Famous People Who Died Today

Dennis Hopper was an American actor, photographer, and filmmaker. His directorial film debut Easy Rider glorified the counterculture of the 1960s and became the cinematic symbol of counterculture, inspiring several youngsters. Also a photographer, Hopper’s photographs of the 1963 March on Washington were published. Hopper is also credited with influencing actress Amber Tamblyn whose father was one of his friends.

Jeff Buckley was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter. His only studio album, Grace, was included in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. Since his untimely death at the age of 30, Jeff Buckley has been the subject of several documentaries. His death also inspired several artists to record songs in tribute to his life and career.

Harvey Korman gained recognition with his acts on The Danny Kaye Show. He then soared to fame with the sketch comedy series The Carol Burnett Show, partnering with Tim Conway and winning four Emmys. He has also been part of The Flintstones franchise and several Mel Brooks comedies.

Entrepreneur Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term Arizona senator. He represented the Republican Party in the 1964 presidential election, which he lost by a landslide margin to Lyndon B Johnson. He impacted the conservative and libertarian movements. He was a skilled photographer and loved collecting kachina dolls.

Academy Award-winning Canadian-American actor Gladys Marie Smith, better known by her pseudonym, Mary Pickford, was also one of the co-founders of Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists. She and 35 others co-founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She was also known as "America's Sweetheart" of silent films.

Fanny Brice was an American singer, comedienne, and actress. She is credited with creating one of the most popular radio comedy series of her generation, The Baby Snooks Show. Fanny Brice was posthumously honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the radio and film industries. Her life inspired the 1964 musical, Funny Girl. 

Bartolomeu Dias was a nobleman of the Portuguese royal household in the 15th century. Famous as an explorer, he sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa and set up a route from Europe to Asia. He became the first European to anchor in Cape Good Hope, South Africa, during the Age of Discovery. He perished in 1500. 

Padma Bhushan- and Dadasaheb Phalke Award-winning legendary actor and filmmaker Prithviraj Kapoor is known to be one of the pioneers of Hindi cinema. The patriarch of the Kapoor family of Bollywood, he also established Prithvi Theatres and later played the iconic role of Akbar in Mughal-e-Azam. He was also a Rajya Sabha MP.

Born in Germany, Eva Hesse moved with her family to England, and then to the U.S., in a bid to escape the Nazi regime. Her death due to brain tumor at age 34 cut short her dynamic career. A sculptor and painter, she experimented with media such latex, metal, and mesh.

Former Malaysian prime minister Hussein Onn is remembered as the Father of Unity. Son of Malaysian freedom fighter Onn Jaafar, Hussein had been educated in Singapore and then been part of the Indian Army during World War II. He later stepped into politics with the UMNO.

Karlheinz Böhm was an Austrian-German philanthropist and actor. He is best remembered for playing a psychopathic named Mark in the 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film Peeping Tom. In 2003, the Ethiopian government honored Karlheinz Böhm with honorary citizenship for his work as the founder of an organization named Humans for Humans, which aims at helping Ethiopian people in need.

G.W. Pabst was an Austrian actor, director, and screenwriter. He studied drama at the Academy of Decorative Arts and became a stage actor. He soon started directing plays as well. He later became a film director with the movie The Treasure. He eventually came to be counted amongst the most influential German-language filmmakers during the Weimar Republic. 

Tamara Toumanova was a Georgian-American ballet dancer and actress. She achieved international recognition at a young age when she came to be known as one of the Original Ballet Russe's Baby Ballerinas along with Irina Baronova and Tatiana Riabouchinska. She then performed across Europe and went on to establish herself as an actress, appearing as a dancer in several films. 

Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk was considered one of the most promising students of the reputed Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. Suk along with two other students of Dvořák, Karel Hoffmann and Oskar Nedba, and a student of Hanuš Wihan founded the internationally reputed Czech string quartet called Bohemian Quartet. Major works of Suk are Asrael Symphony and Serenade for Strings.

Best known for his iconic movies such as The Naked Island and Children of Hiroshima, Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shindo initially wanted to be a screenwriter. Part of the Japanese navy during World War II, he later often used themes of war and social realism in his films.

Ba Maw was a Burmese political leader and lawyer. He achieved prominence as a lawyer in 1931, when he defended Saya San. He then focused on his political career and went on to serve as the Head of State of Burma from 1 August 1943 to 27 March 1945.

Agustina de Aragon was a Spanish warrior best remembered for her valiant effort while defending Spain during the Peninsular War. Nicknamed the Spanish Joan of Arc, Agustina served in the Spanish Army. Regarded as a heroine in Spain, Agustina de Aragón has been the subject of several stories, folklore, and artwork. Her life inspired the 1929 film Agustina of Aragon.

Hamilton Naki was a laboratory assistant who worked alongside cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard in South Africa.  Despite not having a formal medical education, he was known for his dexterity with surgical equipment and his ability to teach medical students. Some sources claim he participated in the world's first human-to-human heart transplantation in 1967. 

Lester Piggott is an English former jockey. Piggott has 4,493 career wins under his belt and is considered one of the greatest jockeys of all time. In 1999, Piggott was ranked second in the top 50 jockeys of the 20th century list published by the Racing Post. In 2021, Piggott was inducted into the British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

Charan Singh was an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India for a short period of 24 weeks between July 1979  and January 1980. Referred to as the champion of India's peasants, Charan Singh is best remembered for working towards the welfare of farmers. Lucknow's international airport, which was earlier named The Amausi Airport, is now named after him.

Siaka Stevens, known for his self-indulgent and corrupt rule, was overthrown by a coup in 1967, shortly after becoming the prime minister of Sierra Leone, but he was called back from exile in Guinea after a second coup a few months later. He was also the country’s first president.

Yosano Akiko was a Japanese author, social reformer, poet, pacifist, and feminist. One of the most controversial and popular woman poets of Japan, Yosano was an important exponent of a genre of classical Japanese poetry called Tanka. She also contributed immensely to several publications like Bluestocking.