Famous People Who Died in June a to z

Carroll O’Connor played Archie Bunker on the 1970s sitcom All in the Family. His comedic role as close-minded Archie made fun of bigoted opinions.

James Edward Oglethorpe was an 18th century member of British Parliament who also founded the U.S. colony of Georgia.

Robert Dale Owen, son of the Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, is best known for being integral to the founding of the Smithsonian Institution.

Ignacy Paderewski was a world famous concert pianist who also became Poland’s first prime minister in 1919.

Actress Geraldine Page, born in Missouri 1924, was well respected for her dedication to her roles on stage and screen, winning an Oscar and an Emmy.

Legendary pitcher Satchel Paige became the oldest player to join Major League baseball, with a career that spanned 40 years.

Thomas Paine was an English American writer and pamphleteer whose "Common Sense" and other writings influenced the American Revolution, and helped pave the way for the Declaration of Independence.

Dorothy Parker was the sharpest wit of the Algonquin Round Table, as well as a master of short fiction and a blacklisted screenwriter.

Gregory Peck is best known for his larger-than-life film roles, particularly as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro helped Vasco Núñez de Balboa discover the Pacific Ocean, and after conquering Peru, founded its capital city, Lima.

James Polk was the 11th president of the United States, known for his territorial expansion of the nation chiefly through the Mexican-American War.

William Sydney Porter was a prolific short story writer whose work appeared under the name O. Henry.

Terence Powderly served as union leader of the Knights of Labor from 1879 to 1893. Under his leadership, the union saw both unprecedented growth and sudden decline.

Florence Beatrice Price was an award-winning pianist and composer who became the first African-American woman to have her work performed by a major symphony.

Anthony Quinn was an Oscar-winning Mexican-American actor known for his roles in Viva Zapata!, Lust for Life and Zorba the Greek.

President Ronald Reagan helped redefine the purpose of government and pressured the Soviet Union to end the Cold War. He solidified the conservative agenda for decades after his presidency.

Ethel Rosenberg and husband Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951. They were both executed by the U.S. government in 1953.

Julius Rosenberg became an infamous figure in American history when he was convicted, along with his wife, Ethel Rosenberg, of giving military secrets to the Soviet Union in the early 1950s.

Roberto Rossellini, father of actress Isabella Rossellini, was an Italian film director associated with the Neorealist movement. His most celebrated work is Rome, Open City.

David Ruffin was an American soul singer who rose to fame as one of the lead singers of the Temptations.

Lillian Russell was a singer and actress who first made her mark in the 1881 film Grand Mogul.

Tim Russert was a one-time political counsel who became a journalist and the longtime host of the public affairs show Meet the Press.

Yves Saint Laurent was best known as an influential European fashion designer who impacted fashion in the 1960s to the present day.

Jonas Salk was an American physician and medical researcher who developed the first safe and effective vaccine for polio.

José Saramago was a Portuguese novelist and man of letters who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

David O. Selznick was a Hollywood film producer who made a huge string of hits in the 1930s through the 1950s, including Gone with the Wind.

Emmy Award–winning television and film writer Rod Serling created and hosted the sci-fi fantasy series The Twilight Zone and co-wrote Planet of the Apes.

Betty Shabazz is best known as the wife of African-American nationalist leader Malcolm X, who was assassinated in New York City in 1965.

Actress Norma Shearer, married Hollywood producer Irving G. Thalberg, received an Academy Award for her role in The Divorcee.

Iconic mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel built the Flamingo casino in Las Vegas, igniting an era of glamour, gambling and gangsters in the desert.

J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi was an 18th-19th century economist and author who espoused pioneering ideas on governmental structures.

John Smith was a British soldier who was a founder of the American colony of Jamestown in the early 1600s.

Aaron Spelling remains television’s most prolific producer, primarily known for escapist entertainment.

Tony Spilotro is best known as a mob representative in Las Vegas from the 1970s to the '80s. He was brutally beaten and murdered by mob members in 1986.

After murdering a gas station attendant in 1957, Nebraska native Charles Starkweather embarked on a murderous rampage with girlfriend Caril Ann Fugate in 1958. Together, they killed 10 people.

Teófilo Stevenson was a Cuban boxer best known for becoming the first fighter to win three Olympic gold medals in one weight class.

Margaret Suckley was a close friend and confidante of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and served as the archivist for the first American presidential library.

Sukarno is best known as the first president of the Republic of Indonesia.

Theodora was empress of the Byzantine Empire from 527 A.D. to 548 A.D. She greatly influenced her husband, Justinian I's political decisions.

Strom Thurmond served as a U.S. senator for South Carolina from 1956 to 2003, during which time he switched from Democrat to Republican due to his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act. He resigned from the Senate at age 100—becoming the oldest congressman in U.S. history.

Mel Torme was a singer, jazz vocalist, and composer active from the 1940s-1990s. He also wrote biographies of Judy Garland and Buddy Rich.

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend of Raynham, was an 18th century British secretary of state who became known as "Turnip Townshend" for his agricultural innovations.

Spencer Tracy was one of Hollywood's greatest film stars. He appeared in 75 films from 1930 to 1967 and was nominated for five Academy Awards, two of which he won.

Famed mathematician Alan Turing proved in his 1936 paper, "On Computable Numbers," that a universal algorithmic method of determining truth in math cannot exist.

Lana Turner was a film actress and sex symbol who was "discovered" while drinking soda at a diner counter. She made over 50 films and was married seven times.

Alexander Lucius Twilight is thought to be the first African American to graduate from an American university (Middlebury College, 1823).

Conway Twitty was a country singer who scored 55 No. 1 hits over the long expanse of his career.

Jack Unterweger was an Austrian serial killer who murdered several women before committing suicide in 1994.

Wernher von Braun was a German engineer who worked on rocket technology, first for Germany and then for the United States.

David Walker was an African American abolitionist whose pamphlet was one of the most radical documents of the antislavery movement.

Max Weber was a 19th century German sociologist and one of the founders of modern sociology. He wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1905.

Harvey Washington Wiley was an American chemist known as the "Father of the FDA." Throughout much of his career, Wiley campaigned for reforms in food manufacturing and in food labeling.

Sonny Boy Williamson, originally John Lee Curtis Williamson, was a blues singer and harmonica player. He was the first musician to use the nickname Sonny Boy.

Harriet E. Wilson is best known as the first African-American female novelist.

Victoria Woodhull was a spiritualist, activist, politician and author who was the first woman to run for the presidency of the United States.