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Famous People Who Died in 1974

Deaths 1 - 200 of 353

  • Jan 2 (Woodward) "Tex" Ritter, American country singer (5 Star Jubilee, "Wayward Wind"), dies of a heart attack at 67
  • Jan 3 Arthur Daley, American sportswriter (NY Times-Pulitzer 1956), dies from a heart attack at 69
  • Jan 3 Gino Cervi, Italian actor (Les Miserables, Naked Maja), dies at 72
  • Jan 4 Karel Janeček, Czech composer, dies at 70
  • Jan 5 Lev Oborin, Russian-Soviet pianist (winner of 1st International Chopin Competition, 1927), composer and pedagogue, dies at 66
  • Jan 6 David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican sculptor/muralist, dies at 77
  • Jan 7 Charles Alfred Coulson, British chemist (theoretical), dies at 63
  • Jan 10 Eddie Safranski, American jazz double bassist and orchestra leader (Jonathan Winters Show), dies at 55
  • Jan 13 Raoul Jobin, French-Canadian operatic tenor (1930-58), and educator (Conservatoire de musique du Québec, 1960-71), dies at 69
  • Jan 13 Salvador Novo, Mexican writer and poet, dies at 69
  • Jan 14 Josef Smrkovský, Czechoslovak communist politician, dies at 62
  • Jan 15 Karel Salmon [Karl Salomon], Israeli operatic bass-baritone singer, composer, and conductor, dies at 76
  • Jan 16 Roy Bargy, American pianist and composer (Jimmy Durante Show), dies at 79
  • Jan 20 Edmund Blunden, English poet and critic (Undertones of War), dies at 77
  • Jan 21 Jan Arends, Dutch poet and author, commits suicide at 48
  • Jan 21 Ken Viljoen, South African cricket batsman (27 Tests, 2 x 100, HS 124; Griqualand West, Orange Free State, Transvaal), dies at 63
  • Jan 21 Lewis L Strauss, head US Atomic Energy Comm (1953-58), dies at 78
  • Jan 22 Leon Lontoc, Filipino-American character actor (The Ugly American; Burke's Law - "Henry"), and restaurateur, dies at 64
  • Jan 26 Siegfried von Vegesack, German writer, dies at 85
  • Jan 26 Wiktor Labunski, Polish-American composer, dies at 78
  • Jan 27 Georgios Grivas, Cypriot leader and patriot (fought guerilla war for independence against British), dies at 75
  • Jan 27 Paula Ludwig, Austrian German poet, dies at 74
  • Jan 29 H. E. Bates [Herbert Ernest Bates ], English writer (Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May), dies at 68
  • Jan 30 Bill Whitty, Australian cricketer (left-arm bowler 1909-12), dies at 87
  • Jan 31 Glenn Morris, American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1936) and actor (Tarzan's Revenge; Hold That Co-ed), dies of congestive heart failure at 61
  • Jan 31 Paul Haesaerts, Belgian architect and painter (Flandre), dies at 72
  • Jan 31 Roger Pryor, American actor (Lady by Choice, Belle of the Nineties, Identity Unknown), dies at 72

Samuel Goldwyn (1882-1974)

Jan 31 Polish born Jewish-American film producer (The Best Years of Our Lives) and movie magnate, dies of natural causes at 91

  • Feb 1 Lynda Ann Healy, 1st Bundy murder victim, abducted in Seattle at 22
  • Feb 2 Jean Absil, Belgian organist and composer (Benedictions; Peau d'Ane), dies at 80
  • Feb 4 Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist (Bose–Einstein statistics), dies at 80
  • Feb 7 Arline Judge, American actress (Girls in Chains, Mad Wednesday, Age of Consent), dies at 61
  • Feb 8 Fern Andra [Vernal Andrews], American actress who worked in German silent cinema, dies at 80
  • Feb 8 Franz Weyergans, Belgian writer and translator (Les Gens Heureux), dies at 61
  • Feb 8 Fritz Zwicky, Swiss astronomer (supernova, dark matter), dies at 75
  • Feb 9 Cees de Lange, Dutch conferencier, dies at 60
  • Feb 11 Anna Q Nilsson, Swedish actress (Shenandoah; Uncle Tom's Cabin; Toll Gate; Sorrell & Son), dies at 85
  • Feb 14 Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricket batsman (10 Tests, 2 x 100s; Wellington CA, Leicestershire CCC, Warwickshire CCC), dies at 70
  • Feb 15 Kurt Magnus Atterberg, Swedish composer, dies at 86
  • Feb 16 John Garand, Canadian rifle engineer and manufacturer (b. 1888)
  • Feb 20 David Monrad Johansen, Norwegian composer, dies at 85

Tim Horton (1930-1974)

Feb 21 Canadian ice hockey player and co-founder of the Tim Hortons restaurant chain, dies in a car crash at 44

  • Feb 22 Samuel Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (b. 1930)
  • Feb 23 Dave Brown, Australian rugby league centre (9 Tests, 19 games NSW; Eastern Suburbs, Warrington; RL "Immortal") and coach (Eastern Suburbs), dies from cancer at 60
  • Feb 23 Florence Rice, American actress (Fast Company, Double Wedding, Riding on Air), dies from lung cancer at 67
  • Feb 23 Harry Ruby [Harry Rubenstein], American composer and screenwriter, dies at 79
  • Feb 25 Julian Dash, American swing jazz tenor saxophonist, and composer ("Tuxedo Junction"), dies at 67
  • Feb 28 Bobby Bloom, American singer-songwriter ("Montego Bay"), dies in a self-inflicting gun cleaning incident at 28
  • Feb 28 Mees Toxopeus, Dutch rescue-vessel captain, dies at 89
  • Mar 1 Bobby Timmons, American jazz pianist (Moanin'), dies of cirrhosis, at 38
  • Mar 1 Jos de Haes, Flemish philologist & poet (Azuren Holte), dies at 53
  • Mar 1 Larry Doyle, American baseball second baseman (NL MVP 1912, NL batting champion 1915; NY Giants), dies of tuberculosis at 87
  • Mar 2 Salvador Puig Antich, Spanish anarchist (b. 1948)
  • Mar 3 Barbara Ruick, American actress (Carousel; Fearless Fagan), and singer (Jerry Colonna Show), dies of an aneurysm at 43
  • Mar 3 Frank Wilcox, American actor (Beverly Hillbillies), dies from a heart attack at 66
  • Mar 4 Adolph Gottlieb, American painter, dies at 71
  • Mar 4 Mihail Andricu, Romanian pianist, composer, violinist, and music professor (Bucharest Conservatory, 1926-59), dies at 79
  • Mar 5 Billy De Wolfe, American character actor (Good Morning World), dies of lung cancer at 67
  • Mar 5 Sol Hurok, American theatrical impresario, dies at 85
  • Mar 7 Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer and actor (b. 1906)
  • Mar 8 Christian van Geel, Dutch poet/sculptor (Spinroc), dies at 56
  • Mar 8 Willem "Wim" Sonneveld, Dutch singer considered one of the 'Great Three' of Dutch cabaret (My Fair Lady), dies from a heart attack at 56
  • Mar 9 Earl Wilbur Sutherland Jr, American pharmacologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1971 for discovering mechanisms of the action of hormones), dies at 58
  • Mar 9 Harry Womack, American gospel and R&B singer and bassist (Womack Brothers; The Valentinos - "It's All Over Now"), stabbed to death by his girlfriend at 28
  • Mar 10 June Harrison, actress (Land of the Lawless), dies at 48
  • Mar 10 Quinto Maganini, American composer (The Argonauts), dies at 76
  • Mar 12 Billy Fox, Protestant Dublin MP, assassinated
  • Mar 12 George D. Sax, Drive-in bank and instant loan innovator. Owner of the Saxony Hotel. (b. 1904)
  • Mar 13 Howard St John, American actor (Investigator, Dr Lewis-Hank), dies from a heart attack at 68
  • Mar 13 Janos Prohaska, Hungarian actor (Andy Williams Show), dies at 54
  • Mar 14 Alex Pompez, American Baseball HOF executive (owner NgL Cuban Stars [East] 1923-28; NY Cubans 1935-51), dies at 83
  • Mar 16 Daniel Frank Gerber, American manufacturer of baby food, dies at 75
  • Mar 17 Louis Kahn, Estonian-born American architect (Salk Institute), dies at 73
  • Mar 17 [Robert] Carroll Nye, American actor (Gone With The Wind), dies at 72
  • Mar 18 David Imboden, American silent film actor (King of Kings), muralist, and theater director, dies at 87
  • Mar 19 Anne Klein, American fashion designer (Anne Klein II), dies at 50
  • Mar 19 Edward Platt, American actor (Get Smart - "The Chief'; North By Northwest), dies of a heart attack at 58
  • Mar 19 Hertha Kuusinen, Finnish communist politician (daughter of Otto Ville Kuusinen), dies at 70
  • Mar 20 Chet Huntley, American newscaster (NBC Huntley-Brinkley Report), dies at 62
  • Mar 20 [Lavinia] Marian Fleming Poe, African American advocate in Virginia, dies at 83
  • Mar 21 Candy Darling [James Slattery], American transgender actress (Flesh, Women in Revolt), dies at 29
  • Mar 22 Peter Revson, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1971 runner-up; 2 x F1 GP wins), dies in testing accident for South African GP at 35
  • Mar 24 Doris Deane [Dibble], American silent film actress (Stupid, But Brave), dies at 74
  • Mar 24 Yoshida Isoya, Japanese architect (modern sukiya style), dies at 79
  • Mar 25 Otto Waldis, Austrian actor (Unknown World; Whip Hand), dies at 72
  • Mar 26 Edward Condon, American nuclear physicist (pioneer in quantum mechanics, involved in Manhattan Project), dies at 72
  • Mar 28 Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist (That's Alright), dies of a heart attack at 68
  • Mar 28 Dino Ciani, Italian pianist, dies in a car accident at 32
  • Mar 28 Dorothy Fields, American singer (The Way You Look Tonight), dies at 68
  • Mar 28 Francoise Rosay, actress (Interlude, Women in Prison), dies at 82
  • Mar 29 Andrea Checchi, Italian actor (The Lady Without Camelias, Two Anonymous Letters), dies of periarthritis at 57
  • Mar 29 Seton I. Miller, Hollywood screenwriter (Pete's Dragon, Istanbul), dies at 71
  • Mar 30 Lodewijk Rogier, Dutch historian (Reborn in Freedom), dies at 79
  • Mar 31 Andrea Checci, actress (2 Women, Assassin, Black Sunday), dies at 57
  • Apr 1 Alfred Ernest Whitehead, English-Canadian composer, dies at 86
  • Apr 2 Douglass Dumbrille, Canadian actor (Mr Deed Goes to Town), dies at 84

Georges Pompidou (1911-1974)

Apr 2 French President (1969-74) and Prime Minister (1962-68), dies in Paris at 62

  • Apr 5 A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (Group of Seven), dies at 91
  • Apr 5 William Hudson, actor (I Led 3 Lives), dies at 49

Hudson Fysh (1895-1974)

Apr 6 Australian aviator, businessman and co-founder of QANTAS, dies at 79

  • Apr 6 Ronald Russell, British journalist, author and Conservative politician, dies at 69
  • Apr 6 Willem Dudok, Dutch architect (Hilversum Town Hall; Beehive Rotterdam), dies at 89
  • Apr 8 James Charles McGuigan, Catholic cardinal archbishop of Toronto, dies at 79
  • Apr 10 Patricia Collinge, dies at 81
  • Apr 10 Roger Bastide, French sociologist study of Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean religions, dies at 76
  • Apr 11 Charles Curtis "Curt" Conway, American actor (Raw Deal; The Twilight Zone), dies of a heart attack at 60
  • Apr 12 Carl Jaffe, German actor (1st Man in Space, Escapement), dies at 72
  • Apr 13 Stanley Smith, American actor and singer (King of Jazz; Soup to Nuts; Good News), dies at 71
  • Apr 14 Al Morgan, American jazz double-bassist (Cab Calloway; Fats Waller; Louis Jordan), dies at 65
  • Apr 15 Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian pianist and songwriter ("Malinconia d'amore"), dies at 68
  • Apr 17 Frank McGee, American news anchor (NBC Evening News), dies of cancer at 52
  • Apr 17 Herbert Elwell, American composer (Happy Hypocrite), dies at 75
  • Apr 17 Vinnie Taylor, American rock guitarist (Sha Na Na), dies of a drug overdose at 25
  • Apr 18 Betty Compson, American actress (Barker, Weary River, Drag Net), dies at 77
  • Apr 18 John Henry Lewis, American boxer (World Light-Heavyweight champion, 1935-38), dies of emphysema and Parkinson's at 59
  • Apr 18 Marcel Pagnol, French playwright, filmmaker (Topaze; The Baker's Wife), and novelist, dies at 79
  • Apr 20 Mohammed Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician (1958 coup, President of Pakistan 1958-69), dies at 66
  • Apr 20 Richard Huelsenbeck, German Dada writer, dies at 81
  • Apr 21 Charles "Chic" Harley, American football player (b. 1895)
  • Apr 22 Tjalie Robinson [Jan Boon], Dutch East Indies writer and journalist (Tong Tong), dies at 63
  • Apr 23 Cy Williams, American baseball outfielder (4 x NL HR leader; Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies), dies at 86
  • Apr 24 (William) "Bud" Abbott, American comedian (Abbott & Costello), dies of cancer at 78
  • Apr 25 Jascha Golowanjuk, Swedish writer (My Golden Road from Samarkand), dies at 69
  • Apr 25 Pamela Courson, American artist and long-term companion of Jim Morrison, dies of a heroin overdose at 27
  • Apr 28 Paul Page, American actor (Girl From Havana, Moth), dies at 70

Agnes Moorehead (1900-1974)

Apr 30 American actress (Endora in Bewitched), dies of uterine cancer at 73

  • May 4 Geraldo [Gerald Walcan Bright], British "sweet music" dance band lbandeader (Gaucho Tango Orchestra), dies of a heart attack at 69
  • May 4 Israel Citkowitz, Polish-American composer (The Lambs), and pedagogue, dies at 65
  • May 4 John Wengraf, Austrian actor (12 to the Moon, Pride & Passion), dies at 77
  • May 7 Hans van Werveke, Belgian historian (Diocese Terwaan), dies at 76
  • May 8 Graham Bond, British R&B musician, dies jumping under a train at 36
  • May 9 Lyubomir Pipkov, Bulgarian pianist, composer, music educator, and (with his father) Antarctic glacier namesake, dies at 69
  • May 10 Hal Mohr [Harold Leon Mohr], American Cinematographer and husband of Evelyn Venable (Captain Blood), dies at 74

Denny Shute (1904-1974)

May 13 American golfer (British Open 1933, PGA C'ship 1936-37), dies at 69

  • May 13 Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican politician, 2nd Director-General of the UNESCO (1948-52), dies at 72
  • May 15 Guy Simonds, Canadian army, youngest General officer, dies at 71
  • May 17 Charles Braswell, American actor (Only Game in Town), dies at 49
  • May 17 Ernest Nash, German-American photographer and archaeologist, dies at 75
  • May 18 Dan Topping, American baseball team owner (NY Yankees), dies at 61
  • May 19 Titanic Thompson, American gambler and hustler, dies at 80
  • May 23 Kathleen Cannell, American fashion and dance writer, dies at 82
  • May 24 Edward "Duke" Ellington, American bandleader, composer and pianist ("Take the A Train"; "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)"), dies of cancer at 75
  • May 25 Donald Crisp, British actor and director (How Green Was My Valley, Pollyana), dies at 91
  • May 26 Kitty Gordon, English entertainer, dies at 96
  • May 26 Silvio Moser, Swiss racing driver (b. 1941)
  • May 31 Adelle Davis, American nutritionist and author (Let's Stay Healthy), dies of cancer at 70
  • Jun 2 Arnold Lunn, British skier (created the modern Alpine slalom race), dies at 86
  • Jun 2 Elliott Sullivan, American actor (The Persuaders!, Fury Below, Sergeant), dies from a heart attack at 66
  • Jun 2 Eric Marx, South African cricket all-rounder (3 Tests, 3 wickets; 240 on FC debut for Transvaal), dies at 78
  • Jun 2 Hiroshi Kazato, Japanese racing driver, dies at 25
  • Jun 6 Blanche Yurka, actress (Tale of 2 Cities, Cry of Werewolf), dies at 86
  • Jun 7 Émilie Charmy, French avant-garde artist, dies at 96

Miguel Ángel Asturias (1899-1974)

Jun 9 Guatemalan novelist (Hombres de Maiz, Nobel 67), journalist and poet, dies at 74

  • Jun 9 Phillips Tead, American character actor (The Front Page; Lightnin'; Fighting Blade; The Adventures of Superman - "Professor Pepperwinkle), dies at 80
  • Jun 10 Henry, English Prince and Duke of Gloucester (son of King George V, Governor General of Australia 1945-47), dies at 74
  • Jun 11 Eurico Gaspar Dutra, President of Brazil (b. 1883)
  • Jun 11 Julius Evola, Italian philosopher (b. 1898)
  • Jun 14 Knud Jeppesen, Danish organist, composer, educator (Royal Danish Academy, 1920-47; Aarhus University, 1946-57), and musicologist (La frottola), dies at 81
  • Jun 16 Mauritz Hugo, Swedish actor (Atomic Blonde, Death Valley Gunfighter), dies from heart disease at 65
  • Jun 17 Pamela Britton, American stage and screen actress (D.O.A.; Blondie; My Favorite Martian - "Mrs. Brown"), dies of brain cancer at 51
  • Jun 17 Rabbe Enckell, Finnish author and poet (Lutad about Brunnen), dies at 71
  • Jun 17 Yadavendra Singh [Yuvraj of Patiala,], Indian 9th and last ruling Maharaja of Patiala and cricketer (Test for India), dies at 61

Georgy Zhukov (1896-1974)

Jun 18 Russian deputy commander-in-chief of the Red Army during WWII (Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk and Berlin) and Minister of Defense, dies at 77

  • Jun 18 Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian writer (The Man Who Counted), dies at 79
  • Jun 19 Jean Wahl, French philosopher (Sorbonne professor), dies at 86
  • Jun 20 Horace Lindrum, Australian snooker and billiards player (World Snooker C'ship 1936, 37, 46 runner-up), dies at 62

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)

Jun 22 French composer (Maximilien), dies at 81

  • Jun 25 Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician, dies at 81
  • Jun 27 Cliff Friend, American pianist and songwriter, dies at 80
  • Jun 28 Frank Sutton, American actor (Marty, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.), dies of a heart attack at 50
  • Jun 30 Alberta King, American mother of Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in church at 69
  • Jun 30 Vannevar Bush, American engineer (developed 1st electronic analogue computer) and science administrator, dies at 84

Juan Perón (1895-1974)

Jul 1 Argentine military officer and President of Argentina (1946-55, 73-74), dies of a heart attack at 78

  • Jul 1 Kick Smit, Dutch soccer striker and manager (29 caps; HFC Haarlem), dies at 62
  • Jul 3 John Crowe Ransom, American poet and critic (God Without Thunder), dies at 86
  • Jul 4 Francis Bull, Norwegian writer (Norsk literature historian), dies at 86
  • Jul 4 Mohammed SA al-Hoesseini, Mufti of Jerusalem/pres Com Palestine, dies
  • Jul 6 Carlos Isamitt, Chilean composer, dies at 87
  • Jul 8 Morris "Moose" Charlap, American Broadway composer (Peter Pan; Kelly), dies at 45

Earl Warren (1891-1974)

Jul 9 Governor of California and 14th US Supreme Court Chief Justice (1953-69), dies at 83

  • Jul 9 Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, French Dadaist artist and writer, dies at 90
  • Jul 9 Sonia Gaskell, Russian-Dutch choreographer (Diaghilev), dies at 70
  • Jul 9 Ted Bowley, cricketer (England batsman in 5 Tests 1929-30), dies
  • Jul 11 Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish poet, novelist, and playwright (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1951), dies at 83
  • Jul 12 Georg Annenkov, Russian-French artist and stage and film set designer ('The Mutiny of the Machines'), dies at 84
  • Jul 13 Patrick Blackett, British physicist (Nobel 1948 - nuclear reaction), dies at 76
  • Jul 14 Carl Spaatz, American World War II general and 1st Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, dies at 83
  • Jul 14 Henri Smajda, Tunisian French publisher (Combat), commits suicide at 77
  • Jul 15 Christine Chubbock, American TV newscaster (WXLT-TV, Sarasota, Florida), commits suicide during live broadcast by shooting herself at 29
  • Jul 15 Christine Chubbuck, American TV news reporter, commits suicide live on TV at 29
  • Jul 17 Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean, American Baseball HOF pitcher (MLB All-Star 1934–37; World Series & NL MVP 1934 St Louis Cardinals), dies of a heart attack at 63
  • Jul 19 Ernő Schwarz, Hungarian-American soccer forward (2 caps Hungary; Ferencváros, NY Giants, NY Americans) and coach (United States [men] 1953-56), dies at 69
  • Jul 19 Joe Flynn, American character actor (McHale's Navy - "Capt. Binghamton; The Love Bug; The Rescuers), dies of a heart attack while swimming in his pool at 49
  • Jul 20 Allen Jenkins, American actor (Hey Jeannie, Top Cop, Girl Habit), dies at 74
  • Jul 21 Willem F. K. Hussem, Dutch painter and poet (Steltlopen on Sea), dies at 74
  • Jul 22 Edna Lewis Thomas, American actress (A Streetcar Named Desire), dies at 88
  • Jul 22 Lili Darvas, Hungarian actress (Szerelem, Cimmaron), dies at 68
  • Jul 22 Mary Forbes [Ethel Young], British-American stage and screen character actress (Terror by Night; The Picture of Dorian Gray), dies at 91
  • Jul 22 Wayne L Morse, (Sen-D-Oregon), dies at 73
  • Jul 24 Ernest Milton, American-British actor (Julius Caesar, Cat Girl), dies at 84