Famous People Who Died Today

Business magnate and founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford is credited to have made the automobile an accessible conveyance for Americans in the 20th century. Following the success of his company, he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He also became known for his pacifism during the first years of World War I.

P. T. Barnum was an American politician, showman, and businessman. He is credited with founding the famous Barnum & Bailey Circus, which ran for 146 years. He is also credited with co-founding the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, which is one of the oldest American ferry companies. His life and work have inspired many films, including The Greatest Showman.

Haitian general,  Toussaint Louverture, was the most prominent leader of the Haitian Revolution. A revolutionary leader, he was devoted to the cause of Haitian independence and fought hard until he was killed by the French in a treacherous manner. The revolution continued after his death, leading to Haiti’s independence. He is now known as the Father of Haiti.

A popular American journalist and media personality, Mike Wallace is credited with bringing important information to the household of several Americans during his illustrious career that spanned nearly 70 years; he interviewed prominent personalities like Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Ayn Rand, and Salvador Dalí among others. His life and career inspired several films and he was portrayed by popular actors.

Brenda Benet was an American actress best remembered for playing important roles in soap operas, such as The Young Marrieds and Days of Our Lives. Benet became a much-sought-after TV actress in the 1960s and 1970s. However, Benet faced several personal challenges, especially after her divorce from Bill Bixby. In 1982, she took her own life due to depression.

British Formula One racing-driver James Clark Jr. is counted among the greatest Formula One drivers of all time. He won his first World Driver’s Championships in 1963 making a record of winning seven out of ten races in a season. He again won the championship in 1965. His 1965 Indianapolis 500 win marked the first win for a rear-engined car.

Walter Huston was a Canadian singer and actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of Howard in the 1948 American Western film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Walter Huston was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a decade after his death.

Also known as Begum of Awadh, Begum Hazrat Mahal was the second wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. She is remembered for rebelling against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Following her husband’s exile, she took over affairs in the state of Awadh. However, she was forced by the British to abandon Awadh.

Amir-Abbas Hoveyda was an Iranian economist and politician. He served as prime minister of Iran from January 1965 to August 1977 and is the longest-serving prime minister in Iran's history. Following the Iranian Revolution, he was tried by the newly established Revolutionary Court and executed. He was posthumously named Commander of the Legion of Honor.  

Alexander Bogdanov was a Russian physician, science fiction writer, philosopher, and Bolshevik revolutionary. Bogdanov is credited with inventing Tektology, which is widely considered a forerunner of systems theory. A multi-talented personality, Alexander Bogdanov was also a renowned economist and culture theorist.

Nobel Peace Prize-winning French stateman Aristide Briand had been the prime minister of his country for 11 terms, apart from holding 26 ministerial posts throughout his career. He played major roles in the drafting of the Pact of Locarno and Kellogg-Briand Pact, and had founded journals such as l’Humanité.

Leonid Kantorovich was a Soviet economist and mathematician. Credited with founding linear programming, Kantorovich was honored with the prestigious Stalin Prize in 1949. In 1975, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on the theory of optimum allocation of resources. He also made important contributions to functional analysis, operator theory, and approximation theory.

Best known for developing the Charles’s law, which explains the expansion of gases when heated, Jacques Charles was a prominent French physicist. He was the first to ascend in a hydrogen-filled gas balloon, thus pioneering hot-air balloon flight. The Académie des Sciences member later became a professor of physics.

Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte was a French nobleman, politician, and revolutionary. He played an important role during the Revolutions of 1848, serving as a member of the Constituent Assembly. He also played a prominent role in helping his cousin Louis Napoleon become the first president of France.

Elizabeth Bibesco was an English actress, socialite, and writer. From 1921 to 1940, Bibesco published a book of poetry, two plays, four novels, and three collections of short stories. Elizabeth Bibesco is perhaps best remembered as the daughter of former British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith.

Known as the father of the trampoline, George Nissen, a 3-time NCAA champion gymnast, not only invented the trampoline, inspired by the safety nets of trapeze artists, but also popularized it as a global sport. After getting a business degree, he had performed as part of the Three Leonardos traveling acrobatics group.

John Baptist de La Salle, also known as La Salle, is remembered as the founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, or the de La Salle Brothers. Apart from setting up charitable boarding schools, he also trained teachers. He is revered as the patron saint of school teachers and educators.

Youssef Bey Karam, considered one of the major pillars of Lebanese nationalism, not only participated in the 1860 civil war but also led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. Well versed in languages such as French and Italian, the Lebanese Maronite had also been the governor of Ehden.