Famous People Who Died In 2009

The King of Pop and an international superstar, Michael Jackson was a musical entertainer whose work – both with Jackson 5 and solo – won accolades and hearts worldwide. Equally popular were his unique dance moves that created sensation and shaped future dance styles. Amongst the most successful entertainers of all time, Jackson was later accused of child molestation.  

Patrick Swayze, the American actor, dancer, singer and songwriter, was very popular during the 1980s. His movie the ‘Dirty Dancing’ catapulted him to stardom. Ghost was another of his hit films. Swayze died in September, 2009, at the age of 57 due to pancreatic cancer. His final role was that of a FBI Agent in the television series ‘The Beast’.

Farrah Fawcett is best remembered for posing for the iconic red swimsuit poster, which sold over 12 million copies and is regarded as a symbol of the late-1970s and a modern icon. Known for her good looks, Farrah was a popular Playboy model. The actress was also named in Men's Health magazine's 100 Hottest Women of All-Time list in 2011.

Britanny Murphy was an American singer and actress. She received critical acclaim for playing important roles in films like 8 Mile before leaving for heavenly abode due to pneumonia at age 32. A month after her demise, her mother and widower established a charitable fund called The Brittany Murphy Foundation, which aimed at aiding children's arts education and cancer research.

American actress Bea Arthur worked extensively in television and was hailed for her comic timing. All in the Family, Maude and The Golden Girls are some of her acclaimed series. In her long career, she also worked in films like Lovers and Other Strangers, History of the World 1 and For Better or Worse. She won many accolades, including two Emmy awards.

The quintessential American on-screen martial artist, David Carradine specialized in playing martial arts roles in an illustrious acting career that spanned more than 60 years. Regarded as the bad boy of Hollywood, Carradine was arrested several times throughout his life for offenses involving substance abuse. He died in Bangkok, Thailand due to accidental autoerotic asphyxiation at the age of 72.

Ricardo Montalbán was a Mexican actor who achieved immense popularity in Hollywood during his illustrious career that spanned 70 years! He was the recipient of several prestigious awards including an Emmy Award and Screen Actors Guild's Lifetime Achievement Award. Ricardo Montalbán is credited with establishing the Nosotros Foundation where he served as the first president.

Largely known for popularizing the teen movie genre in the 1980s, John Hughes had dropped out of university to work as an ad copywriter and then a comedy writer. He soared to fame with his stories in National Lampoon magazine and then directed many films of the National Lampoon franchise.

Though born in the US, Patrick McGoohan moved to the US with his family as a child and later became one of Britain’s best-known actors. Fans loved him as John Drake in Danger Man and as Number Six in The Prisoner. He is also known for his Emmy-winning performance in the series Columbo.

Karl Malden is best remembered for his Academy Award-winning role of Harold Mitchell in A Streetcar Named Desire. He also won a BAFTA for the film Baby Doll and an Emmy for Fatal Vision. Fans also loved him as Mike Stone in The Streets of San Francisco and its spin-off.

Jazz and country guitarist Les Paul developed his version of the solid-body electric guitar, which he named the Log. He is also credited with pioneering innovations such as multitrack recording, the eight-track tape recorder, and overdubbing. He won the Special Merit/Technical Grammy Award for his achievements.

James Whitmore was an American actor whose career spanned more than 50 years. During his illustrious career, Whitmore won a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy Award, narrowly missing an EGOT honor. He also received a Golden Globe Award and two Academy Award nominations. In 1960, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Mary Travers was an American singer and songwriter. She was part of Peter, Paul and Mary, one of the most successful and popular folk music groups of the 1960s. Apart from working with the music group, Travers released five solo albums. In 1999, she was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as part of the group.

Edward Woodward was an English singer and actor. After starting his career as a stage actor, Woodward achieved popularity in 1967 when he started playing the title role in the popular television series Callan, for which he won the British Academy Television Award in 1970. In 1986, he won the Golden Globe Award for his performance in the movie The Equalizer.

Norman Borlaug was an American agronomist who played a key role in the Green Revolution, a set of research technology transfer initiatives that increased agricultural production, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Nicknamed the Father of the Green Revolution, Borlaug was also honored with the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work.

Wendy Richard is best remembered as Shirley Brahms from Are You Being Served? and as Pauline Fowler from EastEnders, and won the British Soap Award for Special Achievement for the latter. She died of breast cancer at 65 but documented the final months of her life in a BBC documentary.

Kim Peek was a savant who suffered from the rare genetic syndrome, FG syndrome. Often called a “megasavant,” he had an exceptional memory and appeared in many documentaries. He was the inspiration for the character of Raymond Babbitt in the film Rain Man. He was born with macrocephaly and damage to the cerebellum and experienced considerable social difficulties. 

Andrew Wyeth was a visual artist and one of the best-known American artists of the mid-20th century. Primarily a realist painter, Wyeth worked predominantly in a regionalist style. Andrew Wyeth was the recipient of several prestigious awards, such as the National Medal of Arts and the Congressional Gold Medal.

French social anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss is remembered for his contribution to structural anthropology. His book Tristes Tropiques was based on his research deep in the Brazilian Amazon. While he left France for the U.S. during World War II, he later returned to Paris and received his doctorate.

Richard Todd was an Irish actor best remembered for his portrayal of Corporal Lachlan MacLachlan in the movie The Hasty Heart, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination. One of the most bankable actors of his generation, Richard Todd was frequently listed among the most popular British stars throughout the 1950s. 

Irish singer Stephen Gately, who soared to fame in the 1990s with the globally popular band Boyzone, was born to working-class parents in Dublin. He later revealed he was gay, when a friend black-mailed he would reveal Gately’s sexuality. He died of a heart condition at age 33.