Famous People Who Died Today

James Garner was an American actor and producer. He is credited with mentoring fellow actor and producer Tom Selleck. He is also credited with helping celebrities like Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood establish themselves in the film industry. He was also an avid golfer and racing enthusiast; he owned the American International Racers racing team for a couple of years.

Dutch actor Rutger Hauer, tagged as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century by the Dutch public, gained spotlight with his debut film, Turkish Delight, the most successful film in the history of Dutch cinema. Moving on, he gained international recognition with other Dutch films like Spetters, and etched his name in Hollywood with films like Nighthawks and Blade Runner.   

Garry Marshall was an American screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He is credited with creating the popular television series Happy Days and its several spin-offs. He is also credited with co-creating other TV series like Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy. Makin' It, a 1979 sitcom starring David Naughton, was also co-created by Garry Marshall.

Child actress and child model Skye McCole Bartusiak is best remembered for her role in the TV series Touched by an Angel, for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award. During her short but successful career, she played versatile roles in TV shows and films. She died at the age of 21 due to an apparent drug overdose.

Italian judge Paolo Borsellino is remembered for his lifelong struggle against the Sicilian Mafia. He, along with Giovanni Falcone, succeeded in convicting over 300 criminals during the Maxi Trial in 1986 and 1987. He was later killed in a car bomb attack that also killed five police officers.

Edward Bunker was a convicted felon who later pursued a respectable career as a writer of crime fiction. He had a difficult childhood and became involved in crimes as a teenager, participating in activities like bank robbery and drug dealing. He later worked on rebuilding his life and pursued a career in writing. He was also an occasional actor. 

German-born American political scientist and historian Hans Morgenthau, a leading twentieth-century figure in the study of international relations, is noted for his contributions in international relations theory and the study of international law. His book Politics Among Nations introduced the concept of political realism that played an instrumental role in the foreign policy of the US.

Okita Sōji was a Japanese military leader who served as the captain of the pilot batch of the Shinsengumi, Kyoto's special police force during the late shogunate period. Okita Sōji is often counted among the best swordsmen of the police force. Okita Sōji has been immortalized in various novels, manga series, and period dramas.

Bangladeshi novelist and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed boasted of a PhD in polymer chemistry and had even taught at the University of Dhaka. His mostly depicted the struggle of the middle-class through his works. His films such as Aguner Poroshmoni won him multiple National Film Awards. He died battling colon cancer.

Bert Trautmann was a German football player who played as a goalkeeper for popular teams like Manchester City and St Helens Town. He made 508 appearances for the Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, Bert Trautmann was made an inductee of the National Football Museum's Hall of Fame in 2005.

A Frankish noble, Arnulf of Metz served at the court of Theudebert II and was also made the bishop of Metz. Along with Pippin, he led a campaign against Brunhild and caused its downfall, eventually leading to the reunification of Frankish territories under Chlotar II.

Clyde Beatty was an American circus mogul, zoo owner, and animal trainer. After beginning his career as a cage boy in Howe's Great London Circus, Beatty went on to become one of the most famous animal trainers and circus performers in the world. He also established or owned many circuses including the popular Clyde Beatty Circus.

Stefan Stambolov was a Bulgarian journalist, revolutionary, politician, and poet who served as the Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 1 September 1887 to 31 May 1894. Counted among the most popular and prominent founders of modern Bulgaria, Stambolov played a key role during the Balkan Wars; he helped initiate the cultural and economic progress in Bulgaria.

Paul M. Fleiss was an American author and pediatrician. Best remembered for his unorthodox medical views, Fleiss did not insist upon vaccinations for children, although he recommended them. Paul M. Fleiss achieved notoriety in 1994, when he pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy in association with his daughter Heidi's prostitution ring.

Curzio Malaparte was an Italian writer, diplomat, war correspondent, and filmmaker. Many of his works, such as La pelle were adapted into films. In 1926, he co-founded an Italian magazine called 900, which played a major role in the rise of Italian fascism. Curzio Malaparte also served as a co-editor and editor of Fiera Letteraria and La Stampa respectively.

Omar Suleiman once led the Egyptian General Intelligence Service as its director. He had also briefly been the vice president of Egypt under president Hosni Mubarak, becoming the first to have held the post under Mubarak. In his early days, he had also been part of the Six-Day and October wars.

French physicist and chemist Pierre Louis Dulong FRS FRSE is best-remembered for proposing the thermodynamic law called the Dulong–Petit law with fellow scientist Alexis Petit. Subjects of his scientific studies included the elasticity of steam, specific heats of gases and conduction of heat. He discovered nitrogen trichloride, worked on specific heat capacity, and expansion and refractive indices of gases.

Ada Cambridge was an English-born Australian writer best known for her novels Materfamilias and Path and Goal. She wrote three volumes of poetry and more than 25 works of fiction. Several of her novels were serialized in newspapers. She became a famous writer and was chosen to be the first president of the Women Writers Club. 

Alain Bombard was a French physician, biologist, and politician. He is best remembered for his theory which states that a human being could survive a trip across the Atlantic Ocean without provision. Alain Bombard achieved popularity when he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in a small boat without provision in order to test his theory.

English diplomat Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet was the person who lent his name to the iconic Downing Street in London. One of the first to graduate from Harvard, he was initially a preacher and then a military leader. An MP under Oliver Cromwell, he, however, supported the Stuart restoration later.

The son of a fisherman, Zenkō Suzuki studied fisheries and worked with the Japan Fisheries Association, before joining politics. He later became the prime minister of Japan and propagated politics of harmony. He was criticized for modifying textbooks to dilute the reality of Japan’s aggression against China.

Geoffrey H. Bourne was an Australian-American primatologist and anatomist. He is best remembered for his pioneering work in histochemistry. From 1962 to 1978, Bourne served as the director of Emory University's Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He also taught physiology and histology at Oxford University and the University of London respectively.

Leading US climate expert and Stanford biology professor Stephen Henry Schneider is remembered for his research on climate change and atmosphere. He also founded the journal Climatic Change. He was part of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.

The son of anti-slavery icon William Wilberforce, Anglican priest Samuel Wilberforce served as the bishop of Oxford. He earned the nickname Soapy Sam, probably due to his clean private life or his peculiar manner of hand-washing. A major figure of the Oxford Movement, he opposed Darwin’s theory of evolution.