Famous People Who Died in 1955

Jan 31 John Mott, American theologist and founder (YMCA, Nobel 1946), dies at 89
Feb 5 Ernest Blood, American Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach (Passaic HS, NJ, 200-1 record, 1915-24), dies at 82
Feb 6 Rosey Rowswell, American MLB broadcaster (Pittsburgh Prates 1936-54), dies from uremic poisoning at 71
Feb 12 S Z Sakall [Gerö Jenö], Hungarian stage and film character actor (Dolly Sisters, Casablanca), dies at 72
Feb 12 Tom Moore, actor (Ladies be Seated, Majority Rules), dies at 71
Feb 14 Charles Cuvillier, French composer of operetta (The Naughty Princess), dies at 77
Feb 17 Otto J. Gombosi, Hungarian-American musicologist, dies of a heart attack at 52
Feb 18 Sadako Sasaki,Japanese child hibakusha (victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb), dies at 12
Feb 19 Otakar Pařík, Czech pianist and conductor, dies at 54
Feb 23 Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (L'otage-1909), dies at 86
Feb 27 Tom Howard, Irish-American vaudeville and radio comedian (It Pays To Be Ignorant), dies of heart disease at 66
Mar 3 Katharine Drexel, American philanthropist and Roman Catholic Saint, dies at 96
Mar 5 Antanas Merkys, President of Lithuania (b. 1888)
Mar 7 Tom Dugan, Irish actor (Circus Clown, Drag, Skyway), dies at 66
Mar 8 Clémentine, Princess of Belgium, wife of Prince Napoleon Bonaparte V, dies at 82
Mar 9 Matthew Henson, American explorer, 1st African American to reach North Pole (Jun 4 1909), dies at 88

Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)

Mar 11 Scottish bacteriologist (invented penicillin; Nobel Prize 1945), dies of a heart attack at 73

Mar 11 Oscar Mayer, Bavarian-born American meat packer (b. 1859)

Charlie "Bird" Parker (1920-1955)

Mar 12 American jazz saxophonist (Ornithology) and composer, dies of pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer at 34 in NYC

Mar 12 Theodor Plievier, German writer (Des Kaisers Kulis [The Kaiser's Coolies]; Stalingrad), dies at 63
Mar 13 Tribhuwan Bir Bikram Shah, King of Nepal (1911-55), dies under mysterious circumstances at 48
Mar 16 Mayhew Lake, composer, dies at 75
Mar 16 Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (b. 1914)
Mar 21 Muriel Aked, British actress, dies at 67
Mar 21 Walter Francis White, American civil rights activist who led the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), dies at 61
Mar 22 Ivan Šubašić, Kingdom of Yugoslavia prime minister and last ban of Croatia (b. 1892)
Mar 23 Artur da Silva Bernardes, President of Brazil (b. 1875)
Mar 24 John W. Davis, American politician and United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, dies at 81
Mar 29 Everard Verachtert, Flemish linguist (I Can Speak Nicely pamphlet), dies at 81
Mar 29 Zlatko Baloković, Croatian-American concert violinist, dies at 69
Apr 1 Robert R. McCormick, American editor and publisher (Chicago Tribune), dies at 74
Apr 1 Silvio D'Amico, Italian theater critic (Il Teatro Italian), dies at 68
Apr 7 Theda Bara, actress (Camille, Cleopatra, 2 Orphans), dies at 62
Apr 10 Oskar Lindberg, Swedish composer (Requiem), dies at 68
Apr 10 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher and paleontologist (The Phenomenon of Man), dies at 73
Apr 16 Abdullah Seif el-Islam, brother of Yemenite king Ahmed, beheaded

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Apr 18 German-born theoretical physicist & Nobel laureate (theory of relativity), dies of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at 76

Apr 18 Don Blackie, Australian cricketer (3 Tests for Australia 1928-29), dies at 46
Apr 18 Eugen Herrigel, German philosopher and scholar (early pioneer of Zen in Europe), dies at 70
Apr 23 Robert Herman Woltjer, Dutch Minister of Education, dies at 76
Apr 24 Alfred Polgar, Austrian writer and theater critic (Yes & No!), dies at 79
Apr 25 Constance Collier, actress (Perils of Pauline), dies at 77
Apr 25 Paul Basilius Barth, Swiss painter and lithographer, dies at 73
Apr 28 Lode Cantens, Flemish playwright (Gnomes of the City), dies at 43
Apr 30 Rudolf Klein-Rogge, German actor and prototype for silent films master criminal (Metropolis, Spies), dies at 69
May 2 Tadeusz Jarecki, Polish composer and conductor, dies at 66
May 3 Philips Christiaan Visser, Dutch explorer and diplomat (Karakoram mountains), dies at 72
May 3 Rudolf Schlichter, German artist and writer, dies at 64
May 4 George Enesco, Romanian violinist, conductor, and composer (Romanian Dances), dies at 73
May 4 Louis Charles Breguet, French aviation pioneer (founded the Compagnie des messageries aérienne which became Air France), dies at 75
May 9 Kate Booth, English Salvationist & evangelist, dies at 97
May 10 John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist, dies at 89

Tommy Burns (1881-1955)

May 10 Canadian boxer (World Heavyweight Champion 1906–08), dies of a heart attack at 73

May 11 Gilbert Jessop, English cricket batsman (18 Tests; Wisden Cricketer of the Year 1898), dies at 80
May 14 Betty Ann Davies, British stage and screen actress (Merry Comes To Town), dies of post-surgical complications at 44
May 16 James Agee, American author (African Queen, Death in Family), dies at 45
May 17 Alan Fairfax, Australian cricket all-rounder (10 Tests, 4 x 50, 21 wickets, BB 4/31; NSWCA), dies of war wounds at 48
May 17 Camilla Wedgwood, English anthropologist (Malekula: A Vanishing People in the New Hebrides), dies of cancer at 54
May 17 Francesco Balilla Pratella, Italian composer, dies at 75
May 17 Leslie Hylton, Jamaican cricketer and West Indies fast bowler, executed and hanged for murder at 50
May 18 Edwin Scharff, German "entartet" sculptor, dies at 68
May 18 Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator (Bethune-Cookman College) and civil rights leader, dies at 79
May 25 Wardell Gray, American swing and bebop jazz tenor saxophonist, dies at 34

Alberto Ascari (1918-1955)

May 26 Italian auto racer (World F1 champion 1952, 53), dies in a testing accident at 36

May 29 Daniël George van Beuningen, Dutch coal merchant (Rotterdam) and art collector, dies at 78
May 31 Bill Vukovich, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1953-4), dies in a car crash at 36 while competing in the Indianapolis 500
May 31 Jacob Clay, Dutch philosopher and physicist (cosmic rays as charged particles), dies at 63
May 31 Raoul Gunsbourg, French composer, impresario and opera director (Opéra de Monte-Carlo, 1892-1951), dies at 95
Jun 1 F Melius Christiansen, composer, dies at 84
Jun 3 Barbara Graham, American criminal convicted of murder, dies at 31
Jun 6 Max Meldrum, Scottish-Australian painter (founder of Australian Tonalism), dies at 79
Jun 10 Margaret Abbott, American golfer (1st American woman to win Olympic event, golf 1900), dies at 76
Jun 11 Jacques Lemaigre-Dubreuil, French industrialist, murdered
Jun 11 Marcel Samuel-Rousseau, French organist and opera composer (Le Bon Roi Dagobert), dies at 72
Jun 11 Walter Hampden, American actor (Five Fingers, Hunchback of Notre Dame), dies at 75
Jun 16 Ozias Leduc, Canadian painter, dies at 90
Jun 18 Walter Rein, German composer, dies at 61
Jun 18 Willy Burkhard, Swiss composer, dies at 55
Jun 22 Sadashiv Garpatrao Shinde, cricketer (7 Tests for India), dies at 31
Jun 22 Sadu Shinde, Indian cricket spin bowler (7 Tests, 12 wickets, BB 6/91; Maharashtra, Bombay, Baroda), dies of typhoid at 32
Jun 22 Wyllis Cooper, American TV narrator (Volume One), dies at 56
Jun 27 Jan van den Tempel, Dutch politician (SDAP), dies at 77
Jun 29 Max Pechstein, German painter and graphic artist (Oceania), dies at 73
Jul 2 Edward Lawson, Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, dies at 82
Jul 6 Paolo Gallico, Italian-American pianist and composer (The Apocalypse), dies at 87
Jul 7 Franco Casavola, Italian composer, music theorist, and futurist, dies at 63
Jul 9 Arch Ward, American sportswriter (Chicago Tribune - proposed baseball's all-star game), dies at 58
Jul 13 Beulah Ecton Woodard, African-American sculptor, dies at 59
Jul 13 Ruth Ellis, last English woman (murderess), executed by hanging
Jul 15 Marie-Louise de Baufremont, wife of Prince Jean de Merode of Netherlands, dies at 81
Jul 17 Bronisław Szulc, Polish conductor and composer, dies at 73
Jul 19 Koos [Jacobus Jan] Vorrink, Dutch politician and socialist (SDAP/AJC/PvdA), dies at 64
Jul 22 Joseph Foley, American actor (Mr Peepers), dies at 45
Jul 23 Betsy van Es, Flemish actress (Un soir de joie), dies at 55
Jul 23 Cordell Hull, American Secretary of State (1933-44) who established United Nations (Nobel Peace Prize 1945), dies at 83
Jul 24 Harry Haden, Canadian American actor (Harry-Stu Erwin Show), dies at 72
Jul 25 Ilmari Hannikainen, Finnish composer, drowns during a sailing trip at 62
Jul 25 Isaak Iosifovich Dunayevsky, Soviet operetta and film composer, dies at 55
Aug 2 Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach, dies at 54
Aug 2 Rupprecht, last crown prince of Bavaria and German fieldmarshall during WWI, dies at 86
Aug 2 Wallace Stevens, American poet (The Auroras of Autumn), dies at 75
Aug 3 Lida Durdikova, Czech children's author (Children with extinguished eyes) and publisher (Père Castor), dies at 56
Aug 5 Carmen Miranda, Portuguese-born Brazilian samba singer and actress (Down Argentine Way), dies of a heart attack at 46
Aug 5 Suzan (Susan) Ball, American actress, dies of cancer at 21
Aug 9 Marion Eugene Bauer, American composer, dies at 57
Aug 12 James B. Sumner, American chemist (Nobel 1946 - discovered that enzymes can be crystallized), dies at 67

Thomas Mann (1875-1955)

Aug 12 German novelist (Magic Mountain-Nobel 1929), dies at 80

Aug 14 Fiske Kimball, American architect and art historian, dies at 66
Aug 14 Herbert Putnam, American Librarian of Congress, dies at 93
Aug 23 Reginald Tate, British actor (b. 1896)
Aug 26 Sol White, American Baseball HOF executive (Philadelphia Giants 4 x consecutive black C'ships 1904–1907), dies at 87
Aug 27 Joachim Wach, philosopher/sociologist (Sociology of Religion), dies
Aug 28 Bob Gordon, American cool jazz baritone saxophonist, dies in a car accident at 27

Emmett Till (1941-1955)

Aug 28 American lynching victim, kidnapped in Money, Mississippi and lynched at 14

Sep 1 Philip Loeb, actor (Jake-Goldbergs), dies at 61
Sep 2 Rudolf Kattnigg, Austrian composer, dies at 60
Sep 7 Ernst Rabel, Austrian-American lawyer, human rights activist, and author (The Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Study), dies at 81
Sep 8 Johannes de Young, Dutch cardinal and archbishop of Utrecht, dies at 69
Sep 10 Robert Blackburn, British aviation pioneer and the founder of Blackburn Aircraft, dies at 70
Sep 12 Gustave Vanzype, Belgian literary figure (La Gazette), dies at 86
Sep 14 Franz Carl Weiskopf, German Czech writer, dies at 55
Sep 16 Leopold CMS Amery, British minister of Colonies (India), dies at 81
Sep 19 Carl Milles, Swedish sculptor (Wedding of Rivers), dies at 80
Sep 19 John D. Dingell, Sr., U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1894)
Sep 21 Jacqueline Reyneke van Stuwe, Dutch author, dies at 84
Sep 25 Hendrik J. Pos, Dutch philosopher and linguist (Committee of Watchfulness), dies at 57
Sep 27 Henri Liebrecht, Belgian playwright and journalist, dies at 71
Sep 28 Arthur Donaldson, Swedish American actor, dies at 86
Sep 30 Arnold Struycken, Dutch lawyer, dies at 55

James Dean (1931-1955)

Sep 30 American actor and cultural icon (Giant, Rebel Without a Cause), and 1st actor to be posthumously nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award, dies in a car crash at age 24

Sep 30 Michael Chekhov, Russian-American actor (Rhapsody, Abie's Irish Rose), dies at 64
Oct 1 Charles Christie, American film studio owner, dies at 75
Oct 2 O B Clarence, English actor (Penn of Pensnsylvania), dies at 85
Oct 4 Alexander Papagos, Greek fieldmarshal and supreme commander, dies at 71
Oct 9 Alice Joyce, American actress (Song O' My Heart), dies at 65
Oct 9 Theodor Innitzer, Austrian cardinal and archbishop of Vienna, dies at 79
Oct 12 Bernarr McFadden, American physical culture advocate, credited with beginning the culture of health and fitness in the United States, dies of a urinary tract infection at 87
Oct 13 Manuel Ávila Camacho, 45th President of Mexico (1940-46), dies at 58
Oct 15 Fumio Hayasaka, Japanese film score composer (Rashomon; Seven Samurai), dies of tuberculosis at 41
Oct 18 José Ortega y Gasset, Spanish philosopher and author (The Revolt of the Masses), dies at 72
Oct 19 Carlos Dávila, President of Government Junta of Chile (1932), dies at 68
Oct 19 John Hodiak, American actor (Battleground, A Bell for Adamo, Lifeboat), dies from coronary thrombosis at 41
Oct 20 Eino Roiha, Finnish pianist, composer, and musicologist dies at 51
Oct 21 Roy Minnett, Australian cricketer (all-rounder prior to WWI), dies
Oct 24 Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, British Anthropologist (Structural Functionalism and studies of Andaman Islanders and Australian Aborigines), dies at 74
Oct 26 Anthony Ross [Rosenthal], American stage (Bus Stop), and screen character actor (The Telltale Clue), dies of a heart attack at 46
Oct 26 Arne Eggen, Norwegian composer, dies at 74
Oct 27 Clark Griffith, American Baseball HOF pitcher (MLB ERA leader 1898 Chicago Colts/Orphans) and manager (Chicago WS, NY Highlanders, Cincinnati Reds, Washington Sens [owner]), dies at 85
Oct 27 Vladimir Mikhaylovich Deshevov, composer, dies at 66
Oct 31 Alban Collignon, Belgian sport journalist, dies at 74
Oct 31 William Woodward Jr., American businessman and horse breeder (Hanover National Bank), is shot by his wife after being mistaken for an intruder at 35
Nov 1 Dale Carnegie, American writer and public speaker (How to Win Friends & Influence People), dies at 66
Nov 1 W H van Eemlandt [Haasse], author (Treasure Hunter of Amstel), dies

Cy Young (1867-1955)

Nov 4 American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (Cleveland Spiders, Boston Americans; most wins in MLB history 511), dies of a heart attack at 88

Nov 5 Charley Toorop, Dutch painter (3 Generations), dies at 64
Nov 5 Maurice Utrillo, French painter (Port St Martin, Montmartre), dies at 71
Nov 6 Charley Toorop [Annie CP Fernhout-Toorop], Dutch painter, dies at 64
Nov 6 Cornelis GN de Vooys, translator, dies at 82
Nov 9 Tom Powers, American actor (Station West, Destination Moon), dies at 65
Nov 11 John Loudon, Dutch minister of Foreign affairs (1913-18), dies at 87
Nov 12 Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer (b. 1878)
Nov 12 Tin Ujević, Croatian poet (Žedan kamen na studencu), dies at 64
Nov 14 Robert E Sherwood, dramatist (Abe Lincoln in Illinois), dies at 59
Nov 15 Lloyd Bacon, director (Fuller Brush Girl, 42nd Street), dies at 65
Nov 16 Tomasz Arciszewski, 31st Prime Minister of Poland, 3rd Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile in London (1944-47), dies at 88
Nov 17 James P. Johnson, American pianist and jazz composer (Charleston), dies at 64
Nov 22 Guy Ropartz, French composer, dies at 91 (b. 1864)

Shemp Howard (1895-1955)

Nov 22 American actor and comedian (3 Stooges), dies of a heart attack at 60

Arthur Honegger (1892-1955)

Nov 27 Swiss composer (King David; Pacific 231), dies of a heart attack at 63

Nov 27 Luis de Freitas Branco, Portuguese composer, dies at 65
Nov 27 William Nigh, American director (Ape, Doomed to Die, Mr Wong), dies at 74
Nov 30 Josip Slavenski, Croatian composer, dies at 59
Dec 1 Chief Thundercloud [Victor Daniels], Cherokee actor (The Lone Ranger, Colt .45), dies from stomach cancer at 57
Dec 3 Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport, American boogie-woogie and blues musician, dies of hardening of the arteries at 61
Dec 5 Glenn Luther Martin, American pioneering aviator (founded what became Lockheed Martin), dies at 69
Dec 5 Paul Harvey, American actor (Spellbound, Calamity Jane, Heldorado, Jamboree), dies at 73

Honus Wagner (1874-1955)

Dec 6 American Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop (8 x NL batting champion; 5 × NL RBI / stolen base leader; Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 81

Dec 8 Jacques Handschin, Swiss musicologist (Der Toncharakter), dies at 69
Dec 9 Hermann Weyl, German mathematician and philosopher, dies at 70
Dec 11 Franz Syberg, Danish organist and composer, dies at 51
Dec 11 Johan Coenraad Altorf, Dutch sculptor (October 3 Monument), dies at 79
Dec 13 Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon (1949 Nobel laureate for developing Lobotomy procedure), dies at 81
Dec 14 Dorothy Bernard, American stage, silent and sound screen actress (Life With Father - "Margaret"), dies of a heart attack at 65
Dec 23 Len Braund, English cricket all-rounder (23 Tests, 3 x 100, 47 wickets; Surrey CCC, Somerset CCC), dies at 80