Died On December 26th

Harry Truman was the US president from 1945 to 1953 and his administration successfully guided the US economy through the post-war challenges. He established the Truman Doctrine to contain Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. He authorised the first and only use of nuclear weapons during a war when he sanctioned bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Gerald Ford Jr served as the 38th president of US from August 1974 to January 1977. His 895 day-long stint as the American president is the shortest in US history for any president who did not die in office. In a controversial act, he granted a presidential pardon to his predecessor Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal.

Vincent Schiavelli was an American food writer and actor. Remembered for playing unique characters, Schiavelli was regarded as one of the best character actors in the history of Hollywood. Also a prolific writer, Schiavelli wrote several cookbooks and articles for various publications like Saveur, Gourmet, and the Los Angeles Times. In 2001, he won a James Beard Foundation Journalism Award.

Elsa Lanchester was an English actress whose career spanned more than 50 years. Apart from her acting skills, Lanchester was also known for her skills as a dancer. After starting her career in the British entertainment industry, Lanchester moved to Hollywood in the 1930s, owing to her success in American films. She was also nominated for an Oscar in 1949.

E. O. Wilson is an American naturalist, biologist, and writer. An influential biologist, Wilson has earned several nicknames, such as The Darwin of the 21st century. He has also been referred to as the father of biodiversity and the father of sociobiology. In 1995, he was ranked among the most influential American personalities by Time magazine.

Chinese martial artist Wong Jack-man is best remembered for his duel with Bruce Lee in 1964. The duel was mired in controversy, as it was held privately in Oakland. There are different accounts of the fight, and Wong released his own version in the Chinese newspaper Chinese Pacific Weekly.

German businessman Heinrich Schliemann didn’t let his poverty or lack of education hinder his growth and learned several languages moving from place to place for trade. A pioneer in the field of archaeology, he is now remembered as the man who discovered Troy in his bid to unearth “Priam's Treasure."

Sylva Koscina was a Yugoslav-born Italian actress best remembered for her portrayal of Iole in the movies Hercules and Hercules Unchained in the late 1950s. She was also seen playing an important role opposite Paul Newman in the 1968 American comedy war film The Secret War of Harry Frigg. Sylva Koscina is also remembered for posing for the Playboy magazine.

Former president of India Shankar Dayal Sharma was born in a small village near Bhopal in India. His interest in law got him to Harvard and Cambridge, and he later participated in the Indian independence movement. He also headed the Indian National Congress and was the first chief minister of Bhopal.

Frederic Remington was an American sculptor, painter, illustrator, and writer. Best remembered for his depictions of the Western United States, Remington is a member of several cowboy halls of fame, including the Texas Trail Hall of Fame. Frederic Remington was regarded as one of the most successful and popular Western illustrators during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

Henry Louis Vivian Derozio was an Anglo-Indian poet who became the assistant headmaster of Hindu College, Kolkata. He was born to a Christian Indo-Portuguese father and an English mother in British India. A brilliant young man, he was a radical thinker of his time, and his activities kindled the intellectual revolution in Bengal. Unfortunately, he died at the age of 22.  

Liane de Pougy was a French dancer and vedette who performed at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Remembered for her captivating looks, de Pougy was widely regarded as one of Paris's most notorious courtesans. She also served as the subject for many artists like Paul César Helleu and Jean Baptiste Guth.

Hungarian-American mathematician and computer scientist John G. Kemeny is remembered for his pathbreaking co-discovery of BASIC computer language. Though he and his parents managed to escape the Nazis by fleeing to the US, he lost his grandfather to the Holocaust. He also worked on the Manhattan Project.

Typecast in gentle and soft-spoken characters in films such as Gilda and Spellbound, Hungarian-American actor Steven Geray initially gained fame in the Hungarian stage circle, before performing in London and then moving to the US. Some believe he was forced to leave Europe after being hounded for impersonating Hitler and Mussolini.