Famous Deaths on January 31

Guy Fawkes (1570-1606)

English Catholic conspirator who was convicted in the "Gunpowder Plot" to blow up the British Parliament, hanged at 35

1615 Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit priest (5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus), dies at 71
1632 Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
1665 Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
1686 Jean Mairet, French dramatist famous for tragedies (Sophonisbe) and comedies, dies at 81
1720 Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (c. 1654)
1729 Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch navigator and explorer (1st European to discover Easter Island), dies at 69
1736 Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect, dies at 57
1783 Caffarelli [Gaetano Majorano], Italian castrato soprano, dies at 72
1788 Francesco Zannetti, Italian composer, dies at 50
1790 Thomas Lewis, Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, and a pioneer of early Virginia, dies at 71
1794 Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral and naval commander during the American War for Independence, dies at 82 or 83
1815 José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
1828 Alexandros Ypsilanti, Greek resistance fighter, dies at 35
1844 Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general and engineer, dies at 70
1856 Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama of Tibet, dies at 17
1864 Hamilton Rowan Gamble, American judge/governor of Missouri (1861-64), dies
1865 Aristide Farrenc, French flautist, music publisher, and musicologist (Trésor des pianistes), dies at 70
1884 Elisha Harris, American physician (founded American Public Health Association, sanitary reform), dies of peritonitis at 60
1888 John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society, dies at 72
1891 Ernest Meissonier, French painter, etcher and sculptor (Depictions of Napoleon), dies at 75
1892 Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist, dies at 57
1907 Timothy Eaton, Irish-born Canadian department store founder (Eatons), dies at 72
1918 Daniël de Lange, Dutch composer, dies at 76
1919 Paul Lindau, German playwright and critic (Estimate), dies at 79
1922 Heinrich Reinhardt, Austrian composer, dies at 56
1925 George W. Cable, American writer (Northampton Years), dies at 80
1933 John Galsworthy, English author (Forsyte Saga-Nobel 1932), dies at 65
1940 René "Sascha" Schickele, German writer (Erbe am Rhein), dies at 56
1942 Henry Larkin, American baseball player (b. 1860)
1942 Rolf Wenkhaus, German actor (Spoiling the Game, S.A.-Mann Brand), dies when his plane is shot down during WWII at 24
1944 Jean Giraudoux, French writer and playwright (The Madwoman of Chaillot), dies at 61
1945 Eddie Slovik, 1st US executed for desertion since Civil War at 25
1949 Henri de Vries [Hendricus Van Walterop], Dutch actor (Cleopatra, White Cargo), dies at 84
1954 Edwin H Armstrong, US radio inventor (FM), commits suicide at 63
1954 Florence Bates, actress (Kismet, I Remember Mama), dies at 65
1955 John Mott, American theologist and founder (YMCA, Nobel 1946), dies at 89

A. A. Milne (1882-1956)

English author of the Winnie-the-Pooh books, dies at 74

1960 Lowell Gilmore, American actor (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Living Christ Series), dies at 53
1966 Elizabeth Patterson, American stage, silent and sound screen character actress (The Boy Friend; Intruder in the Dust; I Love Lucy - "Mrs. Trumbull"), dies of pneumonia at 91
1967 Eddie Tolan, American sprinter the "Midnight Express" (1932 Olympics), dies at 58
1967 Otto Dibelius, German theologian and bishop (Confessional Church), dies at 86
1969 Alexander Mikhaylovich Dzegelyonok, composer, dies at 77
1969 Meher Baba, Indian guru (b. 1894)
1970 Slim Harpo [James Moore], American blues musician (I'm a King Bee, Baby Scratch My Back), dies of a heart attack at 46
1971 Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian and linguist, dies at 79
1972 Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra, king of Nepal (1955-72), dies at 51
1972 Fritiof Nilsson Piraten, Swedish writer (Bombi Bitt Och Jag), dies at 76
1972 Howard Barlow, American conductor (Voice of Firestone), dies at 79
1972 Istvan Szelenyi, composer, dies at 67
1973 Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and 1st winner of the Nobel prize in economics in 1969, dies at 77
1974 Glenn Morris, American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1936) and actor (Tarzan's Revenge; Hold That Co-ed), dies of congestive heart failure at 61
1974 Harry Baum, actor (Crime & Punishment), dies at 58
1974 Paul Haesaerts, Belgian architect and painter (Flandre), dies at 72
1974 Roger Pryor, American actor (Lady by Choice, Belle of the Nineties, Identity Unknown), dies at 72

Samuel Goldwyn (1882-1974)

Polish born Jewish-American film producer (The Best Years of Our Lives) and movie magnate, dies of natural causes at 91

1975 Štefan Németh-Šamorínsky, Slovak organist, choirmaster, composer and pedagogue (Birch Trees), dies at 78
1976 Buster Brown, American blues singer and harmonica player (Fannie Mae), dies at 64
1976 Ernesto Miranda, American litigant, conviction on kidnapping, rape, and armed robbery charges, stabbed to death at 34
1976 Evert Axel Taube, Swedish ballad singer and composer, dies at 85
1979 Grant Green, American jazz, blues and funk guitarist, and songwriter, dies of a heart attack at 43
1980 Jacobus Petrus Duminy, South African cricket batsman (3 Tests; Western Province, Transvaal, Oxford University CC) and academic (principal & vice-chancellor University of Cape Town), dies at 82
1982 Jiří Srnka, Czech classical and film score composer, dies at 74
1983 Lorraine Ellison, American soul singer ("Stay with Me"; "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)"), and songwriter, dies of ovarian cancer at 51
1985 Barbara Cowsill, American singer and rock band mother (The Cowsills - "Hair"; "We Can Fly"), dies of emphysema at 56
1987 Yves Allégret, French film director, dies at 79
1989 Jack Douglas, English comedian (My Brother Was an Only Child), dies at 80
1989 Yasushi Akutagawa, Japanese composer (Orpheus of Hiroshima, Ellora Symphony), dies at 63
1990 Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)

Mel Hein (1909-1992)

American NFL center (NY Giants), dies of stomach cancer at 82

1994 Pierre Boulle, French writer (Executioner), dies at 81
1995 George Abbott, American theater producer and film director (Damn Yankees; Pajama Game), dies at 107
1995 George Stibitz, American mathematician and scientist, dies at 90
1995 James Johnson, English MP (Labour, 1950..83), dies at 86
1995 Sir John Smith, English soccer administrator (chairman Liverpool F.C. 1973-90), dies at 74
1996 Gustave Solomon, mathematician, dies at 65
1997 Eve Lister, British film and television actress (No Limit, Hyde Park), dies at 84
1997 John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
1999 Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
1999 Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler
2000 (Simon) "Si" Zentner, American jazz, session, and pop trombonist and big-band lbandeader, dies of leukemia at 82
2000 Anne Cox Chambers, American media owner (Cox Enterprises) and US ambassador to Belgium (1977-81), dies at 100
2000 Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
2000 Ralph Manza, American actor (Banacek, Mama Malone, Newhart), dies of a heart attack at 78
2001 Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American sci-fi author (Genetic General), dies at 77
2002 Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot (b. 1919)
2002 Henry Kloss, American audio engineer (acoustic loudspeaker), dies at 73
2003 Michael Ogden, British barrister and judge (Ogden Tables), dies at 76
2003 Werenfried van Straaten, Dutch anti-communist priest (founder of Oostpriesterhulp), dies at 90
2004 Eleanor Holm, American 100m backstroke swimmer (Olympic gold 1932), dies at 90
2006 Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (The Red Shoes) and ballerina, dies at 80
2007 (Kirill) "Kirka" Babitzin, Finnish pop-rock singer ("Hetki Lyö" (Beat the Clock)), dies at 56
2007 Adelaide Tambo, South African anti-apartheid activist, politician and wife of Oliver Tambo, dies at 77
2007 Lee Bergere, American actor (Star Trek, Soap, Dynasty), dies at 82
2007 Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author, dies at 62
2008 Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug (b. 1997)
2009 Dewey Martin, Canadian rock drummer (Buffalo Springfield - "For What It's Worth"), dies at 68
2009 Erland von Koch, Swedish composer, dies at 98
2009 Nagesh, Indian comedian actor in Kollywood (b. 1933)
2010 Jürg Baur, German composer, dies at 91
2012 Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal, dies at 88
2012 Dorothea Tanning, American artist (Nachtmusik, 1943, Night Shadow, 1945), dies at 101
2012 Mike Kelley, American artist, commits suicide at 57
2012 Tristram Coffin, American folklorist, dies from pneumonia at 89
2013 Timir Pinegin, Russian sailor (Olympic gold 1960), dies at 85
2014 Alexander Ivashkin, Russian cellist, conductor, and sitar player, dies at 65
2014 Christopher Jones, American actor, dies from cancer at 72
2014 Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director (The Red and the White), dies at 92
2014 Paul Humphrey, American jazz, R&B, and rock session and touring drummer, dies at 78
2014 Rainer Boesch, Swiss pianist, composer, improviser, and teacher, dies at 75
2015 Don Covay [Donald Randolph], American R & B musician and songwriter (Chain of Fools), dies at 78
2015 Lizabeth Scott [Emma Matzo], American actress (Desert Fury, Dark City), dies of heart failure at 92
2015 Richard von Weizsacker, German politician and 1st president of reunited Germany (1990-94), dies at 94
2015 Udo Lattek, German football striker (VfL Osnabrück) and coach (Bayern Munich, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona), dies from Parkinson's disease and dementia at 80
2016 Terry Wogan, British broadcaster (Eurovision Song Contest, Blankety Blank), dies of cancer at 77
2017 Deke [Roger] Leonard, Welsh rock musician (Man), dies at 72
2017 John Wetton, British rock vocalist and bassist (Asia, King Crimson), dies of cancer at 67
2018 Anne Gillis [Alma Conner], American actress (Faline-Bambi, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Little Men), dies at 90
2020 César Zabala, Paraguayan soccer defender (49 caps; Cerro Porteño), dies of bladder cancer at 58
2020 Johnny Bumphus, American boxer (WBA super lightweight title 1984), dies at 59
2020 Mary Higgins Clark, American suspense novelist (Cry in the Night; Stillwatch), dies at 92
2022 Carleton Carpenter, American magician, stage and screen actor (Two Weeks With Love; Up Periscope), songwriter, and mystery novelist (Cat Got Your Tongue?),, dies at 95
2022 Mike Nykoluk, Canadian ice hockey coach (NHL's 1st full-time assistant coach - Philadelphia Flyers, 1972-78), and (head coach - Toronto Maple Leafs, 1980-84), dies at 87
2023 Charlie Thomas, American pop singer (The Drifters, 1958-67 - "Sweets For My Sweet"; "Save The Last Dance For Me"), dies of liver cancer at 85
2023 David Durenberger, American politician, (US Sen-R-MN, 1978-95), dies of heart failure at 88
2023 Lou Campanelli, American basketball coach (James Madison University 1972-85; University of California, Berkeley 1986-93), dies at 84