Christian Brando was the eldest son of Hollywood legend Marlon Brando. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing his half-sister’s boyfriend.
1958-2008
William F. Buckley was a writer and political TV personality who helped make conservative politics popular in the 1950s-1970s.
1925-2008
Actor, writer, and comedian George Carlin was known for his stand-up routines as well as TV appearances and roles in such films as 1987's Outrageous Fortune.
1937-2008
An author of more than 100 books, Arthur C. Clarke’s imagination and insight influenced modern science via works like his classic 2001: A Space Odyssey.
1917-2008
Michael Crichton was an American author best known for his sci-fi and medical thrillers. The movie based on his book, Jurassic Park, was one of the highest-grossing films in history.
1942-2008
Aimé Césaire was a cofounder (with Léopold Sédar Senghor) of Negritude, an influential movement to restore the cultural identity of black Africans.
1913-2008
The arrest and trial of Larry Davis, arrested after a 1986 shootout with the NYPD, drew national interest and ignited racial tensions in New York City.
1966-2008
Michael DeBakey was an American cardiovascular surgeon and surgical pioneer.
1908-2008
1928-2008
Alton Ellis was a Jamaican singer and songwriter with a smooth vocal style, known widely as the "Godfather of Rocksteady," a slow, soulful Jamaican music genre.
1938-2008
1914-2008
Bobby Fischer is best known for being the first American grandmaster of chess.
1943-2008
Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, and was one of television’s most popular comedic actresses of the 1980s.
1923-2008
Issac Hayes was an American musician. His hit song "Soul Man" and the musical score for the 1971 film Shaft are legendary contributions to modern music.
1942-2008
Republican, Jesse Helms was a United States Senator from North Carolina who served for five terms (1973-2003). He was known for his right-wing politics and opposition to civil rights legislation.
1921-2008
Charlton Heston was an American film actor best known for his roles in Antony and Cleopatra, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur and Planet of the Apes (1968).
1923-2008
20th century explorer and mountaineer Edmund Hillary was the first to reach the peak of Mt. Everest along with fellow climber Tenzing Norgay.
1919-2008
Samuel P. Huntington was a political scientist who wrote the influential book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order.
1927-2008
Singer and actress Eartha Kitt is best known for her holiday song "Santa Baby," and for playing Catwoman in the 1960's TV show Batman.
1927-2008
Tom Lantos was a 14-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of California, as well as the first and only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress.
1928-2008
Heath Ledger was an Academy Award-winning, Australian actor best known for his roles in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight. He died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in 2008.
1979-2008
1939-2008
Bernie Mac was a standup comedian and actor on film and television known for his "Bernie Mac Show" and appearance in the "Ocean's 11" films.
1957-2008
Miriam Makeba, also known as "Mama Africa," was a popular South-African singer who introduced Xhosa and Zulu songs to Western audiences. She is best known for the songs "Pata Pata," "The Click Song" and "Malaika."
1932-2008
1921-2008
Anthony Minghella was an Academy Award-winning director best known for his adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. Released in 1996, the film claimed the Oscar for best picture in 1997.
1954-2008
1933-2008
Paul Newman came to be known as one of the finest actors of his time. He also started the Newman's Own food company, which donates all profits to charity.
1925-2008
1930-2008
Bettie Page was a Playboy pin-up model and sex symbol of the 1950s. Her straight black bangs and innocent, playful attitude made her a fashion icon.
1923-2008
1912-2008
Deborah Jeane Palfrey was the leader of a large Washington-based prostitution ring and became known as the D.C. Madame.
1956-2008
Harold Pinter is a renowned British playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.
1930-2008
Suzanne Pleshette was an Emmy Award-nominated actress known for roles in films like The Geisha Boy and The Birds, as well as the television series The Bob Newhart Show.
1937-2008
Sydney Pollack is an Oscar-winning film director, producer and actor. His director credits include Tootsie and Three Days of the Condor.
1934-2008
American artist Robert Rauschenberg is best known for paving the way for pop art of the 1960's with fellow artist Jasper Johns.
1925-2008
Jerry Reed was an American musician and actor best known for his Grammy hit "When You're Hot, You're Hot," and for the film Smokey and the Bandit.
1937-2008
1982-2008
Tim Russert was a one-time political counsel who became a journalist and the longtime host of the public affairs show Meet the Press.
1950-2008
Yves Saint Laurent was best known as an influential European fashion designer who impacted fashion in the 1960s to the present day.
1936-2008
Actor Roy Scheider landed his breakthrough role in 1971’s Klute, and later played Police Chief Martin Brody in the Steven Spielberg-directed film Jaws.
1932-2008
British actor Paul Scofield is one of only a handful of actors who have won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony.
1922-2008
1935-2008
Serial killer Arthur Shawcross murdered 11 women from 1988 to 1990 in upstate New York, earning the nickname "The Genessee River Killer."
1945-2008
1918-2008
Studs Terkel was a Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian who compiled books of interviews with everyday people.
1912-2008
Margaret Truman, daughter of Harry Truman, became a singer and writer in her own right.
1924-2008
David Foster Wallace was a writer known for his dense short stories, magazine articles and novels, most notably the 1,200-page Infinite Jest.
1962-2008
1914-2008