Famous Deaths on December 14

Vlad the Impaler

1476 Vlad III the Impaler, Wallachian prince, killed in battle at 45

1510 Duke Friedrich of Saxony, 36th Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (1498-1510), dies at 37
1542 James V, King of Scotland (1513-42), dies at 30
1553 Hanibal Lucić, Croatian writer, dies at 68
1591 St. John of the Cross [Juan de Yepes y Álvarez], Spanish Carmelite friar, poet and saint, dies at 49
1624 Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman, dies at 73
1651 Pierre Dupuy, French historian & scholar, dies at 69
1713 Thomas Rymer, English historian, dies at 72
1715 Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 79
1732 Johann Philipp Fortsch, German composer, dies at 80
1734 Noel-Nicolas Coypel, French painter & cartoonist, dies at 44
1735 Thomas Tanner, English bishop & antiquarian (b. 1674)
1741 Charles Rollin, French historian, dies at 80
1754 Mahmud I, Sultan of Ottoman Empire (1730-54) who fought Austria & Russia, dies at 58
1760 Kacic Miosic, Croatian poet (Razgovar Ugodni Naroda Slovinskoga), dies at 56
1788 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer, dies at 74
1788 Carlos III, King of Spain (1759-88) & King of Naples and Sicily (1734-59), dies at 72

George Washington

1799 George Washington, American Founding Father, military leader who commanded Continental Army during War for Independence, first President of the United States (1789-97), dies at 67

1806 John Breckinridge, American lawyer (5th United States Attorney General) & politician (U.S. Senator from Kentucky), dies at 46
1823 Vincenzo Cuoco, Italian historian (Naples Revolution 1799), dies at 53
1829 Luigi Marchesi, Italian composer, dies at 74
1838 Jean-Olivier Chénier, French Canadian physician & Patriote, dies during Battle of Saint-Eustache at 32
1843 John Claudius Loudon, Scottish horticulturist, dies at 60
1849 Conradin Kreutzer, German composer, dies at 69
1861 Albert, English prince consort & husband of Queen Victoria, dies at 42

George Hamilton-Gordon

1861 George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Peelite: 1852-55) & Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dies at 76

1861 Heinrich August Marschner, German opera composer, dies at 66
1862 George Dashiell Bayard, Union Brigadier General, dies at 27
1865 Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish geologist, dies at 71
1873 Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American naturalist & geologist, dies at 66
1873 Alexander Keith, Scottish-Canadian politician (4th Mayor of Halifax) & brewer (founder of the Alexander Keith's Nova Scotia Brewery), dies at 78
1878 Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse, dies at 35
1886 Antoni Wincenty Rutkowski, Polish-Russian composer, dies at 27
1893 Karolina Pawlowa, Russian poet & novelist, dies at 86
1900 Jean Baptiste August Kessler, Dutch entrepreneur & director of oil on Dutch Indies, dies at 46
1906 Jean Abraham Chrétien Oudemans, Dutch geographer & astronomer, dies at 78
1909 Leopold II, King of Belgium (1865-1909), sole owner of the Congo Free State (1885-1908), dies at 74
1912 Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis, British Army lieutenant, dies at 25
1914 Giovanni Sgambati, Italian pianist & composer, dies at 73
1918 Sidónio Pais, Portuguese politician (4th President of Portugal, 66th Prime Minister of Portugal), murdered at 46
1920 George "The Gipper" Gipp, American football player (Notre Dame), dies of a streptococcal throat infection and pneumonia at 25
1923 Giuseppi Gallignani, Italian composer and conductor, takes his own life at 72
1926 Theo van Rysselberghe, Belgian painter (pointillism), dies at 64
1927 Julian Sochocki, Russian-Polish mathematician, dies at 85
1928 Theodore Roberts, American actor (Roaring Road, 10 Commandments), dies at 77
1935 Stanley G. Weinbaum, American sci-fi writer (Martian Odyssey), dies at 33
1938 Maurice Emmanuel, French composer & musicologist (Salamine), dies at 76
1942 Eduard C "Edo" Fimmen, Dutch trade union leader, dies at 61
1945 Constantino Gaito, Argentinian composer, dies at 67
1945 Forrester Harvey, Irish actor (Rebecca, Tarzan, Chump at Oxford), dies at 61
1945 Henry van Goudoever, Dutch lawyer & judge, dies on his 69th birthday
1945 Josef Kramer, German Nazi war criminal ("The Beast of Belsen"), hanged at 39
1947 Franz Zorell, German lexicographer, dies at 84

Stanley Baldwin

1947 Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37), dies at 80

1947 Edward Higgins, English General of The Salvation Army, dies at 84
1948 R. O. Morris [Reginald Owen], British composer & music teacher, dies at 62
1950 Albrecht Schaeffer, German writer (Heroische Fahrt), dies at 65
1956 Juho Kusti Paasikivi, Finnish politician (7th President of Finland 1946-56), dies at 86
1959 Lizzy Ansingh, Dutch painter (Cast Off), dies at 84
1960 Gregory Ratoff, Russian producer, director and actor (Exodus, Skyscraper Souls, Corsican Brothers), dies of leukemia at 63
1963 Dinah Washington [Ruth Lee Jones], American jazz, blues, pop, and R&B singer ("What a Diff'rence a Day Makes": "September In The Rain"), dies of sleeping pill overdose at 39
1963 Erich Ollenhauer, German politician, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (1952-63), dies at 62
1964 William Bendix, American actor (Lifeboat, Babe Ruth Story, Life of Riley), dies from lobar pneumonia at 58
1965 Hermann Sandby, Danish cellist & composer, dies at 84
1966 Emma Dunn, British-American stage, silent and sound film actress (Dr. Monica; Dr. Kildare (films); Hideaway), dies at 91
1966 Richard Whorf, American actor (Yankee Doodle Dandy; Keeper of Flame), and director (It Happened In Brooklyn), dies from a heart attack at 60
1966 Verna Felton, American actress (Hilda-December Bride), dies at 76
1967 Frank Moran, American heavyweight boxer & film actor, dies of a heart attack at 80
1970 Franz Schlegelberger, German Nazi politician, dies at 94
1970 Elmer Schoebel, American jazz pianist, arranger (New Orleans Rhythm Kings; Isham Jones), and composer ("Farewell Blues"; "Prince Of Wails"), dies at 73
1971 Dick Tiger, Nigerian professional boxer, dies at 42
1973 Yitzhak Edel, Israeli composer, dies at 77

Walter Lippmann

1974 Walter Lippmann, American journalist (Public Opinion), dies at 85

1975 Arthur Treacher, English TV announcer (Merv Griffin Show), dies at 81
1978 Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo, Spanish writer (Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards) & diplomat, dies at 92
1979 Nirode Ranjan Chowdhury, Indian cricketer (2 Tests for India, avg 205), dies at 56
1980 Elston Howard, American baseball catcher (12 × MLB All-Star; 6 × World Series; AL MVP 1963; first African-American NY Yankee), dies from myocarditis at 59
1980 Richard Gurley Drew, American inventor (created masking tape and cellophane at 3M), dies at 81
1984 Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (Ambito, Bird of Paper, Nobel 1977), dies at 86

Roger Maris

1985 Roger Maris, American baseball right fielder (7-time MLB All Star, 61 HRs 1961), dies of cancer at 51

1985 Catherine Doherty, Russian-born Canadian activist, dies at 89
1985 Charlie Bachman, American College Football Hall of Fame guard & coach (Notre Dame, Florida, Michigan State), dies at 93
1987 Clinton Sundberg, American actor (Belle of NY, Easter Parade), dies at 84
1988 Evald Schorm, Czech film director (Courage for Every Day), dies at 56

Andrei Sakharov

1989 Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist & dissident (Nobel 1975), dies at 68

1989 Jock Mahoney [Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney], American actor & stuntman (Dallas, Yancy Derringer, Day of Fury), dies of a stroke at 70
1989 Pattie Santos, American singer (It's a Beautiful Day), dies in a car accident at 40
1990 Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss playwright & novelist (The Physicists, The Visit). dies of heart failure at 69
1990 Hope Sansberry, American actress (Rats are Coming), dies at 94
1990 Johannes, 11th Prince of Thurn und Taxis, German businessman, dies at 64
1991 John Arlott, British cricket commentator & writer (BBC), dies of emphysema at 77
1991 Robert Eddison, British actor (Uncle Silas), dies at 83

Myrna Loy

1993 Myrna Loy [Williams], American actress (The Great Ziegfeld, Thin Man, Vanity Fair), dies at 88

1994 Mary Ann McCall, American singer, dies at 75
1994 Orval Faubus, American politician (Governor of Arkansas, 1955–67), dies at 84
1994 Catherine Filene Shouse, American philanthropist (Wolf Trap Institute), dies at 98
1995 Rob Harris, American sky surfer, dies skydiving at 28
1996 Norman Hackforth, British musician & radio broadcaster (Noel Coward; Twenty Questions), dies at 88
1997 Owen Barfield, British philosopher of language, dies at 99
1997 Robert Sutton, New Zealand electronics engineer, dies at 82
1997 Stubby Kaye [Bernard Solomon Kotzin], American actor (Guys & Dolls; Lil' Abner;, Cat Ballou), dies of lung cancer at 79
1997 Kurt Winter, Canadian musician (The Guess Who), dies of kidney failure at 51
1998 Annette Strauss, American philanthropist, dies at 74
1998 Norman Fell, American actor (Three's Company, The End, Graduate), dies of bone marrow cancer at 74
1998 Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr., American civil rights activist & author, dies at 70
2000 Ralph Louis Wain, British agricultural scientist, dies at 89
2000 George Sholty, American harness driver (2,934 career wins; $20 million+ purse money), dies at 68
2001 W. G. Sebald, German writer, dies at 57
2002 Ruth Kobart [Kahn], American actor & singer (King's Quest VII, Forum), dies at 78
2003 Blas Ople, Filipino journalist & politician, dies at 76
2003 Jeanne Crain, American actress (Man Without a Star, Pinky), dies at 78
2004 Rod Kanehl, American baseball player, dies at 70
2004 Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino actor & politician (2004 presidential candidate), dies at 65
2005 Trevanian [Rodney William Whitaker], American film scholar & author, dies at 74
2006 Anton Balasingham, Sri Lankan chief political strategist of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, dies at 68
2006 Ahmet Ertegün, Turkish-American businessman & co-founder of Atlantic Records, dies at 83
2006 Mike Evans, American actor, dies at 57
2006 Otmar Macha, Czech composer (Quattro Group), dies at 84
2008 Ramon Barce, Spanish composer, dies at 80
2009 Alan A'Court, English footballer, dies at 75
2010 Timothy Davlin, American politician, dies at 53
2010 Neva Patterson, American actress (The Seven Year Itch, Taxi, Nichols), dies rom complications from a broken hip at 90
2011 Boris Chertok, Soviet & Russian rocket engineer, dies at 99
2012 Klaus Köste, German gymnast, dies at 69
2012 Kenneth Kendall, British broadcaster (BBC News, Treasure Hunt), dies from a stroke at 88

Peter O'Toole

2013 Peter O'Toole, Irish actor (Lord Jim, Beckett, Lawrence of Arabia), dies at 81

2013 Janet Dailey, American Romance author, dies at 69
2014 Bess Myerson, 1st Jewish Miss America (1945), dies at 90
2015 Lillian Vernon, American founder and CEO of the Lillian Vernon Corporation (first company listed on US stock exchange started by a woman), dies at 88
2016 Karel Husa, Czech-American Pulitzer prize winning composer (Trojan Women), dies at 95
2016 Garrett K. Gomez, American jockey (US Champion Jockey by earnings 2006-09; Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey 2007-08), dies of drug overdose at 44
2017 Lones Wigger, American competitive rifle shooter (Olympic gold/silver-1964, 72), dies at 80
2017 Yú Guāngzhōng [Yu Kwang-chung], Taiwanese poet, essayist, and translator (Nostalgia), dies from respiratory failure at 89
2018 Joe Osborn, American session bass player (Bridge Over Troubled Water), dies of pancreatic cancer at 81
2019 Anna Karina, Danish French 'New Wave' actress (Alphaville), dies at 79
2019 Randy Colley (Moondog Rex), American pro wrestler (WWF Tag Team champion 1981), dies after undergoing amputation of his right leg at 69
2020 Gérard Houllier, French soccer manager (Paris Saint-Germain, Lens, Liverpool, Olympique Lyonnais, Aston Villa, France), dies after heart operation at 73
2020 Eric Freeman, Australian cricket fast bowler (11 Tests, 34 wickets, 2 x 50s; South Australia), dies from a heart attack at 76
2020 Günter Sawitzki, German soccer goalkeeper (10 caps West Germany; VfB Stuttgart), dies at 88
2020 Jeannie Morris, American sports journalist and author (Chicago Daily News, WMAQ; 'Brian Piccolo: A Short Season', 2014 Ring Lardner Award), dies from appendix cancer at 85
2021 Ken Kragen, American television producer (The Smothers Brothers), music artist manager (Lionel Richie; Kenny Rogers), and charity organizer (USA for Africa - "We Are The World"), dies at 85