- 283 Catholic Pope Saint Eutychian
- 983 Otto II the Red, German king/emperor (973-83), dies at about 28
- 1254 Innocent IV, [Sinibaldo dei Fieschi], Pope (1243-54), dies
- 1279 Bolesław V the Chaste, High Duke of Poland (1243-79), dies at 53
- 1295 Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, English politician (b. 1243)
- 1383 Wenceslaus, duke of Brabant, dies
- 1498 Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist
- 1649 Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1606)
- 1672 Richard Bellingham, English-born Massachusetts colonial magistrate (b. 1592)
- 1683 John Oldham, English poet, dies of smallpox at 30
- 1723 Jan Santini Aichel, Bohemian architect (b. 1677)
- 1725 Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (Le Chevalier à la mode), dies at 64
- 1775 Charles Saunders, British admiral
- 1793 Joseph Bara, French revolutionary (b. 1780)
- 1811 Ignaz Spangler, composer, dies at 54
- 1815 Michel Ney, French marshal (Waterloo), murdered at 46
William Bligh
1817 William Bligh, British naval officer of "HMS Bounty" fame, dies at 63
William Bligh
- 1823 Johann Gottlieb Schwencke, composer, dies at 79
- 1826 John Flaxman, Engl sculptor (tombs at St Paul's Cathedral), dies at 71
- 1829 Johann Christoph Kienlen, German composer, dies at 45
- 1834 Ludwig Schuncke, composer, dies at 23
- 1839 Jan Matyas Nepomuk August Vitasek, composer, dies at 69
- 1841 Johann Daniel Ferstenberg, composer, dies at 83
- 1842 Thomas Hamilton, Scottish writer (b. 1789)
- 1860 Konstantin Sergeyevich Aksakov, Russian historian and poet, dies at 43
- 1862 Sylvester Churchill, US Union brigadier general, dies
- 1867 Rudolf Viole, composer, dies at 42
- 1874 Constantin von Tischendorf, German biblical scholar (b. 1815)
- 1881 Julius FA Bahnsen, German philosopher (Tragic as Weltgesetz), dies at 51
- 1894 Ferdinand de Lesseps, French engineer/diplomat/earl, dies at 89
- 1899 Antoni de Kontski, Polish pianist and composer, dies at 82
Thomas Nast
1902 Thomas Nast, US political cartoonist, dies at 62
Thomas Nast
- 1906 Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1833)
- 1909 Whitcomb Judson, American inventor (zipper), dies at 63
- 1911 William Griggs, English inventor (photo chromo lithography), dies at 79
- 1912 George Darwin, theorized Moon was pulled out of Pacific Ocean, dies
- 1913 Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian Catholic churchman and last surviving cardinal of Pius IX, dies at 85
- 1917 Ludwig Minkus, Austrian ballet composer, dies at 91
- 1938 Harry Moses, cricketer (6 Tests for Australia 1887-95), dies
- 1941 Cecil Forsyth, composer, dies at 71
- 1941 Iida, Japanese pilot/lt, dies in battle at 28
- 1941 Mervyn S. Bennion, United States Navy Captain, Medal of Honor recipient, killed in Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (b. 1887)
- 1941 Herbert C. Jones, United States Navy, Medal of Honor recipient, killed in Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (b. 1918)
- 1941 Thomas J. Reeves, United States Navy, Medal of Honor recipient, killed in Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (b. 1895)
- 1941 Franklin Van Valkenburgh, United States Navy, Medal of Honor recipient, killed in Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (b. 1888)
- 1946 Sada Yacco, Japanese stage actress (b. 1871)
- 1947 Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher, diplomat (Nobel Peace Prize 1931), educator (Columbia University President), dies at 85
- 1947 Tristan Bernard, French playwright and novelist, dies at 81
- 1948 Godfrey Turner, composer, dies at 35
- 1956 Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor, dies at 77
- 1959 Charlie Hall, English comedic actor (Tit for Tat, A Chump at Oxford), dies at 60
- 1960 Clara Haskil, Swiss pianist (b. 1895)
- 1962 Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian soprano (Wagner), dies at 67
- 1967 House Peters, British silent film actor (This Is the Life, Kansas Territory), dies at 87
- 1969 Eric Portman, actor (Naked Edge), dies from heart ailment at 66
- 1969 Hugh Williams, British dramatist, actor and writer (Wuthering Heights, Bank Holiday), dies after surgery at 65
- 1969 Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player (b. 1897)
Rube Goldberg
1970 Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (who made the easy outrageously difficult) Pulitzer Prize 1948, dies at 87
Rube Goldberg
- 1970 Romaine Brooks (born Beatrice Romaine Goddard), American painter dies aged 96
- 1971 Milton Rosmer, director (Murder in the Red Barn), dies at 90
- 1972 Adrian J Zoetmulder, author (God's Hour), dies at 91
- 1975 Hardie Albright, actress (Silver Streak, Scarlet Letter), dies at 71
- 1975 Thornton Wilder, American playwright and writer (Bridge of San Luis Rey), dies at 78
- 1975 Beatrix Loughran, American figure skater (Olympic gold 1924, 1928, 1932), dies at 75
- 1977 Paul Gibb, cricketer (England batsman, 8 Tests), dies
- 1977 Peter Carl Goldmark, German-Hungarian engineer (developed the LP record format), dies in a car accident at 77
- 1978 Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist (b. 1886)
- 1979 Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, British-American astronomer and astrophysicist who proposed that stars are composed largely of hydrogen and are not glowing balls of molten rock, dies at 79
- 1979 Mari Andriessen, Dutch sculptor (Docker), dies at 82
- 1979 Nicolas Born, German writer, dies of cancer at 41
- 1979 Prince Chahryar Shafik, Shah of Iran's nephew, murdered in Paris
- 1980 Darby Crash, American Punk rocker (Germs), dies of an overdose at 22
- 1982 Charlie Brooks Jr, convicted murderer became 1st US prisoner to be executed by lethal injection, at a prison in Huntsville, Texas
- 1982 George Kistiakowsky, Ukrainian-American Chemist who helped develop the first atomic bomb (Manhattan Project) but later opposed nuclear weapons, dies at 82
- 1982 William "Will" Lee, American actor (They Live by Night, Melody Lane), dies from a heart attack at 74
- 1983 Edgar Graham, member of N Ireland Assembly, shot dead by IRA
- 1983 Fanny Cano, Mexican actress (b. 1944)
- 1984 Jeanne Cagney, American actress (Lion is in the Streets, Quicksand, Kentucky Rifle), dies of cancer at 65
- 1984 Lee Roy Yarbrough, American race car (Nascar) driver (b. 1938)
- 1985 Potter Stewart, 94th Supreme Court Justice (1958-81), dies in NH at 70
- 1985 Robert Graves, English writer and poet (King Jesus), dies at 90
- 1988 Andrei P Ershov, Russian computer pioneer, dies
- 1988 Christopher Connelly, actor (Liar's Moon, Hawmps), dies at 47
- 1988 Peter Langan, Irish restaurateur (Langans London), dies in fire
- 1989 William Calhoun, professional wrestler (b. 1934)
- 1989 Haystacks Calhoun, American professional wrestler, dies at 55
- 1990 Delecta "Dee" Clark, US singer (Raindrops), dies at 52
- 1990 Horst Bienek, German writer and director (The First Polka), dies at 60
- 1990 Joan Bennett, US actress (House Across the Bay), dies at 80
- 1990 Jean Paul Lemieux, Quebec painter (b. 1904)
- 1990 Peter Mieg, Swiss composer, dies at 84
- 1990 Jean Duceppe, Quebec actor (Mon oncle Antoine), dies at 67
- 1990 Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet and novelist (Pentagonia), dies at 47
- 1991 Michael Taylor, Male Model (b. 1913)
- 1992 Maurice Coutinho, writer/translator (Silent Struggle), dies at 79
- 1992 Ruth Corbett Thom, dies after long illness at 78
- 1993 Félix Houphouet-Boigny, President of Ivory Coast (1960-93), dies at 88
- 1994 Elga Andersen, German/French model/actress (Global Affair), dies at 58
- 1994 J.C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1939)
- 1995 Larry Bartlett, photographer, dies at 42
- 1995 Tom Burns, British-Chilean publisher and editor, dies at 89
- 1996 Eugene Izzi, mystery writer, hangs himself at 43
- 1996 Jose Donoso, Chilean writer (The Place Without Limits), dies at 72
- 1997 Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer dies at 54 from a suspected heart attack
- 1998 John Addison, British composer (b. 1920)
- 2000 Vladimir Gotovac, Croatian poet and politician (b. 1930)
- 2001 Charles McClendon, LSU Tigers head football coach (b. 1923)
- 2001 Pauline Moore [Joless Love], American actress (Colorado, Young Mr. Lincoln), dies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 87
- 2003 Carl F. H. Henry American theologian and publisher (b. 1913)
- 2003 Azie Taylor Morton, Treasurer of the United States (b. 1936)
- 2004 Frederick Fennell, American conductor (b. 1914)
- 2004 Jerry Scoggins, American singer (b. 1913)
- 2004 Jay Van Andel, co-founder and former chairman of Amway (b. 1924)
- 2005 Bud Carson, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2005 Lucy d'Abreu, was the oldest living person in the United Kingdom from April 2004 until her death (b. 1892)
- 2005 Rigoberto Alpizar, airplane passenger fatally shot by U.S. Air Marshals after allegedly claiming he had placed a bomb aboard (b. 1961)
- 2006 Jeane Kirkpatrick, American ambassador (b. 1926)
- 2006 Jay McShann, American musician (b. 1910)
- 2008 Marky Cielo, Filipino and Igorot dancer and actor (b. 1988)
- 2008 Dennis Yost, American vocalist, dies at 65
- 2009 Mark Ritts, American actor (b. 1946)
- 2010 Elizabeth Edwards, American lawyer and wife of John Edwards (b. 1949)
- 2010 Gus Mercurio, American-born Australian actor (The Blue Lagoon, Crocodile Dundee II), dies at 82
Harry Morgan
2011 Harry Morgan, American actor (M*A*S*H) dies at 96
Harry Morgan
- 2012 Saul Steinberg, American businessman, founder of Leasco and CEO of Reliance Insurance Company, dies at 73
- 2013 Édouard Molinaro, French film actor, director and screenwriter (La Cage aux Folles), dies a respiratory insufficiency at 85
- 2014 Ken Weatherwax, American actor, dies from a heart attack at 59
- 2014 John Bartholomew Tucker, American TV host (Candid Camera, Treasure Island), dies at 84
- 2016 Greg Lake, English rock vocalist and bassist (King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer), dies of cancer at 69
- 2016 Paul Elvstrøm, Danish sailer (4 Olympic gold, Finn class 1948, 52, 56, 60), dies at 88
- 2017 Peter Walwyn, British thoroughbred trainer (champion trainer 1974-75), dies at 84
- 2017 James "Sunny" Murray, American jazz musician and drummer, dies at 81
- 2018 Belisario Betancur, Colombian politician, President of Colombia (1982-86), dies at 95
December in History
Mozart, the Incomparable Musical Genius
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a musical genius who composed over 600 works in his short lifetime, died mysteriously on this day and was buried unceremoniously.
December 5, 1791
Real-life Tragedy for Theatrical Family
On this day a tragedy engulfed one of Britain’s noted theatrical families of the early 20th century.
December 8, 1926
Coronation Street, King of the Soaps
Thought to have no great future when launched on this day, Coronation Street still reigns supreme
December 9, 1960
Marconi's Dream: Telegraphy Without Wires
Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi's career received a big boost on this day with backing from the British Post Office.
December 11, 1896