Famous People Who Died At 85

Even after four decades after her death, Agatha Christie remains an influential figure in the world of literature and entertainment as most of her books continue to serve as inspiration to films, TV series, and video games. With over two billion copies of her novels sold, she holds the Guinness World Records for best-selling fiction writer of all time.

After starting her film career at the age of three, Shirley Temple went on to become Hollywood's highest-grossing child actress from 1935 to 1938. She is the epitome of popular child stars who lose their charm as they grow up. Despite failing as an adult actress, she is ranked 18th in the greatest female screen legends of Classic Hollywood list.

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress whose early career was defined by her performance in the controversial Czech erotic film Ecstasy. Apart from gaining popularity as a beautiful Hollywood actress, Hedy Lamarr became known as an inventor after co-inventing frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Her career has inspired several works of art. She was also the inspiration behind the iconic character Catwoman.

James Madison played an important role in drafting the US Constitution and the US Bill of Rights and is hailed as the Father of the Constitution. He also co-wrote The Federalist Papers, considered to be a seminal work of political science. As president, he led the country into the 1812 war and historians place him as an above-average president.

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.

Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, woodsman, explorer, and frontiersman. His exploits as an American frontier made him one of the earliest folk heroes of the US. Widely regarded as the founder of Kentucky, Daniel Boone is popular for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky. His life and work have inspired several movies, such as the 1936 movie Daniel Boone.

Tony Curtis was an American actor who achieved the height of his fame in the 1950s and 1960s in a career spanning six decades. Also a well-known philanthropist, Tony Curtis helped fund the rebuilding of the Great Synagogue in Hungary. In 1998, he founded a non-profit organization called Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian Culture, which works towards the restoration of synagogues.

The father of actors Beau and Jeff Bridges, Lloyd Bridges was an American actor who played important roles across all the three major acting mediums. Apart from his acting career, which spanned more than 60 years, Bridges was also known for his involvement in groups, such as Heal the Bay and the American Oceans Campaign. 

A stint at U.S. Marine Corps and a variety of jobs later, Wilford Brimley finally entered the world of acting, albeit as an extra. He established himself as a character actor and bagged his first leading role at the age of fifty. His notable work include Cocoon, The Natural and Our House. He is known for Quaker Oats commercials too.

Shelley Winters was an American actress who contributed immensely to all the three major acting mediums in a career spanning almost sixty years. The winner of two Academy Awards, Shelley Winters remained popular throughout her life. She was also known for her much-publicized personal life, which included her four marriages and the romance with actor Farley Granger.

Jessica Tandy was an English-American actress who completed the triple crown of acting in 1990 after winning Tony Awards, an Academy Award, and Primetime Emmy Award. She is also the oldest actress to win an Oscar. Also known for her good looks, Tandy was named in People magazine's list of 50 Most Beautiful People at the peak of her career.

Model Bettie Page was an iconic figure in pop culture in the 1950s. Considered a sex symbol, she was most popular for her pin-up photos. In 1955, she became one of the earliest Playmates of the Month for Playboy magazine. After a short but immensely successful modeling career, she converted to Christianity and quit modeling.

Psychologist Carl Rogers was the first to introduce a client-centric approach to psychotherapy and addressed the patient as the client. Besides working on troubled children, he also taught at various institutes, such as the University of Chicago. On Becoming a Person remains one of his best-known books.

Mary Wickes was an American actress who often played professional women, housekeepers, and nuns in films and TV series. A tall woman with a distinctive voice, Wickes proved to be a popular comedian. She was often cast to play wisecracking characters, such as Nurse Dora Pickford in the 1942 drama film Now, Voyager.

Robert Downey Sr. was an American actor and filmmaker. He is best remembered for making satirical films, such as Putney Swope that influenced and inspired the Counterculture of the 1960s. He is also credited with shaping the film career of his son Robert John Downey Jr.

Canadian actor James Doohan was initially a soldier in the Canadian army and had even sustained injuries in World War II. He later soared to fame with his Saturn Award-nominated role of Montgomery Scott in the Star Trek film and TV franchise. He also voiced the character in various video games.

German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter Hermann Hesse received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. He explored individuals’ search for authenticity, self-knowledge, and spirituality in his works. An intense and headstrong person from childhood, he developed an early interest in reading. He started writing as a young man and became an influential author in the German-speaking world. 

Art Carney is best remembered for his Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning role of Harry Coombes in the film Harry and Tonto. The six-time Emmy-winning actor had also gained fame as Ed Norton in the sitcom The Honeymooners. He had suffered a leg injury while serving at World War II.

Howard Keel was an American actor. Renowned for his bass-baritone voice, Keel starred in several MGM musicals throughout the 1950s. Also known for his work in TV and films, Keel was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. In 1996, a Golden Palm Star was dedicated to him on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars.

Richard Georg Strauss was a German conductor, composer, violinist, and pianist. Renowned for his pioneering subtleties of orchestration, Strauss is generally regarded as a modernist, although he was initially considered a conservative, backwards-looking composer. Over the years, his music has influenced other prominent composers like Béla Viktor János Bartók, Karol Maciej Szymanowski, Edward Elgar, and Benjamin Britten.

Annie Besant was a British theosophist, socialist, writer, orator, educationist, women's rights activist, and philanthropist. Despite being British, Besant supported India's freedom movement and even joined the Indian National Congress. She is also credited with co-founding Banaras Hindu University. Besant also helped launch the Indian Home Rule movement to campaign for democracy in the country.

Welsh actor, Desmond Llewelyn, is best known for his role as Q in many James Bond films over a span of four decades. Even though he originally wanted to be a minister, his interest shifted to acting while in high school. He served in the army during World War II and resumed his acting career afterward. 

Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños became a cultural icon with his show Chespirito, which also starred him as the titular character and thus made him adopt Chespirito as his stage name later. He was a boxer before venturing into entertainment and had even dropped out of an engineering course.

James Drury was the quintessential tall, dark, and handsome Western hero of Hollywood in the 1950s and the 1960s. he had started his acting career at age 12. Interestingly he graduated in horticulture and animal husbandry. He is best remembered for his role in the NBC series The Virginian.

Born to Indian descendants in Trinidad, V. S. Naipaul grew up to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. The author of iconic novels such as Half a Life and A House for Mr. Biswas, Naipaul was also knighted. His realistic depiction of developing countries and their miseries won hearts worldwide.

Philip Roth was a novelist and short-story writer best remembered for creating the fictional character Nathan Zuckerman, who featured in many of his novels. The recipient of the 1997 Pulitzer Prize, he also received the inaugural Franz Kafka Prize. Roth was one of the most awarded American writers of his generation. Born a Jew, he became an atheist later on.

Fred Perry was a British tennis player. A former world No. 1, Perry won three successive Wimbledon Championships from 1934. He won eight Grand Slam tournaments, including a Career Grand Slam. He was the first player and only British player to date to achieve a Career Grand Slam. Also a table tennis player, Perry was the world champion in 1929.

Ernst Haeckel had initially practiced medicine before he gained an interest in Charles Darwin’s theory and began exploring zoology and related fields. He not only coined terms such as ecology, but also named numerous species and created a genealogical tree. He drew numerous figures of animals and sea creatures, too.