- 872 Adrian II, Italian Pope (867-72) the last married pope, dies at about 80
- 1077 Agnes of Poitou, German empress/wife of emperor Henry III, dies
- 1136 Harald IV, "Gylle Krist", king of Norway, murdered
- 1417 John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, English nobleman, hanged & burned
- 1460 Guarino da Verona (b. 1370)
Vlad the Impaler
1476 vlad III the Impaler, Wallachian prince, killed in battle at 45
Vlad the Impaler
- 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 (b. 1485)
- 1591 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 (b. 1536)
- 1651 Pierre Dupuy, French scholar (b. 1582)
- 1713 Thomas Rymer, English historian (b. 1641)
- 1715 Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1636)
- 1732 Johann Philipp Fortsch, composer, dies at 80
- 1734 Noel-Nicolas Coypel, French painter/cartoonist, dies at 44
- 1735 Thomas Tanner, English bishop and 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
- 1788 Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, German composer, dies at 74
- 1788 Carlos III, King of Spain (1759-88) and King of Naples and Sicily (1734-59), dies at 72
George Washington
1799 George Washington, first President of the United States (1789-97), dies at 66
George Washington
- 1823 Vincenzo Cuoco, Italian historian (Naples Revolution 1799), dies at 53
- 1829 Luigi Marchesi, composer, dies at 74
- 1838 Jean-Olivier Chénier, French Canadian physician and Patriote, dies during Battle of Saint-Eustache (b. 1806)
- 1843 John Claudius Loudon, Scottish horticulturist, dies at 60
- 1849 Conradin Kreutzer, composer, dies at 69
- 1861 Albert, Prince consort of England and 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) and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dies at 76
George Hamilton-Gordon
- 1861 Heinrich August Marschner, composer, dies at 66
- 1862 George Dashiell Bayard, Union Brigadier General, dies at 27
- 1865 Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish geologist (b. 1794)
- 1873 J Louis R Agassiz, Swiss geologist/paleo-biologist), dies
- 1873 Alexander Keith, Scottish-Canadian politician (4th Mayor of Halifax) and 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, composer, dies at 27
- 1893 Karolina Pawlowa, writer, dies at 86
- 1900 Jean Baptiste August Kessler, Dutch entrepreneur and director of oil on Dutch Indies, dies at 46
- 1903 William Ennis, 1st cop to die in electric chair
- 1906 John A C Oudemans, Dutch geographer/astronomer, dies at 78
- 1909 Leopold II, king of Belgium, dies
- 1912 Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis, British Army lieutenant (b. 1887)
- 1914 Giovanni Sgambati, composer, dies at 73
- 1918 Sidonio Pais, prince of Portugal, murdered
- 1920 George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895)
- 1923 Giuseppi Gallignani, composer, dies at 72
- 1926 Theo van Rysselberghe, Belgian painter (pointillism), dies at 64
- 1927 Yulian Vasilievich Sokhotski, Russian mathematician (b. 1842)
- 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 and 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, known as "The Beast of Belsen," & 10 others, hanged
- 1947 Franz Zorell, German RC lexicographer, dies at 84
Stanley Baldwin
1947 Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37), dies at 80
Stanley Baldwin
- 1947 Edward Higgins, English General of The Salvation Army, dies at 84
- 1948 R O Morris [Reginald Owen], British composer and music teacher, dies at 62
- 1950 Albrecht Schaeffer, German writer (Heroische Fahrt), dies at 65
- 1956 Juho Kusti Paasikivi, president of Finland (b. 1870)
- 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, American singer (What a Difference a Day Makes), 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, composer, dies at 84
- 1966 Emma Dunn, actress (You Can't Fool Your Wife), dies at 91
- 1966 Richard Whorf, American actor and director (Yankee Doodle Dandy, Keeper of Flame), dies from a heart attack at 60
- 1966 Verna Felton, actress (Hilda-December Bride), dies at 76
- 1967 Frank Moran, American heavyweight boxer and film actor, dies of a heart attack at 80
- 1970 Franz Schlegelberger, German Nazi politician (b. 1876)
- 1971 Dick Tiger, Nigerian-born boxer (b. 1929)
- 1973 Yitzhak Edel, composer, dies at 77
Walter Lippmann
1974 Walter Lippmann, American journalist (Public Opinion), dies at 85
Walter Lippmann
- 1975 Arthur Treacher, English TV announcer (Merv Griffin Show), dies at 81
- 1978 Salvador de Madariaga y Rojo, Spanish writer (Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards) and diplomat, dies at 92
- 1979 Nirode Ranjan Chowdhury, cricketer (2 Tests for India, avg 205), dies
- 1980 Elston Howard, MVP catcher (NY Yankees), dies at 59
- 1984 Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer and Nobel laureate (b. 1898)
Roger Maris
1985 Roger Maris, American baseball right fielder (7-time MLB All Star, 61 HRs 1961), dies of cancer at 51
Roger Maris
Andrei Sakharov
1989 Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist/dissident (Nobel 1975), dies at 68
Andrei Sakharov
- 1989 Jock Mahoney [Jacques Joseph O'Mahoney], American actor and 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 and novelist (The Physicists, The Visit). dies of heart failure at 69
- 1990 Hope Sansberry, actress (Rats are Coming), dies at 94
- 1990 Johannes von Thurn und Taxis, prince in Germany, 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
- 1994 Mary Ann McCall, American singer, dies at 75
- 1994 Petrus HJ van Doorne, bus manufacturer/owner (BOVA), dies at 58
- 1994 Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1910)
- 1995 Don Anthony, bandleader/songwriter, dies at 85
- 1995 Rob Harris, sky surfer, dies while skydiving at 28
- 1996 Alan Hargreaves, climber, dies at 92
- 1996 Norman Hackforth, broadcaster, dies at 88
- 1997 Owen Barfield, British philosopher of language, dies at 99
- 1997 Robert Sutton, 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 (b. 1924)
- 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 and author (b. 1928)
- 2001 W. G. Sebald, German writer (b. 1944)
- 2002 Ruth Kobart [Kahn], American actor and singer (King's Quest VII, Forum), dies at 78
- 2003 Blas Ople, foreign minister of the Philippines (b. 1927)
- 2003 Jeanne Crain, American actress (Man Without a Star, Pinky), dies at 78
- 2004 Rod Kanehl, American baseball player (b. 1934)
- 2004 Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino actor and presidential candidate (b. 1939)
- 2005 Trevanian, American author (b. 1931)
- 2006 Anton Balasingham, chief political strategist of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1938)
- 2006 Ahmet Ertegün, Turkish-American businessman and co-founder of Atlantic Records, dies at 83
- 2006 Mike Evans, American actor (b. 1949)
- 2006 Otmar Macha, Czech composer (Quattro Group), dies at 84
- 2008 Ramon Barce, Spanish composer, dies at 80
- 2009 Alan A'Court, English footballer (b. 1934)
- 2010 Timothy Davlin, American politician (b. 1957)
- 2010 Dale Roberts, English footballer (b. 1986)
- 2010 Neva Patterson, American actress (The Seven Year Itch, Taxi, Nichols), dies rom complications from a broken hip at 90
- 2011 Boris Chertok, prominent Soviet and 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
- 2013 Peter O'Toole, Irish actor (Lord Jim, Beckett, Lawrence of Arabia), dies at 81
- 2014 Bess Myerson, 1st Jewish Miss America (1945), dies at 90
- 2015 Lillian Vernon, founder and CEO of the Lillian Vernon Corporation (first company listed on US stock exchange started by a woman), dies at 88
- 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
December in History
![Great Balls of Fire! The 'Bride' is 13]()
Great Balls of Fire! The 'Bride' is 13
Jerry Lee Lewis leapt to fame declaring there was ‘A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On’. His fans were certainly shaken when told of his 13-year-old ‘bride’.
December 13, 1957![Heartbreak and Tragedy for Captain Scott]()
Heartbreak and Tragedy for Captain Scott
Beaten to the South Pole by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen on this day, only despair and death awaited British explorer Captain Robert Scott.
December 14, 1911![The Tower that Twice Defied Hitler]()
The Tower that Twice Defied Hitler
The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of France and twice managed to upstage Adolf Hitler. The man who built it, Gustave Eiffel was born on this day.
December 15, 1832![Melodrama at Theatre Leaves Actor Dead]()
Melodrama at Theatre Leaves Actor Dead
One of England’s most popular actors arrived at the stage door on this day to prepare for another performance. He would never make it to the stage.
December 16, 1897
