Deaths in 1998

For earlier deaths, see Deaths in 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992 ...

For later deaths, see Deaths in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 ...

Contents 1 January 2 February 3 March 4 April 5 May 6 June 7 July 8 August 9 September 10 October 11 November 12 December

The following is a list of notable deaths in 1998. A typical entry lists information in the following sequence:

• Name, age, country of citizenship and reason for notability, established cause of death, reference.

January

• January 1 – Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b. 1905)
• January 4 – Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
• January 5 – Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, and politician (b. 1935)
• January 7 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
• January 8 – Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)
• January 9 – Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• January 11 – Ellis Rabb, American director and actor (b. 1930)
• January 11 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
• January 15 – Junior Wells, American harmonica player (b. 1934)
• January 16 – Emil Sitka, American actor (b. 1914)
• January 16 – Hermann Wedekind, artistic director Festspiele Balver Höhle (b. 1910)
• January 18 – Monica Edwards, British writer (b. 1912)
• January 19 – Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932)
• January 21 – Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
• January 23 – Alfredo Ormando, Italian writer (b. 1958)
• January 28 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese Manga artist, "Father of Henshin heroes" (b. 1938)

February

• February 3 – Karla Faye Tucker, Texas murderer (b. 1959)
• February 6 – Falco, Austrian musician (b. 1957)
• February 6 – Carl Wilson, American musician (b. 1946)
• February 7 – Lawrence Sanders, American author (b. 1920)
• February 7 – Roger Nicholas Angleton, American murderer (b. 1942)
• February 8 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• February 8 – Julian Lincoln Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
• February 17 – Ernst Jünger, German writer (b. 1895)
• February 18 – Harry Caray, American television and radio broadcaster (b. 1917)
• February 22 – Red Reeder, U.S. Army officer and author (b. 1902)
• February 22 – Abraham Alexander Ribicoff, American Democratic Party politician (b. 1910)
• February 22 – Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (b. 1921)
• February 23 – Raman Lamba, Indian cricketer (b. 1960)
• February 23 – Sean A. Moore, American writer (b. 1965)
• February 24 – Henny Youngman, English-born comedian (b. 1906)
• February 26 – Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• February 27 – George H. Hitchings, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1905)
• February 27 – J. T. Walsh, American actor (b. 1943)
• February 28 – Todd Duncan, American opera singer (b. 1903)
• February 28 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (b. 1952)

March

• March 2 – Darcy O'Brien, American author (b. 1939)
• March 3 – Fred W. Friendly, American television journalist and executive (b. 1915)
• March 7 – Bernarr Rainbow, historian of music education, organist, and choir master, (b. 1914)
• March 8 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (b. 1936)
• March 10 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (b. 1913)
• March 12 – Judge Dread, English musician (b. 1945)
• March 12 – Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (b. 1893)
• March 12 – Jozef Kroner, Slovak actor (The Shop on Main Street) (b. 1924)
• March 13 – Bill Reid, Canadian artist (b. 1920)
• March 13 – Risen Star, American racehorse (b. 1985)
• March 15 – Benjamin Spock, American athlete, pediatrician, and author (b. 1903)
• March 16 – Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• March 20 – George Howard, American jazz saxophone musician (b. 1956)
• March 25 – Daniel Massey, English actor (b. 1933)
• March 27 – Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, Austrian auto designer and businessman (b. 1909)
• March 31 – Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)

April

• April 1 – Gene Evans, American actor (b. 1920)
• April 1 – Rozz Williams, American singer (b. 1963)
• April 2 – Rob Pilatus, member of the pop group Milli Vanilli (b. 1965)
• April 3 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (b. 1901)
• April 5 – Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (b. 1947)
• April 6 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer (b. 1949)
• April 6 – Tammy Wynette, American singer (b. 1942)
• April 11 – Rodney Harvey, American actor and model (b. 1967)
• April 13 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (b. 1960)
• April 15 – Rose Maddox, American singer (b. 1925)
• April 15 – Pol Pot, Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader (b. 1925)
• April 16 – Marie-Louise Meilleur, oldest living person at the time of her death (b. 1880)
• April 16 – Fred Davis, English snooker player (b. 1913)
• April 17 – Linda McCartney, American photographer and musician (b. 1941)
• April 17 – Muhammad Metwally Al Shaarawy, Egyptian Muslim jurist (b. 1911)
• April 19 – Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
• April 21 – Peter Lind Hayes, American entertainer (b. 1915)
• April 21 – Irene Vernon, American actress (b. 1922)
• April 22 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (b. 1940)
• April 23 – Constantine Karamanlis, Greek politician (b. 1907)
• April 23 – James Earl Ray, American assassin (b. 1928)
• April 25 – Wright Morris, American photographer and writer (b. 1910)
• April 26 – Joan Mary Wayne Brown, British author who the pseudonyms Mary Gervaise, Hilary Wayne and Bellamy Brown (b. 1906)

• April 27 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
• April 27 – Pauline Réage, French writer (b. 1907)

May

• May 1 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935)
• May 2 – Kevin Lloyd, British actor (b. 1949)
• May 2 – Justin Fashanu, British footballer (b. 1961)
• May 2 – hide, Japanese musician (b. 1964)
• May 2 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
• May 7 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African–born physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1924)
• May 7 – Eddie Rabbitt, American musician (b. 1941)
• May 9 – Alice Faye, American entertainer (b. 1915)
• May 14 – Frank Sinatra, American entertainer (b. 1915)
• May 14 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (b. 1890)
• May 15 – Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
• May 19 – Sosuke Uno, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1922)
• May 22 – John Derek, American actor and film director (b. 1926)
• May 22 – José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)
• May 28 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-born artist, writer, actor, and comedian (b. 1948)
• May 29 – Barry Goldwater, American politician (b. 1909)

June

• June 1 – Darwin Joston, American actor (b. 1937)
• June 2 – Junkyard Dog, American pro wrestler (b. 1952)
• June 2 – Dorothy Stickney, American actress (b. 1896)
• June 3 – Poul Bundgaard, Danish actor and singer (b. 1922)
• June 5 – Jeanette Nolan, American actress (b. 1911)
• June 8 – President Sani Abacha of Nigeria (b. 1943)
• June 8 – Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (b. 1929)
• June 10 – Hammond Innes, English author (b. 1914)
• June 11 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906)
• June 12 – Theresa Merritt, American actress (b. 1924)
• June 13 – Birger Ruud, Norwegian athlete (b. 1911)
• June 20 – Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942)
• June 22 – Benny Green, British writer, radio broadcaster and saxophonist (b. 1927)
• June 23 – Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
• June 25 – Lounès Matoub, Berber Kabyle singer (b. 1956)

July

• July 3 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
• July 5 – Sid Luckman, American football player (b. 1916)
• July 6 – Roy Rogers, American singer and actor (b. 1911)
• July 17 – Marc Hunter, 44, New Zealand lead vocalist of rock band Dragon (b. 1953)
• July 17 – Joseph Maher, Irish actor (b. 1933)
• July 19 – Elmer Valo, Slovak Major League Baseball player (b. 1921)
• July 20 – Anatoliy Betekhtin, Russian army general (b. 1931) [1]
• July 21 – Alan Shepard, American astronaut (b. 1923)
• July 21 – Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
• July 22 – Hermann Prey, German bass-baritone (b. 1929)
• July 27 – Binnie Barnes, English actress (b. 1903)
• July 25 – John Kay, Coach Driver (b. 1938)
• July 29 – Jerome Robbins, American choreographer and director (b. 1918)
• July 30 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American children's television host (b. 1917)
• July 30 – Jorge Russek, Mexican actor (b. 1932)

August

• August 1 – Eva Bartók, Hungarian actress (b. 1927)
• August 2 – Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (b. 1933)
• August 3 – Alfred Schnittke, Russian-born composer (b. 1934)
• August 4 – Yuri Artyukhin, cosmonaut (b. 1930)
• August 5 – Todor Zivkov, former president of Bulgaria (b. 1911)
• August 6 – André Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906)
• August 9 – Frankie Ruiz, Puerto Rican singer (b. 1958)
• August 13 – Julien Green, French-born American writer (b. 1900)
• August 24 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1914)
• August 25 – Lewis F. Powell, Jr., American Justice of the Supreme Court (b. 1907)
• August 26 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)

September

• September 1 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer (b. 1921)
• September 2 – Jackie Blanchflower, Irish footballer (b. 1933)
• September 2 – Allen Drury, American writer (b. 1918)
• September 5 – Fernando Balzaretti, Mexican actor (b. 1946)
• September 5 – Leo Penn, American actor and director (b. 1921)
• September 6 – Akira Kurosawa, Japanese screenwriter, producer, and director (b. 1910)
• September 8 – Leonid Kinskey, Russian-born actor (b. 1903)
• September 9 – Lucio Battisti, Italian singer (b. 1943)
• September 10 – Carl Forgione, British actor (b. 1944)
• September 11 – Dane Clark, American actor (b. 1912)
• September 13 – George Wallace, American politician (b. 1919)
• September 14 – Johnny Adams, American musician (b. 1932)
• September 14 – Yang Shangkun, former President of the People's Republic of China (b. 1907)
• September 17 – Gustav Nezval, Czech actor (b. 1907)
• September 20 – Muriel Humphrey, Wife of Vice President Hubert Humphrey (b. 1912)
• September 21 – Florence "Flo-Jo" Griffith-Joyner, American runner (b. 1959)
• September 23 – Mary Frann, American actress (b. 1943)
• September 24 –Sirdar Shaukat Hyat Khan, Pakistani Politician, involved in the freedom struggle for Pakistan as an important ally of Founding Father M.A.Jinnah. (b.1915)
• September 26 – Betty Carter, American jazz singer (b. 1929)
• September 27 – Narita Bryan, Japanese racehorse (b. 1991)
• September 30 – Dan Quisenberry, baseball player (b. 1953)
• September 30 – Bruno Munari, Italian-born industrial designer (b. 1907)
• September 30 – Pavel Štěpán, Czech pianist (b. 1925)
• September 30 – Robert Lewis Taylor, American author (b. 1912)

October

• October 2 – Gene Autry, American actor, singer, and sports team owner (b. 1907)
• October 2 – Olivier Gendebien, Belgian race car driver (b. 1924)
• October 3 – Roddy McDowall, British actor (b. 1928)
• October 6 – Mark Belanger, American baseball player (b. 1944)
• October 8 – Zhang Chongren, Chinese artist (b. 1907)
• October 9 – Ian Johnson, Australian cricketer (b. 1917)
• October 10 – Tommy Quaid, Irish hurler (b. 1957)
• October 11 – Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
• October 12 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (b. 1976)
• October 13 – General Gérard Charles Édouard Thériault, Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff (b. 1932)
• October 14 – Frankie Yankovic, American musician (b. 1916)
• October 16 – Jon Postel, American Internet pioneer (b. 1943)
• October 17 – Joan Hickson, British actress (b. 1906)
• October 17 – Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar and philanthropist (b. 1920)
• October 22 – Eric Ambler, British writer (b. 1909)
• October 28 – Ghulam Ahmed, Indian former cricket captain (b. 1922)
• October 28 – James Goldman, American writer (b. 1927)
• October 28 – Ted Hughes, English poet (b. 1930)

November

• November 3 – Bob Kane, American comic book creator (b. 1915)
• November 8 – Jean Marais, French actor (b. 1913)
• November 10 – Hal Newhouser, baseball player (b. 1921)
• November 10 – Mary Millar, British actress (b. 1936)
• November 13 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (b. 1917)
• November 13 – Michel Trudeau, Canadian outdoorsman, son of Pierre Trudeau (b. 1975)
• November 13 – Doug Wright, English cricketer (b. 1914)
• November 17 – Kenneth McDuff, American serial killer (b. 1946)
• November 17 – Esther Rolle, American actress (b. 1920)
• November 19 – Alan J. Pakula, American film director (b. 1928)
• November 22 – Stu Unger, professional poker player (b. 1953)
• November 25 – Flip Wilson, American actor and comedian (b. 1933)
• November 28 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American counterculture figure and writer (b. 1938)
• November 29 – Martin Ruane, British wrestler best known as Giant Haystacks and later, The Loch Ness Monster (b. 1947)
• November 29 – Frank Latimore, American actor (b. 1925)

December

• December 1 – Freddie Young, British cinematographer (b. 1902)
• December 2 – Mikio Oda, Japanese athlete (b. 1905)
• December 2 – Brian Stonehouse, English painter and World War II secret agent (b. 1918)
• December 6 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor (b. 1921)
• December 7 – Michael Craze, British actor (b. 1942)
• December 7 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1925)
• December 11 – Lynn Strait, vocalist for band Snot (b. 1968)
• December 12 – Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (b. 1930)
• December 13 – Lew Grade, British impresario (b. 1906)
• December 14 – Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924)
• December 14 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1924)
• December 16 – William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)
• December 17 – Claudia Benton, Peruvian-born child psychologist (b. 1959)
• December 18 – Lev Demin, cosmonaut (b. 1926)
• December 20 – Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
• December 20 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1914)
• December 21 – Roger Avon, British actor (b. 1914)
• December 22 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
• December 23 – David Manners, Canadian-American actor (b. 1900)
• December 25 – John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1923)
• December 26 – Hurd Hatfield, American actor (b. 1917)
• December 28 – Robert Rosen, American biologist (b. 1934)
• December 30 – Keisuke Kinoshita, Japanese film director (b. 1912)
• December 30 – George Webb, British actor (b. 1911)