Hafez al-Assad served as president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He is widely criticized for his brutal tactics but also praised for stabilizing the country.
1930-2000
American television personality Steve Allen is best known as the first host of The Tonight Show. He also starred on The Benny Goodman Show, and was an accomplished musician, composer, author and actor.
1921-2000
Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan political leader, becoming the world’s first woman prime minister in 1960.
1916-2000
1924-2000
Big Pun was a Latino hip-hop artist whose album Capital Punishment went to No. 1 on the R&B/hip-hop charts. He died in 2000 from obesity related heart failure.
1971-2000
1909-2000
Gwendolyn Brooks was a postwar poet best known as the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her 1949 book Annie Allen.
1917-2000
1901-2000
Hortense Ellis, younger sister of the "Godfather of Rock Steady" Alton Ellis, was a pop singer who was regarded as Jamaica’s first locally based female singing star.
1941-2000
1920-2000
John Gielgud was a prolific Shakespearean actor known for his varied film and TV work as well, including Arthur and Prospero’s Books.
1904-2000
Edward Gorey was an American illustrator best known for his cartoons of Edwardian children coming to macabre ends. He work can be seen in the animated credits of PBS' Masterpiece Mystery.
1925-2000
Alec Guinness is an Oscar-winning British actor known for his roles in films like Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago and Star Wars.
1914-2000
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins was a blues/soul singer known for his over-the-top theatricality and the hit “I Put a Spell on You.”
1929-2000
Randolph A. Hearst was born a billionaire, but he helped transform the vast Hearst newspaper empire built by his father from a flagging company to a profitable private media company. However, the media melee over his daughter, Patty Hearst's abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army overshadowed other aspects of his life.
1915-2000
Doug Henning was a magician known the world over for his tricks performed on TV and Broadway and in Las Vegas.
1947-2000
Extraordinarily beautiful, Hedy Lamarr was a Austrian-American actress during MGM's "Golden Age."
1913-2000
Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Landry played gridiron football for the New York Giants and was the first ever head coach of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
1924-2000
Jacob Lawrence was an American painter, and the most widely acclaimed African-American artist of the 20th century. He is best known for his Migration Series.
1917-2000
1920-2000
John Lindsay was a U.S. congressman and was the mayor of New York City during the 1960s. He is known for his "ghetto walks" and clashes with labor groups.
1921-2000
1928-2000
Walter Matthau was an actor known for his gruff on-screen demeanor in such films as The Odd Couple and Grumpy Old Men.
1920-2000
Tito Puente was a musical pioneer, mixing musical styles with Latin sounds and experimenting in fusing Latin music with jazz.
1923-2000
1926-2000
1921-2000
Jason Robards Jr. was an intense stage and film actor, and a frequent interpreter of Eugene O'Neill's work. He starred in the 1960 television production The Iceman Cometh, and later starred in films like Philadelphia and Magnolia.
1922-2000
Charles Schulz was a cartoonist best known for creating the one of the world's most successful comic strips, Peanuts.
1922-2000
Pierre Trudeau was the 15th prime minister of Canada, famous for his youthful energy, his stance against a separate Quebec and suppressing violent revolt.
1919-2000
Comedic actor Jim Varney played his signature character Ernest P. Worrell in hundreds of commercials and five Disney films including Ernest goes to Camp (1987).
1949-2000
Loretta young was a child actor who became one of Hollywood's leading ladies in the 1930s and 1940s.
1913-2000