Discover the most famous people died who died in the year 1984. This list includes people like Indira Gandhi, Marvin Gaye, Ed Gein, Ray Kroc, Andy Kaufman and many more. This list of celebrities is loosely sorted by popularity. People featured on this list, include poets, political leaders, playwrights and artists who died in 1984. This list includes people from United States, United Kingdom, France & India and many more countries.
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1
Marvin Gaye(Known as the 'Prince of Soul' and Popular for His Song 'Sexual Healing')
Birthdate: April 2, 1939
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Washington, D.C., United States
Died: April 1
American singer Marvin Gaye is one of the most successful black artists ever and his albums have sold in millions. His success reached great heights with the 1972 song What's Going On. The 1982 single Sexual Healing was the biggest hit of his career and was a chartbuster. He was tragically shot dead by his father after a family altercation.
Birthdate: October 5, 1902
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Oak Park, Illinois, United States
Died: January 14
Ray Kroc was the man who helped expand McDonald's into a global franchise, eventually turning it into the most successful fast food corporation. Not surprisingly, he was mentioned in Time magazine's Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century list. He was also the owner of the popular baseball team San Diego Padres.
Birthdate: February 20, 1902
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: San Francisco, California, United States
Died: April 22
Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist. Best known for capturing the beauty of the American West, Adams helped found the Group f/64. He also formulated a photographic technique called the Zone System, which helped photographers come up with clearer images. For his photographic work and advocacy for environmental conservation, Ansel Adams was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Birthdate: November 10, 1925
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Pontrhydyfen, Wales
Died: August 5
Richard Burton is remembered for his tumultuous affair with Elizabeth Taylor, whom he married and divorced twice. The Burton-Taylor duo is also known for their hits Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? A seasoned Shakespearean actor, Burton was known for his baritone voice. He became an alcoholic later.
5
Truman Capote(Known for His Novella “Breakfast at Tiffany's” and Non-Fiction Novel “In Cold Blood”)
Birthdate: September 30, 1924
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died: August 25
Truman Capote is best known for his novella Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was made into a movie that starred Audrey Hepburn, and the non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. His short story Shut a Final Door won the O. Henry Award. He was a lifelong friend of author Harper Lee.
6
Andy Kaufman(Comedian, Best known for His Portrayal of 'Latka Gravas' on the Sitcom 'Taxi')
Birthdate: January 17, 1949
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: New York, New York, United States
Died: May 16
Andy Kaufman was an American entertainer and wrestler. Considered an anti-comedian for his ability and willingness to provoke confused and negative reactions from audiences, Kaufman is revered for his counterintuitive approach to comedy. Apart from influencing comedians like Jim Carrey, Kaufman also inspired movies like Toni Erdmann. There are rumours that his death is believed to be a hoax and part of his prank.
Birthdate: May 15, 1909
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Huddersfield, England
Died: July 27
James Mason was an English actor known for his work in both British cinema and Hollywood. One of the most bankable actors during the mid-1940s, Mason became the first person to be honored with the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. He is credited with saving Buster Keaton's reels of nitrate film, which he discovered in Keaton’s previously owned house.
Birthdate: November 19, 1917
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India
Died: October 31
The third Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi served as PM from 1966 till 1977 and then again from 1980 till her assassination in October 1984. She is considered one of India’s strongest PM and is hailed for leading India to victory over Pakistan in 1971, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. However, she is also categorised as authoritarian and is criticised for imposing Emergency in 1975.
9
Peter Lawford(Actor and a Member of the 'Rat-Pack' Group of Entertainers)
Birthdate: September 7, 1923
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: London, England
Died: December 24
Peter Lawford, a member of the "Rat Pack,” appeared in quite a few MGM films such as Son of Lassie and Two Sisters from Boston. He also appeared in series such as The Thin Man. His first wife, Patricia Helen Kennedy, was the sister of John F. Kennedy.
10
Jackie Coogan(Actor)
Birthdate: October 26, 1914
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States
Died: March 1
11
Diana Dors(English Actress and a 'Sex Symbol' of the Mid 20th Century)
Birthdate: October 23, 1931
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Swindon, Wiltshire, England
Died: May 4
Diana Dors was an English singer and actress who became renowned as one of the most famous sex symbols of her generation in the UK. She achieved stardom, first as a blonde bombshell—who made headlines for organizing lavish parties—and later as a regular chat-show guest. Diana Dors’ life and career inspired a 1999 TV biographical film titled The Blonde Bombshell.
12
Johnny Weissmuller(Olympic Swimmer and Actor Who Played Tarzan)
Birthdate: June 2, 1904
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Freidorf, Romania
Died: January 20
Johnny Weissmuller was an American swimmer and actor. Although Weissmuller won five Olympic gold medals and set several world records during his illustrious swimming career, he is best remembered for his portrayal of the title role in the 1932 action-adventure film Tarzan the Ape Man. In 1965, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
13
Jackie Wilson(Singer)
Birthdate: June 9, 1934
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Detroit
Died: January 21
14
Ethel Merman(Actress and Singer Who was Known as 'the Undisputed First Lady of the Musical Comedy Stage')
Birthdate: January 16, 1908
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Astoria, New York, United States
Died: February 15
Tony- and Grammy-winning actor/singer Ethel Merman is remembered for her legendary musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun and Hello, Dolly! Known as the First Lady of the musical comedy stage, she has been part of films such as Anything Goes and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
15
William Horatio Powell(American Actor Known for His Role of 'Nick Charles' in Six 'Thin Man' Film Series)
Birthdate: July 29, 1892
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: March 5
William Horatio Powell was an American actor who established himself as a prominent star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He is best remembered for appearing alongside Myrna Loy in The Thin Man film series. William Horatio Powell received three Academy Award nominations for Best Actor for his performances in The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey, and Life with Father.
Birthdate: November 5, 1957
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Englewood, New Jersey, United States
Died: October 18
Height: 6'1" (185 cm)
17
Count Basie(Former jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer who formed the Count Basie Orchestra)
Birthdate: August 21, 1904
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Red Bank, New Jersey, United States
Died: April 26
Birthdate: September 13, 1894
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died: August 14
Birthdate: March 19, 1921
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Caerphilly
Died: April 15
20
François Truffaut(One of the Founders of the 'French New Wave' Art Movement & An Icon of the French Film Industry)
Birthdate: February 6, 1932
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Paris, France
Died: October 21
François Truffaut was a French film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is credited to be one of the founders of the French New Wave. Beginning his career in the mid-1950s, he was active in the entertainment industry for close to three decades. His film The 400 Blows is considered a defining film of the French New Wave movement.
21
Janet Gaynor(American Actress Who Became the First Recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actress)
Birthdate: October 6, 1906
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Philadelphia
Died: September 14
Janet Gaynor was an American actress whose performances in 7th Heaven, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, and Street Angel earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1929, making her the first and only actress to have received one Academy Award for multiple film roles. Gaynor was one of the biggest box-office draws during the silent film era.
22
Paul Dirac(One of the Most Significant Physicists of the 20th Century and Nobel Laureate)
Birthdate: August 8, 1902
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Bristol, England
Died: October 20
English theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Paul Dirac OM FRS, counted among leading physicists of the 20th century, made fundamental contributions in the early development of quantum electrodynamics and quantum mechanics. He derived the Dirac equation while the modern theory of antimatter began with one of his papers. His book The Principles of Quantum Mechanics remains an influential monograph on the subject.
23
Walter Pidgeon(Former Actor who starred in The Bad and the Beautiful and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Birthdate: September 23, 1897
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Saint John, Canada
Died: September 25
Height: 6'2" (188 cm)
24
David A. Kennedy(Robert F. Kennedy's son)
Birthdate: June 15, 1954
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Washington, D.C., United States
Died: April 25
Birthdate: October 8, 1935
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: October 26
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
26
Sam Peckinpah(Film director)
Birthdate: February 21, 1925
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Fresno, California, United States
Died: December 28
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
27
Richard Basehart(Actor)
Birthdate: August 31, 1914
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Zanesville, Ohio, USA
Died: September 17
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
Birthdate: February 9, 1915
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Paddington, London, England
Died: December 15
Height: 5'10" (178 cm)
29
Eric Morecambe(actor, comedian)
Birthdate: May 14, 1926
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Morecambe
Died: May 28
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
Birthdate: August 26, 1914
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Ixelles, Belgium
Died: February 12
Julio Cortázar was an Argentine novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Counted among the founders of a literary movement called the Latin American Boom, Cortázar is credited with influencing a generation of Spanish-speaking writers and readers in Europe and America. He is also regarded as one of the most innovative authors of his time.
31
Leonard Rossiter(Actor)
Birthdate: October 21, 1926
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Liverpool, England, UK
Died: October 5
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
32
Big Mama Thornton(American Singer and Songwriter)
Birthdate: December 11, 1926
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Ariton, Alabama, United States
Died: July 25
33
Lee Krasner(American Abstract Expressionist Painter Who Specialized in Collage)
Birthdate: October 27, 1908
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York, United States
Died: June 19
Lee Krasner was an American abstract expressionist artist who specialized in collage. She is credited with influencing the artwork of her husband, Jackson Pollock. The Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective exhibition of Lee Krasner's work six months after her demise, making her one of the few female artists to have achieved such an honor.
34
Stanley Milgram(Psychologist, University teacher, Sociologist)
Birthdate: August 15, 1933
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: New York City
Died: December 20
Social psychologist Stanley Milgram was inspired by the suffering of the Jews during the Holocaust to understand what drove people to harm others, and thus created his Milgram experiment. He also taught at prestigious institutes such as Harvard and Yale. His studies also included the six degrees of separation concept.
Birthdate: June 20, 1905
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana
Died: June 30
36
Ernest Tubb(Singer-songwriter)
Birthdate: February 9, 1914
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Crisp, Texas, United States
Died: September 6
37
Martin Niemöller(German Theologian and Pastor Known for His Most Famous Poem 'First They Came...')
Birthdate: January 14, 1892
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Lippstadt, Germany
Died: March 6
Best remembered for the quote “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out...,” Martin Niemöller was a German pastor who tried to counter discrimination against Christian converts with Jewish heritage. His Confessing Church was perhaps his apology for initially being a Nazi sympathizer.
38
Billy Collins Jr.(Boxer)
Birthdate: September 21, 1961
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Died: March 6
39
Ben Wilson(Basketball player)
Birthdate: March 18, 1967
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died: November 21
40
Steve Goodman(Singer-songwriter)
Birthdate: July 25, 1948
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Died: September 20
Birthdate: November 13, 1922
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Died: October 23
Austrian actor Oskar Werner is best remembered for his Golden Globe-winning role in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. A life-long alcoholic, he deliberately chopped his hair off to disrupt continuity in the final scene of Fahrenheit 451, as he had a feud with the director, François Truffaut.
42
El Santo(Actor)
Birthdate: September 23, 1917
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Hidalgo
Died: February 5
El Santo was a Mexican professional wrestler and actor. Widely regarded as a folk hero, El Santo is an iconic luchador (masked wrestler) and is often counted among the greatest in Mexican sports history. During his illustrious wrestling career, he became a symbol of justice through his appearances in comic books and lucha films.
43
Tigran Petrosian(One of the Best Chess Players in Armenia During his Generation)
Birthdate: June 17, 1929
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Tbilisi, Georgia
Died: August 13
Tigran Petrosian was a Soviet-Armenian chess player who achieved the grandmaster title in 1952. Nicknamed Iron Tigran, Petrosian was the World Chess Champion between 1963 and 1969. Regarded as one of the best chess players in Armenia during his generation, Tigran Petrosian is credited with popularizing the game in Armenia. He also won the USSR Chess Championship on four occasions.
44
Luke Kelly(Singer)
Birthdate: November 17, 1940
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Sheriff Street, Dublin, Ireland
Died: January 30
Birthdate: January 30, 1912
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Philadelphia
Died: May 15
Francis Schaeffer was an American philosopher, evangelical theologian, and Presbyterian pastor. He is credited with co-founding the L'Abri community, an evangelical Christian organization, along with his wife Edith Schaeffer. Francis Schaeffer's work has influenced several Christian conservative leaders like Tim LaHaye as well as members of the L'Abri community.
46
Agnes von Kurowsky(American Nurse and Ernest Hemingway's Lover)
Birthdate: January 5, 1892
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died: September 25
Agnes von Kurowsky was an American nurse who served during the First World War in an American National Red Cross hospital in Milan. She is credited with inspiring Ernest Hemingway's character Catherine Barkley in his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. Agnes von Kurowsky and Ernest Hemingway's love story was portrayed in the 1996 movie In Love and War.
47
Meredith Willson(Conductor, Composer, Flautist, Pianist, Songwriter)
Birthdate: May 18, 1902
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Iowa
Died: June 15
48
Brassaï(Photographer, Artist and Writer Known for His Dramatic Photographs of Paris at Night)
Birthdate: September 9, 1899
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Brașov, Romania
Died: July 8
Gyula Halász, or Brassaï, derived his pseudonym from the city of his birth, Brassó, then in Hungary. Later, he moved to Paris, where he began his career as a photographer. He published his works in volumes such as Paris de nuit. He was also a sculptor and a poet.
49
Robert Clampett(Animator)
Birthdate: May 8, 1913
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: San Diego, California, U.S.
Died: May 2
50
Vincent J. McMahon(Entrepreneur)
Birthdate: July 6, 1914
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: East Harlem, New York, United States
Died: May 24
