Famous People Who Died in October a to z

Abigail Adams was the wife of President John Adams and the mother of John Quincy Adams, who became the sixth president of the United States.

American Revolutionary Samuel Adams organized the Boston Tea Party and signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Akbar the Great, Muslim emperor of India, established a sprawling kingdom through military conquests, but is known for his policy of religious tolerance.

Muammar al-Qaddafi seized control of the Libyan government in 1969, and ruled as an authoritarian dictator for more than 40 years before he was overthrown in 2011.

Lou Albano was a professional wrestler-turned-wrestling personality in the hugely popular World Wrestling Federation of the 1980s.

Archibald Alexander was a Protestant clergyman and educator whose teachings, reviews and sermons gave him wide influence during his day.

King Alexander I of Yugoslavia ruled the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1921–29) and of Yugoslavia (1929–34).

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.

Mob boss Albert Anastasia started out as a hitman and became one of the most powerful crime bosses of the 20th century. He helped run Murder Inc.

Marie Antoinette helped provoke the popular unrest that led to the French Revolution and to the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792.

Beauty pioneer Elizabeth Arden opened the red doors of her first spa in 1910.

Henry Armstrong was a U.S. pro boxer who held three championship titles simultaneously. He later became a minister and champion for at-risk youth.

Svante Arrhenius was a Nobel Prize winning scientist known for his revolutionary theories in various fields, including physics, chemistry and astronomy.

Dorothy Arzner was a pioneer in the film industry, becoming one of the first women directors of feature films and the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America.

William Waldorf Astor was a wealthy descendant of John Jacob Astor who became a New York State senator and a member of the New York State Assembly.

American photographer Richard Avedon was best known for his work in the fashion world and for his minimalist, large-scale character-revealing portraits.

Charles Babbage was known for his contributions to the first mechanical computers, which laid the groundwork for more complex future designs.

Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan political leader, becoming the world’s first woman prime minister in 1960.

Benjamin Banneker was a largely self-educated mathematician, astronomer, compiler of almanacs, inventor and writer.

Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi designed and executed New York City’s Statue of Liberty to mark the Franco-American alliance of 1778.

Leonard Bernstein was one of the first American-born conductors to receive worldwide fame. He composed the score for the Broadway musical West Side Story.

From 1957 to 1963, actress Barbara Billingsley played the perfect apron-wearing, cookie-baking housewife June Cleaver on TV's Leave it to Beaver.

Naturalist, inventor and businessman Clarence Birdseye pioneered the process of flash freezing in the United States. His company was bought by General Foods.

Entertainer Joey Bishop starred in his own TV sitcom, and hosted his own late-night talk show. He was a member of the Rat Pack, along with Frank Sinatra.

Art Blakey was an influential jazz drummer associated with the modern bebop style. He played with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious monk and countless other jazz greats.

Tony, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Shirley Booth was in both the play and film versions of Come Back, Little Sheba, and the television show Hazel.

Tom Bosley was an award-winning American actor best known for playing Howard Cunningham in the 1970s hit TV sitcom Happy Days.

Louis Brandeis was the first Jew to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. His decisions affirmed individual liberty and privacy and opposed unchecked governmental power.

Molly Brown was best known for her social welfare work on behalf of women and children, and for surviving the Titanic sinking.

In 1949, mathematician Marjorie Lee Browne became one of the first two African-American women to earn a Ph.D. in her field.

Yul Brynner was an actor of stage and screen most famous for portraying King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I.

Solomon Burke was an African-American soul singer who released a number of hits in the 1960s, including "Cry to Me" and "Got to Get You off My Mind."

Sir Richard Burton was a British explorer and linguist. He translated The Arabian Nights, and wrote extensively about his travels in Asia, Africa and America.

Joseph Campbell was a professor and author who focused on comparative folklore with books like The Power of Myth and The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

Hugh Capet was a 10th century monarch who started the Capetian Dynasty of France.

Singer and guitarist Mother Maybelle Carter began performing with The Carter Family in the 1920s and influenced country and folk music for decades to come.

Cassie Chadwick was best known for posing as the illegitimate daughter of industrialist Andrew Carnegie, subsequently convincing banks to loan her millions of dollars.

Wilt Chamberlain was the first NBA player to score more than 30,000 cumulative points over his career, and the first and only player to score 100 points in a single game.

Charles VI, nicknamed Charles the Mad, was king of France from 1380 to 1422—a period marked by political chaos and France’s defeat by England at Agincourt.

English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the unfinished work, The Canterbury Tales. It is considered one of the greatest poetic works in English.

Considered Poland's greatest composer, Frédéric Chopin focused his efforts on piano composition and was highly influential.

When Frances Cleveland married Grover Cleveland, she became the youngest first lady ever, and the first to be married in the White House.

Scientist Edwin Cohn helped develop a method of separating blood plasma proteins, which provided lifesaving care to many soldiers during World War II.

Lucy Craft Laney was a school teacher and educator who opened a school for African-American students in the South in the late 1800s.

Bing Crosby sang such hit songs as the ever-popular holiday classic "White Christmas." The beloved crooner was also a star of radio, movies and television.

Leon Frank Czolgosz is known as the assassin who killed President William McKinley.

Post-Impressionist French painter Paul Cézanne is best known for his incredibly varied painting style which greatly affected 20th century abstract art.

Barbara West Dainton survived the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, and was the second-to-last remaining survivor when she died in 2007.

Rodney Dangerfield was a stand-up comedian and actor known for his "I don't get no respect" routine. He starred in the hit movie comedies, Caddyshack and Back to School, during the 1980s.

Bette Davis is remembered as one of Hollywood's legendary leading ladies, famous for her larger-than-life persona and for her nearly 100 film appearances.

Roy DeCarava was an American photographer who created some of the most iconic images we have of the Civil Rights Movement and jazz musicians in motion.

American dancer and choreographer Agnes DeMille further developed the narrative aspect of dance in her choreography of musical plays and ballets.

John Denver was one of the most successful singer-songwriters of the 1970s. His hits include "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Thank God I'm a Country Boy."

Jacques Derrida was an influential postmodern French philosopher who developed the analytic method known as Deconstruction.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines was a military leader who worked with Toussaint l'Ouverture and gave the country of Haiti its name.

Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret formed the Order of the Solar Temple and allegedly set fire to Swiss OST buildings, killing themselves and 46 others.

Christian Dior was a French fashion designer whose post–World War II creations were wildly popular, and whose legacy continues to influence the fashion industry.

Tobacco heiress Doris Duke was the only child of American tobacco baron, James Duke. When she was born, the press called her the "million dollar baby."

Inventor Thomas Edison created such great innovations as the electric light bulb, the telephone and the phonograph. A savvy businessman, he held more than a 1,000 patents for his inventions.

Anwar el-Sadat was the one-time president of Egypt (1970-1981) who shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for establishing peace agreements with Israel.

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.

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.

Italian film director Federico Fellini was one of the most celebrated and distinctive filmmakers of the period after World War II.

Luis A. Ferré was a Puerto Rican industrialist who formed the New Progressive Party and was governor of Puerto Rico.