Famous People Who Died in 1972

Deaths 1 - 200 of 308

Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972)

Jan 8 American writer (See You in the Morning), dies at 60

Jan 8 Wesley Ruggles, American actor, producer and director (I'm No Angel, Arizona, Too Many Husbands), dies at 82
Jan 9 Ted Shawn, American modern dance pioneer and choreographer (Ted Shawn and His Men Dancers ), dies at 80
Jan 10 Aksel Larsen, Danish politician (b. 1897)
Jan 10 Al Goodman, Russian-American orchestra leader (NBC Comedy Hour), dies at 81
Jan 10 Georg Rendl, Austrian miner, beekeeper and writer (Satan on Earth), dies at 68
Jan 10 Sverre Jordan, Norwegian composer, orchestra conductor and pianist (Norwegian Rapsody), dies at 82
Jan 12 Padraic Colum, Irish novelist and poet (Collected Poems), dies at 90
Jan 14 Frederik IX, King of Denmark (1947-72), dies at 72
Jan 15 Margaret "Daisy" Ashford, British child author who wrote "The Young Visiters" (Mister Salteena's Plan) aged 9, dies at 90
Jan 16 David Seville [Ross Bagdasarian], American songwriter ("Come On A-My House"), singer (Alvin & The Chipmunks - "Witch Doctor"), and actor (Rear Window), dies at 52
Jan 16 Teller Ammons, American attorney and politician (Governor of Colorado, 1937-39), dies at 76
Jan 17 Betty Smith, American novelist (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), dies at 75
Jan 17 Rochelle Hudson, American actress (Les Misérables, Imitation of Life, That's My Boy), dies from pneumonia at 55
Jan 18 Rudolf Wittelsbach, Swiss pianist and composer, dies at 69
Jan 19 Michael Rabin, American violinist (In Memorium), dies at 35
Jan 23 Big Maybelle [Mabel Smith], American R&B singer (A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On; Candy), dies from complications of diabetes at 47
Jan 24 Jerome Cowan, American actor (Blondie, Tab Hunter Show), dies at 74
Jan 25 Erhard Milch, German field marshal (b. 1892)

Mahalia Jackson (1911-1972)

Jan 27 American gospel singer ("Whole World In His Hands"), dies of a heart failure at 60

Jan 27 Richard Courant, German-American mathematician, dies at 84
Jan 28 Adriaan B "Jaap" Wagemaker, Dutch sculptor, dies at 66
Jan 28 Dino Buzzati, Italian writer (The Tartar Steppe), dies at 67
Jan 30 Karel Boleslav Jirak, Czech composer and pedagogue, dies at 81
Jan 31 Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra, king of Nepal (1955-72), dies at 51
Jan 31 Fritiof Nilsson Piraten, Swedish writer (Bombi Bitt Och Jag), dies at 76
Jan 31 Howard Barlow, American conductor (Voice of Firestone), dies at 79
Jan 31 Istvan Szelenyi, composer, dies at 67
Feb 2 Jessie Royce Landis [Medbury], American stage and screen actress (To Catch A Thief; North by Northwest), dies of cancer at 75
Feb 2 Natalie Clifford Barney, American writer (b. 1876)
Feb 3 John Litel, American actor (Jezebel, Virginia City, My Hero), dies at 79
Feb 5 Marianne Moore, American poetess (Pulitzer 1951), dies at 84
Feb 6 Julian Steward, American anthropologist (cultural ecology), dies at 70
Feb 8 Márkos Vamvakaris, Greek musician and rebetiko songwriter, dies at 66
Feb 11 Jan Wils, Dutch architect (Olympian Stadium, Amsterdam), dies at 80
Feb 14 (Lambertus) "Bertus" van Lyre, Dutch composer and conductor (Dike), dies at 65
Feb 15 Edgar Snow, American author and journalist (Battle for Asia), dies at 66
Feb 15 Jef [Josephus CF] Last, Dutch poet/Indonesian politician, dies at 73
Feb 17 Gavriil Popov, Soviet Russian composer, dies at 67
Feb 19 (Edward) Lee Morgan, American hard-bop jazz trumpeter ("The Sidewinder"), dies after being shot by his wife between sets during a gig at 33 [1]
Feb 19 John Grierson, Scottish documentary filmmaker (Drifters), dies at 73
Feb 19 Tedd Pierce, American cartoon screenwriter and voice actor (Warner Brothers), dies at 65
Feb 20 Herbert Menges, English composer, dies at 69
Feb 20 Maria Goeppert-Mayer, American-German atomic physicist (Nobel 1963), dies at 65
Feb 20 Walter Winchell, American journalist, gossip columnist, radio host, and narrator (the Untouchables), dies at 74
Feb 21 Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (Ballets Russes) and choreographer (1914-70), dies of a heart attack at 81
Feb 21 Eugène Tisserant, French Catholic candinal (b. 1884)
Feb 23 Michael Taube, Polish composer, dies at 81
Feb 26 Tom Manders, Dutch cabaret artist (Dorus), dies at 50
Feb 27 Pat Brady [Robert Ellsworth O'Brady], American actor (The Roy Rogers Show, Man from Music Mountain), dies at 57
Feb 28 Victor Barna, table tennis champ, dies
Mar 1 Victor Babin, Russian-American concert pianist (Vronsky & Babin), composer, and educator (Cleveland Institute, 1961-72) composer, dies at 63
Mar 1 Violet Trefusis, English writer & socialite who had a famous affair with writer Vita Sackville-West, dies at 77
Mar 1 Vladimir Golschmann, French-American conductor (St. Louis Symphony, 1931-57), dies at 78 [1]
Mar 2 Bill Lawrence, American news anchor (ABC), dies at 56
Mar 5 Nils Björkander, Swedish composer, dies at 78
Mar 8 Erich von dem Bach, Nazi official (b. 1899)
Mar 11 Fredric Brown, American sci-fi author (Martians Go Home), dies at 65
Mar 11 Zack Wheat, American Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder (NL batting champion 1918; Brooklyn Superbas / Dodgers / Robins 1909–26), dies of a heart attack at 83
Mar 13 Tony Ray-Jones, British photographer, dies of Leukemia at 30
Mar 15 Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (b. 1910)
Mar 16 Pie Traynor, American Baseball HOF 3rd baseman (MLB All-Star 1933, 34; World Series 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates) and manager (Pittsburgh Pirates 1934–39), dies at 72
Mar 17 Manny Martindale, West Indian cricket fast bowler (10 Tests, 37 wickets; Barbados), dies at 62
Mar 18 Jimmy Carroll, American pianist (Most Important People), dies at 58
Mar 20 Aad de Haas, Dutch religious painter, graphic artist and cartoonist, dies at 51
Mar 20 Jan Engelman, Dutch poet and art critic (At the Front), dies at 71
Mar 20 Marilyn Maxwell, American actress and entertainer (Champion, The Lemon Drop Kid, East of Sumatra), dies of a heart attack at 50
Mar 23 Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish couturier 'The Master', dies at 77
Mar 27 M. C. Escher, Dutch graphic artist and lithograph carver (Praedestinatie), dies at 73
Mar 27 Sharkey Bonano, American jazz musician, dies at 67
Mar 29 J. Arthur Rank, British industrialist and film magnate, dies at 81
Mar 30 Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator famous for his WWII sign-on "There's good news tonight", dies of pneumonia at 81
Mar 30 Peter Whitney, American actor (Rough Riders), dies at 55
Mar 31 Meena Kumari, Indian film actress (Parineeta), dies at 38
Apr 2 Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884)

Apr 2 American Baseball HOF 1st baseman (8 x MLB All Star; Brooklyn/LA Dodgers; NY Mets; World Series 1955, 59, 69; Gold Glove Award 1957–59) and manager (Washington Senators, NY Mets), dies of a heart attack at 47

Apr 2 Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese Martial Arts Grandmaster (b. 1887)
Apr 3 Ferde Grofé American composer (Grand Canyon Suite), dies at 80

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. (1908-1972)

Apr 4 American politician (Rep-D-NY), dies of acute prostatitis at 63

Apr 4 Jan A.H.J.S. Bruins Slot, Dutch co-founder and editor (illegal), dies at 66
Apr 4 Stefan Wolpe, German composer (Zeus & Elidco), dies at 69
Apr 5 Isabel Jewell, American actress (Gone With The Wind), dies at 64
Apr 6 Brian Donlevy, American actor (Barbary Coast, Glass Key, Wake Island), dies at 71

Joe Gallo (1929-1972)

Apr 7 American mobster, murdered at his 43rd birthday party by rival mobsters

Apr 7 Abeid Karume, Tanzanian sheik/president, murdered
Apr 7 Victor Wong, American actor (Mission to Moscow, War Correspondent, King Kong), dies at 65

Sherwin Badger (1901-1972)

Apr 8 American figure skater (US singles championship 1920-24; Olympic silver pairs [with Beatrix Loughran] 1932), dies at 70

James F. Byrnes (1879-1972)

Apr 9 American politician and statesman influential in domestic and foreign policy in the mid-1940s, dies at 89

Apr 12 C W Ceram [Kurt Marek], German/American writer (1st American), dies at 57
Apr 12 Henri Potiron, French composer, dies at 89
Apr 15 Otto Brenner, German trade union leader (Industrial Union of Metalworkers), dies at 64
Apr 16 Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist (Thousand Cranes) and Nobel laureate (1968), dies at 72
Apr 19 Adolf Bach, German language professor and sociologist, dies at 82
Apr 19 Billy Burke, American golfer (US Open 1931), dies at 69
Apr 25 George Sanders, Russian actor (All About Eve-Academy Award 1950), commits suicide at 65
Apr 26 Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter, dies at 79
Apr 26 Margaret Bonds, American composer (The Ballad of the Brown King), pianist, arranger, and teacher, dies at 59

Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972)

Apr 27 1st Prime Minister of Ghana (1957-60) and 1st President of Ghana (1960-66), dies of prostate cancer at 62 [1]

Apr 29 Ntare V [Charles Ndizeye], King of Burundi, assassinated in abortive coup at 24
Apr 30 Gia Scala [Josephine Scoglio], British-American actress (Garment Jungle; I Aim at the Stars), dies acute ethanol and barbiturate intoxication at 38
May 1 Fernand Ansseau, Belgian opera singer (Orfeo), dies at 82
May 2 Hugo Hartung, writer, dies at 69

J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972)

May 2 American 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924-72), dies at 77

May 3 Bruce Cabot, actor (Diamonds are Forever), dies at 68
May 3 Les Harvey, Scottish rock guitarist (Stone The Crows), dies from accidental on-stage electrocution at 27
May 4 Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
May 5 [Reverend] Gary Davis, American blues and folk guitarist (A Little More Faith), dies of a heart attack at 76
May 6 Deniz Gezmiş, Turkish Left-wing Political Activist (b. 1947)
May 10 Rhys Gemmell, Australian tennis player (Australasian C'ships singles & doubles 1921), dies at 76
May 13 Dan Blocker, American actor (Cimarron City - "Tiny"; Bonanza - "Hoss"), dies of a pulmonary embolism at 43
May 14 Sandor Rado, Hungarian-American psychoanalyst,, dies at 82
May 15 Nigel Green, South African-born British character actor (Zulu, Skull, Tobruk, Ipcress File), dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose at 47
May 16 Maxime Dumoulin, French composer, dies at 79
May 17 Sir Gordon Lowe, British tennis player, Member of Parliament (Australasian C'ship 1915), dies at 87
May 18 Eero Sipilä, Finnish composer, dies at 53
May 20 Cornelis Jakob van der Klauw, Dutch biologist and zoologist, dies at 78
May 22 Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet (British Poet Laureate 1968-72) and detective writer (Nicholas Blake), dies of cancer at 68
May 22 Margaret Rutherford, English actress (Murder Ahoy, VIP's), dies at 80
May 24 Asta Nielsen, actress (Joyless Street), dies at 88
May 24 Gavin Muir, American actor (Mary of Scotland, Johnny Trouble), dies at 71
May 24 Ismail Yasseen, Egyptian comedian and actor (Isamil Yassine as Tarzan, Ibn Hamidu), dies of a heart attack at 59
May 27 Roy K. Marshall, American astronomer and TV scientist (Nature of Things), dies at 64

Edward VIII (1894-1972)

May 28 King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India (Jan 20th, 1936 until his abdication on Dec 11th, 1936), dies at 77

May 29 Margaret Ruthven Lang, American composer (Irish Love Song), dies at 104
May 29 Moe Berg, American baseball player and spy (b. 1902)
May 29 Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer (b. 1878)
May 30 Margaret Ruthven Lang, composer, dies at 104
May 31 Walter Freeman, American physician (developer and practitioner of psychiatric surgery transorbital lobotomy), dies
Jun 2 Franz Philipp, German composer, dies at 81
Jun 4 Godfried Devreese, Belgian violinist, composer (Gothic Symphony), and conductor, dies at 79
Jun 8 Jimmy Rushing, American blues pianist and singer, known as"Mr. Five By Five", dies at 70
Jun 12 Edmund Wilson, American literary critic and writer (To the Finland station), dies at 79
Jun 12 Saul David Alinsky, American community activist (co-founder of Industrial Areas Foundation), and radical writer (John L. Lewis: An Unauthorized Biography), dies at 63
Jun 13 Clyde McPhatter, American R&B and doo-wop tenor vocalist, arranger and songwriter (The Dominos, 1950-53 - "Sixty Minute Man"; TheDrifters, 1953-55 - "Honey Love"; solo - "Treasure My Love"), dies at 39
Jun 13 Dündar Taşer, Turkish nationalist (b. 1925)
Jun 13 Georg von Bekesy, Hungarian-American physician and physiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1961 - work on the inner ear), dies at 73
Jun 13 Stephanie von Hohenlohe, Austrian-German princess by her marriage to the diplomat Prince Friedrich Franz von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst and spy, dies at 80
Jun 20 Horst Salomon, writer, dies
Jun 20 Howard Johnson, US restaurant/hotel founder, dies at 75
Jun 21 Seth Bingham, American organist and composer (Six Pieces for Organ), dies at 90
Jun 23 Elton Britt, American country singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Saturday Night Jamboree), dies of a heart attack at 58
Jun 25 Nat Fleischer, American boxing writer (established Ring Magazine), dies at 84
Jun 26 David Lichine [Lichtenstein], Russian-American dancer and choreographer, dies at 61

Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1893-1972)

Jun 28 Indian scientist and applied statistician (Mahalanobis distance), whose birthdate is celebrated annually in India as "National Statistics Day", dies at 78

Jul 2 Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 10th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), dies at 95
Jul 3 "Mississippi" Fred McDowell, American blues singer and guitarist, dies of cancer at 68
Jul 3 Hal Walker, American film director (I Married Joan), dies at 76
Jul 6 (Andre) Brandon De Wilde, American stage and screen actor (The Member of the Wedding; Shane; Jamie; Hud), dies in a car crash at 30
Jul 6 Vincent Valentine, West Indian cricket pace bowler (England 1933), dies
Jul 7 Athenagoras, 268th patriarch of Constantinople, dies
Jul 7 King Talal of Jordan (b. 1909)
Jul 8 (Cora) "Lovie" Austin, American jazz pianist, and bandleader ("Down Hearted Blues"), dies at 84
Jul 9 Robert Weede, American operatic and musical theater baritone, dies at 69
Jul 16 Giorgio Nataletti, Italian composer, dies at 65
Jul 16 Max Zehnder, Swiss composer, dies at 70
Jul 19 Hezekiah M. Washburn, American Presbyterian Congo missionary, dies at 88
Jul 19 Sally Benson, American writer (Meet Me In St. Louis), dies at 74
Jul 21 Jigme Dori Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (1952-72), dies of a heart condition at 45
Jul 21 Ralph Craig, American athlete (Olympic gold 100/200m 1912), dies at 83
Jul 22 Hugo Kauder, Austrian composer, dies at 84
Jul 22 Pavel Bořkovec, Czech composer (Suite for Piano), dies at 78
Jul 24 Bobby Ramirez, drummer (White Trash), killed at 23 in bar brawl
Jul 27 Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi, Austrian-Japanese politician, dies at 77
Jul 28 Charu Majumdar, Indian revolutionary leader, dies in custody at 53
Jul 28 Helen Traubel, American soprano, dies at 73
Jul 31 Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician (Prime Minister of Belgium, Secretary-General of NATO, 1957-61), dies at 73
Jul 31 Rollie Hemsley, American baseball catcher (5-time MLB All Star), dies of a heart attack at 65
Aug 2 Brian Cole, American rock vocalist and bassist (Association - "Windy"; "Cherish"), dies of overdose at 29
Aug 2 Helen Hoyt, American poet, dies at 85
Aug 2 Paul Goodman, US social critic/writer, dies at 60
Aug 2 Rudolph Ganz, Swiss-American pianist, conductor (St. Louis Symphony, 1921-27), composer, and educator (Chicago Musical College, 1928-54), dies at 95
Aug 3 Giannis "Yannis" Papaioannou, Greek musician and composer, dies at 64
Aug 5 Frederic Tozere, American stage and screen actor (Stanley - "Mr. Phillips"), dies at 71
Aug 5 Harry Hylton-Foster, Speaker of the British House of Commons (b. 1905)
Aug 7 Joi Lansing [Joyce Brown], American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer (Touch of Evil, Bob Cummings Show), dies of cancer at 43
Aug 8 Andrea Feldman, American actor (b. 1948)
Aug 9 Ernst von Salomon, German writer (Kette Der Tausend Kraniche), dies at 69
Aug 9 Richard Elsasser, American composer and organist, dies at 45
Aug 11 Max Theiler, South African-American virologist who developed vaccine for Yellow Fever (Nobel Prize 1951), dies at 73
Aug 11 Rose Schneiderman, American socialist, feminist, trade union leader and secretary of labor for New York State (1937-44), dies at 90
Aug 13 George Weiss, American Baseball Hall of Fame executive (NY Yankees GM 1947-60, 7 x World Series; NY Mets President 1961-66), dies at 78
Aug 14 Jules Romains, French novelist, playwright and poet (Men of Good Will), dies at 86
Aug 14 Oscar Levant, American actor (An American in Paris, Dance of Life), dies at 65
Aug 14 Pierre Brasseur [Espinasse], French actor (Eyes Without a Face, Children of Paradise), dies from a heart attack at 66
Aug 15 Alf Hurum, Norwegian composer (Lilja), and painter, dies at 89
Aug 16 John Barnes Chance, American composer, dies at 39
Aug 17 Alexander Vampilov, Russian playwright (Elder Son), drowns at 34
Aug 17 Raymond Brulez, Belgian author (Schoone slaapster), dies at 76
Aug 20 A. M. Klein, Canadian modernist Jewish poet (Hath Not a Jew), dies at 63
Aug 23 Balys Dvarionas, Lithuanian pianist, composer and educator, dies at 68
Aug 24 (Carlos) "Don" Byas, American swing and be-bop jazz saxophonist, and bandleader, dies of lung cancer at 59

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