Famous People Who Died Today

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist whose legacy has had an influence upon fashion, film, music, and literature. He serves as an inspiration to street artists as he started off as one, painting graffiti on buildings. After his death, at the age of 27, the value of his work has increased; in 2017, one of his paintings sold for a record $110.5 million.

Ian Fleming was a British writer, naval intelligence officer, and journalist. Fleming is credited with creating one of the most popular characters of all time, James Bond. His James Bond series of novels have sold more than 100 million copies, making them one of the best-selling fictional book series in history. Jamaica’s Ian Fleming International Airport is named after him.

Known for her sultry looks and distinctive voice, Lauren Bacall was an important actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood. As part of a publicity stunt, Bacall was asked to sit on the piano that was being played by Vice President Harry Truman at the National Press Club. The picture of Bacall sitting on the piano remains an iconic photograph.

Loretta Young began as a child actor. She later won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Katrin "Katy" Holstrum in The Farmer's Daughter and earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in Come to the Stable. Fans also loved her in the Emmy-winning series The Loretta Young Show.

Merv Griffin was an American media mogul and television show host best known for hosting, The Merv Griffin Show, from 1965 to 1986. He is also credited with creating famous game shows, such as Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, through his TV production companies. For his contribution to TV, Merv Griffin was inducted posthumously into the Television Hall of Fame.

Jazz and country guitarist Les Paul developed his version of the solid-body electric guitar, which he named the Log. He is also credited with pioneering innovations such as multitrack recording, the eight-track tape recorder, and overdubbing. He won the Special Merit/Technical Grammy Award for his achievements.

Actress Anne Heche became involved in a high profile relationship with Ellen DeGeneres, which was highly publicized by the media. IShe had claimed that her father had sexually abused her during her childhood. She also said that she had an alter ego named Celestia, but has put her alter ego behind her. Anne met a tragic death after a fatal car accident. She was 53.

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was a US Navy lieutenant. The eldest of the famous Kennedy siblings, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. was groomed by his father from a very young age to become the president of the United States. After his death during World War II at age 29, John F. Kennedy took it upon himself to materialize his father's dreams.

George Stephenson was a British mechanical and civil engineer. Stephenson is credited with pioneering rail transport which is widely regarded as one of the most prominent inventions of the 19th century. Regarded as the Father of Railways, George Stephenson is also credited with developing the standard rail gauge which is used by several railways around the world.

American physicist, inventor and Nobel laureate William Bradford Shockley Jr received the Nobel Prize in Physics with John Bardeen and Walter Brattain in 1956 for their researches on semiconductors and for discovering the transistor effect while working at the Bell Labs. He later became a proponent of eugenics while serving as a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University.

Leos Janacek was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, and teacher. He is credited to have created an original, modern musical style inspired by Moravian and other Slavic folk music. He was deeply influenced by folklore and by the works of his contemporary and friend,  Antonín Dvořák. The Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra is named in his honor. 

Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian-born American chess player. He is recognized as the first World Chess Champion, having reigned from 1886 to 1894. A multi-talented personality, Wilhelm Steinitz was also an influential chess theoretician and writer. Steinitz is also remembered for having a huge impact on the game and was a well-known player during his time.

Nobel Prize-winning British electrical engineer Godfrey Hounsfield is best known for developing the CAT and CT scan techniques along with Allan Cormack. He also led the team that developed Britain’s first all-transistor computer. He was knighted for his achievements, while the measure of radiodensity was named the Hounsfield scale.

Best known as the founder of the political party Sinn Féin, Arthur Griffith was also a journalist who launched the nationalist newspaper United Irishman. Though he didn’t participate in the Easter Rising, he was arrested and later released. He negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty and became the president of Dáil Éireann.

With his Billboard number one track Sukiyaki, Kyu Sakamoto became the first to score a pop number one with a song entirely sung in Japanese. Born to a restaurateur, he had started his career singing in jazz clubs. He died in a 1985 plane crash that killed over 500 people.

Francisco de Vitoria was a Spanish Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher, and jurist of Renaissance Spain. He founded the School of Salamanca, a tradition in philosophy. He made tremendous contributions to the theory of just war and international law. His works have been interpreted by various scholars to support contrary policies. He taught at the universities of Valladolid and of Salamanca. 

Walter Rudolf Hess was a Swiss physiologist whose research on the diencephalon earned him the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His research helped him to map the parts of the brain that control the internal organs. In 1930, he helped found the International Foundation for the High Alpine Research Station Jungfraujoch and served as its director till 1937.

Born to a chemist father in Berlin, Ernst Boris Chain moved to the U.K. amid the rise of the Nazis. The Nobel Prize-winning biochemist later worked at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. He is best remembered for isolating and purifying penicillin, along with Howard Walter Florey.

Karl Ziegler was a German chemist whose work on polymers earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963, which he shared with Giulio Natta. Ziegler is also renowned for his work involving organometallic compounds and free-radicals. He is also credited with developing Ziegler-Natta catalyst. During his career, Ziegler won many awards, including the Werner von Siemens Ring.

Remembered as a patron of the arts, Pope Sixtus IV devoted himself to the reconstruction of Roman churches and also sponsored the construction of the Sistine Chapel. He also developed the Vatican Library and made it available for scholars. He was a key force behind making Rome a Renaissance city.

Botanist William Jackson Hooker made history as the first director of the Kew Gardens, or the Royal Botanic Gardens. Born to a merchant’s clerk who was also an amateur botanist, Hooker developed an interest in insects, birds, and plants at an early age. He was also known for his plant illustrations.

Sein Lwin was a Burmese politician who served as the President of Burma from 27 July to 12 August 1988. Sein Lwin, who also served as the military general in the Burmese Army, earned the nickname Butcher of Rangoon for brutally suppressing student-led protests in Rangoon. The students were massacred for protesting against the military regime of General Ne Win.

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld was a Finland-Swedish geologist, aristocrat, Arctic explorer, and mineralogist. He is best remembered for leading the Vega Expedition of 1878–1880, the first Arctic expedition to steer through the Northeast Passage. The expedition is regarded as one of the greatest achievements in Swedish science history.    

James Edward Keeler initially worked at the Lick Observatory and later proved that the rings of Saturn aren’t solid but are made of tiny particles. He used the reflecting telescope for his astrophotography projects. He had also been the director of the Allegheny Observatory and had co-founded Astrophysical Journal.