Famous People Who Died in December a to z

Tunku Abdul Rahman was chief minister of the Federation of Malaya (1955–1957), the first prime minister of an independent Malaya (1957–1963), and the prime minister of Malaysia (1963–1970).

Alvin Ailey was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958.

Alois Alzheimer was a German psychiatrist who discovered the pathological condition of dementia and diagnosed the disease that bears his name.

Don Ameche was an actor know mostly for films in the 1930s and 1940s, radio and TV in the 1950s-1970s, and later the film Trading Places.

Hannah Arendt gained much attention for her writings on totalitarianism and Jewish affairs after World War II.

Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born actor and musician who is remembered for his marriage to Lucille Ball and their TV show, I Love Lucy.

American empresario Stephen Austin, a.k.a. “the father of Texas,” created the first Anglo American colony in the Tejas region of Mexico, later to become Texas.

Pharmacologist Julius Axelrod’s studies of neurotransmission of adrenalin and amphetamines led to his investigations into drugs for treatment of mental illness.

Civil rights activist Ella Baker worked with the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Mary Baker was best known as the imposter who posed as Princess Caraboo, a foreign princess from an exotic land.

James Baldwin was an essayist, playwright and novelist regarded as a highly insightful, iconic writer with works like The Fire Next Time and Another Country.

Stanley Baldwin was a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister three times between 1923 and 1937.

Stage and screen actress Tallulah Bankhead starred in the plays They Knew What They Wanted and The Little Foxes. She was also in Hitchcock’s Lifeboat.

Philip Barry is an American playwright best known for writing comedies of life. His most famous play is The Philadelphia Story.

Frédéric Bazille was a French painter who helped found the Impressionist movement of the late 19th century, before dying in combat in the Franco-Prussian War.

St. Thomas Becket, England’s Archbishop of Canterbury, refused to give King Henry II power over the church. He was murdered in 1170 and became a saint in 1173.

20th century Irish novelist, playwright and poet Samuel Beckett penned the play Waiting for Godot. In 1969, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Jeanne Bécu, Countess Du Barry, mistress to French King Louis XV, asserted her influence on the court throughout his reign and was later executed for treason.

Lead Belly was a folk-blues singer, songwriter and guitarist whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs and notoriously violent life made him a legend.

For more than 50 years, comedian Jack Benny was a star of radio, the stage and screen. His radio show, The Jack Benny Program, was a forerunner of the sitcom genre.

Mum Betts (Elizabeth Freeman) was the first slave to successfully sue for her freedom, encouraging Massachusetts to abolish slavery.

Benazir Bhutto became the first female prime minister of Pakistan in 1988. She was killed by a suicide bomber in 2007.

Amelia Bloomer was a women's rights activist. She advocated for changes in women's fashion that would be less restrictive. "Bloomers" are named after her.

Franz Boas was a German-born anthropologist who founded the relativistic, culture-centered school of American anthropology that dominated 20th century thought.

Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military leader who was instrumental in the revolutions against the Spanish empire.

Leigh Bowery was an Australian fashion designer, club promoter and performance artist, known as the proprietor of the hedonistic London nightclub Taboo.

American actor Peter Boyle is best known as the grumpy dad on the CBS sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, a role he held for eleven years.

Emily Brontë is best known for authoring the novel Wuthering Heights. She was the sister of Charlotte and Anne Brontë, also famous authors.

Gwendolyn Brooks was a postwar poet best known as the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize, for her 1949 book Annie Allen.

Herbert C. Brown was a scientist and professor who won the Nobel Prize for his work in organic chemistry.

James Brown, the "Godfather of Soul," was a prolific singer, songwriter and bandleader, as well as one of the most iconic figures in funk and soul music from 1956 to 2006.

John Brown was a 19th-century militant abolitionist known for his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859.

Dave Brubeck was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his unconventional meters, as well as songs like "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke."

Dennis Brutus was a poet whose works center on his sufferings and those of his fellow blacks in South Africa.

Sitting Bull was a Teton Dakota Indian chief under whom the Sioux tribes united in their struggle for survival on the North American Great Plains.

Ralph Bunche was a U.S. diplomat, a key member of the United Nations for more than two decades, and the winner of the 1950 Nobel Prize for Peace.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and helped Italian-American immigrants. She was canonized in 1946.

Hoagy Carmichael was an American songwriter who wrote the standards "Rockin' Chair," "Lazy River," "Stardust" and "Georgia on my Mind."

Paul Castellano is best known for becoming the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City.

Nicolae Ceausescu was the leader of Communist Romania for more than two decades until his execution in 1989.

Charlie Chaplin was a comedic British actor who became one of the biggest stars of the 20th century's silent-film era.

Septima Poinsette Clark was a pioneering educator and activist who championed teacher’s rights with organizations like the NAACP.

Outfielder Roberto Clemente broke National League batting records while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1960s.

Alan Conway was best known for impersonating the film director Stanley Kubrick. Conway convinced several figures in the entertainment industry, and recieved meals, drinks, and sexual favors in exchange for promising roles in Kubrick films.

Sam Cooke, commonly known as the King of Soul, was an African-American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer and songwriter. He had 29 top-40 hits from 1957-1964.

For nearly four decades, American composer Aaron Copland achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style.

Hernán Cortés, marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain.

Henry Cowell was an American pianist and experimental composer whose music influenced John Cage.

Vasco da Gama was the first person to sail directly from Europe to India.

Bobby Darin was an American singer, songwriter and actor who became a ubiquitous presence in pop entertainment in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Jacques-Louis David was a 19th century painter who is considered to be the principal proponent of the Neoclassical style, which moved art briskly away from the previous Rococo period. His most famous works include "The Death of Marat" and "Napoleon Crossing the Alps."

Arthur Davidson was one of the four founders of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company.

Jefferson Davis was a 19th century U.S. senator best known as the president of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.

Samuel de Champlain was a French explorer and cartographer best known for establishing and governing the settlements of New France and the city of Quebec.

Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat and philosopher who became notorious for acts of sexual cruelty in his writings as well as in his own life.

Millvina Dean was the youngest of the 705 survivors of the sinking of the RMS Titanic and lived to be the last survivor.

Jack "Legs" Diamond was a Prohibition-era mob leader, hit man and bootlegger who was based in New York.

Walt Disney was an American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of cartoon films and as the creator of Disneyland.

Theodosius Dobzhansky was a 20th century scientist, professor and author who did pioneering work in genetics and evolution.

Italian sculptor Donatello was the greatest Florentine sculptor before Michelangelo (1475–1564) and was the most influential individual artist of the 15th century in Italy.

Alexandre Dumas was a 19th-century French novelist and playwright whose best known works are The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Patricia Dunn served as a director and non-executive chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard before resigning in 2006, after receiving a criminal indictment stemming from a spying scandal.

Actor Charles Durning appeared in such films as The Sting, Tootsie and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He also had roles on such shows as Rescue Me, Everybody Loves Raymond and Evening Shade.

Blake Edwards was an American film director, producer and screenwriter who was perhaps best known for The Pink Panther and its sequels.

Gustave Eiffel was a French engineer who designed and oversaw construction of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar's ambition and ruthlessness made him one of the wealthiest, most powerful, and most violent criminals of all-time.

Silent movie star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1883–39) teamed up with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and his wife Mary Pickford to launch United Artists in 1919.

Comedian and actor Chris Farley had an ensemble role on Saturday Night Live, and was also know for his movie roles in the comedies Wayne's World and Tommy Boy.

American short-story writer and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his turbulent personal life and his famous novel The Great Gatsby.

Gerald Ford became the 38th president of the United States following Richard Nixon's resignation, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.

Dian Fossey was a zoologist best known for researching the endangered gorillas of the Rwandan mountain forest from the 1960s to the '80s, and for her mysterious murder.

Rube Foster was a baseball player and manager who organized the Negro National League, the first long-lasting professional league for African American players.