Famous People Who Died in August a to z

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher, who laid the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities.

Les Paul was a musician who designed a solid-body guitar in 1941, which then was a new type of instrument.

Pearl Bailey was a Tony Award-winning singer and actress known for her roles in works like Carmen Jones, House of Flowers, Hello, Dolly! and Porgy and Bess.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American Revolutionary War veteran, South Carolina legislator and two-time presidential candidate.

A pioneer in early hormonal and reproductive research, Gregory Pincus and his team of scientists are credited with formulating the first oral contraceptive for birth control.

Politically minded first lady Sarah Polk led her husband James Polk’s successful campaign to become the 11th U.S. president in 1845.

Famous 20th century artist Jackson Pollock revolutionized the world of modern art with his unique abstract painting techniques.

Janie Porter Barrett was a social worker and reformer who established a school for previously incarcerated African-American girls.

Lewis Powell was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987.

Musician and actor Elvis Presley endured rapid fame in the mid-1950s—on the radio, TV and the silver screen—and continues to be one of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll.

Louis Prima was an influential jazz trumpeter, singer and composer known for songs like "Sing, Sing, Sing," "Angelina," "Buona Sera" and "Jump, Jive an' Wail."

Princess Diana was Princess of Wales while married to Prince Charles. One of the most adored members of the British royal family, she died in a 1997 car crash.

Manuel Quezon was leader of the Filipino independence movement and first president of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935.

Richard III was king of England for two turbulent years. He is best known for being accused of murdering his nephews to protect his throne.

Max Roach was a jazz drummer and pioneer of the bebop style.

Poet and professor Theodore Roethke was best known for winning the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for his poetry volume The Wakening. His other works include "Open House" and "The Far Field."

Will Rogers was an entertainer known for his folksy charm and witty one-liners. He started out in Wild West shows and eventually made his way to Broadway and films.

Bayard Rustin was a civil rights organizer and activist, best known for his work as adviser to Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1950s and '60s.

Rose Schneiderman was a labor activist, union leader and social reformer. She held labor-related positions in Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration during the Great Depression.

English film director Tony Scott was best known for his first box-office success, Top Gun, as well as later films like True Romance and Enemy of the State. He was the brother of  Ridley Scott, also a famed producer and director.

Charles Scribner co-founded the publishing house Baker & Scribner, which became Charles Scribner's Sons.

Emperor Haile Selassie I worked to modernize Ethiopia for several decades before famine and political opposition forced him from office in 1974.

Sequoyah was a half-Cherokee silversmith who invented a simple form of writing consisting of 86 symbols. He is also the namesake of Sequoia redwood trees.

Spanish missionary Juniper Serra established his first U.S. mission in 1769. He built eight more California missions over the next thirteen years.

William Shockley was an engineer and co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1956 for his development of the transistor.

Scottish actor Alastair Sim appeared in many classic British films in the mid-20th century. His best known portrayal was that of Ebenezer Scrooge in 1951's A Christmas Carol.

American psychologist B.F. Skinner is best known for developing the theory of behaviorism, and for his utopian novel Walden Two (1948).

Roger W. Sperry was a 20th century scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking research on brain hemispheres.

Constantin Stanislavski was a Russian stage actor and director who developed the naturalistic performance technique known as the "Stanislavsky method," or method acting.

Ted Stevens was a U.S. senator from Alaska, and the longest-serving Republican senator in American history (1968-2009).

Thaddeus Stevens, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives during Abraham Lincoln's presidency, fought to abolish slavery and helped draft the 14th Amendment during Reconstruction.

Dorothy Stratten was a Playboy model and actress before she was murdered at the age of 20.

Preston Sturges is regarded as the first Hollywood figure to successfully move from screenwriting to directing his own scripts.

Brandon Tartikoff was the president of NBC Television during its rise to the top from 1980 till 1991.

Model and actress Sharon Tate is best remembered for her tragic and untimely death at the hands of serial killer Charles Manson.

Margaret Taylor was best known for her marriage to Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States.

J.J. Thomson was a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose research led to the discovery of electrons.

Educational psychologist E.L. Thorndike pioneered the fields of animal learning and behavioral psychology with his theory of connectionism.

The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till on August 28, 1955 galvanized the emerging civil rights movement.

Communist Leon Trotsky helped ignite the Russian Revolution of 1917, and built the Red Army afterward. He was exiled and later assassinated by Soviet agents.

Italian-American actor Rudolph Valentino was admired as the “Great Lover” of the 1920s.

Danitra Vance appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1986 and acted in films such as Limit Up and Little Man Tate.

Vivian Vance was an actress chiefly known as Ethel Murtz on the 1950s TV sitcom I Love Lucy.

A preeminent bluesman, award-winning guitarist and singer Stevie Ray Vaughan earned critical and commercial success during the 1980s.

Diego Velázquez was a renowned Spanish painter and portraitist, and an icon of Western art.

As a fashion journaist who worked for Harper's Bazaar and Vogue, Diana Vreeland was an influential figure in American fashion during the 20th century.

William Wallace, a Scottish knight, became a central early figure in the wars to secure Scottish freedom from the English, becoming one of his country's greatest national heroes.

Paul Watkins, a member of Charles Manson's "family," was not involved in the infamous Tate/LaBianca murders, but testified for the prosecution in the Manson trial, specifically about Manson's theory of "Helter Skelter."

Simone Weil was a French intellectual, activist and Christian Mystic.

H.G. Wells was a writer of science-fiction works—including The Time Machine and War of the Worlds—who had a great influence on our vision of the future.

Dorothy West is a writer remembered for her sharp observations of varied issues within the African American community.

Pearl White was an American silent film actress best known for her role in The Perils of Pauline, in which she did her own stunt work.

Charles Whitman was a former Marine and sniper who killed 16 people at the University of Texas in 1966.

Hoyt Wilhelm was a Major League Baseball relief pitcher known for his knuckleball and who set a pitching record.

Daniel Hale Williams was a physician who performed the first known open-heart surgery in the United States and who founded a hospital with an interracial staff.

James Wilson was a Supreme Court associate justice. He signed both the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

Brigham Young was an American Mormon leader and colonizer who significantly influenced the development of the American West.

Graham Young is best known as the Teacup Poisoner, responsible for the killing of at least three people in England.

Loretta young was a child actor who became one of Hollywood's leading ladies in the 1930s and 1940s.

With his home film camera, Dallas businessman Abraham Zapruder recorded the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. This footage is one of the few films of this historic event.

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was Pakistani chief of Army staff, chief martial-law administrator, and president of Pakistan (1978–88).