Deaths Date 1972 May | History by KabAstro

May 1 Fernand Ansseau, Belgian opera singer (Orfeo), dies at 82
May 2 Hugo Hartung, writer, dies at 69

J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972)

May 2 American 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1924-72), dies at 77

May 3 Bruce Cabot, actor (Diamonds are Forever), dies at 68
May 3 Les Harvey, Scottish rock guitarist (Stone The Crows), dies from accidental on-stage electrocution at 27
May 4 Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
May 5 [Reverend] Gary Davis, American blues and folk guitarist (A Little More Faith), dies of a heart attack at 76
May 6 Deniz Gezmiş, Turkish Left-wing Political Activist (b. 1947)
May 6 Donald Pritzker, American entrepreneur (co-founder and president of Hyatt hotels), dies of a heart attack while playing tennis at Honolulu, Hawaii Hyatt at 39
May 10 Rhys Gemmell, Australian tennis player (Australasian C'ships singles & doubles 1921), dies at 76
May 13 Dan Blocker, American actor (Cimarron City - "Tiny"; Bonanza - "Hoss"), dies of a pulmonary embolism at 43
May 14 Sandor Rado, Hungarian-American psychoanalyst, dies at 82
May 15 Nigel Green, South African-born British character actor (Zulu, Skull, Tobruk, Ipcress File), dies of an accidental barbiturate overdose at 47
May 16 Maxime Dumoulin, French composer, dies at 79
May 17 Sir Gordon Lowe, British tennis player, Member of Parliament (Australasian C'ship 1915), dies at 87
May 18 Eero Sipilä, Finnish composer, dies at 53
May 20 Cornelis Jakob van der Klauw, Dutch biologist and zoologist, dies at 78
May 22 Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet (British Poet Laureate 1968-72) and detective writer (Nicholas Blake), dies of cancer at 68
May 22 Margaret Rutherford, English actress (Murder Ahoy, VIP's), dies at 80
May 24 Asta Nielsen, actress (Joyless Street), dies at 88
May 24 Gavin Muir, American actor (Mary of Scotland, Johnny Trouble), dies at 71
May 24 Ismail Yasseen, Egyptian comedian and actor (Isamil Yassine as Tarzan, Ibn Hamidu), dies of a heart attack at 59
May 27 Roy K. Marshall, American astronomer and TV scientist (Nature of Things), dies at 64

Edward VIII (1894-1972)

May 28 King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India (Jan 20th, 1936 until his abdication on Dec 11th, 1936), dies at 77

May 29 Margaret Ruthven Lang, American composer (Irish Love Song), dies at 104
May 29 Stephen Timoshenko [Stepan Tymoshenko], Ukrainian-American mechanical engineer (elasticity; strength of materials), and pedagogue, dies at 93
May 30 Margaret Ruthven Lang, composer, dies at 104
May 31 Walter Freeman, American physician (developer and practitioner of psychiatric surgery transorbital lobotomy), dies

Famous People Who Died in May 1972

J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972)

Edward VIII (1894-1972)

Famous People by Cause of Death