Famous People Who Died In 1953

Musician Hank Williams is widely considered one of the most influential and significant American singer-songwriters of the 20th century. Hank Williams influenced several singers, such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and Charley Pride to name a few. Since his untimely death at the age of 29, many artists have released tribute albums honoring Hank Williams.  

Jim Thorpe was an American athlete who was counted among the most versatile athletes of the modern era. Jim Thorpe won two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics and became the first Native American to give the United States an Olympic gold. He also played American football, professional baseball, and basketball. He was memorialized in the 1951 film Jim Thorpe – All-American.

Sergei Prokofiev was a Russian Soviet pianist, composer, and conductor. Renowned for creating masterpieces across various genres, Prokofiev is widely considered one of the 20th century's major composers. Many other composers like Arthur Honegger have called Prokofiev the greatest contemporary musician of all time. An open pianists' competition, which is held every year in Ukraine, is named after Sergei Prokofiev.

Eugene O'Neill was an American playwright whose works earned him several prestigious awards, including four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. His play Long Day's Journey into Night is frequently named among the 20th century's finest American plays. In the 1981 film Reds, Eugene O'Neill is played by actor Jack Nicholson.

Controversial Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin, ruled the Soviet Union for around 25 years from 1929 to 1953 and is credited for making it a prominent industrial and military power of the world. During the Second World War, his army defeated the Nazis too. However, his regime was also one of terror and brutality where numerous Soviet citizens lost their lives.

While the Hubble Telescope, named after Edwin Powell Hubble, reminds one of his contribution to astronomy, he failed to get a Nobel Prize, as back in his time, the Nobel Committee didn’t recognize astrophysics as a valid science. He is best remembered for his work on galaxies and extragalactic astronomy.

Carol II of Romania reigned as king of Romania from 1930 to 1940. He played a major role in establishing a royal dictatorship in Romania by abolishing the political parties and removing the 1923 constitution. He replaced the political parties with the National Renaissance Front, a single monopoly party of government. 

Jorge Negrete was a Mexican actor and singer. One of the most popular actors of his generation, Negrete helped create the charro film genre. He is credited with co-founding the Mexican Actors Association, where he served as one of its most important leaders. Such is his popularity that fans still pay tribute on his death anniversary by visiting his tomb.

Nobel Prize-winning experimental physicist Robert Andrews Millikan had begun his career as a faculty member at the University of Chicago and penned countless physics books. He later devoted himself to his research on elementary electronic charge and the photoelectric effect. His famous oil-drop experiment is known to all physics enthusiasts.

Ivan Bunin was a Russian writer whose stories and poems are regarded as one of the richest collection of works in the Russian language. In 1933, Ivan Bunin became the first Russian writer to be honored with the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature. Subsequently, he donated 100,000 francs to a charity fund.

Ibn Saud, or King Abdulaziz, was the founder and first monarch of Saudi Arabia. He oversaw the discovery of petroleum and the subsequent oil production in his country. He annexed the kingdoms of central and northern Arabia and ruled for over 20 years. He sired countless children, including 45 sons.

Maud Gonne not just co-founded the Sinn Féin party but also participated in the theater movement of W.B Yeats, who made her his muse and proposed to her many times, only to be rejected. An Irish nationalist, she also formed the Daughters of Ireland and acted in Yeats’s first play Cathleen ni Houlihan.

Mary Anderson was a real estate developer, rancher, and inventor. She is best known for inventing the windshield wiper blade. She received her first patent for an automatic car window cleaning device controlled from inside the car in 1903. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2011, more than half a century after her death.  

Derek Bentley was 19 when he was hanged for murdering a policeman during a burglary attempt. An illiterate, he had the mental age of 11 and also suffered from epilepsy. The controversial case led to a 45-long battle for a posthumous pardon, which was granted, and then a reversal of the murder charge.

Tazio Nuvolari was an Italian racing driver who raced motorcycles before focusing on sports cars. Nicknamed The Flying Mantuan, Nuvolari won 150 races including 24 Grands Prix, two Mille Miglias, five Coppa Cianos, two RAC Tourist Trophies, and two Targa Florios. Widely regarded as one of the greatest racing drivers of all time, Nuvolari also won a European Drivers' Championship.

Dylan Thomas was a Welsh writer and poet who published popular poems, such as Do not go gentle into that good night, which was popularized in the 2014 movie, Interstellar, where Michael Caine's character recites the poem throughout the film. Dylan Thomas achieved tremendous popularity during his lifetime and remains popular after his untimely death at the age of 39.

French aviator René Fonck is remembered for shooting down 75 planes during World War I and was considered one of the Allied Ace of Aces. He not only received the Médaille Militaire but was also made Chevalier of the Legion d’Honneur. He later became a demonstration and racing pilot and a military aviation inspector.

Julian Tuwim was a Polish poet who co-founded a group of experimental poets called Skamander along with his contemporaries like Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and Antoni Słonimski. A popular and influential figure in Polish literature, Tuwim was also admired for his immense contribution to children's literature. In 1935, Julian Tuwim was honored with the Polish Academy of Literature's prestigious Golden Laurel award.

Richard von Mises was an Austrian Jewish scientist and mathematician. He is known for his work on solid mechanics, aerodynamics, aeronautics, fluid mechanics, and probability theory. He was the Gordon McKay Professor of Aerodynamics and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University. He is the one who proposed the now-famous "birthday problem" in probability theory. He was married to mathematician Hilda Geiringer.  

Johan Laidoner was an Estonian statesman and general. He is best remembered for his service as the Commander of the Defence Forces during the Estonian War of Independence. He was also one of the most influential and important Estonian politicians during the interwar period. 

Iuliu Maniu held office as 32nd Prime Minister of Romania. He served as President of Romanian National Party and thereafter co-founded National Peasants' Party and served as its President for around five years. He was later arrested as a result of the Tămădău affair, convicted of treason and sentenced to life-imprisonment at hard-labour. He died in prison after six years.

Considered the most popular female Soviet sculptor, Vera Mukhina earned the nickname of the queen of Soviet sculpture. After a plastic surgery following a sledging accident as a young girl, she focused on studying sculpting. The five-time Stalin Prize winner is remembered for her works such as Peasant Woman.

Born to a craftsman in Austria, Rudolph Schindler grew up to a master architect. He also introduced his signature form of modern architecture, known as space architecture, and his own adaptation of the wood frame, the Schindler Frame. He built most of his masterpieces in Southern California, primarily in Los Angeles.

Hungarian composer Emmerich Kalman is best remembered for his operettas and was a leading figure in the development of the Viennese operetta. He initially worked as a lawyer’s assistant and a music critic for Pesti Napló to fund his music studies. One of his best-known works remains The Gay Hussars.