Famous People Who Died of Unnatural Causes a to z

Red Adair was an American oil well firefighter best known for completing over 1,000 jobs internationally.

Marcus Antonius is best known as the Roman general who was a lover of Cleopatra. The two committed suicde after their defeat by Octavian.

Sir Frederick Grant Banting was a Canadian scientist and doctor, whose research led to the discovery of insulin to treat diabetic patients.

Outlaw Clyde Barrow and his partner, Bonnie, robbed banks and store owners during the Depression and were believed to be responsible for at least 13 murders.

Jean-Pierre Blancard was a French balloonist who crossed the English Channel by balloon in 1785. He spurred interest in ballooning in Europe and the United States.

Isabella Blow was a British fashion director and style icon known for wearing flamboyant hats, many by designer Philip Treacy.

Thomas Byles, a Catholic priest, was a victim of the RMS Titanic disaster.

Caryl Chessman is best known for his controversial conviction for sex crimes and his execution in 1960.

Patsy Cline was a celebrated country singer best known for her crossover hits, including "Crazy" and "Walking After Midnight."

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.

French physicist Pierre Curie was of founding fathers of modern physics and is best known for being a pioneer in radioactive studies.

Militant suffragette Emily Wilding Davison fought to gain equal voting rights for British women before dying at the Epsom Derby in 1913.

John Dillinger was an infamous gangster and bank robber during the Great Depression, and was know as "Jackrabbit" and "Public Enemy No. 1."

Isadora Duncan was a trailblazing dancer and instructor whose emphasis on freer forms of movement was a precursor to modern dance techniques.

Saint John Fisher was a Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal who was martyred when he resisted King Henry VII's encroachments on the Church.

Silent film actress Janet Gaynor won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress in 1929, for her role in the movie Seventh Heaven.

Che Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary allied with Fidel Castro who went on to become an iconic cultural hero.

Alexander Hamilton, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention and major author of the Federalist papers, was the United States' first secretary of the treasury.

John Hawkins was a 16th century British naval commander and slave trader who entered into conflict with Spain.

Heinrich Himmler was commander of Hitler's Schutzstaffel, and later of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany. After World War II, he committed suicide to escape capture.

Buddy Holly was a singer/songwriter whose records, conveying a sense of the wide-open spaces of West Texas and unstoppable joie de vivre, remain vital today.

Crazy Horse was an Oglala Sioux Indian chief who fought against removal to an Indian reservation. He took part in the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Jezebel was a Phoenician princess, later the wife of King Ahab of Israel. She became known for putting on makeup before her death and being a wicked woman.

Luc Jouret was a homeopathic doctor who founded the New Age cult Solar Templar in the 1980s.

Mary (Richardson) Kennedy, an architect focusing on philanthropy and the environment, was the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Cult leader David Koresh led the Branch Davidians in a deadly 51-day stand-off against the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Bruce Lee was an actor, film producer and director, and the martial arts expert who founded the Jeet Kune Doe martial arts system.

Brittany Murphy was an actress who appeared in a string of critically acclaimed films, including Girl, Interrupted (1999) and 8 Mile (2002).

James Otis was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts who is best remembered for the phrase, "Taxation without representation is tyranny."

Half of the notorious Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie Parker became one of America's most famous outlaws. She and partner Clyde Barrow robbed banks and small businesses, leaving a bloody train of murder victims in their wake.

Ancient Greek statesman Pericles, leader of Athens from 460–429 B.C., organized construction of the Parthenon and developed a democracy based on majority rule.

St. Polycarp was a 2nd century Greek bishop whose Letter to the Philippians formed the basis of Christian literature.

Tyrone Power was a stage and film actor known for his roles in such films as Witness for the Prosecution and The Mark of Zorro.

Steve Prefontaine is best known as the runner who once held the U.S. record in every long-distance event. He died in a car crash in 1974 at age 24.

Uruguayan writer Horacio Quiroga penned short stories inspired by the jungle before committing suicide in 1937. Anaconda is considered his greatest work.

Washington Roebling was an engineer and a notable victim of the Titanic disaster.

Virginia planter and colonial official John Rolfe was the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the Indian chief Powhatan. He sold Virginia tobacco to England.

Samson is a well-known Biblical figure touted for his great strength and long hair. He appears in the Old Testament in the Book of Judges.

Taksin was an 18th century Thai general and king.

Pytor Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer best known for his popular ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.

Tecumseh, a Shawnee Native American chief, opposed white settlement in the United States during the early 1800s. He died in the War of 1812.

Writer Dylan Thomas is best known for the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," the play "Under Milk Wood," and for his heavy drinking.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, along with brother Dzhokhar, was named a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings of April 15, 2013. He was fatally shot by police officers four days later.

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

Mexican-American musician Ritchie Valens is best known for his hit "La Bamba." His successful career was cut short when he died in a plane crash at age 17.

Stefan Zweig was an Austrian writer and novelist popular in the 1920s and 1930s.