Famous Deaths on July 8

Diego de Almagro (1475-1538)

Spanish conquistador of Chile and Peru, executed at Las Salinas at about 63

1623 Gregory XV [Alessandro Ludovisi], Italian Catholic pope (1621-23) and Archbishop of Bologna, dies at 69
1656 Alexander van der Capellen, Dutch statesman, mister of Aartsbergen, dies at about 64
1679 Samuel Columbus, Swedish poet (Odae Sveticae), dies (b. 1642)
1681 Georg Neumark, German composer and poet, dies at 60
1689 Edward Wooster, English Connecticut pioneer (b. 1622)

Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695)

Dutch mathematician, astronomer (discovered Saturn's rings) and scientist (dynamics), dies at 66

1716 Robert South, English churchman (b. 1634)
1721 Elihu Yale, English merchant and philanthropist (benefactor of Yale University), dies at 72
1726 Antonio Maria Bononcini, Italian cellist and composer, dies at 49
1726 John Ker, Scottish spy who spied for the British government against the Jacobites, dies in a debtors' prison at 52
1784 Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (b. 1735)
1788 Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, French marshal and statesman, 3rd Duke of Richilieu, dies at 92
1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley, English romantic poet (Adonais; Prometheus Unbound), drowns at 29
1826 Luther Martin, American statesman (b. 1748)
1850 Prince Adolphus, British fieldmarshall1st Duke of Cambridge, 7th son of George III (b. 1774)
1855 William Parry, English Arctic explorer (Parry Channel), dies at 64
1859 Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway (1844-59), dies at 60
1863 Francis Kenrick, Irish-American Archbishop of Baltimore (1851-63), dies at 65
1870 Jan David Zocher Jr., Dutch landscape architect (Soestdijk Palace), dies at 79
1876 Josef Dessauer, Austrian composer, dies at 78
1885 Henry Waelput, Flemish compose and conductor (Blessing of Arms), dies at 39
1894 Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov, Russian composer, dies at 67
1895 Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (b. 1821)
1898 Soapy Smith, American con artist (b. 1860)
1905 Walter Kittredge, American musician during American Civil War, dies at 70
1909 Gaston, Marquis de Gallifet, French general and Minister of War (1899-1900), dies at 79
1911 Ira Erastus Davenport, American magician, claimed to be a spirit medium, dies at 51
1913 Louis Hémon, French novelist (Maria Chapdelaine), dies at 32
1917 Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
1930 Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (1906-12), dies at 74
1933 Anthony Hope, British novelist and playwright (The Prisoner of Zenda), dies of cancer at 70
1934 Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer, dies at 86
1939 Havelock Ellis, English physician and social reformer who studied sexual behaviour (Man & Woman), dies at 80
1941 Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (b. 1874)
1941 Philippe Gaubert, French flautist, conductor (Paris Opéra, 1919-41), composer, and teacher (Paris Conservatoire), dies of a stroke at 62
1942 Catherinus Elling, Norwegian organist, composer, educator, and ethno-musicologist, dies at 83
1943 Guillermo Valencia, Colombian poet, translator and statesman, dies at 69
1943 Harry Oakes, Canadian-British prominent businessman in Bahamas, murdered under mysterious circumstances at 68
1943 Jean Moulin, French hero of the Résistance during World War II, executed at 44
1946 Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov, Russian composer {Alexnadrov Ensemble}, dies at 63
1948 Dave Nourse, South African cricket all-rounder (45 Tests, 1 x 100, 41 wickets; Natal, Transvaal, Western Province), dies at 69
1948 George Mehnert, American wrestler (Olympic gold flyweight 1904, bantamweight 1908), dies at 66
1949 Antun Sa'ada [Antoun Saadeh], Syrian politician (Syrian Social Nationalist Party), executed by firing squad in Lebanon at 45
1949 Riccardo Pick-Mangiagalli, Italian composer, dies at 66
1950 Othmar Spann, Austrian economist and sociologist (Wahre State), dies at 71
1956 Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, Dutch politician (1954 Nobel Peace Prize as High Commissioner for Refugees of the UN), dies at 55
1956 Giovanni Papini, Italian avant-garde writer (Un Uomo Finito), dies at 75
1957 Grace Goodhue Coolidge, American First Lady (1923-29) wife of Calvin Coolidge, dies at 78
1957 Henry Février, French composer, dies at 81
1957 William Adlington Cadbury, English chocolate maker, dies at 89
1959 US Army Maj. Dale Buis & MSgt. Chester Ovnand killed in Viet Cong attack, becoming the first and second Americans killed in combat in the Vietnam War
1961 Julián Bautista, Spanish orchestral and film score composer, and conductor, dies at 60
1962 Georges Bataille, French writer and philosopher (b. 1897)

Fatima Jinnah (1893-1967)

Mother of Pakistan, sister and close adviser of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, dies officially of a heart failure at 73 but rumors of foul play by the military junta persist

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967)

English actress (Gone With The Wind; A Streetcar Named Desire), dies of tuberculosis at 53

1969 Charmian Clift, Australian writer and essayist, dies at 45
1971 Charlie Shavers, American jazz trumpet player, dies at 50
1972 (Cora) "Lovie" Austin, American jazz pianist, and bandleader ("Down Hearted Blues"), dies at 84
1973 Harry F. V. Edward, British 100m/200m runner (Olympic bronze 1920), dies at 75
1973 Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer (4187 1st-class wickets, most ever), dies at 95
1974 Morris "Moose" Charlap, American Broadway composer (Peter Pan; Kelly), dies at 45
1977 Rie Cramer, Dutch writer and illustrator, dies at 89
1979 Charles Kynard, American soul, jazz, and funk Hammond B-3 organ player (Reelin With The Feelin'), dies at 46
1979 Michael Wilding, British actor (Stage Fright, Courtney Affair, World of Suzie Wong), dies from a head injury at 66
1979 Robert B. Woodward, American organic chemist (Nobel 1965), dies at 62
1979 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
1981 Loring Smith, American actor (Hartmans), dies at 86
1982 Isa Miranda, Italian model and actress (Summertime), dies of infected bone at 77
1982 Virginia Hall [Goillot], American spy with British Special Operations during WWII (1940-1966), dies at 76
1984 Brassaï [Gyula Halász], Hungarian-French artist, dies at 84
1984 Christine McIntyre, American actress and singer (The Three Stooges, The Rangers' Round-Up), dies from cancer at 73
1985 Gardner Cowles Jr., American publisher (Look Magazine), dies at 82
1985 Phil Foster, American comedian (Frank De Fazio-Laverne & Shirley), dies at 72
1985 Simon Kuznets, American economist (Nobel 1971), dies at 84
1986 Hyman G. Rickover, US Admiral (father of modern nuclear navy, at 63 years the longest serving US naval officer), dies at 86
1986 Skeeter Webb, American baseball player (b. 1909)
1987 Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (Versos humanos), dies at 90
1987 Lionel Chevrier, Canadian politician (Canadian Member of Parliament), dies at 84
1988 Ray Barbuti, American athlete (Olympic gold 400m, 400m relay 1928), dies at 83
1990 Howard Duff, American actor (Flamingo Road, Knots Landing), dies of a heart attack at 76
1990 Malcolm Hilton, English cricket slow left-arm (4 Tests), dies at 61
1991 James Franciscus, American actor (Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Mr Novak, Longstreet), dies of emphysema 57
1991 Lotte Palfi Andor, German-American actress (Lovesick, All That Jazz), dies at 87
1993 Charles Adkins, American light welterweight boxer (Olympic gold 1952), dies at 61
1994 Christian-Jaque [Christian Maudet], French film director (Fearless Little Soldier, Race for Life, The Pearls of the Crown), dies at 89
1994 Dick Sargent [Richard Stanford Cox], American actor (Darren in "Bewitched"), dies of cancer at 64
1994 Dominic Lucero, American dancer and singer, dies of lymphatic cancer at 26

Kim Il-sung (1912-1994)

Founder, dictator and Supreme Leader of North-Korea (1948-94), dies of a heart attack at 82

1994 Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer (b. 1927)
1995 Elizabeth Adams, American Beverly Hills madame and mentor to Heidi Fleiss, dies at 65
1995 Günter Bialas, German composer, dies at 87
1996 (James Woodie) J.W. Alexander, American gospel and soul music songwriter, singer, and producer (Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, Solomon Burke), dies of prostate cancer at 80
1996 Amschel Rothschild, British banker (executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England), dies at 41
1996 Ernest Armstrong, British politician (L) and teacher, dies at 81
1996 Thomas Mitchell, British architect and engineer, dies at 90
1999 Pete Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)
2000 FM-2030 [Fereidoun M. Esfandiary], Iranian-American author and transhumanist (Are You a Transhuman?), dies at 69
2000 Nikola Hercigonja, Croatian composer, dies at 89
2001 Christl Haas, Austrian downhill skier (Olympic gold 1964), dies at 57
2001 Ernst Baier, German figure skater (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 95
2001 John O'Shea, New Zealand film director (b. 1920)
2002 Ward Kimball, American animator (one of Disney's Nine Old Men), dies at 88
2003 Kunio Toda, Japanese composer, dies at 87
2004 Jean Lefebvre, French actor (Diabolical, Now Where Did the Seventh Company Get to?), dies at 84
2004 Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)
2006 June Allyson, American actress (The DuPont Show with June Allyson), dies at 88
2006 Peter Hawkins, British actor/voice actor (b. 1924)
2007 Chandra Shekhar, Indian politician, 8th Prime Minister of India (1990-91), dies at 80
2007 Jindřich Feld, Czech composer (Concerto for Flute and Orchestra), dies at 82

Betty Ford (1918-2011)

First Lady of the United States (1974-77) and founder of the Betty Ford Center clinic, dies at 93

2011 Mary Fenech Adami, First Lady of Malta (b. 1933)
2011 Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet (Home Alone, Deranged, The Great Gatsby), dies of a stroke at 87

Ernest Borgnine (1917-2012)

American Academy Award-winning actor (Marty; From Here To Eternity; ; McHale's Navy; The Poseidon Adventure), dies from renal failure at 95

2015 Ernie Maresca, American singer and songwriter ("Runaround Sue"; "The Wanderer"), dies at 76
2015 James Tate, American poet (Pulitzer Prize 1992), dies at 71
2015 Ken Stabler, American Pro Football HOF quarterback (4 x Pro Bowl; NFL MVP, First-team All-Pro 1974; Super Bowl 1976; Oakland Raiders), dies of colon cancer at 69
2016 Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist (Edhi Foundation), dies at 88
2016 William H. McNeill, Canadian-born historian (Rise of the West), dies at 98
2017 Elsa Martinelli, Italian actress (Indian Fighter), dies at 82
2017 Nelsan Ellis, American actor (True Blood), dies of complications from heart failure at 39
2018 Alan Johnson, American screen and stage choreographer (The Producers - "Springtime for Hitler"; Legs Diamond; 3 Emmy Awards), director (To Be Or Not To Be), and dancer (West Side Story),, dies at 81
2018 Oliver Knussen, British composer (Where the Wild Things Are, Chicara), dies at 66
2018 Tab Hunter [Arthur Andrew Kelm], American actor (Tab Hunter Show, Lust in the Dust) and singer ("Young Love"), dies of complications of deep vein thrombosis at 86
2020 Abdelmajid Tlemçani, Tunisian soccer striker (54 caps; Espérance Sportive de Tunis), dies at 82
2020 Alex Pullin, Australian snowboarder (World C'ship gold snowboard cross 2011, 13), dies from drowning at 32
2020 Naya Rivera, American actress and singer (Glee; Step Up: High Water), drowns while swimming at Lake Piru, near Santa Clarita, California, at 33
2021 Sam Reed, American jazz and session saxophonist, and musical director (Uptown Theater (Philadelphia); Teddy Pendergrass), dies at 85
2022 Larry Storch, American stage and screen comic and character actor (F Troop - "Cpl. Agarn"; Tennessee Tuxedo - "Prof. Whoopee"), dies at 99