Famous People Who Died Today

A beloved child actress of the 1980s, Judith Barsi started acting when she was just five years old. She appeared in many commercials and TV shows before getting a chance to act in films as well. The child met a tragic end when she and her mother were murdered by her father who then died by suicide.

Lawyer Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, served as the U.S. Secretary of War from 1881 to 1885 and as the U.S. minister to the U.K. from 1889 to 1893. He had served in the Civil War, too, and had also been the president of the Pullman Car Company. 

Peter Green was an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Green is credited with founding the popular British-American rock band, Fleetwood Mac. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Named in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list, Green has influenced many other guitarists like Joe Perry and Gary Moore.

American actor and martial artist, John Saxon was best known for the film Enter the Dragon where he co-starred with the legendary Bruce Lee. The famous character actor of Western and horror films, in his extensive career spanning six decades, worked in more than 200 films and television shows including three Nightmare on Elm Street movies, The Appaloosa and Dynasty.

Samuel Coleridge was an English poet, philosopher, theologian, and literary critic. He is credited with co-founding the Romantic Movement in England along with his friend William Wordsworth. Despite struggling from bouts of depression and anxiety throughout his adult life, Samuel Coleridge had a major influence on American transcendentalism and writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ben Hogan was a professional golfer who is considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He won nine career professional major championships, tying with Gary Player for fourth all-time. He had a deep influence on golf swing theory. Famous for his legendary ball-striking ability, he also possessed fierce determination and an iron will.  

Engelbert Dollfuss was an Austrian politician best remembered for his service as Chancellor of Austria from 1932 to 1934. In 1933, Dollfuss assumed dictatorial powers after dissolving the parliament. He then went on to ban the Austrian Nazi Party and strengthened his own political organization, The Fatherland Front. Engelbert Dollfuss was assassinated by Nazi agents in 1934.

A Soviet cultural icon, singer Vladimir Vysotsky was known for his social commentary in his songs. In his early years, he quit engineering to study acting. He later ruled the stage as an actor, before stepping into music. He even distributed his recordings after being banned in the country.

Military surgeon James Miranda Steuart Barry is most noted for making medical reforms and performing one of the first known successful Caesarean sections in Africa. Although during adulthood Barry lived as a man, at birth Barry was named Margaret Ann Bulkley and was known as a girl-child. Barry's birth sex became public after a post-mortem examination.     

German painter, engraver and printmaker Otto Dix, counted among the most significant artists of Neue Sachlichkeit, is noted for his harsh and brutal depictions of war and severe situation of German society during the Weimar Republic. Some of his paintings, exhibited in Otto Dix House, which showcases materials on his life and work, include Selbstbildnis als Rauchern and Meine Freundin Elis.  

Harry Patch was an English soldier who served during the First World War. A supercentenarian, Patch was the last surviving combat soldier to have fought in the trenches during the First World War. At the time of his death, Harry Patch was the world's third oldest man and the oldest man in Europe.

Known as Fearless Freddie, Freddie Mills was not just a successful middleweight and light-heavyweight boxer, but also fought in the heavyweight category. Post-retirement, he ran a nightclub and appeared in movies and shows. He apparently shot himself to death later, though many believe he was murdered.

Hal Foster was a Canadian-American writer and comic strip artist. He is best remembered for creating the popular comic strip Prince Valiant, which is a fine example of Foster's dexterous, detailed artwork. His work had a major influence on the younger generation of artists like Joe Kubert. In 1996, Foster was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame.

German-Dutch clergy Thomas à Kempis is largely believed to be the author of Imitatio Christi, or Imitation of Christ. Part of the Devotio Moderna, or the Modern Devotion movement, he was the son of a blacksmith and had moved from Rhineland to the Netherlands, where he was inspired by Gerard Groote’s followers.

Dominique Jean Larrey was a French military doctor and surgeon. He is best remembered for his service during the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolutionary Wars. A prominent innovator in triage and battlefield medicine, Dominique Jean Larrey is widely regarded as the first modern military surgeon.

Walter Rauschenbusch was an American Baptist pastor and theologian. He played an important role in the single tax and Social Gospel movements by propagating the importance of theology through his book A Theology for the Social Gospel which he published in 1917. Walter Rauschenbusch's work influenced prominent personalities like Martin Luther King Jr., Norman Thomas, Desmond Tutu, and James McClendon.

Phoolan Devi was an Indian bandit who later on became a politician. She was a victim of child marriage and later on gang raped by a group of upper caste men. To  avenge her humiliation she went on to become the leader of gang of bandits  Later on she became a politician and served as Member of Parliament. She was assassinated by an upper caste man. 

Viennese actor Eric Pohlmann is best remembered for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the main villain of the James Bond franchise films Thunderball and From Russia with Love. He and his wife had both escaped the Nazi regime and taken up odd jobs at the house of the Duke of Bedford in the UK.

Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis is best remembered for his Academy Award-nominated film Zorba the Greek. Born to a public servant father who was knighted for his work, in Cyprus, he initially studied law and then joined the BBC World Service. He had also performed on stage as Michael Yannis.