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele. Atkins's signature picking style was inspired by Merle Travis. Other major guitar influences were Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Les Paul, and, later, Jerry Reed. His distinctive picking style and musicianship brought him admirers inside and outside the country scene, both in the United States and abroad. Atkins spent most of his career at RCA Victor and produced records for the Browns, Hank Snow, Porter Wagoner, Norma Jean, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Perry Como, Floyd Cramer, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, and many others. Rolling Stone credited Atkins with inventing the "popwise 'Nashville sound' that rescued country music from a commercial slump," and ranked him number 21 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time." Among many other honors, Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received nine Country Music Association awards for Instrumentalist of the Year. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.
- Birthplace: Tennessee, USA, Luttrell
- Sorrell Booke (January 4, 1930 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He is best known for his role as corrupt politician Jefferson Davis "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard.
- Birthplace: Buffalo, New York, USA
- Adrian Pierce Rogers (September 12, 1931 – November 15, 2005) served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1979–1980 and 1986–1988). He was also a Southern Baptist pastor whose church services aired on television, and a conservative author. Rogers was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. He entered Christian ministry at the age of nineteen. He graduated from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Rogers was ordained by Northwood Baptist Church (later known as The Village Baptist Church, now operating as Family Church Village) in West Palm Beach. His first job as a senior pastor was at Fellsmere Baptist Church, a small congregation in Fellsmere, Florida. He performed his first baptism in the C-54 Canal near Fellsmere. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Merritt Island, Florida from 1964 to 1972. In 1972, he became the senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he remained until March 2005. During this period, the church's membership grew from 9,000 to 29,000, and the church moved into a new, megachurch facility. Rogers was named pastor emeritus after his retirement in March 2005. Rogers was instrumental in the Southern Baptist denomination's conservative resurgence that began in the late 1970s, as he was elected president of the denomination during a theological controversy within the denomination. He was the chairman of the committee which produced the revised 2000 edition of the Baptist Faith and Message. He published eighteen books and his works are featured on the internationally available radio and television program, Love Worth Finding, which is broadcast in English and Spanish. Rogers was also the founder of the Adrian Rogers Pastor Training Institute for ministers, which is currently headed by his widow, two sons, and a granddaughter. In November 2005, Rogers contracted pneumonia of both lungs as a complication of colon cancer treatments, and died following a period of mechanical ventilation at the age of seventy-four.
- Birthplace: West Palm Beach, Florida
- Few characters in cinema carried a torch for someone as long as Lois Maxwell's Miss Moneypenny. Over the course of 14 James Bond films, the Canadian actress traded quips and cast many a longing glance at Agent 007, always in vain. Leaving her homeland as a teen, Maxwell made her first screen appearances in England before giving Hollywood a go with pictures like "That Hagen Girl" (1947). The now infamous Ronald Reagan movie earned Maxwell a Golden Globe, but failed to lead to more interesting parts. She began taking parts in Italian productions before a return trip to Britain led to her participation in "Dr. No" (1962), the British spy adventure that launched one of cinema's greatest franchises. Appearing in the first 14 James Bond adventures, Maxwell received much exposure and fan appreciation, even though Moneypenny was mostly confined to the offices of MI6. In between Bond duties, Maxwell guest starred on a number of television programs and earned additional movie assignments, including a pair of European spy spoofs. As her acting career was largely winding down, Maxwell reinvented herself as a writer and penned a popular column for The Toronto Sun newspaper. Moneypenny was Maxwell's signature role, and as its originator, she brought a sophisticated sexiness and sense of humor to the character that her younger successors could never quite duplicate.
- Birthplace: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
- A British leading man who emerged in the late 1970s with films such as "Death on the Nile" (1978) and who went on to form his own production company in the late 1980s, Simon MacCorkindale also worked extensively in television. The handsome actor - who was born Feb. 12, 1952 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, U.K. - broke into the medium for which he was the best known on drama programs, often playing stalwart young men. He appeared on several BBC short series, none of which had much distribution in the U.S. Determined to crack the American market, MacCorkindale had a short stint on the daytime drama, "General Hospital" (ABC, 1963- ) in 1974 before going back to England. He returned to the U.S. in 1983 to portray a superhero who could turn himself into animals on NBC's "Manimal." MacCorkindale later joined the cast of CBS' popular primetime soap, "Falcon Crest" (CBS, 1981-1990), starring for two seasons as British lawyer Greg Reardon. While proving himself in front of the cameras, he also earned the chance to direct episodes of the popular '80s staple. Devoting himself more to producing after working on the series, he did not appear regularly on TV again until USA Network's "Counterstrike," the modestly-produced adventure series internationally distributed from 1990-95. In 1996, MacCorkindale starred in "Danielle Steel's No Sweeter Love," about children who survived the Titanic and how the infamous shipwreck changed their lives. MacCorkindale's feature film acting began in 1974 with a small role in "Juggernaut." He was first noticed by critics as Simon Doyle in the ensemble cast of "Death on the Nile," one of the classier films made from Agatha Christie mystery novels. He was seen battling a great white shark looking for her offspring in the second sequel to the 1975 classic, "Jaws 3-D" (1982). In some ways, MacCorkindale's acting career was a prelude to his producing career, as he made no bones about such aspirations to the press throughout the 1980s, forming the production company Amy International with his wife, actress Susan George. He produced a play, "Woden's Day" in 1986, but in 1989 saw the release of his first feature, "Stealing Heaven," based on the romance between French philosopher Abelard and Heloise, daughter of a church canon. This was followed by "The Summer of White Roses," starring Rod Steiger, which MacCorkindale also co-wrote. After six seasons appearing on the British hospital drama, "Casualty (2002-09) as Dr. Harry Harper, the actor passed away on Oct. 15, 2010 at age 58 after a long battle with bowel cancer. His famous widow released a statement, saying: "He fought it with such strength, courage and belief. Last night, he lost this battle, and he died peacefully in my arms...to me, he was simply the best of everything, and I loved him with all my heart."
- Birthplace: Cambridge, England, UK
- Spencer Dryden (April 7, 1938 – January 11, 2005) was an American musician best known as drummer for Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage. He also played with The Dinosaurs, and The Ashes (later known as The Peanut Butter Conspiracy). He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Carolyn Sue Jones (April 28, 1930 – August 3, 1983) was an American actress of television and film. Jones began her film career in the early 1950s, and by the end of the decade had achieved recognition with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Bachelor Party (1957) and a Golden Globe Award as one of the most promising actresses of 1959. Her film career continued for another 20 years. In 1964, she began playing the role of Morticia Addams (as well as her sister Ophelia and the feminine counterpart of Thing, Lady Fingers), in the original black and white television series The Addams Family.
- Birthplace: Amarillo, Texas, USA
- Brett Somers (born Audrey Dawn Johnston; July 11, 1924 – September 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American actress, singer, and game-show personality who was born in Canada and raised in Maine. Brett was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show Match Game and for her recurring role as Blanche Madison opposite her real-life husband, actor Jack Klugman, on The Odd Couple.
- Birthplace: Saint John, Canada
- Jeffrey Arnold "Jeff" Moss (June 19, 1942 – September 24, 1998) was a composer, lyricist, playwright and television writer, best known for his award-winning work on the children's television series Sesame Street.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
Robert Rosenblum is a writer.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Gisèle MacKenzie (January 10, 1927 – September 5, 2003) was a Canadian-American singer, actress, and commercial spokesperson, best known for her performances on the US television program Your Hit Parade.
- Birthplace: Winnipeg, Canada
- Marilyn Martinez (February 9, 1955 – November 3, 2007) was a Hispanic American stand up comedian and actress. She was a regular performer at The Comedy Store in Hollywood. She appeared in numerous television comedy specials including 1st Amendment Stand Up; Hot Tamales Live: Spicy, Hot and Hilarious; and The Latin Divas of Comedy. Her acting credits included My Wife and Kids and the film Pauly Shore Is Dead.According to her website, Martinez died on Saturday, November 3, 2007 at 10:16 am. She had been diagnosed with colon cancer almost nine months before.
- Birthplace: USA, Denver, Colorado
- James Elton "Jim" West (March 28, 1951 – July 22, 2006) was an American politician. In 2005, while Mayor of Spokane, Washington, he was the target of allegations of the sexual abuse of boys twenty years earlier. These allegations became public after West became a target of a sting operation conducted by his hometown newspaper, the Spokesman Review. Some journalists and academics criticized the paper for what they saw as a form of entrapment. West admitted engaging in homosexual behavior with adults, despite an earlier record of supporting "anti-gay" legislation. Though never charged, he was removed from office by recall in 2005. The Federal Bureau of Investigation eventually closed its investigation and took no action for lack of evidence.
- Birthplace: Salem, Oregon
- Eric Turner may refer to: Eric Turner (American football) (1968–2000), American football player Eric Turner (singer) (born 1977), American singer and songwriter Eric Gardner Turner (1911–1983), English papyrologist and classicist Eric Turner (basketball) (born 1963), American basketball player Eric Turner (athlete) (born 1909), English athlete P. Eric Turner (born 1951), Indiana politician
- Birthplace: Ventura, California
- Melanie Klein née Reizes (30 March 1882 – 22 September 1960) was an Austrian-British author and psychoanalyst who is known for her work in child analysis. She was the primary figure in the development of object relations theory. Klein suggested that pre-verbal existential anxiety in infancy catalyzed the formation of the unconscious, resulting in the unconscious splitting of the world into good and bad idealizations. In her theory, how the child resolves that splitting depends on the constitution of the child and the character of nurturing the child experiences; the quality of resolution can inform the presence, absence, and/or type of distresses a person experiences later in life.
- Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
- Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (; French: [ʒak lakɑ̃]; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced many leading French intellectuals in the 1960s and the 1970s, especially those associated with post-structuralism. His ideas had a significant impact on post-structuralism, critical theory, linguistics, 20th-century French philosophy, film theory, and clinical psychoanalysis.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Eddie J. Johnson (February 3, 1959 – January 21, 2003) was an American football linebacker who played ten seasons in the National Football League with the Cleveland Browns. He wore number 51 during his time with the Browns and his nickname was "The Assassin". He was known for his fierce tackling style. He died in 2003 after a two-year battle with colon cancer.
- Birthplace: Albany, Georgia
- Miguel Delibes Setién MML (Spanish pronunciation: [miˈɣel deˈliβes]; 17 October 1920 – 12 March 2010) was a Spanish novelist, journalist and newspaper editor associated with the Generation of '36 movement. From 1975 until his death, he was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy, where he occupied chair letter "E". Licensed in commerce, he began his career as a cartoonist and columnist. He later became the editor for the regional newspaper El Norte de Castilla before gradually devoting himself exclusively to writing novels. He was a connoisseur of the flora and fauna of Castile and was passionate about hunting and the countryside. Therefore, these were common themes in his writing, and he often wrote from the perspective of a city-dweller who had not lost touch with the rural world. He was one of the leading figures of post-Civil War Spanish literature, winning numerous literary prizes. Several of his works have been adapted into plays or have been turned into films, winning awards at the Cannes Film Festival among others. He has been ranked with Heinrich Böll and Graham Greene as one of the most prominent Catholic writers of the second half of the twentieth century. He was deeply affected by the death of his wife in 1974. In 1998 he was diagnosed with colon cancer, from which he never fully recovered. He died in 2010.
- Birthplace: Valladolid, Spain
- El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon for 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009. Omar Bongo was promoted to key positions as a young official under Gabon's first President Léon M'ba in the 1960s, before being elected Vice-President in his own right in 1966. In 1967, he succeeded M'ba to become the second Gabon President, upon the latter's death. Bongo headed the single-party regime of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) until 1990, when, faced with public pressure, he was forced to introduce multi-party politics into Gabon. His political survival despite intense opposition to his rule in the early 1990s seemed to stem once again from consolidating power by bringing most of the major opposition leaders at the time to his side. The 1993 presidential election was extremely controversial but ended with his re-election then and the subsequent elections of 1998 and 2005. His respective parliamentary majorities increased and the opposition becoming more subdued with each succeeding election. After Cuban President Fidel Castro stepped down in February 2008, Bongo became the world's longest-ruling non-royal leader. He was one of the longest serving non-royal rulers since 1900. Bongo was criticized for in effect having worked for himself, his family and local elites and not for Gabon and its people. For instance, French green politician Eva Joly claimed that during Bongo's long reign, despite an oil-led GDP per capita growth to one of the highest levels in Africa, Gabon built only 5 km of freeway a year and still had one of the world's highest infant mortality rates by the time of his death in 2009.After Bongo's death in June 2009, his son Ali Bongo—who had long been assigned key ministerial responsibilities by his father—was elected to succeed him in August 2009.
- Birthplace: Bongoville, Djououri-Aguilli Department, Gabon
- Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (French: [aʁto]; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French dramatist, poet, essayist, actor, and theatre director, widely recognized as one of the major figures of twentieth-century theatre and the European avant-garde. He is best known for conceptualizing a 'Theatre of Cruelty'.
- Birthplace: France, Marseille
Brenda Howard
Dec. at 58 (1946-2005)Brenda Howard (December 24, 1946 – June 28, 2005) was an American bisexual rights activist, sex-positive feminist, and polyamorist. Howard was an important figure in the modern LGBT rights movement.- Birthplace: New York City, New York
Humayun Ahmed
Dec. at 63 (1948-2012)Humayun Ahmed ([ɦumaijun aɦmed]; 13 November 1948 – 19 July 2012) was a Bangladeshi writer, dramatist, screenwriter, filmmaker, songwriter, scholar, and lecturer. His breakthrough was his debut novel Nondito Noroke published in 1972. He wrote over 200 fiction and non-fiction books, many of which were bestsellers in Bangladesh. His books were the top sellers at the Ekushey Book Fair during the 1990s and 2000s. He won the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1981 and the Ekushey Padak in 1994 for his contribution to Bengali literature. In the early 1990s, Ahmed emerged as a filmmaker. He went on to make a total of eight films - each based on his own novels. He received six Bangladesh National Film Awards in different categories for the films Daruchini Dwip, Aguner Poroshmoni and Ghetuputra Komola.- Birthplace: Netrokona District, Bangladesh
- Toni Cade Bambara, born Miltona Mirkin Cade (March 25, 1939 – December 9, 1995), was an African-American author, documentary film-maker, social activist and college professor.
- Birthplace: Harlem, New York City, New York
- Sidney Toler (born Hooper G. Toler Jr., April 28, 1874 – February 12, 1947) was an American actor, playwright and theatre director. The second European-American actor to play the role of Charlie Chan on screen, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the Chinese-American detective in 22 films made between 1938 and 1946. Before becoming Chan, Toler played supporting roles in 50 motion pictures and was a highly regarded comic actor on the Broadway stage.
- Birthplace: Warrensburg, Missouri, USA
- Donald Milford Payne (July 16, 1934 – March 6, 2012) was an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 10th congressional district from 1989 to 2012. He was a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompasses most of the city of Newark, parts of Jersey City and Elizabeth, and some suburban communities in Essex and Union counties. He was the first African American to represent New Jersey in Congress.
- Birthplace: Newark, New Jersey, USA
- David Stuart Sheppard, Baron Sheppard of Liverpool (6 March 1929 – 5 March 2005) was the high-profile Bishop of Liverpool in the Church of England who played cricket for Sussex and England in his youth. Sheppard remains the only ordained minister to have played Test cricket, though others such as Tom Killick were ordained after playing Tests.
- Birthplace: Reigate, United Kingdom
- In the late '70s and early '80s, Ian Dury became an unlikely hero of the British new wave scene. Born on May 12, 1942 in Middlesex, England, Dury suffered from polio as a child, spending a year and a half in a hospital and emerging with a crippled arm and leg. In the mid '60s he attended the Royal College of Art, becoming a painter and art teacher. In the early '70s, Dury founded the band Kilburn & The High Roads, a pub-rock band that helped pave the way for punk but also had a quirky, bookish side influenced as much by jazz and Steely Dan as rock 'n' roll. After two albums, they split in 1975. Ian Dury & The Blockheads formed in 1977, bearing a sound that picked up where Kilburn & The High Roads left off, but adopting more of a new wave edge and highlighting both Dury's Cockney tale-spinning and his onstage antics. The 1977 album New Boots and Panties was an Ian Dury & The Blockheads album in all but name, and it became a No. 5 hit in England. In 1978, the danceable non-LP single "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" became a No. 1 hit for the band in the U.K. The follow-up, 1979's Do It Yourself, was the first official album with The Blockheads, and it went all the way to No. 2. Crucial contributions from keyboardist Chas Jankel, bassist Norman Watt-Roy, and saxophonist Davey Payne helped the band achieve its idiosyncratic signature sound, but Jankel was gone by the time Laughter came out in 1980. By this time, Dury's alcohol and drug problems were creating conflict in the band, and he soon cut The Blockheads loose, releasing the solo album Lord Upminster in 1981, with help from the returning Jankel. Over the next decade, Dury released three more solo albums, but he reunited with the original Blockheads for 1998's Mr. Love Pants. Dury was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and died on March 27, 2000 in London. The Blockheads overdubbed some previously unreleased recordings for the posthumous 2002 album Ten More Turnips from the Tip. A Dury biopic, "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," was released in 2010 with Andy Serkis as Dury.
- Birthplace: Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK
- Patrick Layton Paulsen (July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997) was an American comedian and satirist notable for his roles on several of the Smothers Brothers television shows, and for his satirical campaigns for President of the United States between 1968 and 1996, although his campaigns generated some protest votes for him.
- Birthplace: South Bend, Washington, USA
- Ma Lik, GBS, JP (Chinese: 馬力; 23 February 1952 – 8 August 2007), was a Legislative Councillor, and was the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong.
- Birthplace: Guangzhou, China
- Helen Frances Rollason (née Grindley; 11 March 1956 – 9 August 1999) was a British sports journalist and television presenter, who in 1990 became the first female presenter of the BBC's sports programme Grandstand. She was also a regular presenter of Sport on Friday, and of the children's programme Newsround during the 1980s. Born in London, Rollason studied to become a PE teacher before entering radio broadcasting in 1980. After directing sport related content for Channel 4, where she helped to bring American football to British television, she anchored coverage of the 1987 World Student Games and 1988 Summer Olympics. Her work on Grandstand proved popular with viewers, and led to a number of other sports presenting roles for Rollason throughout the 1990s. As well as covering mainstream events such as the 1996 Summer Olympics, she became a champion of disability sports, helping to raise its profile and change its public and media perception. She presented sports bulletins for BBC Breakfast News and BBC News, and in 1996 was named as Sports Presenter of the Year. Rollason was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1997, and fought a two-year battle with the disease. A 1998 documentary, Hope for Helen, followed her treatment, and won her much public support for her courage. She continued to work throughout her illness, and shortly before her death was awarded an MBE in the 1999 Birthday Honours. Later that year, the BBC established an award in her memory which is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards ceremony. A cancer charity was also founded in her name. Rollason's television career also helped to open up the way for other women to enter the world of sports broadcasting, with presenters such as Sue Barker and Gabby Logan following in her footsteps.
- Birthplace: London, England
- Barbara Novak Marshall (March 5, 1944 – February 22, 2009) was an American television broadcast journalist and politician. She was elected three times to the Honolulu City Council in Honolulu, Hawaii following her retirement from broadcasting. Marshall was known throughout Hawaii for a long career as an investigative journalist, consumer advocate, documentary filmmaker, news anchor and reporter for KHON-TV television station.
- Birthplace: Berwyn, Illinois
- James Forman (October 4, 1928 – January 10, 2005) was a prominent African-American leader in the civil rights movement. He was active in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. As the executive secretary of SNCC from 1961 to 1966, Forman played a significant role in the freedom rides, the Albany movement, the Birmingham campaign, and the Selma to Montgomery marches. After the 1960s, Forman spent the rest of his adult life organizing black people around issues of social and economic equality. He also taught at American University and other major institutions. He wrote several books documenting his experiences within the movement and his evolving political philosophy including Sammy Younge Jr.: The First Black College Student to Die in the Black Liberation Movement (1969), The Making of Black Revolutionaries (1972 and 1997) and Self Determination: An Examination of the Question and Its Application to the African American People (1984).The New York Times called him "a civil rights pioneer who brought a fiercely revolutionary vision and masterly organizational skills to virtually every major civil rights battleground in the 1960s."
- Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
- John Patrick Diggins (April 1, 1935 – January 28, 2009) was an American professor of history at the City University of New York Graduate Center, the author of more than a dozen books on widely varied subjects in American intellectual history.
- Birthplace: California
- Juanita Millender-McDonald (September 7, 1938 – April 22, 2007) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1996 until her death in 2007, representing California's 37th congressional district, which includes most of South Central Los Angeles and the city of Long Beach, California. She was a member of the Democratic Party. On December 19, 2006, Millender-McDonald was named Chairwoman of the House Committee on House Administration for the 110th Congress. She was the first African-American woman to chair the committee. She was also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and of the New Democrat Coalition and was considered a front-runner for the job of Secretary of Transportation if John Kerry had been elected President in 2004.
- Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama, USA
- Reginald Joseph Mitchell CBE, FRAeS, (20 May 1895 – 11 June 1937) was an English aeronautical engineer who worked for Supermarine Aviation. Between 1920 and 1936 he designed many aircraft. He is best remembered for his racing seaplanes, which culminated in the Supermarine S.6B, and the iconic Second World War fighter, the Supermarine Spitfire.
- Birthplace: Butt Lane, United Kingdom
- Charles Edward Karst, known as Ed Karst (September 18, 1931 – July 17, 1992), was an attorney and politician remembered for his controversial tenure as the mayor (1969–1973) of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides parish and the largest city in central Louisiana. In 1991, Karst launched a bizarre "No Party" gubernatorial campaign in which he threatened if elected to fire the members of the Louisiana Supreme Court or, if defeated, as he was, to kill the justices, who had upheld his disbarment. At times, Karst was a member of both the Democratic and the Republican parties, but he ran for governor with the "No Party" label, as permitted in Louisiana. The New Orleans-born Karst was the son of Charles Karst, Jr. (1890–1981). He was educated in the Roman Catholic Jesuit High School in New Orleans. He then attended Tulane University, and Loyola University New Orleans School of Law. He relocated to Alexandria to practice law during the 1960s.
- Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
- Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore OBE (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England national team that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, and was cited by Pelé as the greatest defender that he had ever played against.Widely regarded as West Ham's greatest ever player, Moore played over 600 games for the club during a 16 year tenure, winning the FA Cup in 1963–64 and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1964–65. During his time at the club he won the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1964 and the West Ham Player Of The Year in 1961, 1963, 1968 and 1970. In August 2008, West Ham United officially retired his number 6 shirt, 15 years after his death.Moore was made captain of England in 1964, at age 23, going on to lift the World Cup trophy in 1966. He won a total of 108 caps for his country, which at the time of his international retirement in 1973 was a national record. This record was later broken by Peter Shilton. Moore's total of 108 caps continued as a record for an outfield player until 28 March 2009, when David Beckham gained his 109th cap. Moore is a member of the World Team of the 20th Century. A national team icon, a bronze statue of Moore is positioned at the entrance to Wembley Stadium. A composed central defender, Moore was best known for his reading of the game and ability to anticipate opposition movements, thereby distancing himself from the image of the hard-tackling, high-jumping defender. Receiving the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1966, he was the first footballer to win the award and he remained the only one for a further 24 years. Moore was given an OBE in the New Year Honours List. He was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a player and in the same year he was named in the BBC's list of the 100 Greatest Britons.
- Birthplace: London, England, UK
- Edward Yang (Chinese: 楊德昌; pinyin: Yáng Déchāng; November 6, 1947 – June 29, 2007) was a Taiwanese filmmaker. Yang, along with fellow auteurs Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, was one of the leading film-makers of the Taiwanese New Wave and Taiwanese Cinema. He won the Best Director Award at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi.
- Birthplace: China, Shanghai
- Carrie Hilton was a casting director.
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Kenneth Campbell Lochhead, (May 22, 1926 – July 15, 2006) was a Canadian professor and painter. He was the brother of poet Douglas Lochhead. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he attended the Summer Art School at Queen's University in 1944. From 1945 to 1948, he attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. From 1946 to 1948, he studied at the Barnes Foundation near Philadelphia. From 1950 to 1964, he was the Director of the School of Art at the University of Saskatchewan – Regina Campus. Among his pupils there was Joan Rankin. From 1964 to 1973, he was an Associate Professor in the School of Fine Arts at the University of Manitoba. From 1973 to 1975, he was a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts at York University. From 1975 to 1989, he was a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa. In 1961, he exhibited his paintings as part of the Regina Five at the National Gallery of Canada with Art McKay, Ron Bloore, Ted Godwin, and Doug Morton. In 1970, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contribution to the development of painting, especially in Western Canada, as an artist and teacher". In 2006, he was awarded the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of ArtsHe died of colorectal cancer in Ottawa in 2006.
- Birthplace: Ottawa, Canada
- Nellie Yvonne McKay (May 12, 1930 – January 22, 2006) was an American academic and author who was the Evjue-Bascom Professor of American and African-American Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she also taught in English and women's studies, and is best known as the co-editor (with Henry Louis Gates Jr.) of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature.
- Birthplace: New York City, New York
- Marshal-Admiral Viscount Katō Tomosaburō (加藤 友三郎, 22 February 1861 – 24 August 1923) was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Navy, cabinet minister, and Prime Minister of Japan from 1922 to 1923.
- Birthplace: Hiroshima Domain
- Robert Ray "Rod" Roddy (September 28, 1937 – October 27, 2003) was an American radio and television announcer. He was primarily known for his role as an offstage announcer on game shows. Among the shows that he announced are the CBS game shows Whew! and Press Your Luck. He is widely recognized by the signature line, "Come on down!" from The Price Is Right, and it appears on his grave marker, although the phrase was originated and made popular by his predecessor Johnny Olson. Roddy succeeded original announcer Olson on The Price Is Right and held the role from 1986 until his death in 2003, and as of 2015, is the longest-serving announcer on the current incarnation of the show. On many episodes of Press Your Luck and The Price Is Right, Roddy appeared on camera. He was also the voice of Mike the microphone on Disney's House of Mouse from 2001 to 2003.
- Birthplace: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
- John David "Jack" Leigh II (November 8, 1948 – May 19, 2004) was an American photographer and author, known for the cover photograph on John Berendt's novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The photograph itself, largely considered a major factor in the success of the novel, featured the "Bird Girl" statue from the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.Leigh was a native of Savannah, Georgia, and a graduate of the Savannah Country Day School and the University of Georgia. Already well known locally as a portrait and documentary photographer, Leigh was commissioned by Random House for the photograph. Leigh wrote and published five books on photography. His former photo gallery was a popular tourist attraction in the historic district of downtown Savannah. He died May 19, 2004, in Savannah of colon cancer. He is buried in Bonaventure Cemetery.
- Birthplace: Savannah, Georgia
- Mary Virginia Martin (December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990) was an American actress, singer, and Broadway star. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein's, she originated many leading roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific (1949) and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1959). She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She was the mother of actor Larry Hagman.
- Birthplace: Weatherford, Texas, USA
- Anthony Ian Berkeley (November 15, 1964 – July 15, 2001) better known as Too Poetic, was a Trinidadian-born American rapper and producer. He was also a founding member of the hip-hop group Gravediggaz, for which he used the alias Grym Reaper.
- Birthplace: Trinidad and Tobago
- Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits (October 1, 1949 – August 12, 2010) was an American Neo-Druid who published a number of books on the subject of Neopaganism and magic. He was a public speaker, liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founder of the Neopagan organizations Ár nDraíocht Féin and the Aquarian Anti-Defamation League. Born in Royal Oak, Michigan, Bonewits had been heavily involved in occultism since the 1960s.
- Birthplace: Royal Oak, Michigan
- Paul Mark Scott (25 March 1920 – 1 March 1978) was an English novelist, playwright, and poet, best known for his tetralogy The Raj Quartet. His novel Staying On won the Booker Prize for 1977.
- Birthplace: England, London
- Albert Aloysius Casey (September 15, 1915 – September 11, 2005) known professionally as Al Casey, was a jazz guitarist who was a member of Fats Waller's band during the 1930s and early 1940s.
- Birthplace: Louisville, Kentucky
- Irene Dailey (September 12, 1920 – September 24, 2008) was an American stage, film, and television actress.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- Prolific TV actress-comedienne first received attention onstage in such revues as "New Faces of 1952"; two years later she reprised her role in the film adaptation, committing her hilarious rendition of "The Boston Beguine" to celluloid. By the time of her Tony-winning performance in "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" (1965), though, Ghostley had largely transferred her energies to the small screen.
- Birthplace: Eve, Missouri, USA
- James Henry Binger (May 16, 1916 – November 3, 2004) was a lawyer who became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell. He was also a well-known philanthropist, horse enthusiast and New York City and Minneapolis theatre owner and entrepreneur.
- Birthplace: Saint Paul, Minnesota
- Celso Roberto Pitta do Nascimento (Portuguese: [ˈsɛwsu ˈpitɐ]; 1946–2009) was a Brazilian economist and politician. He had a Bachelor in Economics by Fluminense Federal University, master in Economics by University of Leeds and specialist in Advanced Administration by Harvard University.
- Birthplace: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Frank Conroy (January 15, 1936 – April 6, 2005) was an American author. He published five books, including the highly acclaimed memoir Stop-Time. Published in 1967, this ultimately made Conroy a noted figure in the literary world. The book was nominated for the National Book Award.
- Birthplace: New York City, USA, New York
- Mark Arnold-Forster, DSO, DSC (16 April 1920 – 25 December 1981) was an English journalist and author. He is best remembered for his book The World at War, which accompanied the 1973 television series of the same name.
- Birthplace: Swindon, United Kingdom
- Barrington J. Bayley (9 April 1937 – 14 October 2008) was an English science fiction writer. Bayley was born in Birmingham and educated in Newport, Shropshire. He worked a number of jobs before joining the Royal Air Force during 1955; his first published story, "Combat's End", had been printed the year before in Vargo Statten Magazine.During the 1960s, Bayley became friends and a frequent collaborator with New Worlds editor Michael Moorcock, who described himself as "the dumb one in the partnership" and adopted science fiction's New Wave style. His short stories featured regularly in New Worlds magazine and then later in various New Worlds paperback anthologies, His first book, The Star Virus, was followed by more than a dozen other novels; his downbeat, gloomy themes have been cited as influential on the likes of M. John Harrison, Brian Stableford, Bruce Sterling, Iain Banks and Alastair Reynolds.Bayley died of complications from bowel cancer on 14 October 2008. During 2001, he had written an outline for a sequel to Eye of Terror, provisionally titled An Age of Adventure. The novel was unreleased at the time of his death but rumours and listings of copies have circulated, including claims of a 2002 release date and a page count of 288. The book still makes appearances in lists of his works, including the bibliography in the ebooks of Bayley's works released by the Gollancz SF Gateway.
- Birthplace: Birmingham, England
- Ian Porterfield (11 February 1946 – 11 September 2007) was a Scottish professional footballer, and an experienced football coach who worked at both club and international level for almost 30 years. At the time of his death, he was the coach of the Armenian national team. As a player, Porterfield scored the only goal of the 1973 FA Cup Final as Sunderland memorably overcame the odds to beat Leeds United. As a manager, he has the dubious honour of being the very first manager to be sacked in the FA Premier League era, when he was fired by Chelsea. He had earlier succeeded Alex Ferguson as manager of Aberdeen in 1986.
- Birthplace: Dunfermline, United Kingdom
- Samuel Davis Mills Jr. (June 3, 1959 – April 18, 2005) was an American football linebacker who played twelve seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers. He also played for three seasons in the United States Football League (USFL) with the Philadelphia Stars and won two championships.
- Birthplace: Neptune City, New Jersey
- Malcolm Denzil Marshall (18 April 1958 – 4 November 1999) was a West Indian cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, Marshall is regarded as one of the greatest and finest pacemen ever to have played Test cricket. He is often acknowledged as the greatest West Indian fast bowler of all time, and certainly one of the most complete pacemen the cricketing world ever saw. His Test bowling average of 20.94 is the best of anyone who has taken 200 or more wickets. He achieved his bowling success despite being, by the standards of other fast bowlers, a short man – he stood at 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m), while most of the great quicks have been well above 6ft (1.83m) and many great West Indian fast bowlers, such as Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, were 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) or above. He generated fearsome pace from his bowling action, with a dangerous bouncer. Marshall was also a very dangerous lower middle-order batsman with ten Test fifties and seven first-class centuries. In 2009, Marshall was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.To mark 150 years of the Cricketers' Almanack, Wisden named him in an all-time Test World XI.
- Birthplace: Bridgetown, Barbados
- Derek Meddings (15 January 1931 – 10 September 1995) was a British film and television special effects designer, initially noted for his work on the "Supermarionation" TV puppet series produced by Gerry Anderson, and later for the 1970s and 1980s James Bond and Superman film series.
- Birthplace: England, London
- Teiji Ōmiya (大宮 悌二, Ōmiya Teiji, November 22, 1928 – December 23, 1994, born in Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan) was a Japanese voice and dramatic actor, and a member of the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society when he died. He attended Nihon University, but withdrew before completing his degree. He was known for playing the roles of kind old men in many 1970s anime series. During his life, he achieved 3-dan in kendo.Ōmiya died at the age of 66 of colorectal cancer on December 23, 1994.
- Birthplace: Japan, Hachioji
Robert Bruss
Dec. at 67 (1940-2007)Robert Jacques "Bob" Bruss (May 2, 1940, Minneapolis, Minnesota – September 26, 2007, Hillsborough, California) was a real estate attorney and syndicated columnist known as "the Dear Abby of real estate". Bruss was a real estate lawyer and broker and wrote seven columns a week, including his "Real Estate Mailbag" question-and-answer feature. He also explained what he believed were revealing developments in real estate law and taxes, and reviewed books with real estate themes. He was a 1962 business administration graduate of Northwestern University and a 1967 graduate of the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. His columns appeared weekly in The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other major newspapers. He also published two monthly newsletters. His book The Smart Investor's Guide to Real Estate (1981) has appeared in multiple editions. Tribune Media Services distributed his column for a quarter of a century. His writings have appeared in more than 175 newspapers and on many real estate Web sites. He taught real estate law classes at a community college in San Mateo, California. Bruss died of complications from colon cancer, aged 67. He never married and left no immediate descendants.Ted Peshak
Dec. at 87 (1917-2005)- Birthplace: Plymouth, Iowa
Judith Moore
Dec. at 66 (1940-2006)Judith Moore (1940 – May 15, 2006) was an American author and essayist best known for her 2005 book Fat Girl: A True Story, published by Hudson Street Press. Moore was born in Oklahoma in 1940 and claimed to have become an obese child, weighing 112 pounds by second grade ([1]); Fat Girl is a memoir of her childhood. She moved to Florida as a teenager and graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She married and divorced twice, having two daughters. For much of her adult life she lived in Berkeley, California. While living there in the early 1980s, Moore began to submit freelance book reviews and essays to weekly newspapers in the area, most frequently to the East Bay Express. She collected these pieces and published them in 1987 (under the SoHo Press imprint) as The Left Coast of Paradise: California and the American Heart. The book included interviews with Herbert Marcuse and novelist Leonard Michaels. Moore published a second book, Never Eat Your Heart Out in 1998 (North Point Press, an imprint of Farrar Straus and Giroux). This book was about the relationship between food and her life. From the mid-1980s onward she wrote mostly for San Diego Reader, a weekly publication where she sometimes served, somewhat controversially, as editor. She specialized in book reviews (especially food writing) and offbeat, whimsical feature subjects. Once she visited a San Diego sausage factory and described it in lurid detail, in order to test the cliché that no one wanted to see sausage being made. In May 2006, Moore died of colon cancer after three years of treatment.- Birthplace: Stillwater, Oklahoma
- Eric Richard Porter (8 April 1928 – 15 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television.
- Birthplace: England, London
- Brad McGann MNZM (22 February 1964 – 2 May 2007), was a New Zealand film director and screenwriter. McGann was born in New Zealand in 1964. He completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of Otago and in 1988 completed a one-year post-graduate course at the Swinburne School of Film and Television (now a part of the Victorian College of the Arts) in Melbourne. He directed the drama It Never Rains in 1996 as well as co-directing the documentary Come As You Are for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and the award-winning short film Possum.In 2004 and 2005 McGann won international acclaim for his first full-length feature film, In My Father's Den, which was based on Maurice Gee's novel. McGann wrote the screenplay and directed the film.The film won the Fipresci Prize at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival and the Mercedes Benz Youth Jury Prize at the 52nd San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in the same year, and the Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2005. It became one of the top 10 grossing New Zealand films.McGann was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 New Years Honours List. He died on 2 May 2007 after a long battle with bowel cancer (he was first diagnosed in 1998).
- Birthplace: Auckland, New Zealand
- Dr Dame Rosemary Rue, DBE, FRCP, FFPHM, FRCPsych, FRCGP FRCS (14 June 1928 – 24 December 2004) was a British physician and civil servant, most notable as the one-time regional general manager/medical officer of the Oxford Regional Health Authority. She was also: President of the Medical Women’s Federation (1982–1983) President of the Faculty of Community Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians (1986–1989) President of the British Medical Association (1990–1991) Founding Fellow of Green College, Oxford Awarded the Edward Jenner Medal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2001)
- Delmar Allen "Dale" Hawkins (August 22, 1936 – February 13, 2010) was a pioneer American rock singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist who was often called the architect of swamp rock boogie. Ronnie Hawkins was his cousin.
- Birthplace: Louisiana, USA
Leroy Sievers
Dec. at 53 (1955-2008)Leroy Sievers (June 16, 1955 – August 15, 2008) was a journalist who won 12 national news Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards, and two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards. He was a commentator for National Public Radio, served as a bureau chief for CBS news, served as an executive producer for the ABC program Nightline, and covered a variety of global conflicts as a war correspondent. Sievers was also part of the Discovery Channel program entitled Living with Cancer, hosted by his friend Ted Koppel. This show was taped at the Discovery Channel Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland on May 6, 2007, and featured other cancer survivors, including Elizabeth Edwards and Lance Armstrong. Born in San Marino, California, Sievers attended Princeton University but transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he finished his undergraduate degree.He was married to Laurie Singer, a producer at NBC News.- Birthplace: San Marino, California
- Margaret Helfand was a Manhattan-based New York architect and urban planner who served as president of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
- Birthplace: Pasadena, California
William Woo
Dec. at 69 (1936-2006)William Franklin Woo (吳惠連, pinyin: Wú Huìlián, b. October 4, 1936 - d. April 12, 2006) was the first Chinese American to become editor of a major U.S. daily newspaper. Woo was born in Shanghai to Kyatang Woo and American Elizabeth Hart, who met in the early '30s as graduate students at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. His parents divorced after World War II, and Woo and his mother moved to the United States in 1946 and settled in Kansas City, Missouri with her adoptive father. Woo attended the University of Kansas and joined The Kansas City Times in 1957. From 1962 to 1996, Woo held a variety of posts at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, founded by Joseph Pulitzer. In 1986, Woo became the first chief editor of the paper who was not named Joseph Pulitzer (there had been three). Joseph Pulitzer Jr., who had been Woo's mentor, died in 1995, and his half-brother, Michael Pulitzer, took over leadership of the company. In July 1996, Woo resigned under pressure to provide more bottom line- oriented leadership. In September 1996, Woo became the Lorry I. Lokey visiting professor of professional journalism at Stanford University, a post he held until his death. He was a member of the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors from 1997 to 2003. Since 1999, he had also served as a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong. When he died he was interim director of Stanford's Graduate Program in Journalism. Woo was married three times, to Sonia Flournoy, Tricia Ernst Woo, and Martha Shirk. He and his wife, Martha Shirk, a former Post-Dispatch reporter and author of four books, were the parents of three sons (Thomas Woo of San Francisco, California; and Bennett Woo and Peter Woo, both of Palo Alto). Woo often wrote about his children in a column that appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1986 through his retirement. Besides leaving behind wife Martha, he also left behind two half brothers (Robert C. Woo of St. Louis and John Woo of New York City); stepbrother Willie Woo of New York; half-sister Wendy Woo of San Mateo, California; and stepsister Elizabeth Li of Hong Kong. Woo died of colon cancer at home in Palo Alto, California. In 2007, the University of Missouri Press published "Letters from the Editor: Lessons from Journalism and Life," a collection of weekly letters that Woo wrote to his Stanford students about the craft of journalism. In his introduction, Philip Meyer, the editor, wrote: "The career of William F. Woo tracked what many of our generation once considered the golden age of newspaper journalism... For the students and journalists of the 21st Century, Bill Woo's platform is a reminder of the values worth preserving."- Birthplace: Shanghai, China
- Moshe Dayan (Hebrew: משה דיין; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was the second child born on the first kibbutz, but he moved with his family in 1921, and he grew up on a moshav (farming cooperative). As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–58) during the 1956 Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the Six-Day War in 1967, he became to the world a fighting symbol of the new state of Israel. In the 1930s, he was trained by Orde Wingate to set traps for Palestinian-Arabs fighting the British and he later lost an eye in a raid on Vichy forces in Lebanon. Dayan was close to David Ben-Gurion and joined him in leaving the Mapai party and setting up the Rafi party in 1965 with Shimon Peres. Dayan became Defence Minister just before the 1967 Six-Day War. After the October War of 1973, Dayan was blamed for the lack of preparedness; after some time he resigned. In 1977, following the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, Dayan was expelled from the Labor Party because he joined the Likud-led government as Foreign Minister, playing an important part in negotiating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
- Birthplace: Degania Alef, Israel
- Versatile English leading man and character player from the early 1920s with a marvelous, slightly gruff speaking voice, typically in amiably roguish roles. Livesey is probably best known for essaying the leading role of Clive Candy in "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943). The inspired filmmakers behind "Blimp," Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, gave the often underutilized actor two more fine roles in "I Know Where I'm Going" (1945) and "A Matter of Life and Death" (1946). Livesey was one of an acting dynasty which included father Sam Livesey (1873-1936), brothers Jack (1901-1961) and Barry (born 1904), and wife Ursula Jeans.
- Birthplace: Barry, Wales, UK
- Dr. Balaji Sadasivan ( or ; 11 July 1955 – 27 September 2010) was a Singaporean politician and neurosurgeon of Indian ancestry. He attended Raffles Institution, Siglap Secondary School and National Junior College, and studied medicine at the University of Singapore. After graduating in 1979, he continued his education at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, becoming a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (F.R.C.S.) in 1984. He also trained at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, from 1985 to 1989, and became a Fellow of Harvard University in 1990. He worked as a neurosurgeon until 2001, publishing over 50 book chapters and journal articles. In 2001 Sadasivan was elected to the Parliament of Singapore for the Cheng San–Seletar division of the Ang Mo Kio Group Representation Constituency. From then until his death he served as Minister of State for the Ministry of the Environment (2001–2003), Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport (2001–2004); and subsequently Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Health (2004–2006), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006–2010) and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (2004–2008). In 2007, he was appointed Chairman of the Executive Board of the World Health Organization. In March 2008, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reshuffled his Cabinet, from which time Sadasivan retained only his portfolio at the Foreign Affairs Ministry until his death in 2010. Sadasivan also served as President of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) and the Singapore Indian Education Trust, Chairman of the Indian Heritage Centre Steering Committee and a member of the National Art Gallery Implementation Steering Committee, Chairman of the National HIV/AIDS Policy Committee, a member of the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony, an advisor to the Tamil Language Council and the People's Association Indian Activity Executive Committee Co-ordinating Council, a member of the Singapore Industrial and Services Employees' Union Council of Advisors, and Honorary Advisor to the Singapore Furniture Industries Council. In addition, he was an honorary member of the Singapore Medical Association.
- Birthplace: Singapore
- Walter Howard Bowart (May 14, 1939 – December 18, 2007) was an American leader in the counterculture movement of the 1960s, founder and editor of the first underground newspaper in New York City, the East Village Other, and author of the book Operation Mind Control.
- Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska
- Yma Sumac (; September 10, 1923 — November 1, 2008), was a Peruvian-American coloratura soprano. With a career spanning 6 decades, she was one of the most famous exponents of exotica music. Sumac became an international success based on her extraordinary vocal range. She had an undisputed 4 1/2 octave range, and often 5 in perfect conditions. A trained opera singer usually has a vocal range between two and three octaves. In one live recording of "Chuncho", she sings a range of over four and a half octaves, from B2 to G♯7. She was able to sing notes in the low baritone register as well as notes above the range of an ordinary soprano and notes in the whistle register. She was also apparently able to sing in a remarkable "double voice".In 1954, classical composer Virgil Thomson described Sumac's voice as "very low and warm, very high and birdlike", noting that her range "is very close to five octaves, but is in no way inhuman or outlandish in sound." In 2012, audio recording restoration expert John H. Haley favorably compared Sumac's tone to opera singers Isabella Colbran, Maria Malibran, and Pauline Viardot. He described Sumac's voice as not having the "bright penetrating peal of a true coloratura soprano", but having in its place "an alluring sweet darkness ... virtually unique in our time."
- Birthplace: Cajamarca, Peru
Yoji Totsuka
Dec. at 66 (1942-2008)Yoji Totsuka (戸塚 洋二, Totsuka Yōji, March 6, 1942 – July 10, 2008) was a Japanese physicist and Special University Professor, Emeritus, University of Tokyo. Totsuka died on July 10, 2008 from colorectal cancer. His doctoral advisor - the Nobel Prize winning physicist Masatoshi Koshiba was told that if Totsuka can extend his lifespan by eighteen months, he must receive the prize.- Birthplace: Fuji, Japan
- Dante Bruno Fascell (March 9, 1917 – November 28, 1998) served as an American politician from the state of Florida.
- Birthplace: Bridgehampton, New York, USA
Seishi Yokomizo
Dec. at 79 (1902-1981)Seishi Yokomizo (Japanese: 横溝 正史, Hepburn: Yokomizo Seishi, 24 May 1902 – 28 December 1981) was a novelist in Shōwa period Japan.- Birthplace: Chūō-ku, Kobe, Keihanshin, Japan
- Robert Kromm (June 8, 1928 – June 9, 2010) was a National Hockey League (NHL) head coach who in 1978 became the first coach of the Detroit Red Wings to win the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year. He led the 1977–78 Red Wings to a 37-point improvement on their 16 win season the year previous, and a second-place finish in the Norris Division. The Red Wings made the playoffs for the first time in eight years. Prior to coaching the Wings, Kromm had been a successful coach in the World Hockey Association, where he had guided the high-flying Winnipeg Jets to the 1976 Avco Cup championship. That fall, he was as an assistant coach for Canada at the inaugural Canada Cup. In 1961 Kromm took an underdog team from Trail, British Columbia to a World Championship win over the Russians. The Trail Smoke Eaters represented Canada that year. Kromm's son, Richard, played ten years in the NHL for the Calgary Flames and New York Islanders.Born in Calgary, Alberta. Kromm died from complications of colorectal cancer one day after his 82nd birthday.
- Birthplace: Calgary, Canada
Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen
Dec. at 47 (1957-2005)Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen (Arnhem, 13 November 1957 – Amsterdam, 27 September 2005) was a Dutch film director. He made his acting debut in the 1986 Academy Award-winning movie The Assault. His directing debut came in 1990, with the television series 12 steden, 13 ongelukken. He directed 16 movies in his career, many of which received international praise. His movies won 21 awards and were nominated for an additional 11 awards. Of these, six awards and three nominations were for the Golden Calves. His 2001 art film Touch and his 2002 television movie The Enclave were nominated for an Emmy Award. Van de Sande Bakhuyzen died from cancer in 2005, the day before the premiere of his movie Life!.- Birthplace: Arnhem, Netherlands
