Today's 31 January Famous Deaths in History

  • 733 Muhammad al-Baqir, 5th Shia Imam and descendant of Islamic prophet Muhammad, dies from poisoning at 57 [approximate date]
  • 1030 William V ('the Great"), Duke of Aquitaine (995-10300 and Count of Poitier (969-1030), dies at 60
  • 1156 Herman van Horn, Dutch catholic clergyman (Bishop of Utrecht, 1150-56), dies [age undocumented]
  • 1398 Sukō, 3rd Japanese Emperor of the Northern Court (1348-51), dies at 63
  • 1435 Xuande, 5th Ming Emperor of China (1425-35), dies at 35
  • 1561 Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
  • 1561 Menno Simons, Dutch priest and vicar whose followers are named the Mennonites, dies at around 65
  • 1580 Henry, King of Portugal (1578-80), inquisitor and Archbishop of Lisbon (1545-70), dies on his 68th birthday

English Catholic conspirator convicted in the "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up the British Parliament, hanged at 35

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  • 1615 Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit priest (5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus), dies at 71
  • 1632 Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
  • 1665 Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher, dies at 42
  • 1686 Jean Mairet, French dramatist famous for tragedies (Sophonisbe) and comedies, dies at 81
  • 1720 Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (c. 1654)
  • 1729 Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch navigator and explorer (1st European to discover Easter Island), dies at 69
  • 1736 Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect, dies at 57
  • 1783 Caffarelli [Gaetano Majorano], Italian castrato soprano, dies at 72
  • 1788 Francesco Zannetti, Italian composer, dies at 50
  • 1790 Thomas Lewis, Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, and a pioneer of early Virginia, dies at 71
  • 1794 Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral and naval commander during the American War for Independence, dies at 82 or 83
  • 1815 José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
  • 1828 Alexandros Ypsilanti, Greek resistance fighter, dies at 35
  • 1844 Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general and engineer, dies at 70
  • 1856 Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama of Tibet, dies at 17
  • 1864 Hamilton Rowan Gamble, American judge, governor of Missouri (1861-64), dies at 65
  • 1865 Aristide Farrenc, French flautist, music publisher, and musicologist (Trésor des pianistes), dies at 70
  • 1866 Friedrich Rückert, German poet, translator and professor of Oriental languages, dies at 77
  • 1884 Elisha Harris, American physician (founded American Public Health Association, sanitary reform), dies of peritonitis at 60
  • 1888 John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society, dies at 72
  • 1891 Ernest Meissonier, French painter, etcher and sculptor (Depictions of Napoleon), dies at 75
  • 1892 Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist, dies at 57
  • 1907 Timothy Eaton, Irish-born Canadian department store founder (Eatons), dies at 72
  • 1918 Daniël de Lange, Dutch composer, dies at 76
  • 1919 Paul Lindau, German playwright and critic (Estimate), dies at 79
  • 1922 Heinrich Reinhardt, Austrian composer, dies at 56
  • 1923 Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish modernist painter and assassin of Poland's first President, Gabriel Narutowicz, executed by firing squad at 53
  • 1925 George W. Cable, American writer (Northampton Years), dies at 80
  • 1928 Caroline Willard Baldwin, American physicist (A Photographic Study of Arc Spectra), and educator, dies at 58
  • 1933 John Galsworthy, English author (Forsyte Saga, 1932 Nobel Prize for Literature), dies at 65
  • 1940 René Schickele, German-French writer, sometimes under nom de plume 'Sascha' (Erbe am Rhein), poet, and magazine editor (Weissen Blätter), dies at 56
  • 1942 Henry Larkin, American baseball utility (hit for the cycle 1884 Philadelphia A's) and manager (Cleveland Infants 1890), dies at 82
  • 1942 Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (Spoiling the Game, S.A.-Mann Brand), dies when his plane is shot down during WWII at 24
  • 1944 Jean Giraudoux, French writer and playwright (The Madwoman of Chaillot), dies at 61
  • 1945 Eddie Slovik, 1st American executed for desertion since Civil War at 25
  • 1949 Henri de Vries [Hendricus Van Walterop], Dutch actor (Cleopatra, White Cargo), dies at 84
  • 1952 George Howells Broadhurst, British-American playwright, director and producer responsible for opening Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre, dies at 85
  • 1954 Edwin H. Armstrong, US radio inventor (FM), commits suicide at 63
  • 1954 Florence Bates, American actress (Kismet, I Remember Mama), dies at 65
  • 1955 John Mott, American theologist and founder (YMCA, Nobel 1946), dies at 89

English author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, dies at 74

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  • 1960 Lowell Gilmore, American actor (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Living Christ Series), dies at 53
  • 1966 Arthur Percival, British Army officer in World War I and II, dies at 78
  • 1966 Elizabeth Patterson, American stage, silent and sound screen character actress (The Boy Friend; Intruder in the Dust; I Love Lucy - "Mrs. Trumbull"), dies of pneumonia at 91
  • 1967 Eddie Tolan, American sprinter the "Midnight Express" (1932 Olympics), dies at 58
  • 1967 Otto Dibelius, German theologian and bishop (Confessional Church), dies at 86
  • 1969 Alexander Mikhaylovich Dzegelyonok, Russian composer, dies at 77
  • 1969 Meher Baba, Indian spiritual leader and self proclaimed "Avatar", God in human form, dies at 74
  • 1970 Mikhail Mil, Russian aviation designer at the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, dies at 60
  • 1970 Slim Harpo [James Moore], American blues musician (I'm a King Bee, Baby Scratch My Back), dies of a heart attack at 46
  • 1971 Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian and linguist, dies at 79
  • 1972 Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra, King of Nepal (1955-72), dies at 51
  • 1972 Fritiof Nilsson Piraten, Swedish writer (Bombi Bitt Och Jag), dies at 76
  • 1972 Howard Barlow, American conductor (Voice of Firestone), dies at 79
  • 1972 Istvan Szelenyi, Hungarian composer and musicologist, dies at 67
  • 1973 Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and 1st winner of the Nobel prize in economics in 1969, dies at 77
  • 1974 Glenn Morris, American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1936) and actor (Tarzan's Revenge; Hold That Co-ed), dies of congestive heart failure at 61
  • 1974 Paul Haesaerts, Belgian architect and painter (Flandre), dies at 72
  • 1974 Roger Pryor, American actor (Lady by Choice, Belle of the Nineties, Identity Unknown), dies at 72

Polish born Jewish-American film producer (The Best Years of Our Lives) and movie magnate, dies of natural causes at 91

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  • 1975 Štefan Németh-Šamorínsky, Slovak organist, choirmaster, composer and pedagogue (Birch Trees), dies at 78
  • 1976 Buster Brown, American blues singer and harmonica player (Fannie Mae), dies at 64
  • 1976 Ernesto Miranda, American litigant, conviction on kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery charges, stabbed to death at 34
  • 1976 Evert Axel Taube, Swedish ballad singer and composer, dies at 85
  • 1979 Grant Green, American jazz, blues and funk guitarist, and songwriter, dies of a heart attack at 43
  • 1980 Jacobus Petrus Duminy, South African cricket batsman (3 Tests; Western Province, Transvaal, Oxford University CC) and academic (principal & vice-chancellor University of Cape Town), dies at 82
  • 1982 Jiří Srnka, Czech classical and film score composer, dies at 74
  • 1983 Lorraine Ellison, American soul singer ("Stay with Me"; "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)"), and songwriter, dies of ovarian cancer at 51
  • 1985 Barbara Cowsill, American singer and rock band mother (The Cowsills - "Hair"; "We Can Fly"), dies of emphysema at 56
  • 1987 Yves Allégret, French film director, dies at 79
  • 1988 David Anthony Ahern, Australian avant garde composer (Ned Kelly Music), dies from an asthma attack at 40
  • 1989 Jack Douglas [Douglas Crickard], American humorist (My Brother Was an Only Child), and comedy writer (The Jack Paar Show; Laugh-In), dies at 80
  • 1989 Yasushi Akutagawa, Japanese composer (Orpheus of Hiroshima, Ellora Symphony), dies at 63
  • 1990 Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and imam, stabbed to death at 54 (b. 1935)
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  • 1994 Pierre Boulle, French writer known for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Planet of the Apes", dies at 81
  • 1995 George Abbott, American theater producer and film director (Damn Yankees; The Pajama Game), dies at 107
  • 1995 George Stibitz, American mathematician and scientist (father of the modern digital computer), dies at 90 [1]
  • 1995 James Johnson, English MP (Labour, 1950..83), dies at 86
  • 1995 Sir John Smith, English soccer administrator (chairman Liverpool F.C. 1973-90), dies at 74
  • 1996 Gustave Solomon, American mathematician (Reed-Solomon codes for digital information), dies at 65
  • 1997 Eve Lister, British film and television actress (No Limit, Hyde Park), dies at 84
  • 1997 John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
  • 1999 Giant Baba [Shohei Baba], Japanese professional wrestler (All Japan Pro Wrestling), dies at 61
  • 2000 (Simon) "Si" Zentner, American jazz, session, and pop trombonist and big-band lbandeader, dies of leukemia at 82
  • 2000 Anne Cox Chambers, American media owner (Cox Enterprises) and US ambassador to Belgium (1977-81), dies at 100
  • 2000 Gil Kane [Eli Katz], Latvian-American comic book artist known for his work on the Green Lantern comics, dies from cancer at 73
  • 2000 Ralph Manza, American actor (Banacek, Mama Malone, Newhart), dies of a heart attack at 78
  • 2001 Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American sci-fi author (Genetic General), dies at 77
  • 2002 Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot (b. 1919)
  • 2002 Henry Kloss, American audio engineer (acoustic loudspeaker), dies at 73
  • 2003 Michael Ogden, British barrister and judge (Ogden Tables), dies at 76
  • 2003 Werenfried van Straaten, Dutch anti-communist priest (founder of Oostpriesterhulp), dies at 90
  • 2004 Eleanor Holm, American 100m backstroke swimmer (Olympic gold 1932), dies at 90
  • 2005 Nel Benschop, Dutch poet known for "Gouddraad uit vlas", dies at 87
  • 2006 Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (The Red Shoes) and ballerina, dies at 80
  • 2007 (Kirill) "Kirka" Babitzin, Finnish pop-rock singer ("Hetki Lyö" (Beat the Clock)), dies at 56
  • 2007 Adelaide Tambo, South African anti-apartheid activist, politician and wife of Oliver Tambo, dies at 77
  • 2007 Lee Bergere, American actor (Star Trek, Soap, Dynasty), dies at 82
  • 2007 Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author, dies at 62
  • 2008 Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug (b. 1997)
  • 2009 Dewey Martin, Canadian rock drummer (Buffalo Springfield - "For What It's Worth"), dies at 68
  • 2009 Erland von Koch, Swedish composer, dies at 98
  • 2009 Nagesh, Indian comedian actor in Kollywood (b. 1933)
  • 2009 Thérèse Lavoie-Roux, French Canadian politician (Senator from Quebec, 1990-2001; Minister of Health and Social Services, 1985-89), dies at 80
  • 2010 Jürg Baur, German composer, dies at 91
  • 2011 Michael Tolan, American actor (Nurses, Senator), dies at 85
  • 2012 Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal, dies at 88
  • 2012 Dorothea Tanning, American artist (Nachtmusik, 1943, Night Shadow, 1945), dies at 101
  • 2012 Mike Kelley, American artist "Mobile Homestead", commits suicide at 57
  • 2012 Tristram Coffin, American folklorist (The Book of Christmas Folklore, The Old Ball Game), dies from pneumonia at 89
  • 2013 Timir Pinegin, Russian sailor (Olympic gold 1960), dies at 85
  • 2014 Alexander Ivashkin, Russian cellist, conductor, and sitar player, dies at 65
  • 2014 Christopher Jones, American actor, dies from cancer at 72
  • 2014 Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director (The Red and the White), dies at 92
  • 2014 Paul Humphrey, American jazz, R&B, and rock session and touring drummer, dies at 78
  • 2014 Rainer Boesch, Swiss pianist, composer, improviser, and teacher, dies at 75
  • 2015 Don Covay [Donald Randolph], American R & B musician and songwriter (Chain of Fools), dies at 78
  • 2015 Lizabeth Scott [Emma Matzo], American actress (Desert Fury, Dark City), dies of heart failure at 92
  • 2015 Richard von Weizsacker, German politician and 1st president of reunited Germany (1990-94), dies at 94
  • 2015 Udo Lattek, German football striker (VfL Osnabrück) and coach (Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona), dies from Parkinson's disease and dementia at 80
  • 2016 Terry Wogan, British broadcaster (Eurovision Song Contest, Blankety Blank), dies of cancer at 77
  • 2017 Deke [Roger] Leonard, Welsh rock musician (Man), dies at 72
  • 2017 John Wetton, British rock vocalist and bassist (Asia, King Crimson), dies of cancer at 67
  • 2018 Anne Gillis [Alma Conner], American actress (Faline-Bambi, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Little Men), dies at 90
  • 2018 Leonid Kadenyuk, Ukrainian astronaut (STS 87) and Soviet test pilot, dies of a heart attack at 67
  • 2019 Candice Earley, American actress (Donna Beck Tyler in "All My Children"), dies of multiple system atrophy at 68
  • 2019 John Manke, American USMC fighter pilot and NASA test pilot (HL-10), dies at 87 [1]
  • 2020 César Zabala, Paraguayan soccer defender (49 caps; Cerro Porteño), dies of bladder cancer at 58
  • 2020 Johnny Bumphus, American boxer (WBA super lightweight title 1984), dies at 59
  • 2020 Mary Higgins Clark, American suspense novelist (Cry in the Night; Stillwatch), dies at 92
  • 2022 Carleton Carpenter, American magician, stage and screen actor (Two Weeks With Love; Up Periscope), songwriter, and mystery novelist (Cat Got Your Tongue?), dies at 95
  • 2022 James "Jimmy" Johnson, American gospel and blues singer and guitarist, dies at 93 [1]
  • 2022 Mike Nykoluk, Canadian ice hockey coach (NHL's 1st full-time assistant coach - Philadelphia Flyers, 1972-78), and (head coach - Toronto Maple Leafs, 1980-84), dies at 87
  • 2023 Charlie Thomas, American pop singer (The Drifters, 1958-67 - "Sweets For My Sweet"; "Save The Last Dance For Me"), dies of liver cancer at 85
  • 2023 David Durenberger, American politician, (US Sen-R-MN, 1978-95), dies of heart failure at 88
  • 2023 Lou Campanelli, American basketball coach (James Madison University 1972-85; University of California, Berkeley 1986-93), dies at 84
  • 2024 Ed Reed, American jazz vocalist, dies of liver cancer at 94 [1] [2]
  • 2024 Leif Eriksen, Norwegian soccer forward (4 caps; Vålerenga FC, Eidsvold Turn) and manager (Vålerenga FC, Jevnaker IF, Skeid), dies at 83
  • 2024 Terry Beasley, American College Football HOF wide receiver (Unanimous All-American 1971 Auburn University; NFL: San Francisco 49ers), dies at 73
  • 2025 Buster Farrer, South African cricket batsman (6 Tests, HS 40; Border), dies at 88
  • 2025 Susan Alcorn, American pedal steel guitarist and avant garde composer, dies at 71 [1]


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