List of famous people who died young

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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
Lungtok Gyatso (9) the ninth Dalai Lama 1815
Judith Barsi (10) American child actress homicide 1988
Jacinta and Francisco Marto (10/11) Portuguese children who saw three apparitions of an angel and several apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary influenza 1919 and 1920
Julian Scriabin (11) Russian composer drowning 1919
Nkosi Johnson (12) South African children's rights activist AIDS 2001
Heather O'Rourke (12) American child actress bowel obstruction 1988
Sadako Sasaki (12) Japanese runner, origami artist leukemia caused by Hiroshima atom bomb 1955
Samantha Smith (13) American social activist, actress, author aircraft crash 1985
Alexei Romanov (13) Russian royal heir assassination 1918
Prince John of the United Kingdom (13) English British prince epilepsy 1919
Mattie Stepanek (13) American poet muscular distrophy 2004
Peter II of Russia (14) Russian Tsar small pox 1730
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
Tara Correa-McMullen American actress homicide 2005
Michael Cuccione Canadian actor respiratory failure 2001
Lady Jane Grey English Queen for 9 to 13 days beheaded by order of Mary I 1554
Billy Laughlin American child actor traffic accident 1948
Lucille Ricksen American actress tuberculosis 1925
Heikki Suolahti Finnish classical music composer not known 1936
Julie Vega Filipino actress pneumonia 1985
[edit] Aged 17
Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia Russian Grand Duchess of Russia assassination 1918
Baroness Mary Vetsera Austrian Rudolf's mistress possible suicide 1889
Caesarion (Little Caesar) Egyptian pharaoh, son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar executed by order of Augustus Caesar 30 BC
Thomas Chatterton English poet suicide 1770
Khendrup Gyatso the eleventh Dalai Lama 1856
Krissy Taylor American model heart failure due to a rare condition 1995
Ritchie Valens American Chicano-rock singer aircraft crash 1959
[edit] Aged 18
Ronnie Caldwell American soul musician plane crash 1967
Norman "Chubby" Chaney American actor glandular ailment 1936
Do-Hum-Me Sac dancer possibly influenza ca. 1845
Edwy of England English King of England unknown 959
Anissa Jones American child actor drug overdose 1976
Yukiko Okada Japanese idol singer suicide by jumping 1986
John Spence American ska singer (No Doubt) suicide by gunshot 1987
Tutankhamun Egyptian pharaoh possibly gangrene from an infected leg wound 1323 BC
Ryan White American AIDS activist pneumonia caused by accidental HIV infection from treatments for haemophilia 1990
[edit] Aged 19
Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga Spanish composer disputed 1826
Divya Bharti Indian actress accidental fall from building 1993
Dorothy Dell American actress car accident 1934
Junior Durkin American actor car accident 1935
Margot Frank Dutch Jewish victim of the Holocaust, sister of Anne Frank typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during The Holocaust 1945
Joan of Arc French military commander burned at the stake 1431
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Russian Grand Duchess of Russia assassination 1918
Adam Petty American racing driver, grandson of Richard Petty car accident during race practice 2000
Adán Sánchez American singer car accident 2004
Pablo Santos Mexican actor aircraft crash 2006
[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
Daniel Wayne Smith American actor and reality television star drug overdose 2006
[edit] Aged 21
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia Russian Grand Duchess of Russia assassination 1918
Bridgette Andersen American actress drug overdose 1997
Eddie Cochran American rockabilly musician car crash 1960
James Crichton Scottish child prodigy ("the Admirable Crichton") killed in a swordfight 1582
Duncan Edwards English footballer (Manchester United) Munich air disaster 1958
Matthew Garber English actor pancreatitis 1977
Ernst Mielck Finnish composer tuberculosis 1899
Stuart Sutcliffe Scottish bassist (briefly with The Beatles) brain hemorrhage 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
Henry Kirke White English poet not known 1806
[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
Darby Crash American punk-rock singer (The Germs) suicide by heroin overdose 1980
Dominique Dunne American actress strangled into coma by ex-boyfriend 1982
Terry Fox Canadian athlete, activist cancer 1981
Mary Ann Ganser American musician (The Shangri-Las) encephalitis 1970
Buddy Holly American rock & roll singer aircraft crash 1959
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia Russian Grand Duchess of Russia assassination 1918
Pepe Portuguese footballer food poisoning 1930
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
Taki Rentaro Japanese composer tuberculosis 1903
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
Bonnie Parker American bank robber killed in police ambush 1934
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
Lili Boulanger French composer severe illness 1918
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
Joe Delaney American American football running back (Kansas City Chiefs) drowning 1983
Peg Entwistle Welsh actress suicide 1932
Robert Fergusson Scottish poet head trauma 1774
Ben Hollioake English cricketer car accident 2002
Huo Qubing Chinese general plague 117 BC
Stanley Ketchel American boxer gunshot 1910
Nile Kinnick American college football running back (University of Iowa) plane crash 1943
Lee Eun-ju South Korean actress suicide 2005
La Malinche Indigenous Mexican interpreter unknown 1529
Greg Moore Canadian racing driver car accident during race 1999
Joaquin Murrieta Mexican bandit shot by California State Rangers 1853
Damien Nash American NFL running back (Denver Broncos) unknown 2007
Notorious B.I.G. American rapper gunshot 1997
Lee Harvey Oswald American alleged assassin of US President John F Kennedy gunshot 1963
Christopher Pettiet American actor accidental drug overdose 2000
Steve Prefontaine American Olympic long-distance runner car accident 1975
Tammi Terrell American Motown singer brain tumour 1970
Wang Bi Chinese philosopher plague 249 AD
Darrent Williams American NFL defensive back (Denver Broncos) drive-by shooting 2007
Andrew Wood American grunge 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
Clyde Barrow American bank robber killed in police ambush 1934
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
U;Nee South Korean actress and singer suicide 2007
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
Baby Face Nelson American bank robber killed in police shootout 1934
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
Asmahan Syrian musician car accident 1944
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
Jon-Erik Hexum American actor/model Brain trauma after shooting a blank into his temple 1984
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
Ulrike Maier Austrian Alpine skier skiing accident while racing 1994
Yutaka Ozaki Japanese musician possibly pulmonary edema 1992
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
Dave Sands Australian boxer truck accident 1952
Hillel Slovak Israeli rock guitarist (Red Hot Chili Peppers) heroin overdose 1988
Joey Stefano American porn star drug overdose 1994
Jung Da Bin South Korean actress suicide 2007
Sharon Tate American actress homicide by followers of Charles Manson 1969
Hans Hermann von Katte Prussian royal's lover execution 1730
[edit] Aged 27
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
Barry Brown American actor suicide 1978
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
Li He Chinese poet unknown 816/817
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan American rock/blues singer (The Grateful Dead) gastrointestinal hemorrhage 1973
Jim Morrison American rock singer (The Doors) heart attack, possibly due to drug overdose 1971
Henry Moseley British physicist killed in action 1915
Masako Natsume Japanese actress acute myeloid leukemia 1985
Steve Olin American Major League Baseball pitcher boating accident 1993
Kristen Pfaff American rock/bassist (Hole) heroin overdose 1994
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
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
Caligula Roman emperor assassination 41 AD
Jason Collier American basketball player cardiac arrest 2005
Hsu Wei Lun Taiwanese Actress Cardiac Arrest Following Car Accident 2007
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
Sarah Kane British playwright suicide 1999
Brandon Lee American actor (Son Of Bruce Lee) 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
Jason Thirsk American rock bassist (Pennywise) suicide 1996
Yu Xuanji Chinese woman poet executed for beating her maid to death c.871
[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
Walt Bond American baseball player leukemia 1967
David Brainerd American missionary tuberculosis 1747
Anne Brontë English novelist tuberculosis 1849
Michelle Thomas American actress stomach cancer 1998
Merritt Butrick American actor AIDS 1989
Ray Chapman American baseball player (Cleveland Indians) hit in head by a pitch from Carl Mays 1920
Candy Darling American actress leukemia 1974
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
Bill Masterton Canadian ice hockey player (Minnesota North Stars) on-ice head injury 1968
Robert Murray M'Cheyne Scottish minister typhus 1843
Davey Moore American boxer crushed by his own car 1988
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
Don Wilson American baseball pitcher suicide 1975
[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 BC
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
Talitha Getty Dutch-British actress heroin overdose 1971
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
Davey Moore American boxer brain injuries sustained during boxing match 1963
Nero Roman emperor suicide A.D. 68
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
Paula Björkqvist Finnish politician homicide 2006
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
Bobby Driscoll American actor drug-related heart disease 1968
Pete Duel American actor suicide 1971
Eazy-E American gangsta-rap pioneer (NWA) complications from unknowingly having AIDS 1995
Hans Fitting German mathematician unknown 1938
Sidney Fox American actress suicide 1942
Keith Haring American painter AIDS 1990
Smita Patil Indian actress Childbirth 1986
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
Vijay Kumar Patodi Indian mathematician kidney transplant 1976
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
Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev Russian mathematician bacteremia 1878
[edit] Aged 32
Alexander the Great Ancient Macedonian king, conqueror of "known" world malaria, possibly poisoned 323 BC
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
J Dilla American hip hop producer thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura 2006
Cass Elliot American singer (The Mamas & Papas) heart attack brought on by obesity 1974
Belinda Emmett Australian actress breast cancer 2006
Soundarya Indian actress plane crash 2004
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
Jim McGlothlin American baseball pitcher leukemia 1975
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-Afro-German Milli Vanilli overdose 1998
Glenn Quinn Irish actor heroin overdose 2002
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
Alan Wiggins American baseball player AIDS 1991
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
Catherine of Siena Italian Catholic saint not known 1380
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
Jesus Christ (exact age at death uncertain) Judean founder of Christianity crucifixion ca. AD 30
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
Unity Mitford British fascist meningitis 1948
Eva Perón Argentinian actress, wife of President Juan Perón cancer 1952
Harry Nelson Pillsbury American chess player syphilis 1906
Moana Pozzi Italian porn actress liver cancer 1994
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
Lev Schnirelmann Soviet mathematician suicide 1938
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
John Wilmot English Restoration poet syphilis and alcoholism 1680
[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
Toivo Kuula Finnish composer homicide 1918
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
Katherine Mansfield New Zealander writer tuberculosis 1923
Lynn McGlothen American baseball pitcher died in mobile home fire 1984
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
Jonathan Larson American composer aortic dissection 1996
Meriwether Lewis American explorer gunshot 1809
Donnie Moore American baseball pitcher suicide 1989
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Salzburgian composer Rheumatic fever 1791
Phil Ochs American singer suicide by hanging 1976
Ol' Dirty Bastard American rapper (Wu Tang Clan) accidental overdose of cocaine and painkillers 2004
Elis Regina Brazilian singer overdose 1982
José Rizal Filipino novelist, National Hero of the Philippines Spanish firing squad 1896
Jimmie Rodgers American country musician hemorrage brought on by tuberculosis 1933
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
Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot French mathematician and physicist cholera 1832
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
Silk Smitha Indian actress and sex symbol Suicide 1996
Robin Harris American comedian, actor heart attack 1990
Doc Holliday American dentist, gambler, gunfighter tuberculosis 1887
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
Madhubala Indian actress heart condition 1969
Marilyn Monroe American actress, sex symbol barbiturate overdose, probably intentional 1962
Kimmo Nevonmaa Finnish composer cerebral haemorrhage 1996
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
C. P. Ramanujam Indian mathematician suicide 1974
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
Kamala Nehru Indian wife of Jawaharlal Nehru tuberculosis 1936
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
Albert Girard French mathematician unknown 1632
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
Qusay Hussein Iraqi son of Saddam Hussein and head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service gun battle with US forces 2003
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
Sal Mineo American actor murder by stabbing 1976
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
Peter Stefan Czech mathematician accident 1978
Irving Thalberg American film producer pneumonia 1936
Vincent Van Gogh Dutch painter suicide by gunshot to his chest 1890
[edit] Aged 38
Minako Honda Japanese singer, actress leukemia 2005
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
Jackie Curtis American actress drug overdose 1985
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
James MacCullagh Irish mathematician suicide 1847
Anna Malle American pornographic actress car crash 2006
Vera Menchik British chess player V-2 rocket 1944
Felix Mendelssohn German composer stroke 1847
Marie Prevost Canadian-born American actress alcoholism, malnutrition 1937
David Rappaport British diminutive actor suicide 1990
Joseph Schmidt Austro-Jewish tenor pneumonia 1942
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
Thomas Joannes Stieltjes Dutch mathematician unknown 1894
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
Alfred Clebsch German mathematician diphtheria 1872
Crazy Horse Sioux warrior (exact age at death uncertain) assassination 1877
Amelia Earhart American aviator plane disappeared while crossing Pacific Ocean, presumed dead 1937
Brenda Fassie South African pop singer cocaine overdose 2004
Gao Qi Chinese poet executed for "inciting rebellion" 1374
Felix Gonzalez-Torres American artist AIDS 1996
Che Guevara Argentinean Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader executed while in Bolivian army’s custody 1967
George Herbert English poet tuberculosis 1633
Craig Heyward American former NFL running back brain tumor 2006
Eldon Hoke American drummer train collision 1997
Uday Hussein Iraqi son of Saddam Hussein gun battle with US forces 2003
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
Meena Kumari Indian actress Cirrhosis of the liver 1972
Carl Morton American baseball pitcher heart attack after jogging 1983
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
Anna Nicole Smith American model and actress overdose 2007
Davey Boy Smith (British Bulldog) British Wrestler heart attack 2002
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
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Jordanian Al Qaeda leader Bomb attack 2006

[edit] See also
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