Famous People Who Died in 1987

Deaths 1 - 200 of 411

Jan 14 Alton Purnell, American Dixieland jazz pianist, and singer, dies at 75
Jan 14 Douglas Sirk, German American film director (All That Heaven Allows), dies at 86
Jan 15 Dolores Hawkins, American R&B singer ("Rocks in My Bed"; "A Kiss Before Dying"), dies at 58
Jan 15 Gerrit Borgers, Dutch literary, dies at 69
Jan 15 Ray Bolger, American dancer, actor, and singer (Wizard of Oz - "Scarecrow"; Partridge Family - "Grandpa Renfrew"), dies of bladder cancer at 83
Jan 16 Bertram Wainer, Australian physician pro-abortion access campaigner, dies of a heart attack at 58
Jan 16 Earl Wilson, American journalist and columnist (Midnight Earl), dies at 79
Jan 16 Ilse Lagner, German antiwar writer, dies at 87
Jan 16 Joyce Jameson, American comedienne and actress (Spike Jones Show, The Outlaw Josey Wales), commits suicide at 59
Jan 16 Robert De Kers [Keersmaeker], Belgian jazz trumpeter and bandleaders, dies at 80
Jan 17 Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)
Jan 17 Raymond Scheyven, Belgian minister of Economic Affairs, dies at 75
Jan 18 George Thalben-Ball, Australian-English organist (Birmingham City Organist, 1949-83), and composer (Elegy), dies at 90
Jan 18 Renato Guttuso, Italian painter (Flight From Etna; Crucifixion), theater set designer, and politician, dies at 75
Jan 19 Fred Lohse, German composer and educator, dies at 78
Jan 19 Gerald Brenan, English writer, dies at 92
Jan 20 Tom Dollery, cricketer (4 Tests for Eng 1947-50), dies
Jan 21 Charles Goodell, American politician (b. 1926)
Jan 21 Pieter G Buckinx, Flemish writer (7th Day), dies at 83
Jan 22 R. Budd Dwyer, American Pennsylvania State Treasurer who shot himself at a televised news conference while facing prison for conspiracy and perjury, shoots himself to death, at 47

Jan 25 Emil Hlobil, Czech composer, dies at 85
Jan 27 Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian film animator and director, dies at 72
Jan 29 Ivo Lhotka-Kalinski, Yugoslav composer, dies at 73
Jan 30 Angelo Rutherford, actor (Willie-Gentle Ben), dies at 32
Jan 30 Ken Drake, American actor (Crime & Punishment USA), dies at 65
Jan 31 Yves Allégret, French film director, dies at 79
Feb 1 Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director, dies at 86
Feb 1 Ernest "Ern" Westmore, American 3rd generation make-up artist (Westmore family) & actor, dies from a heart attack at 82
Feb 1 Sala Burton, American politician (Rep-D-CA, 1983-87), dies of cancer at 61
Feb 2 Alfred Lion, record founder (Blue Note), dies at 78
Feb 2 Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist (The Guns of Navarone), dies at 64
Feb 2 Carlos Castilho, Brazilian soccer goalkeeper (25 caps; Fluminense FC 697 games) and manager (Santos FC, SE Palmeiras), dies by suicide at 59
Feb 2 Patrick "Spike" Hughes, British jazz musician (Cinderella), dies at 78

Liberace (1919-1987)

Feb 4 American Emmy Award-winning pianist, showman (The Liberace Show), and actor (Batman -"Evil Chandell"), dies of AIDS-related pneumonia at 67

Feb 4 Carl Rogers, American psychologist (Client-Centered Therapy), dies at 85
Feb 5 E. Michael Burke, sports executive (President New York Yankees, New York Knicks, Madison Square Garden), dies at 70
Feb 5 William Collier [Charles F Gall Jr], American stage and film actor and producer, dies at 84
Feb 8 Bronislawa Wajs [Papuscha], Polish-Romani writer, dies at 78
Feb 8 Harriet MacGibbon, American actress, dies of a pulmonary & cardiac failure at 81
Feb 9 Larry French, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1940; Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs; Brooklyn Dodgers), dies at 79
Feb 10 Raymond “Coco” Colignon, Belgian jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader, dies at 80
Feb 10 Sadequain, Pakistani artist, painter, calligrapher and artist, dies at 56
Feb 12 Lang Jeffries, Canadian actor (Skip-Rescue 8), dies at 55
Feb 13 Milford "Curly" Page, New Zealand cricket batsman & captain (14 Tests, 1 x 100, 2x 50, 5 wickets) and rugby union halfback (Canterbury RU), dies at 84
Feb 14 Bola Sete, Brazilian guitarist, dies at 63
Feb 14 Karolos Koun, Greek theater director (b. 1908)
Feb 15 Jimmy Holiday, American soul singer ("How Can I Forget"; Baby I Love You"), and songwriter ("Put A Little Love In Your Heart"), dies of heart failure at 42
Feb 15 Osmo Lindeman, Finnish jazz pianist, film score composer, pedagogue, and electronic music pioneer, dies at 57
Feb 16 Dmitri Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (In the Fire), dies at 82
Feb 17 Hal K. Dawson, American actor (Another Language, Wells Fargo), dies at 90
Feb 17 Verree Teasdale, American actress (Skyscraper Souls), dies at 83
Feb 20 Adrian Cruft, British composer, dies at 66
Feb 20 Ivan Brkanović, Croatian composer (Triptych - Funeral Folk Rite), dies at 80

Andy Warhol (1928-1987)

Feb 22 American pop artist and film producer (Frankenstein, Bad), dies of a heart attack at 58

Feb 22 David Susskind, TV host (Open End, David Susskind Show), dies at 66
Feb 22 Glenway Wescott, American writer (Apartment in Athens), dies at 85
Feb 23 Esmond Knight, British actor (Hamlet, Sleeping Murder), dies from a heart attack at 80
Feb 24 Jim Connors, American Legendary Radio personality, dies in a car crash at 46
Feb 25 James Coco, American character actor (Only When I Laugh; Murder by Death), and singer (Man of La Mancha), dies of a heart attack at 56
Feb 27 Joan Greenwood, British actress and director (Kind Hearts and Coronets, Amorous Mr Prawn), dies of a heart attack at 65
Feb 28 Anny Ondra, actress (Blackmail), dies at 83
Feb 28 Nora Kaye, American ballet dancer, and Broadway and film choreographer, dies of cancer at 67
Mar 2 Randolph Scott, American actor (Ride the High Country, Last of the Mohicans, Western Union), dies at 89
Mar 3 Danny Kaye [David Daniel Kaminski], American comedian and actor (Danny Kaye Show, White Christmas), dies of heart failure at 76
Mar 4 Siro Cisilino, Italian composer and musicologist, dies at 83
Mar 6 Eddie Durham, American pioneering jazz electric guitarist, trombonist (Count Basie; Jimmie Luceford), composer ("Topsy"; "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"), and bandleader (All-Star Girl Orchestra), dies at 80
Mar 6 Edward Zorinsky, American (Sen-D-NB, 1976-88), dies at 58
Mar 9 Bobby Locke, South African golfer (British Open 1949-50, 52, 57), dies of meningitis at 69
Mar 11 Joe Gladwin, British actor (Nearest and Dearest, No Hard Feelings), dies at 81
Mar 12 Woody Hayes, American College Football Hall of Fame coach (National C'ship 1954, 57, 61, 68, 70; Ohio State), dies of a heart attack at 74
Mar 13 Bernhard Grzimek, German zoologist (West Germany), dies at 77
Mar 13 Fela Sowande, Nigerian musician and composer, dies at 81
Mar 13 Finn Videro, Danish organist and composer, dies at 80
Mar 13 Gerald Moore, English pianist (Am I Too Loud), dies at 87
Mar 15 Red Dutton, Canadian ice hockey player (Calgary Tigers) and coach, dies at 89
Mar 15 W. Sterling Cole, American politician (Rep-R-NY, Director International Atomic Energy Agency), dies at 82
Mar 16 Scott McKay [Carl Chester Gose], American actor (Stage Door, Guest in House, 30 Seconds over Tokyo), dies of kidney failuyre at 71
Mar 17 Santo Trafficante Jr., American gangster (head of the Trafficante crime family in Florida and Cuba), dies at 71
Mar 18 Bil Baird, puppeteer (Jack Paar Show), dies at 82
Mar 19 Arch Oboler, American director, screen and radio writer, and producer (Lights Out, Bwana Devil), dies at 77
Mar 19 Emile Meyer, actor (Young Jesse James, Lineup), dies
Mar 19 Louis Broglie, French physicist (Nobel 1929), dies at 94
Mar 19 Louis Victor de Broglie, French quantum physicist (studied electrons, Nobel Prize for Physics, 1929), dies at 94
Mar 19 Tony Stratton-Smith, journalist/record co CEO (Charisma), dies at 53
Mar 20 Norman Harris, American soul, R&B, and disco session guitarist (Philadelphia International; O'Jays; Salsoul Orchestra), dies of cardiovascular disease at 39
Mar 20 Rita Streich, Russian-German soprano, dies at 66
Mar 21 Dean Paul Martin, Jr, American singer (Dino, Desi & Billy), and actor (Misfits of Science), dies in a military aircraft crash at 35
Mar 21 Robert Preston [Meservey], American stage and screen actor and singer (The Music Man; Mame; The Last Starfighter), dies of lung cancer at 68
Mar 22 Joan Shawlee [Fulton], American actress (Some Like It Hot, Prehistoric Women, The Abbott & Costello Show), dies of cancer at 61
Mar 23 Adriaan Pitlo, Dutch lawyer, dies at 85
Mar 25 Henry R LaBouisse, headed UNICEF (1965-79), dies at 83
Mar 26 Eugen Jochum, German conductor (Hamburg Orchestra), dies at 84
Mar 26 Walter Abel, American actor (Fury; Suspicion; Dream Girl), dies at 88
Mar 27 Bruno Kiefer, German-born Brazilian composer, dies at 63
Mar 27 Lloyd Goodrich, American Arts Museum director, dies at 90
Mar 28 Maria Augusta von Trapp, Austrian singer who inspired the "Sound of Music" (Trapp Family Singers), dies of heart failure at 82
Mar 28 Patrick Troughton, English actor (second Doctor in Doctor Who), dies of a heart attack at 67
Mar 30 Efrain Jonckheer, Premier of the Dutch Antilles, dies at 69

Henri Cochet (1901-1987)

Apr 1 French tennis player (French Open 1926, 28, 30, 32; Wimbledon 1927, 29; US Open 1928), dies at 85

Buddy Rich (1917-1987)

Apr 2 American jazz drummer and band leader (Buddy Rich Band - "Away We Go"), dies at 69

Apr 3 Hans Gál, Austrian-British composer (Die heilige Ente (The Sacred Duck)), dies at 97
Apr 3 Tom Sestak, American football player (b. 1936)
Apr 4 C. L. Moore, American science fiction and fantasy writer (Judgment Night), dies at 76
Apr 7 Maxine Sullivan [Marietta Williams], American jazz vocalist and performer ("Going Places"), dies following a seizure at 75
Apr 8 Francis C. Denebrink, US Naval officer (WW I, WW II, Korea), dies at 90
Apr 11 Erskine Caldwell, American novelist (Tobacco Road, God's Little Acre), dies at 83
Apr 11 Kent Taylor [Louis Weiss], American actor (Boston Blackie, Rough Riders), dies at 79
Apr 11 Primo Levi, Italian chemist and writer (Survival in Auschwitz), dies at 67
Apr 12 Mike Von Erich, American wrestler
Apr 14 Karl Höller, German composer, dies at 79
Apr 17 Carlton "Carly" Barrett, Jamaican reggae drummer (The Upsetters; Bob Marley & Wailers), murdered at 36
Apr 17 Cecil Harmsworth King, owner of Mirror Group Newspapers (b. 1901)
Apr 17 Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher and Christian apologist, dies at 91
Apr 17 Dick Shawn [Richard Schulefand], American character actor and comedian (The Producers - "L.S.D."; Maid to Order), suffers a fatal heart attack on stage in San Diego on stage at 57
Apr 17 Willie Donnell Smith, American fashion designer (WilliWear), dies of pneumonia at 39
Apr 19 Hugh Brannum, American actor and singer (Captain Kangaroo - "Mr. Green Jeans"; The Fred Waring Show - "Lumpy"), dies of cancer at 77
Apr 19 Maxwell D. Taylor, American army general, (WWII Commander 101st airborne), Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff 1962-64), dies at 85
Apr 20 Antony Tudor, English dancer and choreographer (American Ballet Theater), dies at 78
Apr 21 Edith Green, American politician (Rep-D-Oregon 1955-74), dies at 77
Apr 22 Irving Ashby, American jazz and session guitarist (Lionel Hampton - "Flying Home"; Nat King Cole Trio; Oscar Peterson Trio), dies at 66
Apr 26 John Ernest Silkin, British politician, dies at 64
Apr 28 Åke Olof Sebastian Uddén, Swedish violist, composer and educator (Royal College Of Music, 1934-70), dies at 84
Apr 28 Ben Linder, American engineer, murdered by Contras in Nicaragua at 27
Apr 30 Hugh Dempster, actor (Anna Karenina, Candles at Nine), dies
May 1 Bobo Holloman, American baseball pitcher (no-hitter on MLB debut 1953; St. Louis Browns), dies of a heart attack at 64
May 3 Dalida [Yolande Christina Gigliotti], French-Italian actress (The Sixth Day), singer (Bambino), and Miss Egypt 1954, commits suicide at 54
May 3 Dicky Fuller, cricketer (one Test for WI 1935, one run, 0-12), dies
May 4 Cathryn Damon, American actress (Mary-Soap, She's Having a Baby), dies of cancer at 56
May 4 Dick Hillenius, Dutch biologist and writer, dies at 59
May 4 Paul Butterfield, American blues singer and harmonica player (Paul Butterfield Blues Band; Better Days), dies of drug abuse at 44

William J. Casey (1913-1987)

May 6 American head of the CIA during the Iran-contra scandal (1981-87), dies of aspiration pneumonia at 73

May 7 Colin Blakely, Northern-Irish character actor (Shattered, Equus, King Lear), dies of leukemia at 56
May 7 Stewart McKinney, American politician (Rep-R-CT, 1971-87), dies of AIDS at 56
May 8 Doris Stokes, British psychic medium (b. 1920)
May 8 Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal) character on Dallas, is killed off
May 9 Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian statesman & nationalist, dies at 78
May 11 James Jesus Angleton, American intelligence officer & head of counterintelligence for the CIA (1954-75), dies at 69
May 12 Victor Feldman, British jazz pianist and drummer, dies of a heart attack at 53
May 13 Phil Moore, American jazz pianist, arranger, and bandleader, dies at 70
May 13 Ron Saggers, Australian cricket wicket-keeper (effective NSW & Aussie late 40's), dies at 69

Rita Hayworth (1918-1987)

May 14 American actress (Gilda; Cover Girl; The Lady from Shanghai), dies of Alzheimer's disease at 68

May 15 John Baur, American museum director and author (American Paintings in 19th Century), dies at 78
May 15 Wynne Gibson, actor (Night After Night, Aggie Appleby), dies
May 17 Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist and economist (Nobel 1974), dies at 88
May 18 Wilbur J. Cohen, American pioneer of social security, worked on the New Deal, dies at 73
May 19 James Tiptree Jr. [Alice Sheldon], American sci-fi author (Byte Beautiful), dies at 71
May 21 Alejandro Rey, Argentine-American actor and director (Carlos-Flying Nun), dies lung cancer at 57
May 21 Archie Carr, American ecologist and zoologist (advocated for conservation of sea turtles), dies at 77
May 22 Mario Zafred, Italian composer, and opera director dies at 65
May 23 Karel Albert, Flemish composer (Marieken van Nymeghen), dies at 86
May 24 Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold, British actress (Gigi; The Music Man), dies at 89
May 26 Emiliana de Zubeldía, Spanish-Mexican concert pianist, composer - chiefly for guitar (Landscape Basko),and educator (Academy of Music at the University of Sonora, 1947-87), dies at 98
May 27 John H. Northrop, American biochemist (crystallized enzymes (Nobel 1946)), dies at 95
May 28 Charles Ludlam, American playwright and actor (Big Easy), dies at 44
May 29 Alain Vincx, Belgian stuntman, dies in an accident at 40
May 29 Charan Singh, Indian politician, 5th Prime Minister of India (1979-80), dies at 84
May 29 Phyllis Tate, English composer, dies at 76
May 30 Frank Carlson, American politician (Gov/Rep/Sen-R-Ks), dies at 94
May 30 Melvin "Turk" Murphy, American Dixieland jazz trombonist, dies at 71
May 31 Dorothy Patrick, Canadian-American actress (Torch Song, New Orleans, High Wall), dies at 65
May 31 Roy Winsor, American producer (Search for Tomorrow, Love of Life), dies at 75
Jun 1 Errol W Barrow, Prime Minister of Barbados (1961-76), dies at 67
Jun 1 Rashid Karami, 10 time premier of Lebanon, dies in bomb attack at 65
Jun 2 Andres Segovia, Spanish classical guitarist and composer, dies at 94
Jun 2 Sammy Kaye, American orchestra leader (Swing and Sway With Sammy Kaye)), dies of cancer at 77
Jun 3 Roel Houwink, Dutch writer and poet (1 Man Without Character), dies at 88
Jun 3 Will Sampson, American Muscogee actor (From Here to Eternity, Yellow Rose), dies at 54
Jun 6 Fulton Mackay, Scottish actor and playwright (Porridge), dies of stomach cancer at 64
Jun 7 John Blofeld, writer/translator/Zen practitioner, dies at 73
Jun 8 Yogi Horton, American R&B and funk drummer (Luther Vandross), commits suicide at 33
Jun 9 Grandon Rhodes, actor (Gentleman From Nowhere), dies
Jun 9 Madge Kennedy, actress (Marrying Kind, 3 Bad Sisters), dies
Jun 10 Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (A Patch of Blue, Beguilled), commits suicide by jumping from the window of her fifth floor Pittsburgh apartment, at 43
Jun 11 Ralph Guldahl, American golfer (US Masters 1939, US Open 1937-38), dies at 75

Geraldine Page (1924-1987)

Jun 13 American actress (Blue & Gray, Trip to Bountiful), dies at 62

Jun 14 Les Favell, cricketer (757 runs for Australia), dies
Jun 15 J A K Cochrane, cricketer (Test for South Africa 1931), dies
Jun 15 Walter Heller, American economist (Old Myths & New Realities), dies at 71
Jun 16 John Mikaelsson, Swedish race walker (Olympic gold 10k 1948, 52), dies at 73
Jun 17 Dick Howser, American baseball shortstop (MLB All Star All-Star 1961, 61²; KC A's) and manager (World Series 1977, 78 NY Yankees; KC Royals 1985), dies of brain cancer at 51
Jun 18 Bruce Marshall, Scottish writer, dies at 87
Jun 19 Teresa Cormack, New Zealand murder victim (b. 1981)
Jun 21 Madman Muntz, American entrepreneur, businessman, electrical engineer, TV commercial actor (b. 1914)

Fred Astaire (1899-1987)

Jun 22 American stage and screen tap dancer, singer ("Night And Day"; "Cheek To Cheek"; "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"), and actor (Royal Wedding; Easter Parade; Swingtime), dies of pneumonia at 88

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