Famous People Who Died Today

George Gershwin was an American pianist, composer, and painter. His work Porgy and Bess is widely regarded as an American cultural classic and one of the 20th century's most important American operas. Many of his compositions have been used in films and television series. His life and work inspired the 1945 biographical movie, Rhapsody in Blue.

Lady Bird Johnson was an American socialite who served as the First Lady of the US from 1963 to 1969. As First Lady, Johnson was responsible for the passage of the Highway Beautification Act, which was nicknamed Lady Bird's Bill. She was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977 and 1988, respectively.

Actor Robert Ryan was also a prominent civil rights activist. In his initial days, he was also a heavyweight boxing champion, and later also served in the US Marine Corps. He soared to fame with his roles of cops or bullies in films such as The Woman on the Beach and Crossfire.

Tommy Ramone was a Hungarian-American record producer, musician, and songwriter. For four years, he served as the drummer for the punk rock band the Ramones. The band was often cited as the first true punk rock group and was highly influential. Even though he left the group in the late 1970s, he maintained good relations with his former bandmates. 

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was an Italian painter best remembered for painting human figures, especially portrait heads, without using conventional facial features. His pictures of human heads were often made of objects like vegetables, fruits, flowers, books, and fish. Giuseppe Arcimboldo's works have influenced artists like Salvador Dalí, Shigeo Fukuda, Octavio Ocampo, István Orosz, Sandro del Prete, and Vic Muniz.

Milan Kundera is a Czech writer who became a naturalized French citizen in 1981 after going into exile in France in 1975. Although his Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked four years after going into exile, he received Czech citizenship in 2019, thanks to his achievements as a writer. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, such as the Jerusalem Prize.

Cardiac surgeon Michael DeBakey pioneered many treatments of cardiovascular ailments and also invented instruments such as the roller pump, later used for open-heart surgery procedures. He was also instrumental in developing MASH units and was awarded several prestigious awards, such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

Frances Langford was an American actress and singer who achieved popularity during the Golden Age of Radio. She played an important role during World War II, entertaining military personnel and war heroes. She was also known for her philanthropic efforts and worked closely with the Florida Oceanographic Society. She has a couple of stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Robert Runcie was born to middle-class parents, and had been part of the Scots Guards during World War II. He later became the bishop of St. Albans, before taking over as the archbishop of Canterbury. A life peer, he had also penned works such as One Light for One World.

Best known for his short poem Invictus, William Ernest Henley was a Victorian-era British poet and author. A disease he contracted in childhood caused one of his legs to be amputated. It is believed, he was the inspiration behind the crippled character Long John Silver in RL Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Roman emperor Maximian, also known as Herculius, initially made a name for himself in the army. He followed Diocletian’s edict that ordered the Scriptures to be burnt and churches to be shut down. After his campaign against Constantine was suppressed, he committed suicide by hanging himself on Constantine’s orders.

A Bohemian style icon of the late 1960s, Dutch actor-model Talitha Getty was also the wife of oil magnate John Paul Getty Jr., who was one of the richest men of his time. She spent her childhood in a WWII Japanese prison camp and later studied acting at RADA in London.

Initially a herbalist’s apprentice, Simon Newcomb later deviated to mathematics and astronomy. Born to a schoolteacher, he had loved math since age 5 but wasn’t formally educated. He later joined Harvard University, taught math at the US Navy, detected locations of celestial bodies, and wrote a science-fiction novel, too.

Deng Yingchao was a Chinese politician best remembered as the wife of Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. She was a pioneer of the women's movement in China and an important member of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Tianjin houses a memorial hall dedicated to Deng Yingchao and her husband.

Zivia Lubetkin was a Holocaust survivor and leader of the Jewish resistance under Nazi rule in Warsaw. Lubetkin was one of the leaders of the Jewish Combat Organization, the only woman to hold a leadership position within the group. The Jewish Combat Organization played a key role in launching the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Nobel Prize-winning Swedish author Pär Lagerkvist is remembered for his bestselling novels The Dwarf and Barabbas. He mostly used religious figures to examine the question of good and evil. One of his prose novellas, The Hangman, was later adapted for the stage. He also chaired the Swedish Academy.

George Lascelles, the 7th Earl of Harewood, was one of those British royalty members who gained more fame for their work than for their lineage. An art and music lover, he headed the English National Opera. An avid football fan, too, he was also the Leeds United president.

Legendary Irish comedian Brendan Grace had popularized his character, Bottler. He was also known for the sitcom Father Ted. Initially a musician, he started his own band at 18 and later also created chartbusters such as The Combine Harvester. He lost his battle with lung cancer at 68.

León de Greiff was a Colombian poet best remembered for co-founding a literary and artistic group called Los Panidas. Renowned for his stylistic innovations, De Greiff was responsible for introducing various literary techniques and devices to Colombian readers and fellow writers. 

Sophia Getzowa had lost her mother at 8. A prominent Zionist, she studied medicine and became known for her research on solid cell nests and for being the first woman to teach at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She was also engaged to Chaim Weizmann, who later became Israel’s first president.