Famous People Who Died Today

Harry Morgan was an American actor who appeared in over 100 films in a career that spanned six decades. Apart from contributing to the success of several films, Morgan also appeared in many TV series; for his performance in the series M*A*S*H, Morgan received an Emmy. In 2006, he was made an inductee of the Hall of Great Western Performers.

Joan Bennett was an American actress best remembered for her femme fatale roles in movies like The Woman in the Window and Man Hunt. Her contribution to the film industry earned her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, although she also made immense contributions to radio, TV, and theater.

Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg, whose works gave rise to the expression Rube Goldberg machines, had started as an engineer and designed sewer pipes. He later worked for the San Francisco Chronicle and eventually soared to fame with his cartoons depicting gadgets and the character Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts.

Michel Ney was a French military commander. One of the 18 Marshals of the Empire inaugurated by Napoléon Bonaparte, Michel Ney played important roles in the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolutionary Wars. Nicknamed the Bravest of the Brave by Napoleon himself, Ney was renowned for his valor in wars. 

Scottish surgeon Robert Liston worked in an era when anesthesia wasn’t invented. He could complete amputations within minutes, thus saving the lives of many when the speed of the surgery made the difference between life and death. Later, he became the first European surgeon to operate under anesthesia.

Model and Instagram influencer Joselyn Cano, also known as "The Mexican Kim Kardashian,” had modeled for Lowrider magazine and appeared in quite a few videos, such as World Star Hip Hop's Valentine's Day Special. She also owned a swimwear line. She died due to a botched butt-lift surgery in 2020.

Political caricaturist and cartoonist Thomas Nast was born in Germany and moved to the U.S. at age 6. He began his career as a draftsman at the Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper and then worked for Harper’s Weekly and the New York Illustrated News. His creations include the Republican Party elephant.

Born in Germany, Pentecostal preacher Reinhard Bonnke had become a born-again Christian at 9. He was known for his self-less preachings in Africa and made his powerful oratory a trademark. As the founder of Christ For All Nations, he was reportedly responsible for over 79 million Christian conversions.

Ferdinand de Lesseps was a French diplomat who is credited with forming the Suez Canal Company. The construction of the Suez Canal, which joined the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, inspired the 1938 romantic drama film Suez where Lesseps was played by Tyrone Power. Lesseps has been portrayed by other actors in films and TV mini-series as well.

After losing her father at 4, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was raised singlehandedly by her mother. The incredibly talented Cecilia studied at Cambridge but failed to secure a degree because of her gender. She later joined Harvard and opposing prevalent beliefs, proposed that stars were mainly made of hydrogen and helium. 

Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright. As a young man, he supported revolutionary Fidel Castro but later became a local critic of Castro’s ideology. He was openly gay and often wrote about his life as a homosexual man. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987 and died by suicide in 1990. 

Painter of Dutch-origin Sir Peter Lely spent almost his entire career in England and emerged as the leading portrait-painter to the court of England. Many of his early English paintings reflect influences from Anthony van Dyck whom he succeeded as Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King. Windsor Beauties, a set of portrait paintings, is counted among his notable works.  

Wolfgang Paul was a German physicist best known for co-developing the non-magnetic quadrupole mass filter. In 1989, he received one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics, the other half going to Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr. Starting his career in the late 1930s, he researched isotope separation during World War II. He had a brilliant academic career following the war. 

Blaže Koneski was a Macedonian writer, poet, linguistic scholar, and literary translator. He made an immense contribution to the codification of the Macedonian language. Koneski also played a key role in shaping Macedonian literature, although he has been criticized for serbianizing the Macedonian language. During his career, he won many literary prizes, including the Njegoš prize and AVNOJ prize.

Although best remembered for his discovery of the world's oldest handwritten Bible, known as Codex Sinaiticus or Sinai Bible, Konstantin Von Tischendorf, a renowned Biblical scholar, worked chiefly on recension of the New Testament text. A prolific writer making extensive contributions to biblical textual criticism, he is today best known for his magnum opus, Critical Edition of the New Testament.

Hungarian-American engineer Peter Carl Goldmark contributed to many pathbreaking inventions, of which the most notable was the commercial color TV and the LP record. Known for his stint with Columbia Records, he also developed a scanning system used by the US to relay photos from the Moon to the Earth.

Born to legendary biologist Charles Darwin, George Darwin initially studied law and became a barrister. However, his interest in science made him deviate to astronomy. He believed the Moon was one part of the Earth. He later also taught at Cambridge and was made a Fellow of The Royal Society.