Famous People Who Died Today

Nobel Prize-winning playwright and author George Bernard Shaw was best known for his realism and his support for women’s rights and socialism. His ideas gave rise to the word “Shavian.” His drama Pygmalion inspired the musical My Fair Lady. His other notable works include Candida and Man and Superman.

Noted film director and actor Pier Paolo Pasolini had already gained fame as a poet and author before stepping into the entertainment industry. The openly gay filmmaker was known for his usage of non-professional actors and themes of sexuality. His brutal murder remains to be a controversial topic.

Theo van Gogh was a Dutch filmmaker, actor, television producer, and author. He was assassinated by a Dutch-Moroccan Islamist named Mohammed Bouyeri for directing a short film titled Submission: Part 1, which was originally written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and opposed the unfair treatment of women in Islam. Theo was 47 years old. His last film 06/05 was released posthumously.

Edmond James de Rothschild was a French businessman with deep connections to the Rothschild banking family. He was a strong supporter of Zionism and donated significant amounts that went towards the establishment of the State of Israel. He also provided funds for the foundation of the Friends of the French National Museum of Natural History Society. 

Henry Cele was a South African actor and soccer player. Renowned for his goalkeeping skills, Cele was nicknamed Black Cat due to his cat-like agility. As an actor, he is remembered for playing Shaka kaSenzangakhona in the miniseries Shaka Zulu and in the TV film Shaka Zulu: The Last Great Warrior. Henry Cele was honored with the Golden Plumes Award.

Thomas Midgley Jr. was an American chemical and mechanical engineer. Midgley played a key role in the development of leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were later banned due to their negative impact on the environment and human health. Thomas Midgley Jr. was granted over 100 patents during his lifetime.

Joseph Alliluyev was a Russian cardiologist best remembered as the grandson of Joseph Stalin. Although he maintained a low profile, Alliluyev appeared in a TV interview where he discussed his relationship with his maternal grandfather. In the 1992 TV film Stalin, which was directed by Ivan Passer, Joseph Alliluyev is showcased briefly as a six-year-old.

Best known for his bestselling 1962 instrumental hit Stranger on the Shore, British clarinettist Acker Bilk was loved by his fans for his stage presence. Though he focused more on football and boxing in childhood, he was pushed by his parents to learn the piano and later switched to the clarinet.

Gigi Proietti was an Italian actor, comedian, musician, and singer. He loved to sing from an early age and performed in nightclubs as a young man. He attended the University Theater Center and began his career as a theater actor. He soon branched out into movies as well and appeared in hit films like The Appointment and The Wedding. 

H. V. Evatt was an Australian politician and judge who served as a judge of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940. He was appointed the attorney-general in 1941. He was also active in politics and was the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition from 1951 to 1960. 

An explorer at heart, Alexander Burnes joined the East India Company army at 16. Proficient in languages such as Hindi and Urdu, he later explored places such as the modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, and penned the autobiography Travels into Bokhara. He also earned the knighthood for his explorations.

German rabbi and spiritual leader Leo Baeck remains a symbol of liberal Jewish thinking of the Nazi era. He is best remembered for The Essence of Judaism and This People Israel, the latter of which was penned by him while in a Nazi concentration camp.

Born to a Chinese father and a Belgian mother in China, Han Suyin initially studied medicine and also worked as a midwife. During her medical practice in Hong Kong, she was in a relationship with a married Australian war reporter, which was the basis of her iconic novel A Many-Splendoured Thing.

Peter Debye was a Dutch-American physical chemist and physicist. He is best remembered for winning the 1936 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was also the recipient of the Rumford Medal, Franklin Medal, and Priestley Medal. In 1965, Peter Debye was honored with the National Medal of Science. In 1982, he was inducted into the Alpha Chi Sigma Hall of Fame.

Rasuna Said was an Indonesian independence and women's rights activist. She campaigned actively for women's political and educational rights. Rasuna Said was associated with various political organizations and her involvement in her country's struggle for independence earned her a posthumous recognition as the National Heroine of Indonesia. 

Former Serbian general Veljko Kadijević led the Yugoslav People's Army and had also served as Yugoslavia’s minister of defense. He is known for his exploits in World War II, the Ten-Day War, and the War in Croatia. He also co-founded the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.

Bartolomeo Colleoni was an Italian condottiero who served as the captain-general of the Venetian Republic. Colleoni went on to become the leading disciplinarian and tactician of the 15th century. Bartolomeo Colleoni is also credited with revamping the Roman baths in a town called Trescore Balneario.

Seventeenth-century German physician and traveler Engelbert Kaempfer had been on trade missions across the world, including places such as Russia, Iran, Java, and Japan. His written experiences about his stay in Japan became a valuable source of information on the flora and fauna of the country.

Turing Award-winning Israeli computer scientist Amir Pnueli established the Tel Aviv University’s computer science department and was the son of Prof. Shay Pnueli, one of the founders of the university. He is best known for his research on temporal logic in computing and also co-founded the AdCad software.