Famous People Who Died In 1961

Ernest Hemingway was an American novelist and short-story writer who had a strong impact on 20th-century fiction. He published seven novels and six short-story collections and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea are some of his classic works. He ended his own life in July 1961.

Widely regarded as the father of analytical psychology, Carl Jung is one of the most important contributors to symbolization and dream analysis. The concepts of socionics and a popular psychometric instrument called Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) were developed from Jung's theory. Apart from working as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Carl Jung was also an artist, craftsman, builder, and prolific writer.

Gary Cooper was one of the most popular and versatile American actors of all time. Known for his understated acting style, Cooper won the adulation of critics, fans, and fellow movie stars. A major movie star throughout the golden age of cinema, Cooper was ranked 11th on the 25 greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema list published by AFI.

Marion Davies was an American actress, screenwriter, producer, and philanthropist. During the mid-1920s, Davies was Hollywood's number one female box office star due to the popularity of her films Little Old New York and When Knighthood Was in Flower. Since her death, Davies has been portrayed in several films by different actresses, including Kirsten Dunst, Virginia Madsen, and Amanda Seyfried.

Anna May Wong was an American actress and the first Chinese-American to make it big in Hollywood. She is remembered as the first Chinese-American to gain international recognition as an actress. Anna made history in 1951 when she appeared in The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, becoming the first Asian-American to be featured as the lead in a US television show.

Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish diplomat and economist. In 1953, Hammarskjöld became the youngest person to be appointed as the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He died in airplane crash in 1961. Dag Hammarskjöld became the first person to be honored with a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously.

Anna Mary Robertson, better known as Grandma Moses, revolutionized American folk art with her iconic depictions of American rural life. After spending 15 years of her life working as a housekeeper, she deviated toward embroidery. A bout of arthritis made her switch to painting in her late 70s.

Eero Saarinen was a Finnish-American industrial designer and architect best remembered for his impressive designs for monuments and buildings. He is credited with designing important structures, such as the Washington Dulles International Airport, the TWA Flight Center, and the Gateway Arch. He is widely regarded as one of the 20th-century's most prominent American architectures.

The 4th president of the Philippines, Sergio Osmeña had also been the country’s 1st vice-president. Initially a military commander of the Philippine army, he had been part of World War II. He had begun his political career as the governor of Cebu. He also founded the Nationalist Party.

Best known for inventing an automatic refrigeration system used in long-haul trucks, Frederick McKinley Jones was orphaned at age 7. He quit school as a child and took up menial jobs. After briefly serving the army, he focused on inventing machine parts and ended up with over 60 patents.

Born to an English father in Australia, Percy Grainger was raised by his mother after their parents’ split. Mostly homeschooled after being bullied by his batchmates, he developed a love for music and debuted as a pianist at 10. He revived English folk music and set up the Grainger Museum.

Frantz Fanon was a French-West Indian born in Martinique, a former French colony. A skilled psychiatrist and physician, he realized the impact of colonialism on the human mind while treating French soldiers and Algerians. The author of books such as The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon supported the Algerian independence movement.

Alastair Denniston was a Scottish code breaker and hockey player. He was deputy head of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) from 1919 to 1942. As a member of the Scottish Olympic hockey team in 1908, he won a bronze medal. He worked as a code breaker during the war years. He taught French and Latin following his retirement. 

Otto Loewi was a German-born American psycho-biologist and pharmacologist, whose research on neurology proved that chemicals were involved in the transmission of nerve impulses. Working with Sir Henry Dale, he established the role of acetylcholine as an endogenous neurotransmitter, co-winning the Nobel Prize for it. Later, he worked on diabetes and devised Loewi’s test for the detection of pancreatic disease.

Emily Greene Balch was an American sociologist, economist, and pacifist. She is best remembered for her work to deal with social issues like child labor, poverty, and immigration. She also worked towards reducing juvenile delinquency and uplifting poor immigrants. In 1946, Emily Greene Balch was honored with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

French-speaking Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars was a regular at the artists’ colony known as The Beehive. Remembered for his novels such as Bourlinguer and his poems such as Pâques à New York, he mostly included autobiographical elements in his works, such as his experiences at the front lines for the French army.

Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian political figure, journalist, short story writer, and novelist. One of the most prolific writers of Romania, Sadoveanu is best remembered for his adventure and historical novels. In 1961, Mihail Sadoveanu was honored with the prestigious Lenin Peace Prize. 

The youngest child of New York governor Nelson Rockefeller, Michael Rockefeller shunned his family’s legacy and decided to become an explorer. He went missing while on an expedition to the Asmat region of southwestern Dutch New Guinea and was declared dead 3 years later, raising speculations of cannibalism.

Nobel Prize-winning Belgian immunologist and microbiologist Jules Bordet is remembered for his discovery of blood serum components that are capable of destroying bacteria. He later established the Pasteur Institute of Brussels and taught at the Free University of Brussels. He also discovered the Bordetella pertussis bacteria that causes whooping cough.