Famous People Who Died In 1960

Popularly known as The King of Hollywood, Clark Gable appeared as a leading man for 30 years in an acting career that spanned 37 years. One of the most bankable Hollywood stars in the history of American cinema, Clark Gable was named in the greatest male star of classic American cinema list published by the American Film Institute.

Albert Camus was a French philosopher and the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. His philosophical views contributed to the rise of absurdism, a philosophical concept. Also a prolific writer, Albert Camus had an illustrious literary career; most of his philosophical essays and novels are still influential.

Zora Neale Hurston was an author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. As an African American woman, she often depicted racial issues in the films she made. Her works also reflected her struggles as a black woman. In her early career, she conducted anthropological and ethnographic research and focused more on writing and film-making in her later years.

Born into a working-class family, Aneurin Bevan quit school at 13 to start working at a colliery. He later won a scholarship to study in London and rose to become a Labour MP. He led the ministries of labor and health, and the left-wing of the Labour Party, the Bevanites.

Financier and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. Was the only son of Standard Oil co-founder, John D. Rockefeller. An alumnus of Brown University, he was very principled and careful with money from an early age. He joined his father’s business and went on to become one of the largest real estate holders in Manhattan.

Son of an artist father and a pianist mother, Boris Pasternak initially wished to become a musician. He is best known for his novel Doctor Zhivago, set against backdrop of the Russian Revolution. The Soviet Communists forced him to decline the Nobel Prize, which his descendants later accepted.

Salvatore Ferragamo was an Italian shoe designer. An innovative designer, Ferragamo is remembered for inventing the Cage heel. Also a pioneering shoe designer, Ferragamo experimented with materials including fish, crocodile, and kangaroo skin. He is also credited with founding the popular luxury goods company, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. Today, his company has extended its operations to include a ready-to-wear clothing line.

Erich Raeder was a German admiral best remembered for his role in World War II. In 1939, Raeder became the first person since Henning von Holtzendorff to hold the rank of Grand Admiral, the highest possible naval rank. Raeder led the Kriegsmarine, the navy of Nazi Germany, for the first half of the Second World War before resigning in 1943.

Mack Sennett was a film actor, director, and producer. He specialized in comedy and was known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Canada in 1880, he moved to USA as a young man and entered the fledgling film industry as an actor. He found considerable success and went on to open Keystone Studios in Edendale. 

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, daughter of Emperor Alexander III, was a sickly but studious child. After leaving her first husband, who was homosexual, after a 15-year unconsummated marriage, Olga married Nikolai Kulikovsky and later fled with him and their children to escape the Russian revolution.

Swedish operatic tenor Jussi Björling was closely associated with New York’s Metropolitan Opera throughout his career. He was particularly known for his expertise in Italian and French repertory. After starting to sing at age 6, he made his opera debut with Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Stockholm.

Former Philippine senator and Senate Minority Leader Claro Mayo Recto is remembered as a nationalist. He was a major figure of the Filipino-first movement and was against American neo-colonialism. A jurist, he had also been the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

Son of All-India Muslim League president Aga Khan III, Aly Khan was known for his numerous affairs and his marriage to Hollywood star Rita Hayworth. The socialite and race-horse owner was stripped of his inheritance, as Aga Khan’s will mentioned Aly’s son Karim as his successor.

Harold Gillies was a New Zealand otolaryngologist who is considered the father of modern plastic surgery. He is also credited with pioneering sex reassignment surgery; he performed one of the earliest sex reassignment surgeries on Michael Dillon in 1946. Harold Gillies was also an amateur golfer and played in the annual Amateur Championship from 1906 to 1931.

Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan reigned as the first Paramount Ruler of the Federation of Malaya from 31 August 1957 to 1 April 1960. He also served as the second Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan and eighth Yamtuan of Seri Menanti. Since 1967, his portrait has been featuring on Malaysian Ringgit banknotes and several places are named after him.       
 

Ida Rubinstein was a Russian dancer, art patron, and actress. She is best remembered for performing with the popular itinerant ballet company, the Ballets Russes. She also served as a subject for Russian painter Valentin Alexandrovich Serov's portrait Salomé.

Three-time president of Syria, Hashim al-Atassi was a nationalist. Born into a landowning family, he began his political career serving as the governors of places such as Hama, Anatolia, and Baalbek. Known for his adherence to constitutional means of governance, he was respected by his opponents, too.

David Diop was a French West-African poet best remembered for his role in the Négritude literary movement. Diop's poems, which have been featured in popular magazines like Présence Africaine, are viewed as a criticism of colonialism. David Diop, who worked for the independence of Africa, died at the age of 33 in an air crash.

Russian-born actor-director Gregory Ratoff moved to the US in the 1920s and directed and acted in plays by the Yiddish Players and on Broadway. Initially typecast as a villain, he later soared to fame with films such as All About Eve and directed several films, such as Oscar Wilde and Black Magic.

One of the greatest 20th-century pianists, Edwin Fischer is best remembered for his renditions of German legends such as Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven. He not only established his own chamber orchestra, but also taught in Lucerne and launched a foundation to help young and underprivileged musicians.

The son of a math professor and an amateur cellist father, Ernő Dohnányi was taught the basics of music by his father at age 8. While he later taught in Berlin and Budapest, he was banned in Hungary for a decade by the communists. He later taught in Argentina and then the US.

Italian painter, sculptor, and graphic designer Fortunato Depero was one of the main figures of the Second Futurism movement. He later launched Italy’s first museum on the Futurist movement, the Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero. He also established himself as a successful interior designer, costume designer, and advertiser in New York.

French engineer and inventor Georges Claude was often referred as the Edison of France. He is most noted for inventing and commercializing neon lighting and having a near monopoly on the new technology, for conducting an experiment to generate thermal energy of the ocean and building the first Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant, and for the Claude cycle.  

Leonard Warren was an American opera singer best remembered for his association with the Metropolitan Opera, where he was one of the most important and popular artists for many years. A baritone, Leonard Warren performed leading roles in Giuseppe Verdi's operas.

Viennese actor Jackie Gerlich is best remembered for playing a member of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz, a role his dwarfism helped him attain. He was posthumously honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He had arrived in America on an ocean liner in 1936.