For the purpose of this list, "dying young" refers to deaths before the age of 40, while "famous" refers to a historic figure or celebrity who was known for reasons other than their death.
| Name |
Nationality |
Known for |
Cause of death |
Date |
[edit] Aged under 16
|
| Leo II (6/7) |
|
Byzantine Emperor |
unknown disease |
474 |
| Jessica Dubroff (7) |
American |
young pilot |
aircraft crash |
1996 |
| Judith Barsi (10) |
American |
child actress |
homicide |
1988 |
| Heather O'Rourke (12) |
American |
child actress |
bowel obstruction |
1988 |
| Samantha Smith (13) |
American |
social activist, actress, author |
aircraft crash |
1985 |
| Alexei Romanov (13) |
Russian |
royal heir |
assassination |
1918 |
| Mattie Stepanek (13) |
American |
poet |
muscular distrophy |
2004 |
| Peter II of Russia (14) |
Russian |
Tsar |
small pox |
1730 |
| Emmett Till (14) |
American |
civil rights figure |
lynched |
1955 |
| Edward VI of England (15) |
English |
King of England |
tuberculosis |
1553 |
| Anne Frank (15) |
Dutch |
Jewish diarist |
typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during The Holocaust |
1945 |
[edit] Aged 16
|
| Lady Jane Grey |
English |
Queen for 9 to 13 days |
beheaded by order of Mary I |
1554 |
| Julie Vega |
Filipino |
actress |
pneumonia |
1985 |
| Tara Correa-McMullen |
American |
actress |
homicide |
2005 |
[edit] Aged 17
|
| Caesarion (Little Caesar) |
Egyptian |
pharaoh, son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar |
executed by order of Augustus Caesar |
30 BCE |
| Thomas Chatterton |
English |
poet |
suicide |
1770 |
| Krissy Taylor |
American |
supermodel |
heart failure due to a rare condition |
1995 |
| Ritchie Valens |
American |
Chicano-rock singer |
aircraft crash |
1959 |
[edit] Aged 18
|
| Edwy of England |
English |
King of England |
unknown |
959 |
| Tutankhamun |
Egyptian |
pharaoh |
possibly gangrene from an infected leg wound |
1323 BCE |
| Anissa Jones |
American |
child actor |
drug overdose |
1976 |
| John Spence |
American |
ska singer (No Doubt) |
suicide by gunshot |
1987 |
| Ryan White |
American |
AIDS activist |
accidental HIV infection from treatments for haemophilia |
1990 |
[edit] Aged 19
|
| Dorothy Dell |
American |
actress |
car accident |
1934 |
| Junior Durkin |
American |
actor |
car accident |
1935 |
| Joan of Arc |
French |
military commander |
burned at the stake |
1431 |
| Adam Petty |
American |
racing driver, grandson of Richard Petty |
car accident during race practice |
2000 |
[edit] Aged 20
|
| Emilie Dionne |
Canadian |
one of the Dionne quintuplets |
complications from an epileptic seizure |
1954 |
| Josh Ryan Evans |
American |
soap opera actor (Passions) |
heart failure |
2002 |
| Evariste Galois |
French |
mathematician, inventor of group theory |
gunshot in duel |
1832 |
| Shauna Grant |
American |
adult film actress |
suicide |
1984 |
| Billy the Kid |
American |
outlaw |
gunshot |
1881 |
| Charles Sorley |
Scottish |
war poet |
shot in the head by a sniper at the Battle of Loos |
1915 |
| Charles Starkweather |
American |
spree killer |
executed |
1959 |
| Dorothy Stratten |
Canadian |
Playboy model |
homicide |
1980 |
| Carol Willis |
American |
Playboy model |
car accident |
1971 |
[edit] Aged 21
|
| Bridgette Andersen |
American |
actress |
drug overdose |
1997 |
| Eddie Cochran |
American |
rockabilly musician |
car crash |
1960 |
| Darby Crash |
American |
punk-rock singer (The Germs) |
suicide by heroin overdose |
1980 |
| James Crichton |
Scottish |
child prodigy ("the Admirable Crichton") |
killed in a swordfight |
1582 |
| Duncan Edwards |
English |
footballer (Manchester United) |
Munich air disaster |
1958 |
| Stuart Sutcliffe |
Scottish |
bassist (briefly with The Beatles) |
brain haemorrhage |
1962 |
| Rebecca Schaeffer |
American |
actress |
homicide (shot to death at her home by Robert John Bardo) |
1989 |
| Sid Vicious |
English |
punk-rock bass guitarist (Sex Pistols) |
heroin overdose, possibly intentional |
1979 |
[edit] Aged 22
|
| Aaliyah |
American |
R&B singer |
aircraft crash |
2001 |
| Alfie Anido |
Filipino |
actor |
officially listed as suicide |
1981 |
| Len Bias |
American |
basketball player (University of Maryland) |
cocaine overdose |
1986 |
| Lillian Board |
British |
Olympic silver medallist (1968) |
cancer |
1970 |
| Dominique Dunne |
American |
actress |
strangled into coma by ex-boyfriend |
1982 |
| Terry Fox |
Canadian |
athlete, activist |
cancer |
1981 |
| Buddy Holly |
American |
rock & roll singer |
aircraft crash |
1959 |
| Freddie Prinze |
American |
comedian, actor |
suicide |
1977 |
| Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt |
American |
first wife of Theodore Roosevelt |
Bright's disease |
1884 |
| John Thomson |
Scottish |
footballer |
on-pitch collision |
1931 |
| Ivo Van Damme |
Belgian |
middle distance runner |
car accident |
1976 |
| Robert Wadlow |
American |
tallest man ever |
infection of the left ankle |
1940 |
| Pedro Zamora |
American |
MTV The Real World participant |
AIDS |
1994 |
[edit] Aged 23
|
| Ian Curtis |
English |
post-punk singer (Joy Division) |
suicide by hanging |
1980 |
| Ernie Davis |
American |
college football running back (Syracuse University) |
leukemia |
1963 |
| Bobby Fuller |
American |
rock singer, guitarist |
undetermined |
1966 |
| Hank Gathers |
American |
college basketball player (Loyola Marymount University) |
sudden cardiac arrest due to a weakening of the heart muscle |
1990 |
| Emilio Jacinto |
Filipino |
revolutionary leader, poet |
malaria |
1899 |
| River Phoenix |
American |
actor |
heart failure due to drug overdose |
1993 |
| Selena |
American |
singer |
homicide |
1995 |
| Judy Tyler |
American |
actress |
car accident |
1957 |
| Anton Maiden |
Swedish |
singer |
suicide |
2003 |
[edit] Aged 24
|
| Duane Allman |
American |
Southern-rock slide-guitarist (Allman Brothers Band) |
motorbike accident |
1971 |
| Cliff Burton |
American |
heavy-metal bass guitarist (Metallica) |
tour bus accident |
1986 |
| Fabio Casartelli |
Italian |
professional cyclist |
crash during Tour de France |
1995 |
| James Dean |
American |
actor |
car accident |
1955 |
| Gregorio del Pilar |
Filipino |
general |
died in battle |
1899 |
| Peg Entwistle |
Welsh |
actress |
suicide |
1932 |
| Robert Fergusson |
Scottish |
poet |
head trauma |
1774 |
| Ben Hollioake |
English |
cricketer |
car accident |
2002 |
| Stanley Ketchel |
American |
boxer |
gunshot |
1910 |
| Nile Kinnick |
American |
college football running back (University of Iowa) |
plane crash |
1943 |
| La Malinche |
Indigenous Mexican |
interpreter |
unknown |
1529 |
| Greg Moore |
Canadian |
racing driver |
car accident during race |
1999 |
| The Notorious BIG |
American |
rapper |
gunshot |
1997 |
| Lee Harvey Oswald |
American |
alleged assassin of US President John F Kennedy |
gunshot |
1963 |
| Steve Prefontaine |
American |
Olympic long-distance runner |
car accident |
1975 |
| Tammi Terrell |
American |
Motown singer |
brain tumour |
1970 |
| Andrew Wood |
American |
grunge rock singer (Mother Love Bone) |
heroin overdose |
1990 |
| St Therese of Lisieux |
French |
Catholic saint |
tuberculosis |
1897 |
[edit] Aged 25
|
| Rudolf IV of Austria |
Austrian |
Duke |
-- |
1365 |
| Johnny Ace |
American |
rock 'n' roll musician |
gunshot (Russian roulette) |
1954 |
| Aubrey Beardsley |
English |
artist |
tuberculosis |
1898 |
| Tommy Bolin |
American |
musician |
drug overdose |
1976 |
| Mike Darr |
American |
Major League Baseball outfielder |
car accident |
2002 |
| Françoise Dorléac |
French |
actress |
car accident |
1967 |
| Abigail Folger |
American |
socialite, heiress |
homicide by followers of Charles Manson |
1969 |
| George Charles Grey |
English |
Liberal politician, youngest Member of Parliament |
killed in action |
1944 |
| John Keats |
English |
Romantic poet |
tuberculosis |
1821 |
| Paul Kossoff |
British |
rock guitarist |
drug-related heart problems |
1976 |
| Scott La Rock |
American |
DJ |
gun violence |
1987 |
| Belinda Lee |
English |
actress |
car accident |
1961 |
| Wilfred Owen |
English |
poet |
killed while crossing the Sambre-Oise Canal (World War I) |
1918 |
| Benny Paret |
Cuban |
boxer |
killed in boxing ring |
1962 |
| George Lawrence Price |
Canadian |
soldier |
shot near the heart, last Commonwealth soldier killed in World War I |
1918 |
| Randy Rhoads |
American |
hard-rock guitarist (Quiet Riot/Ozzy Osbourne) |
aircraft crash |
1982 |
| Dan Snyder |
Canadian |
ice hockey player |
nosocomial infection |
2003 |
| Manfred von Richthofen |
German |
World War I "ace of aces" |
shot down over Morlancourt Ridge |
1918 |
| Tupac Shakur (2pac) |
American |
rapper singer, poet |
gunshots from drive-by |
1996 |
[edit] Aged 26
|
| Niels Henrik Abel |
Norwegian |
mathematician |
tuberculosis |
1829 |
| Hobey Baker |
American |
ice hockey and American football player |
plane crash |
1918 |
| Barcroft Boake |
Australian |
poet |
suicide by hanging |
1892 |
| Monty Bowden |
English |
England's youngest ever cricket captain |
officially epilepsy, also trampled by his own oxen |
1892 |
| Fergus Bowes-Lyon |
British |
soldier, brother to the Queen Mother |
killed during the Battle of Loos |
1915 |
| Gia Carangi |
American |
fashion model |
AIDS |
1986 |
| Rudolf Charousek |
Hungarian |
chess player |
tuberculosis |
1900 |
| Nick Drake |
British |
folk guitarist/singer |
antidepressant overdose, probably intentional |
1974 |
| Richey James Edwards |
Welsh |
rock guitarist (Manic Street Preachers) |
presumed dead, likely jumped from bridge |
1995 |
| Jean Harlow |
American |
actress |
uremic poisoning and kidney failure |
1937 |
| Ned Kelly |
Australian |
bushranger |
executed |
1880 |
| Pelle Lindbergh |
Swedish |
ice hockey goaltender (Philadelphia Flyers) |
car accident |
1985 |
| Al Lucas |
American |
American football player |
spinal cord injury during game |
2005 |
| Raymond Paley |
English |
mathematician |
skiing accident |
1933 |
| Gram Parsons |
American |
folk and country-rock singer (The Byrds) |
drug overdose |
1973 |
| Giovanni Battista Pergolesi |
Italian |
composer |
tuberculosis |
1736 |
| Brian Piccolo |
American |
American football running back (Chicago Bears) |
testicular cancer that metastasised into lung cancer |
1970 |
| Frank P. Ramsey |
English |
economist, philosopher and mathematician |
jaundice |
1930 |
| Otis Redding |
American |
soul singer |
aircraft crash |
1967 |
| Gustav Roch |
German |
mathematician |
tuberculosis |
1866 |
| Hillel Slovak |
Israeli |
rock guitarist (Red Hot Chili Peppers) |
heroin overdose |
1988 |
| Joey Stefano |
American |
porn star |
drug overdose |
1994 |
| Sharon Tate |
American |
actress |
homicide by followers of Charles Manson |
1969 |
| Hans Hermann von Katte |
Prussian |
royal's lover |
execution |
1730 |
|
|
| Dave Alexander |
American |
Bassist (The Stooges) |
pneumonia |
1974 |
| Jean-Michel Basquiat |
American |
Artist |
heroin overdose ("acute mixed drug interaction") |
1988 |
| D. Boon |
American |
punk rock musician (The Minutemen) |
car accident |
1985 |
| John Wilkes Booth |
American |
assassin of President Abraham Lincoln |
gunshot |
1865 |
| Jonathan Brandis |
American |
actor |
suicide |
2003 |
| Rupert Brooke |
British |
poet |
septic pneumonia |
1915 |
| Kurt Cobain |
American |
grunge singer/guitarist (Nirvana) |
gunshot after lethal dose of heroin, presumed suicide |
1994 |
| Gloria Dickson |
American |
actress |
asphyxiation in a house fire |
1945 |
| Andrés Escobar |
Colombian |
footballer |
shot, possibly for scoring "own goal" |
1994 |
| Alain-Fournier |
French |
author and soldier |
killed in battle during World War I |
1914 |
| King Ghazi |
Iraqi |
king |
possible murder |
1939 |
| Peter Ham |
British |
musician (Badfinger) |
suicide by hanging |
1975 |
| Robert Harron |
American |
actor |
gun accident |
1920 |
| Jimi Hendrix |
American |
rock guitarist/singer |
choked on own vomit caused by sleeping pill overdose |
1970 |
| Jon Hooker |
American |
former University of Kentucky baseball pitcher |
plane crash |
2006 |
| Paul Hunter |
British |
snooker player |
cancer |
2006 |
| Joseph Merrick (The Elephant Man) |
British |
severely deformed celebrity of Victorian era London |
suffocation, possibly suicide |
1890 |
| Robert Johnson |
American |
delta blues guitarist/singer |
alleged poisoning |
1938 |
| Brian Jones |
British |
rock guitarist (The Rolling Stones) |
drug-related drowning, possibly homicide |
1969 |
| Janis Joplin |
American |
rock/soul singer (Big Brother & the Holding Company) |
heroin overdose |
1970 |
| Reggie Lewis |
American |
basketball player (Boston Celtics) |
heart attack |
1993 |
| Jim Morrison |
American |
rock singer (The Doors) |
heart attack, possibly due to drug overdose |
1971 |
| Henry Moseley |
British |
physicist |
killed in action |
1915 |
| Steve Olin |
American |
Major League Baseball pitcher |
boating accident |
1993 |
| William Quantrill |
American |
Confederate guerrilla |
Killed by Union army |
1865 |
| Bobby Sands |
Northern Irish |
hunger striker, British Member of Parliament |
self-imposed starvation |
1981 |
| Pat Tillman |
American |
NFL player who gave up football to join US Army after September 11, 2001 attacks |
"friendly fire" in Afghanistan |
2004 |
| Lea De Mae |
Czech |
porn actress |
brain cancer |
2004 |
| Tasunka Witko (Crazy Horse) |
Native American |
warrior (Oglala Sioux tribe) |
bayonet wound while in US Army custody |
1877 |
| Rico Yan |
Filipino |
actor |
either acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis or bangungot |
2002 |
[edit] Aged 28
|
| Isabella Beeton |
English |
author of "Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management" |
puerperal fever |
1865 |
| The Big Bopper |
American |
rock & roll singer |
aircraft crash |
1959 |
| Big Pun |
American |
rapper |
heart attack brought on by obesity |
2000 |
| Lyman Bostock |
American |
baseball player |
gunshot to the head |
1978 |
| Tim Buckley |
American |
folk singer |
drug overdose |
1975 |
| Roger Byrne |
English |
footballer (Manchester United) |
Munich air disaster |
1958 |
| Jason Collier |
American |
basketball player |
cardiac arrest |
2005 |
| Stephen Crane |
American |
novelist |
tuberculosis |
1900 |
| Maggie Dixon |
American |
Women's basketball coach at Army and younger sister of University of Pittsburgh men's coach Jamie Dixon |
cardiac arrest |
2006 |
| Marc-Vivien Foé |
Cameroonian |
footballer |
heart attack during match |
2003 |
| Keith Green |
American |
Gospel music pioneer |
plane crash |
1982 |
| Shannon Hoon |
American |
rock singer (Blind Melon) |
drug overdose |
1995 |
| Brandon Lee |
American |
actor |
accidentally shot when prop gun malfunctioned on set of The Crow |
1993 |
| Novalis |
German |
poet and philosopher |
tuberculosis |
1801 |
| Bradley Nowell |
American |
reggae/ska/punk rock/hip hop singer (Sublime) |
heroin overdose |
1996 |
| Dražen Petrović |
Croatian |
basketball player |
car accident |
1993 |
| Jochen Rindt |
Austrian |
Formula 1 racing driver |
crash during race practice |
1970 |
| Edie Sedgwick |
American |
actress |
intentional barbiturate overdose |
1971 |
| Egon Schiele |
Austrian |
painter |
influenza |
1918 |
[edit] Aged 29
|
| Rafael Moreno Aranzadi |
Spanish |
footballer, gave his nickname to the Pichichi trophy |
typhoid |
1922 |
| David Bacon |
American |
actor |
possible murder |
1943 |
| Marc Bolan |
British |
glam-rock singer (T. Rex) |
car accident |
1977 |
| Anne Brontë |
English |
novelist |
tuberculosis |
1849 |
| Merritt Butrick |
American |
actor |
AIDS |
1989 |
| Ray Chapman |
American |
baseball player (Cleveland Indians) |
hit in head by a pitch from Carl Mays |
1920 |
| Feodor Deahna |
German |
mathematician |
unknown |
1844 |
| Dipendra of Nepal |
Nepali |
crown prince and briefly king |
alleged suicide by gunshot after allegedly shooting several members of royal family |
2001 |
| Ferdinand Eisenstein |
German |
mathematician |
tuberculosis |
1852 |
| Astrid of Belgium |
Belgian |
queen |
car accident |
1935 |
| Mike Hawthorn |
English |
racing driver |
car accident |
1959 |
| Barbara La Marr |
American |
actress |
tuberculosis and nephritis |
1926 |
| Carole Landis |
American |
actress |
suicide |
1948 |
| Christopher Marlowe |
English |
Renaissance playwright and poet, rival of Shakespeare |
dagger wound during knife-fight |
1593 |
| DJ Screw |
American |
musician |
overdose of codeine |
2000 |
| Percy Bysshe Shelley |
English |
Romantic poet (Ozymandias) |
drowned at sea during storm |
1822 |
| Tom Simpson |
British |
professional cyclist |
exhaustion during Tour de France |
1967 |
| Ronnie Van Zant |
American |
singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) |
aircraft crash |
1977 |
| Jean Vigo |
French |
Film maker |
tuberculosis |
1934 |
| Hank Williams |
American |
country musician |
accidental overdose of morphine and alcohol |
1953 |
[edit] Aged 30
|
| Steve Biko |
South African |
anti-apartheid activist |
severe head trauma while in police custody |
1977 |
| Emily Brontë |
English |
novelist, poet |
tuberculosis |
1848 |
| Jeff Buckley |
American |
singer/guitarist |
drowned in river |
1997 |
| Rex Cherryman |
American |
actor |
septic poisoning |
1928 |
| Gaius Valerius Catullus |
Ancient Roman |
poet |
exhaustion |
54 BCE |
| Patsy Cline |
American |
country music singer |
aircraft crash |
1963 |
| Paul Dana |
American |
race car driver |
car accident during a practice run |
2006 |
| Brandon De Wilde |
American |
actor |
car accident |
1972 |
| Andy Gibb |
British |
singer |
heart failure due to cocaine abuse |
1988 |
| Fred Grace |
English |
Test cricketer, brother of WG Grace |
pneumonia |
1880 |
| John Harvard |
English |
clergyman after whom Harvard University was named |
tuberculosis |
1638 |
| Robert E. Howard |
American |
writer |
suicide |
1936 |
| Little Willie John |
American |
musician |
pneumonia |
1968 |
| Bronisław Malinowski |
Polish |
Olympic gold medallist (1980) |
car accident |
1981 |
| Valentino Mazzola |
Italian |
footballer (Torino) |
Superga air disaster |
1949 |
| Minamoto no Yoshitsune |
Japanese |
General (exact age at death uncertain) |
Attack ordered by brother Yoritomo |
1189 |
| Bobby Phills |
American |
basketball player |
road accident |
2000 |
| Sylvia Plath |
American |
Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet and author |
suicide by asphyxiation |
1963 |
| Proof |
American |
rapper |
gunfire |
2006 |
| Malik Sealy |
American |
basketball player |
road accident |
2000 |
| Henri Toivonen |
Finnish |
rally car driver |
car accident during race |
1986 |
| Sergei Yesenin |
Russian |
poet |
suicide |
1925 |
[edit] Aged 31
|
| Richard Beckinsale |
British |
television actor |
heart attack |
1979 |
| Branwell Brontë |
English |
painter |
tuberculosis |
1848 |
| Theresa Hak Kyung Cha |
American |
author |
murder |
1982 |
| Michael Collins |
Irish |
revolutionary leader |
assassinated |
1922 |
| Nicole DeHuff |
American |
actress |
pneumonia |
2005 |
| Sandy Denny |
British |
singer |
cerebral haemorrhage |
1978 |
| Pete Duel |
American |
actor |
suicide |
1971 |
| Eazy-E |
American |
gangsta-rap pioneer (NWA) |
complications from unknowingly having AIDS |
1995 |
| Sidney Fox |
American |
actress |
suicide |
1942 |
| Keith Haring |
American |
painter |
AIDS |
1990 |
| Addie Joss |
American |
baseball pitcher (Cleveland Indians) |
tuberculosis |
1911 |
| Terry Kath |
American |
rock musician (Chicago) |
self inflicted gunshot |
1978 |
| Harold Lockwood |
American |
actor |
Spanish flu |
1918 |
| Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes |
American |
singer (TLC) |
car accident |
2002 |
| Renate Müller |
German |
actress |
undetermined, suicide, or murder by Gestapo agents |
1937 |
| Nero |
Roman |
Roman Emperor |
suicide |
68 |
| Karen Ann Quinlan |
American |
Central figure in a right to die dispute |
Eventual pneumonia after being in a persistent vegetative state |
1985 |
| Wallace Reid |
American |
actor |
influenza |
1923 |
| Minnie Riperton |
American |
singer |
cancer |
1979 |
| Lyda Roberti |
Polish |
actress |
heart attack |
1938 |
| Franz Schubert |
Austrian |
Composer |
possibly syphilis or typhoid fever |
1828 |
| Sir Philip Sidney |
English |
poet and soldier |
killed in battle |
1586 |
| J.E.B. Stuart |
American |
Confederate General |
died of battle wounds |
1864 |
| Yutaka Taniyama |
Japanese |
Mathematician |
suicide |
1958 |
| John Kennedy Toole |
American |
writer |
suicide |
1969 |
| Nat Turner |
American |
rebel |
execution |
1831 |
| Rudolph Valentino |
Italian |
actor |
septicaemia |
1926 |
| Phyllis Wheatley |
American |
poet, first Afro-American writer published in US |
poverty |
1784 |
[edit] Aged 32
|
| Alexander the Great |
Ancient Macedonian |
king, conqueror of "known" world |
malaria, possibly poisoned |
323 BCE |
| Davey Allison |
American |
NASCAR racing driver |
helicopter crash |
1993 |
| Florence Ballard |
American |
singer (The Supremes) |
coronary thrombosis |
1976 |
| John Bonham |
British |
rock drummer (Led Zeppelin) |
alcohol poisoning |
1980 |
| Karen Carpenter |
American |
singer (The Carpenters) |
cardiac arrest due to anorexia nervosa |
1983 |
| Cazuza |
Brazilian |
singer |
AIDS |
1990 |
| Jim Clark |
British |
Formula One driver |
car accident during race |
1968 |
| Hart Crane |
American |
poet |
suicide |
1932 |
| Tim Crews |
American |
Major League Baseball pitcher |
boating accident |
1993 |
| Hansie Cronje |
South African |
cricketer |
aircraft crash |
2002 |
| Lya De Putti |
Hungarian |
actress |
pneumonia |
1931 |
| Ernest Dowson |
English |
poet |
alcoholism or tuberculosis |
1900 |
| Cass Elliot |
American |
singer (The Mamas & Papas) |
heart attack brought on by obesity |
1974 |
| Brian Epstein |
British |
businessman, manager of The Beatles |
overdose, probably of sleeping pills |
1967 |
| Wyndham Halswelle |
Scottish |
athlete, 400m gold medallist at 1908 Olympic Games |
sniper's bullet at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle |
1915 |
| Bill Hicks |
American |
stand-up comedian |
pancreatic cancer |
1994 |
| Bruce Lee |
Chinese American |
martial arts actor |
possibly allergic reaction |
1973 |
| Magic Sam |
American |
blues guitarist |
heart attack |
1969 |
| Keith Moon |
British |
rock drummer (The Who) |
overdose of anti-seizure medication |
1978 |
| Thurman Munson |
American |
baseball player (New York Yankees) |
aircraft crash |
1979 |
| Kim Perrot |
American |
WNBA basketball player (Houston Comets) |
brain tumor attributed to lung cancer |
1999 |
| Rob Pilatus |
American |
Milli Vanilli |
overdose |
1998 |
| Srinivasa Ramanujan |
Indian |
mathematician |
amoebiasis |
1920 |
| Charles Rolls |
British |
co-founder of Rolls-Royce |
aircraft crash |
1910 |
| Gilles Villeneuve |
Canadian |
Formula One driver |
car accident during race qualifying |
1982 |
| Kim Walker |
American |
actress (Heathers) |
brain tumour |
2001 |
| Ricky Wilson |
American |
guitarist (The B-52's) |
AIDS |
1985 |
| James Wolfe |
English |
General, established British rule over Canada |
killed during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham |
1759 |
[edit] Aged 33
|
| John Belushi |
American |
actor and comedian |
overdose of cocaine and heroin |
1982 |
| Leigh Bowery |
Australian |
conceptual artist |
AIDS |
1994 |
| Eva Braun |
German |
Adolf Hitler's lover |
suicide |
1945 |
| William S. Burroughs, Jr. |
American |
writer |
liver failure |
1981 |
| Eva Cassidy |
American |
singer |
cancer |
1996 |
| Charlotte Coleman |
British |
actress |
asthma attack |
2001 |
| Sam Cooke |
American |
soul musician |
homicide |
1964 |
| Laurie Cunningham |
English |
footballer |
car accident |
1989 |
| Paul Laurence Dunbar |
American |
poet |
tuberculosis |
1906 |
| Althea Flynt |
American |
pornographer's wife |
drowned due to heroin overdose |
1987 |
| Chris Farley |
American |
comic actor |
accidental cocaine and heroin overdose |
1997 |
| Sanjay Gandhi |
Indian |
politician, member of Nehru-Gandhi family |
aircraft crash |
1980 |
| Kay Kendall |
English |
actress |
myeloid leukaemia |
1959 |
| Valery Kharlamov |
Russian |
ice hockey player |
car accident |
1981 |
| Darryl Kile |
American |
Major League Baseball pitcher |
coronary heart disease |
2002 |
| Carole Lombard |
American |
actress, wife of Clark Gable |
aircraft crash |
1942 |
| Hideto Matsumoto |
Japanese |
musician |
hanged, possibly accidental |
1998 |
| Eva Perón |
Argentinian |
actress, wife of President Juan Perón |
cancer |
1952 |
| Harry Nelson Pillsbury |
American |
chess player |
syphilis |
1906 |
| Roland Ratzenberger |
Austrian |
Formula 1 racing driver |
crash during race qualifying |
1994 |
| Keith Relf |
British |
singer / harmonica player (The Yardbirds) |
accidentally electric shock while playing his electric guitar |
1976 |
| Richard II of England |
English |
king, who was deposed and imprisoned by his cousin, Henry IV |
probably homicide or starvation |
1400 |
| David Rocastle |
English |
footballer |
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma |
2001 |
| Bon Scott |
Australian |
hard-rock singer (AC/DC) |
suffocation on his own vomit after drinking binge |
1980 |
| Derrick Thomas |
American |
American football linebacker (Kansas City Chiefs) |
car accident |
2000 |
| Theo Van Gogh |
Dutch |
art dealer |
syphilis |
1891 |
| Ray Vitte |
American |
actor |
shot by police while resisting arrest |
1983 |
[edit] Aged 34
|
| Rodney Anoai (Yokozuna) |
American |
professional wrestler |
heart attack |
2000 |
| Alma Cogan |
British |
pop singer |
cancer |
1966 |
| Maureen Connolly |
American |
tennis player |
cancer |
1969 |
| Jeffrey Dahmer |
American |
serial killer |
bludgeoning in prison by fellow inmate |
1994 |
| Thomas Anthony Dooley |
American |
activist |
cancer |
1961 |
| Yuri Gagarin |
Soviet |
cosmonaut, first man in space |
fighter jet crash during test flight |
1968 |
| Gioacchino Greco |
Italian |
chess player |
unknown disease |
1634 |
| Lorraine Hansberry |
American |
playwright |
breast cancer |
1965 |
| Owen Hart |
Canadian |
professional wrestler |
fall while being lowered to ring during live televised event |
1999 |
| Jesse James |
American |
outlaw and train-robber |
gunshot |
1882 |
| Cal Jammer |
American |
porn star |
suicide |
1995 |
| Cory Lidle |
American |
Major League Baseball pitcher |
killed when his plane crashed into a high-rise building |
2006 |
| Jayne Mansfield |
American |
actress and sex symbol |
car accident |
1967 |
| Howie Morenz |
Canadian |
ice hockey player |
complications from broken leg |
1937 |
| Marco Pantani |
Italian |
cyclist |
cerebral oedema and heart failure from acute cocaine poisoning |
2004 |
| Charlie Parker |
American |
jazz saxophonist |
pneumonia and ulcer, brought on by drug abuse |
1955 |
| Ronnie Peterson |
Swedish |
racing driver |
pulmonary embolism following racing injury |
1978 |
| Dana Plato |
American |
actress |
prescription drug overdose |
1999 |
| James F. M. Prinsep |
English |
footballer, long-time holder of the record as England's youngest player |
fighting in Egypt |
1895 |
| Joe Orton |
English |
playwright |
bludgeoning w/ hammer by his jealous, drug-addicted room-mate |
1967 |
| Bo Rein |
American |
college football coach (NC State / LSU) |
bizarre aircraft crash in Atlantic Ocean, presumed dead |
1980 |
| Tim Richmond |
American |
NASCAR racing driver |
AIDS |
1989 |
| Ayrton Senna |
Brazilian |
Formula One racing driver |
crash during race |
1994 |
| Elliott Smith |
American |
singer-songwriter |
multiple stab wounds to chest, possibly suicide |
2003 |
| Layne Staley |
American |
heavy metal/grunge singer (Alice in Chains) |
cocaine and heroin overdose |
2002 |
| Michael Ventris |
British |
architect, classicist, linguist |
Car accident |
1956 |
| Simone Weil |
French |
philosopher |
tuberculosis |
1943 |
| Keith Whitley |
American |
country western singer |
alcohol poisoning |
1989 |
| Paul Williams |
American |
singer (The Temptations) |
suicide by gunshot |
1973 |
[edit] Aged 35
|
| Ed Delahanty |
American |
baseball player |
fell over Niagara Falls |
1903 |
| Josh Gibson |
American |
baseball player (Negro Leagues) |
stroke |
1947 |
| Andy Kaufman |
American |
actor, comedian, hoaxer |
lung cancer |
1984 |
| Meriwether Lewis |
American |
explorer |
gunshot |
1809 |
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
Salzburgian |
composer |
tuberculosis |
1791 |
| Phil Ochs |
American |
singer |
suicide by hanging |
1976 |
| Ol' Dirty Bastard |
American |
rapper (Wu Tang Clan) |
accidental overdose of cocaine and painkillers |
2004 |
| José Rizal |
Filipino |
novelist, National Hero of the Philippines |
Spanish firing squad |
1896 |
| Philippa Schuyler |
American |
musician |
aircraft crash |
1967 |
| Matthias Sindelar |
Austrian |
footballer |
carbon monoxide poisoning |
1939 |
| Wolfe Tone |
Irish |
independence leader |
suicide by stab wounds to throat while awaiting execution in British custody |
1798 |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan |
American |
blues guitarist |
helicopter crash |
1990 |
| Kellie Waymire |
American |
actress |
cardiac arrhythmia |
2003 |
| Lena Zavaroni |
Scottish |
pop singer |
anorexia nervosa |
1999 |
[edit] Aged 36
|
| GG Allin |
American |
punk rock singer |
heroin overdose |
1993 |
| Alberto Ascari |
Italian |
Formula 1 racing driver |
crash during testing |
1955 |
| Antonio Ascari |
Italian |
Formula 1 racing driver |
crash during French Grand Prix |
1925 |
| Georges Bizet |
French |
composer |
"acute articular rheumatism" |
1875 |
| Lord Byron |
English |
poet |
tuberculosis |
1824 |
| Iris Chang |
American |
author |
suicide |
2004 |
| Cyril Collard |
French |
artist |
AIDS |
1993 |
| Paul Demayo |
American |
bodybuilder |
heroin overdose |
2005 |
| Tip Foster |
English |
only man to have captained both England football and cricket teams |
diabetes |
1914 |
| John Gilbert |
American |
actor |
heart attack |
1936 |
| Joe Hall |
Canadian |
ice hockey player |
Spanish flu |
1919 |
| Robin Harris |
American |
comedian, actor |
Heart Attack |
1990 |
| Doc Holliday |
American |
dentist, gambler, gunfighter |
tuberculosis |
1887 |
| Jesus |
Judean |
founder of Christianity (exact age at death uncertain) |
crucifixion |
c. 32 |
| Casey Jones |
American |
railroad engineer |
train accident |
1900 |
| Ada Lovelace |
English |
mathematician |
uterine cancer |
1852 |
| Phil Lynott |
Irish |
rock musician (Thin Lizzy) |
drug overdose |
1986 |
| Bob Marley |
Jamaican |
reggae musician |
melanoma, started in toe, spread to lung and brain |
1981 |
| Marilyn Monroe |
American |
actress, sex symbol |
barbiturate overdose, probably intentional |
1962 |
| Patrick Pearse |
Irish |
nationalist |
execution |
1916 |
| Jack Pickford |
Canadian-born American |
actor |
syphilis, alcoholism |
1933 |
| Evelyn Preer |
American |
actress, singer |
pneumonia |
1932 |
| Henry Purcell |
English |
composer |
possibly tuberculosis |
1695 |
| Maximilien Robespierre |
French |
revolutionary leader |
guillotined |
1794 |
| Gaetano Scirea |
Italian |
footballer |
car crash |
1989 |
| Henri Toulouse-Lautrec |
French |
artist |
alcoholism |
1901 |
| Gene Vincent |
American |
rockabilly musician |
liver damage from alcoholism |
1971 |
| Diana, Princess of Wales |
British |
royal, ex-wife of Prince Charles |
car accident |
1997 |
| Nathanael West |
American |
writer |
car accident |
1940 |
| Jaco Pastorius |
American |
bass player, former member of Weather Report |
brain damage |
1987 |
[edit] Aged 37
|
| Mike Bloomfield |
American |
guitarist |
overdose |
1981 |
| Robert Burns |
Scottish |
poet |
heart problems |
1796 |
| Samuel Coleridge-Taylor |
English |
composer |
pneumonia |
1912 |
| King Curtis |
American |
saxophonist |
homicide |
1971 |
| Jill Dando |
British |
television presenter |
gunshot |
1999 |
| Bobby Darin |
American |
singer, actor |
complications during heart surgery |
1973 |
| Justin Fashanu |
English |
footballer |
suicide |
1998 |
| Stephen Foster |
American |
composer |
accidental fall |
1864 |
| Rosalind Franklin |
English |
DNA pioneer |
ovarian cancer |
1958 |
| Lou Gehrig |
American |
baseball player (New York Yankees) |
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
1941 |
| Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden |
Swedish |
King of Sweden |
killed in Battle of Lützen |
1632 |
| Veronica Guerin |
Irish |
journalist |
homicide |
1996 |
| Mitch Hedberg |
American |
comedian |
drug overdose |
2005 |
| Michael Hutchence |
Australian |
rock singer (INXS) |
hanged in possible autoerotic asphyxiation incident |
1997 |
| Jam Master Jay |
American |
hip hop DJ (Run-DMC) |
gunshots from unknown attacker in recording studio |
2002 |
| Marie Antoinette |
French |
Queen, wife of Louis XVI |
executed |
1793 |
| Joe Meek |
British |
record producer |
suicide |
1967 |
| Ernst Paul Heinz Prüfer |
German |
mathematician |
unknown cause |
1934 |
| Aleksandr Pushkin |
Russian |
playwright, poet |
gunshot during duel |
1837 |
| Raphael |
Italian |
artist |
unknown cause |
1520 |
| Arthur Rimbaud |
French |
poet |
gangrene |
1891 |
| Franklyn Seales |
Vincentian |
Silver Spoons actor |
AIDS |
1990 |
| Soraya |
Colombian-American |
singer |
breast cancer |
2006 |
| Irving Thalberg |
American |
film producer |
pneumonia |
1936 |
| Vincent Van Gogh |
Dutch |
painter |
suicide by gunshot to his chest |
1890 |
[edit] Aged 38
|
| Mary Kay Bergman |
American |
voice actress (South Park) |
suicide |
1999 |
| Charlotte Brontë |
English |
novelist |
tuberculosis (debated) |
1855 |
| Harry Chapin |
American |
singer-songwriter |
car crash |
1981 |
| Roberto Clemente |
Puerto Rican |
baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates) |
aircraft crash |
1972 |
| Dimebag Darrell |
American |
guitarist (Pantera) |
murder |
2004 |
| Ted Demme |
American |
film director |
heart attack |
2002 |
| George Gershwin |
American |
composer |
brain tumor |
1937 |
| Eddie Guerrero |
American |
professional wrestler |
heart failure |
2005 |
| Florence Griffith Joyner |
American |
sprinter |
cavernous angioma, possibly caused by performance-enhancing drugs |
1998 |
| John F. Kennedy, Jr |
American |
journalist, publisher |
aircraft crash |
1999 |
| Sam Kinison |
American |
stand-up comedian |
car accident caused by drunk driver |
1992 |
| Alan Kulwicki |
American |
NASCAR racing driver |
plane crash |
1993 |
| Mario Lanza |
American |
operatic tenor and actor |
heart attack |
1959 |
| Sonny Liston |
American |
heavyweight boxer |
drug overdose |
1970 |
| Anna Malle |
American |
pornographic actress |
car crash |
2006 |
| Felix Mendelssohn |
German |
composer |
stroke |
1847 |
| Marie Prevost |
Canadian-born American |
actress |
alcoholism, malnutrition |
1937 |
| David Rappaport |
British |
diminutive actor |
suicide |
1990 |
| Charles Kingsford Smith |
Australian |
pioneering aviator |
presumed aircraft crash |
1935 |
| Joseph Smith, Jr |
American |
founder of Latter Day Saint movement (Mormon Church) |
gunshot and fall from window |
1844 |
| Leonid Stein |
Russian |
chess player |
heart attack |
1973 |
| Johnny Thunders |
American |
glam-rock guitarist/singer (New York Dolls) |
methadone and alcohol poisoning |
1991 |
[edit] Aged 39
|
| Bill Black |
American |
bass player for Elvis |
brain tumour |
1965 |
| Frédéric Chopin |
Polish |
composer |
tuberculosis |
1849 |
| Crazy Horse |
Sioux |
warrior |
assassination |
1877 |
| Amelia Earhart |
American |
aviator |
plane disappeared while crossing Pacific Ocean, presumed dead |
1937 |
| Felix Gonzalez-Torres |
American |
artist |
AIDS |
1996 |
| Che Guevara |
Argentinean |
Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader |
executed while in Bolivian army’s custody |
1967 |
| Craig Heyward |
American |
former NFL running back |
brain tumor |
2006 |
| Eldon Hoke |
American |
drummer |
train collision |
1997 |
| Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson |
American |
Confederate Civil War general |
fatally wounded in battle |
1863 |
| Martin Luther King, Jr |
American |
Nobel laureate, minister, civil rights activist |
gunshot |
1968 |
| Klaus Nomi |
German |
singer |
AIDS |
1983 |
| Flannery O'Connor |
American |
Author |
lupus |
1964 |
| Blaise Pascal |
French |
mathematician and philosopher |
possibly tuberculosis or stomach cancer |
1662 |
| Howard Taylor Ricketts |
American |
pathologist |
typhus |
1910 |
| Bernhard Riemann |
German |
mathematician |
tuberculosis |
1866 |
| Jermaine Stewart |
American |
musician |
AIDS |
1997 |
| Dylan Thomas |
Welsh |
poet |
alcohol poisoning |
1953 |
| Evangelista Torricelli |
Italian |
physicist and mathematician |
typhoid fever |
1647 |
| Georges Vézina |
Canadian |
ice hockey goaltender (Canadien) |
tuberculosis |
1926 |
| Carl Maria von Weber |
German |
composer |
tuberculosis |
1826 |
| Dan White |
American |
politician |
suicide |
1985 |
| Dennis Wilson |
American |
rock & roll musician (The Beach Boys) |
drowning due to intoxication |
1983 |
| Malcolm X |
American |
leader of militant black nationalism |
gunshots |
1965 |
| Karen Young |
American |
disco singer |
Bleeding ulcer |
1991 |
