Famous People Who Died Today

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actress whose early career was defined by her performance in the controversial Czech erotic film Ecstasy. Apart from gaining popularity as a beautiful Hollywood actress, Hedy Lamarr became known as an inventor after co-inventing frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Her career has inspired several works of art. She was also the inspiration behind the iconic character Catwoman.

Miguel Ferrer was an American actor who achieved popularity after portraying Bob Morton in the 1987 cyberpunk superhero film RoboCop. His popularity led him to be featured in a couple of music videos. After his death at the age of 61, Peter David named Spider-Man 2099's alter ego after Miguel Ferrer.

Fredo Santana was an American rapper whose debut studio album peaked at number 45 on Billboard 200 chart. Santana suffered from drug addiction throughout his life and attributed his addiction to trauma experienced in his childhood. Eventually, his addiction took a toll on his health and he died in 2018 at the age of 27, joining the dreaded 27 Club.

Indian-born British author Anna Leonowens is best remembered for her memoir The English Governess at the Siamese Court, which related her experience as a governess of the children of King Mongkut of Siam. The musical The King and I and the novel Anna and the King of Siam were inspired by her life.

British philosopher and mathematician Frank P. Ramsey was the son of a famed mathematician and later laid down the Ramsey theory of mathematical logic. The Cambridge alumnus also translated Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus but died at age 26, probably due to a liver infection he contracted while swimming.

Osho Rajneesh was an Indian godman and mystic. Also known as Acharya Rajneesh and Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh, he was the founder of the Rajneesh movement. He preached the importance of meditation, mindfulness, celebration,  love, courage, and creativity and called for a more open attitude to human sexuality, because of which he was considered a controversial new religious movement leader. 

Italy’s first Socialist prime minister, Bettino Craxi was born to an anti-fascist lawyer who was persecuted by Benito Mussolini’s regime. He later deviated from the traditional socialism and even changed the symbol of his party from the hammer-and-sickle to a red carnation. He was nicknamed The Big Boar due to his size.

German-American actor and filmmaker Frank Reicher was the son of actor Emanuel Reiche and the grandson of baritone singer August Kindermann. While he started his career with Broadway, he later soared to fame as Capt. Englehorn from the film King Kong and its sequel, The Son of Kong.

Elis Regina was a Brazilian singer who achieved national recognition in 1965 when she performed Arrastão on TV Excelsior. Best remembered for her interpretation and vocalization, Regina helped popularize tropicalismo in the late-1960s and early-1970s. Elis Regina's life, career, and untimely death at age 36 inspired a film titled Elis where she was played by Andréia Horta.

The founder of Korean candy giant Lotte, Shin Kyuk-ho started as a chewing gum maker but later expanded the Lotte Group to include industries such as hotels, fast food outlets, and department stores, and even 2 baseball teams. One of South Korea’s richest people, he was also convicted of embezzlement later.

German surgeon and botanist Heinrich Anton de Bary is regarded as the pioneer of plant pathology and mycology. Apart from teaching botany, he chalked the life cycles of many fungi and also coined the term symbiosis to explain the mutually beneficial co-existence of many orgnanisms, such as fungi and algae.

G. Ledyard Stebbins was an American geneticist and botanist. He is considered one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. Stebbins is credited with writing Variation and Evolution in Plants, which describes plant speciation and is considered his most important publication. For his contributions to science, G. Ledyard Stebbins received many awards including the prestigious National Medal of Science.

Hungarian-born actor Bill Nagy was raised in Canada and later settled in Britain, where he had most of his acting projects. A regular in the London stage circuit, he performed in West End shows and later bagged minor roles in many movies. He was initially a ballroom dancer.

Bartolomé Mitre was an Argentine soldier, statesman, and author. He is best remembered for his service as the President of Argentina from 12 October 1862 to 12 October 1868. A major political figure that best characterized liberalism in 19th century Argentina, Bartolomé Mitre was also a historian, journalist, writer, and poet.