NEW YORK (Reuters) – Below is a compilation of some of the most notable deaths of global figures from the worlds of showbusiness, politics, sports and art in 2024.
JANUARY
Glynis Johns, the husky-voiced British actress best known for her role as a suffragette who hires a magical nanny in the 1964 movie musical “Mary Poppins,” died at the age of 100.
Mario Zagallo, the talented soccer left winger who won four World Cups for Brazil as player or coach, died at 92.
Franz Beckenbauer, Germany’s soccer great who also won World Cups for his country as both player and manager, died at 78.
Norman Jewison, Canadian film director of “In the Heat of the Night,” “Moonstruck,” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” died at 97.
Chita Rivera, a Broadway legend who created the role of Puerto Rican firebrand Anita in “West Side Story,” died at 91.
FEBRUARY
Carl Weathers, an American actor who shot to stardom playing boxer Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, died at 76.
Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, who lived in exile in Switzerland and was the only son of Italy’s last king, Umberto II, died at 86.
Sebastian Pinera, the former president of Chile best known abroad for overseeing the 2010 rescue of miners trapped underground, died in a helicopter crash at 74.
Seiji Ozawa, the Japanese orchestra conductor considered one of the foremost of his generation, died at 88.
Kelvin Kiptum, Kenya’s marathon world record holder, was killed in a traffic accident at 24.
Alexei Navalny, a fierce domestic opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in an Arctic prison at 47.
Brian Mulroney, who as Canadian prime minister struck a free trade deal with the U.S., died at 84.
MARCH
Joe Lieberman, a former U.S. senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee, died at 82.
APRIL
Louis Conter, the last survivor from the battleship USS Arizona that was destroyed at Pearl Harbor during World War Two, died at 102.
Peter Higgs, the British Nobel-winning physicist whose theory about an undetected particle changed science, died at 94.
O.J. Simpson, the American football star and actor who was sensationally acquitted of murdering his former wife in 1995, died at 76.
Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer known for his animal-print designs, died at 83.
Terry Anderson, a U.S. journalist who was held captive by Islamist militants in Lebanon from 1985 to 1991, died at 76.
MAY
Roger Corman, American maestro of low-budget cinema, died at 98.
James Simons, an American mathematician and hedge fund founder known as the “Quant King,” died at 86.
Alice Munro, Nobel-winning Canadian writer whose exquisitely crafted tales made her the master of the short story, died at 92.
Ebrahim Raisi, who rose through Iran’s ranks from hardline prosecutor to uncompromising president, died at 63 in a helicopter crash.
Ivan Boesky, the financier who gave birth to the “greed is good” mantra before going to prison in an insider trading scandal, died at 87.
JUNE
Tin Oo, a key figure in Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement and close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, died at 97.
William Anders, an American astronaut known for capturing the famed ‘Earthrise’ photo during the Apollo 8 mission, died in a plane crash at 90.
Willie Mays, American baseball legend with all-around skills, died at 93.
Donald Sutherland, the Canadian actor who charmed audiences in movies such as “M*A*S*H,” “Klute,” and “The Hunger Games,” died at 88.
JULY
James Inhofe, a former U.S. senator who represented Oklahoma and was a stalwart of the political right, died at 89.
Dr Ruth Westheimer, the chirpy therapist known as “Dr Ruth” who became a popular American TV sex guru, died at 96.
Shannen Doherty, a star of 1990s TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210” died at 53.
Bob Newhart, who fled the tedium of an accounting job to become a master of deadpan humor as a standup comedian and U.S. sitcom star, died at 94.
Nguyen Phu Trong, the Marxist-Leninist who led Vietnam for more than a decade, died at 80.
Sheila Jackson Lee, a U.S. lawmaker who was a prominent voice on African American and women’s rights, died at 74.
Edna O’Brien, who wrote of her native Ireland in such febrile prose that it sparked national outrage, died at 93.
William Calley, who during the Vietnam War led his U.S. Army platoon into the hamlet of My Lai and carried out one of the worst war crimes in American military history, died at 80.
Ismael Haniyeh, a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas and face of its international diplomacy, was assassinated in Tehran.
Fuad Shukr, a founding member of Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, was killed by Israel.
AUGUST
Gena Rowlands, an acclaimed American actress known for her vivid portrayals of strong, troubled women, died at 94.
Alain Delon, the French actor who melted the hearts of millions of film fans whether playing a murderer, hoodlum or hitman, died at 88.
Phil Donahue, who changed the face of U.S. daytime television with a long-running syndicated talk show, died at 88.
Mike Lynch, a British tech tycoon who founded software firm Autonomy and spent years fighting charges he had inflated its value, died at 59 when his yacht sunk off Sicily.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, the charismatic Swedish soccer manager who became the first foreigner to lead the England national team, died at 76.
SEPTEMBER
Rebecca Cheptegei, a Ugandan Olympic marathon runner, died at 33 after she was set on fire by her boyfriend in Kenya.
James Earl Jones, an imposing stage and screen presence who voiced “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader, died at 93.
Alberto Fujimori, the former Peruvian president who steered economic growth during the 1990s but was later jailed for human rights abuses, died at 86.
Tito Jackson, founding member of the popular Black American Motown group The Jackson 5, died at 70.
Maggie Smith, the British actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the “Harry Potter” movies and “Downton Abbey,” died at 89.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah through decades of conflict, was killed by Israel in an airstrike.
Kris Kristofferson, an influential American singer-songwriter of works such as “Me and Bobby McGee” and a successful actor, died at 88.
OCTOBER
Ratan Tata, the former Tata Group chairman who put his Indian conglomerate on the map with a string of high-profile acquisitions, died at 86.
Ethel Kennedy, who married into the Kennedy clan and was present when her husband Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated during his 1968 presidential campaign, died at 96.
Alex Salmond, who helped change the course of Scottish politics and pushed Scotland to the verge of independence from the UK, died at 69.
Mitzi Gaynor, the American star of “South Pacific” and other 1950s Hollywood musicals, died at 93.
Liam Payne, member of globally popular British boy band One Direction, died after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires at the age of 31.
Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader and architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, was killed in Gaza at 62.
Fethullah Gulen, who built a powerful Islamic movement in Turkey but was later accused of orchestrating an attempted coup, died at 83.
Terri Garr, the American actress whose sunny personality lit up the screen in films such as “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” died at 79.
NOVEMBER
Quincy Jones, who worked with musicians ranging from Count Basie to Frank Sinatra and reshaped pop music with his collaborations with Michael Jackson, died at 91.
John Prescott, Britain’s longest serving deputy prime minister and working class trailblazer, died at 86.
(Writing by Rosalba O’Brien; editing by Diane Craft)
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