Died on Thursday, 7th August – Famous Deaths

07/08/2025

Myint Swe, retired army general and acting president of Myanmar (b.1951)

Myint Swe was a Burmese politician and army officer who served as the third first vice president of Myanmar from 2016 until his death in 2025. He is the first Burmese vice president to die while in office. A member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Myint Swe served as acting president of Myanmar in 2018 and again from 2021 to 2025.

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07/08/2024

Jon McBride, American astronaut (born 1943)

Jon Andrew McBride was an American naval officer, test pilot, astronaut and administrator for NASA.

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07/08/2023

William Friedkin, American film director (born 1935)

William David Friedkin was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in the early 1960s, he is best known for his crime thriller film The French Connection (1971), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the horror film The Exorcist (1973), which earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

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07/08/2022

David McCullough, American historian and author (born 1933)

David Gaub McCullough was an American popular historian and author. He was a two-time winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In 2006, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.

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07/08/2021

Markie Post, American actress (born 1950)

Marjorie Armstrong Post, known professionally as Markie Post, was an American actress. Her best known roles include bail bondswoman Terri Michaels in The Fall Guy on ABC from 1982 to 1985; public defender Christine Sullivan on the NBC sitcom Night Court from 1985 to 1992; Georgie Anne Lahti Hartman on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire from 1992 to 1995; and Barbara ‘Bunny’ Fletcher, the mother of Detective Erin Lindsay, on the NBC drama series Chicago P.D. from 2014 to 2017.

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Trevor Moore, American comedian (born 1980)

Trevor Paul Moore was an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, and musician. He was a founding member of the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know (WKUK), alongside Sam Brown, Zach Cregger, Timmy Williams and Darren Trumeter. The troupe had a sketch comedy series which aired for five seasons on IFC from March 2007 until June 2011.

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07/08/2019

David Berman, American musician, singer, poet and cartoonist (born 1967)

David Cloud Berman was an American musician, singer-songwriter and poet who founded – and was the only constant member of – the indie rock band Silver Jews with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich.

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07/08/2018

M. Karunanidhi, Indian politician, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and prominent leader of Tamils (born 1924)

Muthuvel Karunanidhi, popularly known as Kalaignar, was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He had the longest intermittent tenure as Chief Minister with 6,863 days in office. He was also a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Karunanidhi has the record of never losing an election to the Tamil Nadu Assembly, having won 13 times since his first victory in 1957. Before entering politics, he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He also made contributions to Tamil literature, having written stories, plays, novels, and a multiple-volume memoir. As such, he is also referred to as Mutthamizh Arignar for his contributions to Tamil literature. Dravida Kazhagam prominent leader Pattukkottai Alagiri conferred the title Kalaignar on him during "Thookumedi" drama. Karunanidhi died on 7 August 2018 at Kauvery Hospital in Chennai after a series of prolonged, age-related illnesses.

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Stan Mikita, Slovak hockey player (born 1940)

Stanley Mikita was a Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. In 1961, he became the first Slovak-born player to win the Stanley Cup.

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07/08/2017

Don Baylor, American baseball player (born 1949)

Don Edward Baylor, nicknamed "Groove," was an American professional baseball player, coach and manager. During his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), Baylor was a power hitter known for standing very close to home plate and was a first baseman, left fielder, and designated hitter. He played for six different American League (AL) teams, primarily the Baltimore Orioles and California Angels, but he also played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins, and Boston Red Sox. In 1979, Baylor was an All-Star and won the AL Most Valuable Player Award. He won three Silver Slugger Awards, the Roberto Clemente Award, and was a member of the 1987 World Series champion Minnesota Twins.

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David Maslanka, American composer (born 1943)

David Maslanka was an American composer of Polish descent who wrote for a variety of genres, including works for choir, wind ensemble, chamber music, and symphony orchestra.

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07/08/2016

Bryan Clauson, American racing driver (born 1989)

Bryan Timothy Clauson was an American professional auto racing driver, best known for his achievements in dirt track open-wheel racing, such as USAC Silver Crown, Midget and Sprint cars. Clauson was increasingly seen competing with the World of Outlaws (WoO) sprint cars in his last couple of years. Clauson also competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Indy Lights, and IndyCar Series and was a development driver for Chip Ganassi Racing.

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07/08/2015

Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (born 1929)

Juan Manuel "Mamo" Guillermo Contreras Sepúlveda was a Chilean Army officer and the former head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINA), Chile's secret police during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. In 1995, he was convicted of the murder of Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Washington, DC, and sentenced to seven years in prison, which he served until 2001. At the time of his death, Contreras was serving 59 unappealable sentences totaling 529 years in prison for kidnapping, forced disappearance, and assassination.

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Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian pharmacologist and physician (born 1914)

Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey was a Canadian-American pharmacologist and physician who had a 45-year career with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). As a reviewer, she refused to authorize thalidomide for market because she had concerns about the lack of evidence regarding the drug's safety. Her concerns proved to be justified when it was shown that thalidomide caused serious birth defects. Kelsey's career intersected with the passage of laws strengthening FDA oversight of pharmaceuticals. Kelsey was the first woman to receive a PhD in pharmacology and the second woman to receive the President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, awarded to her by John F. Kennedy in 1962.

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Louise Suggs, American golfer, co-founded LPGA (born 1923)

Mae Louise Suggs was an American professional golfer, one of the founders of the LPGA Tour and thus modern ladies' golf.

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07/08/2014

Víctor Fayad, Argentine lawyer and politician (born 1955)

Víctor Manuel Federico Fayad was an Argentine politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Radical Civic Union.

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Perry Moss, American football player and coach (born 1926)

Perry Lee Moss was an American professional football player, coach, and executive. Moss played tailback at the University of Tulsa and quarterback at Illinois during the 1940s. As a Tulsa tailback, he was on the Orange Bowl team that beat Georgia Tech, 26–12, in the 1945 Orange Bowl and later as an Illinois T-quarterback, he directed a Rose Bowl team which routed UCLA, 45–14, in 1947. Moss served two years in the United States Air Force between his playing time at Tulsa and Illinois. At Illinois, he was named to All-Big Ten Conference and All-American teams. He was drafted in 1948 by the Green Bay Packers in the 13th round and played at the professional level for one year before returning to Illinois as an assistant. He started one game at quarterback for the Packers.

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Henry Stone, American record producer (born 1921)

Henry Stone, born Henry David Epstein, was an American record company executive and producer whose career spanned the era from R&B in the early 1950s through the disco boom of the 1970s to the 2010s. He was best known as co-owner and president of TK Records, but reportedly set up more than 100 record labels, and generated more than $100 million in record sales across the world. Stone was described as "an acute businessman who always made sure that contracts and publishing agreements were written in his favor."

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07/08/2013

Samuel G. Armistead, American linguist, historian, and academic (born 1927)

Samuel Gordon Armistead was an American ethnographer, linguist, folklorist, historian, literary critic and professor of Spanish. He is considered one of the most notable Hispanist scholars of the second half of the 20th and early 21st century.

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Almir Kayumov, Russian footballer (born 1964)

Almir Izmailovich Kayumov was a Russian football player and referee.

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Anthony Pawson, English-Canadian biologist, chemist, and academic (born 1952)

Anthony James Pawson was a British-born Canadian genetic scientist. He was known and recognized for his work on cellular organization, including how cells respond to growth signals, and how they communicate with each other.

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Margaret Pellegrini, American actress and dancer (born 1923)

Margaret Pellegrini was an American actress, vaudeville performer and dancer, best known for playing one of the Munchkins from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Until her death in 2013, she was one of the three surviving munchkins, the other two being Jerry Maren and Ruth Robinson Duccini.

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Meeli Truu, Estonian architect (born 1946)

Meeli Truu was an Estonian architect.

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Alexander Yagubkin, Russian boxer (born 1961)

Alexander Gennadiyevich Yagubkin was a Soviet Olympic boxer, who competed between 1979 and 1988. The only Soviet boxer to become the World heavyweight champion (1982), he never turned pro due to political restrictions imposed by the Soviet government. He was ranked the world's #2 amateur heavyweight by the AIBA in 1984, and #1 in 1986.

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07/08/2012

Murtuz Alasgarov, Azerbaijani academic and politician, Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan (born 1928)

Murtuz Najaf oglu Alasgarov, also spelled as Murtuz Aleskerov, was an Azerbaijani politician who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan from 1996 to 2005.

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Judith Crist, American critic and academic (born 1922)

Judith Crist was an American film critic and academic.

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Vladimir Kobzev, Russian footballer and coach (born 1959)

Vladimir Vasilyevich Kobzev was a Russian professional football coach and player.

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Anna Piaggi, Italian journalist and author (born 1931)

Anna Maria Piaggi was an Italian fashion writer. She was known for her bright blue hair, liberal use of make-up, and her sense of style that mixed vintage and contemporary fashion.

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Mayer Zald, American sociologist and academic (born 1931)

Mayer Nathan Zald was an American sociologist. He was a professor of sociology, social work and business administration at the University of Michigan, he made contributions to the sociology of organizations and social movements.

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Dušan Zbavitel, Czech indologist and author (born 1925)

Dušan Zbavitel was a Czech indologist.

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07/08/2011

Mark Hatfield, American soldier, academic, and politician, 29th Governor of Oregon (born 1922)

Mark Odom Hatfield was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A moderate Republican, he served eight years as the 29th governor of Oregon, followed by 30 years as one of its United States senators, including time as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A native Oregonian, he served in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theater during World War II after graduating from Willamette University. After the war he earned a graduate degree from Stanford University before returning to Oregon and Willamette as a professor.

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Nancy Wake, New Zealand-English captain and spy (born 1912)

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake,, also known as Madame Fiocca and Nancy Fiocca, was a New Zealand-born Australian nurse and journalist who joined the French Resistance and later the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II, and briefly pursued a postwar career as an intelligence officer in the Air Ministry.

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07/08/2010

John Nelder, English mathematician and statistician (born 1924)

John Ashworth Nelder was a British statistician known for his contributions to experimental design, analysis of variance, computational statistics, and statistical theory.

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07/08/2009

Louis E. Saavedra, American educator and politician, 48th Mayor of Albuquerque (born 1933)

Louis Emilio Saavedra was an American politician and educator who served as the 25th mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor from December 1989 until November 1993.

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Mike Seeger, American singer-songwriter (born 1933)

Mike Seeger was an American folk musician and folklorist. He was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who mainly played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp, and pan pipes. Seeger, a half-brother of Pete Seeger, produced more than 30 documentary recordings, and performed in more than 40 other recordings. He desired to make known the caretakers of culture that inspired and taught him. He was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

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07/08/2008

Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (born 1931)

Bernard Jules Brillstein was an American film and television producer, executive producer, and talent agent.

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Andrea Pininfarina, Italian engineer and businessman (born 1957)

Andrea Pininfarina was an Italian engineer and manager, former CEO of the Italian coachbuilder Pininfarina, founded by his grandfather Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930 and still controlled by the family. He was the son of Sergio Pininfarina and was married to Italian aristocrat Cristina Maddalena Pellion di Persano, with whom he had three children, Benedetta, Sergio and Luca.

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07/08/2007

Ernesto Alonso, Mexican actor, director, and producer (born 1917)

Ernesto Alonso was a Mexican producer, director, cinematographer and actor. He was nicknamed "El Señor Telenovela" because most of his work centered on telenovelas known around the world.

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Angus Tait, New Zealand businessman, founded Tait Communications (born 1919)

Sir Angus McMillan Tait was a New Zealand electronics innovator and businessman.

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07/08/2006

Mary Anderson Bain, American lawyer and politician (born 1911)

Mary Anderson Bain was a New Deal politician best known for her 33 years of service as Chief of Staff for Representative Sidney R. Yates, of Illinois.

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07/08/2005

Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (born 1938)

Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings was a Canadian and American television journalist. He was best known for serving as the sole anchor of ABC World News Tonight from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. Despite dropping out of high school, Jennings transformed himself into one of American television's most prominent journalists.

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Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková, Slovak painter (born 1909)

Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková was a Slovak painter, scenic designer and journalist.

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07/08/2004

Red Adair, American firefighter (born 1915)

Paul Neal "Red" Adair was an American oil well firefighter. He became notable internationally as an innovator in the specialized and hazardous profession of extinguishing and capping oil well blowouts, both land-based and offshore.

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Colin Bibby, English ornithologist and academic (born 1948)

Colin Joseph Bibby was a British ornithologist and conservationist.

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07/08/2003

K. D. Arulpragasam, Sri Lankan zoologist and academic (born 1931)

Professor Kandiah David Arulpragasam was a Sri Lankan Tamil academic. He was the first vice-chancellor of Eastern University, Sri Lanka.

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Mickey McDermott, American baseball player and coach (born 1929)

Maurice Joseph "Mickey" McDermott Jr. was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball.

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07/08/2001

Algirdas Lauritėnas, Lithuanian basketball player (born 1932)

Algirdas Teodoras Lauritėnas was a Lithuanian basketball player. He was a member of the Soviet team during the 1950s, and won a silver medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics. He was also part of the team that became European champion in 1953 and 1957 and won a bronze medal in 1955.

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07/08/1995

Brigid Brophy, English author and critic (born 1929)

Brigid Antonia Brophy was an English author, literary critic and polemicist. She was an influential campaigner who agitated for many types of social reform, including homosexual parity, vegetarianism, humanism, and animal rights. Brophy appeared frequently on television and in the newspapers of the 1960s and 1970s, making her prominent both in literary circles and on the wider cultural scene.

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07/08/1994

Larry Martyn, English actor (born 1934)

Lawrence Martyn was a British film and television actor known for his comedy performances.

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07/08/1989

Mickey Leland, American lawyer and politician (born 1944)

George Thomas "Mickey" Leland III was an American politician and anti-poverty activist. He served as a congressman from the Texas 18th District and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. He was a Democrat.

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07/08/1987

Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (born 1900)

Camille Nimr Chamoun was a Lebanese politician and za'im who served as the 2nd president of Lebanon from 1952 to 1958. He was one of the country's main Christian leaders during most of the Lebanese Civil War.

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07/08/1985

Grayson Hall, American actress (born 1922)

Grayson Hall was an American actress. She was widely regarded for her avant-garde theatrical performances from the 1960s to the 1980s, and was known to television audiences for playing multiple prominent roles on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71). She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe in the same category for her performance in the John Huston film The Night of the Iguana (1964).

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07/08/1981

Gunnar Uusi, Estonian chess player (born 1931)

Gunnar Uusi was an Estonian chess player who won the Estonian Chess Championship six times.

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07/08/1978

Eddie Calvert, English trumpeter (born 1922)

Albert Edward Calvert was an English trumpeter successful in the 1950s. Between 1953 and 1958 he achieved seven instrumental hits on the UK Singles Chart, including the two chart-toppers "Oh, Mein Papa" in 1954 and "Cherry Pink " in 1955.

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07/08/1974

Rosario Castellanos, Mexican poet and author (born 1925)

Rosario Castellanos Figueroa was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the 20th century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gender oppression, and her work has influenced Mexican feminist theory and cultural studies. Though she died young, she opened the door of Mexican literature to women, and left a legacy that still resonates today.

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Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1902)

Joseph Sylvio Theobald Mantha was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played fourteen seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins. Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1960, he was regarded as one of the best two-way defencemen of his day.

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07/08/1973

Jack Gregory, Australian cricketer (born 1895)

Jack Morrison Gregory was an Australian cricketer.

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07/08/1972

Joi Lansing, American model, actress, and singer (born 1929)

Joi Lansing was an American model, film and television actress, and nightclub singer. She was noted for her pin-up photos and roles in B-movies, as well as a prominent role in the famous opening "tracking shot" in Orson Welles' 1958 crime drama Touch of Evil.

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07/08/1970

Harold Haley, American lawyer and judge (born 1904)

Harold Joseph Haley was an American judge. He was a Superior Court judge in Marin County, California. He was taken hostage in his courtroom, along with several others, during the course of a trial, and was killed during the attempted escape of his captors with their hostages.

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Jonathan P. Jackson, American bodyguard and kidnapper (born 1953)

Jonathan Peter Jackson was an American militant activist who died of gunshot wounds sustained during an armed invasion of the Marin County Civic Center. The action was initiated to demand the freedom of the jailed Soledad Brothers, including Jackson's brother George.

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07/08/1969

Jean Bastien, French professional footballer (born 1915)

Jean Bastien was a professional French footballer. He was born in Oran, French Algeria, and died, aged 54, in Marseille.

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Joseph Kosma, Hungarian-French composer (born 1905)

Joseph Kosma was a Hungarian composer who immigrated to France. His most famous composition is the standard Autumn Leaves.

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07/08/1968

Giovanni Bracco, Italian race car driver (born 1908)

Giovanni Bracco was an Italian racing car driver.

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07/08/1963

Ramon Vila Capdevila, last of the Spanish Maquis, holding out after the end of the Spanish Civil War (born 1908)

Ramon Vila Capdevila, sometimes known by various nicknames, including Caracremada, was a Catalan anarchist, member of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, and guerrilla fighter.

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07/08/1960

Luis Ángel Firpo, Argentine boxer (born 1894)

Luis Ángel Firpo was an Argentine boxer. Born in Junín, Argentina, he was nicknamed The Wild Bull of the Pampas. He was the first Latin American in history to challenge for the world heavyweight title. His bout against Jess Willard set a world record for boxing attendance at the time. His 1923 heavyweight title fight against Jack Dempsey was named Ring Magazine Fight of the Year for 1923.

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07/08/1958

Elizabeth Foreman Lewis, American author and educator (born 1892)

Elizabeth Foreman Lewis was an American children's writer. She received the Newbery Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.

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07/08/1957

Oliver Hardy, American actor, singer, and director (born 1892)

Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.

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07/08/1953

Abner Powell, American baseball player and manager (born 1860)

Abner Charles Powell was an American Major League Baseball player Powell played for the Washington Nationals of the Union Association in 1884. He later played for the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1886. He also managed and owned several teams, and is best known for his innovations as a manager.

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07/08/1948

Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (born 1879)

Charles Bryant was a British actor and film director.

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07/08/1941

Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1861)

Rabindranath Thakur, also known by his pseudonym Bhanusimha was a Bengali polymath of the Bengal Renaissance period. In 1913, Tagore became the first Asian to win a Nobel Prize in any category, and also the first lyricist and non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. A significant moulder of culture within the Indian subcontinent, he wrote and composed the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.

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07/08/1938

Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (born 1863)

Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski was a seminal Russian and Soviet theatre practitioner. He was widely recognized as an outstanding character actor, and the many productions that he directed garnered him a reputation as one of the leading theatre directors of his generation. His principal fame and influence, however, rests on his "system" of actor training, preparation, and rehearsal technique.

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07/08/1917

Edwin Harris Dunning, South African-English commander and pilot (born 1891)

Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning, DSC, of the British Royal Naval Air Service, was the first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship.

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07/08/1912

François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and academic (born 1841)

François-Alphonse Forel was a Swiss physician and scientist who pioneered the study of lakes, and is thus considered the founder. He was also professor at the University of Lausanne and the Father of limnology. Limnology is the study of bodies of fresh water and their biological, chemical, and physical features.

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07/08/1900

Wilhelm Liebknecht, German lawyer and politician (born 1826)

Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht was a German social democratic politician and journalist. A principal founder of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), his political career was a pioneering project in steering a Marxist-inspired workers' party to electoral success and mass membership. Liebknecht served as a member of the North German Reichstag from 1867 to 1871, and of the German Reichstag from 1874 until his death in 1900.

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07/08/1899

Jacob Maris, Dutch painter and educator (born 1837)

Jacob Henricus Maris was a Dutch painter, who with his brothers Willem and Matthijs belonged to what has come to be known as the Hague School of painters. He was considered to be the most important and influential Dutch landscape painter of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. His first teacher was painter J.A.B. Stroebel who taught him the art of painting from 1849 to 1852. Jacob Maris's most known works are the series of portraits of the royal House of Orange, he worked on these with his brother Matthijs Maris. He is also known for landscapes such as Ship on the Scheveningen beach.

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07/08/1893

Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer and academic (born 1854)

Alfredo Catalani was an Italian operatic composer. He is best remembered for his operas Loreley (1890) and La Wally (1892). La Wally was composed to a libretto by Luigi Illica, and features Catalani's most famous aria "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana." This aria, sung by American soprano Wilhelmenia Fernandez, was at the heart of Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film Diva. Catalani's other operas were much less successful.

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07/08/1864

Li Xiucheng, Chinese field marshal (born 1823)

Li Xiucheng, born Li Yiwen (李以文), was a military commander of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, during the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He was born to a peasant family. In 1864, he was captured and interrogated following the third and final Battle of Nanjing. He was then executed by Zeng Guofan.

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07/08/1855

Mariano Arista, Mexican general and politician, 19th President of Mexico (born 1802)

José Mariano Martín Buenaventura Ignacio Nepomuceno García de Arista Nuez was a Mexican soldier and politician who served as the 19th president of Mexico from 1851 to 1853.

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07/08/1848

Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist and academic (born 1779)

Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be one of the founders of modern chemistry. Berzelius became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1808 and served from 1818 as its principal functionary. He is known in Sweden as the "Father of Swedish Chemistry". During his lifetime he did not customarily use his first given name, and was universally known simply as Jacob Berzelius.

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07/08/1834

Joseph Marie Jacquard, French weaver and inventor, invented the Jacquard loom (born 1752)

Joseph Marie Charles dit Jacquard was a French weaver and merchant. He played an important role in the development of the earliest programmable loom, which in turn played an important role in the development of other programmable machines, such as an early version of digital compiler used by IBM to develop the modern day computer.

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07/08/1817

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, French economist and politician (born 1739)

Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours was a French-American writer, economist, publisher and government official. During the French Revolution, he, his two sons and their families migrated to the United States.

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07/08/1787

Francis Blackburne, English Anglican churchman and activist (born 1705)

Francis Blackburne was an English Anglican clergyman, archdeacon of Cleveland and an activist against the requirement of subscription to the Thirty Nine Articles.

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07/08/1661

Jin Shengtan, Chinese journalist and critic (born 1608)

Jin Shengtan, original name Jin Renrui (金人瑞), also known as Jin Kui (金喟), was a Chinese editor, writer and critic, who has been called the champion of Vernacular Chinese literature.

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07/08/1639

Martin van den Hove, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (born 1605)

Martin (Maarten) van den Hove (Latinized as Martinus Hortensius (Ortensius)) (1605 – 7 August 1639) was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician. His adopted Latin name is a translation of the Dutch hof ("garden"), in Latin horta.

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07/08/1635

Friedrich Spee, German poet and academic (born 1591)

Friedrich Spee was a German Jesuit priest, professor, and poet, most well known as a forceful opponent of witch trials and one who was an insider writing from the epicenter of the European witch-phobia. Spee argued strongly against the use of torture, and as an eyewitness he gathered a book full of details regarding its cruelty and unreliability. He wrote, "Torture has the power to create witches where none exist."

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07/08/1632

Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford, English soldier (born 1575)

Robert de Vere, 19th Earl of Oxford was an English soldier, and the penultimate Earl of Oxford.

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07/08/1616

Vincenzo Scamozzi, Italian architect, designed Teatro Olimpico (born 1548)

Vincenzo Scamozzi was an Italian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure there between Andrea Palladio, whose unfinished projects he inherited at Palladio's death in 1580, and Baldassarre Longhena, Scamozzi's only pupil.

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07/08/1613

Thomas Fleming, English judge and politician, Lord Chief Justice of England (born 1544)

Sir Thomas Fleming was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1581 and 1611. He was judge in the trial of Guy Fawkes following the Gunpowder Plot. He held several important offices, including Lord Chief Justice, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Solicitor General for England and Wales.

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07/08/1547

Cajetan, Italian priest and saint (born 1480)

Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene, known in English as Saint Cajetan, was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, co-founder of the Theatines. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic Church, and his feast day is 7 August.

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07/08/1485

Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany (born 1454)

Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, was a Scottish prince and the second surviving son of King James II of Scotland. He fell out with his older brother, King James III, and fled to France, where he unsuccessfully sought help. In 1482 he invaded Scotland with the army of King Edward IV of England and assumed control of the country. Scottish lords turned against him in 1483 and he fled after King Edward died. The second invasion, in 1484, was not supported by the new English king, King Richard III, and failed. He died in a duel with Louis XII of France, Duke of Orléans, by a splinter from Louis's lance.

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07/08/1385

Joan of Kent, mother of Richard II (born 1328)

Joan, Countess of Kent suo jure, also known as the "Fair Maid of Kent", was mother of King Richard II of England, her son by her third husband, Edward the Black Prince, the eldest son and heir apparent of King Edward III. The French chronicler Jean Froissart described her as 'in her time the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loved', and, Chandos Herald wrote that she was 'beautiful, pleasant and wise'. After the death of her brother John, 3rd Earl of Kent, in 1352, Joan inherited the titles 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell. Joan was made a Lady of the Garter in 1378.

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07/08/1296

Heinrich II von Rotteneck, prince-bishop of Regensburg

Heinrich II von Rotteneck was prince-bishop of Regensburg from 1277 to 1296.

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07/08/1272

Richard Middleton, English Lord Chancellor

Richard Middleton was an English ecclesiastic and Lord Chancellor of England.

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07/08/1234

Hugh Foliot, bishop of Hereford (born c. 1155)

Hugh Foliot was a medieval Bishop of Hereford. Related somehow to his predecessor at Hereford, he served as a priest and papal judge as well as being an unsuccessful candidate as Bishop of St David's in Wales. In 1219, he was appointed Bishop of Hereford. During his time in office, he mostly attended to ecclesiastical duties, but did occasionally serve as a royal administrator. He helped found a hospital and a priory, and died in 1234 after a months-long illness.

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07/08/1106

Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1050)

Henry IV was Holy Roman Emperor (1084–1105), King of Germany (1054–1105), and King of Italy and Burgundy (1056–1105). A Salian ruler, he was the son of Henry III and Agnes of Poitou. After his father's death in 1056, his mother acted as regent, granting lands to secure aristocratic support. Unable to control papal elections, she witnessed the growing assertion of the "liberty of the Church", a principle central to the emerging Gregorian Reform. In 1062, Archbishop Anno II of Cologne kidnapped Henry and governed until he came of age in 1065.

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07/08/1028

Alfonso V, king of León (born 994)

Alfonso V, called the Noble, was King of León from 999 to 1028. Like other kings of León, he used the title emperor to assert his standing among the Christian rulers of Spain. He succeeded his father, Bermudo II, in 999. His mother Elvira García and count Menendo González, who raised him in Galicia, acted as his co-regents. Upon the count's death in 1008, Alfonso ruled on his own.

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07/08/0707

Li Chongjun, Chinese prince

Year 707 (DCCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 707 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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07/08/0461

Majorian, Roman emperor (born 420)

Majorian was Western Roman emperor from 457 to 461. A prominent commander in the Western military, Majorian deposed Avitus in 457 with the aid of his ally Ricimer at the Battle of Placentia. Possessing little more than Italy and Dalmatia, as well as some territory in Hispania and northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned vigorously for three years against the Empire's enemies. In 461, he was murdered at Dertona in a conspiracy, and his successors until the fall of the Empire in 476 were puppets either of barbarian generals or the Eastern Roman court.

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