December 24 - Deaths

Deaths

• 427 – Archbishop Sisinnius I of Constantinople
• 738 – Maslamah ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad prince and general
• 1257 – John I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1218)
• 1453 – John Dunstaple, English composer (b. c.1390)
• 1524 – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (b. c.1469)
• 1660 – Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631)
• 1707 – Noël Coypel, French painter (b. 1628)
• 1813 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
• 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, British writer (b. 1811)
• 1865 – Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, British painter and writer (b. 1793)
• 1868 – Adolphe d'Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist (b. 1802)
• 1872 – William John Macquorn Rankine, British physician and engenier (b. 1820)
• 1873 – Johns Hopkins, Baltimore philanthropist and businessman (b. 1795)
• 1889 – Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (b. 1819)
• 1898 – Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI (b. 1828)
• 1914 – John Muir, Scottish-American naturalist (b. 1838)
• 1935 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer (b. 1885)
• 1938 – Bruno Taut, German architect (b. 1880)
• 1941 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (b. 1858)
• 1942 – François Darlan, vice-premier of Vichy France (b. 1881)
• 1957 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)
• 1965 – William M. Branham, Christian minister (b. 1906)
• 1971 – Maria Koepcke, ornithologist (b. 1924)
• 1972 – Gisela Richter, British art historian (b. 1882)
• 1972 – Melville Ruick, American actor (b. 1898)
• 1975 – Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (b. 1911)
• 1976 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
• 1977 – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (b. 1917)
• 1980 – Karl Dönitz, German naval admiral, and last leader of Nazi Germany (b. 1891)
• 1980 – Siggie Nordstrom, model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
• 1982 – Louis Aragon, French writer (b. 1897)
• 1984 – Peter Lawford, British actor (b. 1923)
• 1985 – Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, Last Lincoln descendant (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Camille Tourville, Professional wrestler (b. 1927)
• 1986 – Gardner Fox, American writer (b. 1911)
• 1987 – Joop den Uyl, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 until 1977 (b. 1919)
• 1987 – Betty Noyes, singer who dubbed Debbie Reynold's singing voice in Singin' in the Rain
• 1987 – M. G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu (b. 1917)
• 1990 – Thorbjørn Egner, Norwegian author (b. 1922)
• 1992 – Bobby LaKind, American musician and singer (The Doobie Brothers) (b. 1945)
• 1992 – Peyo, Belgian comics artist, and creator of The Smurfs (b. 1928)
• 1993 – Norman Vincent Peale, American writer (b. 1898)
• 1994 – John Boswell, American historian (b. 1947)
• 1994 – Rossano Brazzi, Italian actor and singer (b. 1916)
• 1997 – Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor (b. 1920)
• 1997 – Pierre Péladeau, Quebec businessman, founder of Quebecor (b. 1925)
• 1999 – João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Bill Bowerman, American track and field coach (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Maurice Couve de Murville, French politician, Prime minister of France (b. 1907)
• 2000 – John Cooper, English race car designer (b. 1923)
• 2000 – Nick Massi, American singer (The Four Seasons) (b. 1935)
• 2002 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
• 2002 – Laci Peterson, American murder victim (b. 1975)
• 2002 – Jake Thackray, English singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
• 2004 – Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
• 2005 – Michael Vale, American commercial actor (b. 1922)
• 2006 – "Braguinha", Brazilian songwriter (b. 1907)
• 2006 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian singer, poet and comedian (b. 1961)
• 2006 – Frank Stanton, American television executive (b. 1908)
• 2007 – Nicholas Pumfrey, British judge (b. 1951)
• 2007 – Akbar Radi, Iranian dramatist and playwright (b. 1939)
• 2008 – Harold Pinter, British playwright (b. 1930)
• 2009 – Rafael Caldera, lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker, politician, and ex-president of Venezuela (b. 1916)
• 2009 – George Michael, American sportscaster (The George Michael Sports Machine) (b. 1939)
• 2010 – Elisabeth Beresford, British author and creator of The Wombles (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Orestes Quércia, Brazilian politician (b. 1938)
• 2010 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer (b. 1930)