List of people who became famous only in death
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of people who, for a variety of reasons, became famous only after their deaths. With the current high-speed media outlets many people attain a degree of fame in their death by simply being reported in the news. Those on this list have become famous in death to a degree beyond the immediate release of the notification of their death.
Contents |
[edit] Multiple deaths in same event
In the case where multiple people died during an event or they attained fame for their lives only after death, they are included as a group leading to the appropriate articles.
[edit] People who became famous because of the circumstances of their deaths
- Doris Angleton Texas socialite murdered in 1997
- Jessica Bergsten US up-and-coming model, killed by a skateboarder in 1991.
- Keith Blakelock murdered British policeman, killed by mob during riots, 1985.
- Dr Gilbert Bogle Australian scientist 1963 - the Bogle-Chandler mystery.
- Azaria Chamberlain baby taken by a dingo in Central Australia, 1980.
- Margaret Chandler in Sydney 1963 - the Bogle-Chandler mystery.
- Thich Quang Duc Vietnamese Buddhist monk protester, self-immolation, 1963.
- Diane Linkletter daughter of television personality Art Linkletter fell or jumped out of a window to her death in 1969.
- Jan Palach, Czech student, committed suicide in 1969 by self-immolation in protest after Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
- Kimberly Rogers Canadian woman whose suicide in 2001 led to a major welfare reform inquest in Ontario.
- J. D. Tippit, Dallas policeman shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on the day of the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963.
[edit] Civilian (non-military, non-politician, deaths unrelated to civil service)
This section lists people who became famous only in death where the circumstances of their deaths were not related to any military, political, artistic or entertainment, or civil services situation. Their deaths may have affected those areas but they would not be readily identified as potential or former member of those groups.
[edit] War related
This section lists people who became famous as their deaths occurred while they were operating in a civilian capacity in the context of a military conflict.
- Nicholas Berg 1st US citizen hostage killed by Al-Qaeda after the Iraq war began
- Crispus Attucks Free Afro-American whose reported death at the hands of the British was used as a rallying cry during the American Revolution
- Alice Herz 1st US citizen during the Vietnam War to commit self-immolation as a form of protest
- Shosei Koda 1st Japanese citizen hostage killed by Al-Qaeda after the Iraq war began
- Norman Morrison US citizen who practiced self-immolation as a form of protest against the Vietnam war who is immortalized in Hanoi by having a street named after him
- Daniel Pearl 1st US citizen reporter beheaded by militant Pakistani group after the Afghanistan war began
- Fabrizio Quattrocchi 1st Italian citizen killed as a hostage during the Iraq war
- Kim Sun-il 1st South Korean citizen killed as a hostage during the Iraq war
[edit] Victims of hate crimes
These deaths were people who died due to hate crimes or alleged hate crimes or in circumstances quite similar to a hate crime.
- James Byrd, Jr. (murdered in Texas in 1998, dragged behind a car in racist attack)
- Kriss Donald (murdered Scottish teenager, in racist attack in Glasgow in 2004)
- Michael Donald (murder victim chosen at random by members of the Ku Klux Klan in 1981)
- Ilan Halimi (French Jew kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in 2006)
- Stephen Lawrence (London teenager murdered in 1993 in race-related attack)
- Viola Liuzzo (US civil rights activist from Michigan murdered by Ku Klux Klan in 1965)
- Henry Marrow His murder sparked a group of black Vietnam veterans to go on campaign of arson
- Matthew Shepard His death spurred an effort to have "hate crime" status introduced in Wyoming, which failed, but his funeral and identity were subject of a protest by the Westboro Baptist Church which propelled the group into the national spotlight
- Brandon Teena His murder was inspiration to documentary films and the movie Boys Don't Cry
- Emmett Till (Illinois teenager lynched in race-related attack in 1955)
- Aaron Webster First murder of a homosexual in Canada to gain national attention
[edit] Victims of violence or suspected violence
These deaths were people who died by being murdered or are suspected of being murdered in a non-hate crime, not by accident, not by suicide, nor the setting of an armed military confrontation. These individuals were not noted for their potential to be stars, politicians, artisans, or other celebrities.
- Beaumont children Their assumed murders are revisited by Australian media and their disappearance changed the way parents would supervise their kids.
- Cassie Bernall Her reported confession to believe in God under threat of death by the Columbine Massacre killers made her a contemporary martyr in many U.S. Christian eyes.
- James Bulger Toddler brutally tortured and murdered by two 10-year olds. The age of his killers and victim cause this case to be continually revisited
- Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells The trial of their murderer, Ian Huntley, was handled in such a way it spurred the Police Reform Act of 2002.
- Herb Clutter and family (murdered Kansas family whose killings were the subject of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood)
- Anita Cobby Her murder reignited the debate of the death penalty in Australia and was later the subject of a book and basis for a film
- Yvonne Fletcher Her shooting outside the Libyan embassy sparked a political row between Britain and Libya including a sige of the Libyan embassy in England
- Kristen French, Tammy Lyn Homolka, and Leslie Mahaffy Were murdered by Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka and was revisited in a film.
- Kitty Genovese Lack of reaction to her murder over the long span of time it took place became known as the "Bystander Effect" and is referred too in popular culture in movies and songs.
- Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson Were the victims of murder, for which O.J. Simpson was tried and acquitted in a high-profile trial; Nicole Brown Simpson was his ex-wife. (Although she was not widely famous before her murder, she was arguably more well-known than any other person on this list, in that she had been married to a famous football star.)
- Amber Hagerman Her abduction and murder was the catalyst for the creation "Amber Alerts"
- Christine Jessop Famous for the wrongful conviction of Guy Paul Morin
- Holly Jones Murder led to increased penalties in Ontario for the manufacture and distribution of child pornography
- Suzanne Jovin, Yale University student whose murder is still unsolved
- Chandra Levy Her death unvailed an affair with US Representative Gary Condit effectively ending his political career
- Rosemarie Nitribitt Her death has been revisited in film and stage productions.
- Laci Peterson Her death is cited to inspire the passing of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act
- Elyse Pahler. A 15 year old schoolgirl whose parents sued the band Slayer over her death.
- Alex Rackley, His death led to the murder trials of the Black Panthers organization's leadership effectively ending their influence
- JonBenét Ramsey Child beauty queen whose death has been revisited many times in media
- Timothy Thomas Unarmed teenager shot during on-foot pursuit which sparked the 2001 Cincinnati Riots)
- Rachel Scott First victim in during the Columbine massacre.
- James Smith Murder victim identified by an arm found in a shark
- Adam Walsh His death sparked the implementation of "Code Adam" as well as inspired his father to launch a television show America's Most Wanted
[edit] Victims of accident, experiments, and misadventures
These are individuals who became famous as they died from accidents (their own or others), experiments (their own or by others, voluntarily, or involuntarily), or misadventures.
- Leah Betts Famous, inaccurately, for having died from Ecstacy overdose on her first time use. Her likeness was used during anti-drug campaigns.
- Yoshihiro Hattori Japanese student shot by mistake in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- John Luther "Casey" Jones Train engineer immortalized in folksongs and references in various media and popular culture.
- Mary Jo Kopechne Killed in car accident by Ted Kennedy. The circumstances of the accident have repeatedly been used against Kennedy
- Deborah Gail Stone (Disneyland cast member crushed to death in America Sings, 1974)
- Arland D. Williams Jr. Heroic passenger of Air Florida Flight 90 who repeatedly passed lifeline to fellow passengers after the plane crashed into the Potomac River, 1982.
- Anna Wood Famous, inaccurately, for having died from Ecstacy overdose on her first time use. Her likeness was used during anti-drug campaigns
[edit] September 11th terrorist attacks in the US
- Todd Beamer Achieved fame for his often quoted last recorded statement of "Let's roll" which was used as a rallying call for some time after the events. It is believed he attempted to wrest control from their captors along with Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick.
[edit] People who became posthumously famous for other reasons
- Thomas Bayes clergyman who invented inferential statistics
- Eva Cassidy (singer)
- Emily Dickinson (not widely published until after her death)
- Nick Drake (songwriter)
- Anne Frank (Holocaust victim whose diary became a posthumous classic)
- Edith Holden (artist whose 1906 diary was a best-seller when published posthumously in 1977)
- John Kennedy Toole (writer, posthumously won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 12 years after his death)
- Elmer McCurdy (much-travelled corpse)
- William Webb Ellis (alleged inventor of Rugby Football)
- Vincent van Gogh (artist)
- Saint Therese of Lisieux, Catholic saint and mystic (wrote autobiographical spiritual classic published after her death in 1897)
[edit] See also
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
