August 23 :: Historical Deaths

Famous Deaths

• 93 - Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman Governor of Britain (b. 40)


• 634 - Abu Bakr, Arabian caliph


• 1106 - Magnus, Duke of Saxony


• 1176 - Emperor Rokujo of Japan (b. 1164)


• 1305 - William Wallace, Scottish patriot


• 1387 - King Olav IV of Norway (b. 1370)


• 1507 - Jean Molinet, French writer (b. 1435)


• 1519 - Philibert Berthelier, Swiss patriot


• 1540 - Guillaume Budé, French scholar


• 1591 - Luis Ponce de León, Spanish poet and mystic (b. 1527)


• 1618 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (b. 1585)


• 1628 - George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (b. 1592)


• 1652 - John Byron, 1st Baron Byron, English royalist politician (b. 1600)


• 1706 - Colonel Edward Nott, Esq., British Crown Governor of Virginia (b. 1654)


• 1723 - Increase Mather, New England Puritan minister (b. 1639)


• 1806 - Charles Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (b. 1736)


• 1813 - Alexander Wilson, Scottish-born ornithologist (b. 1766)


• 1819 - Oliver Hazard Perry, American naval officer (b. 1785)


• 1853 - Alexander Calder, first mayor of Beaumont, Texas (b. 1806)


• 1867 - Auguste-Marseille Barthélemy, French poet (b. 1796)


• 1892 - Deodoro da Fonseca, 1^st President of Brazil (b. 1827)


• 1926 - Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (b. 1895)


• 1927 - Nicola Sacco, Italian anarchist (b. 1891)


• 1927 - Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian anarchist (b. 1888)


• 1937 - Albert Roussel, French composer (b. 1869)


• 1955 - Reginald Tate, British actor (b. 1896)


• 1960 - Oscar Hammerstein II, American lyricist (b. 1895)


• 1962 - Walter Anderson, German folklorist (b. 1885)


• 1962 - Hoot Gibson, American actor (b. 1892)


• 1963 - Glen Gray, American jazz musician and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra (b. 1900)


• 1966 - Francis X. Bushman, American actor (b. 1883)


• 1967 - Georges Berger, Belgian racing driver (b. 1918)


• 1971 - The original Shamu, Sea World orca


• 1974 - Roberto Assagioli, Italian psychiatrist (b. 1888)


• 1982 - Stanford Moore, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)


• 1987 - Didier Pironi, French racing car driver (b. 1952)


• 1989 - Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese writer and academic (b. 1944)


• 1989 - R. D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist (b. 1927)


• 1990 - David Rose, American composer and orchestra leader (b. 1910)


• 1995 - Dwayne Goettel, Canadian musician (Skinny Puppy)(b. 1964)


• 1997 - John Kendrew, British molecular biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1917)


• 1999 - Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (b.1926)


• 1999 - James White, Northern Irish writer (b. 1928)


• 2000 - John Anthony Kaiser, Roman Catholic priest (b. 1932)


• 2001 - Kathleen Freeman, American actress (b. 1919)


• 2001 - Peter Maas, American novelist (b. 1929)


• 2002 - Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player (b. 1922)


• 2003 - Bobby Bonds, American baseball player and manager (b. 1946)


• 2003 - Jack Dyer, Australian rules footballer (b. 1913)


• 2003 - John Geoghan, American Catholic priest (b. 1935)


• 2005 - Brock Peters, American actor (b. 1927)


• 2005 - Ninjalicious, Canadian author and urban explorer (b. 1973)


• 2006 - Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader (b. 1928)


• 2007 - Robert Symonds, American actor (b. 1926)